Chapter 6

"Taicho. Taicho!"

Esdeath blinked in surprise and looked around. "Oh. I apologize, everyone. I was briefly lost in thought."

"That's not like you to be," Run observed calmly.

Seryu asked while her Teigu bounced on her shoulder, "Are you okay, Taicho? Thinkin' about Tatsumi again?"

Tatsumi… she thought for a second, yet for some reason the aching in her chest was not as severe as it had been. She sighed and answered, "No. I was not."

Kurome said while nibbling on her cookie, "It must be rather serious things then."

"Did you discover anything the other day, Taicho," Wave asked her, "while you were in the slums?"

"I did," she nodded and stood from her seat. Esdeath looked over her troops and instructed, "All of you, accompany me." She then turned and started walking towards the Palace Gardens while the Jaegers followed her lead.

She called Bolz to her side and he did as bidden. "How may I help, Taicho?" the masked man queried politely.

"After this is done," the azure-haired woman told him, "I would like to speak with you in private, Bolz. Do you have any objections?"

"None, Taicho."

"Good," she nodded once, pleased. They then arrived at their destination and she ordered, "Run, Wave, Kurome, please make certain there are no hidden observers to this conversation; I can't risk anyone outside of the Jaegers knowing this yet."

Run bowed, Wave accepted his orders, and Kurome nodded while still eating before each left to scour the gardens. Hekatonkheires bounced around and played with its wielder while everyone waited for a few moments, and all three returned a few minutes later with each reporting that they found nor felt any spies from the Revolution or the Minister in the area.

"Very well," Esdeath accepted their words, already knowing them to be true since only one man had ever been able to successfully hide himself and his presence from her acute senses and instincts. She then told them, "What I am about to reveal to all of you will never be repeated to anyone not a member of the Jaegers, understood? That includes Honest even if he asks you directly."

Every member of the Jaegers looked at their leader in a mix of slight shock and curiosity from hearing her serious tone. All of them then gave her their vow to never repeat what she was about to say.

"There is a man," Esdeath began, "whom was believe to be dead for some time but is in fact still alive."

"He must be quite dangerous for you to go to these lengths, Taicho," Run pieced together quickly.

"Extraordinarily," she added to his words. She then looked directly at Kurome and unveiled without an ounce of tact, "It is Naruto."

Kurome froze still and dropped her bag, its contents all spilling out onto the grassy floor. All of the other Jaegers looked towards the younger assassin in curiosity while she stared at Esdeath with shock covering her face. "Sensei…is alive?" she repeated.

A single gasp came from Bolz and he quickly asked their leader, "But…didn't you kill Naruto-san two years ago, Taicho?"

"I met him the other day, Kurome." Esdeath then answered Bolz, "I had believed that to be true myself until recently, so it appears that he managed to fool even me and successfully faked his death."

"This…is bad," the Incineration Squad member told everyone with a solemnity that nobody had yet seen from him. "Is Naruto-san our enemy once again?"

"Yes." Esdeath then watched Kurome carefully so that she could gauge her reaction to this piece of news.

Wave made to say something to her but Bolz grabbed his arm and shook his head. The boy was confused by heeded the older man's advice and remained silent, looking at Kurome compassionately.

The assassin of the Jaegers suddenly began giggling with an unsettling amount of glee, making Esdeath frown slightly. "So he's still alive after all, Onee-chan," she whispered to no one present. She then spouted a vicious grin and finished, "I can finally get to kill him for what he did to us."

"No," Esdeath stopped her with an emphatic finality. "You will not." She then continued, "Part of the reason I am informing all of you is so that each of you know to never attempt to engage Naruto without me present. It doesn't matter how many of you there are – he will kill each of you on his own with barely any effort."

A severe silence then covered the area with each Jaeger without prior knowledge on the man thinking on her words. She could tell that Kurome was extremely dissatisfied by her executive decision, but she made no vocal protest in face of Esdeath's cold stare.

"The only reason you would survive again is because he is too kind-hearted to kill either of his prized pupils," she informed the former student of Naruto's bluntly," and you know this just as well as anyone, Kurome. Need I remind you that the only reason you still breathe today is because he chose to only give you a scar instead of a death; your followers were only there to get you medical attention because of his machinations."

Kurome grit her teeth in rebellion and maintained their stare-down for a few moments with everyone else looking on nervously. The girl eventually gave in to her strength and looked away in submission to the alpha. "…I know," she whispered bitterly – like it caused her physical pain to admit. The girl never looked at her face and asked curtly, "Is that all, Taicho? I know all there is to know about him already."

Esdeath eyed the girl carefully and eventually allowed, "Bolz, you and Kurome get started with dinner please. I will brief Run, Wave, and Seryu about Naruto."

"Of course," Bolz immediately accepted. He then picked up her bag of sweets and accompanied Kurome towards the kitchen while whispering comforting words to the girl.

"I've…never seen Kurome look so angry; not even when her sister is mentioned," Wave thought out loud.

"Indeed," Run agreed with a single nod. "Then question then becomes: Just who is this 'Naruto' and what did he do to earn such ire from her?"

"She said he was her sensei, right?" Seryu offered. "So she and Naruto were like me and Ogre, Taicho?"

Esdeath sighed and answered, "She and he were much closer than you and Ogre could have ever become, Seryu." Seryu stopped, frozen from hearing that, and her Teigu licked her hand consolingly. Esdeath then continued, "Naruto was and still is considered the greatest assassin the Capital has ever produced – with Akame as the second. By the time he was fifteen he had completed over a thousand missions with a one-hundred-percent success rate."

"That's unreal," Wave breathed in awe. "A thousand?"

"Not even Akame came close to those numbers before she defected," Run stated. "Is it safe to assume that he also trained her as well?"

"He did," she nodded to confirm. Esdeath continued, "Naruto eventually killed the Head Assassin before him, Gozuki, and he was elevated to the position at the age of seventeen. He held the position for three years before it was uncovered that he was a traitor to the Empire and fled.

"He remained on the run for six years with the Empire's army always trailing after him, and in this time he defeated six separate Generals and every single assassin the Minister sent at him – even his own former students. Two years ago I was granted my Teigu and I was sent to kill him at last to earn my General's rank.

"It took me creating an avalanche from relatively nothing to defeat him," she revealed. "I had thought it was sufficient enough to kill him, but it appears that I was wrong. He is alive, and now he is joining forces with Najenda and Night Raid."

"You mean a frickin' force of nature wasn't enough to kill this guy!?" Wave asked in disbelief. "What the hell is he made of!?"

"It appears that this man is a truly deadly force," Run figured. "Night Raid was already deadly enough, but with a man as powerful as he we might need to request some additional assistance now that Stylish is most likely lost."

"No matter how mighty the soldiers of evil might be, Justice will always prevail!" Seryu declared while her Teigu jumped into the air excitedly.

"No, Run," Esdeath quickly murdered that thought before it could fester. "If we set forth such a request then the Minister will undoubtedly seek to know why we can't handle the matter on our own; believe me when I say that it would not be good for us as the Jaegers if the Minister hears that Naruto is still alive."

"But why, Taicho?" her right-hand man asked curiously with a particular look.

Cunning, Run, Esdeath looked at him when she noticed the expectant looks both Wave and Seryu were now giving her. She explained, "Should Honest catch wind of Naruto's survival then our purpose as a group will cease to exist. Because only myself and Commander-in-Chief Budo are capable of dueling with him on even footing, Honest will likely attempt to have both of us simultaneously pursue him.

"However, Naruto is cunning, ruthless, and easily able to avoid detection should he not wish to be found – even from me," she informed them. "Since he is now allied with Najenda, I would be disappointed in both of them if they don't have a plan for just such a scenario, and then the two greatest deterrents the Empire possesses will be removed from the picture for an extended period, leaving the Capital relatively unprotected when the Revolution notices this and moves to take advantage. For now, until Naruto eventually reveals his presence to Honest on his own, we will keep this information to ourselves."

Seryu nodded cheerfully, "I don't quite understand, but okay, Taicho!"

"I'm with Seryu," Wave added gruffly, "but I've got no problems, Taicho. If you believe that this is the best for the Capital and the Empire as a whole then who am I to say it isn't?"

Run bowed his head to her decision, and he then asked, "What all is known about Naruto-san, Taicho?"

"You may research him all you like by speaking to the current Assassin Head – just make certain to not let on of this intelligence," she dismissed him. "First, however, I want you to finish locating your current assignment, understood, Run?"

"Of course, Taicho." Run then walked out of the garden to resume his search for Stylish's secret laboratories.

"You two may go as well," she told the other pair, "but remember that you are to never discuss what we mentioned today anywhere you might be overheard, understood?"

"Hai, Taicho!" both Wave and Seryu saluted while clicking their heels together.

Esdeath smiled and dismissed them, "Go to dinner. I will not be joining tonight, and when you get to the kitchen please tell Bolz to come to my private room."

Wave and Seryu left the garden towards the kitchens and Esdeath walked to her own private bedroom. Many of the Imperial Guardsmen she passed saluted her but she paid them no mind since her mind was fixated on two images whilst she traveled: Tatsumi and Naruto. She entered her room, sat on her bed, and let herself think on the only two men to ever impress on her since her father's death.

Tatsumi had fulfilled every single requirement she believed that she required in a potential mate. He was younger so that she could be a guide and forge him into what she believed was the ideal partner. He was undoubtedly gifted, as his easy victory of her tournament had proven, and she had no doubts that he could wield a powerful Teigu one day.

If he does not already, she thought with a wry grin. She looked at her room's ceiling and thought out loud without worry of being overheard, "The fact that Naruto knows of Wave's character tells me that he truly did speak with Tatsumi and was not merely bluffing to cause me heartache. If that is true then Tatsumi is most likely involved with Night Raid in some level – whether fully or merely as an apprentice – and we will likely do battle one day. My orders to everyone do not change even with that knowledge." She smirked, "Train him well, Naruto; I will entrust his growth to your tutelage for the moment. Realize your full potential for me, Tatsumi."

She then found herself frowning for some reason she couldn't fathom. After some self-discovery she realized that these mixed emotions stemmed from her past relationship with Naruto.

Her course of thoughts were derailed by a knock on her door. Realizing that it must be Bolz she called out, "Enter, Bolz."

Bolz walked into the room nervously and shut the door behind him. "Um… Might I ask the reason for why I am here, Taicho?"

"I need your…expertise," Esdeath admitted after searching for the appropriate word to use. She then stood up from her bed and asked him, "Would you care for something to drink? I apologize for taking you from dinner."

"It's not a problem, and no," Bolz responded. "So how may I help, Taicho? Is it about Tatsumi again?"

"Partly," she admitted while preparing herself a glass of wine. She froze her goblet in order to chill the beverage and asked, "Were you and your wife each other's first experience in intercourse?"

Bolz sputtered in surprise for a minute from hearing the straight-shot query. He eventually managed to calm himself and responded, "That was rather surprising; I admit I didn't think that was what you would ask of me, Taicho."

"Well," she turned and arched an eyebrow, "were you or weren't you?"

"Oh no," he admitted shyly. "Both of us had been with others before we met."

"And you do not feel harshly towards her for sleeping with someone else?" Esdeath asked before drinking her alcohol.

"I could never hate her for something that happened before we ever even knew each other," Bolz denied, "but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't jealous that I wasn't her first."

"I see," she accepted his words while stirring and staring into the crimson wine.

A brief moment of silence passed and Bolz asked nervously, "Are… Are you asking me this because of what you think Tatsumi might think if he's not your first?"

Esdeath didn't bother denying it: "Yes." She then said, "I admit that my encounter with Naruto has filled my head with numerous such thoughts I'd not considered prior."

"Was it…with Naruto-san, Taicho?"

"Indeed," she nodded in confirmation. "That is not all I wished your opinion on however. Naruto affections for me have long been known amongst the Empire's upper echelons. Am I correct in assuming that you were also aware of them, Bolz?"

"I…had heard the rumors yes," he revealed to her. "I never knew nor suspected that they were true though."

"Every myth or story has its origins in some modicum of legitimacy," Esdeath informed him. "It is up to the storyteller to determine how far they will stretch the tale however."

Bolz chuckled lightheartedly, "I suppose that is true."

"Naruto also offered me his opinion of just what 'love' entails," she finally approached the crux of the matter, "and since you are the only other person I'm acquainted with whom has experience in any form of romantic love I would like to know if you agree with his philosophy. Would you hear it and offer your critiques?"

Bolz nodded his assent and she then went about recounting Naruto's words to her from a few days prior. She left nothing out so as to get his completely informed opinion and allowed him time to ponder once finished.

After a few minutes of contemplation Bolz finally spoke, "I think that –while he isn't wrong – Naruto-san isn't entirely right either, Taicho."

"How do you mean?" she asked him while she crossed her legs in her chair and leaned slightly forward.

"Naruto-san is not incorrect in how he says love runs so deeply that you can never be entirely rid of it," he told her, "but he is also not right when he says that love is nothing but being selfless towards the one you care for. In my experience, love is arguably the most selfish thing a human can feel."

"Please explain," Esdeath felt her curiosity peaked from his words.

"I told you about how long it took me to convince my wife to give me a chance, correct?"

"You were rejected twice, no?" she answered immediately.

"Yes." Bolz then began with a genuine feeling to his words, "What I did not say was that my beloved was already seeing someone when I first met her. It was ten years ago.

"I was returning from a mission when I saw her with a group of friends laughing, and as soon as I saw her smiling face I felt it in my soul that she was the only one who could ever make me happy. My heart soared whenever I would run into her, and it eventually got to the point that I felt I couldn't live without her in my life.

"I proposed to her for the first time nine years ago, but she completely rejected me, Taicho. I was devastated. I remember feeling so depressed I couldn't eat, yet when she heard of my state she found me and gave me probably the greatest scolding I've ever had to this day. She berated my foolishness and claimed, 'I would never consider being with a man that gets like that from one measly rejection!'

"I then dedicated myself to changing who I was and became strong enough to see her without crying my heart out, but still my heart demanded her at my side. Again I tried, and again I failed. She told me then that I was simply not the same man she'd once known.

"I spent the next eighteen months searching myself for answers on how to make her love me like I did her but could never find them. I was still myself in my eyes and could not for the life of me figure out what she meant, and then I heard about what happened with Naruto-san and figured it all out: It was not that only I had changed but the both of us.

"Six years ago I asked her to marry me a third time after doing everything I could to convince her to give me just one chance, and do you know what she said to me?" His serene, heavenly smile could be felt in the air around him as he finished, "She said yes, but only because she finally was able to see my face with her own eyes at last.

"It had taken me many, many tries to realize that only that was needed, Taicho, and if I were not selfish enough to try over and over again I would have never realized this. If I were as selfless as Naruto-san seems to think I should have been I never would have undermined her previous relationships. I knew that she was the only one who could do the same for me."

Esdeath was silent, thinking on her subordinate's story and how they matched against Naruto's shaking words. After some thought she asked, "But did you wind up altering yourself to please your wife, Bolz?"

"I was not aware of it, but yes," Bolz admitted to her. "Love changes a person even if they do not wish to, Taicho, and it will do the same to you if your feelings for Tatsumi are truly genuine."

"So then Love is both selfish and selfless," she pieced together. "It is a contradictory emotion that is inherently inexplicable and unpredictable in its effects."

"That is probably the most true description of love there ever was," he nodded to her words. "The selfish, greedy desire to be with the one you care for and the selfless, unavoidable changes are the effects of Love's curse."

Interesting, she thought to herself while gulping down the rest of her goblet. Something that defies all forms of logic yet is a naturally occurring phenomenon. It defies the very laws that govern nature. I shall not bend to its whims however. She stood and said to Bolz, "Thank you for your insight, Bolz. You have given me much to think about."

"It was no problem, Taicho," Bolz bowed politely. "If you don't mind, it is getting rather late and I should be getting home soon."

Esdeath answered, "Very well." She then added, "Please inform everyone that I wish for us all to gather in the training grounds early tomorrow morning, Bolz."

Bolz accepted her instruction, "Of course. May I ask why?"

"Naruto will be allying with Night Raid," she reminded him, "and he will no doubt begin by helping each of them grow stronger so that they might protect themselves better and become better assassins – if there is one thing he's hated it's incompetence in his eyes. I don't want my people killed when I'm not there nor do I want them to be helpless in a battle. We will also focus on increasing our own strength both individually and as a group whenever we are not performing our duties."

"Very well." Bolz then left to carry her message to everyone and then return to his family.

Esdeath then went into her bathroom and disrobed for her shower. She set the water to moderately cool and then climbed in.

While she washed her alabaster skin she allowed her mind to wander once again. She revisited her earlier conclusion, Tatsumi in involved with Night Raid. It alters nothing in regards to my orders though.

What this affects is whether or not Tatsumi can be truly subjugated or not – especially with Naruto likely taking him as new 'project' just to spite me. If there is one thing that he is truly gifted in it is drilling mental toughness to nearly impervious levels. To this very day not even I have been capable of breaking a single one of his former disciples.

Her thoughts died though when her hand traveled over her breasts and felt a certain patch of skin. Her mind suddenly shifted away from the boy and towards the man in her life.

Unbidden, her mind sent her back eight years to the single night that she and Naruto had spent in the same bed. He had sought such an outing from her for many weeks and she had consented initially out of a sense of animalistic curiosity.

She had approached it the same way she had observed the Danger Beasts of the north had: Control your mate and dominate. Naruto, however, had managed to repel her constant assault and quests for domination time and time again. It never mattered what she attempted; he halted her advance at every single turn.

He had then taken her by surprise, taking the lead and keeping her pinned beneath him, yet even then he never harmed her nor demanded her surrender to his superiority. He had used his fingers and tongue in ways that she still to this day wonder how they sent her soaring to euphoric highs that she had yet to reach again no matter what avenue she tried to.

It had been agonizingly pleasurable in a way she had never once imagined possible. His ministrations had forced her to writhe at his every touch, but still she refused to submit to him. She had been determined to withstand the barrage and never bow to him.

Yet she had.

For the first time in her life she screamed out a man's name in pure, utter, euphoric ecstasy. Esdeath's legs trembled as she recalled the mind-numbing experience of her first climax of that evening.

She had given in to the pleasures that man could bring to her, and her willingly submitting before he even asked her to had sent her to a higher plane of pleasure that not even her most sadistic, stomach-churning torture methods could even hope to approach.

The night had then taken its course. Naruto had gotten her to initiatively submit and she had decided to be his for the taking in whatever way he saw fit, yet he did not dominate in the way that an Alpha should – he had been gentle with her. Never once did he look away from her eyes while they copulated, and still that memory made her shiver even though she was immune to the cold.

Esdeath had gone into that experience wanting to control the sex, yet Naruto had instead forced her to make love instead.

The irony of such a thought had never once been lost on her.

It remained the single-most exhilarating yet terrifying night of her life. She had still never come close to achieving such a euphoria regardless of the attempted methodology, but the thought and realization of how much power she had given Naruto to wield over her still concerned her to this very day.

She was the sole-surviving member of the once-proud Partas Clan, and as such she was steadfastly loyal to its lone creed: Only the Strong shall survive, and those that are Weak are swallowed by the Strong. It was the lone absolute truth in this harsh and cruel reality, and never would she abandon this philosophy.

She would become the strongest. Never would she be considered weak.

Esdeath's thoughts halted when she realized that the water in her shower was not running any longer. She looked up and found that the reason for this was due to all of the shower now frozen in her ice.

She sighed, opened the shower's door, and exited into the bedroom only to find that her brief loss of complete control had created an ice cavern out of it. She mumbled to herself about being above losing to her primal urges and walked into her bedroom.

She quickly dried herself and laid back on her bed in the buff. Esdeath closed her eyes and then allowed her hands to explore her body in an effort to satisfy her current state of arousal.

The woman tried to reach climax for no less than fifteen straight minutes with no results aside from the aching increasing in intensity to show for it. She growled in dissatisfaction once she realized thus and turned over onto her side.

"I swear that I will kill you for doing this to me, Naruto," Esdeath vowed once again. "So long as he remains breathing there's no guarantee that I am still the master of my own body."

She closed her eyes in a futile search for slumber, yet still the yearning in her loins refused to dissipate. It reached the point that she briefly contemplated taking either Run or Wave as a temporary substitute, but in that same thought a single face appeared in her mind: Tatsumi's smiling face.

For some reason the bright, smiling face of the boy whom she believed had stolen her heart managed to calm her current state of sexual frustration. A fond smile crossed her face as the aching receded at last, finally granting her salvation from her urges.

"Tatsumi," she whispered affectionately, "thank you." Her pleasant demeanor fled her when she then felt a dull pain she usually ignored underneath her left bosom. She frowned and thought aloud, "Two millimeters below my heart.

"Lucky they called me," she spat. "It was so close yet managed to miraculously avoid every vital organ in my chest. Those fools didn't know Naruto. He did not miss. He is not known as the Heartpiercer without reason."

Tatsumi ached. It didn't matter where, because everywhere was in pain.

A fresh surge of agony lanced through him every time his heart betrayed him and pumped blood through his arteries.

Not even Aniki ever pushed me this far, the boy thought with a pained grimace while Incursio dissipated. Naruto's unreal. He's probably the only one who can actually beat Esdeath.

There was a grunt of pain and a shout of surprise before both Leone and Lubbock landed on either side of him. Leone was covered in dirt, grime, and bruises and Lubbock arguably was faring worse – he had wound up wrapped in a cocoon of his own thread.

"Mother fucker!" Lubbock shrieked. "How the hell can one human be this frickin' strong!? It's ridiculous!"

"I told you," Leone grimaced as her own Teigu deactivated from overuse.

"Five on one and it's not even close," Tatsumi stated tonelessly.

They heard a shot from Pumpkin followed by an astonished curse from Mine. The pink-obsessed girl then flew through the air and wound up landing directly on top of him.

Both of them groaned in pain before each noticed that Mine had somehow wound up strategically landing with her face directly over Tatsumi's, and their lips were less than a hair's breadth apart but hadn't touched. They heard snickers followed by pained moans from the other two and just stared at each other without any recognition showing on their faces.

Mine was the first to move, so she closed her eyes and rolled off of him, managing to smack Lubbock in the face with her Teigu and making him yell in pain. "Screw it," Mine mumbled. "I don't have the energy left to kill you for that, Tatsumi."

"What the hell did I do!?" Tatsumi shouted only to bear a new wave of aching. "Blame Naruto!"

Lubbock's face was red from having Pumpkin smack him, his hands still tied to the sides and unable to rub his pulsating nose, and groused, "Knowing him, he did that just to screw with the both of you, Mine."

Leone chimed in then, "He does seem to love his pranks after all."

"Oh he does; I can promise you that," Najenda told them all.

Everyone looked towards she was sitting with Chelsea and Susanoo while they all patiently observed the training that Naruto was putting them through. Chelsea smiled her semi-mischievous grin and asked, "Enjoying the show, Boss?"

"Very much so," she replied with a smile as she took a drag of her smoke. "Now I finally get to see with my own eyes how everyone works together. I've already gotten a few ideas as to how everyone can improve both individually and as a group."

"Why isn't she getting her ass kicked too?" Mine grumped whle looking at Chelsea sourly.

Chelsea just gave her a condescending smile and responded, "Because I know that my only ability lies with infiltration and one-on-one assassination, Flatty-chan. I'm not going to enter into a physical confrontation with my target so long as I can avoid those situations, and if I can't then I'll just turn into a small animal and retreat before I can be engaged."

A vein pulsed on Mine's forehead from hearing the nickname that both Chelsea and Naruto had taken to calling her. She made to say something in response but was cut off by Akame sailing through the air at last.

Night Raid's ace assassin flipped in the air and managed to land on her feet, sliding across the dirt a few feet. Her face was covered in a shining sheen of sweat and she was breathing heavily, but she refused to back down or give up in the face of her former instructor.

Naruto whistled casually as he walked towards them all, his eyes now only on his student. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow and asked simply, "That all, girly?"

Akame grit her teeth and staggered as she straightened herself up to full height. She shakily held her Teigu in front of her and replied evenly, "Not yet."

"That's what I like to hear," he grinned. The blonde then threw a single knife at her and followed that up by immediately throwing four others at the downed members of Night Raid.

Akame's eyes widened in surprise at seeing the maneuver and then made a split-second decision. She abandoned her current engagement and moved to defend her defeated friends, however she was stopped and forced on the defensive again when Naruto appeared between her and her objectives.

Tatsumi felt panic set in as he watched the small blade fly through the air towards his head, and he heard the other three on the ground begin to shake as well. Am I going to die? he wondered while he continued to vainly try and get his destroyed muscles to move.

"Enough!" Najenda shouted and Susanoo moved the stop the knives. The sentient Teigu swung his giant mace-staff and the following gale blew every single knife out of the air and away from the defeated members of Night Raid.

Tatsumi sighed in relief when he saw the weapons get blown off course. "That was close."

"Thank God!" Leone declared. "Nearly thought I was a goner there."

Najenda crushed her cigarette in her mechanical hand and stomped across the clearing towards an unfazed Naruto. She jammed her finger in his chest and reminded him, "I thought that we agreed that there was to be no killing my people, Naruto."

Naruto pouted like a scolded child and asked, "Not even a little bit?"

Tatsumi felt a bead of sweat fall down the back of his head and thought, So he was actually going to kill us in training!?

"No! Definitely not! Not even a little!" Najenda berated him. "Unlike you, us regular people can't survive being killed once – let alone five times!"

"Huh?" every downed member of Night Raid blinked confusedly after hearing that piece of information.

"But I –"

"No!"

"If you'd –"

"I said no, Naruto!"

"Would you –"

"NO KILLING MY PEOPLE, NARUTO!"

"Um… Boss?"

Najenda turned towards Chelsea and responded, "Yes?"

Chelsea bent one of the knives he'd thrown at them and informed her tonelessly, "These are all fakes."

Najenda and the other members of Night Raid blinked dumbly at hearing this revelation. "Oh," she realized. Their leader then asked the eldest assassin, "Is that what you were trying to tell me, Naruto?"

"Yes," he huffed petulantly, "but you were too stuck up on your little rant to think that I actually know what I'm doing from time to time."

"I…uh…"

"Naruto-sensei would never kill his students, Boss," Akame told her from her own place on the ground next to Naruto and Najenda. "He has always pushed us to the brink, yes, but he's never once delivered a fatal blow to any of us before even when he's had the chance when we were enemies."

"Not to say I won't wound 'em, 'cause I will," Naruto chimed in with a disturbingly cheerful grin. "I'll stab ya' 'til you wanna' die, but I won't be the one to put ya' in the dirt for good."

Najenda looked at him dryly and stated, "That somehow reminds me of a few torture methods Esdeath likes to use."

"Who do you think taught 'em to her?" he asked rhetorically.

Lubbock then groaned out, "Is it too late to opt out of this sadist's training, Boss?"

"Hey!" Naruto shouted indignantly. "I'll have you know that I do not get off on cutting you guys up! I have other methods to do that, and I'd bet you'd get a pretty nice thrill from it."

"Pass," both Tatsumi and Mine agreed simultaneously.

"Your loss," he shrugged. "I've been told they're quite pleasurable."

Najenda shook her head with a small smile on her face before ordering, "Susanoo, tend to everyone's wounds please."

"Hai," the massive humanoid Teigu agreed before dashing around the clearing with a specially made salve and a strange drink.

Naruto interjected once Susanoo stood over Tatsumi, "I'll handle the kid, Susanoo. You take care of the others."

Tatsumi didn't know whether he should feel dread or be pleased that Naruto had taken interest in him.

Susanoo looked to his master for a response and she simply nodded. The living weapon agreed, gave Naruto enough supplies to work on him, and moved over to Mine.

Naruto then kneeled down, lifted a surprised Tatsumi onto his shoulder, and called over to the Night Raid leader, "Hey, Najenda! I'm gonna' borrow the kid here for a little while. We'll be back in a bit, okay?"

"Yeah; yeah," she dismissed them with a casual wave of her hand. "Just be sure to bring him back in one piece."

"No promises."

"Huh!?" Tatsumi squawked and then felt like the earth had been taken out from under him. The boy screamed in terror as he traveled at speeds he'd previously not thought possible for a human to reach.

The landscape passed by him in a blur as Naruto carted him around to whatever destination he had in mind. Trees, shrubbery, and Danger Beasts of all shapes and sizes were nothing but a small blotch of color in his vision while he traveled. They moved for only a few minutes before they stopped at long last, yet Tatsumi still felt like he'd just been pulled through a vacuum when they finally halted.

Naruto set him down and Tatsumi took quick, deep breaths while trying to calm his panic. "That should be good," the whiskered man figured as he looked over the landscape he'd taken them to. "Hey, kid, take a look-see."

Tatsumi managed to look up as requested and suddenly felt his breath get taken away by the sight. The summer sun was beginning to set in the distance, its rays glittering through the waterfall into a beautiful set of rainbow colors. Gatherings of a multitude of different wildlife were drinking at the riverbanks below, and others were soaring through the sky while crying out.

It had to be the most breathtaking scene of nature he'd ever seen before.

"Wow," Tatsumi breathed in awe as he sat up and leaned against a rock to help support his back. "It's…amazing. How'd you ever find this place?"

"Chelsea and I stumbled across it when we were traveling here a few weeks ago," Naruto told him. He dropped next to him and finished, "I asked Akame and she seems to think that you used to sit on a cliff like this one and stare off in thought, so I figured it'd be a nice place for us to talk a bit."

When did I… Oh, he realized and his body sagged. "She's not wrong, but…"

"It's not that simple?" Naruto finished for him. He nodded and the man then told him, "I guessed as much; she told me about you burying two of your friends there."

"Yeah," Tatsumi nodded while his mind dragged memories forth of his life and travels before arriving in the Capital and having his entire perception of reality torn into shreds and pissed on. "Sayo and Ieyasu were pretty much family to me."

"Do you miss them?"

He exhaled and admitted, "Honestly? Yes. I miss them both every single day. It's weird though; I know I've come to grips with it and accepted their deaths, but…"

"Something still hurts, huh?" Naruto offered and he nodded in agreement. The blonde looked over the landscape and said, "Something I've found is that we never really get completely over it when we lose people whom we love, kid. Would you say you loved them then?"

Tatsumi closed his eyes and thought about whether there were any hidden meanings in Naruto's request. Finding none he answered, "Those two were the siblings I never had, Naruto, so I'd say that I loved them both. Does that mean I'll always have those shadows over me?"

"Now you're not just talking about those two," Naruto observed keenly. "I'm guessing that you've taken your comrades' losses just as hard then?"

"It's weird," he said while loking at the stained sky. "I barely knew both Scheele and Aniki – Bulat – when you compare how well I knew Sayo and Ieyasu, yet…their deaths hurt me just as much. It was…a different kind of pain though; I just can't think of how to describe it."

A slight breeze blew over the two atop the cliff and a moment of silence descended over them. After a few minutes passed Naruto asked him, "Why did you decide to become an assassin, Tatsumi? I've heard it from the others but I want to hear it from you."

"To fix the mess that is the Capital," Tatsumi answered immediately. "I joined Night Raid to protect people like me who were and will be taken advantage of if something isn't done."

"That's," Naruto said without batting an eye, "a lie."

Tatsumi felt annoyed at how casually his reason had been dismissed and asked bitterly, "They why did I, O' All-Seeing One?"

"The same reason I did: Revenge."

The brown-haired teen froze after hearing that. He looked and Naruto and asked curiously, "What do you mean by that, Naruto? I admit that I killed Aria out of revenge for both Sayo and Ieyasu, but that's not why I decided to join Night Raid."

"That's not what I asked," the elder assassin countered. "I asked why you became an assassin; not why you joined up with Najenda, Akame, and their merry little band."

"I…don't really understand what you're getting at," Tatsumi admitted honestly. "Aren't Night Raid assassins?"

"Yes," Naruto responded, further confusing him. "But everyone has their own reasons for choosing to become assassins, Tatsumi. Let me tell you why I became one and I feel like you'll understand what I'm talking about.

"I am a bastard; I was born to a whore in the Capital's slums in a brothel without ever knowing any other family. I never knew who my father might've been and I honestly didn't give a shit. For the first six years of my life I was actually pretty happy there."

"Wait; wait," Tatsumi stopped him. "You're a legitimate whoreson?"

"Yep," he nodded.

"Wow." Tatsumi was surprised at finding that out. "It's just…you don't really give off that vibe."

"When Honest got his hands on me he molded me quite a bit, but enough of that," Naruto stopped that avenue of conversation. "You see, that brothel had been all I'd known, and everyone there had been practically family to myself and my mother.

"I was pretty much raised by the entire collection of whores, and everyone taught me many different things while I was there. By the age of three I learned how to negotiate a price from watching the Mother handle each perspective client. At four I'd learned how to speak fluently and which colors and people belonged to which House along with many of their hidden secrets – you'd be surprised what Lords will confess to their whores, kid. On my fifth birthday I was helping my mother handle the brothel's finances and was able to pick out which customers were aggressive or submissive in bed by looking at their body language, and before I was six I'd finished learning how to read and learned about the Hierarchy of the Nobility.

"Then my sixth birthday came," he continued with his face visibly saddening like he was revisiting a loved one's death. "My mother, who'd never done any wrong in her life aside from give birth to me, was raped and died right in front of me." Tatsumi felt a cold chill go down his spine as Naruto began his story, "I will never be able to forget that day.

"It was sunny – of all things. My mom and the rest of the family had put together a celebration like they had every year up to then, and Dani I remember had gotten me my very first…" Naruto paused to collect himself and continued, "She'd gotten me my first prank kit. For pretty much the whole day we'd pranked all sorts in the slums while everyone else prepped the party. Lords, Ladies, a few people I later found out were cousins to the Royal Family…it didn't matter.

"We dropped buckets of rotten fish on one particularly sour guardsman, and Dani then turned on the charm and got him to let us go by promising him a freebie that weekend. The two of us got home a little bit later and I could tell something was wrong: Everyone's smiles were a little strained, they looked like cornered animals, and my mother was nowhere to be found.

"I remember screaming out, demanding to know where my mom had disappeared to. She never took clients on my birthday and swore to me that she'd be waiting when I got back. Nobody would tell me, so I took off running to my mother's private meeting room with Dani hot on my heels, begging me to calm down.

"I…opened the door and…there she was…with three men on her. I froze. I could tell from the tears on her face that she hadn't consented to it. It was the only time in my life that I have ever felt completely…shocked isn't the right word for it. Distraught? No. Destroyed is better.

"I was about to scream when Dani covered my mouth – most likely saving my life – and forcibly dragged me out of there before we could be noticed. She shushed me and the two of us hid together out in the slums. I… When I saw her crying too I couldn't deny her no matter how much I wanted to save my mother. We left and didn't return for a few hours to ensure that we wouldn't be found.

"I had no idea at the time but figured out later that this had been to protect me because those men had come looking specifically for me. The only thing Dani would tell me is that I had to try to be strong and that my mom was strong. I was naïve to believe her.

"When we made it back I moved faster than I think I ever have to find my mother. I found her lying in a pool that was a mix of blood, urine, semen, and a few other fluids I couldn't place at the time. She had been tortured for information about where I was but refused to say anything, and she wound up their victim for nearly two full hours without ever cracking.

"Seeing her like that shattered my entire world, Tatsumi. My mother was the strongest, most brave, and beautiful woman in the whole world to me, and to see her in such a state nearly broke me right there.

"Mom," his voice slightly cracked and Tatsumi saw how much this pained him to relive, "managed to notice I was there and called me over. I somehow walked across the room and she smiled at me, and to this very day I still believe it was the most beautiful one she ever gave me. She then said, 'Naruto, my boy, never stop smiling.' She then died right there in front of me.

"It was then that I felt like my heart had been pierced with a burning blade. I couldn't understand anything. 'Why?' I kept on asking myself. 'Why?' Eventually I realized that the whole 'why' didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that my mother had been the victim and had done nothing to deserve even a slap – let alone what killed her. I then only had one thought: Revenge. Kill the assholes whom did that to her.

"I decided that I would kill all three of the monsters who'd done that to my mother. I never even said goodbye to the rest in the brothel; I climbed out of the window and disappeared in search of my mom's killers. I lived off of the streets while I searched, and I eventually found the leader of the groups a few days later with a full protective detail between me and him.

"I then realized that I'd never get to kill him if I tried it then, so I decided to just sit back and observed my target and figure out his and his guards' patters so that I could find the opportune moment to strike. It took me almost a full year before I saw my chance and took it.

"He was taking a piss in a back alley alone after a night of heavy drinking. He'd snuck away from his guards and I realized that this had to have been my moment, so I took it. I never made a sound as I crept towards him, clenching my hand-crafted stone dagger so hard I lost feeling in my palm, and as soon as he turned around I sliced his cock off. I tripped him before he could scream, caught his dick, and stuffed it into his own mouth in order to keep him quiet for me to kill.

"I stared right into his blue, fearful eyes and drove my blade directly into his heart. I twisted the knife as I stabbed him and watched as the life in his eyes fled from me. It was right then that I became an assassin, Tatsumi."

The silence over the dusk-lit area was so harsh that Tatsumi couldn't even hear the roar of the waterfall any longer. He'd never once thought that Naruto's past could be so horrible and tragic that it was undoubtedly the worst out of everyone in Night Raid's. I…can't help but wonder how he still manages to smile after all that, Tatsumi wondered as he looked at the older assassin with a newfound sense of understanding.

Naruto then looked over at him and asked out of nowhere, all signs of emotional pain hidden behind his face once more, "Have you told your friends' parents that they're dead?"

Immediately Tatsumi felt a great wave of shame wash over him. He looked down at his lap and admitted, "…No. I haven't yet."

"Why not?"

"I…don't honestly know," he replied uncertainly. "I guess it would just feel…wrong to send that news in a letter."

"Or is it because you're fighting because of them and don't want to let your reason go," Naruto stated more than questioned. "You admitting they died before you've succeeded would be seen as an insult –"

"What do you want me to say!?" Tatsumi screamed and stood up in rage. "That I want to kill the entire Capital because of what it did to both Sayo and Ieyasu!? You're right that I'm an assassin because I want revenge – not only against the Capital but the whole goddamned Empire for what it did to both of them, Scheele, and Aniki too!

"Now…" he whispered. "Now it wouldn't feel right. As far as the world is concerned, neither Scheele's or Aniki's deaths happened and they didn't even exist."

"So Sayo and Ieyasu shouldn't either?"

"No!" he denied vehemently. "I know, and so does everyone back home, and so does everyone back home, that Sayo and Ieyasu existed and have people that loved them! No one can take that from them!"

"Then why not tell them?" Naruto repeated. "Don't you think that their families would want to hold their own funerals? Say their own goodbyes? Or are you just being selfish and want to protect your friends' families from feeling the same grief that you still do to this very day?"

Tatsumi stopped and considered Naruto's insightful words. Ever since he had discovered the true nature of the Empire he'd kept his emotions in check aside from Bulat's death, and even then he still didn't allow anyone in Night Raid to know about his break from all of the emotional stress. Within seven weeks he'd lost his two best friends, the first woman he felt that he might be able to love someday, and the one person whom he had wound up admiring about all others.

He's right, he realized and sagged his shoulders. I've been keeping all of the pain from Sayo and Ieyasu's deaths to myself, and I don't have the right to keep that hidden from their families. I suppose that I don't want to let them go completely yet. "You're right, Naruto. I need to tell their families, but I don't want just send a letter. Something like that needs to be done in person."

Naruto walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder with a friendly smile. "Tatsumi, I know that you feel you've gotten closure already, but you'll understand why I want you to do this when you do it. I'll talk to Najenda and convince her to let you go after our training trip is over. Deal?"

Tatsumi nodded and then watched the sun disappear over the horizon at last. "Deal."

A/N: Order up! One steaming hot Akame chapter right off of my fingers!

Just who is Esdeath truly in love with? Can you guess? Both men have their own positives and negatives to her, so who will win the battle over Esdeath's heart? Unfortunately for you, that is a race that won't be won for QUITE some time, and do not promise a happy ending. It wouldn't feel right in the Akame universe, would it? Or am I just leading you along and will actually wind up with a sappy ending? Good luck guessing.

Quite a bit has been revealed, no? However, so much more has yet to be unveiled! Everything will be shown eventually, but when?

Next chapter will probably conclude the little training arc, but it could possibly stretch into a third if a few scenes prove to be more difficult than I initially estimated.

Got a question? I'll usually answer unless it's relevant to the plot or is planned to be revealed.

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