Disclaimer: Yosh! Even though I don't Naruto, I will run up and down Mt. Everest until I melt the ice with my youthfulness!
A Tree or A Root?
Chapter 3: No Remorse
(Arc I: Hatred Is My Power!)
Beta'd by the awesome (and fashionably late) soon-to-be author: DarkNite88!
"There is no refuge from memory and remorse in this world. The spirits of our foolish deeds haunt us, with or without repentance."
-Gilbert Parker.
Opening: The Good Left Undone by Rise Against. Album: The Sufferer and The Witness.
"Daddy, I'm home!" a young girl yells as she walks into her house. This girl is the daughter of the shipping magnate Kenkichi Kagami. She lives alone with her dad in their private mansion. It's not unusual for her to come home and her father not be there, but none of the staff are there either.
"Did Otou-san give them the day off?" she muses as she drapes her school bag on a kitchen chair. Sighing to herself, the girl begins to make her and her father's (if he comes home) dinner. That is, until a blood-curling scream reaches her eardrums.
"OTOU-SAN!" she screams as she rushes to her father's room with a kitchen knife in hand. Once she reaches his room, she sees him in his chair that faces the fireplace. Sighing in relief, she walks toward him and says:
"Oh, you scared me. C'mon, I'm prepar-" Her eyes go wide as she sees Kenkichi from the front. The last thing her brain registers before she lapses into unconsciousness is the blood leaking from his slit throat.
Hours later, she groggily wakes up. She wonders: "Was it a bad dream?"
"Oh splendid, you're finally awake," a male voice states from behind her. The late Kenkichi's daughter turns around to see a short man sitting behind a desk. Two other men are standing next to the door and a third masked man is looking out the window. The two men by the door are carrying swords with cruel expressions that scare the young girl.
"W-Where am I? Where's my Otou-san?"
"Ah, about that. I'm sorry to say your Dad is … no longer with us," the short man responds in faux sadness. The girl's eyes widen and she begins to cry.
The man behind the desk interlaces his fingers and says, "I'm sorry for your loss, but unfortunately there is something we need to take care of." The girl looks up at him.
"Your father was a rich man. His company was large and you simply have no way of taking care of it yourself. Luckily for you, I'm a benevolent man." The short man slips a paper to the front of his desk. "Sign this and I'll take care of the company until you come of age." The girl nods and sadly smiles:
"Thank you so much ..."
"Gato, owner of Gato company, I worked with your father."
She signs her name without reading the paper and hands it back to him. "Thank you, Gato-san."
Gato cruelly smirks, "No, thank you. Zori! Waraji! Please take our guest to her special suite. Oh, and make sure you give her your special treatment." The two men by the door grin wildly and drag the girl out of the office by her hair.
Once the door shuts behind them, blocking out the girl's screams, the masked man walks to Gato's desk. Gato smirks and takes out a bag filled with ryo.
"A job well done, ninja-san. You can tell your boss he can be expecting more jobs in the near future." The masked man nods, takes the bag, and turns toward the door. "Oh! And, nice job keeping the girl alive. My men will enjoy the new meat."
He gets no response as the ninja leaves.
Gato sits back and muses: red spiky hair with black tips ... How odd.
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Black-tipped, red hair leisurely sways as Naruto walks through the streets of Nami. The young genin has no particular destination in mind. He just needed to get out of Tazuna's house for a while lest he end up killing someone. It had been a week since the fall of Zabuza and the meeting of the Iwa team. It had become a regular occurrence that Sasuke and Deidara would butt heads. While at first entertaining, it had become more and more of an annoyance as Sasuke would look towards his teammates, namely Naruto, for backup. The ex-root nin would of course ignore him and thus cause another fight. On a positive note, Kurotsuchi and Naruto have continued to meet under the stars. Their conversations varied greatly, but yesterday's took an interesting turn.
Flashback
"If you hate your family so much, why don't you just leave?" Kurotsuchi had asked.
"There's something I need to do."
"What?"
"I need them to understand."
"Understand?"
"Understand what they did to me. The pain it caused me. Once I know they understand, I'll leave."
"Why leave if they finally understand?"
Naruto chuckled. "Because once they understand, they'll hate me. I wonder, however, where will I go? My father has a lot of enemies, and t-"
"You'll come to Iwa."
"But, won't your grandfather-
Kurotsuchi grinned. "Nope. Especially, if whatever you're planning works and they hate you. My old goat of a Jiji will throw out the red carpet for you."
Naruto stared at her for a second before turning away with a small smile. "I'll think about it."
End of Flashback
Naruto smiles softly at that particular thought. However, a frown soon replaces it.
"Still, there's planning that needs to be done. I can't jump to the future, or everything will fall apart."
"Indeed. You humans have that annoying tendency to not look at what's in front of you," Kurama grunts. Naruto subconsciously nods in agreement and continues on with his trek.
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Minato sighs as he finishes off the last of his paperwork for the day. He never could quite understand why his predecessor complained about it so much. In fact, paperwork usually calms the blonde Kage's mind. Today, however, the paper has no effect on the headache he sports. This doesn't surprise the yellow flash one bit: after all, he did just send two of his most promising ANBU on a potentially career-ending S-rank mission. Those little ROOT bastards never go down without a fight and they're not below a Misery Loves Company kill. All it takes is one slip-up, one missed detail, and either Itachi or Shisui can kiss their Sharingan goodbye.
"They need backup."
Minato interlaces his fingers and says: "Cat, Tiger." Immediately, two ANBU appear in front of him, kneeling. "Hai, Hokage-sama?"
"I need you both to assist Weasel and Crane. This is an S-rank mission and failure will not be tolerated, understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Dismissed!"
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One hundred, one hundred fifty, two hundred … Death, Death, Death. Like dominoes, ROOT after ROOT fall to the two Uchiha clansmen.
"Pointless deaths," Shisui's somber voice echoes as another nameless and faceless ninja falls to his tanto.
"Not to them," Itachi retorts emotionlessly.
"I suppose," Shisui reluctantly agrees. The needless slaughter continues in silence. It took four more hours and countless deaths for the Uchiha to make it to their destination, the ROOT HQ. For headquarters, it's rather bland. It's just a solitary room that has a desk and a bed. However, there is an odd puppet-like creature laying against the wall across from the desk. They both activate their respective Mangekyo Sharingans. Itachi can't help but wince upon activation, since whenever he uses his Mangekyo the events of that night hit him like a bad manga flashback. Shaking his head, Itachi sighs: "No apparent traps. Confirm?"
Shisui's eyes sweep across the barren room before returning to Itachi's. "Confirmed."
Itachi nods and draws his tanto before cautiously walking into the room. Shisui stays a couple steps behind his fellow clansmen. Putting his tanto in its sheath, the kin killer goes through the desk. Meanwhile, Shisui inspects the puppet. Whilst it looks rather patchy and jaded, it has an odd seal on its head. Shisui runs a hand across the seal and the seal begins to glow. Before he can even warn his clansmen, Shisui slumps forward. Then a second later he stands back up with a different, more sinister, look in his red eyes and the same seal now on his head. Unfortunately, Itachi is too pre-occupied with the contents in the desk to look around at Shisui. Shisui holds his tanto in two hands and begins to bring it down on Itachi. A centimeter before it stabs into him, wood comes out of the floor and restrains him. Struggling against the wood, Shisui inwardly curses before slumping forward again. The wood drops him on the floor and two people emerge out of the ground next too the downed Uchiha.
"Good save, Tiger," Itachi compliments, body still turned to the desk.
Tiger grunts. "Doesn't look like you needed it, taichou." While the two ANBU talk, the only female of the group passes smelling salts across Shisui's upper lip.
Immediately, Shisui comes to. "Shit, Cat? Tiger? What happened?"
"It seems you were caught in a Yamanaka-like mind jutsu, Crane. Can you tell us what happened?" questions Cat.
"Hai. I ran my hand across the seal on that odd puppet's head."
Cat nods and draws her katana. With grace, she walks over to the puppet and brings her blade to its neck.
"Whoever's in there, you'd better come out or," she starts. The katana then lights up in a blue blaze and she continues: "I will find you … and I will kill you. Violently."
Tiger simply sighs and turns to Itachi: "Weasel-taichou, did the desk have anything?"
Itachi sighs. "Yes and no. There was a mission ledger with everything from income to agent names and affiliations. However, nothing directly links Shimura. He's playing with us Tiger, and there's nothing I can do about it."
Tiger rests his hand on Itachi's shoulder. "Sometimes even the greatest of hunters have trouble with the weakest of prey."
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"Fuu, report."
"Hai. Danzo-sama. I was able to gain control of Shisui Uchiha's body, but before I could do any damage to Itachi Uchiha, I got trapped in what seemed like Mokuton."
Danzo's single eye widens before narrowing once more. "Only two people can control Wood Release and I know it wasn't him, so that means…"
"Hmm, so Kinoe has joined Anbu, has he?" Danzo muses, before interlacing his fingers.
"Fuu, you're dismissed."
"Of course, Lord Danzo." As the young Yamanaka walks away, he can't help but shiver. "Mother of Danzo-sama, that woman was scary."
"Now how can I use this new piece of information to my advantage?" ponders Danzo aloud.
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Training ground ten is considered one of the most beautiful among the training grounds. Along with a lake and waterfall created by the Senju brothers, it really wasn't hard to see why. Emphasis on the 'was'. Currently, the training ground is littered with craters and surrounded by a special fuinjutsu barrier. The barrier was designed and patented by Minato Namikaze to suppress youkai or demon chakra. Much like a mute button, the barrier suppresses or 'mutes' youkai in their entirety. A marvel in its own right, the real genius is in the seal lying on top of the barrier. This seal utilizes the muted youkai and uses it to power the barrier, thus allowing Minato to help with training his daughter and not to have to worry about powering the barrier.
"One more time Emiko," Kushina encourages the heiress. She nods and puts her hands into a ram sign. Red, bubbly chakra begins to build around her feet. The bubbles begin to move up her body until she is completely covered. Breathing deeply, she says in a distorted voice: "Ok, Mom, Dad, I thi-." She begins to sway slightly before roaring. Before Emiko can move, golden chains restrain her arms and legs. Then, in a yellow flash, Minato appears in front of his daughter and puts a sealing tag on her forehead. The red chakra vibrates before disappearing altogether. Upon being released, Emiko falls unconscious.
"Mina-kun," Kushina trails off.
Sighing, Minato nods. "I know. There just is no way for her to truly utilize the Kyuubi's chakra without harming herself or her comrades."
Minato releases the barrier and the Namikaze family disappears in a yellow flash. From the shadows, Zetsu appears. "Hmmm, interesting. Very interesting," and once again Zetsu disappears.
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Finishing his walk, Naruto walks into the bridge builder's house. As usual, Sasuke and Deidara are arguing, Kakashi is reading his smut, Tsunami and Sakura are both glaring at him, Han is tinkering with some device and Kurotsuchi is playing Shogi with Akatsuchi. Ignoring the indignant shouts of "rock scum" and "tree-hugger" Naruto slowly makes his way to Kakashi. When the white-haired man looks up from his book, Naruto takes the opportunity to speak.
"Kakashi-sensei, there were no thugs in town today." Kakashi nods and closes his book. Putting it away, he claps his hands.
"Okay. Team 7, we are going to the bridge. Han-san, your team can follow if you wish. However, it is OUR job to protect Tazuna and YOUR'S is too protect Tsunami-san and Inari-chan. Please respect those boundaries," and with that, Team 7 leaves. Team Han soon follows, leaving Akatsuchi and a grumbling Deidara to protect their clients.
It's a rather short walk to the bridge. As they walk on the nearly completed bridge, Sasuke observes: "No workers, odd."
Sakura nods. "Maybe they went home early?"
Before anyone can respond, a booming laughter is heard from across the bridge. From the mist, Gato walks through flanked by at least four hundred bandits.
Clapping, Gato says: "good job killing that pathetic excuse for a nuke-nin. I wanted to do it myself, but I suppose it doesn't really matter, ne?"
All of team 7, plus two, brandish their weapons or taijutsu stances. Scanning across the ninja, Gato notices a familiar mop of black tipped red hair.
"Ah, ninja-san! I could recognize that hair anywhere! Tell me, is your boss sti-" Gato's speech is interrupted as an arrow pierces his heart.
Naruto summons another arrow from his ring and takes aim at the now enraged bandit army behind the dead midget. He glances at Kakashi, who is giving him an explain-right-this-second look. Sighing, Naruto asks: "Permission to exterminate bandits, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Just what are you hiding, Naruto?"
"Permission granted. Give 'em hell, Team 7!"
Naruto shoots the arrow and whispers "Multi Shadow Arrow Clone Jutsu." With that one arrow instantly becomes one hundred. The thugs can only gape as one-fourth of their comrades fall within the first second. They try to run, but a shout of "Yoton: Scorching Stream Rock Jutsu" cremates another hundred. Fireballs and kunai kill another fifty and a collaboration jutsu from Han and Kakashi wipe the rest out.
Sakura and Sasuke both smile at each other before Sakura turns and vomits over the bridge. Sasuke walks next to her and pats the kunoichi on the back.
"Sasuke-kun, I-I'm a monster I-," Sakura starts, but Naruto interrupts her.
"A monster is a person who kills with no remorse. You're no monster, your vomit can attest to that." Sasuke and Kurotsuchi both nod in agreement. Sakura smiles weakly at them. However, the touching moment is interrupted by Kakashi.
"Naruto, want to explain why it seemed like Gato knew you?"
Naruto stays silent for a while before he looks up at the sky and repeats: "A monster is a person who kills with no remorse." Locking eyes with Kurotsuchi he says, "I'm a monster."
Ending: Hearts Burst Into Fire by Bullet For My Valentine. Album: Scream. Aim. Fire!
Rather angsty chapter this time around. I tried not to make it too bad, but I wanted you all to understand that Naruto isn't some kind of 'wronged hero'. From the beginning, I wanted to show a Naruto who is so caught up in his own pain; his own hatred, that he doesn't see the pain he's causing. The first arc will end next chapter, and we'll either be run into a filler chapter, or the chunin exams. I still haven't decided. Unfortunately, school has started for me, so expect updates to be farther away from one another. On the brighter side, for followers of Survival and I'll Always Be There, both of those stories are going to be re-written. And if any of you are TAOAN followers, that will also be updated soon. If any of you are wondering where I was for the past couple of weeks, I was having some…familial problems. They're all resolved now (I hope). Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed.