# Action Pack Issue 4
June 27, 11:13 am-Konoha Gates
The men guardian entrance to the village were surprised to see none other than the Slug Princess, her apprentice and pet pig marching down toward them, and while they didn't want to incite her wrath, they still had a job to do. "Identification and papers, ma'am?" One guard asked.
Tsunade paused and she flicked the questioning guard in the forehead and sent him flying back. "There's your identification." She said shortly as she continued on walking.
Shizune said a hasty apology before hurrying to catcher up to her teacher. "Tsunade-sama, was that necessary?"
"We're here to get to the bottom of this whole thing, which does not mean I have to be pleasant with these people." Tsunade answered shortly as they continued onward to toward the Hokage Tower, her thoughts returning back to the letter she'd received.
Kira and Naruto were gone, left, and no one knew where they went. That was the only reason she'd even set foot in this place again. She felt the remnants of guilt stirring as she thought about the fact that while Naruto didn't remember her, Kira clearly did and knew that on the chance they ever crossed paths he would not be happy to see her.
They stormed up the Hokage Tower and she ignored the shocked secretary and slammed the door off its hinges. "Sensei, where the hell are those kids?" she shouted angrily.
Sarutobi looked unconcerned with the fact he was now missing a door as his voice remained as calm as ever. "Hello Tsunade, how are you?"
Tsunade scowled at him. "Can't complain." She said grudgingly. "Now answer the question, where are Kira and Naruto?"
"Why would you be concerned with them? You never were before." Sarutobi knew it was a low blow, but this had been coming for a long time for all of them.
Tsunade flinched back and Shizune grimaced as she held back from entering the room. "I couldn't take them." She said as the anger was replaced with sadness. "I tried to convince myself that they would be okay. But they weren't were they?"
"They weren't." The Hokage agreed softly. "We all turned our backs on them, and they acted accordingly to do what was necessary to save their mother."
"Where did they go?" Tsunade repeated.
"That I cannot say." Sarutobi replied wearily.
"Can't or won't?" Tsunade questioned as the fire started to return to her voice.
"Both." Sarutobi said. "Their location is the last thing I'd ever give up; I betrayed Kira's trust in me once, and I will not do that again to Naruto." He said putting his hands on the desk. "What I'm not able to comprehend is why now of all times you or Jiraiya would come here and ask about them both now. You never did before."
Tsunade grimaced. "Guilt." She answered finally. "I felt guilty. I thought about how I turned my own back on those two when Kira begged us to take them with us and to not abandon them too. I'll also admit I'm rather terrified that when Kushina wakes up she'll come after our heads."
"When?" Sarutobi raised a brow.
"Kushina was never once to let an injury get in her way. If she can come out a coma, then it will be soon. I just know it." Tsunade said and shuddered lightly. "And when that day comes…"
Sake Bar, 1:45
"So how are your students taking missing out on the exams?" Asuma questioned as he and the other Rookie 9, or rather 8 now, Genins questioned over a drink of Sake.
"They're…not doing well, Sasuke isn't anyway." Kakashi replied. "Sakura, I'm not exactly sure what she's doing, but I've Sasuke cursing Naruto for leaving and holding him back."
"You knew Kira, didn't you?" Kurenai questioned. "Before Naruto was assigned to your team right?"
"Yes, I knew him, but let's just say his hatred for me was quite justified." Kakashi answered with a grimace behind his mask.
"No, kidding." Another voice cut in as a purple-haired woman in a trench coat said walking up to them. "That kid would throw kunai and shuriken at you picture in the Bingo book for target practice." She mocked brushed a tear away from her eye. "I trained him so well."
"More like made him crazier." Asuma muttered.
"What was that?" Anko questioned dangerously and there was no rely, everyone having learned long ago that even when Kira had stopped being her Genin student she still defended him. "That's right." Her expression turned sad for a moment. "I'm sure gonna miss him, this damn place driving him away." She spat before taking another gulp of her drink and going for another refill.
Kakashi had barely touched his drink as he thought back to the Uzumaki's as well, the news now having fully hit him. They had left. Resigned even and they weren't coming back. Kira had never made it any secret about just how much he hated Konoha and would have liked nothing more than to leave, or optimistically see it burned to the ground.
Naruto also knew about this, but he loved his brother, anyone could see that, and despite how standoffish Kira acted, he loved Naruto just as well; to the point where it became a paternal type of affection. Kakashi knew that his sensei would be disappointed in him, as would his two teammates, as Rin had liked Kira and Obito saw him as a younger brother.
He'd been angry at the time that they had survived and his teacher hadn't and had wanted nothing to do with them. He'd left them to the wolves and he didn't care.
But after the years had gone by he'd started to realize that his own hate was unjustified as they had never done anything wrong that day. He knew Kira would do more than just slap his hand away if he tried to reconcile with the teen, but there had still been Naruto. He'd been almost desperate to make a good impression on him, but once he'd actually seen Naruto it had hurt too look the boy who looked like a mix of his parents.
It hadn't helped that when Kira heard about the team settings; he'd barged into a meeting and demanded that Kakashi not be his sensei. His exact words had been 'pick someone else, anyone else, just not him.' Those words had stung, as the little boy who'd used to look up at him with those large childish eyes had now looked at him such vitriol.
He'd messed up with Naruto, and he'd never stood a chance with Kira. He'd let them both down and now they were both gone.
New York, 2:03
Kira walked down the street, resume in hand as he thought about his failed attempt at trying to get a job. This had been his third try. He wondered what he was doing wrong; was it because of his age, his lack of experience, or because he couldn't fry a hamburger and fries?
He'd given his brother a check to deposit into the bank account he'd also set up for the boy and while it wasn't much, he'd still be able to have something in case of an emergency. His brother had told him that he was going to visit their mother beforehand while Kira was out stuck getting repeatedly shot down for a job.
Kira could cook, he knew he could, but he just couldn't make the food they wanted. If he couldn't find a job he'd stick with the scratch tickets and letting his luck do the work. He walked past a vending machine and a bottle of water suddenly dropped out and he picked it up before shrugging.
With how much walking he was going to be doing today, it was wise to stay hydrated.
First National Bank, 2:35
Naruto was bored, and he generally didn't have much of an attention span, but this was important. Kira was trusting him with money. His brother had always budgeted what money they had and never used more than was necessary, and even if it meant stealing the food he always made sure he was fed.
Naruto never really condoned Kira having to resort to stealing, finding the people who ripped them off being pranked by yours truly was much more satisfying; but Kira was different like that. He really was a good brother, even if others had condemned him long before he stole anything or the like, and they were lucky stealing was the only thing he did.
Besides, his brother only rarely did it and stopped all together in the recent years.
Naruto pulled his necklace out of his shirt and glanced down at the picture, feeling a smile spread across his face before he was about to move up in the line before the doors shot off their hinges and a female form in a metallic outfit came metaphorically bouncing in, a manic grin on her face and a mask obscuring her face. 'Something tells me this isn't dress up day.'
The woman pulled out a sack from a belt at her waist and held it out to the person nearest to her. "Fill it up," The metal device at her wrist suddenly form into a bolt of energy and she hurled it at the ground, the floor creating a large dent, "or else." She hissed.
The man that had caught the bag moved around in a terrified manner as people, also cowed by the power this woman seemed to wield and the manic look on her face, put their money or jewelry into the sack as the woman reach around the glass of the teller's post and a wire connected with the computer, the files being hacked the money being transferred.
When the terrified man reached Naruto, the boy threw the check in, but tried to hide his locket, only to a bolt of energy shot just short of his feet and both he and man jerked back and the woman was looking at him and she wagged a finger from her free hand. "Uh, uh, uh, I saw that." She said and was about to throw another bolt when Naruto reluctantly took his locket off and put the necklace into the bag, the woman then turning her attention back to the computer.
When the transfer was complete, the woman grinned again. "Stealing the money out the bank is so blasé, it's all about computers now." she said musingly as she was handed the bag of stolen good, but the bag was pulled out of her hand by…webbing?
Naruto looked up in surprise, and his eyes widened even further as he saw a red and blue form on top of the bank's entrance and the webbing came from his wrist somehow, with a mask over his face and the eyes blanked out. "Then you won't mind giving these people back their stuff, metal head."
The woman scowled as she threw a bolt of energy at the man, but he moved to the side, the previous spot he'd been in's wall shot through and the debris fell onto the floor. "No fair, I stole it fair and square!"
"Then all the more reason to give it back." The red and blue costumed man quipped.
The woman's scowl deepened as the metal device on her other wrist produced the same bolt of energy and she struck one against the other into the man's direction and the blast caused a wide radius of damage on the wall and the debris that fell was larger and was about to fall onto the hostages.
The man let go of the bag to shoot out more webbing from his wrist to create a net that stopped the falling debris and the woman ran up to the bag and was about to make her escape when the man suddenly turned around and webbed her back. "Oh no you don't!"
The woman merely paused before grabbing the webbing and pulling it back and that sent the costumed man flying across the room and out the hole in the wall. The woman laughed as she seemed to run at super speed and disappeared from sight.
Naruto looked at the surrounding damage and had only one thought. 'Why did we come to this particular city again?'
Uzumaki Residence, 4:00
Kira noticed Naruto arriving when he walked in through the door and saw his expression was distinctly downcast. "What's wrong, did they not accept the check?"
Naruto looked up at him startled, he could live without the money, but he couldn't let his brother know that he lost the locket he gave him. "No, but I'll be going tomorrow, there was a…mishap that caused the bank to close. So, how did the job search go?" he asked deftly changing the subject.
Kira looked down at the packet out chicken he was taking out and setting on the frying pan. "It didn't go as well as I had hoped. I couldn't cook what they were asking, but I did get my share of free beverages from the vending machines."
"Can't I have one?" Naruto asked cheerily.
Kira gestured to the fridge. "Go ahead. I did win 100 dollars from a scratch ticket, so it was enough to let me buy groceries for this week. Tomorrow I go out and try again for a job."
Naruto nodded as he looked down at the table and noticed the small packets of plant seeds and the radio. "You bought these?"
"For you." Kira answered tossing the empty package away and washed his hands before grabbing a tong out of the drawer. "I bought them so they'd give you something to focus on; and I know how much you like music." He said turning to the stove.
Naruto picked up the packet before grabbing Kira around the waist and hugged him. "Thank you, Nii-chan."
"I'm cooking here, boy." Kira reprimanded, but his voice wasn't harsh and he used one hand to briefly pat his brother on the back.
Naruto pulled back, the smile still on his face before he took the things up to his room, already thinking of when he could start planting.
# 4 "Black Fox, Part 1"
Naruto walked into his room and put his things down on the desk, his attention diverting to his neck where the locket no longer laid and he felt a rage start to swell in him. His brother had given him that! It was the only picture they had a whole family, and that woman took it.
His eyes moved over to his clothing pile and noticed that some of them were darker than the rest and his eyes narrowed in thought. He couldn't tell Kira about what had happened, so he'd do something about it himself. He walked over to the pile, but not before absently turning on his radio and began to pull out several articles of clothing and he set them down on his bed before making his way back down stairs.
"Kira-nii, do you think I'm any good at my jutsus?" he asked.
Kira paused for a moment before going back to frying the chicken. "Yes, you're already good at the tree climbing exercise and you're coming along nicely with the water walking. And I hope you'll understand that it may be a bit before I can teach you any new jutsus until I'm done settling our registration for our schools."
Naruto nodded, noticing that his brother hadn't answered his question. "But what about my jutsus?" he repeated.
"Yes, you're good, but keep working at them, practice makes perfect after all." Kira said flatly, but his words didn't have less meaning to them.
"I know." Naruto said absently. "And, um, the doctors said that mom's brainwaves are starting to speed up, they said it was a good thing, is that true?"
Kira nodded. "Yes, Tsunade told me about this type of stuff and from what I read from medical books over the years. It means mom is going be waking up soon."
Naruto felt his heart swell and the urge to go get his locket back came back stronger than ever.
Naruto pulled the black hood over his head, his form having gone back to his original one and pulled the black gloves over his hands, the metal plates on the back glinting from the light in the room. He pulled the breathable fabric over his nose and turned off the light in his room, having told Kira he was going to be up here and going to bed afterwards and wouldn't be seeing him until tomorrow morning.
He's worded it in a way that wasn't a said like a lie, but he still felt guilty. He stared at the reflection staring back at him from the window. He was clad in a black and orange sweater and black pants, ninja sandals on his feet. He thought he looked kind of badass in these clothes before gathering his resolve and opened the window and jumped out.
He'd didn't need to pump any chakra to his legs anymore as Kira's on the side training from when he was younger was starting to pay off. His brother would get him to jump from small beams to another and further in space so his leg muscles wouldn't wear out and wouldn't need to waste chakra needlessly.
He landed on the next roof over as he remembered the radio coming on with breaking news that the woman who'd robbed the bank earlier had just struck again. He had the general area he need to go to and kept leaping from building to building and used the body flicker Kira taught him and appeared on a building he was too far away to jump to and landed on the roof before sprinting off again.
His teammates had never been interested in learning what he knew, and while he knew he didn't have much of an attention span, he was getting better and he really could be smart when he focused on one task at a time, but he had just found the Academy reading material to be too boring and had complained about how it was supposed to help them in real life.
Give him practical work over that any day of the week.
It had been hard at first, but he'd eventually gotten the body flicker down and several assorted jutsus as well as the Shadow Clone one, his personal favorite by far. He heard the woman's manic laughter and scowled under the mask and followed the sound. He saw the woman running speedily through the streets and saw the red and blue form swinging from building to building as he also followed after the woman.
Naruto still didn't know either of their names, but he was willing to give the man the benefit of the doubt and assume he was trying to stop the woman too as he tried to do earlier. Naruto added some chakra to his legs and sped up enough so that when he jumped down he was little more than a black blur and tackled the woman right off her feet.
She looked genuinely startled before tossing him off and got up, only to get wrapped in webbing as the man landed on the wall. "Alright, lady, why don't we make this easy and you just give up?"
The woman grinned as a bolt of energy cut through the webbing. "Why won't I want to stop? This is such a thrill ride!"
"A stupid thrill?" Naruto yelled. "You've been stealing stuff because of a stupid thrill?"
The woman sniffed haughtily. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it Whiskers."
Naruto bristled as he resisted the urge to touch his birthmarks and instead glared at her. "Where's your loot?"
The woman's grin widened as she sent bolts at them both. "Why, so you can take away my trophies? I don't think so, besides, I'm thinking of melting down all that pretty jewellery and making a real trophy to me, the living embodiment of action!"
Naruto felt his blood begin to boil when she started to describe how she was going to melt it down. "You will do no such thing!" he snarled and he shot forward in a black blur, his punches flying, but the woman matched him blow for blow, but she was just one moment faster and punched him against a wall.
The blond felt his healing factor starting to kick in as he glared at the woman and she turned away, only to get caught in a web line. She chuckled sardonically. "Didn't we learn our mistake from last time?" she asked grabbing the web line and pulled, only to get a crate pulled back at her instead.
"Why yes I did." The red and blue costumed man said clinging to the wall by his hands and feet and looked over at Naruto. "Now kid, why don't you run along and let the grown-ups handle this."
Naruto scowled back at him. "A kid am I? Well who was the one who tackled her in the first place?"
The man tilted his head, and even with the mask he seemed thoughtful. "Okay, point taken." He admitted shrugging and had to jump up one level on the wall as the woman sent a concussive blast at him from her metal wrist devices.
"And what you we call you, the amazing Metal Head?" The man joked.
The woman smirked as she fired more energy bolt at them. "The name's Joystick."
"How is that any better than this spider guy's suggestion?" Naruto questioned dubiously, only to dodge a bolt sent at him for his troubles.
"Hey, it's not 'spider guy,' it's Spider-Man." The man said sounding offended.
"I don't care what either of your names are, you're both gonna be dead in a minute!" Joystick shouted, looking a lot less manic and angrier.
Naruto figured it was the fact she hadn't managed to get away yet. He didn't want to do this, but he needed to find out where his locket was, so he whirled around to the spot where Spider-Man was and threw a flash bomb at him.
Joystick used Spider-Man's distraction and knock him off the wall by another concussive blast and hit Naruto with one as well that sent them both flying back. "Thanks kid." She said grinning again before she ran down the streets at a superhuman level.
Naruto felt himself get picked up by the front of his shirt and he was pretty sure Spider-Man was glaring at him from under that mask. "Why did you do that?" he snapped.
Naruto glared right back at him. "Because she stole something from me and I want it back."
"Then why'd you let her get away?" Spider-Man questioned shaking Naruto lightly.
"Because I needed her to get away; who knows where she keeps her stash and no one may ever find it." Naruto replied angrily and slapped the man's hand off his shirt.
"You're in way over your head kid, go home." Spider-Man said before letting out a web line and swinging off.
Naruto watched him leave, and despite the indignation at being dismissed so easily because of his age, he reluctantly knew the man was right. The only reason he was even doing this was to get his necklace back, but while letting the bad guy get away wasn't the best move, it was the most practical.
He jumped off and headed home, hoping he'd be able to follow the woman the next time she struck. And then he'd be ready for her.
(# Action Pack Issue 5: As Naruto waits to retrieve his locket from the thrill seeker Joystick, a ripple effect begins to take place in Konoha, and the oblivious Kira is finishing up their settlement in New York with their regristration into the school system of Midtown Elementary/Middle school and Midtown High.)