Night City Legends

by DrunkenFicker

2074, Naruto awakens to find himself in a world much stranger than his own. One with no place for heroes, only dead legends. He'll find his place among the city and carve out a path of his own to become Night City's own living Legend... that is, so long as he doesn't go screaming over the edge. Story will cover Edgerunners Anime and Cyberpunk2077 Act 1 Complete. Act 2 in progress.

12. C12: Who's Ready for Tomorrow

Night City Legends

Act 2: Running along the Edge

Chapter Twelve: Who's Ready for Tomorrow

-xXx-

The next day…

-xXx-

While he wasn't planning on avoiding the Coyote Cojo, Naruto was a bit surprised to find himself returning so soon. Originally, he planned on taking a few days to rest and recover from his wounds, he'd also take the time to properly mourn the loss of his love now that he'd avenged her. But of course, there was always something coming up demanding his attention it seemed.

Walking through the back door, Naruto took in the sight of the bar in full swing and smiled sadly, remembering some of the fun he'd had here with her in the past. The pool table had been moved back and a couple of regulars were deep in the middle of a game, judging from the small pile of eddies on the corner of the table it looked like a bet had been made and had attracted a few spectators.

Behind the bar, Pepe saw him enter and raised a hand in greeting. He looked like he was about to call out until the guy at the bar said something, holding out several eddies to catch the bartender's attention. Several Valentinos noticed him and nodded, a gesture he returned, he recognized a few of them, one was even the guy who challenged him by throwing knives at a makeshift target.

The one that was nearest motioned over his side, where the small nook with Camilla's memorial was still sitting. He nodded and stepped around the corner where he found Cami's brother, Gustavo sitting, hunched forward and leaning against his knees with a depressed look on his face. His girl, also dressed in the usual flashy valentino style, leaned against him while rubbing his back in a comforting manner.

"Sorry about the wait Gustavo," Naruto spoke as he saw them, making the man look up and over to him. "You said you wanted to talk right?" When the man sat up and nodded, he did the same and nodded back, "Good, cause I wanna talk to you too." Looking around, he saw a chair sitting next to the wall and picked it up, setting it down across from the man. "So, what's up?"

The man looked at him for a moment then chuckled, shaking his head. "You know, when my sister told me she was seeing someone my first instinct was to hunt you down and have a much different kinda talk with you," he glanced over to the table, looking at her picture then the mask still sitting by it, "She probably woulda tried to knock my teeth out again too." he chuckled, his gaze lowering to the vest still sitting against the table leg.

'If you didn't zero me first,' he thought to himself for a moment before squeezing his girls thigh, "Why don't you go get a drink babe,"

She looked between the two and nodded, pulling her arm out from behind him, "You want me to bring you one?" she asked, her high pitched voice sounding oddly synthetic which made Naruto notice the implants in her throat. Her lover shook his head and she stood up, "Alright, I'll be by the bar." she leaned down and kissed his temple before walking away and leaving them alone.

"It's a stupid question now." he started once she got a little further away, "I planned on asking you if you really loved my little sister." Naruto snorted at the question, "yeah, I mean. What kinda gonk does what you did eh?"

"Looking back," Naruto leaned back into the chair and sighed, "I regret a lot of what I did. I hurt… killed a lot of people, hurt a lot of families. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret killing the ones responsible but… I could've gone about it in a different way."

The two fell into a slight awkward silence, the usual sounds of the bar around them filling it.

"I have to ask you hombre." Naruto looked up and met the other man's eyes when he spoke. "Do I have to worry about you dropping my ass?" Gustavo had to ask, he'd spent the entire time since this gang war started worried that the 6th Street Shino would pop up and flatline him, it felt like a foolish question to ask now, but he couldn't help but have that little worry in the back of his mind.

"You don't have to worry about it. I ain't got any problems with you Gustavo," he looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging, "Unless you plan on trying to kill me that is."

The man chuckled weakly, "Nah, nothing like that. Camilla would come back just to strangle me." he sighed as the blonds answer took a major worry off his shoulders, "Look, I know you're with 6th Street, but-" Naruto cut him off.

"No, I'm done with them." he crossed his arms and frowned, "Our agreement was over as soon as I found out what they did. Besides, I was only helping them with internal gang shit," he told the man about Gunner and the 'civil war' in 6th Streets ranks, which got the man thinking.

"We could use this to our advantage," the Valentino boss mused out loud, "Could push them back like they wanted to do to us and-"

"No,"

He looked at the blond half confused, half angry, "No? The fuck you mean 'no'?"

"The ones responsible are dead," he stressed to the other man, "Your 'boys' also hit them back several times from what I hear so I'd say the score is settled between the two gangs."

Gustavo grit his teeth, "Even? They killed my boys, my broders," he hissed while clinching the arm of the couch as tight as his gold plated chrome hand would allow, "those perras tried to dust me and killed mi familia, mi hermanita," Naruto didn't flinch as the man snarled at him in a cold rage. "They took her from me! She was tu amor, your love and they took her from you! They deserve-"

"Do not bring her into this" Naruto hissed back, "The ones responsible are dead," he leaned forward in his chair and stared at the man in his face, "I've already hurt enough people and I'm not gonna let more innocent people suffer… I said no. This. War. Is. Over." he stressed.

"You think it's over just because you say it is, you estúpido hijo de puta?" he stood up suddenly to tower over the blond, "You think just because you got your revenge that I don't get mine?" the bar got eerily quiet around them, not that they noticed. "Even if I agreed, you think those 6th Street gonk fucks will just crawl back like nothing happened?"

Naruto stood up as well, standing face to face with the man, "You're Cami's brother and you're hurting…" he narrowed his eyes and leaned in close, nearly nose to nose with Gustavo, "that's the only reason why I'm not gonna put you through that goddamn wall behind you." the man tried to hide the nervous twitch he got as the blond raised his cyberarm and poked him in the chest, "You can call me what you want, you can hate me, curse me, can wish all kinda bad shit on me but your gonna fucking listen to me when I say 'no' and that there's not gonna be any more war between the Valentinos and 6th Street."

"Woah woah woah, easy fellas," Pepe called out, him and Martha quickly making their way over to try and defuse the situation, fearing a fight was about to break out. "Come on, let's not do anything too rash alright?"

Martha slipped past Pepe and jumped between the two men, wrapping her arms around Gustavo despite the healing wound she still had, "Babe please, you gotta keep a cool head!"

Seeing how the girl acted made Naruto's heart ache, that tense feeling he felt quickly dissipating. He shook his head and backed off while the girl whispered to Gustavo, making him deflate more and more before finally huffing.

Pepe glanced at the two Valentinos for a moment before rounding on Naruto, "You good 'mano?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good Pepe. Just a little disagreement is all," he told the man, waving off the fact that it had come pretty close to blows before turning back to the other man, "But we're good now, right Gustavo?"

He looked up from Martha and nodded slowly, "Yeah I guess so."

After another couple of moments, the pair sat down again, tempers cooled somewhat. Pepe returned to the bar, glancing back at them every now and then as if he was worried that they'd jump back at eachothers throats as soon as he looked away. Martha gave them a pleading look, not wanting to be sent away again and leave them alone for fear of the same thing.

"Just let her stay Gustavo," Naruto finally huffed, "If it'll make her feel better," The man relented and she joined him on the couch, "But either way, I'm not changing my mind. I don't want any more innocents to suffer from this war."

The man visibly tensed up until the woman placed a calming hand on his arm, making him take a breath through clenched teeth, "Ok then… what do you suggest huh?"

Looking thoughtful, Naruto crossed his arms and looked down "You go back to the way things were. Back to your own business. The Valentinos and 6th Street go back to avoiding shit with each other on the street. You just handle your people. Make it clear that the fighting is over. I'm not saying that you all have to get along but there won't be any open fighting in the streets." he told them, looking back up at the pair with confidence.

"And what about them?"

"I'll make sure they understand the same," he told them simply, nodding at his own words.

The man looked at Naruto with a doubtful gaze, crossing his own arms while Martha leaned into his shoulder. "And what makes you think they'll listen"

"Then I'll go and make sure they understand that they won't just be going up against the Valentinos…" he leaned towards the pair across from him again, "They'll be going against me and the same goes to any Valentino that wants to do the same… and I mean any Valentino." those blue eyes seemed to turn to ice, chilling the two lovers.

Gustavo bowed his head looking thoughtful for a minute, the others could feel the tension in the bar, doubly so for the nearby Valentinos that had been listening in on the pair. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the vest on the floor, the faded 6 reminding him just who he was dealing with. "Fine, dios te maldiga." he finally growled out, "You get those hijos de perra to agree and I'll make it happen."

Naruto took out his cell and dialed the number to Rico, he waited for a bit and rolled his eyes as it was ignored, "Just a second, we're not really on speaking terms at the moment." he sent a message and waited a moment before standing up, disconnecting it from his chrome and turning on the speaker as the man answered.

"Yeah kid, what is it?"

"Gunners dead." He told the man, remembering that he hadn't spoken to the man in a while, "Figured that I owed it to you to at least let you know. He and his boys took over a floor of Megabuilding H6.

"And his boys?"

The blond looked Gustavo in the eye "Dead"

There was a pause on the other end followed by a sigh, "So that's it,"

"Not yet, I have a message I want you to pass on to your General." He walked a few steps, looking at the few Valentinos that were watching nearby. "The war between 6th street and the Valentinos, it's over. The shit with Gunner should've never happened in the first place so keep your people in line or else," He paced back, looking at Gustavo and Marthaas while speaking loud enough for them all to hear. "and make it clear that if he continues this gang war, I will step in and no ones gonna like the results," Naruto turned to look at Gustavo, who looked both relieved and annoyed, "Goodbye Rico."

Ending the holocall, Naruto reconnected himself with the holo before crossing both arms, "There, I'm pretty sure 6th Street will get the message." he looked away and gave the man a short chuckle, "you know, all things considered Gustavo… I wouldn't have minded calling you my brother."

"That right? You think I'd let a gonk like you marry Camilla?" The man looked at him with a raised eye and a small smirk.

"If she said yes?" Naruto mused with a shrug, "I doubt you could stop her if that's what she wanted."

Gustavo snorted, "True enough, mierda imagine if Jackie's madre got involved too."

He gave the man a sad smile then looked at the memorial for a bit, "I gotta go, got some things to take care of today." The ninja turned and started towards the door, where one of the valentinos moved out of his way acting like he hadn't been eavesdropping half the time.

"Hey." Naruto stopped and looked back as the man asked. "We good holmes?"

"Yeah, we're good Gustavo," With that said,he continued on his way and walked around the corner to leave out the back door, leaving the man to deflate into his girl with a long sigh.

-xXx-

Later on that afternoon, Naruto decided to return to Cami's place in Vista Del Ray. He couldn't just avoid the place and even knowing how painful it would be to come back here again without her, he knew it would be even more painful to keep away from the memories.

"Hey old man," he called out as he neared the old homeless man's makeshift home by the dumpster, "You around?" when he didn't get a response he shrugged and started to walk on by. But after a couple of steps he stopped, what if the old guy was hurt? What if he was lying inside there and needed help? He had to make sure at least.

Doubling back, he neared the structure, breathing through his mouth to avoid the smell, as he called out "Hey, you in there?" while tapping on the metal dumpster. Grabbing the edge of the tarp the man used as his doorway, he grimaced, 'god don't let him be dead in here… or jerking off.' Peeking in, Naruto sighed in relief seeing that he wasn't there, he was most likely off wandering the area, probably checking the dumpster behind one of the Scopshacks down the road.

Feeling a bit better, he continued on his way and entered the apartment building, nodding to some of the random folks he passed who mostly acted like he didn't exist, their attention on other things. Heading up the stairs, as the elevator was still and probably would always be out of order, he got to Cami's floor and stopped.

Standing at her door, Naruto saw a man wearing dirty gray coveralls with a tool belt around his waist and a tablet in his hand that connected to Cami's door via a cord. Next to him a younger woman grumbled, a roll of blue plastic in her chrome hands.

"Hurry up already, ugh, got better things to do than wait on your ass." she complained as Naruto got closer, "What's taking so long ya gonk, just unlock it already,"

"I'm going as fast as I can," he snapped back, "damn techs older than your whining ass!"

"Hey!" Naruto barked, his voice echoing down the hall, "What the hell do you think you're doing!" he could feel a cold anger building up in his chest.

"Ugh," the woman looked at him and rolled her eyes, "First off, mind your own business. Second, I don't know who you think your snapping at-"

"What the fuck," he growled out as he stopped a few feet from them, "Are you doing breaking in there?"

"I aint breaking in," the guy answered, "I'm the building's maintenance guy. Got the call that the chick renting this place flatlined," he pointed at the woman with his thumb, "Bitchtits here's gonna bag up her shit and toss it out. Already got a new tenant lined up."

Naruto's eyes widened, "You… what?"

The woman, who couldn't have been more than 19, groaned, "Fuck you Kenni and you… you slow or something? He said-"

"I know what the fuck he said!" the blond snapped, trembling, "You can't just throw her stuff out. Besides I know the rents been paid, it's paid up for another fucking month!"

"Yeah well that chicks dead," she shrugged, "She shouldn't have paid early, probably would-"

"I paid that goddamn rent!" He growled pointing a finger at the pair, "And it's not about the fucking eddies! You want to go through her stuff, our stuff and throw it out like it's trash! Like she didn't matter!" Kenni, the maintenance guy, looked really uncomfortable. "She might not have meant nothing to someone like you but she mattered to me,"

"You'll get over it." The girl once again shrugged, "Only one name on the lease and she's done-zo. Shoulda hopped on the lease too and we wouldn't be having this convo, you could be bagging up her shit yourself instead of me having to do it."

Naruto stilled and went quiet.

"Now, if you don't mind, how about you delta before I have you thrown out huh? Kenni, open this bitches door so I can toss her shit out into the trash and-" seeing the man take a step back, the girl raised an eyebrow, "Hey, you hear me?"

"Hey dude, I don't want any trouble ok?"

Turning, the girl came face to face with the barrel of Naruto's pistol.

"Her name was Camilla," he whispered, cocking the hammer which changed the girl's tune. "She died and all I got left of her is the few things she had in there and the memories. If you think for one second that I'm gonna let some stupid little bitch like you go in there and trample those memories then you got another thing coming."

"You fucking stupid?" the girl demanded, half scared and half angry, "You gonna pull a gonk move over some dead-" the pistol fired and she fell to the ground with a scream, her ears ringing. After a panicked minute of checking herself over, she realized that the man hadn't shot her but shot a hole in the wall next to her. Kenni had also ducked, his tablet bouncing off the ground as he dropped it, the cord connecting it to Cami's door popping out.

"I've done much worse things in her name!" he growled while stepping forward, making her scramble back. But he wasn't following her, he leaned down and picked up the roll of bags she'd dropped. "I'll pack her stuff up my goddamn self." Stepping to the door, it got his signature off his chrome and opened with ease. "I'm not about to let someone like you touch any of her stuff!"

The door closed, leaving the two alone in the hallway.

As the door closed, Naruto stood there for a second, breathing heavily before slinging the roll of trash bags as hard as he could across the room, the plastic missile hitting the wall mounted holo which shuddered and cocked sideways.

He was overreacting, he knew it. But the way she disregarded Cami like she didn't even matter pissed him off. Acting like all of her stuff here was nothing but trash! All they cared about was getting a new paying tenant in here to make some more eddies. Naruto knew he went too far by pulling his pistol, deep down he knew that it wasn't just to scare her, he had been so close to killing her and was ashamed of himself.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Naruto buried his face in his hands and sighed for a few minutes before lowering his hands to look around. He didn't have much here at all, just some clothes and a couple small items here and there. Cami had a bit more, clothing and beauty products mostly although in his opinion she never needed any to look amazing. Thinking about it he grinned a little, yeah she definitely looked amazing without clothes.

'Might as well…' he thought to himself before forcing himself to stand. Fuck putting anything of hers in a trashbag though, he'll seal it away. He wouldn't treat her stuff like that. Going through her stuff was depressing, he had to stop several times to get himself together. The clothing she left by the bed still smelled like her, a sweet floral scent that once made his heart flutter but now made it ache.

While cleaning out the dresser, he found her stash, a small metal lockbox covered in stickers. Inside she kept the few 'party favors' as she jokingly called them, the airhypo loaded with synth coke, her Rezzin, some small capsules in a bottle labeled 'SIN'. the thought of using them had crossed his mind but he decided not to… for now at least.

"Hm?" hidden behind her stash, Naruto found a plastic shopping bag with something inside and pulled it out. there seemed to be a box inside that rattled when he shook it. Curiosity overtook him and he unraveled and shook out the contents in the now empty drawer where a single datashard and a small white box covered in small writing fell out, the words 'NCMT Pregnancy test' emblazoned on the sides.

"W-what the?"

It was open.

Picking it up, he felt the object inside rattle and shook it out into his hand so he could see it. While he wasn't the smartest man, it didn't take a genius to read the thing. It was used, the little screen on the front bearing the words, 'PREGNANT' with a bold positive symbol next to it.

She was…

Scrambling to pick up the shard, he looked it over and slotted it into himself, taking a couple of tries to get it fitted correctly. It seemed to take forever for the shard to open and show him the contents inside, it had to have something about the test. Lines of data scrolled past his view before opening on an archived entry dated nearly a month back.

Hey Naru guess what I'm- no… too childish : (

I'm excited to announce that- Ugh definitely no! Gross. What am I some Corpo hoe?

Naruto, I know we've only known each other for a few months but I can honestly say that I've never felt this way before. That I've never loved someone as much as I do when it comes to you and- UGH! WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO GET RIGHT!

Mama Welles and Pepe say I should just come right out and say it but everytime I try it's like I short circ and the words delta from my mind. I'm just laying on your chest looking at you right now and I feel so nervous to tell you, I want to more than anything but… ugh I should just yell it at you right now! Just wake you up and yell "Hey babe, you knocked me up and I'm gonna have you baby and I'm so fucking excited!"

He couldn't read anymore…

A baby…

His child… their child. They were gonna have a child… He was going to be a father.

At least, he had been.

The trembling was back, his breathing hitched, tears filled his eyes again as the test fell to the floor from his trembling fingers. Screaming, Naruto grabbed the drawer and slung it against the opposite wall, the cheap material breaking with ease as he roared then took the dresser itself and flung it as well. They were gonna be a family! The one thing he truly wanted his entire life. He had it and once again it was taken from him.

He wanted to be angry. He wanted to rage. To make something pay for the pain he was feeling. But everyone responsible was already dead, he'd already avenged his love and unknowingly, his child. All he could do was continue to hurt himself by raging blindly, fingers tightly clenching his face.

After a while, his broken screams turned to sobs, all the pain he'd felt before returning stronger than ever until all he could do was collapse in the corner of the room, his back pressed against the wall as he slid to the floor with his knees to his chest. He sat there curled into a ball for what felt like hours, his body racked with sobs until he fell asleep exhausted, just mentally and physically worn down to the bone.

-xXx-

The next afternoon…

-xXx-

Seeing the blond enter from the front door, Pepe looked up from his convo with the boss lady at the bar and smiled, "Hey Jefe, look who's here. Naruto, hermano it's good to see you." the man called out with a grin as the man made a beeline towards the bar. He placed both hands on the bar to lean against it, slowly losing his grin when he noticed how red the blonds eyes were and not the glowing red he'd seen before.

"Naruto?" Guadalupe aka Mama Welles, turned on the stool to see the blond approaching, "It's so good your here," she started, trailing off at the serious look he had, "Everything ok Naru-"

Like a snake from one of those nature vids, Naruto lashed out and grabbed the man across the bar by his vest, "You knew!" he snarled, yanking the man off his feet and across the bar. "You fucking knew and didn't tell me!" Several bottles and mugs that had been on the bar were knocked to the floor as Pepe's large frame was pulled across it, the commotion drawing the attention of everyone in the bar. Mama Welles nearly fell from the stool as Pepe was pulled by her, the beer she'd been sipping spilling across her pants and shirt.

Pepe grunted as he hit the floor hard on his shoulder, he groaned for a moment but the blond didn't give him long before he was jerked over and forced to look at him, "Mano, what the hell-"

"You knew she was pregnant," Naruto was bent over him, holding his upper body up by the vest, "You knew and you didn't say a word to me!" he growled, making the pair pale. In all the shock from him showing up the way he did the day before at Camilla's ofrenda, they'd forgotten to pull him aside.

"Why!" he demanded, shaking the man, "Why wouldn't you tell me that she was carrying my child!" Pepe's eyes widened when he saw the blond cock his fist back.

"Naruto stop!" She called out, rushing over and grabbing his arm, "It's not his fault!" his arm didn't budge, she could feel the muscles in his arm tremble. "It's my fault, I made him keep it from you!"

"Why!" To their relief, Naruto slowly lowered his fist and let the man go. For a moment, Pepe sat on his ass in the middle of the floor and took a deep breath, relaxing now that he wasn't about to get his teeth knocked out. "Why would you keep that from me?" he asked, looking hurt as he stood up and backed off from the man. The others in the bar weren't sure what to do, some drunkenly stared at the show while others tried not to look as obvious about it.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto." She told him while checking on Pepe, who waved her off as he went to stand himself up. "But can you blame me? Look at what you've done!" she approached him and pulled him towards the side of the bar, "The state you were in when you got back, I was afraid you'd do something rash and look at what you did. That's right, I…" she stopped and looked to make sure no one was too close, then moved closer, "I know about the warehouse, the garage, the megabuilding, all you did to avenge her. What would you have done to those people if I'd told you that soon?"

He bit his lip and looked away.

She pulled him to her and hugged him, "I'm sorry for keeping it from you, I didn't intend on hurting you like that but I thought it was best to tell you after you had a moment to calm down… I didn't think you would go off to get payback as soon as you did." She patted his back a few times and noticed Pepe brushing himself off as he stood.

"And what're you gonks looking at?" he called out at the onlookers, making them look away, "Shows over!"

"How did you find out?" she asked softly.

He pulled away from the hug looking ashamed of himself, "She ah… " sniffed a couple times, "I was packing her stuff up, assholes in her building were planning on trashing it all. Found the tests and a… I don't know, her data shard diary I guess. I read it, she wrote about how you two knew…" he rubbed his red eyes, "Started thinking about it, about how you two kept it from me and got pissed."

She looked closely at him and grabbed his face, "Naruto…" she looked at his eyes for a moment, "Are you high?"

"No… " he looked away from her, "maybe… yes." he finally admitted after a moment and turning to Pepe as he approached to get back behind the bar, "Pepe Im so sorry,"

"Eh don't worry about it," he said waving it off, "Jefes la chancla hurt worse believe me, 'sides I'll just spit in your drinks for awhile, that'll make me feel better," the man got behind the bar and looked at him, "I'm joking 'mano… or am I?"

Naruto rubbed his face for a moment and took a deep breath, "Let me at least clean up the mess, it's my fault anyway…"

-xXx-

Onboard one of the Militech Manticore AVs, Meredith Stout looked over the deets provided by the company's investigation team with a low whistle. 32 bodies identified as members of 6th Street, all of them under the command of the gonk that Gilchrist was trying to cultivate as a company asset. An admirable little plan for certain but far too short sighted, luckily her team was able recover some of the Militech assets from that old warehouse before they 'walked off'.

"What kind of half assed plan was this?" she muttered, going over the list of recovered assets. Standard issue weapons along with ammunition for each, multiple cases of F-GX frags, EMP, CHAR incendiary, and even flashbangs. The list also had several items marked as missing, such as a Mk.31 HMG, a couple cases of tech weapons, and worryingly enough, several pieces of cyberware. No telling where that chrome was by now and somehow, Gilchrist managed to only get a harsh reprimand and a black mark on his company file. How he managed that bared investigation.

But the whole half baked clusterfuck of a plan was only a footnote in the preverbal datashard.

Combining through the footage, several more instances of the masked mercs being 'killed' were discovered, no matter how they died the result was the same, no blood, no body, just smoke. Her higher ups want more information, she wanted more information if nothing more than to make sense of what she'd seen.

"Ma'am, techs combed the footage again and believe they got a still of the one in charge." One of her men reported, his optics glowing as he acted as a go between and relayed the information. "Transmitting to you now,"

Opening the attachment, she crossed her arm under her chest and rubbed her chin in thought. Inside were several still frames from the attack, each one showing the same man with short blond hair wearing a snarling mask over the bottom of his face. "That mask, he connected to the tyger claws?" she mused out loud. They also had a 6 painted on the back of their gear, could be a confidence but it was something she'd have looked into as well anyway.

"Tyger Claws have loose ties to Arasaka," her PA noted, the young man tapping away at his datapad, "Should I have our intel team dig into them?"

"Don't be foolish," she frowned, "Since that damn vid with the antigrav tech surfaced, Arasaka CounterIntel been bending over backwards, probably to keep that tech from being stolen." she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small metal cigarette case and frowned to find it empty, "Contact Faraday, I think it's about time for him to earn his damn keep." He was a scoprat bastard but he got results, which is mainly why she hadn't had the four eyed gonk liquidated yet.

"Yes ma'am, should I arrange it through the usual cut-out?"

She thought about it for a moment, "No, I'll meet him myself." She crossed her legs and smirked, "I hear he's chipped himself with three optics on the right side of his face… I always did enjoy a good freakshow."

The others shared a small chuckle while the PA did as he was ordered, his optics lighting up as he made the call.

She wanted to know everything there was to know about the commander of this mystery squad. Names, dates, locations, associates, the who, what, when, where, and why that caused the entire shitshow, she wanted to know everything down to what brand they smoked, what liquor they drank, anything and everything, if possible then she even wanted to know what the gonks favored position to fuck in was.

-xXx-

6 months later…

-xXx-

You chooms hear of the newest boogieman to grace our fair city? Some will tell you he's an ice cold gato running solo… others say he's got a team of runners on call, each just as deadly as the last. Hear tell that he used to work with 6th Street but word along the edge is that those cats had a falling out and check this, it was over a girl. Haha, it seems that a beauty tamed that beast. Some gangoons zeroed her and oh boy did the beast come out to play, that dust up where the overpass collapsed? Oh yeah, it was him. The massacre at the Megabuilding? You know it.

What's he up to now? Hell if I know… some think he up and left the city, others think one of the corpos got em. Hell some even think that the boogieman went and flatlined himself outta grief. But me? I think he's still out there, doing what he does best. Scav ops keep being found with nary a soul left to talk about it and no one hearing a thing. That gato's a ghost…

-xXx-

The last few months have been… hard to say the least. Cami's death had already gutted him emotionally then add the news that she'd been carrying their child… Well, he'd definitely seen better days. Mama Welles had taken him to the Columbarium up in Westbrook to show him where her urn was placed and guarded by Arasaka security turrets. A glowing fully bloomed rose with a small rose bud marked her niche with her name appearing when he got near, the words 'She will always be with us… in our hearts and in our memories' glowing below it.

He'd visited more than a few times afterwards on his own and truly felt like he understood why Kakashi-sensei would visit the memorial stone like he did. In his darkest moment there had even been a time where he'd contemplated just ending it. He would never admit to it but there was a night that he'd sat against the wall opposite her niche, drunk as shit with a pistol under his chin, just ready to end it all.

A text from Mama Welles had probably saved his life that night, asking him to come over for dinner with her and Jackie. If they knew what he was thinking of doing then neither one would let on but either way, he was so embarrassed and spent the next morning getting rid of the liquor he'd bought.

Jackie was starting his solo career doing some small gigs for the Padre and some big eared gonk named Kirk who claimed to be connected and supported by drug cartels. He'd even introduced them and Naruto did a job or two for the fixer as a favor for Jackie when he couldn't do a gig due to some personal issue. He'd also handled a few personal requests for the Padre when the man needed and in return the fixer was always willing to throw him a gig if needed or supply information in return.

The gigs quickly became his way of staying busy, to keep his mind from wandering too much while grieving and according to the old man, he'd started to gain a bit of a reputation on the street as a reliable up and coming merc, not as the Shino but as Naruto. The old man had warned him to not be too surprised if other fixers tried to contact him with job offers sometime, he just warned him to be wary as corpos were always wanting to sink their fangs into new up and comers.

-xXx-

"GOOD MORNING NIGHT CITY!" Naruto's eyes snapped open as the radio next to his bed popped on at it's scheduled time, "This is your man Stan bringing you the news and-" he blindly swatted at the damned thing from underneath his covers, knocking several items off the table next to the bed onto the floor along with the radio which finally turned off after hitting the ground.

He groaned and rolled over onto his back, yawning as he laid there for a few minutes before opening his eyes and panicking for a half second as he didn't recognize his location. 'Oh yeah,' he chuckled to himself. He'd just gotten himself a new apartment in one of the Megabulidings and last night was the first time he'd stayed here. It wasn't anything too amazing, just a simple room that kinda reminded him of the NoTell Motel except… well mostly cleaner and it was also on the second floor.

Tossing back the blanket, he rolled out of bed and picked up the radio, placing it back on the nightstand before looking around. The place was… empty to say the least. The round couch with the holoscreen above it, a desk with a terminal and an office chair being the only furniture that came with the place.

The walls and floors had been a mess when he first saw the place but after an hour or so with a half dozen clones, it looked much nicer than before.

*BEEP*

"Hm?" he mused while seeing the call, it was the Padre. Answering it, he waited for the video call to connect and soon, the old man popped into view. "Hey good morning Padre, what's up?"

"Ah Naruto, good morning to you as well," the man greeted, "I'm glad to see that you're up and about, forgive the sudden call but I'm in need of a man of your skill."

"What's wrong?" Naruto rubbed the sleep from his eyes and turned serious.

"A young couple has contacted me pleading for safe passage out of the city. They wish to leave the city behind to escape her father but the man has sent wolves to their door. Normally I would not bother you with such a thing but the boy is a distant nephew and I fear that the wolves have been told to end them both."

"The father wants to kill his daughter too?" Naruto exclaimed, getting a nod from the man.

"The father does not approve of their love and has tried everything short of flatlining the boy, now it would appear that he's decided to have them both zeroed. The boy is unable to pay though as he's already sunk all of his funds into leaving the city-"

"Send me the information, I'll do it." Naruto interrupted, already turning to put on his clothes. Something about the two being willing to run off and escape this city together struck a chord with him and despite not knowing them, he was already rooting for the pair.

The Padre looked grateful and nodded, "Thank you, sending you the deets now. I will ensure that you are repaid for this Naruto, contact me when they arrive at their destination."

"Will do,"

Moments after the old man ended the call, Naruto received the deets on the sudden gig.

The first thing to pop up was a picture of a happy young couple. The young man had several tattoos and looked like a gangoon compared to the young woman next to him, dressed like she belonged in some Megacorp office. But the way they held each other in the pic showed that they cared about each other despite the different backgrounds.

"Sidney Garcia and Amelia Bennett. Sid is a Heywood street kid born and raised, Amelia is from a well off Corpo family, her father has threatened them and from Sid's call, has attempted to kill them both. They have arranged to be escorted by a Nomads waiting just outside the city but are being hounded by the fathers wolves. He has found a safe haven with a friend."

Reading over the details, Naruto noted the location in the Glen where they were supposed to be hiding, it wasn't too far from where the Padre would hang out by the basketball courts. But there was still a long way between the Glen and the small hotel just outside of the badlands.

Naruto looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He'd managed to find some new orange pants to replace his old ones and couldn't be happier to be back in his favorite colors, they kinda reminded him of his old black and orange outfit from Konoha, just more… punk? Cyberpunk maybe?

"Alright, lets go," he grinned to himself, psyching himself up as he walked out the bathroom. Walking towards the door, he passed by his desk and stopped just long enough to straighten the framed picture of him and Cami sitting there. "Wish me luck babe,"

-xXx-

Groaning, David looked around the apartment and huffed when he saw that his mother wasn't there. 'Working a double huh?' He kicked his dirty pants into the pile with the others and grumbled to himself while sliding on his Arasaka Academy coat. He hated that place, hated it more than he'd ever hated anything in his life. The stuck up corpo gonks he had class with sneered at him for being poor, the teachers halfass ignored him, hell he was sure even the automated testing vi they used sometimes sometimes skipped over him.

But mom worked so hard to get him there. He'd rather be out working to bring in some eddies to help out but no, she wanted him to go to this gonkass academy with all these assholes for a chance at working in Arasaka.

'Ugh,' the thought made him sick.

'Better get going before I miss the NCART,' he thought, the only upside was that he had a handful of BDs to sell from the Doc. Now that he was going to school at Arasaka, he had a decent pool of freaks that loved the kinda shit Doc sent him and one thing about Corpo kids was that they didn't haggle price, he could charge them double and they'd happily take it.

Opening up the door, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and locked up behind him. As always, the place was a mess with dozens of gonks hanging around, trash piled up in the corner and the local gangoons being assholes. Even now they were being annoying by blasting music from a most likely stolen radio but honestly, it was a huge improvement from how they used to be. For some reason they started acting a lot different a few months back and rumor was that it was due to some killings that went down in Mega building 10.

"Well whaddya know, check it out boys." Called a voice that made him grimace, "If it isn't Davy the Saka student." turning he saw one of the local gangoons of 6th Street that claimed the area, since he started going to Arasaka academy these gonks have been busting his balls any chance they could.

"Hey guys," he greeted unenthusiastically while turning to face them, "Look you chooms need something? I'm gonna miss the NCART and be late to school."

It was two guys and a chick, each only a few years older than him and all of them pretty low in the gang from what he knew, they were pretty much run of the mill thugs. Only one of them seemed to really enjoy fucking with him though, a gonk named Avery, the other guy Ham, and the girl Darcy just seemed to roll with it.

"Nothing much choom," Avery smirked at him, "Just looking to score another one of those BDs you had, last one netted me a few good eddies so how about another hookup?"

David frowned, "A hookup, you mean you klepped it from me."

The man crossed his arms, "Stole?" he asked, half amused while the other two rolled their eyes behind him. "Consider it payment for letting you go to your fancy corpo class in one piece." he walked closer with a cruel grin, "How about you pay the fine and I'll act like you didn't call me a klepto?"

He knew that he couldn't fight the older thug, even if he could and managed to beat him, the other two would probably jump in on principle and besides, fighting members of 6th Street would cause trouble with mom. All he could really do was grit his teeth and-

"Oi!" someone called out behind him, "how bout you leave the kid alone,"

Avery looked over David's shoulder, face turning red, "How about you mind your own business gonk?" Turning, David saw a man he'd never seen in the building before and had one thought…

Orange.

'The hell?' he couldn't help but think at the sight of all the orange the guy wore, 'he some kinda convict?'

"Three gangoons teaming up to rob a kid trying to go to school…" the man mused as he walked closer, hands in the pockets of his orange vest. "I don't have high opinions of 6th Street in the first place but seeing you pick on kids just really takes it to a new low."

"Hey ah, Avery?" the girl called out behind him, only to be ignored. She and the other guy shared a nervous glance.

Now that he was closer, David was certain he'd never seen the man before. Short blond hair, whisker-like scars on each cheek, a cyberarm, and oh lord all the orange.

"You fucked in the head?" Avery asked, shoving David out of the way as he passed by, "You might be packing that iron on your side but your fucking with 6th street ya gonk." he spat out while nodding his head towards the holstered revolver on the guys thigh. "Keep taking shit and we'll shove that pistol up your gonk ass."

He looked amused, "That so?" Avery nodded, "Who do you mean when you say 'we'?" the blond man nodded behind them, "Cause your chooms over there don't look too thrilled with the idea." Both David and Avery looked over to the other gangoons who looked like they wanted to be anywhere else other than there. Avery felt an arm drape over his shoulder and glanced over to see the man staring at him with a little smile, how he moved that fast and silent he didn't know but when he went to snatch away, he felt the man grip his shoulder painfully. "How about you apologize to the kid for being a bastard and pay him back for what you stole, yeah I heard you earlier. You do that and we'll act like this didn't happen."

"Fuck you ya gonk!" he snapped back.

"Avery for fuck sake!" the girl yelped now looking pale, "Shut the fuck up and do what he says." the teen next to her nodded quickly, looking sick.

Looking at his friends in confusion, the teen looked at the smiling blond and growled only to grimace when the hand on his shoulder clinched tighter, "Fine fuck!" he grumbled and his eyes lit up, David was shocked to see a notification requesting permission to deposit 467 eddies to him and quickly accepted it. "That's all I got left from it!" When the blond released him, he snatched away and moved to his chooms, feeling a lot more brave with them at his back now, "Your fucked you hear me! You don't fuck with 6th Street and get away with it!"

"Yeah yeah," the blond sighed dismissively, making Avery growl, "When you're crying to your boss, tell him Naruto says hi and that he's expecting a call ok?"

Ham and Darcy rushed forward as Avery seemed to move towards the blond. Ham wrapped his arms around the guy and trapped him in a bear hug while Darcy slapped a hand over his mouth with an audible smack. "There's no need for that sir" she laughed nervously, "This gonks… ah," she looked like her mind was racing.

"He's all gonked in the brain choom!" the other guy chuckled, "his mom was out of her mind on glitter, he's not all that smart,"

David couldn't believe his eyes and ears. These three had been the biggest pains in his ass for the last month since he started going to Arasaka and now they were acting like this? Who the hell was this orange wearing guy… Naruto right?

Watching the two run away, one basically carrying the third as he did, David could only stare in shock. "Who the… who are you?" he asked.

He just looked at him and gave the teen an easy going grin, "Call me Naruto, your new next door neighbor… well from down the hall anyway." he rubbed the back of his neck, "You all good though,

"Yeah, nothing they hadn't pulled before. Oh and I'm David," he grumbled, stuffing his hands back in his pants pockets. "But why'd they act like that? How do they know you?"

"Eh, that's kind of a rough story," Naruto told him with a grimace, thinking of all that he'd done in his rampage and how many families were missing loved ones. They acted like a bunch of thugs most of the time but they had families that cared about them, he saw that personally when he took Rico's niece hostage, "But anyway, nice meeting you David but I gotta run,"

Grimacing, the teen checked the time, "Same here choom, best delta myself or I'll be late to class. Pretty good to meet you." With a small wave, David went towards the stairs, which was completely blocked by a mountain of trash and climbed over, dropping down onto another trash pile below to break his fall.

Shocked at first, Naruto looked over the edge to see that the teen wasn't fazed at all with the drop and had continued jogging as if nothing had happened, 'Must do that pretty often,' he thought to himself while looking at the pile. Someone should really do something about the trash pile up around the area.

Seeing several random run of the mill street gangoons near several spontaneous craving satisfaction machines, he shook his head at the sight of one trying to hack into it either to try and steal the eddies or food. 'Yeah, someone really should do something about the trash…'

-xXx-

"Goddamn bitch!" Slamming his fist into the door panel next to him, Faraday grit his teeth and seethed. He'd waited and held it in for as long as he could after leaving the meeting with his 'handler', managing to make it two blocks away before unleashing his anger.

His driver didn't react and kept his eyes on the road.

"How the hell am I supposed to be Santo Domingo's premiere fixer with that stupid fucking stuck up whore on my case!" he hit the door one last time and took a deep breath to calm himself then smoothed his burgundy neokitsch suit, brushing himself off a couple of times afterward.

While he was Militechs go to fixer for most of their high priority jobs, he always had the time between contracts to do some business of his own. Doing so ensured he had a steady stream of contacts to use and ensured his place as Santos number one fixer. But lately, his old contact with Militech was replaced by one Meridith Stout. At first he was smug, after all, Militech had finally seen fit to assign a Senior Executive as his point of contact, someone who could actually make things happen without the usual 'I'll send your request up the chain,' postering.

That was, until he met the bitch, Meridtith fucking Stout.

She wanted him to get her information on some masked asshole, didn't care if he had other gigs that required handling, didn't care if it hurt his standing. She actually cost him quite a bit and that upstart punk 'el capitan' started taking some of his biz and for what? Because she wanted to know about the 6th Street Shino? Yeah he knew what they called that masked gangoon, he'd even looked into trying to recruit the merc himself but with all the mess surrounding that gang and his old handler informing him not to meddle with 6th Street he'd been unable to make a move.

The thought of how he used the corpos need for information to milk the corpo for tens thousands of eddies at a time to 'buy information' from sources or 'make connections' still made him smirk. But now the bitch wanted more, she wanted anything and everything, especially the Shino's name and where to find him. He was called the fucking 'SHINO' for crying out loud, short for Shinobi, you know the stealthy assassins of the past?

At least he had a decent lead on it though…

"Take me to…" he grimaced at the name, "Pig boys delight," just saying it felt disgusting.

The Shino was connected to 6th Street and if anyone had the deets on him it would be the 'general' of the gang, Rick Morton. He'd handled a few gigs for the man in the past and was certain he'd be able to get what he needed from the man one way or another.

-xXx-

Following behind his driver/bodyguard as they walked into the pub, Faraday took extra care not to touch anything as they entered, ignoring the few lowly gangoons they passed along the way. "Morton," he greeted, keeping an even tone despite his displeasure at having to be in such a place, "Good to see you're still in one piece, I heard you had a bit of nasty business involving some of your lower ranks."

The pub was as dirty and disgusting as ever, the smell of stale beer, smoke, and all manner of repulsive substances filling the air, if it got silent for long enough he could even hear the sounds of someone vomiting in another room. Luckily for him, the few gonks loitering around the room seemed to be either sleeping off a drunken night of debauchery or too hungover to be an issue. The few that weren't seemed to be Morton's closest guards who watched him with untrusting optics.

"Faraday," the beastly man greeted from his place at the bar, "gotta say it's a surprise to see you around here. Wanna Broseph?" he held up his beer which made the fixer fight back a sneer.

"Too early for me,"

Morton shrugged, "Your loss," turning up the bottle he finished it off in one go and disgusted the man by burping afterwards and tossing the bottle towards the trash, where it broke inside the can. "What brings you here? Don't remember calling you or anything," he looked the fixer up and down for a moment and smirked, "Doubt you're here just cause you're glad I'm still kicking."

Faraday wanted to wipe the gangoons smug look off his face, preferably with something in a high caliber after the meeting he had earlier. But he had to reign it in for now, he still needed these low brow goons. "I need information on someone you know, the Shino."

Everyone in the bar that could hear him froze and suddenly, the four eyed fixer of Santo found himself the center of attention by every conscious gonk in the room.

"Your fuckin with me right?" Morton deadpanned as if he'd just told a shit joke.

"Oh I'm quite serious and can make it worth the effort, I just need whatever you have on him."

That made the man snort, which got a twitch from Faraday, "Aint worth shit if the fucker flatlines my ass." he told him while rolling his eyes, "unless your putting enough on the table to get the lot of us outta the city then theres no fuckin way that I'm gonna risk my boys by pissing off that gonk."

"Morton, surely we can work something out," he stepped past his driver and approached the gang boss, "I merely want to contact him about some work." a lie but this fool wouldn't know any difference, "All I need is a name or a number… or even someone who can provide it."

"Tough shit," the man snapped back, "Like I said, I ain't risking my boys over that psycho and before you ask, no… aint no one else in 6th Street left that knows shit about him." they stared each other down for a few seconds, the tension in the room getting thicker by the moment. Morton could see the fixers hustle also tensing up for the worst while his own guards did the same, it wouldn't be good for the pair considering his boys were packing some heavy leadslingers these days.

Looking at the man, his other optic analyzed the general's guard across the bar, tagging the VST-37 power shotgun pointed in his direction from shadows underneath the table. "Fine, I see that we're getting nowhere with this," he snapped, looking down his nose at the man, "Since this visit was a waste of my time I'll see myself out,"

The general nodded, "Probably for the best choom." He waved off the man with the shotgun and nodded to another on the opposite side of the room, armed with a SMG. "Goodluck with finding that psycho, you'll need it if you piss 'em off."

Faraday scoffed as he left the pub and marched to his car, a Chevillon Thraxx 388 Jefferson and climbed in while his driver followed suit. "You in?"

"I'm in Bossman!," His netrunner reported, annoyingly chipper "I got access to their local net, got eyes and ears on the old gonk. Looks like he's spooked, he's making a call… Patching in now…"

[Rico, it's Rick.] he could hear the voice of the General over the holo

[What's up choomba?] He didn't recognize the voice but he had a name. Any decent netrunner could dig up who this Rico was.

[I know you left the gang and shit but look, wanna give you a heads up. Remember Faraday?]

[Ugh, yeah. Gonks a grade-A asshole, what about him] Faraday twitched but as annoyed as he was, he'd been called much worse to his face.

[He just left, wants the deets on the kid. Something about a gig or some shit.]

[You tell 'em?]

[Fuck no, last thing I need is the kid coming after me. But listen, I get the feeling that Faraday's not gonna give up. You're the only other person that knows shit about him so watch your back choom.] So the rumors that the Shino and 6th Street were on poor terms were true. Their reaction earlier had proven it but this was just the finishing blow.

[Fucking hell] This Rico sounded both worried and annoyed [I'm still getting bit in the ass cause of this. Thanks for the heads up choom, look I'll get up with you later gotta delta.

As the line went dead, his runner disconnected them from it. "That's all from there, want me to keep an eye on 'em?"

"No, run a search on this Rico. if he's not with 6th Street anymore then maybe he'll be willing to talk… if given the right incentive." he smirked to himself and sneered at the 6th street gangoons they passed on the way away from Pigboys. "Contact me when you have something for me, then I'll consider the gig closed Ms. Sasha."

"You got it,"

-xXx-

"Another day in paradise," Naruto grumbled sarcastically as he took in the sights atop the moving NCART as it took him across the river from Arroyo into Heywood. Anyone looking would see him sitting on his ass above the front of the car, legs crossed with his cheek resting on his left fist. His mood had taken a small slump early when he saw a young woman hack into the terminal for a free ride, much like Cami had shown him all those days ago.

Had he not already been looking at that terminal in particular, he'd have never seen the hack at all, the holographic display above barely flickered and the girl was pretty smooth to say the least since he'd never seen her jack in or out of the terminal itself. The girl was a bit interesting too, he hadn't seen many white haired girls running around Night City and she seemed to be a little younger than him.

'Eh, oh well.' he thought with a small shrug, he had bigger fish to fry at the moment.

Standing up, he stretched a bit as the NCART pulled into the station and dozens of commuters came piling out. Just before jumping down, he spotted two things that caught his eye.

The first was David, quickly making his way down to the street. The second was the white haired girl, catching something that flew out of a man's head. After a second, he realized it was a shard and that she was stealing peoples shards. 'What a bitch,' he thought, stealing from some random guy just trying to get to work… but then again, knowing this city he was probably some kinda asshole in a suit that touched kids.

Deciding not to jump into the crowd, he turned and stepped off the other side of the NCART and fell a dew dozen feet down to the streetlevel, shocking some poor fucker by landing just a few feet away with a small apologetic grin, "Sorry dude," Just as soon as the words came out of his mouth, the man hunched over and threw up all over the ground in front of him, making the blond scramble to move back as not to get any on his shoes.

"Ugh, really?'' The sight almost made him want to puke himself but at the same time he couldn't help but think that it really captured that Night City spirit. "Just…" Naruto shook his hand and waved the man off before turning to leave, "eh nevermind." He only had a little ways left to go to reach the place where Sidney and Amelia were hiding and didn't really have more time to waste.

The building turned out to be a pretty old three story brick building with the floor at street level being a boarded up storefront with years worth of graffiti sprayed on the front. The freshest being a massive mural of a praying saint with a skull for a face that someone put a lot of time and effort into with all the detail it showed. It took him a bit to find the entrance since the obvious front door was boarded over and blocked off by overflowing dumpsters, he was honestly about to just run up the side and find the right window when he found the open emergency side entrance propped open with a cinderblock.

"Hello!" Naruto knocked on the door upon finding the right one on the second floor. "Hey, anyone here?" pressing his ear against the metal door, he listened for movement and huffed. Maybe they'd already left, he'd have to give the old man a call to find out where-

-Shatter-

The sound of something breaking reached his ears followed by a woman's scream then a gunshot. Reacting instantly, Naruto tried to rush in but the door didn't budge but seeing as it was just a simple metal door, he reared back and kicked it with all he could muster, breaking the frame and sending the door swinging violently into the wall.

"Get the hell away from her you puta!" he heard as he rushed in, seeing a young Valentino wrestling with a suited man trying to fight over the suit's pistol while a young woman crawled away. "Micaela baby, get out of here!" he yelled, swinging his fist at the man who grunted at the attack.

"Cesar!" the woman screamed, eyes going wide at the sight of the blond barreling into their apartment, "oh god it's another one!" Hearing his girl scream, Cesar turned instinctively only for the gun to fire again, just barely hitting him in the shoulder. The apartment itself barely had anything in it aside from a couple of old pieces of furniture and the small coffee table next to the couch was soon destroyed as the man in the suit used 'Cesars' distraction to grapple the man and hip toss the younger man into it.

"You should've kept outta it gonk!" he sneered at the younger man who groaned, raising his pistol to shoot him.

"Hey dumbass!" Naruto called out, rushing the man. He avoided the crying girl and threw a punch at the man who was now trying to whirl around to face him. His fist crashed into the guy's face, causing the gun to fire again which blasted a hole in the wall, nearly hitting a small cross hanging there.

"Hey, you guys ok?" he asked, looking between the two, the guy groaned in the wreckage of their table and the girl looked at him with wide fearful eyes, "Easy, I ain't with these guys, the Padre sent me."

That got the woman to calm down a bit, she eased to her feet and rushed over to the man but still gave the blond a wide berth, "Cesar!" she kneeled down next to the groaning man and fussed over him while Naruto looked at the pan he'd knocked out.

'Definitely not from around here,' he thought with a hum while kneeling next to him, taking the man's gun and sticking it into his vest pocket. It was a bit nicer than most of what he'd seen around here, mostly made of what seemed to be plastic with Arasaka branded along the slide. The man himself was dressed in a dark suit with red trim rocking a topknot and sporting a set of wraparound glasses with a single red lens that seemed to glow.

"Not to sound like an ungrateful pendejo, but who the hell are you?"

Turning, Naruto saw the girl helping the man up and gave them both a once over, the guy was obviously a member of the Valentinos from all the gold he wore, several necklaces, his black and gold cyberware, even his black belt had a gold chain stitched into it. He was clutching his shoulder where a shallow bullet wound bleed down his arm and leaning on the girl as she helped him stand.

The girl wore very short gold pajama bottoms and a black tank top with her hair in a messy bun, he didn't know if she was a member or not, unlike the guy, she didn't have any visible tattoos or chrome.

"I'm Naruto, the padre sent me to help Sidney and Ameila, where are they?" standing up, he faced the pair who looked at eachother.

"Eh the padre's quick as usual." he chuckled then winching at his shoulder, "Sid and his girl ran out the back just a sec ago," the man nodded his head towards a set of open doors where he could see a open window leading to a fire escape in the alley, "these gonks busted in trying to zero em, tried holding em off some but two got past me, theyr'r chipped with speedware or some shit." Naruto was already on the move by the time he saw the window and sped up when he heard they had speedware.

"Hey," He could hear the man call out from behind him, "Save my choom and his output alright-" the blond didn't hear the rest of it as he'd already jumped out onto the fire escape, which shook and groaned under his weight as he looked around and listened for any clues. That's when he saw it, on the railing in front of him was a smear of red. Fresh blood leading to the steps going up to the roof.

Running up the wall and onto the roof, Naruto jumped on top of one of the rumbling ac units atop the building to get a better look around, using the direction of the blood to narrow his search. "Oh come the fuck on." his shoulders sagged as he saw the rooftops. A small tent city stretched out over multiple rooftops, tents made of tarps shacks made of rusted metal and scrap, it was a homeless civilization up here. But the people were gone, grills were steadily burning whatever was cooking, a small holo nearby glitched as it tried to play the news but looked like it had been knocked over. He could even see half hung laundry that had been dropped on the ground but no people were out even though he could sense them.

The opening to one of the nearby tents moved but the material crinkled as it moved, catching his attention as a man cautiously opened the front of his tent and leaned out. He scooched closer and stabbed the suspect meat patty on the nearby grill with a knife and slowly started sliding back inside when their eyes met.

"Ah…" he was an older man, missing an eye while the other was an older model optic.

Naruto held out his hand in what he hoped wouldn't scare the man, "Did a couple run through here being chased by a couple guys?"

The man looked really nervous and slowly nodded. "Y-yeah, gonks started shooting and we hid." he slowly pointed over his shoulder with a thumb. "They ran that way."

"Thanks, look just stay down for a little while longer. At least till I handle them ok?" Not waiting for a response, Naruto leaped over the tent and tried clearing as much ground as he could without damaging anyones makeshift home. Several clones popped into existence and had he not been in a hurry, he would've disguised them but non the less, they scattered to search the maze of ducts, hovels, trash piles, and rooftop machinery.

Finding what used to be a tent, Naruto stopped and landed next to the body laid in a bloody pool in the confines of that blue plastic and could only shake his head. Maybe if he'd been a little faster this guy would still be alive. "Sorry choom." he patted the dead man's shoulder and stood up, he still had a job to do.

-xXx-

After getting that call from the General… no, he wasn't his General anymore, after hearing from his old choom, Rico just sat in his small apartment and smoked. The last few months weren't all that kind to be honest and the fallout from that gonk Gunner had cost a lot. First off, his wife left him, the stress over the 'war' she said but he knew it was because of him leaving the gang. Turns out she liked being the wife of a high ranking gangoon and the eddies he raked in but now that it was gone so was she. Just up and deltad the fuck right outta the house and drained the account of nearly 36k.

Jokes on her though, he used to make that on a slow week and his daddy might've been a abusive fuck but he taught him to always have a backup plan. She might've taken a few thousand eddies but if he wanted, he was certain he could liquidate all of his stuff and leave this city behind like a goddamn king. Trade in his favors, call in any debts, sell his secrets, then dig up his stash and he'd have nearly a million or so on the low end.

He wasn't one of Morton's top lieutenants for nothing after all.

Ortiz was pretty pissy at him for leaving despite knowing ahead of time, probably hoped that he would change his mind but honestly… as much as the gang gave it took just as much and over the last few weeks he'd been able to reconnect with his sister and niece. His little sister still blamed him for Diego and honestly he blamed himself as well but at least she was talking to him again. Shame that the same couldn't be said about Ortiz, she hadn't returned any of his calls or messages and well… that hurt too.

After sending her a message to let her know about Faraday, just in case they somehow came to her knowing she was his old choom. All he really felt like doing was enjoying his smoke and contemplating his predicament. these gonks would find him sooner or later, Faraday was a conniving gonk fuck like that, so he had to come to a decision soon. Either tell them what they want to know and risk the kid reappearing to zero him for selling him out, or tell them to stick their offer up their ass and most likely not make it out alive. A real lose-lose situation either way.

So here he was, kicked back on the couch with his feet on the coffee table. The familiar weight of his Palica on his lap and several of Ortiz' special made GASH antipersonal grenades next to him, her own personal little mark on them being a small sticker on it with a middle finger with the word 'Get rekt' in the middle. If he had to die today he wouldn't fucking do it alone that was for sure.

-KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK-

Not even two hours after Morton called. Huh, the gonks were good.

Checking his smartlink and pocketing some GASHnades, he stuck the smoke between his lips and cracked his neck. Maybe they'll surprise him and fuck off when he tells 'em to pound sand…

The thought made him chuckle, that wasn't fucking likely…

Opening his door, he narrowed his eyes at the gonks in front of him, "The fuck do you want?"

-xXx-

Gasping and fighting to catch their breath, a young couple hurried around the side of a massive rumbling air conditioning unit and pressed themselves against it, "Don't worry Ame, I promise I'll get us outta here," the young man said, looking at the girl who was weezing much harder than he was and clutching his hand. 'So beautiful,' the young man couldn't help but think. She was dressed in a nice little gray blazer with a white shirt and a matching knee length skirt and a shawl over her head, out of place for Heywood sure but they hadn't exactly had a chance to get her some different threads.

They were really a mix matched pair, she looked like she should be running some corpo boardroom or enjoying a fancy ass meal up in one of those glass towers while here he was, cheap threadbare tank top, ratty ass polymer kicks, and sweatpants.

"Sid… I'm so sorry," she gasped, looking at him with tears running down her now red face, making his heart ache, "My… asshole… dad.-"

"Catch your breath babe," he shushed her, leaning over to peek around the unit when she gasped.

"Sid, you're hurt!" Turning, he spotted a fresh red smear on the metal where he'd been leaning while she covered her mouth with a horrified gasp. "Sid, you've been shot!"

His heart was already pounding but looking over his shoulder then trying to twist caused a fresh wave of pain in his right side where his tanktop was now sticking to him slowly turning red. How had he not felt it before now? "It's fine," he tried to assure her, pressing his hand against it much to his discomfort. "First I gotta get you somewhere safe."

"What about your friend, the one you called for help?"

Sid nodded slowly, "He said someone was on the way, i'll need to-" he was cut off as he spotted one of the assassins her father sent after them rounded a corner, "Shit, duck!" he whispered, ducking down and quickly dragging her with him. There were a few things between them and him so hopefully the gonk didn't spot them just yet. Seeing her about to ask, he placed a finger to his lips and shushed her, motioning behind her for her to move, "Stay low and try not to make a sound ok?"

Amelia nodded and fought down her fear, cursing her father repeatedly in her mind. Why couldn't he just let her go and be happy? The overly controlling son of a bitch had to have the final say in everything and she had to do the best and have the best as far as he was concerned, for the 'Family Name' he always said. Now that she wouldn't listen to his demands and wanted to run away with her boyfriend the insane asshole wanted to kill them both! God why couldn't he just drop dead!

Her internal raging ended when she accidently bumped into something, causing a stack of metal scaffolding bars leaning against a vent to slowly scrape the wall and fall with an ear piercing clatter and clang that seemed to go on for what seemed like hours while she gasped in horror.

"Over there!" a man yelled just before a gunshot rangout.

"Fuck!" her boyfriend yelled, scrambling to his feet and racing forward, scooping her up to her feet as he did, "Ame, RUN!" She did, nearly falling several times as he pushed her ahead of him, bullets flying overhead "Just run," he continued, "Don't stop, I'll be right behind you!" her legs felt like lead, her heart pounded against her chest and in her ears, lungs burning as she gasped.

"Turn here!" he urged her, grabbing her by the elbow as she nearly passed the turn he indicated, "I recognize this place, there's a roof access door over here- ah!" he yelped and fell to the ground, nearly bringing her with him as he fell.

She stopped and tried to help him up, "Sid you have to get up!" He tried to do so but couldn't put any weight on his leg, revealing the bloody hole in the back of his thigh that bled profusely, "Oh god baby!" The girl had fresh tears running down her face now and continued to try and pull him up.

"Ame, you have to run!" he grunted, teeth clenched. "Baby please, you have to go… maybe your dad will call 'em off after they-"

She latched onto him and pressed her lips to his, silencing him, "Fuck him," she sobbed, holding onto him tightly, "I'd rather die here with you than give him the satisfaction." They held onto each other and kissed for what seemed like eternity, but was really only a few seconds before she broke it, holding a hand against his cheek, "I love you Sid."

"I love you to Ame," they stared at each other for a bit, lost in eachothers eyes, "I'm sorry I couldn't get you outta here," She opened her mouth to say something but seeing one of the gonks after them turn the corner behind her, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to the ground just as several shots were fired at her.

-xXx-

Hearing the shots, Naruto shot forward in a burst of speed and caught sight of a man and woman running with a suited assassin closing in behind them three buildings away. From the looks of the killer, he had just activated his speedware and was quickly moving over the rooftop in a blur of movement while raising his pistol. Jumping over the gap between the first, he put more strength into the next jump and sailed through the air in an orange blur to clear the next one completely and land on the next which looked like it was supposed to be renovated with a bunch of construction supplies piled around.

Charging forward, a rasengan quickly forming in his hand, Naruto grimaced as the man fired just moments before he reached him, "Hey asshole!"

Despite using his speedware to turn his head, the assassin wasn't fast enough to dodge, only getting to see a glowing blue object just as it struck him in the side. To him, he got to feel his feet lift off the ground as the object tore through the flesh and chrome of his arm then into the side of his chest. The pain as he felt his chest collapsing inward and his organs rip and rupture was ungodly but soon ended as the speedware in his back took damage, forcing itself to shut down. To the assassin, as soon as his chrome died, his world went black.

"That's one," he muttered, looking away from what remained of the assassin, a massive spatter of blood covering the area past the body which twitched and spasmed on the ground at his feet. "Where-"

His train of thought was broken as several more gunshots rang out and he turned to see the girl collapse on top of the young man and for a moment the girl looked like Cami falling to the ground which made his blood boil "NO!" fearing the worst, he quickly palmed several shuriken and slung them at the assassin as the man lowered his aim towards them again. "You bastard!"

Out of the six he threw, two just barely missed while the others struck true, one hit his fingers holding the pistol, severing a few of them with the force he used. The three pelted his torso, one even sinking dangerously close to his neck which sent the man to his knees with a scream, blood pouring from his severed digits while the gun clattered to the ground.

He didn't scream for long as Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him in a flash and slammed a fist into his face, breaking his jaw in a spray of teeth, spit, and blood. A familiar rage surged through his body as he punched the man again and again until he pulled back, once again leaving a twitching body laying flat on the ground, gasping for breath through broken teeth but still breathing.

"Ame, baby are you ok?"

The voice brought him out of it and he cursed, remembering the couple. "Hey, you ok!?" he called out, turning to the pair laying on the ground. Rushing over, the girl hugged onto the guy even tighter, eyes going wide as he approached, "Woah easy!" he stopped short and held out his hands, "Easy, the old man, ah I mean the Padre sent me. The name's Naruto,"

Sid looked up at him, "Naruto?" seeing him nod, he let out a sigh of relief and let his head fall back onto the rooftop with a laugh, "Holy fuck you got great timing choom." he rubbed Ameila's side as he did, tears running down his cheeks, "Everythings gonna be ok baby, I told you see!"

Digging into his pouch, where he started carrying a spare bounceback just in case, Naruto kneeled down next to the couple and jabbed the guy in his leg, which made him hiss, "You hurt anywhere else?" He asked looking around for anything to tie around the young man's thigh, seeing him looking, the girl took off the shawl around her head and handed it to him.

"Legs the worst, I think- Ah fuck!" he yelped as Naruto tied the fabric tight to stop the bleeding, Amelia grimaced at his pain and placed a comforting hand on his chest. "Side too, but I didn't really get a chance to look.

Lifting the thin tank top, Naruto saw that the wound on his side was a graze but had torn a decent gash through his flesh. "You'll need to see a doc for it but you'll live, just keep pressure on it for now until we can wrap it with something clean." Helping them up, he let them take a moment to breathe before asking, "Were these three the only ones after you?"

"I think," she answered him, ducking under Sid's arm to help support his weight, "But I wouldn't put it past that gonk to send more."

Naruto nodded and pulled the pistol he'd had in his vest out, "Here, take it," he ordered, handing over the gun to the man followed by the spare mags, "Just in case." he took it and nodded, slipping the mags in his pocket while keeping the pistol handy. "Come on, let's get you two outta here."

"Hell yeah choom," Sid agreed with Ame nodding, "But can we stop by to thank Casar, I really wanna apologize for getting him mixed in this shit."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, "Pretty sure we got time."

-xXx-

Grunting as he was thrown off his feet, Rico coughed a few times and realized that the gonk had blasted him back into his living room a few yards back from the door. The pressure in his chest told him something was fucked long before his Biomoniter alerted him to the issue but at least it told him that seven ribs were broken. The gonk that hit him must be over compensating for something, jacked like an animal gangoon and chippin gorilla arms? Fucking cheap shot.

"I figured you try and make things difficult." he heard from his doorway, the voice making him grit his teeth.

"Nice of you to join the party Faraday, bout time you stepped into the field.'' He rolled over and went to stand but a gunshot ended his plans as a bullet shattered his knee, dropping him to the ground with a scream he tried to bite back. "Fucking son of a backally joytoy!" he spat out.

"Really Enrico?" the four eyed fixer sighed, enjoying the feeling of having the man at his mercy while his driver aimed a rifle at the man "All I wanted was to have a little conversation and you had to go flying off the rails." he looked towards his hustle laying dead in the hallway from a point blank shotgun blast.

"The names Rico gonk." he snapped, clutching his bleeding knee, "Only your whore mother gets to call me that when she's-" another shot hit him in the arm. "AH you sensitive four eyed pussy!" He was really channeling Ortiz today for some reason, speaking of which, he was trying to send her a message only for it to fail.

"Wouldn't bother with that," the man glouted, walking past the doorway and into his apartment. "Runner's hacked your soft already, you're all alone Rico." Faraday smirked down at the bleeding man and kicked his short smart gun away. "Now, I came here for information and I'm not leaving here without it."

"Reds not your color choom," Rico spat, grinning at the man, "Hows that for information,"

Faraday only rolled his eyes, "You 6th Street gangoons all think you're so tough." he stepped around Rico and brushed off the coffee table just a couple feet away to sit down, "But I know what makes you tick Rico. I know your wife left you, stole your eddies and you had to start living in this dump." he motioned around at the nearly empty room they were in. "I could offer to bring her back and the money but you'll only say-"

"Eat shit and drop dead," Rico hissed, both at the man and the pain in his arm, fuck he wished that he hadn't gotten rid of most of his combat chrome, a pain editor would be pretty preem at the moment.

The other man shrugged, "Close enough, but as I said, I could make you dozens of offers and you're too stubborn to take them." He crossed his arms, "So I'll make a different offer, instead of giving you something you want… I'll let you keep something. Your family, your sister and that lovely little niece of yours."

"You bastard!" he growled, only for Faraday to shrug it off.

"Call me what you want, but either way you're going to tell me what I want to know or little Sarah's going to find herself in a rather sticky situation." He smirked at the man as he growled, "I've already made the arrangement with NCPD for detectives to find all manner of illicit goods among her stuff… wouldn't be too hard to believe, after all her uncles a known member of 6th Street and lets not forget what happened with poor Diego."

"You don't get to say his fucking name!" he roared.

"Yes yes, you're all riled up," he dismissed the man's roar as if they'd been talking about the weather. "Now, I want you to think hard Rico, you can either tell me what I want to know or your niece is going to be seeing some serious jail time… she might get out in say, oh 20 or so years."

Silence. Rico looked away, unable to look at the smug fucker, "Naruto Uzumaki."

"Hm?"

"Thats his fucking name, the Shino. Thats why your fucking here right?"

"Where is he?"

He scoffed and laid flat on the floor, "Fuck if I know, with how shit went down between us we don't exactly write eachother. Last I heard from him, he threatened us so believe me, I've gone out of my way to avoid pissing him off. Only reason I'm telling you is because I hope you find him." he grinned at the look of confusion Faraday gave him at that, "Yeah, that's right. I hope you do manage to track him down, cause he's gonna skullfuck your ass for bothering him." the man chuckled some more, "And you got plenty of holes for him to choose from you freak."

Sneering at the downed man, Faraday stood up and pulled out his Militech Omaha pistol, "Well at least you can die with a smile on your face," he aimed at Ricos head, "I was planning on making it quick but…" he aimed lower and shot him a few times in his stomach then another in his other leg and arm. "People like you make me disgust me, lay there and suffer." Rico's eyes were wide but he'd been blinded from the pain. "And don't worry about the girl, I got better things to go than ruin some little whore's future, I'm sure she'll do it herself."

As the fixer walked away, followed by his remaining hustle, Rico could only lay there as the life drained from his body. He kept trying to send a message to someone, anyone for help… despite his earlier bravado he didn't want to die, not like this. But every attempt he made ended with the same error messages flashing over his optics followed by alerts from his Biomoniter.

Oh god he could hear Morton now, 'you gonk, all you had to do was ask and I'd come running. Why face that sumbitch alone like some goddamn fool?' he'd rant.

Error: Network Not Found, Message could not be sent.

Warning: Blood Pressure Dropping! Recommend Immediate Emergency Medical Aid.

His sister would curse him for leaving them like this, Sarah would be inconsolable for days. As much as the thought made him ache, he wasn't too worried for them. Sarah was a smart kid, she'd be just fine. After all, he'd taught her how to everything he could about how to make it in this fucked up world. Ortiz would keep an eye on her for him…

Error: Network Not Found, Message could not be sent.

Warning: Blood Pressure Dropping! Recommend Immediate Emergency Medical Aid.

Oh… Ortiz, she'd be pissed when she finds out about this. No doubt she'd rage about him going out like this, 'You only took out one gonk! Your slipping old man!' He could hear her now. She'd get access to his files, all his secrets and stashes. The thought of what she'd do with such information made him grin, but he already knew she'd use his stashed away funds to take care of his family… well she'd probably kill his wife… well, his Ex-Wife, or would she be his widow? Eh either way. Ortiz always hated her.

Error: Network Not Found, Message could not be sent.

Warning: Blood Pressure Critical! Immediate Emergency Medical Aid Required.

I'm sorry Ortiz, for everything. I really wish I had married you instead, never should've turned you down like that. Oh god I'm so sorry…

I love you girl…

-xXx-

Watching as the two guys hugged and said their goodbyes, Naruto stayed near the door to keep a look out down the hallway as they wrapped up. The other girl looked a little moody but also hugged the pair and seemed a little down when they broke apart. They'd used one of Caesar's shirts to make a makeshift bandage, ripping it into a long strip that he used to wrap around the gash to stop the bleeding.

"Hey choom," Sid called out, hobbling over with his output's help, "Ready to go?" when Naruto nodded he asked, "Where's your ride at? I don't think I'll make it too far with this hole in my leg."

"Ah… about that."

"You don't have a ride?" Ame asked in shock.

"Never needed one," he admitted with a shrug after all, he could outrun them with ease and while they were admittedly fun to drive he couldn't see himself ever needing to buy one, "But I'll find one, just… I don't know, just wait here and I'll get one."

"No need," the other man called out, "Take mine hermano, just bring my baby back to me alright!" The girl next to him looked shocked, even more so when he walked over and handed the blond the chitkey for it, a simple looking black card with Valentino drawings marking it.

"Cesar what are you thinking?" he could hear the girl whisper as she pulled the man back, "That cars our only way around, if something happened to it you won't be able to work." He just gave the girl a kiss and wrapped his arm around her, much to her annoyance, "Be serious pendejo!"

"Micaela baby relax," she crossed her arms and frowned, "Everything'll be fine, 'sides Sid hooked me up with his stuff since he's leaving the city. Since he won't need it anymore, said he'd rather give it to us as a pre-wedding gift than let some random gonk steal it."

Looking between the two couples, Naruto saw Sid give his choom a grin and a thumbs up, which made the other girl look down, half embarrassed.

"And hey, Naruto right?" The blond faced Cesar and nodded, "Thanks for the help earlier, gonk had some moves but I had it handled till he started using that chrome of his," The group looked over to the now dead man laying on the floor, looked like one of the two had finished him off after he left.

The man walked over, his girl still wrapped in his arm, "Look after Sid alright," he slapped him on the shoulder with a grin before looking to Ameila, "You too Ame, you know how much of a gonk he can be."

"Hey!"

Ameila was still afraid of the ordeal they were going through but couldn't help but laugh, burying her face into Sid's new shirt, "I'll try my best."

"Oh come on babe!" Sid whined, getting another chuckle from the group before looking at the waiting Naruto, "Come on Ame, we need to get moving. Don't need to keep everyone waiting." With a final farewell and a parting joke about how they never thought Sid would be the one to manage to leave Night City behind, even if it was from being on the run, the group left and headed downstairs onto the street.

Naruto kept ahead of them, keeping a lookout the entire time for any more suits that may try to attack but luckily for them… and any would be assassin, none showed. Following Sid's directions, he led them to the parking lot where Cesars car was waiting and what he found shocked him.

The young man must've seen his reaction and chuckled before grimacing as his side ached, "Nova huh? Its a Alcarado V4FC 580 Playboy last we tested it had 407 Horsepower weighing in around 2.6 tons, we kept tuning the motor and can push 150 MPH, pretty preem ain't it… me and Cesar put a ton of love into this Vato, shame I won't get to see the Vato be finished."

Ame smiled at him and gave her own little giggle, "Yeah, I had the same reaction." she told him while helping Sid to the car. The suicide back door was another impressive feature to him as he didnt know they could open like that at all.

But while the girl got him in the car, Naruto walked around it just taking in the impressive custom work. six wheels, two in the back, four in the front each with black and gold rims, a gold paint job that seemed to both reflect and absorb the sunlight at the same time. But he could see why Sid mentioned it wasn't finished, on the side there seemed to be several outlines where they planned to paint something and while It wasn't exactly his style he could appreciate the style and work they did.

"You know, I think we have a problem," he spoke up after a few moments as she shut the door and was about to make her way around to the other side. Both looked at him with a look of apprehension as he walked over to the driver side door and tapped it. "We gotta get to your nomad contact at some motel outside the city right?" they nodded, "and well… the cars definitely gonna get noticed in Santo Domingo."

Sid paled as he covered his face with his hands, "Fuck, totally forgot about that." he let out a stream of curses which made his output look more and more alarmed.

"What's wrong?" she looked between the two, dread filling the pit of her stomach even more. "Baby? What happened?"

"Ame, babe I'm sorry. I forgot all about 6th Street, they'll stop us for certain if we roll through their turf in this. Deal or no deal between the two gang, rolling through Santo will make them think we're trying to fuck with 'em." The thought of there being more problems, this time with a whole different gang made the girl start tearing up.

"Actually, I think I got an idea." Hearing Naruto speak after a moment of thought, they looked at him hopefully. "Hold on a minute, I need to make a call." quickly finding Rico's contact, he sighed at the thought of having to reach out to the man with how things ended between them

"The subscriber you are trying to dial is unavailable or the number is not in service," He blinked as he heard the robotic voice " Please check the number you are trying to dial and-" Naruto ended the call, had the old guy changed his contact? Well considering the past… either way he needed another plan.

Scrolling down, he selected the old man's contact and waited for it to go through, glancing back to see the young couple waiting in the back seat watching him nervously. He grinned and motioned to them that everything was good, hopefully the gesture would make them calm down and feel a little more at ease.

"Ah, Naruto I was not expecting you to call so soon," the Padre mused as his picture popped up over his optic, "I pray everything is going well?"

"Yeah, so far. Sid took some damage but he'll be ok." he reported, telling the old man what had gone down with his distant nephew while walking around the car, "But Padre, we got an issue."

"Oh?"

"I need to contact someone and make sure we can get through Santo Domingo without any issues. I can't get up with my 6th Street contact so I need the contact info for the only other person I can think of that'll arrange it."

"And who might this person be?"

Naruto grinned, "General Rick Morton,"

-xXx-

David hated Arasaka Academy… well for the most part anyway. He enjoyed learning some of the subjects they taught on some level but once people found out he was poor they changed their attitudes towards him. At best they ignored him and acted as if he didn't really exist, which was how most of the staff reacted to him despite his grades being some of the best. At worst they bullied him and talked down to him whenever they got the chance, calling him the gutter rat and other less creative names.

Well he got back at them in his own way. When a few of the others, around 6 different students found out he was able to get his hands on the kind of BDs that pampered little corpo brats like them couldn't easily get their hands on, they wanted them and he was more than happy to sell them some of the most hardcore shit he could get.

These little corpo sociopaths in the making wanted the kind of XBD that they couldn't get through their parents due to how bad it'd make them look. Battles from the Unification wars, cyberpsycho meltdowns, fist fights to the death hosted by the Animals gang, and more recently XBDs of the recent gangwar between 6th Street and the Valentinos. Not to mention the amount of porn he'd been asked for and was genuinely shocked when one corpo brat offered him 700 eddies for a XBD of a gangrape.

What kinda gonked up 15 year old girl wanted a XBD of being raped and, in her words 'it'd be nova if it were as brutal as possible!' he swore she was as excited at the idea as she was embarrassed to ask. But at least she stopped trying to fuck with him for fun now, which also caused her friends to pretty much forget about him as well. Who knew that the queen bee, one of the most popular bitches in the academy, had a fetish like that?

"If it isn't the rat off the streets," he groaned in his head at the sound of that voice, Katsuo Tanaka and his little band of goons made it their personal mission to bully him any chance they could without getting caught. "Surprised you're still coming here, aren't you ashamed of being at the lowest of the low around here?"

The blue haired teen sneered at him and looked him up and down as his goons surrounded the other teen, "Just look at you, don't you know that no matter how hard you try you'll always be a gutter rat? Even if you somehow manage to graduate do you think you'll actually be able to make it in Arasaka? All you'll ever be good for is mopping the floors." he smirked as the other boys laughed at him, making David grit his teeth.

"At least I'll pass on my own," he growled out, "Heard some of the staff talking about your dad paying for you to do a retest," he smirked as Katsuo looked shocked then pissed, "What's next? Gonna have daddy pay to have someone take it for you too?"

The bell rang, signaling that they had to get to their next class just before the other teen could retort. "Just you wait, gutter rat." The teen sneered at him one last time before passing him, pushing past him and hitting him with shoulder.

Katsuo Tanaka was the main reason he hated Arasaka Academy and if it wasn't for his mother working so hard to keep him here he'd break that blue haired fucked nose the first chance he got. But sadly, all he could do was bare with it… for moms sake.

He wished he could make the asshole leave him alone, he didn't even care about making him regret fucking with him, he'd be fine if Tanaka would turn around and act like he didn't exist. The thought made him think of his new neighbor… Naruto, yeah him. He wished he could be like that, to be able to make those gangoons back down like they did was one of the most nova things he'd ever seen in person, and all without using a weapon too!

Maybe he'd talk to the guy later on, he didn't seem too much older than him…

-xXx-

"General Morton, it's been a while,"

The man got a look of startled realization on face, "Ah hell, it's you." he grumbled with a grimace, "Look Naruto we don't want any issues, that Avery kid got his ass kicked by his squad can we just leave it at that?"

"That's not why I was calling, I kinda forgot about that to be honest." he admitted while scratching his ear, making the man twitch and curse, "But if you want to make it up to me, there is something you can do."

The man got a pained look before gambling, "Fine, what do you want?" 'should'a kept my mouth shut.' he thought while waiting to hear what the Shino would demand.

"I'm escorting two people through Santo Domingo and I don't want to be checking over my shoulder any more than I already have to. The car we're using is… well it's a Valentino car and if one of your people sees it and decides to do something stupid…"

"I get it," Morton nodded, "I've already laid down the law about fighting the Tinos but one driving through our AO is another story. Send a picture of the car. I'll make sure nothing happens."

Naruto did just that, snapping a quick picture with his holo before sending it over.

Morton's eyes lit up as he received the picture, making him whistle, "Goddamn boy, yeah I see why you called. This beast just screams Tino… Give me a second…" The general seemed to be checking something for a bit, "Take the bridge on MLK into Santo, I've sent a message to make sure nothing happens."

"Appreciate it," he nodded and gave the two lovers a thumbs up, making them look relieved, "By the way, I tried getting up with Rico earlier."

"Rico left 6th Street a few weeks back," the general snapped, cutting him off. something in his voice told Naruto that he wasn't too happy with that either.

"Oh, figured he changed his contact then." he shrugged, after taking his niece hostage like he did, Rico most likely changed his number to avoid any contact with him.

"What're you on about?" Morton shifted and crossed his arms over the holo, "Rico's had the same contact for years, 'sides I just spoke with 'em a few hours back. Oh shit that reminds me, some gonk Fixer came looking for info on you, real scumbag too and that's coming from me. The names Faraday…" the man slowly trailed off, "You said you couldn't get up with him?" Naruto nodded, "Like he sent you to voicemail or-"

"It said something about the number not being in service or unavailable or something,"

"Ah hell, gotta delta kid," without another word, Morton hung up on him.

As the line went dead and shut itself off, Naruto blinked. The gangoon boss seemed really worried right then. He'd have to look into whoever this Faraday guy was and find out why he was looking for him. If the boss of one of the major gangs in NC didn't like the guy and warned him then he had to be-

"Hey Naruto, everything preem?" Turning back to the couple, Naruto shook the thoughts from his head and gave them a grin before heading over to the driver's side door.

"Yeah, it's all good," He climbed in marveled at all the fine work put into the red synth leather interior, then at the chrome and synth leather steering wheel as he gripped it distractedly, "We eh… we worked out a deal, just have to cross over on MLK and they'll know not to mess with us."

Unseen to the blond, the couple shared a confused glance and wondered as to how or why 6t Street wouldn't try to stop them, especially in this car. Who the hell was this guy and how could he manage to pull something like that off? How'd he have the pull with the General of 6th Street anyway and not only that but he just casually called and asked the Padre for his number without payment or trading something for it. Sid wasn't too close to his distant uncle but he knew the man used information like a weapon and wouldn't just give it away for no reason. So once again he had to wonder…

Just who was this Naruto guy?

"So guys," Said blond called back to them as he started up the Vato, engine purring as he pulled out onto the road. "Who are you meeting?"

Ame explained that she had managed to arrange this through a well known fixer in Watson, the price was steep and they'd sunk every eddie they could manage into it in hopes for a fresh new start. As she spoke, Naruto kept seeing them as what could've been between himself and Cami, just two people in love that wanted to start a new life, a life that the city didn't want them to have. She told him about her father, a Arasaka department head who saw her as a bargaining chip to be controlled, how he only cared for his image and hated her doing anything to negatively affect that image. The more he heard the more angry he got at the man. She must've noticed his agitated state because she slowly trailed off and apologized for rambling off topic.

But according to the fixer, they were to meet some nomads who would get them safely over the border and to Vegas where Sid had some family willing to let them stay for a while. But for now they only had to go and meet their Nomad contact that would take them to the camp where they'd be smuggled away safely… they hoped.

"And this contact, have you ever met him?"

She shook her head, "No, never met her. But the fixer said she was an honest girl… Her name is Panam I think."

-xXx-

Pulling out of her deep dive, Sasha felt sick to her stomach as a wave of shame washed over her, making her regret ever signing on to work with that son of a bitch Faraday. Yeah she needed the eddies but she felt so filthy after seeing what he did. Hacking that guys soft so he couldn't call for help while Faraday interrogated him, then reading the desperate message he tried to send made her feel like the lowest scum on earth as she blocked them.

Faraday hadn't exactly specified the entire job to her earlier, having offered to pay her an extra fee to continue her deep dive and now she knew why. That son of a bitch.

But since he didn't fully specify, she didn't feel too bad about removing her hacks a little earlier than she was supposed to. "Sorry choom," she muttered while thinking of that Rico guy, "Hope your chooms can get to you in time."

Her eyes lit up, "Hey Maine, you mind picking me up…" she gathered her stuff up quickly, not wanting to stick around her temp netrunner setup more than she needed. "Yeah, jobs done… no worse. I'll tell you about it on the way… Oh you're not gonna believe what I just found too… not over the holo, I gotta tell you in person."

She wanted a picture of his face when she told him that she knew who the 6th Street Shino was, that was gonna be amazing!

-x(X)x-

To be continued…

-x(X)x-

Hey guys I'm back! I intended on taking some more time off before writing but I just kept wanting to write more, you know. Wanted to have a nice long chapter for you for the start of act 2 and set up as much as I could for later chapters cause I love ya!

Anyway, as always I'm pretty sure I've made some obvious mistakes but missed them :-( and hope you'll overlook them too and enjoy the ride because I really do hope you enjoy the story. Feel free to review if you want or send me a message.

Oh and I feel like I should admit something to you all, the reason I keep pointing out that I've made mistakes is because of dyslexia, I'm writing this because I use it as a way to try and better myself and honestly if it wasn't for spell check I'd probably have given up on this a long time ago.

Either way, I love you guys. 3