A/N Sorry for the late post. I'm trying to keep it to no later a week at the most, but with college finals I'm kinda stacked against the odds here. Sorry about that.
A/N #2 Warning! This particular scene was one of the main reasons (besides all the swearing) that I have chosen to rate this M. It has blood, and a….descriptive amount of gore contained within the first section of the story. I won't do these frequently, every chapter that does have a scene like this will receive a warning like this one for those who are squeamish or wish to avoid scenes like these. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Enjoy….or not….whatever you prefer.
Chapter 3
Unknown Date 34 years after the Kyuubi attack: Konoha….unknown world
Continuing his walk away from that woman the boy decided to kick into high gear since he didn't want to stay anywhere near this infested ruin of a village. That is until the boy noticed something odd with his chest near his heart area, like it was a combination of a sinking feeling, and like it was….raging at something, but he didn't know what.
Not wanting to wait, and find out the hard way the boy sprinted like mad back home hoping that this feeling was misplaced….he was wrong….dead wrong. The reason being that his sharpened senses picked up a scent he knew very well, a scent that's haunted him for years, a scent that he began fearing who it belonged to….the scent of blood.
'No, no please no! Kami please no don't take her! Don't take her too, I can't take it, I can't lose anyone else. Please….please be safe.' the boy thought desperately as he saw his home in sight.
The boy ran, and ran the smell of blood getting stronger, and stronger almost like he could taste it until stopped near his door entrance….then he saw it.
A trail of blood leading from outside his house to inside of it leading to large pool of blood surrounding the body of a blonde little girl lying still, motionless….lifeless. The boy just stared….stared down at the body of his sister in disbelief of what he was seeing.
The girl he found alone crying in the street for her parents, the girl he took in as his own, the girl who brought back just a tiny spark of happiness that jumpstarted his life again, the girl who always smiled just to make him feel better, the girl who'd done nothing wrong to anyone, the girl who just wanted to help people….was dead on the floor with her pajamas still on her body that had been pierced multiple times like she was stabbed to death.
The boy walked slowly to his sister's body, he knelt down to pick her up closely to him, and just cried. The boy continued this for an unknown amount of time until he heard the soft groaning that was coming from his sister.
"N...niichan…." the girl said softly, but just loud enough for the boy to hear.
"I'm here, I'm here sis. Everything's gonna be okay. You hear me? What happened? Who did this to you?" the boy cried in desperation.
"It….it hurts" the girl said as the boy had a flashback similar to this situation.
'It hurts….it hurts so much big brother' the voice of a very young boy said as the older brother cradled his sibling close to him crying to no extent as the life of his younger sibling fade away.
The boy snapped out of it to hear his sister again
"I'm sorry…." the girl said as tears flowed from her eyes
"No! You have nothing to apologize for! I'm sorry! I took too long in the damn city! Please don't die….please don't die!" the boy choked out
"Thank...you...for being...my….niichan." the girl said with a small smile she managed to put on with the last of her strength before finally falling lifelessly in the boy's arms.
The boy was silenced the second he heard her last words thinking why in all that's holy did she thank him.
The boy's heart, fragile enough as it was already, shattered once again like when he lost his family in front of his eyes.
Many hours passed as the boy just sat there silently with his sister's body in his arms until he heard the sound of someone else groaning outside of the house. The boy gently laid his sister down onto her bed closing her eyes then proceeded to go outside to find the source of this groaning. The boy walked outside to see a man, probably in his thirties wearing nothing but rags on his body, and holding something in both of his hands….it was a bloody knife in the left, and a bag of something in his right.
"Oh god….my head, who knew that brat could fight much less hit that hard? This better be worth it to those damn idiots." the man said in annoyance as he struggled to get up.
It was obvious that he sustained a head injury which was the likely cause of his state of consciousness, he also seemed to have a sprained ankle, bruises all over his body, and the arm holding the bag was dislocated; but that wasn't the only thing that was gonna hurt, oh no, not in a million years.
The man struggled to his feet, but was then paralyzed to his core out of pure fear. And he had good reason to, what with the mysterious child that was obviously pissed at him, and he had a pretty good idea why.
"Do you know….what you did?" the boy growled in pure rage
"Ah, shit." was all that the man said before the boy pounced at him in a flash removing his coat in the process.
"YOU KILLED HER!" he yelled in pure rage as the boy repeatedly pounded the man's face in over and over without any break at all, but the boy continued his raged induced beating throughout his body since he just smashed the man's skull in just a few seconds.
It was savage, brutal, monstrous, animalistic what the boy did to the man's body, but he didn't care, he didn't care one fucking bit about this asshole at all. It felt like hours, maybe it was who knows, until he finally stopped, and looked at what he'd done to this man.
His face was….gone to say the least as was his skull, and brains that were scattered across the floor. The body was missing all four limbs, all of which were broken in half, and tossed like branches off a stick. His spine ripped out of his torso for no reason (he really didn't care at that point, nor did he at the beginning.), which was ripped in half as well. Blood was everywhere in the surrounding area, from where the man's body lay, to the kitchen, to even the outside of his house, blood splatters were everywhere.
The boy was panting heavily looking at what he did to him, looking at himself being covered in blood, his heart still raging though he was stumped on what to do with it. That is until he heard a voice in his head, and it wasn't the usual one either.
"It seems that your enraged at the moment." A rather large booming voice said. The boy didn't reply with words, only growling loudly in response almost like an animal.
"Good. You have the proper amount of rage inside of you….that being nearly limitless, and all it took was the death of someone you loved. Well, it happened to you before you just never dabbled with one of my relics before." The voice said in amusement
"SHUT UP! I don't know who the hell you are just SHUT UP!" The boy yelled as his heart continued to rage
"Not even if I can bring back which is lost?" the voice said automatically raising Shintaro's rage even more
"I'LL KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME!? This isn't some fantasy where everyone lives out a happy ending!" the boy yelled
"No, just you." The voice said amusingly
"Not everyone can have a happy ending you're right about that. However, YOU can choose otherwise if given my power." The voice said behind the boy somehow
"Who…who the hell are you? Trying to play with me like this." The boy said lowly turning around
"My name is unimportant, what I'm offering you is a chance to redeem yourself. All you have to do is accept my power, and the terms that come with them." The voice said
"And why should I give a damn about your power?" the boy said finally turned around to see…
October 10th 5 years after the Kyuubi attack: Konoha
"Alright ramen shop…. ramen shop…. ramen shop where are you? Ah! Found you-Ah dear Kami!" is what Shintaro said when he gazed his eyes at the sight of a passed out Naruto laying asleep on a chair with his head on the table snoring away.
To be honest that wasn't what surprised him rather it was the towers of ramen bowls all emptied out spread across the table making it some sort of fortress. It was at this point he began wondering if he should've just made Naruto wait with him.
"I know he likes ramen and all, but come on! Who the hell eats this much ramen in one sitting! I mean I like ramen too, but at least I know how to restrain myself! Well, I guess that's something she can teach him as he grows older. Besides he doesn't have any excuse this time or reason to leave now so I might as well roll with it."
As Shintaro walked closer he noticed a girl around his age giggling at the sight of the sleeping boy. He could see that she worked there due to her attire of a white apron over her clothes and bandanna holding her hair back. Next to her was what he could guess her father wearing similar work wear only a blue apron and a hat on his head; as Shintaro starting getting closer he was greeted by the two "Hello there young man sorry but if you're here to order I'm afraid we're a bit low on ingredients today thanks to….major demand from our customers today. Sorry but you'll have to come again at a later time or tomorrow more likely by the looks of things." the old man said to Shintaro.
"As much as I would like to take a break and chow down on one of my favorite meals I can't. I'm actually here for him. (pointing to Naruto) I'm gonna take care of him till his….new caretaker picks him up in a couple of days 'hopefully she'll be able to by that point'. I told him to wait for me here while I'll settle things with the Hokage which as I can see was a bad call. At least according to my wallet anyways, so tell me how much and I'll cover it much to my disdain." Shintaro said as he was taking out the stol-I-er mean randomly found wallet on the ground with lots of cash that he can use to his-er everyone's best interests.
"Oh, are you the nice boy that protected Naruto-kun from those thugs!?" the girl said to Shintaro
"Uh….yeah? Why? it wasn't really that big of a deal besides it was either that or watch them beat him up which is something I don't approve of." said Shintaro to the girl already guessing who he was when he first got there. "Oh my! weren't you scared of them? I mean Naruto-kun said there were like 20 of them and they were adults too!" the girl continued in disbelief while Shintaro was trying to figure a way to ask this girl her name
"Listen uh…." luckily she figured out what he was trying to do
"Ayame's my name if your wondering and this is my father" she said pointing to him "Just call me Teuchi" he said to Shintaro. "Ok Ayame-san, Teuchi-san as much as I would like to chat today with you because you both already seem like good people; I can't because of the long day I've had. I'm tired, not to mention I now have to pay for this mess not that I mind its just that I'm kinda on a budget, and I got to get back to my sister who's wondering where I am right now. How about I pay now come back tomorrow and tell you all about it then? Sound Good?" he asked
"Besides he's passed out now and I want to get him home with me if thats ok with you guys." Shintaro said pulling out his stuffed wallet that in the shape of a pink pig that looked like it was gonna burst any second.
"Awww how cute!" Ayame squealed in joy looking at the childish wallet.
It was a good thing he had the mask covering most of his face because right now he was blushing like no one's business, and it didn't help that he knew she was right about it. The reason he even had this embarrassing (at least he thought it was and so did every other male in the group did as well) thing was because his younger sister thought it looked "cute" as well. She picked it out for him when his last wallet was stolen from him, but that didn't turn out to well for the thief as the wallet burst into flames the moment he opened thanks to a booby trap Shintaro set up in situations like that.
"Yeah….thanks" Shintaro said with a depressing aura around him "my sister picked it out for that sole reason now I'm stuck with it….sigh so how much anyways for the 1 2….50! 50 bowls of ramen! Who eats that much ramen! And the bowls are huge too!"
"Extra Large to be exact" Teuchi said clarifying Shintaro's observation causing him to fall over
"Oh and since you've offered to pay that'll be 13,000 ryo please. That's counting from today's meal, and his tab that's been building up."
"13,000..." Shintaro said as his skin turned pale white
"But if you promise to come tomorrow and tell my daughter what you did for Naruto boy here I'll cut it down to 7,000 ryo. After I gotta make a living for me and my daughter as well."
"Alright fair enough I guess I'll be back tomorrow and tell you all about it then. Thanks Teuchi-san here's the money, though I doubt this is the last time I'll be doing this, and now its time for me to take you home mister." Shintaro said to the passed out Naruto mumbling to himself.
As Shintaro grabbed Naruto he put him on his back piggy back style and began walking back to the motel he made their current base of operations.
Time Skip 45 Min….
"Damn from dealing with those idiots this afternoon to talking to that old man, reviving Tsunade and….her back to back no less, to looking for him and then paying for his rampage of a meal; I've certainly picked one hell of a kid to watch over. Now I'm gonna have to keep dragging his sorry butt to the motel explain what happened in the last few hours to the others; as well as make another long ass trip to the landlord give him, the money, sign the contract then finally move into those buildings and go to sleep."
"Man its pretty cloudy today I wonder if-" as he was going to finish that thought he felt a drop of water prick his head then another and another then a full downpour came down.
"...yeah just great its raining of all things heh. Alright new plan get to motel, drop him off with a note to meet up at the two dorms, explain later, go to landlord, pay money and sign the contract, go back and move in while I pay the motel owner then finally go back to the dorms to do a quick explanation then finally I sleep. Alright! LETS DO THIS!" he yelled to himself as he shunshinned himself across building rooftops.
As he was drawing closer to his first destination he came to a realization that made him stop dead in his tracks, after which he began to repeatedly bang his head against a wall cursing his stupidity.
"Damn it 'bang' Damn it 'bang' Damn it! Why didn't I think of this before?!" he said to himself while putting his hands into a hand sign he used earlier in the day. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he yelled as two clones of himself popped up behind him as he gave him their orders.
"Alright you take him and meet up with the others at the motel and tell them to move out like we planned; and you go and secure the dorms making sure no undesirables are lingering around there and check through the buildings to give a basic layout so we can decide on what to do with them. I also want those seals throughout the property both inside, and out. Got it?" said Shintaro as ordered them giving one of the clones Naruto to carry around like he was before
"Right!" was all they said as they disappeared.
"Alright now to pay that landlord his damn money. Although he's gonna be in for a surprise when I pay in full in cash…. with interest! Hehehehehe power, cold and hot water, and gas all nonstop for 6 months! This is soo going to be worth pickpocketing those losers today serves them right anyways. Although I hope that the others won't mind too much about the extra addition especially Hiromi considering…. sigh I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it."
"Alright you're almost through the day just pay the man go settle in your new home for now and then you can finally sleep. Awww man sleep sounds so good right now, but it can wait till I'm actually done with what I need to do." Shintaro thought to himself as he started running towards the landlord's house.
Clone #1 (with Naruto)
As the clone with Naruto riding piggyback, who started to wake up due to the rain, the clone began to adjust his speed for Naruto's comfort. Naruto began to wake up he noticed he was moving pretty fast for someone who was just waking up he tried to budge, but something or someone was holding him pretty tight. This caught the attention of the clone who spoke to keep his passenger from freaking out
"So you're finally awake huh? About time, don't worry though you're not getting kidnapped its just me….or rather a clone of me anyways." the clone said reassuring the small boy
"Sh-Shintaro? Where am I? Why we moving so fast? Is it raining? What do you mean by clone?" said Naruto quickly waking up from his food coma.
"Calm down already will ya? Yeah, its me carrying so relax will ya?" Shintaro said to the child.
"Oh, ok" Naruto responded before the clone spoke again " As to your other questions we are moving closer to the place me and my friends are staying at for the time being, and yeah it just started raining awhile ago when you were still knocked out. We're moving as fast as we are because of the rain, and so I can get to my friends to tell them that we finally have a place to call home now."
"Since we've been camping out in the woods and staying at motels and inns our entire lives we decided to live here in hopes that we'll be protected from…. someone who wants to hurt us and I'll just leave it at that. Oh! and to answer your last question I meant what I said I'm just a clone."
"A shadow clone to be exact and if you don't what that is it's basically like another you. Only this other "you" can die in one hit, but on the plus side you gain whatever knowledge and experience it gains for itself." Shintaro's clone explained to the boy.
"Wha?" the boy said in confusion
"Think of it like this: say the original Shintaro made one clone to talk to the Hokage about something important and another clone to deliver something to someone else on the other side of the village. When the first clone finishes talking to the Hokage he can just "dispel" himself and both the clone and original who made the clone will know what that clone did or said when it was "alive" so to say. So do you get it now?" Shintaro said to the boy trying to understand what the clone was getting at.
"Uh…." was all Naruto said.
"...sigh alright I can already tell this much you're not much of a learner by words aren't you?" the clone said to the boy
"No not really I guess" Naruto said with a hint of a depression in his voice
"Hey no need to get so down not everyone's a smarty pants you know. Tell you what I'll give you a demonstration with the original when he gets back deal? Plus I can teach it to you to use for yourself if you want to show it off to your teacher or whoever you want to." said the clone trying to cheer the dejected boy up from his mood.
"Really?! Cool! Alright now I get to show off a cool jutsu to Iruka-sensei and all the other kids will be jealous. Hehehehehehe maybe even Sakura-chan will notice me." Naruto giggled in glee.
"Ooooh! someones got a girlfriend! Hehehehe" the clone said in a playful singsong voice which made Naruto blushed hard like a rose.
"Uh! um! I mean uh…. i-it's not like that I mean…. she barely even knows I exist." was all Naruto could manage before digging his head into the back of his carrier to hide his embarrassment.
"Ah I see. Lady troubles already huh? Don't worry I'll be here to help though I can't say I have experience in that field. Though you do realize she isn't the only girl in existence right? I'm not saying you can't chase this girl all your life that's up to you what I'm saying is that there as they say "other fish in the sea" just make sure you explore all your options before you set your eyes on your potential significant other." the clone said to Naruto in a semi-serious tone.
"But Sakura-chan's the best! She's so pretty and smart!" Naruto said in protest
"That it? Pretty and smart? I guess you're into girls who have what you don't." the clone said sarcastically rolling his eyes which Naruto obviously didn't get
"Hey!" he said in annoyance
"It's called a joke ya dummy learn to identify one. Besides how long have you known this girl anyways." the clone asked
"Late last week." Naruto said making the clone stop dead in his track
"Hold up. Hold up. Are you saying you want the attention of a girl you just met a couple of days ago?" the clone asked
"Yeah...so what?" Naruto said
The clone only shook his head "Doesn't matter now we're here." the clone said taking Naruto off his back
"Alright you stay under the covers since its still pouring out here I'm gonna go get everyone and tell them to move out. Don't make any trouble got it?" the clone instructed to Naruto
"What do you mean by "everyone" are there more people you need to pick up?" asked Naruto "Yeah actually I, well the original Shintaro anyways has a whole bunch of friends in there waiting for him including a little sister of his." the clone said explaining himself to Naruto
"You have a sister?" Naruto asked in curiosity
"Yeah….well actually were not related by blood I adopted her as my little sister when she was separated from her parents. They're still around we just gotta find a way to get to them. I'm still working out on how to do that so until then she's staying with me. It's complicated and that's putting lightly." Shintaro's clone said before he thought to himself.
"Well it may not be the whole truth, but it's not like I lied in the first place. Besides he doesn't need to know that she's…. sigh not again I gotta keep this train of thought to a minimum. It's not going to do me, Hiromi or Naruto any good if I tell him who we are….like I said before we can't get attached to him like that. It's not like we'll be here forever for him I have to make that clear to him. Now's not the time to do that right now I gotta get everybody moving to the place we agreed to meet up at."
"All Right now wait here while I explain to the others that we have another friend to join our band of misfits hehe." the clone finished saying while rubbing the top of Naruto's head
"Ok just please don't take to long." Naruto pleaded to the clone walking into the motel who gave a thumbs up in confirmation.
As the clone walked in the building he was greeted the "lovely" owner of the place who came up to him and tried to as the owner put it " kiss that purty little face of yours" as the giant of a man….woman he still had a hard time trying to figure out though he'd just thought to leave it be this time though s/he caught him off guard luckily he dodged the owner leaving the assaulter to crash into the wall. Which didn't seem to bother Madam Loveless (the owners name which one would assume someone gave the poor soul but the supposed girl/man whatever she is didn't mind) in the least as she spoke in her weirdly cheery high pitched manly tone
"Oh you! I'll get you one day and you'll see that my love is to die for!" she said to the clone who was pale as can be thinking to himself how lucky he was to miss her...him...whatever.
"I'm sure it is, but I'm not ready to die yet!"
"Sorry Madam maybe next time, though you may have to wait a while because my friends, and I are leaving this place. Thank you for all you have done for us I hope we weren't too much trouble for you. Knowing them they can be quite a handful." the clone said to Madam Loveless who was getting up from her surprise attack.
"Oh don't you worry bout a thing deary it was my pleasure helping all you poor kids out. You've all been helpful in keeping this old place together as promised so you kids don't owe me a single ryo. Your company has been payment enough especially that lovely sister of yours she's been really helpful with the cleaning and what not."
It really was a dump before they got here, and now it looked like a 4 star hotel. (Not quite that good, but a whole lot better than before.)
"I'll miss you lot you take care now and don't hesitate to come back if you need anything you hear?" Loveless said while crying anime tears and hugging the clone near dispelment.
"Ack-Thanks for-ugh-your hospi-umpf-tality! Can you please put me down Madam I really need to get to my friends." the clone said fastly in desperation in hope of getting free.
As the owner put the clone down and set him off to his friends the owner began her regular duties in the kitchen at this time.
"Whew! Made it out of there alive and smooch free too." the clone said before whistling loudly getting the other tenants attentions.
"Niichan is that you?" a curious voice said before shouting
"It is! Niichan!" the clone heard before being tackled to the ground by a little girl about Naruto's size.
She had blonde hair like Naruto's and blue eyes like the sky wearing a yellow shirt with an orange sun design on it, her other attire included a pair of shorts and sandals both blue and a red headband on the top of her head. Now normally one wouldn't mind a hug from a cute tiny girl especially if that cute tiny girl was your sister, but Hiromi wasn't your average "cute tiny girl".
Why? Cause she didn't have the strength of a 5 year old she had the strength of a girl twice if not almost three times her age. Why you may ask? Well that's a story for another time for now lets get back to the little girl crushing the life out of the clone.
"H-Hiromi stop! You're ack! Crushing me!" the poor clone managed to breathe
"Oh! sorry! sorry! sorry! sorry! I d-didn't hurt you did I? Hiromi said in fear of hurting her precious brother
"No you didn't actually it doesn't matter if you did anyways I'm just a clone anyways here to deliver a message and to escort you guys somewhere…..secret. It's a surprise so you'll have to wait." Shintaro's clone said recovering from the second surprise attack he received in the last 10 min.
"Oh so where's Niichan?" Hiromi said a little depressed. "He and another clone are tending to the surprise I mentioned earlier and also I'm glad you came first because I have something serious to talk to you about. Understand?" the clone said to the girl who nodded
"Y-yes Niichan." she said nervously thinking she did something wrong. However the clone managed to calm her down by rubbing the hair on her head
"Calm down you're not in trouble. I just wanted to let you know that I found your….um"
"You found him while you were out there didn't you Niichan?" she said in a somber voice "...yeah I did so please try not to give too much info. Your name should be enough for now, but don't tell him your family name…. either of them ok?" the clone instructed calmly to Hiromi who only nodded her head as a response.
"Alright now where are….."
"About time you got here dobe I was getting tired of waiting for your sorry ass. Babysitting is something I do not enjoy so next time I'm doing what needs to be done." a new voice said out of nowhere coming from the shadows
"... the others. Nice to see you to teme, and for your information I ran into some….complications on the way that I doubt you would've been able to handle. Not to mention you're not the most diplomatic of the group, and don't you dare deny that Mr. Do what I say or I break your leg or arm." the clone said to annoy the new voice
"Also who drew the short straw again? Oh! thats right you, so stop your whining and get everyone here would ya were moving out of here." the clone retorted
"Tch! Whatever, besides I don't have to since they're already here so I'm gonna get packin myself." the boy said before returning to the shadows.
After that boy left a whole group of kids of various ages came running by at the sound of the whistle gathering in one place before the boy who called them which prompted the clone to say a few things before they could.
"Listen up! I'm just a clone relaying a message of what the original wanted delivered so hear me out. We're moving out of here now since the boss managed to find us a new place to make home base at so we need you to pack your bags and get everything you need because were leaving in 10-20 min. Oh and before I forget we have a new member joining us for a while before his new….caretaker comes and picks him up which will be awhile given her condition. so will be watching him for a bit. Alright so you guys need to get your things and meet me outside so we can get to our new home don't worry it's not too far from here and I know it's raining so the faster we move the less we get wet." the clone said before most of them shook their heads in response eager to leave the place most.
All except 3 who came up to the clone and came to speak to him. Which led him to think back on all that's happened over these 5 years. Which was a lot for most people to deal with.
The 3 people walking up to him all being females two of which were his age another the same as Hiromi the first he recognized as Honoka Uzumaki someone that they came upon their travels with the Uzumaki group they ran into, the little girl next to her was her clansmen Karin Uzumaki who was found near Kusa with her mother barely alive again found by the Uzumaki group. Karin saw Honoka as a big sister immediately so she never wanted to be separated from which would explain why she only agreed to come to Konoha if she came too. Karin also took a liking to Hiromi who she also saw as someone her age could talk to which is why the two were as close as can be.
The last girl was a blonde with her long hair tied back and bangs covering her right eye mostly her name was Ayano Kokoro, one of Shintaro's closest friends if not his best friend of all time. Ayano was with Shintaro through the good times and the bad though most of the time it was bad, but despite that she stuck with him to this point he still doesn't know why all he knows is that she's a good friend despite her….family ties. Despite that, how the village treated him, and how he treated her at the beginning all of that should've drawn more people away from him…. normal people anyways.
However Ayano wasn't like normal people. As Ayano put it she "could tell he was in pain and alone" which was true in all accounts. Except that didn't last too long when "they" came into play; "they" being a psychotic assassin and a runaway swordsman who taught him everything he knows when it came to fighting. From ninjutsu to kenjutsu, and assassination techniques, to all out brawling they taught him how to fight and more importantly how to survive. Before he left the village they gave him some scrolls to work on the other things they intended to before the virus hit shame to he really warmed up to them as if they were his grandparents hell they were old enough to be anyways. That's not to say they're dead because of the virus or anything. No, they were already dead simply because they decided to help him survive properly, but Shintaro knew that...and he hated himself for it. Like the rest Shintaro would have to wait years to find that out along with the others about their family and friends which made all the more hassle to keep them in line (although Shintaro was just counting the days until he could properly take revenge on everyone there who wronged him, and everyone he cared about). For whatever reason (though Shintaro knew why he just wanted to make it harder on them) they weren't infected with the virus that plagued the village which prompted the doctors of the village to take blood samples of the children to study before setting them of in hopes of a cure later on if it was possible. Now he was, against his better judgement, leading kids his age or younger literally across the world to a safe place from anything or anyone that perceives a threat to their safety especially…. them. But the clone couldn't stress about those things now, now he was making sure that the people he cared about were protected and cared for and right now that meant listening what they had to say to him.
"Just how many people do you intend to drag into your little group of Shintaro? You know you can't save everyone right?" Honoka said to the clone with obvious attitude
"Honoka-san you really shouldn't talk to Shintaro-kun like that you know he's only doing what he think is right." Ayano said defending the clone
"Oneechan please don't fight maybe this one won't be so bad." Karin said trying to calm down her sister figure, but the clone needed no such thing though he did appreciate the thought
"Oh, so you don't want me saving a member of your clan because that's fine with me." the clone retorted to a surprised Honoka as well as Karin
"Y-you found another clansmen here? Is it Lady Kushina?" Honoka said with urgency
"Actually yeah I did find her…although she was unconscious, and her son too. He's actually waiting outside scared that people like "you" (pointing to Honoka) aren't going to accept him and kick him out at first sight. Even though he hasn't said anything like that, but I can see it plain as day on his face." the clone said which made Honoka put her head down in shame
"I'm sorry I didn't know-"
"Don't worry about, it's not like I expect you to sniff out a clan member at will like Karin-san could in the future." the clone mildly praised making Karin smile
"Hey Ayano-chan can you actually go get him for me I don't like the idea of leaving out there in the rain that is if you're already packed if you're not I'll go get him instead" the clone said to Ayano interrupting Honoka's short lived pity party. "No, it's ok I don't mind Shintaro-kun. I already had my things packed because I knew you'd come through for us. I'll be just a moment so don't wait for me." Ayano said walking to the exit.
"I wonder what's taking Shintaro so long. It's getting cold out here." Naruto wondered to himself
"Then would you like to come inside with us and wait while we pack?" a new voice said behind Naruto startling him.
'Wait a minute. That sounded like a girl...nah! It couldn't be, girls never talk to me.' Naruto though to himself
As Naruto turned around to see who the voice belonged too he saw that it belonged to a girl...a girl was actually talking to him!
"Holy crap! A girl's actually talking to me, and she's super nice like Ayame-nechan! Is she a friend of Shintaro's?" Naruto wondered
The girl standing before Naruto had a friendly aura surrounding her making near impossible to not like her. She was fair-skinned around Shintaro's age wearing a purple shirt with a red rose flower design with a black outline near at the center of the shirt; her lower attire consisted of a purple skirt, and knee high stockings wearing regular sandals at her feet. She also had violet eyes, and long blond hair reaching down to her upper back that she'd tied up in a ponytail but left her bangs covering her left eye almost covering it completely, but what he noticed first about her was that like Shintaro she wore a bandanna covering most of her face only this one was purple. He was starting to wonder if they had a thing against showing their faces or it was just a coincidence.
It was at this point he tried to speak "Um….are you-"
"Don't worry I'm not here to hurt you. I'm a friend of Shintaro-kun so you can trust me." she said with a eye smile holding her hand out to him
"W-what about the others do they know about me?" Naruto said nervously scared the others might reject him like everyone else in the village did.
Shintaro was right to think Naruto was scared about fitting in with the others. Except scared didn't quite fit the bill for what Naruto was feeling right now, he was downright terrified to his very being. It wouldn't be the first time he tried to make friends and they downright refused without any reason at all. Now he had one more chance to make some friends so he can't screw up, no he wouldn't screw up and that was that.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about them they're harmless. as far as I know you're someone in need of a lot of things necessary for anyone to live properly, and the first two things that come to mind is a home and friendship. Both of which we can give to you if you wish. But, where are my manners my name is Ayano Kokoro. Will you tell me yours please?" Ayano said still offering her hand to the child
"I-I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki so um…. Ayano can I ask you a question?" Naruto said shaking the girls hand "Anything I can answer I will try to please ask away Naruto-kun." Ayano said with an eye smile
"Um maybe its me, but are you and Shintaro wearing masks for a reason or to look mean because when I took a peek inside I saw a whole bunch of people wearing masks in there too. You guys aren't like bandits or something are you?" Naruto asked slowly and nervously wondering to himself why in all that's holy did he just say that?
'Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Why did I say something so stupid!? Now she's definitely gonna hate me I just know it!'
However, Naruto got a response from Ayano that he didn't expect at all, actually she….giggled at him for some reason. He was expecting an enraged outburst or an angry smack to the head because that what he got when he asked a girl a question...or anything really, but she giggled at him then she...patted his head of all things. One thing was for sure Naruto did not get girls at all, what confused him even more was what she said in response to that speculation.
"My my you sure have a wild imagination don't you? I haven't laughed this hard in a while, thank you for that. No, were not bandits or anything of the sort. The reason we, my friends I mean, wear our masks is to hide from some people that are hunting us down rogue ninjas, bandits, and hunter nin's alike." she said somehow in a cheery tone before she did a 180 when she spoke next.
"Before you ask why I please insist that you don't it's rather a personal subject with some of us. We have…. lost some friends in our group along our journey,not knowing if they are dead or not, to find a home and it….saddened the entire group. Some more than others I'm afraid. So please try not to bring it up it really is a sensitive subject for us." she said in a somber voice with her head down in remembrance.
"Oh ok I'll keep my mouth shut then I tend to say stupid things from what i'm told." Naruto said in a quiet voice understanding the seriousness and instead decided to ask one more question.
"Can we please go inside? It's starting to get cold out here"
"I wish you could, but we should get moving to our new homes, but here's a sweatshirt to compensate. Let's go Naruto" a familiar voice said behind Ayano also giving her a sweatshirt as well
"Ayano-chan since your stuff is already packed I grabbed it for you and will carry it to our new destination if you're willing to carry Naruto their for me. If you want to switch that's fine with me. Also here you can use my coat since you went out here for me. You can use it to keep you warm along the way " the clone said revealing to be the voice while putting on his backup rain jacket on Ayano.
"Oh! S-Shintaro-kun y-you d-didn't have to do t-that f-for me." Ayano stuttered nervously surprised by the clone; it was at this point that the mask hid most of her face proved most valuable because she was thankful for the fact she could blush crimson red right now without Shintaro noticing. However, it didn't hide her stutter.
"I-I d-don't mind c-carrying either t-to be honest w-whichever you thinks is best. T-thank you though, I-I'll take N-Naruto if you want me to." she said putting on the jacket before putting Naruto on her back. Who was still tired from his food coma not to mention freezing from the weather outside so Naruto didn't complain and put the jacket on even though it was a little big on him.
"Thanks Ayano-chan don't worry I got your stuff all nice and comfy. I'll make sure it stays safe and dry you have my word and after this you guys no longer have to hide your faces because we'll have our own place to call home. Besides considering all that happens it's the least I can do since I made you guys wear these masks, and I know it helped in the long run with keeping those bastards off our trail. However the reason I wear one is different than why you guys wear them. I chose this of my own free will while I forced this on you guys, but that changes today because of today we all have our own personal rooms that we can do anything with. That includes the "changes" to your looks if you want to. I know it's getting tiring wearing those things everyday." the clone said to Ayano liking the idea of her own room.
While they did stay at the occasional inn, even if it was for a few months consecutively, they mostly had to share with at least two or more people in one room. They weren't even all that spacious heck they rarely even had functional rooms because of the quality of the inn's they stayed at.
Of course they did camp out most of the time, but that was the thing they were always camping outside where it was cold, unhygienic, and dangerous above all else which meant someone always had to be lookout for anything or anyone dangerous. No more at least not for a while anyways not while they had a roof over their heads that belonged to them now which they could fortify to their satisfaction with traps and the like both conventional and the more….unconventional at least by the rest of the groups concern excluding a few….eccentrics in the group who agreed with Shintaro's way of capturing or "dealing" with the enemy which oddly didn't seem to disturb Shintaro in the slightest. Although he did have to tune it down for the sole purpose of not traumatizing the kids not used to his….methods taught by probably not the most sane of individuals his sister included adopted or not they had a bond by none the which could break. So to keep his sister from ending up like him (which wasn't going to happen by any means) had to tone it down for her sake if nothing else. But enough bantering the clone had to escort 20 plus kids to shelter that the original should have paid for by now.
"Alright everyone ready?" the clone shouted to the group who collectively nodded "Then let's move out!" he finished and with that he began running towards the place that they all can call….Home.
Elsewhere an hour later
Clone # 2 (the one doing recon on the dorms)
"Ok I can say I didn't expect company here not to mention those boxes they were trying to move out, and this scroll for whatever reason they wanted to protect the most. I mean seriously why even bother with this when they all that other valuable stuff." Shintaro said as he looked over what he found. It seems that there was also crates full of various illegal items such as.
"Drugs that can get you various amounts of high. Ooh, weapons, and there's crates full of them! Momiji's gonna love this, and we can keep up to date with our inventory to boot. Let's see here, what else we got. Slave papers? I guess they were into all sorts of evil shit, wonder what names they have maybe I can...intrude on their business. Let's see...oh their main base is in the Land of Rice Paddies. I think I got a seal placed there, and the next transport is in a few days. Well, I know what I'm doing this weekend. Now let's see if I don't recog-wait. This isn't a slave roster, it's a recruitment list of potential ninja for...oh no."
Shintaro then noticed a name that surprised even him, and it was someone he even met on his journey.
"Lord Orochimaru is waiting for the next batch of potential ninja for his Sound Four or whatever he calls them. Don't fuck this up or it'll be our heads. Here's the list of kids that we need to pick up: 4 boys Sakon and Ukon, Jirobo, Kidomaru, and 1 girl named Tayuya. These kids are going to meet up with you at the usual location where you pick up our...recruits. If you fail, Lord Orochimaru will use you for whatever experiments he sees fit. He's already pissed off at the fact he keeps losing potential subordinates to some brat. That glasses prick told me Lord Orichimaru is leaving in a week to discuss buisness with the Daimyo of the Land of Rice Paddies; he's also apparently going to "recruit" a clan to help him called the Fuma. That's all, you leave tonight." the clone said repeating the note
"So, I'm a pain in the ass to that Snake bastard eh? I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but one thing's for sure. I. AM. Awesome! But if I keep getting in his way he might take it upon himself to take me out...I'm not strong enough to take him on, not yet anyways so right now I should avoid him. Thing is he's already found more kids to recruit for his damn sound village. If I tell the old man about this he'll no doubt want to recruit them to Konoha, and I'm not letting that happen, at least if they don't want to anyways. So, this Fuma clan must be either powerful or hold some sort of interest to that Orochimaru prick, but since I've never heard of them I'm going to guess the latter." the clone said going over the information.
After sealing away everything the clone found into a scroll. The clone decided to bury it underground for him alone to discover.
"Man, these guys whoever they were are involved with some deep shit."
"Oh well guess I gotta get rid of them now for sure. At least they didn't make a mess of things even when they died they manage to not leave a huge mess. Damn now I gotta make sure there's no more hanging around here and set the traps early. Guess that training really paid off after all. Not to mention when it comes to disposing bodies practice makes perfect which is something I don't need to repeat in front of the others."
Time Skip 20 min
"Alright finally finished now all I have to do is wait for either boss or the other clone with the others to get here and my job will finally be complete. Although I can see why that landlord had no problem selling these buildings." he said to himself looking at the "quality living quarters" as the landlord put it when they really weren't anything of the sort.
As the clone took one last look before taking cover under some sheets he used for cover he began thinking about the buildings and the condition they were in. If he had to describe the 3 catastrophes that barely stood before him they were: an abandoned 3 hotel, an abandoned school that seemed to also function as a bunker, and an abandoned hospital with the Senju clan symbol on the center of the building. Why this guy was holding abandoned buildings in possession was anyone's guess. But at least they had a good foundation, held a lot of rooms for living arrangements, not to mention space for training, and above all else privacy. Although they weren't in the best of shape on the outside they were perfectly capable on the inside for everything else from insulation to gas, carpeting to bedding and everything else they just needed….a little maintenance is all. Something that the females of the group can take delight in ordering the boys around since they enjoy that sort of thing.
A thought occurred to the clone waiting in the cold rain regarding the living conditions for the whole group
"I know we probably have enough room for everyone in the hotel alone considering how big it is, but I wonder if we have enough room for Naruto? I mean we have about 20-25 people in our group and that's gonna take up the majority of the rooms if not all of them if everyone wants their own. Which will eventually happen considering who's with us and girls have an obsession with privacy plus since we have half of our group made of girls that's gonna be a pain in it of itself. Kami! Why oh why did I have did I have to be sentimental and gather them again? Auuuugh! I have no idea why I did that it's not like they'll remember me or anything hell they are even the real deal just….sigh well at least they're in a better position than they were when I found them hell I actually stopped some from joining that….bastard. Which will probably bite me in the ass later on which is something I don't need at all. Maybe I should tell that old man about it make it his problem to deal with. Nah that'll just draw out more attention for us and I think after today we have enough bullseyes drawn on us as it is.
"Heh, I'd like to see that Kagaku bastard try to sneak his way in here now, with everything that's happened there's no way that old man isn't going to have spies on us; and since were in the middle of Konoha that's all the more bodies in between us. That may be low by other people's standards be it shinobi or civilian, but I'd never cared about Konoha in the first place. If given the opportunity I'd do the same to any of the other 5 Great Nations; be it Suna, Iwa, Kumo, Kiri or even one of the small villages I could care less if it means the safety of my friends. Naruto may be a different story, and might even hate me for doing so, but he's not the Naruto Uzumaki I know...that Naruto is dead."
"Footsteps...and they're closing in on me. Huh I guess one of them decided to show up, about time too I was getting tired of waiting. Now who could it be?..." the clone thought to himself as he began walking out towards to the sound of footsteps. "Oh so you're here huh? And you've brought company mind explaining why Shizune...
With the original Shintaro at the landlord's house
"Ok finally made it to his house now to make that payment. I can't believe he'd actually give us ownership of that living district albeit a crappy living district, but it serves it's purpose well enough at least I hope it does. At least he was willing to give it up for a fair price, well fair enough for a piece of crap anyways, but that doesn't matter now. What matters is paying off that landlord his money that I….acquired from a few….generous donors to our cause. Well time to empty my wallet for the next month or so." the original Shintaro droned
As he was walking toward the door to the home of the person he was seeking. As he began walking up the stairs he took out his wallet with his left hand and a readied kunai in his right hidden behind his back all for reasons only he knew why. He stopped at a particular scent he trained himself to recognize even in this weather, although Shintaro hated doing so he was all too familiar with….blood. If there was anything his sensitive nose could track at the faintest smell it was blood it sickened him to his core, but he was getting used to it day by day which troubled him. Still it wasn't his first time smelling it and it sure as hell wasn't going to be the last the only thing he could was what his psychotic assassin of a sensei/grandma told him when he asked her about it:
"Either get used to it or lose your nose kid cause that smell ain't going nowhere".
Since he liked his nose where it was he chose option A, but that didn't mean he liked it not one bit still though he had gotten used to it well as much as a ten-year old could anyways.
"Smells fresh….great now I'm acting like psycho-sensei wonderful just wonderful oh well might as well see what's the deal. Still though have to act like I know nothing so best to just to take out the wallet and act like I'm paying for a shitty living district….which i'm going to do either way murdered landlord or not." As Shintaro walked up to the door he could hear….something, but he couldn't tell what it was so he decided what any "normal" (by his standards anyways) person would do in a situation like this….investigate.
So he put the wallet away and decided to sneak in through a window….that was already broken into though that didn't seem to bother him in the slightest. What did bother him was the fact that he could tell that he was being watched and he could also tell that it was a ninja of all things.
"Great probably one of the old man's spies trying to see if there's something useful that they can use against me. Or maybe they're trying to see what's the extent of my abilities. Doesn't matter just act like you don't know anything and see what happens. It's worked so far might as well keep doing it now-wait...he's not alone. I can smell them, Kami I love this thing. Three of them, 2 men one woman...and it seems it's that time of the month for her. I can use th...did I really just think about using a girl's period against her...ugh I becoming more like psycho-sensei everyday." he thought to himself as he quietly entered through the broken window using his chakra to stick himself to the ceiling to avoid stepping on the glass not making any noise in the process.
As he began walking on the ceiling he could still hear the noise he heard through the front door awhile ago and make it out more. Listening to it a bit more he could now tell what it was: a mixture of both screaming and punching. Actually it was the screaming of angry man and the landlord apparently though the punching could've been from either one so of one two things could be happening now that crossed Shintaro's mind: #1 a interrogation is going down and #2 (the more likely suspect) a fight between the two. Deciding to drop down quietly kunai in hand still he walked to the open….well broken down door hanging from it's hinges and looked out slightly through the opening to see a light from another room down the hall where the noise seemed to originate from.
"Alright guess I have to intervene one way or another. Last thing I need is a dead landlord who can't pass his land to me….at least not before we complete the deal anyways. Then they can settle whatever business they have between themselves when I'm done here….or maybe I can use this to my advantage. Only time will tell now let's see what kinda mess I'm about to walk into." Shintaro thought as he walked slowly towards the light.
As he began walking the wretched smell of blood got stronger and stronger, and to make matters worse another smell came upon him: decomposition. Not bothering to find the source knowing it was close enough to make him vomit, but he emptied his mind deciding to ignore it completely and move on. Closer and closer he got kunai now in both hands ready to fight if need be. After continuing walking he began to hear the inconsistent screams between the two men before hiding next to the room's entrance where the light shone the brightest it began to sound more clear what they were saying which made it easier considering they were screaming.
"YOU SON A BITCH! YOU DARE SELL MY TERRITORY TODAY OF ALL DAYS!?" the stranger said as he seemingly punched the landlord who made a grunt after said punch who retaliated
"Hey money is money. Besides you said it yourself that you didn't care who or when I'd sold it to so long as I got rid of it. So what's with the sudden change of heart BOSS!?" the landlord said while countering with a kick to the ribs.
"Sudden change I told you a week ago NOT to sell that part of our turf! And here I found out you made a deal with a kid and sell the whole damn lot! If you'd have paid attention I said NOT to sell it because we left that somewhere in that lot and if that gets out to public knowledge we'll be ruined!" the angry man now supposed "boss" of the landlord whose eyes widen when he mentioned the reason he didn't want him to sell it in the first place.
"You mean you didn't get rid of it? Oh Kami! Tell me you're at least looking for it right now." the landlord said in a shaky voice
"As we speak in matter of fact I have my men searching all 3 buildings for it. I can't believe that of all things we forgot to move the one thing that'll prove that we were gathering intel on Konoha's jinchuuriki...or jinchuuriki's I should say. I can't believe we've been here for nearly 12 years studying the Fourth's weaknesses and allies for our village, but I'd say it was worth the long stay from everything we learned. Who would've thought that the Fourth would use his own son for the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi? Not to mention that said jinchuuriki is or was his wife at this point I mean it's really obvious too that it's their kid too people are either blind or don't care. Either way we got to report this to Lord Tsuchikage right away we've been here long enough as soon as we find that scroll we're outta here." the boss said to landlord who seemed to have stopped fighting each other and come to terms.
"My my what an interesting conversation I've stumbled upon. Guess that explains why the property was so cheap and why he was so willing, I'd even say desperate, to part with it in the first place. I still have the element of surprise so I can either take both prisoner or kill the boss and take the landlord prisoner. No, I can do better than that, I can use this boss for information I can use against Konoha. Now let's see if I take both prisoner I can bargain with the old man for something I can use, but that'll be difficult considering it's 2 to 1 not to mention the possibility of them being ninja's is there. If I just kill the boss and make the landlord sign the deal I can then leave him to Konoha to deal with after all they're the idiots who couldn't spot these dumbasses for spies or maybe they did and trying to see who they work for though I don't see why they wouldn't just take them for interrogation maybe it's to keep it quiet to the other villages that Konoha's easy to spy on. Either way they haven't done nothing at this point so it's their loss my gain at this point. Alright I've made up my mind I'll just wound them both make the landlord give me the district then let Konoha deal with these chumps. Then I'm upping my security measure's on my own property." Shintaro thought to himself as he prepared to fight.
Now armed with two kunai in each of his hands he begun his attack.
As he quickly turned to enter the door he quickly threw both kunais in each of his hands at his targets individual legs, both of which made contact making both men scream in pain and left them in confusion. Not willing to see if they were ninjas or not he immediately apprehended the boss by horse kicking him in the gut followed by jumping up to deliver a roundhouse kick to the landlord's face making his nose bleed while also making a tooth or two to fall out of his mouth. Making sure he was thorough with them once he dropped to the ground Shintaro sweep kicked the two men causing them fall on their backs. To finish them off he grabbed the boss who was heavy as can be and threw him against the landlord and quickly set a pair of kunai to their throats.
Looking at the two men in the eye he spoke to the both of them.
"Now what do we have here? I think I found a couple wannabe spies bickering like children with each other, and it seems you've left something of value at MY future place of residence. Something that you can't possibly let the Hidden Leaf know by any means so here's what I propose to you poor fellows. Give me the territory that "you" (looking at the landlord) were oh so eager to get rid of, and offer me a nice deal to boot which was really generous of you and I'll find this scroll of yours to give to you back in your hands then see what fate has in store for you.
"Or if you pussy out on me I can kill you both right here and now forge his signature leaving the district in my possession, while giving your precious information to Konoha which could make your Tsuchikage's life a whole lot more miserable along with the citizens of Iwa as well. Either way I get what I want so it doesn't really matter to me which you choose though I'm not a fan of needless killing, and I would prefer to get out this without any more blood being shed. However, if you don't choose your fate I will in the next 60 seconds….59, 58, 57 you get the picture so what'll it be? 53, 52…." he said to both men sweating their pores out which made it clear to Shintaro that these were not ninjas by any means.
At best they were just some civilians with some spying experience or some really crappy private investigator gang apparently whatever they were they weren't a threat. What solidified his thinking in that was that the landlord was now getting tears in his eyes and rattling his teeth in fear. Hearing no response from either one Shintaro began counting audibly again.
"45, 44, 43,42" he counted as he put the kunai closer to their throats which prompted the boss to speak out of impressive
"Hey hey hey wait a minute. Are you the kid that he was going to sell my turf to? Because if you are then let me say I'm impre-ack!"
"I don't give a damn whether you compliment my skills or not. Now before I kill you indefinitely answer me by picking option 1 or 2." Shintaro said interrupting the boss from speaking by stabbing the kunai he held to his throat deeper into his flesh making blood come out prompting the landlord to speak
"Ok ok I'll sign it! I'll sign it! Here I got the contract on me! See?" he said taking it out of his pocket showing Shintaro in all it's glory what he was searching for.
"Good choice. Now sign it." he said quickly replacing the kunai he held in his hand for a pen only to throw it against the wall making it stick out next to the landlords head. Slowly turning around to get a better view of the pen even for a second looking at it only to feel sharp steel against his neck once again.
As he again slowly turned around to look the boy in the eyes he moved his eyes towards the pen then back again as if to ask permission without speaking; he was waiting for a response, but all he got was a nod signifying him it was ok. Slowly ever so slowly he raised his arm upwards to yank the pen out of the wall which somehow managed to get lodged in there pretty good; soon he held the contract in one hand and pen in the other and started writing his initials on the parts where he was supposed to. With a final swipe of the pen he finished slowly giving it to the boy who held his life within his young hands. Looking the boss straight in the face with battle hardened eyes Shintaro said these last few words
"Listen up and Listen Good because I am not repeating myself. I'm gonna take this and leave to MY living grounds without any trouble from EITHER of you. As for your scroll well considering it's on MY property when you signed it away it now belongs to me. Now before you go and report this to Konoha or Iwa let me tell you this if you go to Konoha you'll be thrown into T & I, Torture and Interrogation, for any other information you might have acquired during your stay along with your buddies if you even have any."
"Now if you decide to hightail it to Iwa and somehow manage to avoid the ninjas Konoha throw at you; you would still would have to deal with the Tsuchikage with your failure to learn anything useful and deal with the humiliation from the entire village to boot. So again you have two choices, well three really but its all up to you. One leave without a fuss and head back where you came from or wherever you think is safe enough, Two you can report me to the Hokage and see where that gets you, 3 and this really only applies if you're stupid enough to try it: try to kill me and get your stuff back without thinking of doing either option 1 or 2. But remember this, I just kick your guy's ass without any hassle so again #3 only applies if you're stupid enough to try." Shintaro said cynically frustrating the men who failed to reply.
"Buh bye now." Shintaro said putting the contract in his bag leaving the two grown men in frustration and anger with bleeding legs and a bruised ego also.
Dropping down from the second floor Shintaro's nose picked up the source of the smell of blood, and it was right behind him of course.
"Ugh...damn my curiosity." Shintaro said to himself as he turned around to see a closed door with a pool of blood leaking out from the bottom.
Walking toward's the door Shintaro opened it to find a...dead shinobi sitting on a chair. He was wearing the generic attire, but had a tattoo of a stone on his neck. He also had his hands cut off for whatever reason.
"Awesome, just awesome. He's from Konoha too...damn it. Or is he?" Shintaro said as he knelt down to inspect the body closely.
"Let's see, bruises everywhere which means he was beaten pretty badly, but nothing life threatening. No, source of death most definitely is the cut on his neck, pretty deep too. Didn't last long, but died recently probably a hour ago. By the look of his attire he's looking to be a chunin or even jounin, hey would you look at that still has his wallet on him. Let's see here, Eiichi Kondo, Age: 42 (man you really pulled through didn't you.) Jounin eh? Good for you, cept your dead and all so there's that. Huh, what's this?" Shintaro said taking out a slip of paper from Eiichi's wallet.
"Tonight's the night. You better come through with your end of the bargain. Otherwise Lord Tsuchikage will have your head, better yet I'll have yours Eiichi." Shintaro said repeating the note he found.
"Huh, traitor of Konoha eh? Like I ca-aw crap that old man's gonna pissed when he hears about this...on the other hand maybe this'll prompt the Hokage to improve his security measures. Which will improve our chances of safety, good plan good plan. Alright I'll just leave this here...no, I think I should put this to good use." Shintaro said putting the wallet away, but keeping the note in his pocket along with whatever remained money wise. After all his sensei taught him to be frugal.
"Alright, time to leave." Shintaro said walking away.
As Shintaro left through the front door he sensed the ninja he noticed earlier close by and starting to get closer by the second. It wasn't long till the ninja he sensed suddenly turned up right in front of him with backup no less.
"Well….shit." he thought to himself as he looked at the three ninja in front of him, and his nose was right, as always, about what it smelled like. 2 male's and one female.
The first he saw was a boy older than him by a lot probably late teens around the same age as that Shizune he met earlier. He seemed to be bored or really laid back to the point he didn't care either one he would've believed. He had spiky hair and starting to grow some facial hair making him have a bit off a scruffy look, he wore a green vest around his long-sleeved shirt making it obvious he was chunin or higher; but other than that he looked like a regular ninja though he did look familiar like he'd seen him somewhere before.
'He looks like that the old man. Must be Asuma then, good to know. From what I remember he turns out out dead later on...oh well not my problem. Heh, looks like he's the rebellious type with that look on his face, and looks like the kind to have an attitude about anything.'
The one next to him standing in the center was another boy also older than him but dressing a bit more….eccentric if he had to put it. He wore nothing, but a green jumpsuit, a green vest as well, and orange leggings with his headband tied around his waist. But what got his attention was his face or rather his giant mess of a haircut making it look like an upside down bowl made of hair, and his eyebrows looked like they came from a stuffed animal.
'Ok, I never thought I'd say this, but I wish Ling were here. She may have worn the same thing, but at least she changed her clothes when given a reason. So this is Konoha's Blue Beast eh? Master of the Eight Gates, and possibly the most powerful taijutsu user in the world...gotta watch out for him. Good thing he's an idiot.'
The last one to the right seemed a bit normal at least by his standards anyways. She wore the standard ninja uniform vest and all only with a red red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible to go with her red eyes, and she seemed for whatever reason staring him down observing him with every move.
'Someone looks pissed. Guess that period's taking place even as we speak...did I really just say that? Man, I gotta tone it down on the observations. On a side note out of all 3 of them she looks the most normal, and that's saying something. Well, I guess it's rare to find such a-wait...is she? She is...Kurenai Yuhi the Genjutsu Mistress. Wait isn't she...yeah I remember now. She's also dead later on as well, leaving behind her daughter on her own. Man, I really know a lot of dead people it's kinda depressing. Oh well, may Konoha burn in hell...well the other Konoha I should say. This Konoha may still have some use to me so I better make sure it doesn't fall, at least when we're here anyways.'
During the entire time Shintaro thought to himself, It didn't take long for one of the ninja to start speaking to him.
"Hey kid what happened in there?" Asuma said pointing to the house
"We heard screaming and sounds of a struggle then you went in there then it went all quiet in a matter of seconds. We were investigating the landlord who lives there for suspicious behavior with one our ninja as of late. So what business did you have with the landlord?" the ninja said expecting an answer.
"Geez touchy touchy. I was just buying some land from the guy, kinda his job. Well actually I got it for free now that I think about it, maybe I should go back there and pay him….nah guy was an ass, plus he was giving it practically for free anyways." Shintaro said answering the question when a thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Wait a minute! You just NOW started investigating the guy? Dude's been here for 12 years! What did he earn brownie points while he was here? I mean sheesh you think for the almighty Konoha they'd found a chump spy like him, but no I guess I was wrong. Maybe coming here wasn't the best idea…. oh well might as well stick with it and make the best of it." Shintaro said to himself while the ninjas were wide eyed at the thought of a spy being here for 12 years no less.
It didn't help to mention they were getting information like this from a child no less. However it seems that they were a little hesitant to believe such a thing was possible.
"What are trying to pull kid? There's no way we had a spy in here for that long and if we did we would've done something about it long before now." Asuma said angrily
"Ok Mr. Attitude no need to get all aggro on me sheesh. Look I'm not here to chat with you guys because I don't have the time to, I'm soaked to my skin, and not to mention I'm really tired from the full day I had. Look if you don't believe me you can just head in there and find the bleeding chumps in there, that is if they haven't escaped already. Also there's a dead body in the house really stinking up the place, I'll just leave that to you. There that good enough for ya? Now you Bowl boy over there and Ms. Ruby eyes can all "investigate" together and solve the mystery together." he finished sarcastically making the female ninjas eye twitch in annoyance.
Before giving any of them a chance to talk Shintaro spoke again "Well I'm outta here so if you need me you can find me over at the slums a couple of miles east from here. Ciao." he said dropping a smoke bomb without them noticing confusing the three coughing ninjas leaving them only with their thoughts.
When the smoke finally cleared Shintaro was already long gone leaving the 3 ninjas to talk amongst themselves.
"Oh man Dad's gonna be pissed when he hears this." Asuma said dreading what lecture his father had in store for him when he delivered the news "You should be more respectful towards the Hokage Asuma. Even though he's your father he's still the leader of the village." Kurenai lectured to Asuma
"Eh whatever, like I care what he thinks, besides it's not like he does the same for me so were even in that respect. Besides Kurenai that's hardly the issue right now we have to find out if what that kid said was true or if he was just jerking us around trying to escape and make a run for it." Asuma replied to Kurenai who seemed to acknowledge what the said.
"Yosh! Don't be so quick to judge the youth. If he was trying to escape then why did he tell us where we could find him before he left?" Guy said finally speaking his mind
"Guy's got a point Asuma. If he really wanted to escape he would've dropped that smoke bomb earlier trying to run from us." Kurenai said agreeing with Guy to which Asuma replied
"Maybe or maybe he gave us a faulty location to throw us off his trail, and not to mention he baited us with information that we need to confirm regarding we have a spy or not. I know my old man wanted me to spy on him, but this takes priority besides you guys wanted to tag along. Who would've thought that my bluff turned out to be true?" Asuma said to the three before giving them his orders
"Alright since you guys wanted to do something because you were so bored Kurenai you investigate the house while Guy reports to my old man what just happened here since he's the fastest here."
"Yosh! I will arrive at the Hokage's office in 5 minutes! If I don't I will do two thousand one-handed pushups and 500 leg squats!" Guy said with more enthusiasm in his voice before speeding away unknowingly kicking up water to Kurenai's face. She then thought darkly to herself how she was going to dispose of Guy without anyone noticing.
"Alright I'll go check it out, but what are you going to do?" Kurenai asked surprisingly clam toAsuma before he left
"I'm gonna do what my old man told me to do. Besides now's the time to see if that kid really gave us his word or just a faulty location like I think it is. Report to the Hokage what you find in there when you're done." Asuma said to Kurenai who nodded before they both went to their assignments.
Clone #1 (with Naruto and now the group)
"Are we there yet?" Naruto asked Shintaro's clone whose response was a smack on the head
"OW! what was that for!" he yelled as his assaulter who responded
"That's for asking the same damn question 10 damn times in a row within the span of 5 damn minutes, and no were not there yet. Just another mile in this damn rain then we'll be home sweet….home….sigh dammit." the clone said in great annoyance
"What is it Shintaro-kun?" Ayano asked out of concern
"Before I got here the original me made two clones. One was to pick you guys up and the other was to check our new place to check out the condition it was in while the original went to pay off the landlord for our new home." the clone said to Ayano who asked the clone now more worried, but also curious about the situation.
"Did something happen to either one?"
"Yeah more or less. I just received info from one of them actually. Trying to process it as we speak….Ok that make things more interesting." the clone said having now going over the information
"What do you mean more interesting?" Ayano said now curious more than ever with what happened.
"It seems our new home was spy/gang territory to a couple of losers who also dabbled in smuggling weapons, gambling, and other unmentionable things that get gangs reputations. Apparently they decided to move out,but as it so happens my clone brother intercepted them while they were moving and….dealt with them accordingly. After deciding to explore the rest of the territory he found many things that we can use for ourselves such as ninja weapons, a training room, and much much more. Then it appears he stumbled upon a scroll containing confidential information that would destroy Konoha in the wrong hands. Finally, it seems that someone I ran into earlier decided that I needed to see someone that I….helped earlier, and since all clones act like the original he made a comment that caused the messenger to smack him on the head leading to his dispellment. Which happened like 5 minutes when Naruto decided to ask the same damn question for the 10th time even though I already gave him the same answer 10 times.
"Now it seems we'll have a visitor when we arrive there don't worry though I'll go in the original's place so he can finally get some rest from the very exhausting day he's had. Besides that and the deal the original made with the landlord (well it was more of a shakedown really) along with making the trip back to our rendezvous point, and with the likely possibility of having to deal with everyone settle in the new home he's really going to be drained. So we both, me and the original would greatly appreciate it if you would help with everyone moving into their rooms if it's not too much trouble Ayano-chan." the clone said to Ayano eager to help
"Oh no I don't mind at all if it's for Shintaro-kun I'm glad to help in any way possible. I'll tell the others when they catch up to us, but maybe we should take a break running nonstop has affected the little ones." Ayano said looking to the younger members behind her looking tired
"They can take a break when we get there or when it stops raining, and besides I already see it in the distance so no point slowing down now. Not to mention I can see the messenger waving at me so I gotta go." the clone said to Ayano and Naruto who nodded in understanding
"HEY TEME!" the clone shouted at the boy who hid earlier in the shadows "What do you want dobe?" the boy said in annoyance
"CATCH!" the clone said while throwing Ayano's things at him catching the boy off guard nearly making him fall on his face.
"What the Hell!? Where are you going now!?" the boy yelled at the clone
"Ayano-chan will explain everything besides I wanted to see what would happen anyways you damn klutz! See ya!" the clone yelled before shunshinned ahead of the group meeting the messenger he mentioned.
"Alright I'm here now so let's go already, and since you decided to kill off my clone brother because of a comment he made to your friend there who acted out of proportion by the way; you had to wait longer than needed making your "urgent" request all the less urgent to me. So come on let's go see your "Master" already Shizune and your cyclops of a boyfriend along with my assailant the dude Mr. Attitude can come with if you can promise me that I ain't gonna get hit again for speaking the truth." the clone said to the three giving tick marks to Asuma, making Shizune blush and the third person there just stood there thinking of only one other person that called him that name flat out to his face. He could tell that if these two met they would hit it off immediately or get in each others faces.
"I told you before kid my name is Sarutobi Asuma of the Sarutobi Clan, I'm the son of the damn Hokage!" Asuma said to the clone child
"And I told you I don't give a damn so there! Not to mention my name is Shintaro so when you start calling me by my name I'll do the same. My respect is earned not given out like candy. I don't care what titles you have or what you did in the past that seems so high and mighty what you do now and in the future determines my view of you, and all you've done is ambush me, question me, smacked me on the head, and now you're demanding my respect all with attitude. So until I call you by your name I hereby dub thee Mr. Attitude now lets go already last thing I need is waste anymore time than I need to." the clone said to Asuma before walking towards his next location: The Hokage Tower.