The Melting Pot
The alien stood calmly while staring out a big window. His window gave him a view of the city, and he frowned slightly. The whole city was in flames, which is what he had wanted, but he had lost half of his forces in the process to one man from Earth, "That wretched creature..," He said to himself, as he swung his tail.
"I tried to tell them I meant no harm," A new voice boomed through the alien's base of operations, and he instantly shot a large blast of ki to where he thought the source was. The explosion from the blast was enough to rock the building, and large pieces from the roof fell to the ground, but nobody fell with it to confirm a kill. "I come in peace, Lord Frieza."
Frieza stomped forward, his killing intent rising to inhuman levels. He had a scowl on his face, and was just about ready to end the intruder's shenanigans, "Show yourself at once!"
The masked man rose from the ground slowly, and appeared right before Frieza as he wished. The man's sharingan eye flared to life, but Frieza was much wiser than his subordinates, and had a compressed blast of key aimed at the single visible eye in an instant, "As I said, I came here in peace. I simply wish to discuss some important matters."
"You're not very convincing, human! This simple mission to destroy this planet has been completely ruined by you taking a portion of my forces with it! I want you dead right now!" Frieza shot the blast at the masked man and it flew right through him. The alien grit his teeth as he threw a volley of blasts right after out of rage, and got the same result.
The man sunk into the ground to avoid being hit, but his voice still bellowed throughout the room, "I'm more valuable to you alive than I am dead."
"There's nothing you can do for me, human," He looked around and tried to sense the masked man's energy so he could finish him off.
"Not even if I told you about the location of three of your rogue soldiers?" The man decided to reveal himself, as he stood behind Frieza with the smile on his face hidden by his mask. He folded his arms, as another blast shot through his body and crashed through the window. "Not just any soldier either, they're very important from what I hear."
Frieza held his open palm out toward the masked man and smiled, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested." A blast of ki slowly started to charge in his palm, "Go on, human."
"Three of the last living saiyans that you were interested in," The alien's hand was still aimed at him, "Among them is Prince of all saiyans, Vegeta." He smiled as he watched Frieza smile as well. "I'm willing to trade them for your services."
. . .
(The Next Day / Tobaku)
K put on his black top and cracked his knuckles. He slid into his gloves next, and finished by putting his hair into a ponytail.
Tsunade was packing all of her medical equipment while Shizune helped.
Goku sat on top of the table with his bag in his lap. Him and K were finally getting ready to depart for Iwagakure after being sidetracked in Tobaku for a couple of days. The man had fully recovered from the fight with the Takigakure shinobi and he was physically able to lead Goku to their destination.
"Thank you," K looked at Tsunade and a shadow of a smile creeped onto his face. He put on his travel bag and gestured toward Goku, "Get your stuff, Goku, we're leaving."
Tsunade nodded her head solemnly as she strapped up her bag with a slight smile. K's 'smile' was the closest thing to emotion he had ever expressed since she had met him. "It's the least I could do," She was grateful for her large amounts of payment. "You did get me out of a hole, so I should be saying thank you to you."
"It's nothing," K waved it off and walked toward the door. "Perhaps we'll meet again one day, Tsunade, Shizune." He offered a slight nod before opening the door and gesturing Goku toward it.
"Hopefully not," Tsunade admitted honestly and Shizune handed Tonton over to her. "You two were the worst thing to happen to my life in the last decade, I'd rather not cross paths again."
"TSUNADE-SAMA!" Shizune looked at her with wide eyes and a furrowed brow. "Be polite!" She smiled at K, "We would love to see you and Goku-kun soon, we wish you the best in your travels."
Tsunade mumbled something under her breath and rolled her eyes.
"Farewell," K pushed Goku out of the door and the two strolled down the hallway. "We have to move fast, Iwagakure is expecting us tomorrow."
Goku frowned, he had gotten used to relaxing for these last few days. Now he was being thrown back into the field to run through the desolate areas that Tsuchi no Kuni had to offer, "You sure we can't stay at another hotel for a few more days?" He extended his arm and let out a yawn.
"No, your relaxation is over," K glared at Goku. The boy didn't utilize his time off in any way, just eating and blowing away money at the casino. He had never been more disappointed, "You need to train."
"Are you ever going to teach me something?" Goku looked up at his sensei with a raised brow and smiled. "I've been waiting on you for these past few days."
"You don't need me to better yourself," K chided and placed his hand on top of Goku's head. "But I will once we arrive in Iwagakure."
The two made their way out of the hotel, K was trusting Tsunade to check them out of the hotel. He would probably regret that in hindsight. They had an important meeting, so the duo had no time to waste. The two were out of the gates in a short amount of time, and they were back in the wastelands of Tsuchi no Kuni trying to get to Iwagakure.
Goku and K passed through more small towns but had no time to stop. The newly minted Genin was more than exhausted, and a bit hungry. K was completely calm, being used to his own methods of travel, and cracked down on Goku whenever he complained.
The boy had a map in his hands as his finger traced over their trail to Iwagakure. He frowned, knowing they wouldn't be there for a few hours, "K, when can stop for FOOD?" Goku looked up at his sensei with hopeful eyes, but got the usual blank stare in return.
K looked down on the boy with the small ponytail, "We're going to be Iwa in a matter of hours." He took the map from Goku's hands, "We don't have time to stop."
"But I'm hungry!" Goku yelled out and stomped his foot against the ground.
Goku's sensei shot a cold glare down at the boy and frowned, "Goku, what I said stands." K silenced Goku and they continued moving toward the hidden village.
Goku folded his arms over each other and was extremely close to throwing a tantrum, but he knew he wanted no parts in K's wrath. He saw what he was capable of with just his words, so he would hold in his anger.
"How come we've gotta be there so fast?" Goku asked with a raised brow.
"We have a meeting with the Tsuchikage as soon as we arrive," K almost cringed at the thought of making the old man mad. "We cannot be late."
The boy simply nodded and kept walking. He just wanted to eat.
. . .
(Hi no Kuni)
Kakashi and Naruto were crouched down in a tree while watching a few people walk through the forest. The copy ninja had his sharingan eye revealed as he watched their every movement. Naruto was just keeping track of their movements the best he could, his new sword strapped to his back.
They were watching a group of four, among them two shinobi, a man wearing a suit, and a very large man wearing a bandana around his neck. The latter was carrying a large crate on his shoulder. Eventually all four of them came to a stop.
"Kakashi-sensei, what's going on?" Naruto whispered to his teacher.
"It's a deal, I think," Kakashi informed his pupil as he tried to focus on the crate now. He couldn't make out what was on the inside, since his sharingan was no where near the byakugan. "Stay quiet though, Naruto."
Kakashi was correct in his observation, as the large man set the crate down on the ground.
"And now we wait," The man wearing the suit said as he smiled, his left eye was covered by semi-transparent red monocle. He looked over to one of the shinobi he hired to guard him and numbers began popping up on the lense of his monocle, "You're about to witness history, Momochi."
'Momochi' was tall man with short, spiky black hair. He wore bandages around the bottom half of his face like a mask, and his headband on the side of his head. A large cleaver blade was strapped to his back. The man furrowed his brow, "I prefer Zabuza."
"Very well then, Zabuza-kun!" The man laughed as he turned his back on the swordsman and his partner who was wearing a Kirigakure ANBU mask.
"Gato-sama, in order for us to continue working for you, all we is ask for is respect," The masked shinobi spoke up, as he held back Zabuza, lest he cut the man in half. "Zabuza-sama and I will not tolerate being disrespected."
The large man with the navy, paisley bandana around his neck stared at both shinobi, "What're you going to do about it?" His words carried an air of a threat with them, and that nearly pushed Zabuza to the edge.
Gato shot a glance toward the masked shinobi, and another number appeared on his monocle. He then looked at Zabuza, who was leaking killing intent, and watched in awe as the number he saw spike at a fast rate. The man was even more surprised when monocle shattered into pieces once it couldn't keep up with the rate Zabuza was powering up. That couldn't be good.
The large man jumped in front of Gato before Zabuza could lash out and stab his boss with his oversized sword. He was lucky that the masked shinobi was present or else they would both be dead.
"Calm down," Gato held his hands up and smiled at Zabuza, no longer letting his fear be known. "I apologize, Zabuza."
The large sword was strapped back onto his back in an instant, and he grinned at Gato. "Good," He moved his partner's hand from holding him back, "Next time, Haku, don't worry about it." The man shot a stern glare at the boy and stepped forward.
"Kubikiribōchō, that's a fine weapon you have there." All eyes present locked onto the newcomer. He was a middle aged man with shoulder length black hair that covered half of his face. The man wore a black button down top, matching black pants, and black stirrups. His hands were wrapped in bandages. He took a few steps forward with his hands raised, "Hello, Gato."
Gato let out a deep breathe as he wiped away a newly formed bead of sweat, "Pleasure to meet you in person, Genji." The man wearing the suit snapped his fingers at his tall guard and he picked up the crate to present it before his customer. "You do have all the money, correct?"
The man nodded his head as he withdrew a scroll from his equipment pouch, "You have what I want?" Genji walked up to the crate and crouched down, he traced his hand over the edges smoothly. "I'd hate to come all this way to be dissatisfied."
Gato smiled, "Time is money, Genji-sama. I'd never waste your time," the mob boss walked up to the other side of the crate and held his hands behind his back. He looked down on the crate and then back at Genji, "This is the newest wave in military technology."
"I would rather be called G," His blank gaze went between the crate and Gato. "Open it, I want to see."
Gato's personal guard walked up to the crate as well as he lifted the top off of it. There were five smaller black crates arranged within it with different white kanji written on top of them. G scanned the boxes quickly and look at Gato.
"What is it?" He asked with a furrowed brow, wanting to make sure his money was being well spent.
"Perhaps a demonstration is in order," Gato snapped at his guard and he lifted the top off of one of the black boxes. "These weapons are next level and worth every cent." The man held his hand out and his security guard placed a device in his grasp.
"This is called a 'Ray Gun,' correct?" G questioned as he watched Gato in curiousity.
"Yes," Gato nodded as he pulled the trigger on the ray gun and a laser-like beam blasted from the barrel and crashed into a tree. The tree itself wasn't severely damaged, but there was a large dent that was smoking from the blast. "No chakra needed."
All of the shinobi present, hidden and out in the open, watched in silence as he fired the ray gun off.
"Simple, but effective," G noted as he stepped forward and took the Ray Gun from Gato to examine it. He pointed it at Gato, "No chakra required, correct?"
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Gato's face as he took a step back away from G, "Yeah, no chakra."
"Where did this come from?" He switched his aim to one of the trees, not yet pulling the trigger. He was intrigued, but wouldn't let childish curiosity take over and get trigger happy.
"I'd rather not say," Gato calmed down after the gun was no longer being pointed at him. "If I tell you, then I'm losing money because now you can go directly to the source."
"I can respect that," G let his hand fall down to his side and he turned to face Gato, Zabuza, Haku, and his guard. "What else is in this sample package?" He said as he calmly strolled forward to Gato.
"A scanning device, called a scouter, modified kunai, ray guns of course, arm cannons, and a special treat for my number one customer," Gato informed G as he held out his hand out for the scroll G still had in his other hand. "Assuming that you're pleased with what you see, I'll take the money in full."
G's face remained blank as he now had the ray gun pointed back at Gato, "Why shouldn't I just kill you?" He didn't falter when Zabuza, Haku, and his guard were positioning themselves to take action.
"Because then you'll have to deal with the Demon of The Mist," He grinned as the three people he hired to guard him moved to surround G.
"His loyalty can be bought, as well as his partner," His eyes averted to Gato's personal security, "And he's nothing but a grunt. All it takes is one shot and the tides will turn."
Zabuza had now drown his Kubikiribōchō and was ready to take action, but nothing had transpired, yet. He could only listen, and silently agree with G.
There was rustling sound in the bushes that drew everyone's attention away from G, and the man now aimed his newly acquired gun at said bush. This time he wasn't hesitant to test out the gun and shot a powerful beam at the bush.
Instead of the body of a spy they were expecting, they saw a now dead fox fall out of the bush. As Zabuza walked up to the dead fox, it popped into a poof of smoke, which made him jump backwards.
He turned to look at the rest of the group with a serious expression, which instantly stopped the threat of G killing Gato, "We're being watched."
. . .
(Hi no Kuni)
Kakashi and Naruto had fled the scene long ago, using a clone to watch over the transaction, and distract them from noticing them. It was starting to transition to night in Hi no Kuni, and that meant their mission was finished for the day.
"What the hell was going on, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as they leapt from branch to branch to return to their resting spot.
"I'm not quite sure, but it's definitely dangerous," Kakashi looked back from where they were coming from and then his head snapped forward. "We can't let this information slip to anyone, Naruto. It's very serious, not even Tazuna-san can find out right now."
The boy was more than confused, "Huh, why not?"
"Because we can't worry him anymore than he already is while he's trying to build the bridge, it's our job to protect him," Kakashi reasoned with his student. "He's already scared of the very real threat of Gato trying to bring it down."
As they trekked through the forest, Naruto grabbed his head after a sudden jolt of pain, "Naruto what's wrong?"
"Remember what you said about the shadow clone technique, about the memories?" Naruto looked up to Kakashi with fear written all over his face.
"Yes, Naruto, tell me what happened," Kakashi was slightly worried by what he was about to hear.
"They found the henged clone and killed it, they're trying to hunt us down right now," Naruto explained to his sensei. "We need to re-group with Sasuke and Sakura."
"What about the weapons, did he show him more?" Kakashi asked as they continued to move at high speeds through the forest.
"No, he was about to kill Gato and then they discovered the clone," Naruto added in, as he worriedly watched his back through his travels.
"Very well then, let's pick it up, Naruto!" Kakashi disappeared from Naruto's view at high speeds, and the boy followed his sensei's lead.
There's no way they would just lay back and die.
. . .
I'm going to throw in this filler while I set up the next arc, it's important to the overall story though. Next Chapter: The Legendary Gato