Last time on: Greatness

… It was announced nation-wide that the war has ended and the Mizukage, who they found was under a sharingan induced genjutsu-which has broken, has been 'executed' and his 'head' situated in front of the currently in construction Kage tower.

Everyone knew of the hero that ended the war, he was known as Kumo. He was a black haired, green pupiless eyed youth that often wore his green hooded jacket and never took off his black half face mask. It was his age everyone did not know about.

…

"Thank you, Naruto-kun for all you have done for Kiri," Mei said as she and the three others bowed, "we all owe you a great debt of gratitude."

Yagura stepped forward and bowed, "I also owe you my life, Naruto-sama."

Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head with a faint blush on his cheeks, "it was nothing, just remember our agreement."

…

Naruto checked the map and read out: kaizen village (OC).

Now…

CHAPTER 5

Walking leisurely to kaizen village, Naruto whistled a tune he heard from his surrogate grandfather. He had sealed Kumo in his wrist so that the members of the village would not feel threatened or be afraid of him.

It was sunset when he reached the villages gates and crept past the sleeping gate keeper. The man looked old. Kaizen village was located on the edge of grass country. It was a market based village with less than 5% of its population being ninja. He chose this place because of the tendency for news being passed between merchants.

He smiled and waved to a farmer who had a hoe over his shoulders and his son who tried to match his old mans steps. It was a nice thing seeing the innocence of a child trying to show that he was grown up to his father. This greatly depressed our hero; for longer than he could remember he had been trying to catch his old mans eyes, trying to get the man to look at him instead of his sister. He gave up the moment he lost his clan heir title.

Naruto knew that he lost his innocence the day he made his first puppet: Kumo. That was the day he swore to show his family that he was not a weakling.

'Just you wait, Tou-sama. When I make jounin you'll see how far I have already gone without your help. I'll sho-' his dark thoughts were interrupted by a soft yelp in a dark ally. He briefly noted that it was already dark now, about seven 'o clock. He heard the yelp again but this time it was accompanied by pained sobs and incoherent pleading. He heard a man yell at it then a crunching sound that could only mean he had kicked her.

"Murderer! Why don't you just die!" the man spat as Naruto crept stealthily towards the voices.

"I didn't kill anyone, sir. Please stop." A voice replied, obviously female and painfully obvious that she was young.

"You killed my sister, freak!" another voice trilled, this one was female, accompanied by a slapping sound and more whimpering, "stop trying to act all innocent, beast!"

Naruto looked into the corner and his blood ran cold at the sight.

Four obviously adult figures towered over a small shivering pile of clothes on the ground. It was blood stained.

"Nobody wants you, beast! Die like the filth you are!" one of the silent figures, male, yelled stomping on the pile on the ground.

"Hey guys, look what I found!" the fourth figure shouted as he hoisted up a long steel pipe. Naruto could guess what he wanted to do with it, he won't allow them.

"Hey!" the blonde yelled, "what do you think your doing!"

"Piss off kid; this is adult business, go back home." The female figure said sneered at him. When Naruto walked into the ally she yelled at him "Oi! I said piss off!"

"I'll handle this yuo" the first figure muttered loudly, he marched towards Naruto, obviously with ill intention towards the boy. Little did he know, so did Naruto. Before he reached five feet to the boy a thin green string grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up. It wasn't tight enough to suffocate him.

Naruto kept walking and he quickly unsealed Kumo and had it stand at the entrance of the ally in case one of the fools tried to escape. He walked up to the small bundle and saw shy eyes watch him come. When he got closer he had three more of his chakra strings tie up the rest of the bullies. When he got to the bundle he saw it lying in front of a large cardboard box and assumed that that was where it normally slept. He knelt down in from of the bundle and gave it a small smile which it didn't see from behind his mask.

"Hey there," he whispered, "what's your name?"

The pile of clothe seemed to hesitate then it replied, "Don't got one. The woman in the orphanage says monsters don't deserve to have names."

"Let me be the judge of that. Can I please see your face?" the pile hesitated and quivered slightly as if it was remembering a past event. Naruto removed his own mask, "please."

It seemed to nod and it slowly stood up, it was definitely younger and shorter than him, and it unravelled the clothes on its face. When it finished it-now a she-looked Naruto in the eyes before she ducked into the box and looked up at him.

She had short grey hair with heavy side burns. Her eyes were cat-like with blood red sclera; she had small fangs in her mouth and small sharp nails on her fingers and feet. She was slightly tanned and had any normal 5 year olds face-disregarding the side burns and the ears which looked elf-like, that is. She had a little hair on the upper part of her hand and on her feet (think wolverine's side burns but not his hair and definitely not his beard). (Who can guess what she is!)

"I don't see a monster, do you want to know what I see?" she nodded timidly, "I see a person in need of a friend. Would you let me be your friend?"

It froze and quivered, and then it took a deep breath and murmured, "Promise not to hurt me."

"I swear on my life I would never hurt you intentionally." Naruto beamed at her, "since you don have a name, can I give you one?" she nodded and raised her head above the box's edge, "I'll call you Shin yu because you will be my best friend." The girl, now named Shin yu leapt out of the box and hugged him. He patted her back and smiled, "my name is Naruto."

"Thank you Naruto-sama." She whispered.

"No, no, no don't call me that. Naruto is fine"

"Na-naruto-san?" she said, testing the name and looking at him for confirmation. He shrugged then nodded, "Naruto-san."

"That's good shin-chan," she blushed heavily at the name. "Can you get down for a minute; I need to deal with these trash." He said as he sneered at the still struggling figures suspended above them.

Shin yu was wide eyed with awe at what her new best friend could do, "how do you do that?" she said as she reluctantly got down from the warm boys embrace.

"I'll show you later if you want."

"I'd like that very much, Naruto-san."

He nodded, "now close your eyes, cover your ears and count to thirty… you do know how to count right?"

"I-I-I taught myself how to do it. I don't know if I'm correct though." She muttered while she scuffed her feet on the floor.

"I can correct you if you're wrong whenever you like, that's one of the things best friends do for each other."

"Will you run away like the last one?" She said sourly.

He ruffled her hair and said "trust me, shin-chan, I will never run away."

"Ok, Naruto-san." She closed her eyes and covered her ears, "one, two, three…" she opened an eye and peaked at him, then quickly closed it when he saw her.

"Four"

"Four, five…"she continued.

When she got to twelve he turned around and lowered the four figures. "Let me show you what I do to someone I dislike." back in Konoha his parents shuddered, feeling glad that they were alive.

That night, residents of Kaizen heard the blood curdling screams of those unfortunate souls. They did nothing as they were to afraid to step out at night, while this was going on, the newly named Shin yu merrily counted on like there was nothing in the world that could bring her down. The next day, the four victims were found hanging by their under wear on the villages monument of the villages founder, Kaizen, pointing finger. It was a monument posed with him leaning on his right leg and him pointing with his left hand to the sky. Somehow their under wear all fit the finger and their faces forever etched in horror at a sight only they could see.

Naruto found out that day, as he held Shin yu's clawed hand on their way to a clothes shop that he had to place a henge on the girl before she could enter a shop.

Shin yu had to physically restrain him from pouncing on a foolish clothe trader that had snarled at her.

Presently, we find our hero burning Shin's former cloths-which were just rags sewn together to form a tattered shirt. She now wore a plain black shirt, bright red apron skirt with black shorts underneath, dark blue sandals and a black beanie on her head to try and cover her hair and dark goggles to hide her eyes. She finally had on black hand gloves to cover her clawed hands. Naruto had also given her one of his half face mask as a sign of mutual trust; even though it didn't fit her she still wore it around her neck.

He told her the reason he was in the village and said that he planned on staying for at least 2 months. She did not like the idea of staying in the village very much but she still agreed.

In kaizen village, there were 6 bars and 2 brothels. They were the information nerve centre of the village. So Naruto spent a whole week convincing the bar and brothel owners as well as their occupants to take note of any useful information they come by and, depending on its usefulness, he would pay them. He needed to establish trust he set down 5,000 ryo in each bar and brothel he visited that agreed to be his informants. All the while, Shin held onto Naruto's hand firmly as if any moment she would wake up and he wouldn't be there. She was awed on how easily he made the villagers eat out of the palm of his hands with just a few words. Next up, he went about befriending all the street kids he could find, whether they were normal or 'freaks'. He purchased an apartment building in the far corner of Kaizen, furnished it and had all the street kids move in where they were be clothed and fed.

You may ask yourself if his money supply ever finished. When your parents ignore you for four years you would develop a self consciousness that would drive you to appreciate what you have, not waste anything and develop skills not even necessary at his age. Plus, the fact that he could always go to the Sandaime Hokage, the clan heads of the Aburame and the Hyuuga whenever he 'needed' the money could also be factored out. He had a lot of money.

98% of them developed a sense of gratitude towards him and they would do anything he would ask because he gave them a place to stay, eat and clothes to wear. It was more of a life debt thing. Naruto carefully trained them, including Shin yu, on the art of subtlety and information gathering straight from a book he got as a late birthday gift from good old Sami Yamanaka. He told them early on what he wanted them to do.

"I want you to be my spies. I want you guys to go to as many nations and hidden villages as possible-besides Konoha, because I will soon have that place covered-and gather sensitive and dangerous information. I will want you to grow up there, gain their trust and if possible gain high positions in their political and militaristic hierarchy and report any sort of important and sensitive information you can get your hands on back to me. Are you willing to do this for me? Are you willing to risk your lives for me?"

They all agreed. Every single one of them, even the ones that didn't develop a sense of gratitude.

In total they were 37 and growing. They were between the ages of 5 and 15 years old, and they all swore their loyalty to him alone; because he gave them a reason to live.

He made fire clones and split their training between them. One clone would teach some sign language and how to speak in cryptic messages only they would understand. Another taught general knowledge on the countries he knew of. Another taught physical exercise and pain endurance, another taught chakra manipulations (the basic three and chakra exercises), they would have to learn the jutsu indigenous to the nation they would be staying in, another taught how to sneak around stealthily and even suppressing chakra to the barest minimum, the last taught them acting (for obvious reasons). They would switch clones after a 3 hour lesson. It was all coming together well. When he thought that they were ready he had them group together and sneak around town for even the tiniest bit of information and writing it down for him to read, he awarded points on the how hard it was for him to decipher it. He also had them steal from shops, the higher the security and the tendency for them to notice the theft, the higher the points given.

The only foreseeable problem that they had was on how they would communicate between themselves, but his devilish luck pulled through when he found a 12 year old who could speak to any kind of bird and have it deliver messages. He told him to paint their left toes green so they can identify them.

After the 2 months he drew a small spider-like seal on their wrists. They were now 53 in number so he had to buy another apartment building near the original one. They would need about 2 more months before those older than 9 were ready, but he had no time to spare so he made a fire clone and pumped it with half of his chakra.

"You stay for as long as possible. I'll need regular correspondence so have Tori-kun send a bird with a message once a week. Lastly, after 2 months have the 9 - 15 year old kids randomly choose an elemental nation or village besides Rain, I'll check that place out myself. By the time you need to dispel, the last of the students have already chosen an elemental nation or village. Sell the apartments then and give it to the last of them. Am I clear?"

The clone saluted, "yes, boss!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and made to leave until a weight settled on his back. He sighed quietly. 'Shin-chan.'

"Shin-chan-"

She cut him off, "I'm going with you."

"Shin-chan-"

"You said best friends are basically family and-and you're my first friend, so I'm going with you."

"Shin-chan-"

"I know I almost messed up last month but-but you also said best friends correct each others mistakes."

"Shin-chan-"

"What am I going to do without you, Naruto?" She heard him laugh quietly, "hey! This isn't funny, poop tart!"

"I was going to ask if you've packed," he laughed again at her silence, then her groan "have you?"

"Yup" she chirped, and then somehow the weight on his back increased. "Now let's go!"

"Not yet, I need to address the other kids, go around and call the other kids over for an announcement." He said and sighed when the weight on his back lessened. He always wondered how the girl managed to sneak up on him-he was sure he inherited a sort of super hearing from his ex-jinchuriki mother-but the girl always managed to out-class him in stealth; in every other class she was a bit above average.

He walked outside and waited in front of the main apartment building with his hands behind his back. He remembered that Shin brought up what happened last month that almost destroyed his goal in the town.

Flashback

On that day was a full moon.

When Naruto found the little girl in the forest on one of those days that he wouldn't be able to sleep. She lay on the ground in a foetal position and shivered every few seconds.

"Shin-chan?" she stood up abruptly and looked at him wide eyed, backing away slowly "what's wrong?"

She kept backing away slowly, "Naruto-san, please you can't be here. You'll get hurt a-and it would be all my fault and-"

He cut-off her rambling by closing the distance silently and hugging her, occasionally stroking her back, "remember, Shin-chan, best friends tell each other everything."

The 5 year old gripped his shirt tightly and sobbed into his chest, "you don't want to know! I'm a freak!" he shushed her and kept stroking her back "please Naruto-san, I-I don't want you to get hurt."

"What would hurt me? Pushing me away and keeping secrets is hurting me, Shin-chan."

Her eyes widened dramatically and her grip on his shirt increased, "every full moon I-I-I feel this urge. Something telling me that it was ok for me to wash myself in all their blood. I turn into this beast!" she yelled into his shirt then she tried pushing him away "go, Naruto-san, I-I can feel it! Please you have to go!"

Hearing what she said had just confirmed his suspicions and the rumours he heard from some of the villagers. She was a werewolf.

"Do you want to hurt me?" she tried to unlatch herself from the hug but he held her tightly. "If you don't want to hurt me, don't. Fight it Shin-chan." He heard her growl and the hands at his sides sharpened and tore his shirt. She kept struggling and a feral growl ripped through her. She struggled again as the hair around her face and body doubled. She growled and restrained her feral urges from biting into his stomach. All the while the boy calmly stroked her back and murmured "your strong, Shin-chan."

The boy had to harden his skin with a light layer of chakra so that her claws wouldn't pierce him and he won't burn her. She suddenly kneed his crotch and used his lack of concentration to separate herself. He squealed and knelt down, holding his hurting organ; trying to ignore the pain he stood up and looked at her.

Shin was clutching her head and snarling loudly, the fur on her body thickening and thinning spontaneously. She tried tearing out the hair on her head and fell on her knees. Her hair covering her back and her legs shifting to something more dog-like with a crack and the claws on her hands lengthening. Suddenly her head snapped up to the moon still shining down into the clearing.

Howl!

Naruto took a step backwards when the former child's head turned towards him slowly and bared her now fully fanged, mouth in a snarl. The formerly small girl now stood at 5'9 feet with a full body coating of grey fur. She hulked slowly towards him.

"Who is in control?! You or it?!" (Naive huh?).

"*growl* go 'ruto-san. Go!" it still growled as it lugged to him. Shin finally lost control and the werewolf lunged at the blonde who rolled out of the way. He sighed to himself tiredly then his face turned stony and from his sleeve he shot out a senbon needle coated with a heavy tranquilizer to her head, but she dodged it and leapt to him again, he formed an arm made out of his chakra strings around his left arm and caught her in the air and slammed her to the ground with an almost deafening boom.

She struggled and huffed at the appendage holding her down and looked at Naruto, who was still very much stony faced, and pleaded with her eyes at him, whimpering and moaning deceptively. He could still see the feral blood lust and murder in her eyes. Closing his eyes he contemplated putting her down for good but shot that idea down, 'she is my best friend.' He thought solemnly.

He mentally looked for anyway to cure her even if it was momentarily, ignoring her quiet whimpers and apologetic eyes. She abandoned the idea and chose instead to scratch and claw at the chakra string made arm but it neither tore nor weakened. He sighed again and aimed at her with his senbon launcher and shot her with another tranquilizer senbon. She slumped a few minutes later occasionally twitching. He sat cross legged in front of her, stroking her fur covered hand and wondered if there would ever be a cure for her affliction.

'Maybe I should try wolf's bane or slivers of silver in a pill or maybe that myth that music calms them down. There has to be something I can do.' He thought and kept stroking her hand until sunrise when the werewolf reduced in size until it was as small as the little girl he remembered. She was curled up in a ball, shaking in her now tattered shirt and pants.

"Don't worry, Shin-chan, I'll find a cure. I promise." He muttered to the cursed child.

Flashback end

In his studies on how to reverse the curse somehow, he found out that the violin could calm the werewolf down and put it to sleep, after an hour that is.

Slowly, the front yard began filling with his students and a few of his lesson clones stayed on the sides to hear what their 'boss' had to say. When the students saw him they all began murmuring but Naruto's raised hand and ordered them non-verbally to keep quiet-which they did. They all wordlessly entered lines according to their ages, with the line for 15 year olds being the longest followed by the 7 year olds. He nodded to himself when there was absolute silence before he spoke:

"Today is the time limit I have set for myself before I have to travel around. So, before I go, is there anybody here that wishes not to continue training? You will still be welcome to stay in this house for as long as you want for free." After the question he was met with eyes of fiery determination and he slightly smirked. "You will all be going to your missions in the next few months, prepare yourselves. When you get to your chosen country send messenger birds to Tori-kun." He looked at the boy and said "send the names and the country or village to me 2 months after you've gotten them to me in Konoha. Understood?" The boy smiled brightly and nodded, Naruto looked back at the assembly "everyone take not of where this guy would be posted. You will all send bi-annual updates to me through Tori on anything of significance. Remember this, my students, that even the tiniest bit of information may save a life or a whole village." He paused and cleaned up the tears that were welling up in his eyes and straightened up "know that I am proud of each and every one of you and I know that you won't disappoint me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to teach you" he bowed to the quiet yard, when he straightened up. He was sure that he was not manipulating them because they always had a choice.

Then a senior student, Aoi, took a step forward and bowed, "no, sensei, thank you for giving us someone to look up to and a reason to make you proud." As one all his students bowed to him and muttered their thanks.

They all knew what they were doing was dangerous and very illegal, but if it benefited their saviour, their sensei in anyway possible then they would gladly do it.

'For Naruto-sensei!'

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

In Konoha, we find 'Naruto' going through the hand seals for the fourth donton technique his ji-sama gave him: Earth Technique: Stone Spears. 'Naruto' ended the chain and yelled out the name of the jutsu. Suddenly the ground him front of him shot out spear after spear away from him to a tree 50 feet from him, it impaled the tree numerously in the bulls eye he carved out. True his 'boss' may never make us of this technique because of the multiple functions his chakra strings could serve, but it never hurts for him to know it in case he would want to teach it someone.

That had been a dream of his 'boss' since he had started learning puppetry. To pass on his knowledge of his art to willing students, to give them knowledge his parents unintentionally forced him to learn. He had a small feeling that his 'boss' was some how accomplishing part of the goal right now.

With that fiery thought/goal in his mind he went through the chain again but this time he split it in half and the spears shot out again and thunked onto the sturdy tree. He nodded in satisfaction and chose that moment to start practising with his chosen weapon: a scythe. It wasn't the same obsidian scythe that the real Naruto had with him but more of a basic scythe with a brown wooden handle and a steel blade. It was very much lighter than the real weapon but it still served the same purpose of learning the motions so that he also could use it, not only wraps.

Swish, slash, swish, swipe, slash, hack.

He went through the kata of his Dizzy Spell Stinging Fist but also incorporated it with the weapon. He spun the blade in his hands and the usual after images diverged and converged making one think that the was a spiral pupil glowing green eye that turned anti-clockwise slowly, then quick as a flash he slashed at thin air and huffed quietly. 'Too slow.' He spun the weapon over head and bent his knees slightly, and then he lunged and slashed again. 'Better. Now for the last.' He spun the blade behind him but this time he waited five more minutes and tried to slash but the blade slipped out of his hand and clattered to the floor. He looked at the blade frustrated, unaware of the secret audience he had.

'Naruto' looked up at the sky and did a double take when he saw the stars twinkling down at him. 'Time to head back home, I guess.'

He made to pick up the fallen weapon but had to donkey kick a figure and roll forward, grasping his scythe, and taking a his stance, glaring at the silhouette of the person that wanted to knock him out rubbing his chin and cracking it back in place.

He could not see his face ('Naruto' assumed it was a 'he' because he was hulkish and had terrible posture, more like a hunch back) but he looked as if he was covered in shadowy tendrils that swayed in the non-existent breeze.

"Man, that kick hurt!" his voice rumbled as he still rubbed his chin, then he mumbled not too quietly "and I thought I knew everything about you."

'A stalker? But that's not Hinata!' the stoic faced clone panicked mentally. "Who are you?" he commanded.

"Me? I'm the queen's emissary" he bowed (if that's even possible) "and before you ask, she wishes to meet you."

"I'm not going anywhere. You tried to knock me out!" the boy shouted at him.

"Fine. She will meet you." The man rumbled before it went into a chain of seals before 'Naruto' could attack, "summoning technique!"

Smoke billowed from the man's shadowy body and he hunched over and collapsed.

The smoke reached high into the sky, far taller than the Hokage's tower before it shrunk down to that of an average mans height. The smoke cleared and 'Naruto' gulped.

In his place stood a woman in a shadowy dress with tendrils rolling of it in waves, acting like it was both attracted and repulsed by her. It was shaped into a dress that hugged all the right places (in 'Naruto's' unbiased opinion). She had long midnight black hair that reached her neck and she was very pale with a heart shaped face. She had on a crown that 'Naruto' assumed only kings should wear, studded in gems and intricately designed to still fit her beautifully. The woman's formerly closed eyes opened and what he saw made him step back in fright. She had 4 deep crimson eyes that held so much power and that pierced him (figuratively) so deep he felt like all the oxygen was being sucked from his lungs and he would die (dispel) any second. He knelt down, clutching his chest, wheezing heavily. The suffocating atmosphere was destroyed by the woman coughing into her hand and closing her eyes, then she opened them again and she now had two warm crimson red eyes instead of four. 'Naruto' took in a deep breathe and wobbled back to his feet and he glared at her while getting back into his stance.

Her stoic face slowly smirked and she nodded approvingly.

She walked towards him and 'Naruto' tensed. He just knew he couldn't out run the woman, even if the dress she wore looked very restrictive. He contemplated dispelling but shook the idea out of his head, he had a mission to finish and he would just have to see what this-beautiful-woman had to say.

She stopped two feet in front of him looked at him, her smirk increased when she still saw the fire in his eyes.

"I am night's queen. I rule over all arachnids. My name is Queen Kumomara (I think this is the feminine version of 'Kumomaru'), but you" she tapped his nose daintily and smiled fully "can call me Mara." He stayed silent and his glare increased, "aren't you going to introduce yourself?" he said nothing "I mean you no harm, clone" he stiffened and she nodded "oh, yes I know. I thought H told you we have been watching you. We have, ever since your 'boss' made his first puppet. I am greatly impressed." The woman sighed silently at his defiance.

"What do you want with 'boss'?" the clone said stoically.

"I wish for him to be our summoner," she raised her right hand slowly so as not to alarm him and a scroll as big as the toad summoning scroll appeared in her hand. She held it like it weighed nothing and handed it to the clone who took it reluctantly. When she released hold of the scroll he slumped down and had to summon some strings to hold it for him. She nodded approvingly again. "Your 'boss' will be our very first summoner."

He unravelled the scroll and noticed that it had no other name on it; he looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "what makes 'boss' so special?"

"I just said that I am greatly impressed" she answered him immediately.

"How has he impressed you?"

"plenty of ways" she snapped her fingers and a throne made of writhing spiders crawled out of a nearby bush, another chair came out behind it and Mara sat down on the chair and motioned for him to sit also. He eyed the chair suspiciously but still sat down. "He chose to teach himself even though his parents didn't, he chose to prove to his parents he was also talented instead of whining about it, he is a good planner, you mastered 3 earth techniques in a month and a half, you managed to learn a jutsu from the rest of the elemental affinities the rest of the month, he has good fashion sense, he is polite and he is most importantly quiet and resourceful. That is what I look for in a summoner." She motioned to the scroll and paused for a second, blinked and said in a rush, "When he returns, give it to him to sign if he wishes to. The hand seals are already on it. Tell him to summon me when he can so we can speak. Good bye." And with a less dramatic puff of smoke, she and the spiders disappeared and he fell plop on his bum.

He had no reaction, he just stared intently at the summoning contract being held by his strings and then he opened it again and read aloud: Arachnid Summoning Contract, written in neat cursive hand writing.

"'boss' is gonna love this."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Our blonde hero had about 3 months left before he would have to go back to Konoha. Plenty of time to make one more stop before he could head into Ame.

He felt a shiver go up his spin as he entered into the next town, then another shiver. On his back, Shin looked at him curiously, "are you ok, Naruto-san?"

He squared his shoulders and kept his face neutral. "I feel as if someone is talking about me somewhere and at the same time this town is too…"

"Quiet…" she whispered,

"Well creepier than a quiet town-"

"Naruto-san keep quiet. I hear something."

True to her word they heard multiple foot steps running behind a building. Now that he looked at the buildings he was less than impressed. The buildings were dilapidated and un-maintained, their paint was peeling, the trash at the side of the houses stank of dead rats and he could see what he assumed was the body of a mutated cat.

He heard more foot steps behind him and Shin hugged him tighter, he raised his hand and stroked her head that was hiding in the crook of his neck. He slowly kept walking and tried to remember the name of the town. It was meant to be an advanced transport hub that transported vegetables towards Suna. They first used trains to take it as close to the desert as possible then they give the produce to the trading caravans (middle men) who carried it to Suna. He marked this place down on the map because, like in Kaizen village, there had to be some traders and transporters that told stories about their travels that carried the smallest bit of truth. Most likely the book he read about the town from was very out dated. His skin crawled in the silence.

He hated looking like the prey. He hated feeling or being under someone's mercy. He hated it.

He flared his chakra, taking care not to burn the child on his back and unsealed his most current puppet. During his stay in Kaizen village, he was hardly idle. When his clones took charge of teaching the street kids, he the idea from the behaviour of one of the 'reject' street kids. The circumstances he found him in were similar to Shin yu. Apparently, Kaizen was where Orochimaru of the Sannin would dump some of his experiments if that were too un-cooperative and too un-containable or when they did not yield his desired result. The child knew that it was kidnapped by Orochimaru because he was 7 years old when he was taken from an orphanage in Konoha. He found the boy in the forest on the day he was abandoned eating a whole deer. Naturally, he didn't trust the blonde but after hearing that there were people similar to him he grasped for the straws. For some unknown reason he did not remember his name so Naruto named him Aoi.

The python puppet he unsealed hissed dangerously. It was so wide that it scraped the sides of the neighbourhood houses, Naruto stood on its head with his hood up, looking down menacingly at the town.

"Come out!" he shouted.

It was silent for a few minutes until the streets started filling with people, normal people. It seemed that the stream of people was unending but it still ended with an old man hobbling from his hideout behind a dumpster. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed at that but nobody could see it because of the shadow his hood cast.

"Hero?" a voice squeaked. He looked down and saw a boy a few years older than himself pointing at him, "hero?" he said louder and the people began muttering among themselves. The child was now frantically pointing at him looking as if he had won a house of candy, "HERO!"

At this the crowd cheered uproariously, some even threw up their hats and hooted, chanting "hero! Hero!"

The blonde looked over his shoulders at Shin who shrugged.

"Hello!? Hero, we need your help. Please!" the same boy yelled up at him, still pointing at him. (Rude huh?)

Naruto sighed and pinched his nose, 'what have I gotten myself into.'

Authors Note

Shin yu – Best Friend

Oh, oh, oh progress eh?!

Naruto is an adrenaline junky even if he does not seem like it.

How do you guys like my OC's. How many of you guessed what Shin yu was? For you guys who got it… FRUIT CAKE FOR YOU!

Opinions whether positive or negative are welcome. So… REVIEW!

B.j.