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Night City Legends

Chapter Three: Lost in Thought

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'Why do people do this to themselves?'

That was one of the only things the blond could think as he sat sideways in the tub, legs dangling over the edge, neck and head pressed against the wall with the shower running. He had nothing left in his guts that hadn't been almost violently expelled from one end of his body or the other. As he got himself somewhat cleaned up, yet nowhere near respectable, he spared a moment to wonder where Cami went. She hadn't been next to him this morning when he woke, although he was grateful for that now, but he did wonder how she was doing considering the state he was in.

'Never again,' he promised himself, with a violent shudder he instantly regretted.

He could hear his new phone ring outside the bathroom and groaned again. If he wasn't so thirsty he'd just lay here till he felt better… or he drowned, at this point it didn't seem too bad. But he needed to get out anyway, he was certain that he'd seen a bottle of water by the holo when he sprinted in here earlier.

-xXx-

"Que Cabron… Fuck you Jackie, you left me remember? You don't get to ask me a goddamn thing about where I've been or who I'm hanging with!" Several people glanced at the woman pacing back and forth on the sidewalk like a raging bull. "You lost the right when you packed my shit and dumped me. You didn't even have the fucking sack to tell me in person!"

She turned and kicked a trashcan next to an alleyway, scattering trash across the cement, "Did you not hear me? I said, FUCK. YOU… and FYI I dont fucking need you, you fucking manchild puta... Well you got plenty of space now! You know what? Why dont you go take that space and go fuck yourself!"

She ended the call with tears streaming down her cheeks, angry, sad, and frustrated all at the same time. For a moment she started to send him the pics she took the night before just for this reason, hoping to hurt him and make him suffer knowing that she was screwing someone else so soon but held off, mainly for Mama Welles.

"The fuck you looking at gonkbrain!" the teen that had stopped to stare at her while she raged on the phone jumped and scurried along. Man fuck today, fuck Jackie, fuck work just fucking fuck everything. Camilla took a deep breath and gave a shuddering sigh, forcing herself not to cry. Last night everything seemed so much better, now she was sober and had to deal with these bullshit feelings. Maybe she should just leave town and not look back, she had some family she could stay with. The weight of the remaining money they took from the poker game told her she'd be set for a little while, it'd be enough to buy a ticket and get her across the badlands but with little to spare. She didn't mean to take it honestly, when she woke up to her ex leaving messages she just threw on some clothes and left.

Looking down, the woman sighed and gave a little laugh, she didn't even put on her shirt, she was wearing Narutos. It smelled like him too. Playing with the material fascinated and offered a tiny distraction for her, made her wonder what the metallic mesh was, armor maybe? Some external overlay for synching more tech based armor? Naruto had admitted he was a merc or 'something like that' anyway and had the scars to prove it, the one on his chest for instance, she had gotten personally familiar with it over the course of the night. Maybe the 'something like that' was him being a Corpo heavy hitter before being hung out to dry. Wasn't any secret that corps pumped billions of eddies arming and training 'security'.

Cami paused and thought a bit more before smirking and swiped through her contacts again, optics flashing as she started walking and waiting to be connected. "Hey Marcus, the Padre around?" the phone chirped with a message and she grimaced. There was a couple from Jackie she hadn't bothered looking at, mostly from the night before, but the newest one was from Mama Welles, Jackie's mother.

'Are you ok-' The rest was cut off but it made her feel better either way, she'll give her a call in a little while.

"Yeah it's nothing major, just let him know I called. Think I met someone he'd be interested in."

-xXx-

6 Street had control of Santo Domingo for the most part, with many of their members living there it was pretty much a small standing army that other gangs didn't want to tangle with, too much trouble and heat. Heywood was another story, across the river they had a complicated relationship with the Valentinos and the smarter or at least wiser members of the two gangs did what they could to keep the peace.

Rico liked to consider himself one of those wiser soldiers, but he could still see the need to expand operations and more ops called for more recruits, that's why he found himself sipping Synthcoff a booth in "Pig Boy's Delight" Irish Pub with 'General' Rick Morton, 6th Street leader and someone he was happy to call Choom.

Morton was a beast of a man, not ripped like an Animal but stocky and solid for his age. Clean shaven and clean cut he stuck to the NUSA standards from when he was a officer back during the war if only in personal appearance, his clothing was the 6th Street favorite of tactical gear and civilian clothes.

"So this is the kid you wanna bring in, what is he 20 something? One arm … hell he looks homeless… am I missing something here Rico?" Morton questioned, when Rico called him up to say he might've found someone to recruit he was actually surprised, gonk had to be something for him to bring it up like this. After all, you didn't have to have his personal approval to join.

"That 'Homeless kid with one arm' zeroed three disgraces going around tormenting gonks for thrills and making XBDs" Rico elaborated, "I got the shards with the kid in action, fucking things arent edited. Kid packs a hell of a punch and has the skills to handle shit. I'm certain that if he's not military he's a former Corpo soldier." a small container with three data shards was placed on the table, "Ortiz scrolled em with me, made sure there wasn't any soft hiding in the system so they're safe… well aside from being unedited."

The general grimaced and picked up the small case, "Fuckin XBDs, I'll check em out. But if you're sure about him just pull the trigger and recruit. Or is there something else about the kid?"

"Not the kid so much as the gonks he flatlined, looked through some of their shit. Pretty sure they're some of Gunners punks."

The General sighed, "Of course they're part of Gunner's merry band of freaks. Let me guess no solid intel?" at his nod, Morton reached into his vest and pulled out a smoke. "Fucking hell the shit keeps piling up."

Rico took a sip of the Synthcoff, "Heavy is the head that wears the crown choom."

"Recruit him, Rico. Hell, I don't care if it's only contract work. If nothing else the kid isn't connected to Gunner and we can trust that. Gunner wants to lead, I know that for a fact, but he wants to push the crew in a worse direction."

"Most of the old guard are still with you," Rico mused, swirling the coffee in thought.

"Most of the old guard have died, either from age or acute lead poisoning. He starts filling the newer guys' ears with his half baked ideas of making stacks of eddies from 'New Enterprises' then we'll face a firing squad of our own people too blind to see that we'll be thrown into a war against all of Night Cities gangs and the police all at once."

"Gunner never really was good at seeing the big picture, but he could run his fucking mouth." The two sat there for a bit, one smoking and the other drinking coffee. "I'll go find the kid and get him to work with us. Gave him enough eddies for a couple days at the No-Tell so he should still be there… if not I'll get up with Ortiz,he shouldn't be too hard for her to trace.

-xXx-

'Had the best night last night Mr. Stud ;-) Gotta delta and take care of some stuff. Call you later, Choom!'

It took him a minute to work the phone but Naruto blushed a little at the praise. It looked like Cami had taken a picture of herself for the contacts list too, just her face framed with thorns and roses. Not only that but it looked like she had left him the bottle of water he'd already gulped down earlier as well as what looked like a couple painkillers, which he dearly hoped they were considering what he thought was a MaxDoc turned out to be Synthcoke and Dorph.

Oh well…

The blond sat down on the bed and buried his face in his hands, slowly rubbing little circles with his fingertips. The hangover from hell was easing off so he'd take the time to do some personal investigation, such as see what else he'd done to himself last night… Hopefully nothing as cliche as getting a tattoo or god forbid married.

His new arm was pretty much bare bones… looked like it too. Where his arm ended there was a band of dull metal attached pretty securely to his flesh and even with a few pokes, prods, and even a tug or two it didn't seem to want to fall off. From there it separated into two smooth bars that reminded him of how bones actually looked, he could see a few slots here and there that he wasn't going to mess with and some wires that connected near where his elbow would be. Thankfully the arm seemed to be waterproof seeing as he spent a few hours dying in the tub earlier, he wasn't even sure where that Ripperdoc was last night so he doubted that he'd be able to make his way back for a tune up or god forbid a replacement.

His hand was much the same, dull metal with few wires or any exposed inner workings. When he tried flexing it, it felt a bit off, which wasn't a surprise considering it was literally a new limb to him. But it closed when he wanted and moved in a mostly natural way.

He now had a personal link of his own, the retractactable cord fitted nicely into a slot just above his metal wrist. Hadn't had a chance to use it yet but it connected to his new basic OS and optical implant, pretty standard he was told so nothing fancy but it did connect to the shard slot freshly implanted behind his left ear.

That was it for implants and upon further inspection, he did not in fact have a new tattoo. At least he had some self control last night.

*THUD**THUD**THUD*

Naruto was shaken out of his thoughts, looking over his shoulder to see if he had a tattoo on his ass when his door shook, someone pounding on it loud enough to wake the dead.

"Hey kid you up!" That wasn't a voice he expected… Then again he wasn't expecting to hear anyone pound on his door and call him.

"Hold on!" call it paranoia, but he fell into a more stealthy stance and crept over to the door, instinctively changing the way he walked to make no sound without even noticing that he had done it. The peephole showed a familiar man, it was the 6 shift guy or something, Ricko maybe?

"It's me, Rico. 6th street, remember?"

Oh yeah, Rico from 6th street, the lieutenant of that streetgang that controlled this area. He still wasnt too sure how he felt about them, or any gangs in general for that matter. Then again the government and police weren't any different he supposed.

He couldn't find his shirt and had no idea where it was so he just tossed on his new vest and made his way to the door, ideally hoping to run across it soon. He liked that shirt.

-xXx-

When the kid finally opened the door, Rico was surprised to see that he'd gotten a new arm since the last time he'd seen him and from the faint cyberware line on the side of his head, some fresh chrome too.

"Damn choom, didn't waste any time chipping in again huh?" he mused, he wouldn't let the kid know he suspected he was packing some other heavy chrome, in fact, only him and Ortiz had talked about it amongst themselves that day. "Didn't think I'd given you enough for new chrome though." which he didn't, that chit only had a few hundred eddies at most which he took from those three flatlined in that alley.

The blond looked at his new arm and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah it was a… weird night."

Rico studied it for a second, definitely nowhere near topshelf but hell, he had to be resourceful if anything to scrape up the cred to get it much less have it installed. "Preem either way, glad to see you back on your feet and rearmed." he chuckled at the joke but it stopped short when Naruto didn't laugh, 'must be a sore spot,'

The blond actually just didn't get the joke.

"But anyway, I said before that I'd drop by to see if you were interested in joining up. I meant it too. You got some moves and you'd be running your own area before you know it." or be dead, but that went for everyone in NC no matter what they did. "First impressions are hard to beat I know, but don't let the way those three gonks acted before make you think we're all like that."

Naruto had to admit that the guy didn't seem like he was lying, something in him was saying that the guy was being straight with him. But still, joining a gang? His reluctance must've shown on his face because the guy laughed.

"Hey like I said before, I get it. Joining up is a choice and we don't force people to join. Hell I wouldn't stay if that's how we operated, we were founded on the principles of freedom and the good ol red white and blue. How about I treat you to breakfast, answer any questions you got about us? Tom's Dinner is a short drive away and has the best pancakes this side of the river."

When his stomach suddenly agreed, Naruto couldn't help but laugh a bit. "You know what, sure. I could use something to eat… oh and," he turned and stepped back into his room, over to the desk and grabbed the Overture pistol. "I need some rounds for this too. You mind?"

He waved it off, "Yeah sure, I know a good gun shop we can hit up on the way."

The walk downstairs didn't take long at all and he noticed that even with it being late morning, there were still a few Joytoys hanging around the lobby 'working'. They gave the pair the side eye, or more so his companion or at least the gang colors he wore but they didn't seem afraid or ready to run so he guessed that people didn't completely fear this 6th Street gang.

Rico led him to a green truck parked outside and both climbed in and headed off, first to the gun store and then to breakfast. There was a radio report going on about the body lottery being a surprisingly low 12 people killed but he turned it off when Naruto turned to speak.

"I looked up some stuff about you, well 6th Street that is. Founded after the Fourth Corporate war when NCPD wasn't enough to keep the streets safe."

The older man nodded, "Yep… NCPD at the time was a little better, some officers at least tried to help. NCPD now though, they actively ignore most places unless it has a heavy corpo presence. Shit, I think the rates actually went up not too long ago, 5 eddies a minute to call and report a crime." that made naruto blink, he hadn't known that.

"Started out as veterans banding together like a neighborhood watch," Rico nodded as the blond continued, "businesses started paying for protection and the gang did a lot better than the police at the time. But now you've moved into extortion and smuggling from what some of the news say. Those three I… killed, were members, the things the did might not have been ordered by the gang but it was done under the name of the gang,"

"... yeah kid, shit like that happens more times than I want to know about."

The truck stopped at a redlight and there was silence between them, the only noise between them being the rumbling of the engine.

"You know, I've been in this city for less than a week." Naruto continued, making Rico's eyes widen at the admission, he hadn't expected that. "From what I've seen and read, this city… there's just something wrong with it. Something that needs to be fixed but there's just no way to do it." Rico didn't react. To an outsider, he guessed that was a perfectly reasonable way to see NC. "Feels like even if there was a way to fix things, the entire city would fight back to keep the status quo."

The truck slowed down to a stop next to the gunshop 'Pure Overkill,' and the blond stepped out, "I'll be right back."

-xXx-

Hmm well shit, the kid wasn't a NC native. Then again, most outsiders who did come here had a good chance of ending up on the streets and dead in days. Though, he had a feeling that this one would've clawed his way up somehow, call it a soldier's intuition but there was something in the kids eyes that told him he'd push on to the bitter end right up until someone flatlined him. Hell, he might as well have given him a jump start by giving him that chit, a couple days later he managed to get the cred for a new arm and implants, probably replacing any soft that the corpos deactivated when they kicked him to the wind.

The kid came back with a holster strapped to his thigh and his pocket heavier with a box of pistol ammo and they continued on down the road, Tom's diner just a block away. Neither spoke, both gathering their thoughts. One had questions to ask, the other answers. Pancakes were ordered and delivered pretty quickly, cups filled with SynthCoff, and a container of the finest synthsyrup placed between them.

"So, what kinda stuff would I be doing if I joined up?"

"Honestly? I couldn't tell you. Guarding an area and playing lookout is the usual shit new recruits handle until they prove themselves. I head up a protection group but we do it the old way, yeah, you'd probably call it a protection racket but I'll take you to any of them and they'll tell you we do what the cops won't." Rico poured a small amount of the synthetic syrup onto the pancakes and offered it to the blond, who took it and did the same. "NCPD barely patrol here and take half an hour to make it to a call on a slow day. Even then they'll tell em to file a report and fuck off to the nearest copshop. My people might not be there to stop what's going down but we'll sure as hell make sure that it won't happen again and people know that. Hell, I've even helped some people repair what was damaged."

That did surprise Naruto, once again he didn't feel like the guy was lying. "So 6th Street will help fix things too?" when he caught Rico wince he nodded. "Ah, your the only one that helps,"

"I grew up there, made damn sure no one else could claim the blocks as their own… most of my crew did too and they feel the same." he admitted.

"But not the whole organization."

"Lot of the newer members think that joining a gang means power and money, that they can do what they want when they want. We've kept them in line for the most part but sometimes they slip through…"

A waitress came by holding the coffee pot and refilled Rico's mug without asking and gave a little smile, "Here you go old man, you and your friend need something?"

"Old?" he repeated, sounding offended, "Damn girl, just stick that knife in my heart why don't you?" She laughed and patted his shoulder, "But i'm good,"

Naruto gave her a smile and shook his head, he'd only taken a sip of his coffee. "No thanks, I'm fine."

"Nova, just holler if you do alright. Oh and Rico dont worry, I'll make sure to add the seniors discount."

He grumbled and shook his head as she walked away with a smile, no one else in the dinner acted like they heard, most likely knowing he was a gang member. When he looked back at Naruto he had a crooked smile and leaned forward, "My niece," he admitted in a low voice before clearing his voice, "But you wanted to know what you'd be doing… There's a lot going on right now, lots of shit up in the air and we're waiting to see where it's gonna fall… There's a war coming, kid. Anyone with eyes can fucking see it if they look past the bullshit."

Naruto felt an ache, visions of a one eyed masked man with white hair popped into his mind 'Remember, one must always look underneath the underneath.' he blinked back the tears as Rico continued.

"If things fly off the handle and a civil war in the gang happens, other gangs will start moving in and we'll lose ground. If somehow we don't tear eachother apart fighting and gonks like Gunner manage to take over, 6th Street will become nothing more than a band of terrorists and thugs. We aren't good people, I accept that but we are the lesser of two evils." his food steadily disappeared throughout the conversation until his fork clattered to the now empty plate. "I don't want 6th Street to become just another one of NCs gangs, we still have some lines that won't be crossed. So you asked me what you'll be doing and I think I've shown you that I can't give you a good answer because I don't know what needs to be done. You were almost a victim to what 6th street could turn into, I want you to join up and help stomp that shit out."

Both were silent, looking at each other from across the booth, the world around them fading.

"No."

In all honesty, he felt like cold water just coursed through his veins but what did he expect? He just asked someone to join a gang on the verge of civil war.

"I'm not joining up." Naruto continued, "but you helped me when you didn't have to and you've been straight with me so far… so I'll help you with this."

-xXx-

He had no idea why he agreed to help. The old veteran could frame it up however he liked but 6th Street was, in the end, a violent street gang. They might have started out with honorable intentions of protecting their homes and loved ones but they still became what they are today, preying on those in desperate need of protection. They still fought on the streets no matter who might get caught in the crossfire, granted not as much as other gangs like Malstrom or the Animals.

But the fact of the matter was that this man helped him in a time of need.

They worked out some details without many issues, he'd basically be a contractor or a solo runner and they'd pay him to handle certain things for them. Rico mentioned that it'd help him boost his rep if he planned to keep on and make a name for himself as a edgerunner, something he'd need if he wanted to get noticed and offered work by any fixers around the city.

The pair went their separate ways soon after, Rico saying he'd contact him soon enough and promised to at least get him some gear to start with, that he had some extra equipment laying around that he wouldn't miss.

-xXx-

Another day, another mop up…

Gloria couldn't help but huff as she loaded her EMT gear into the truck, double checking every piece of equipment and signing off on it with her supervisor else she'd be charged for it. Eddie pinching puto, she knew for a fact that the only reason she got the position was cause she took it up the ass, after all the higher ups didn't care who overheard them gossiping.

She was proud of the fact that she had never stooped so low in her life, klept a few things here and there? Sure. But blow upper management or take it in the rear? Nope.

As her shift supervisor strutted off, she held back the urge to flip her off while her partner walked over with a case in his hand. "She's still giving you shit huh? Dont let her rile you up, i hear her reviews coming up soon,"

Gloria rolled her eyes, "Yeah, bets she's looking forward to scraping her knees," it was muttered under her breath but he grinned and hid a laugh.

"Don't know, I hear Frank's not doing the reviews this year." he slammed the door and both went to climb into the ambulance.

"Really, you hear who it is?"

He shook his head, "Nah, but I doubt she's gonna be able to suck a good review outta this one. You didn't hear this from me but someone may or may not have slipped a couple reports to someone in the finance dept. Oh and here." she was handed the box and blinked at him for a second. "We got authorization to carry now, Hernandez and his partner got shot at last night, he took a slug in the leg."

Opening the case, Gloria found a simple pair of Lexington pistols and a spare mag for each. An ice cold wave of worry fell over her. It was bad enough before but now people took shots at EMTs? Thoughts of David flooded her mind, he was in school now, what if she got hurt? Who'd take care of him? Her insurance wouldn't cover shit and he was too young to handle things.

The vehicle rumbled to life and she shook herself out of those thoughts, picking up one of the guns while her partner grabbed the other. It wasn't the first time either had to carry a pistol on the job, hell a while back she heard how during the war they carried shotguns and were even given armored vests. "Hell of a thing huh? Us having to carry guns." she grabbed the other mag and passed it to him.

"In this city?" he snorted but waved the spare away, "You keep it, I got my own piece." Turning to her, he opened one side of his jacket for her to see the handle to his Liberty power pistol in a shoulder holster under his other arm. "I'll keep the gun in the door panel just in case. I talked to my brother in law too, lining up a pair of vests just in case shit gets worse." when he saw her confused look he smirked, "What, you think i'm not gonna look out for my partner? You're still a size XL right?

Gloria couldn't help but snort, "Oh fuck you,"

They left the medical center and hit the roads, just in time to hear a call over the radio. NCPD requesting a cleanup. Both glanced at each other and sighed.

Another day, another mop up…

-xXx-

Naruto didn't really know what brought him here but when he went back to the motel, he felt like going up to the roof and just… thinking. It wasn't too high up and didn't really give him much of a view of anything except for a few industrial areas and any nearby AVs flying around, but it was… peaceful and sitting on the edge of the rooftop was comfortable enough for him to gather his thoughts.

His memories were a mess, a jumble of disjointed flashes and feelings with little context for him to understand. His body reacted almost instinctively to things, last night he moved like a well oiled machine when he fought, even though he couldn't remember all the training his muscle memory picked up the slack. Hell when he tried to use his chakra to walk up the wall, a basic exercise he took to it like a fish to water, same with his clones.

But techniques aside, he wanted to remember his past. Everytime he had flashes of someone he cared about he knew that they were precious to him but not why, hell he couldn't even think of their names. That made him feel like shit.

As he sat there, collecting and organizing his thoughts, the blond began to meditate and feel the energy around him. It was weak, struggling, like a person slowly being strangled but unable to fight, reaching out and begging for help.

He gasped and flinched, having emulated the feeling and stopped breathing himself. What was that? The feeling was familiar but so weak. He needed to catch his breath but couldn't ignore how it had called to him, how it embraced him. Taking a few minutes to breath, he closed his eyes and searched for that feeling again, trying to expand all his senses to feel the call it was, towards the river… no across the river, towards the massive buildings in the distance. He needed to go there, towards Heywood if he remembered correctly.

Naruto leapt to his feet, feeling lighter than he'd felt for a long time as he looked at the rooftops and had a thought before smirking.

-xXx-

Down below, several people went about their business when a shadow over them. Most ignored it, thinking it was a lone AV passing by but one Joytoy looked up to see what it was while taking a hit of her dorph only to gawk at the sight of an orange blur running along the rooftop of an adjacent building.

'Oh fuck, he's about to kill himself.' she thought with a grimace, mostly due to the fact that the body would make business slow down for a bit. But her jaw dropped as the person reached the edge and leapt, it didn't fall like she expected but it sailed through the air and into the side of another taller building where they ran along the side. Ran… on the side of a fucking building.

She had to look around for cameras, were they shooting a fucking movie or something? Impossible, if they were the damn corp rat cucks would've kicked them out of the area violently if need be. But there weren't any cameras and her optics weren't glitched.

Looking at her now empty airhypo and then to where she had seen the person, she blinked and rubbed her eyes. There was no way that actually happened right?

-xXx-

"So he said no then huh?" Rico glanced over to his techie choom as she spun around in her chair, the holoscreen flashing a crying emoji at him each time she faced him. "Oh poor Rico, looks like you're losing your touch, and to think you used to be able to talk your way into anything."

"Losing my touch?" he mused with a chuckle, "Ortiz im glad you think so highly of me but I doubt I was ever all that good.

She hummed and stopped spinning to face him, "Oh I don't know, I seem to remember you talking your way where no other man had been… or ever will be again," she slid forward and held her legs open wide, holoscreen flashing a cat emoji while she slowly rubbed her thighs with her palms. "Seem to remember giving that silver tongue rave reviews."

"Yeah, to my soon to be mainline if memory serves." he snapped, arms crossed making her laugh.

"I didn't make you step out on her." Ortiz was spinning again, laughing, "Whatever happened to that old stick in the mud by the way. You stopped bringing her around." he mumbled something, "Speak up choom. Can't hear ya!"

"I said I fucking married her!"

The girl snapped around so fast she fell out of the chair, "What no way!" she scrambled to her feet and back in the chair before scooting towards, him, "Howd you manage that, she was fucking pissed! Oh wait, that just proves it, you gots the silver tongue choom!" Ortiz giggled like a schoolgirl, kicking her feet like a child, "Oh wow choom, i'm so proud of ya. Slide me her contact, I want the deets!"

"Ortiz, your my friend and I love ya but you contact my mainline and I fucking promise you, I'll zero you. I'll fuckin do it."

Seeing the look on his face made her giggle more, "Chill chill, you know i wouldn't mess with your fam like that big guy." she climbed back to her feet, "Although, I'm sure you could swing a threeway if you used that tongue-"

"12 gauge enema, Ortiz," he snapped.

"Ooh, kinky… Fine, damn just having some fun," she pouted, holoscreen doing the same. "Though that'll probably be just as mindblowing!"

"Fucking hell, why do I deal with you,"

"Cause i'm the bestest!" she got up and back into her chair before singing "and I let ya look at my tits!"

"You flash me! God fucking damnit your such a fucking child."

Ortiz gasped, holding a hand to said chest, "Rico that hurts. And if i'm a child that makes you a pedo, and i'm not gonna be lectured by some perv!"

His face was turning red, biomoniter flashing about heightened bloodpressure, "Please, for the love of all that's holy, please Ortiz, be fucking serious!" he choked out, falling onto the couch in her home and rubbing his temples, "I got the kid to work with us, he's not joining up but he's gonna help. Do some job, fuck over some of Gunners people, maybe even zero em if push comes to shove."

"Oh neat,"

"Yeah, and I need you for a quick job" he stopped and glared at her, "and I swear, if you make a joke about a blowjob I'm kicking you in the cunt!" her mouth closed with a click and she covered her crotch with both hands. "Throw together a few basic daemons, I wanna make sure the kid has the basics at least."

"Hmm shouldn't be too hard," with that she slid over to her impressive cyber setup and climbed into her netrunners chair. "Just the basics though?"

"Yeah, don't know what he's already got or what cyberdeck he's running. Gonna grab some of my old gear for em too. Just some tac gear and pads, probably a trauma pad too. I'd get him a plate but im on my last spare since that SNAFU out in the badlands." he grimaced, a phantom ache in his gut from where he took a round from a nomad

"Speaking of nomads, I'm trying to find a new line on a smuggler. How about we just avoid using nomads this time?"

"Hard to find someone who knows the badlands like that."

"Pitty," she blew a raspberry and pulled a data shard from somewhere in the mess of her setup, "Done! A basic hacking daemon, should breach most networks and even added a little something to disable at least the cams for awhile. No extra charge."

Rico plucked it from her hand, "Nice work Ortiz, you do good work,"

"You fucking know it choom!"

-xXx-

Little did Naruto know, his run throughout the city would cause quite a stir, several people spotted an orange blur leaping from rooftop to rooftop and even one on duty cop managed to catch a glimpse of it on his body cam. One netrunner would catch footage of him later when scrolling cyberspace and fucking with the cities cameras and upload part of it to the net.

It was clearly edited to try and clean up the blur but everyone that watched could see that it was a person running along the rooftops and leaping across the gaps without slowing down. Drone footage even showed him running along the side of a megatower with no signs of any external gear. The drone finally lost sight of him as he made his way along the NCART track over the bridge, landing on the roof of the rear cart and sitting down. It had zoomed in to the maximum distraction to see the person roll onto his back laughing yet never getting a perfect view of his face.

All that was certain was he was a blond man in an orange vest with matching pants.

The clips would circulate the net for days, chrome junkies going apeshit over this new line of implants that let you stick to walls for such a long distance. Online groups would argue over which corp was responsible, claiming conspiracy after conspiracy over it, one of the largest followings believed that Arasaka was responsible, they had the whole ninja vibe with their covert operatives and that was clearly a ninja wall run.

But despite these rumors, corporation department heads of various research and development teams would begin to receive pointed messages from their higher ups wanting to know if this was one of their projects and if so, why weren't they informed of it. Why were they finding out about it now and by vids on the net. Naturally, the news that this wasn't one of their projects caused a bit of panic. Now they had to explain that to their bosses as well as why counter intel hadn't caught wind of it.

Each megacorp looked at their rivals with suspicion, although that wasn't anything new. But with this new information it was easy to believe that their rivals had a breakthrough in technology. One such researcher would be tasked with reopening his files on antigrav tech, obviously they had missed something.

-xXx-

Following his senses, Naruto found himself on the edge of Heywood in a area called The Glen bordering Corpo plaza, standing on the corner of one of the many winding overpasses and surrounded by buildings on all sides. But below him was an oasis of green, honest to goodness nature in this city.

*HONK*

"Get off the road freak!"

He glanced at the car that flew past him with a small glare before turning back to the park. He wouldn't let some random asshole ruin his good mood.

Several people pointed at him as he stepped off the road and fell to the ground below, flipping in the air to land on his feet in a crouch. Right beside a pile of trash. It made his heart ache. Looking around, the trees, bushes and stone decorations in this park nearly blocked out all evidence of the mega buildings around him, true there were several overpasses but he ignored them. But like most of the city he's seen, this patch of land was tainted by uncaring citizens leaving all manner of trash piled wherever they wished.

Dozens of people walked around the trails, some looked homeless and seemed to live here among the trees. The blond felt a strange sort of kinship, had he found this place earlier, he'd have done the same. Like a curious child, Naruto roamed around the park, basking in the nature that both struggled and flourished in this horrible city. There was even a small lake, filled with green, murky water that he was certain was also half filled with trash. He sat down in the shade next to a tree, kicking a trashbag out of his way and closer to the empty dumpster nearby.

"Greetings fellow traveler." He flinched at the sudden voice next to him and turned to see a bald monk staring at him with his hands together and a gentle smile on his face. "You carry the look of a man lost in a sea of unknowable depths, haunted by that he does not know." when Naruto stammered he made a calming motion with his hand, "Peace traveler, I too am on a journey of self discovery or maybe rediscovery. I wish to aid those in need of spiritual peace and while I have yet to achieve my own inner balance, I could not help but notice a fellow traveler possibly in need."

Naruto blinked at the monk before scratching the back of his head, "I guess you could say that I'm kinda lost," he gave a weak chuckle.

"Ah but aren't we all lost on the road of life?" something about that made him think, he'd heard that before but where. "When I'm beginning to feel lost and weary, I find meditation helps to soothe the soul and rejuvenate the spirit. Would you care to join me? I confess, I am not yet a master in leading another in meditation but I would be more than willing to try."

"You know what, I think I'd like that," he admitted. Flashes of him meditating going through his mind.

The pair sat on the ground between a couple of the trees nearby the small lake and Naruto started to copy the monk before adjusting himself to what he felt was right. This caused the monk to smile again, "Ah, I see you've practiced meditation before. Seems that I may not have to lead you far, just simply join you on this journey… I shall begin, We are all connected to the universe, with our bodies, our souls, and our senses. We recognize the world as much as the world recognizes us. One can see all of the world in a single grain of sand, yet many of us have chosen to close our eyes and shut off our senses, thus severing our spiritual bond with it.

Everything seemed to fall into place without thinking about it, the drone of the people around him faded into nothing, the sound of the cars overhead vanished as he turned all of his senses inward. His chakra was like a calm sea, vast and wide yet ready to become a tidal wave of destruction at any moment. He could feel the chakras surrounding him, trying to add to his own reserves and bolstering his connection to the world around him, making him one with nature.

With a single breath in and out, Naruto ceased to move. He didnt breathe, didn't even twitch. It was as if he died and became a statue then and there.

"Naruto what do you think your doing huh! Skipping class and vandalizing the Hokage monument! Well guess what young man, you're gonna clean it up and you're not going home until you clean every inch!" "So big deal, not like anyones waiting for me at home." "Hey Naruto, lets get some ramen before you head home." "Really Iruka-sensei!"

"Im sorry, Naruto you failed,"

"Naruto, you saved me and kept Mizuki from taking the forbidden scroll, I think you earned this Haitai"

Sorry I'm late. I'm afraid I got lost on the road of life.

Hmm, how can I put this? My first impression of this group… you're a bunch of idiots.

In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.

"Congratulations, you passed the test! You're all officially a part of team 7 now!"

"If I become stronger, does that mean I'll become as cold-hearted as you are!? He threw his life away, and for what? For you and your dream?! You never let him have a dream of his own, but he didn't care, and you just toss him aside like he was nothing... a broken tool. Man, that's so wrong... so wrong!"

"Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want! You're not gonna scare me off! No way! I don't care if I DO get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life! I'll still be Hokage someday!"

"Hinata, do you remember that lesson in class? The one where 'If the world ended, who would you spend your last day with?' I wrote no one's name down because I didn't know my mother, I didn't know my father, and I didn't have any friends, but now I can clearly say that from now on, I want to spend all and every single one of my days, until I die with you, and only you."

"Naruto... it's too late, nothing you can say will change me! I'm going to kill you and every last person in your beloved village! It's time to make your choice! Kill me and become a hero, or die at my hand and become another one of my victims!"

Something inside him broke and the memories hit him like a tidal wave of mixed emotion. Joy, pain, terror, sadness, rage, hate, regret, he felt one after the other non stop as he remembered the best and worst times of his early life. Being alone in the village, going to the academy, team 7, the land of waves, the chunin exam, the invasion, the old man dying, Tsunade, Jiraiya, the training trip…

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he was shocked to find that it was not only dark but the monk was no longer meditating but on his knees in prayer, around him plants and flowers had grown noticeably more healthy and vibrant, swaying in the breeze. Luckily they weren't noticed by anyone else as they had found an out of the way nook to meditate in.

"Traveler, you have shown me something truly amazing. Thank you." the monk was almost sobbing, "It was not I aiding you along your journey but you showing me the way. Your companionship was truly enlightening. Should our paths cross again i hope to meditate with you again. With that, the monk stood and left him sitting on the ground, almost skipping out of the part in excitement.

*Beep*

His phone went off with a message.

"Hey Naru! Let's go out tonight, I promise I'll actually show you around the city this time ;-p'

-xXx-

To be continued…

-xXx-

I was wondering if anyone had caught that Cami/Camilla was Jackies ex. She's not really mentioned in the game except for once or twice about how Mama Welles liked her more than Misty at the time.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this, gonna have more action next time as we get into the gang stuff. Love yall!