# Action Pack Issue 6

June 30, 1:20 pm-New York Mall

"I still don't see why we have to get our school supplies early." Naruto said pouting as he and Kira walked through the upper levels of the mall and were both carrying the packs they'd bought with the money Kira won from playing another scratch ticket as he had yet to get a job that would hire him.

"Because school starts in September and when we get done this we won't have to go out for these school supplies later." Kira replied calmly.

Naruto nodded and they continued on walking before coming to a stop at a shoe store. "What are we doing here?"

Kira pushed the boy closer to the store. "You're going to pick out a pair of shoes while I go hand out resumes. And we both know that I wouldn't leave you in a store by yourself unless it was important and I could trust you to stay put right?"

Naruto nodded. "You know you can."

Kira patted the boy's 'red' hair and gently pushed him all the way into the store before walking off. He could trust Naruto, but he didn't trust anyone else, but his brother was smart and wouldn't wander off.

Back inside the store, the 'redhead' was giving a cursory glance at the racks of shoes, his nose turning up in distaste at how uncomfortable they looked. They were nothing like his current foot ware, but assumed that he's going to have to wear these shoes for whatever reason later on.

He kept on walking before he bumped into a brunette girl and they flinched back. "I'm sorry." He said automatically as his experiences with Sakura taught him that females often hit you for doing the most accidental of things, talking unfortunately being something he was routinely hit for.

The girl looked somewhat indignant, but didn't look like she was about to hit him. "Just watch it, like, okay?"

Naruto nodded and saw the pair of shoes that were on the ground and assumed that the girl had dropped them when he bumped into her. "Again, I'm sorry." He said picking them up and handed them to her.

The girl shrugged as she accepted them. "Eh, no harm no foul." She replied before moving on.

Naruto felt somewhat mystified that he hadn't gotten a single sneer or hit on the head. He only dwelled on it because it was such a novel experience. Kira never hit him, but unfortunately Kira didn't count as 'people' by their standards despite the fact he was still half-human, but then again Kira had never complained about it so he never brought it up.

He shook his head slightly as he himself continued on and went back to looking for shoes to buy.

New York Airport, 1:30 pm

Sheoke Sanada got off the plane, a briefcase in one hand and a pair of dark sunglasses on her face while her other hand contained the newest Bingo book and the marker was placed at the page that had led her to this city. The reward had almost been like a challenge that was being put in this book to bring back what sounded like two wayward children.

Well, she'd gotten lucky with one of her leads about it being reported of a blond and brunet boy arriving in New York before unceremoniously killing the informant to make sure that no one else could find them and try and horn in on her catch.

Sanada continued on past customs after having her case checked and making her way into the women's washroom. Nothing might have been in the case, but no one accounted on her armour being the case itself, she thought before thinking over her plan on actually catching the Uzumaki brothers.

She pulled the shuriken out of the holster on her arm before smirking. 'Well, I can always send a message.'

New York Mall, 2:00 pm

Kira allowed himself to feel the starting point of contentment, even if the job he'd been hired at was a clothing store it still held some merit. He knew where to take Naruto now for when they had to get more clothing than the little that they had and since he was now an employee, he got a discount.

Kira arrived back in the shoe store and sniffed the air, his heightened sense of smell letting him find his brother sitting on the bench by the cashier easily. "Did you get something you like?" he asked quietly.

Naruto looked up and nodded before standing. "There black, but have they red streaks on them." He replied.

Kira gave an absent minded nod before the both of them started walking back to the entrance. "I finally got a job."

Naruto gave his brother a surprised look. "Really?" Kira nodded and the 'redhead' grinned. "That's great Kira-nii, where?"

Kira didn't answer at first. "A clothing store." He said carefully watching Naruto's face for his reaction.

To his credit, Naruto's expression didn't change. "Well I'm just glad you have a job now after trying so hard to find one." He really was proud of his brother, and while Kira didn't say anything, he saw the older boy's eyes soften just a little. Naruto kept looking around the area as they made their way to the exit and tried to do the mapping of the city that Kira did as they were driven home in a taxi.

"I'm going to teach you a new technique."

Naruto jumped in his seat and looked over at Kira in surprise, mostly from the fact his brother had spoken in their native language. He assumed that he was bending his own rule because this was probably a private discussion. "Really? Does that mean you're all done the 'settling in' stuff?" Kira nodded. "Great, what is it?"

"It's nothing that I could do properly since none of my elemental chakras are earth, but I can still use the technique to show you." Kira replied. "It's an escape technique, and all things considered this may end up saving your life someday."

Naruto nodded seriously, as he thought about this before knowing that his brother was right. The thought of it saving his life brought on the thought that someone would be after him to use it in the first place. He tried not to shudder at that.

How much would it suck for that to happen, right?

Elemental Nations

The widespread of the news of Kira's departure from Konoha had been fast, and the news following it due to loose, drunken lips had spread just as fast.

Uzumaki Naruto, Kira's younger brother, was not only the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, but the son of the Yondaime Hokage.

The news made its way to the far reaches of the nations, spreading like wildfire and inciting different responses than Kira's departure had. It was almost unanimous though that everyone thought Konoha was an idiot; the fact the boy in question was a Jinchuuriki be damned.

Iwa had been a little torn on the subject though, as half the populace was seething in rage that the spawn of their hated enemy had left, or joy because he had left and wouldn't come back to plague them as his father had.

Both Suna and Kumo though were still interested in this development as they had been with Kira's departure. They saw an opportunity present themselves once again, the fact that no one knew where either of the Uzumaki's had gone being a minor obstacle.

After all, someone had to find them to try and attain the bounty put on their heads.

#6 "Snapdragon"

Uzumaki Residence, 2:18 pm

Kira made his way down into the basement that served as his bedroom since he had specifically left the only room left in the house alone as that one was going to be their mother's room. He went over to his pack and pulled out one of the sealing scrolls and after letting a droplet of his blood hit it, a puff of smoke erupted and a pile of scrolls appeared. He looked through several before picking up two earth techniques and one new water one for his brother to work on.

Naruto should be sufficiently occupied with these, and more importantly, having to master them would take more than a few days; giving him enough time to hopefully pass over July 2nd without any fuss.

Kira expression didn't change as he about his monthly bane. It was one of only two drawbacks to being a half-breed like him; he got a demonic half that he constantly had to hold back, and on the new moon every month he would become fully human. There wouldn't be any real physical change as he'd still look as he was, but all the fatigue from the previous month would catch up to him and leave him too tired to want to move out of bed.

The brunet knew Naruto knew about this, and would always look at him worriedly as the day drew closer in the months before, but since Naruto seemed to be so entranced by their new surroundings he wouldn't be too worried about him once he did notice what day was coming up.

This was the reason he'd picked today to let Naruto start on his continued training.

Kira heard the phone ringing upstairs and walked up to find Naruto just picking it up. "Hello?" he the now blond boy asked. Kira's hearing picked up the reply on the other line before Naruto answered. "This is Naruto Uzumaki, what is this about? Is our mother okay?" he asked as his voice became more panicked. He calmed when the doctor on the other line said that nothing was wrong with their mother. "What is then?"

Kira froze minutely as Naruto's expression became slack. "Is she serious?" he prompted quietly.

That seemed to snap Naruto out of his daze as he shook his head. "Are you serious?"

Kira didn't even wait for Naruto to finish up with the phone call before putting the scrolls on the counter and was heading to the back door of the house and opened the door, looking back briefly to see his brother hand up the phone and walk over to him. His hands flashed through several hand seals before muttering something and somewhat hurriedly move Naruto through the door.

"Kira-nii, what did you just do?" Naruto asked.

"I cast a Genjutsu called 'Double False Surroundings.'" Kira explained shortly. "Anyone looks in our direction and they'll just see two birds flying low."

"I still can't get over how you can cast Genjutsus so easily while I can't even cast the basics." Naruto pouted.

Kira looked down at him, a look of actual annoyance crossing his face and Naruto knew that this was not the time to be complaining. "Are you done yet?" Kira didn't get angry at him, because his brother seemed to have an extremely long fuse, but even that had a limit.

And right now they had to get to the hospital. "I'm done." Naruto murmured.

Kira just nodded before jumping onto the roof and Naruto followed behind him as they headed into the city.

New York General, 2:00 pm

The first thing she was aware of was that her body felt weak and her stomach felt flat. Her thoughts immediately turned to her two little boys; Kira and Naruto. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep for, but nobody better have hurt her babies while she was asleep.

Kushina Uzumaki opened her purple eyes for the first time in twelve years and her eyes surveyed her surroundings. She was tough, she should have only been out for a few days at best, so why was she feelings so weak and hooked up to a life support machine? Kushina looked out of the corner of her eye and saw something that terrified her. All her long beautiful hair, the hair that Minato loved so much and she had used to stop Kurama-Kyubbi was gone; whittled down to scant inches from her shoulders.

A sense of anger overcame her as she thought about what she was going to do to those who had dared to shear off all her hair before a woman in a hospital coat came in. Finally, and the woman looked at her, in surprise first before turning kind. The expression genuinely startled her as the look was genuine and not a fake one like she was used to seeing one the faces.

"Is good to see your awake, two special boys have been coming to see you and wondering when you'd wake up." The woman said kindly and Kushina felt her heart soar. Her special boys? Kira and Naruto! "Would you like for me to get them for you, if you're up for it that is."

Kushina nodded, her neck feeling stiff, but the doctor merely nodded in return before saying that she would get on it and have some orderlies come and give her a check-up to make sure that there was no adverse effects. The woman was left confused though, why would there be adverse effects in the first place?

Sure, she knew that it probably hadn't looked good for her in the first place; and why was the doctor speaking English anyway?

The orderlies had come and gone, taking her off the machine, and taking off her breathing mask to let her breath on her own. She had been given a button that would let her raise her bed so she could sit up in a way and she had done just that when the doctor told her that her boys were here.

Kushina's frail smile faded when she noticed that there was no infant and 4 year old, but a teenager and pre-teen. "Who…who are you two? Where are my babies?"

The younger ones face looked crushed and the older one's face tightened before he answered. "I'm Kira and this is Naruto-"

"Liar!" Kushina hissed. "My Naruto is just a baby and has blond hair." She said looking at the pre-teen's red hair. "And my Kira has orange eyes. Get out, get out!" she snapped and while the younger one looked about to break, the older one's face looked like it was made of stone as he closed his eyes.

"…do you hate me too, Kushina-nee?" he asked before opening his eyes and looking at her with orange eyes.

Kushina flinched back as her mind snapped back to the night when she and Minato had found Kira among the rubble of his home, the body of his birth mother just a few feet away and him looking up at them with tears streaming down his face as he asked the same question and the same nickname attached to it before she'd actually become his mother.

Kushina saw the face of that little boy overlap with the one in front of her and she put her face in her hands. "…how long?" she questioned quietly. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Twelve years." Kira answered as he gestured for the other boy to cut his jutsu and Kushina's heart broke a little when she realized just how long she's been away from her boys and saw the now blond-haired boy that looked like such a perfect mix of her and Minato.

Twelve years. She'd left her boys to fend for themselves for twelve years. "Where am I?" she asked as she knew she wasn't in a Konoha hospital. The people here were too nice to her after all.

Kira seemed a little reluctant to speak. "We're in New York."

"That explains it." Kushina replied and thought about why for a moment before pushing it away as she noticed that both of her boys were standing away from her. "Come here, let me hold you guys." She said holding out her arms.

They both approached somewhat hesitantly and once they sat on the edge of the bed on both sides, Kushina wrapped one arm around both of them and ran her hand through their hair, Naruto even putting his head on her shoulder as he let out something that sounded suspiciously like a sob. "You…you need a shower Kaa-chan." He choked out.

Kushina let out a small, choked laugh. "I know, Fishcake, I know." Naruto made a slight face at the name, but smiled lightly as she kissed him on the forehead and he closed his eyes. Kushina looked at Kira and smiled softly at him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you both."

Kira shook his head. "Don't be, it was our fault for not getting the Transformation jutsu and explaining things beforehand." He replied. "It's just that…we've missed you so much."

Kushina's smile widened. "Well I'm not going anywhere now." she promised as she kissed Kira on the forehead as well before resting her head on the pillow and closed her eyes.

Kira was about to close his eyes as well when he saw the doctor outside the door and looked rather hesitant about breaking up the scene, so Kira carefully took his mother's arm off his shoulder and put in on the bed gently before walking over to the door and gave his mother and brother another glance, his eyes turning gray once more as he stepped outside the room and closed the door softly. "Yes, Doctor Reyes?"

The woman handed him the chart in her hands. "You can see for yourself, but you're mother's vitals are fine, though because of the fact she's been in a coma for so long then you have to understand she'll have to be kept here until she's a healthy weight again and can move around properly without fear of falling down."

Kira nodded as he knew that Kushina was a strong woman and she'd bounce back, but it was the psychological effects he was worried about. While he did know that she knew about dad sealing Kyuubi in Naruto, he was worried about how long it would take to hit her.

It had taken himself several hours to fully understand the concept of death at the age of three and to know that no matter what, his biological mother was never coming back. He knew there was a technique to revive the dead, but it was a mockery of life and he would wish the 'rebirth' on no one, let alone to have the memories of the people he cared for sullied by being brought back in such a vile way.

"And…" The doctor seemed once again hesitant to continue, "the manner of your payment…"

Kira held up his hand. "It's okay." He said and while the words were somewhat flat, he did mean them as this woman was the one who oversaw their mother's care, so for that he would give her some slack. "I can pay the bill, I just need to know if that will include the physiotherapy or not."

"It will." Doctor Reyes replied. "The bill is on the second page."

Kira nodded, and when he saw the exact amount, his face didn't even tighten. He just calmly nodded, as he learned a long time ago not to be bothered by how much things cost. It was just a manner of getting the money he needed to think over. And the bill did state it could be paid after the therapy was over. "Now if you'll excuse me…" he said quietly before going back into the room and saw his mother and brother sleeping peacefully on the bed still.

Kira walked over and sat down beside Kushina before noticing the fact the room had a television and grabbed the remote on the bedside table and turned it on, making sure to keep it low enough that it won't disturb his sleeping family, but loud enough for his hearing to pick up.

Kira had no real interest in watching television other than the news, seeing as he could find more productive things to do with his time and he came to a news station with apparently breaking news. It was of a gruesome murder scene with the victims head cut off and there were markings on the wall and his eyes widened slightly when he realized that it was in kanji.

'Beware; Snapdragon is here, demon brats.'

Kira felt the stirrings of anger in his chest and knew what the message meant. Someone had found them; someone had murdered to get their attention. Was it too much to ask for them to have a normal life? Or as normal as it was gonna get, or was this it? Kira looked over at his family and decided that they are going to have a normal life and turned the televisions off.

His eyes narrowed as he stared out the window. 'Well Snapdragon, message received.'

July 1, 1:12 pm-New York General

Kira didn't like using visiting their mother as an excuse to sneak into the morgue where he overheard that the murder victim was stored in, but in order to keep them safe, he had to do this. He couldn't tell either of them about the murder, as both of them would undoubtedly flip, but he resolved to tell them about this murder after he'd caught the culprit and why they were trying to ruin their new lives.

He was of course going to leave out the beating he was going to give the culprit though when he did find them.

Naruto had only been all-too-happy to stay with their mother and talk to her about how Kira raised him and what he taught him, but they both knew better than to tell her about how the villagers treated them just yet. They both knew she'd want to give the council a piece of her mind, but she wasn't ready for that just yet.

Kira took on the appearance of an average orderly and wasn't even glanced at twice when he entered the lower floor of the building and found himself in the morgue. He looked over the sheet and scrolled down the list until he came to where it said 'new arrival' and found the 'fridge.'

Kira opened it and his face twisted slightly at the sight of the missing head and took a deep breath, the smell of dead flesh hitting his nose and he was, as always, somewhat worried to find that he didn't find it disgusting. Forget only having two drawbacks to being a half-breed, the third was cannibalism as demons only saw one real use for humans, and that was to be entrées. Hence the super senses to allow them to hunt better for their meals.

Kira himself had even felt these instinctual urges to take a bite out of something and at one point he actually did, but it was when he was still very young and hadn't realized the full effect of what he was at the time.

That and the person he'd bitten was a man who had been yelling at him for trying to play around 'normal' children. But other than that he's never tried to eat anyone, as that would constitute as killing someone. Something he'd promised never to do.

Kira pushed past the smell of something his species considered food and found another scent, this one of a woman and knew he'd likely found his culprit. Thankfully his disgust was stronger than his temptation and he closed the 'fridge' without any trouble. He left the room and moved back up to the upper levels of the building before letting his disguise drop, but kept his eyes gray as he walked back to his mother's room.

He found Kushina and Naruto having a discussion about jutsu. "Which one are you talking about?"

"The Shadow Clone." Naruto said and pouted. "How come you never told me about the different types before?"

Kira stared at him dryly as he closed the door. "I did, but you kept asking for ramen instead."

Naruto flushed as Kushina perked up. "Say, do you think you can sneak me in some? This place's food is alright and all, but nothing beats ramen."

"Sorry Kaa-chan, but Doctor Reyes was specific about you only getting supplemented food to get you back to normal." Kira replied as he saw on the chair he'd set beside the bed, Naruto preferring to sit on the actual bed. "How are you feeling today?"

"Alright I guess, but everything still feels so stiff; and the doc said she was going to get me to start moving around when I'm all 'fixed up' so to speak." Kushina replied and hugged Naruto, while patting Kira on the head and ruffling up his hair. "You guys are the highlight of my day so far." She said softly.

Kira's normally blank mask softened just a little to let a small smile cross his lips, his canines being seen just protruding out a little. "And you are ours."

And if he had anything to say about it, this 'Snapdragon' was not going to ruin it.

Uzumaki Residence, 2:48 pm

"So, what am I going to be working on?" Naruto asked after having the two of them got back from the hospital and were sitting outside on the grass.

Kira simply handed his brother three scrolls before the tone of his voice took on a distinct lecture-like tone. "As I've said before, since I don't have the right chakra type they won't work that well for me, but you will have no problem; other than actually mastering them of course." He explained and Naruto nodded. "The first one is Earth Release: Tunneling Technique, which will allow you to move underground without disrupting the area around you, and makes a great quick escape should the need arise for it. The second is called Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Technique, which makes things or people light and can increase their speed, but it's horrible for offensive attacks as the force of the blow isn't as great."

Naruto stared wide-eyed at his brother before remembering the fact Kira only seemed to show something akin to excitement was when he was talking about Jutsu. "And…and the third?"

"It called Ice Disk Technique, but don't be fooled by the name, it's still considered a water jutsu, and you're not ready for combining chakras just yet, so this will get you ready. It allows you to create a transparent disk made from the moisture in the air and can be hurled at anyone, and is also a handy shield or can be created to form disks capable of moving in the air."

Naruto's attention was attracted to that point. "You mean I can essentially fly if I master this?" Kira nodded and Naruto grinned. "Then I'm definitely learning this one." He thought thinking about not being worried about the too far jumps he'd have to flicker to.

"Glad you like it." Kira said before standing and his hands flashed through several seals and he muttered something under his breath. "I put up another Genjutsu, same one as before, but only this time no one will notice you but you can still be heard," he gave Naruto a dry stare, "so don't be cursing."

Naruto's grin turned sheepish as he rubbed his head. "I don't curse."

"Right." Kira retorted flatly. "I'm making dinner early as something came up, I'll be back late, okay?"

Naruto blinked before nodding. "Uh, sure." He decided not to think of anything Kira did as strange as he knew that he had no right to criticize seeing as he had decided to become a masked vigilante behind Kira's back.

Speaking of which, he should really get started on this Ice Disk thing so he can fly right away.

New York City, 6:45 pm

Kira jumped across the roof buildings as his Genjutsu shielded him and he kept sniffing the air, figuring he'd catch the scent sooner or later, but then again he'd been thinking that for the past two hours now and still nothing. Kira stopped on one building and took a breather moment and his eyes suddenly snapped back open as the female scent he'd gotten from the man's dead body hit his nose.

It was faint, but it was all he had at the moment and he changed direction and as he followed the scent, the stronger it got until it lead him to a motel. He sneered around at the surroundings as he continued to follow the scent up the stairs and kept sniffing around, though the stench of other smells started to mix in and soon it became increasingly difficult to stay focus without feeling the need to wretch.

Kira stopped once again and held his breath to allow him some reprieve from the smells and then 'dove back in' so to speak and started to sniff around again and soon he found where the woman's scent was originating. He briefly considered breaking in and beating the woman up before scrapping the idea of being too stupid and wondered how he should approach this.

Well, the woman was after him, so he'd do something he'd never thought he'd do with an enemy; talk to them. Then he'd beat her up. And if she attacked he'd just fight back.

Kira knocked on the door as he dropped the Genjutsu and a dark-haired woman answered it. Instant recognition flooded her face as a shuriken seem to come from her sleeve and tried to jab him with it, only for Kira to pull back and he kicked her inside.

The woman he was sure was Snapdragon grabbed the briefcase she'd landed by and it suddenly started to shift and change until it was no longer a briefcase and had encased her in some metal outfit and visor. "You were very foolish to come here." She said smirking.

"So says the one who was dumb enough to issue a public challenge." Kira said cracking his knuckles. "So tell me, Snapdragon, why are you here?"

The woman's smirk widened as he threw several shuriken at him and he jumped to the side as they embedded themselves in the wall. "Wouldn't you like to know Uzumaki."

Kira didn't like toying with people, well, much anyway, but he needed to know whyright now. "Talk and why don't you turn yourself in while you're at it?" he snarked.

"I don't think so." Snapdragon retorted before aiming a kick for his head and he blocked it before doing a drop kick that sent the woman across the room and hit the table beside the bed.

Kira noticed the book that fell to the floor and recognized it. 'A Bingo book? Then that means….' His thoughts trailed off before he came to the realization that he was probably in it. His face grew stony as he stepped in front of the woman and his hands started crackling with purple electricity and he zapped her, her letting out a silent scream. "I suppose you never knew that metal conducts electricity, hmm?" he asked glaring at her. "Now, why are you here?"

Snapdragon gritted her teeth before spitting at him. "Go to hell, demon scum."

Kira wiped the spit off his cheek and zapped her once again. "I'm through being nice; you'd better tell me right now or else."

Snapdragon had the audacity to laugh at him. "Or else what? Everyone knows that you don't kill; it says so right on your bounty."

Kira smirked viciously, his canines no longer looking cute, but making his expression worse. "You said in your kanji 'demon brats' emphasis on the 's.'" he said glaring at her. "I don't take kindly to people who threaten my brother; so who put the bounty on us?" Snapdragon remained silent and Kira gave her another zap, and then another until he was sure he could smell her singed skin. "Still nothing? I can do this all night woman."

He knew he couldn't, but she didn't know that and just as he was about to zap her again, Snapdragon held up a hand weakly. "No more, I'll talk."

Kira lowered his hands and waited.

"The bounty was sanctioned by your village at 50,000; with you or the boy being dead or alive." Snapdragon explained.

Kira's face twisted up in a snarl as he promptly knocked the woman out and his thoughts returned to the fact his former 'village' had actually put a bounty on his and Naruto's heads. His expression changed once again back to its smirk as he thought about how sorry they were all going to be once their mother found out about this.

Oh yes, if they thought he was bad, wait until they saw her.

(#Action Pack Issue 7: As Kira is put out of commission, Naruto continues his training, and in the course of the day makes an interesting new friend named Kitty Pryde and hits it off with the Parkers, but makes a new enemy in the woman known as Iron Maiden.)