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.

15. C15: Blaze Your Way Down the Rebel Path

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Night City Legends

Act 2: Running along the Edge

Chapter Fifteen: Blaze Your Way Down the Rebel Path

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Life in a Megabuilding was far from easy, you paid rent to live there, you paid for credits to wash and dry your clothes in your own apartment, some had built-in vending machines you not only paid to use but paid to have and paid to be restocked. Some argued that at least you got free net access and cable but little did they know that the cost for that was tacked on to your rent whether or not you used them. No matter what you wanted or did you were almost always paying for it some way or another.

The only thing that seemed to be completely free was the gym, one long time resident had gone around and somehow managed to source a bunch of equipment and had it set up in the communal area on the first floor. Nothing state of the art of course, just some punching bags, a couple of training dummies, weights, sparring mats and the works. All thanks to one old man simply known as 'Old Coach'

The old man was long since dead, murdered by a member of the Animals years back for some senseless reason but while the man himself was gone, the people he lived with still enjoyed the fruits of his labor and management knew better than to try anything.

"Alright David," Naruto called out as the teen led him to the gym, "You wanna see some moves huh?" the teen nodded quickly with a grin of his own, maneuvering around a few locals hanging around a weight bench talking to the person lifting weights. "Well any requests?"

Looking thoughtful, David looked around and motioned towards the sparring mat, "There's usually some chooms up to spar, how about that?" The blond nodded and the pair headed that way.

There was already a pair on the mat, a man and woman grappling with each other while another woman pointed out various flaws in their technique. She was a beast of a woman, sporting several implants on her neck and face, her arms bulging with muscle or tech he wasn't sure but the metal plates on each knuckle pointed to her having cyberarms.

"That transition was sloppy Turk, my old man could've done better and he's fuckin dead." the woman barked, stalking around the pair like an animal on the prowl, "Tina what kinda gonk shit was that? Are you trying to pin him or suck him off?" Several of the others around the mat snickered and joked but were ignored.

Naruto and David watched the pair grapple for another few moments, "Girls gonna win." he said, leaning over to David, making him look back at the blond who nodded towards the pair, "he's almost out of steam," Turning, David studied the man and noticed how hard he was breathing, sweat pouring down his face.

"You think he'll-" David stopped short, seeing the woman flip the man onto his back, trapping him in a arm bar, "Oh, damn that was-" he stopped once again as she grunted and yanked, the man's arm making a loud pop followed by the man screaming.

The surrounding crowd let out a mixture of laughs and groans, the woman, Tina, releasing the man who rolled around on the floor holding his dislocated arm while she laughed and cheered, raising a fist in the air.

"Haha," the beast of a woman laughed, fists on her hips, "That's how you fucking do it!" she turned and pointed to another man nearby, "Flacko, take this gonk to get his arm fixed and bring him back, I aint done with him yet." said man, another jacked man, stalked over and grabbed the screaming man by his leg, dragging him off the mat. "Tina, good work girl. Go grab a drink and hit the weights, you still owe me at least 30 reps."

"You're not gonna train me like that are you?" David questioned, grimacing along with the blond who watched the smaller woman stagger over to a bottle of Realwater before heading to a weight bench. "Right?"

"Hell no," Naruto quickly answered, "I don't know exactly what she's going for but that training is more likely to kill someone than get them in shape." his answer must've been louder than he thought because the beastly woman whirled around to face him and stomped over. David saw this and grimaced, taking a half step away as the woman stopped in front of the ninja and towered over them both by at least a foot.

"You got something to say about my training, shrimp?" She crossed her arms and sneered down at him.

Naruto met her gaze without flinching, "That wasn't training, that was torture at best. Yeah you were giving them pointers but that whole thing was over the top." he went further by stepping up closer to her, their bodies separated by less than a inch as he looked up at her face, "If you call that training, then I say you'd be better off just to pumping iron."

A tense few moments passed between them, everyone waiting with bated breath to see what would happen. David went to open his mouth but was cut off when the woman let out a laugh and smirked down at his new choom.

"You got a pair on you huh shrimp?" she uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips, looking over at David behind him, "That kid said you're training him?" she looked him up and down then did the same to Naruto, "What're you gonna teach him, how to jerk off? What can you do with those scrawny ass arms huh?"

"Wanna find out?" Naruto shot back a grin of his own splitting his face

"How about a bet?" she offered, making his eyes narrow, "You win, I'll tone it down for those punks… But when I win," the woman pointed over at David who gulped, "I'm making that kid my new trainee."

"Huh!" David gasped out, looking at the woman in fear.

"Deal,"

"Wait, what!?" The teen shot looks between both Naruto and the woman, sputtering.

"Hahaha, you got balls shrimp I'll give you that," she turned and stomped to the other side of the sparring mat, "I'll tell ya what, I'll try not to crush em."

Shrugging out of his orange vest, Naruto turned to David and held it out to him, "You mind holding this?" The teen nodded slowly and took it from him. "This isn't exactly what I was thinking but hey, at least you'll see some moves huh?"

"Are you sure you can take her?" David asked, looking between the two. "She's chipped with a ton of chrome,"

She was a hulking beast of a woman compared to the blond, standing over what had to be seven feet tall and packed with synth muscles and other chrome from the way her body looked. Naruto on the other hand looked to be mostly 'ganic, his arm showing the tell-tell cyberlines that it was cybernetic but nothing too special.

Naruto reached over and patted the teen on his shoulder, "Don't worry about it, just enjoy the show. She might have a few implants but I got skill."

"You ready yet Shrimp? I'm getting bored over here,"

-xXx-

Everything hurts… everything… fucking… hurt.

Blurry eyes opened and looked around the room he found himself in but trying to move only shot waves of agony up and down his entire being. All he could do was stare up at the cracked ceiling and wonder where he was and how he got here. God he wished he could move, his balls itched. The man wasn't sure how long he laid there… or how long he'd been there and had to think that if this was hell then it was definitely a special type of hell.

"Mmm." pressure on his leg made him wince, a pained whimper being forced from his parched lips. He wasn't alone, someone was here with him. They must've heard him as the pressure on his leg moved again and vanished.

"Rico!?" a familiar face filled his vision and the man found himself looking up at the face of the woman he thought he'd never see again. He tried to speak but couldn't form the words. "Just ah…" he could hear the panic in her voice as she looked around wildly, "Hold on I'll get you some water."

She ran off, knocking something over in the process that sounded like it broke and came running back with an open bottle of RealWater. When she brought it to his lips he felt his body screaming in relief as the liquid washed over his lips.

"Ortiz?" he questioned, his voice still dry and cracking, "Thought I flatlined."

"You did." she spoke after a few moments, her voice sounding smaller than he'd ever heard before. The techie fumbled with his bed for a bit and he felt the head start to raise, letting him lean upright just a bit. "When Morty found you…" she grimaced as her voice cracked, "You died on the way to the docs,"

"Oh shit," he grumbled looking around, "is this… your apartment?" she nodded, "Wait, so I died and this is my hell?" spending a hellish eternity with Ortiz in her apartment, he wasn't sure that was how hell was supposed to work. "What happened,"

"You don't remember?"

The man looked thoughtful and went over what he could remember. Him leaving sixth street, the apartment, Faraday wanting information on the kid then shooting him and leaving him to die. The looks Ortiz gave him as he went over each thing ranged from annoyance, anger, shock, and side splitting laughter when he told her what he said to the four eyed fixer.

In return, she told him about how the General himself had led a squad and found him. Had it not been for the medic he'd have died even sooner but was able to be revived on the doc's kitchen table. Doc was far from a licensed doctor, having had his certifications pulled due to some corpo fuckery, but they couldn't take his knowledge away. 6th Street paid the man well to be on call no matter the time.

"You've been here ever since," she finished, sitting on the edge of the bed with him, "I promise I've been gentle with you." He shot her a look and she looked away innocently.

"Wait, did you happen to get a message from me around that time?" Rico questioned, keeping his voice as even as possible. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and nodded slowly, "So you saw the…" she nodded and he got quiet for a moment.

She felt an icy cold pain jab into her heart, was he planning on taking back what he said? She didn't blame him though, it was probably just a panicked, spur of the moment thing. There was no way he actually meant it.

"I meant every word."

"Huh?" her face went bright red.

-xXx-

David couldn't believe what he was witnessing, it was like being at one of those King of Chromefist tournament fights that came on every week or one of those martial arts BDs people liked. Several bystanders had started crowding around and calling out bets as Naruto squared off against the jacked up woman on the sparring mat and seemed to dance and weave around her wild and violent blows.

"Hold still Shrimp!" the woman growled, swinging her massive arm at the man in an attempt to floor him with a wild haymaker only for him to lean out of the way with a smirk, which made her face start getting redder as each attack she threw at the blond was dodged in a way that made her look stupid.

"All those muscles and you neglect the most important one." Naruto sighed, dodging back away from her and putting his hands behind his head, "I mean I'm not the brightest but even I know you're not supposed to stand there and just take a hit."

"RARR" she launched herself towards him, hoping to barrel him over and grapple him to the ground. Once there she would be able to snap the little shit in half and there was no way he'd be able to dodge this. Still roaring, she tried to guess which way he'd attempt to move but was unprepared for him to jump towards her, his knee colliding with her cheek like a sledgehammer from Sasquatch herself.

The woman groaned, staggering back and holding her face. "Heh, you're pretty good for a shrimp." she growled, reaching into her mouth and grimacing as she pulled out a molar he'd knocked loose.

"And you're pretty tough, that should've put you on your ass at least," he called back, not following her back across the mat as they both ignored the chants and calls from the growing crowd around them.

David was struck by what he'd seen and Naruto's earlier words about not fighting started ringing in his ears. That woman had to be a member of the Animals gang or something just from the way she looked and acted, they were known as some of the most brutal fighters out on the street but Naruto wasn't giving her a chance to touch him. If he could move like that and let Katsuo wear himself down and out, he'd have that corpo at his mercy and be able to get back at him.

Straightening, she dropped her tooth in her pocket and cracked her neck, "What's your name shrimp?"

"Naruto, how about you?"

She snorted, "Bess."

"Well Bessie, hope you don't mind but I'm taking it up a notch," he raised his hands in a stance she didn't recognize but likened it to one of those used by gonks like the Tyger Claws. "Don't take it personally if I embarrass you."

"Ha," she flexed her arms and took her own stance, "Right back at you, don't take it personal if I snap you in half." Naruto grinned, even though he was holding back, these people fought so much differently than any other shinobi and he was enjoying it.

They stared each other down for a few moments, the crowd around them tensed up and started getting quiet, waiting to see who'd make the first move. Even David could feel the tension around him as he also waited, holding his breath without even thinking about it.

"Hey Bessie!" Naruto suddenly called out, making her blink, "Don't blink."

"Huh?" In the initial shock, she narrowed her eyes and blinked at him. The moment they opened all she saw was his grinning face less than a foot from hers with his arm cocked back. The crowd went wild as the new fighter had to have activated some type of sandevistan, vanishing from his spot only to instantly appear across the sparring mat, covering the 15 or so feet that had been between them in the blink of an eye.

She'd taken hits before from bigger and meaner looking opponents. Before she lived here, teaching these punks to fight to make some eddies, she'd taken three blows back to back from Matilda Rose herself before flinching. This gonk couldn't be what, 120 pounds soaking wet?

She spat a fine mist of bloody saliva as his fist crashed into her stomach.

Naruto felt specks of her spit land on his face but ignored it as he continued his attack. She was an asshole from what he could tell but didn't deserve to be permanently crippled so he held back a lot. As Bess hunched forward, hands going to cover her abused stomach, Naruto hit the descending woman with an uppercut that sent the now heated crowd around them into cheers and Bess off her feet.

Several drinks went flying into the air as the crowd roared, more and more people having shown up as word got around. David himself had been shocked, while he'd never really spent much time here he'd never heard of anything like this happening before with. But even with the fight being as short as it was, he could see why they were so wired, hell he was excited too.

As Bess groaned on the mat in front of him, Naruto held his pose for a moment and basked in the cheers, fist raised above him like a champion prize fighter. "Fucking Preem!" he heard through the crowd and turned to where he left David holding his vest and rubbed the back of his head grinning at the teen "Choom I can't wait to learn that!"

Naruto walked over to him and David held out his vest, which he took from David and slid back on. "Lets not get too carried away," he told the teen while the crowd around them disbursed, "You gotta rest and heal up first alright,"

"Yo dude, nova fight! A random onlooker called out as he passed by, making Naruto give the man a wave and a quick thanks.

David mumbled a bit under his breath about having to wait but accepted it, still rigging the high from watching a edgerunner take down a much bigger opponent without any problems, "Hey I think I really understand what you meant before,"

Spotting the woman slowly rolling over on her side, David cut himself off and started motioning behind the blond he'd been speaking to, "Hey ah, she's getting back up," he warned, not wanting her to jump at his choom while his back was turned. The blonde glanced back and turned.

"Give me a sec, gonna go talk to her."

Bess felt like her face was full of static, her optics and head going through their own version of a hard reboot as many would call it. She couldn't even exactly remember what was going on until her vision cleared and she found herself looking at the sparring man below her, slick with her own blood and sweat.

"Aw fuck," she grumbled, hand going up to her nose and coming back bloody. Feeling the mat below her move a little, she glanced over to see the blond that floored her come to a stop and tower over her. "Gonna talk shit now?" Bess groaned, feeling shame at being beaten this badly and in front of so many different gonks. "Well go on, you won."

Naruto shook his head and leaned down over her, "Nah, not my style," he shrugged then surprised her by holding out his hand, "Let me help you up."

She looked at the man for a second and snorted, "Do I look like I need help?"

He raised an eyebrow at her and looked unimpressed, "Yeah… you do." that made her eyes narrow at first, glaring up at him like she wanted to swing at him but a narrowed look from him shut it down. He didn't take his offered hand away and after a moment, she took it.

"You ok?" he asked, sounding pretty genuine to the woman as he helped her to her feet, lifting her up with surprising ease considering she was well over twice his weight and quite a bit taller than him.

"Ah…" she rubbed her face, nose still bleeding but feeling somewhat embarrassed again, "Yeah, I'm nova. Nothing like a brawl to get the blood flowing huh?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her but shrugged, "Yeah sure, just remember the bet."

"Yeah yeah," she grumbled, "I'll take it easier on the twerps. Just come back by sometime for a rematch, I just need to pump up some more and next time your ass is done." the woman glared down at him when he gave a little snort. "I mean it."

Hands raised in a mock surrender, he nodded, "Sure, I'll stop by again and knock you on your ass again, don't worry," stepping away, he turned back towards where David was standing and waved at her over his shoulder, "Till then, later Bessie!"

Pinching her nose, Bess grumbled and looked over to where her student was sitting, "The hell you are looking at Tina, I'm not seeing you pumping that iron!"

-xXx-

Several days later…

-xXx-

"Mijo, wake up," Gloria grinned as she crept over to her son sprawled out across the only bed they had in the apartment. With how heavy he was sleeping, she knew he wouldn't hear her soft voice as she snuck over to him, holding back little giggles as she did. She felt like she never got the chance to wake him up for school, her hectic work schedule had her gone or asleep most of the time especially now that she was worrying about the Academy charging for updates and the like.

"Oh Mijo," she sang softly, looming over him with a grin at his peacefully sleeping face, "it's time to wake up for school." she'd already turned off the small alarm next to the bed and leaned down. Gloria had to bite her lip as she reached over and grabbed his side just between his hip and ribs. "Wake up, it's time for school!"

His eyes shot open and he let out something between a laugh and a yelp as she continued attacking his side, "AH stop, what, ah mom please!" he cried out, laughing, kicking, and wiggling around as she laughed.

"Im sorry Mijo," she sighed, holding her own side as she laughed, "I couldn't help myself,"

Looking over at her, now partially tangled in his sheets, David blinked the sleep out of his eyes and while annoyed at being woken up like that, seeing his mother laughing made him smile back, "What time is it mom?"

"Just a little earlier than normal," she told him, motioning to the alarm. "I haven't had a chance to really talk to you lately, I don't have to go to work for a while so I can drive you if you'd like."

"Really, that'd be nova." he sat up with a genuine look of excitement.

She nodded, "And if you hurry, we'll stop by and grab some breakfast too at Toms."

"Preem!" He quickly hopped out of bed and started getting dressed, leaving her with a small grin on her face.

Her son may have thought he could hide it but she knew something was going on. When he came home from the academy with a black eye and busted lip she knew it was worse than that, she'd been an EMT for a long time and knew he was hiding more bruises from the way he acted. It broke her heart that he didn't confide in her and while she wanted to say something to him, she already knew how he felt.

He didn't want to burden her with what was going on, he'd done similar things in the past like skipping meals and doing all he could to not spend any eddies. While she was proud of him for not going the same route as many kids his age, getting caught up with gangs and getting into trouble at the same time she felt horrible that he didn't want to bring it up to her.

"Your shoes are by the door mijo!" she called out, seeing him looking around the small laundry room from where she sat at the edge of the bed.

She'd been so ready to sit him down and talk about things again to see what it was that had him down this time but something happened that made her pause. A few nights ago when she came home, he was a lot happier than he'd ever been before and while she wanted to know what it was she felt like he'd tell her when he was ready. After all, he didn't seem to be getting into trouble and while she wasn't proud of it, she had taken a quick scan of his school stuff and didn't find anything concerning so let him do his thing.

"Alright mom, I'm ready!"

The pair made their way down to the elevators and rode it down into the parking lot where his moms little brown hatchback Galena sat. "hey mijo is it just me or did the halls seem cleaner to you?"

Looking at her over the roof of the car, david took a second to process what she meant before getting a look of understanding, "Oh that," the teen exclaimed, ducking into the seat next to her and getting buckled in, "Our new neighbor offered some guys sleeping in the halls eddies if they cleaned up some of the trash."

Gloria hummed, "Really? A new neighbor?" she asked, a bit sheepish for not knowing that they had a new face next door. "You met them?"

The engine to her car grumbled to life. "Oh yeah, he's nova mom." he wanted to tell her about how he made those 6th Street gonks back off, how they stopped acting like a bunch of assholes around the Megabuilding anymore. But he didn't want her to know about how those guys were tormenting him back then. "He's actually been helping out a lot of people in the Megabuilding, not sure how he did it but apparently he got the building manager to finally get the elevator fixed a few days ago."

"He did?" While it hasn't affected her since they lived on the lowest cheapest floor, having one of the building's main elevators go down had been affecting the others who had to take crowded rides up and down on the others or suffer a long walk up or down the stairs. "No idea how he did it?" building management were the biggest ennie pinching gonks she'd ever had to deal with. They'd do anything not to spend a single eddie.

"No clue,"

She drove around the garage and up the ramp onto the road, stopping to wait for a passing truck to get out of the way, "Well that was nice of him," 'he probably got something out of it for doing so,' she mused to herself, no one just did things to help out… not in this city, "You know his name?"

"Oh yeah, his name's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Wait," had she not already been waiting to go, she might have suddenly hit the break in shock, "Naruto, you said?"

David blinked and then nodded slowly, "Ah yeah, you know him?"

"What's he look like?" She looked over to her son as he shrugged and gave her a basic description of him, blond hair, blue eyes, scars on his cheeks, and a cyberarm. "Oh." she exclaimed as he finished, pulling out onto the road and heading towards Tom's diner to grab a quick breakfast.

The teen waited for a moment as she drove and cleared his voice, "So mom… how do you know him?"

She wasn't sure exactly how much to tell him. Definitely not the part where she'd stolen from him nearly a year ago and what she'd stolen had kept them in good shape Eddie wise for a while. "I actually met him on a call." she told him after a moment, "twice actually."

"Was he working a job then?"

"Wait, you know what he does?"

David nodded again, "Yeah, well he hasn't said anything to me about it but I heard he's a mercenary from some of the guys around the building." he also wanted to mention how he was going to start training him soon now that the bruises were mostly healed but was afraid she'd put a stop to it.

As they pulled up to Tom's Diner, the flashing holographic sign above the door acting like an early morning beacon, "Come on Mijo, let's grab something to go."

-xXx-

The last few days had been interesting to say the least, annoyed at the piles of trash piled up on the stairs Naruto had taken it upon himself to improve things a little. First off, he wanted to get the trash piled up taken care of starting with the pile that covered nearly the entirety of the steps leading to the first floor and only had a small, narrow path along one side. That led to the second problem, local gangers and the like would routinely try to make anyone using that small path pay a 'toll' often assaulting the poor gonks that didn't have an ennie to their names.

Flashback…

Looking around, Naruto scoped out the halls and spotted a scruffy man huddled in a corner inside a dirty and stained box. While he hadn't been living here for more than a couple of days, he'd noticed that this guy did his best not to stand out too much and tried to stay out of people's way.

"Hey," he called out, walking over to the mans box, stopping when he saw the look of fear he got, "Woah, easy there," he said calmly, raising his hand, "Ain't going to try anything funny, just wanna talk,"

The man didn't say anything at first, just shuffled a bit and pushed himself harder against the wall through his box. "You ain't gonna hit me are you?"

"Nah, hurting innocent people isn't really my style." he replied leaning down and taking a knee to speak to him more on his level. "Look, the name's Naruto, you wanna make some eddies?" The guy's eyes widened then narrowed, "And no, I'm not asking you to do anything weird, what's your name?," he deadpanned, already anticipating his response.

"Randel… How much?"

Reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out a freshly prepared pair of $100s, the gray and green cloth like paper depicting a small city skyline in the center with the words GET RICH OR DIE TRYING on the bottom border. "Two hundred eddies," he stated, pulling the two bills away when the man reached for it, "Hold up," he offered one to him, "Half now, half later."

The man reached out again slowly, as if any sudden moves would make the blond snatch it away again, almost like he was playing a cruel prank. When his fingers touched it, he snatched it and looked ready to fight if he tried taking it back but Naruto just stayed there, a small smile on his face.

"What do you want,"

Pointing down the hall, Naruto said, "The steps leading downstairs, I want them cleared," he could've done it himself in a few minutes with some clones but he didn't want really want to advertise his abilities more than he had to and even if he henged them, he felt that it would be better for the people to do it themselves and earn a little money while they did.

"They won't let me," he grumbled, looking nervous as he said that while Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"The gangers," he sniffed and held the note close. "They like extorting us.

"Don't worry about them, I plan on talking to them pretty soon."

Flashback end…

The small crew that were running that little extortion scheme certainly didn't like being told to stop and after having a good laugh at him, tried to shake him down as well. But after some firm words and an even firmer asskicking they got the message and made themselves scarce. They probably wouldn't come back around for a while, especially after their very public beating was witnessed by a few dozen of their victims who taunted and jeered at them while cheering for the blonde.

Afterward, he left the mega building to go run some errands, mainly to run to his storage unit to grab his and Cami's old pillows and comforter after finding and buying a few necessities he needed for his new apartment. Staying just long enough to see the guy he'd paid start trying to clear the stairs of trash.

In all honesty, a small part of him expected the guy to take the money and not do the job. Had that happened he'd already made up his mind not to try and get back at him or take the bill back, he'd just make sure he'd never get the chance again. There had to be plenty of people willing to do something as simple as clearing out some trash bags for decent cash and boy was he right…

Upon returning, the stairs were mostly cleared and said trash had been taken and dumped in a few dumpsters around the building. While the job wasn't exactly finished, he went ahead and paid Randel the other hundred much to his shock and told him that he appreciated it. While not exactly sure, Naruto felt like the man was close to tears not because of the money but simply being told that he was appreciated.

Then Randel mentioned that he had a few chooms who wanted to know if he'd be willing to extend to them the same offer. Now he had seven people going around cleaning up the first floor, taking all the piled up garbage and filling up the dumpsters across the road at the construction site, which he thought was pretty funny honestly. It cost him a pretty 1,600 eddies in all but the halls looked a lot nicer now and they could afford to eat for a week or so… that is if they didn't spend it all on drugs.

Just because he gave them a chance didn't mean he was stupid…

*Knock**Knock**Knock*

Looking up from his little project, a small cutting from some kind of fern that he'd 'acquired' from reconciliation park near the old meditation spot, he spun the small pair of scissors he had around on his fingers and called out, "It's open!" He doubted anyone would be foolish enough to do anything stupid but you never knew.

"Hey Mr. Naruto?" he heard Randel call out from the other side, "It's me!"

"I said it's open!" he called out again. He could sense that the man was alone on the other side of the door and connected to it via his holo, causing the door to slide open on its own with the man standing on the other side looking a little sheepish, "I said come on in Randel." he repeated

"I know…" the man grumbled, taking a single step in but looking incredibly uncomfortable at doing so, "I just don't like going into others homes."

Nartuo gave him a look then shrugged, "Oh well we can talk outside if you want,"

"No, no, it's preem. Really," he sounded as if he was afraid of angering the blond which made him sigh. "You've been really nova to us and I really don't want to cause any-"

"Randel," Naruto's voice was firm yet gentle, "Take a deep breath," the man nodded and did so while Naruto walked over to a small fridge he'd gotten to replace the vending machine that had originally been in his wall. "You want a Nicola?"

He tried to deny it as Naruto took one out but ended up accepting it, a cold Nicola was a rarity he couldn't afford often, "Thank you," cracking it open, he almost cried at how nice it tasted.

Sitting on the corner of the small desk next to the door, pushing the keyboard to his terminal back as he did, Naruto let the man enjoy his drink before continuing, "So Randel, what's going on?"

That got the homeless man back on track, he gripped the can in both hands and stammered, "When we were cleaning, some weird guys were hanging around asking about you," seeing Naruto's eyebrow raise then narrow, he quickly added, "I promise we didn't say anything to them about you, we'd never rat on you!"

"Hm?" he looked back up at the man who still looked afraid and shook his head, "No, it's ok, look I appreciate the thought but don't get yourself hurt ok?" the man nodded slowly, "Now what did they look like?" Naruto seriously doubted it was 6th Street, if they really wanted to get up with him then they had his contact and he really doubted any other gang would come this far into their turf.

"They looked like mercs" he told him, "I don't really know how to explain 'em. They had chrome and guns but didn't look like any of the gonks from 6th Street. They tried paying for your location,"

"They did?"

Randel nodded, "Yeah, but we didn't take it. Promise." his tone made Naruto sigh internally, he didn't know exactly why the guy seemed afraid to disappoint or annoy him.

"They still around?" the man shook his head no, "They coming back?" a nod. Of course they were coming back, probably either with another offer or with threats to get what they want, "Alright, when they do, send me a message and let me know, I'll come and talk to them."

As Randel nodded, taking another sip of his cold drink, Naruto handed him a couple twenties, "Here, for your trouble." When Jiriaya had been teaching him about building a spy network one of his lessons had been about how a few kind words and actions could gain so much more from loyalty than simply trying to buy information. He hadn't been going for that at the time, but he seemed to have gained a small following here in the Megabuilding over the last few days.

"What if you're not here?"

"Don't worry, I'll be around," even if he was across the city, he'd be able to make it back here in no time at all. Looking at the display on his dataterm next to him, he saw the time and cursed, "Shit, hey I gotta get ready Randel," The man nodded and made his way back out into the hallway, saying goodbye which Naruto returned.

Kirk had a small gig for him, something to do with a girl going missing on JigJig street, he'd have to recheck the details in a bit but the job shouldn't take too long he hoped.

-xXx-

Every city needs its red light district, right? Growing up in the seedier parts of Konoha, Naruto found himself in the villages red light district more often than not using twists, turns, and 'eye catching' distractions to escape from pissed off Civilians he'd pranked as a child and other ninja (Mainly Iruka) as a student.

As for Night City, it had Jig-Jig Street, located in a section of Japantown where not only can you buy love by the hour, but also encounter some suspect dealers offering exotic, rare and often very illegal wares. Jig-Jig Street doesn't have a reputation for being safe, more than a few random gonks found out the hard way, entering with full wallets and leaving with a black eye and empty pockets. But in spite of its reputation, it's popular with corpos who like to get their game on before venturing deeper into the city's many attractions.

"Hmm, well don't you look delicious," Naruto's head turned to the voice and he found himself looking at a leering hologram of a woman in a short red dress that was revealing yet still somehow more modest than the clothes others were wearing. "How about you let me take a lick?" she purred at him.

"How the hell would that work?" he wondered, deciding to ignore the hologram as he noticed the ad behind her and started to walk away.

He wasn't prepared for her to answer him, "Hook yourself into my BD and find out sugar, I'll suck your balls up through your Mr. Studd before you know what's going on." That made him nearly trip over his own feet as he continued on past the hologram.

The entire street was a glow with dozens upon dozens of neon lights that stood out despite how early it was, many of which in suggestive shapes that only got worse the further you went in. Starting off with simple glowing hearts and 'XXX' signs, further down he could see a flashing sign in the shape of a woman getting a money shot from several other glowing neon cocks.

He was here looking for a woman by the name of Charlene Fox, her boyfriend or output hadn't seen her for over a week and apparently she'd been seen on Jigjig street. The guy tried to come down here to find her but some Tyger Claws scared him off when he asked for her. It sounded iffy to him to be honest but Kirk begged him to look into the gig so he agreed and was sent a picture of the woman.

She was pretty enough, but the picture he was sent of her was of the girl partying with the guy, several different drugs and bottles of alcohol could be seen in the background and it looked like they were in a club.

He was keeping an eye out while looking for her but the damn place was busy as shit with both men and women coming and going nonstop. 'Hehe, there's a lot of coming going on around here for certain,' he joked to himself, seeing one man being led away by a joytoy towards a tiny motel down the way.

"No, focus," he grumbled to himself, imagining old pervy sage grinning at him for getting distracted like that. "Why is it so damn busy this early? It's not even noon," He needed more eyes on the street, it was a lot bigger and a lot buster than he anticipated and he didn't want to chance the woman just walking by in a crowd and him missing… if she was even here in the first place.

Heading towards an alley near the entrance to Jigjig, Naruto found a thin young man in very tight pants and a fishnet shirt looking him up and down as he neared "Well hello there papi," the man purred, stepping over towards him and blocking his way, "Wanna have a little fun."

"S-sorry I'm ah… kinda in a hurry," he stuttered, not having expected another guy to come out and ask him that so blatantly, he'd seen and dealt with joytoys when he was staying at the No-Tell Motel but they generally left him alone there… seeing as he looked and was homeless. "Just taking a shortcut through there," he motioned to the alley behind the man.

"I'm down for a little pump and dump if you are," he proposed with a little wink, the man reached out and tried to touch his chest, "I promise I can make you bust fast."

But Naruto caught his wandering hand before he could touch him, "I'm flattered, really," he stated, gripping the man's wrist firmly, "But I'm in the middle of something."

"Mmm, you got a nice grip there Papi," the man pouted, giving him another wink as Naruto let his hand go, "I'd love to know how that grip fills in my hair… or around my waist." Naruto deadpanned at the joytoy and shook his head.

"Maybe some other time," he stated, walking around the man who gave him a little pout as he did.

"Fine fine," he sighed, following to take his spot back against the wall next to several dancing holograms behind a shop window. "If you're planning on going through there you better know how to fly," Naruto stopped, "Sorry to say Papi, that alley's a dead end."

Thinking about it for less than a second, Naruto headed on in any way and upon making sure no one could see him, jumped up and ran to the roof.

Several minutes later, a confused joytoy would walk in and look around, having waited to see if the blond would walk out in shame but to his shock, no one was there. Later on, rumors of a ghost haunting that alley would circulate and draw the attention of several paranormal investigation groups but mainly just a bunch of dumb kids wanting to have fun.

Up on the rooftops, Naruto took the time to look around to make sure he was alone on the ragged Japantown buildings. He couldn't sense anyone around and didn't see any of the annoying flying drones buzzing around, the only sounds coming from the streets below and the nearby overpass.

The rooftop was quickly engulfed in a plume of smoke that cleared to show several clones which quickly vanished in another plume as they henged themselves into their various random disguises of random people he'd seen on the streets over the time he'd been here plus a few old familiar faces from way back.

Already knowing what to do, the odd bunch of men and women on the rooftops scattered to make their own way down onto the street below to search through the crowds and hopefully find this missing woman.

-xXx-

"Charlene?" Naruto asked, stepping up to the woman dressed in a leopard print one piece that showed her thighs with matching knee high boots, fishnet stockings and a shiny green plastic overcoat. She was leaning against a concrete divider at the edge of a small bridge next to a small pachinko parlor smoking a cigarette.

"Hey," she voice soft and airy as she blew out a puff of smoke, "You looking for some company tonight?"

"No, I'm not." he deadpanned, having the memories of being propositioned at least a dozen or so times already fresh in his head. "Your output's been worrying about you and-"

"Whoa hold up, output?," she started, cutting him off while taking a drag from her smoke, "What kind of gonk shit are you talking about?"

Already having a inkling as to what was going on and taking out his holo, Naruto flipped to the photo Kirk had sent him and showed her, "This guy your in the picture with, he's been trying to find you, said you were his input but let me guess-" once again she cut him off, letting out a loud, drawn out groan.

"Stupid gonk, he ain't my output he's just a customer," she told him in an agitated huff, "He paid for some fun and kept it going for a week till the eddies ran out." tossing the smoke to the ground she stomped on it, "Freak kept on hounding me, wanting to take me out and got all possessive and-"

Naruto felt someone shove him and staggered over, whirling around ready to see who did it and ready to swing if needed. "The fucks your problem," he snapped before even turning, it was a man with long green hair wearing a white suit with gold pinstripes and a green grinning mask over his face.

"You're harassing the Tyger Claws girls," the man snapped, opening his coat to show the grip of a pistol holstered under his belt, "how about you walk your stupid ass outta here before I flatline you bitch," he went to shove the blond again.

"Huang, it's not like that," the woman tried to say, looking afraid now, "He's-"

Naruto caught the man by his wrist and twisted it, making him gasp before snatching the pistol from his belt and shoving him away instead. Unprepared, the Tyger Claw gangoon tripped over his own feet and fell into a passing pedestrian, sending both down into a puddle.

"Holy shit," Charlene gasped, covering her mouth in shock, "Do you know what you've done?"

Naruto shrugged, looking down at the pistol he'd taken, "Found a new pistol?" he joked, popping the mag out and unloading the bullet in the chamber. Turning, he threw the mag up onto the rooftops of the building around them then did the same with the gun in the opposite direction. "Or not,"

The man scrambled to his feet, pushing the man he fell into aside as he did, "You must be fucking gonked in the brain," the gangoon snarled stomping up to the blond again, "Do you know who the fuck I am?"

They had drawn a crowd by now, many stopping to watch what was going on, one or two even trying to record it. "A fool in a gaudy suit?" Naruto answered, making the joytoy by him look horrified, "Wait, did you hit your head and know you don't know who you are?" He knew he was pushing buttons but the guy pushing him and threatening him kinda pissed him off.

Huang growled and inched closer, "No one fucks with the Tyger Claws," he hissed, getting in Narutos face and jabbing him in the chest with a finger, "If you don't want to find out what happens to our enemies, you'd best pay- AHH" Naruto caught the mans wrist for a second time and twisted it again, making the man stand on his tiptoes to lessen the pain.

"Maybe you did hit your head," he mused, glaring at the man, "I mean this is the second time I've twisted this arm, maybe I should just," he trailed off and twisted it some more, getting a loud wail from the man but not breaking it. "Now, If I let you go, are you gonna try something stupid again?" He would have snapped the man's arm with ease but being shamed in front of all these people would be enough for now.

Several people in the watching crowd cracked a few jokes and laughed at the tyger claws predicament, a few 'paper tiger' comments making their way to their ears which made the masked man seeth until Naruto twisted his arm once again, "Fine!" Naruto suspected he only wanted to be released so he could attack and upon letting the man go, was pleasantly unsurprised to find just how right he was.

"You won't get away with your disrespect!" Huang snapped, spinning in place to hit the blonde with a kick to his head. Charlene cried out as it nearly hit her but Naruto only sighed and ducked under it, moving in closer which made the man visibly panic and started to throw punches left and right.

Catching a sloppy jab, Naruto slapped the man upside his head, knockin the Tyger Claw mask off of his face, "Enough, take another swing and you'll regret it." he growled but could see that while the gangoon really wanted to, he was also afraid since none of his attacks had landed.

"Fine."

"Miss," he started, looking at the pale joytoy, "Sorry to bother you, I'll let some people know what's going on. I doubt he'll try looking for you again." she stuttered something to him but he'd already turned to the man he slapped, "I'm leaving, you try anything and-"

"Yeah yeah," the man spat, "I'll regret it." They glared at each other for a moment and Naruto turned and started away, bringing up his holo and contacting Kirk while the surrounding crowd parted for him to pass..

[Hey rudo! I've been waiting for your call, you find our boy's output?]

"Oh I sure did Kirk, but he's not her input, he's just a customer" he snapped, annoyed at the whole waste of time in general, "He caught feelings after the money ran out. Oh and the Tyger Claw that ran him off? Pretty sure he's charging her protection,"

[Oh damn, well I guess the gigs closed then. But since you can't bring the girl then I guess I can't pay you,]

"Kirk, you really don't want to screw with me right now," he grumbled, "I found the girl so I did the job. Don't make me hang you up outside the bar naked this time." Hearing a cry, Naruto glanced back to see the Tyger Claw standing over Charlene, saying something to her as he pointed his finger before kicking her as the woman cowered, "Kirk, I'll call you back, I'm about to do something stupid."

[What's going on-]

He cut the call and turned back, stomping over to the pair. The crowd hadn't dispersed much in the few seconds since he left and most had gone from watching him make the gangoon look like a gonk to watching on as he assaulted the joytoy with grim looks, no one willing to step up and stop it.

"You stupid joytoy bitch!" he heard the man seeth as he kicked the woman again, her cry after each strike making his blood boil as she curled into a ball and covered her head. "Your nothing but a worthless piece of-"

Before the words could leave his mouth, Naruto had shoved through the crowd, who quickly realized what was about to happen and made way for him again as he sailed into the gangoon. Grabbing his shoulder, the blond snatched him back and spun him around, bringing his chrome fist into the man's cheek which sent him into a trashcan next to the pachinko parlor.

"You want to beat on someone you bastard?!" he snarled to the man, who spat out blood, "Well you reap what you sow now get the fuck up." The man shook his head and scrambled to his feet after a moment, swinging a glass bottle he'd found in the trash but Naruto raised his right arm and the glass shattered against his cybernetic arm.

The crowd around them backed off even more upon seeing the man wildly swinging the broken bottle but Naruto dodged the first few swipes and stabs with ease. "What's wrong? Can't handle fighting someone better than you?" he mocked.

"Fuck you!" He tried to strike the blond with a spining headkick again but Naruto ducked and swept his leg out from under him, making him lose the bottle as he crashed down to the pavement with a grunt.

Naruto leaned down and picked up the broken bottle, "Having some trouble?" he mocked again, "Must be tough fighting someone who can actually defend himself,"

Huang crawled backwards to get some distance between them, "Back the fuck off!" he yelled, voice trembling. As his back touched the wall, he used it to help himself stand, "Your fucked you hear me!" He turned to run into the pachinko parlor, violently shoving a man sitting near the door out of his way and knocking him onto the floor, his stool clattering to the floor as he fell.

"I'm not finished with you," Naruto called out, all but vanishing in a flash that wowed the onlookers who clamored about him having a high-end Sandevistan. From her place on the ground, Charlene was amazed that someone had taken a stand for her as a couple of her friends and fellow joytoys rushed over to help her.

Following him into the shop, the ninja scooped up the fallen stool by the door and threw it at the retreating man's legs, sending him tumbling across the floor in the middle of the pachinko parlor.

"You can't run from me!" he mocked, hopping over the fallen bystander who was sitting on the floor, looking shocked and confused as to what happened.

Huang tried to jump back to his feet but a strong grip on the back of his suit ended those plans before they could even begin. Grabbing the man by the back of his tacky pinstripe suit, Naruto hauled the man to his feet and slung him around, slamming the front of his body into a nearby pachinko machine which set off the anti cheating soft.

"You think you're tough?" he growled out over the high pitched beeping of the pachinko machine, its screen flashing out a warning.

The others in the parlor quickly vacated the area as soon as they could, leaving Naruto alone with the gangoon aside from a horrified looking attendant hiding behind the counter and an old woman in a suit that watched from a doorway in the back. He ignored them since they weren't a threat and proceeded to beat the man senseless, slinging him around like a dog's chew toy into a few other machines before standing him up again.

"I've seen assholes like you all over the city, shaking down good and honest people just trying to make it thought to the next day," he hissed in the other man's battered and bloodied face as he held him up by his ruined suit, "Fuckers like you piss me off," he rared back and headbutting him once in the face, breaking his nose, "If I ever come back here and find out you've laid a hand on anyone, I'll make what I did here seem like a walk in the park."

Looking around, he saw the glass window over the back counter and got a slight running start, dragging the man with him before throwing him. The cowering attendant panicked behind the counter and quickly scrambled to hide as they approached, ducking underneath just as Huang crashed through the glass and landed in a groaning pile behind the counter.

"Oh god, oh god, please don't hurt me!" The blond could hear the other man whimpering from the other side followed by shuffling. The attendant came crawling out, hands cut up from the glass and scurried away, bolting past the old woman and out through a door marked Private.

The sound of someone clearing their throat brought his attention to the straight faced old woman a few feet away, dressed in a dark brown business dress with dragons embroidered around her shoulders. "Well now, Uzumaki Naruto," she started, drawing out each syllable of his name, "I would ask what you think you're doing but I believe it's pretty obvious,"

"Sorry about this," he responded, looking around at the parlor around him and grimacing at the sight of the damaged machines. "Wait, do you know me or something?"

The woman walked out from behind beads hanging over her doorway with her arms crossed, "Of course I do young man, I make it my business to know the names of all up and comers," she stepped on several shards of broken glass as she approached him, looking around the room. "You have a reputation as a man that can get things done, a dependable man, one that knows the virtue of stealth and discretion… I must say, you do not live up to your reputation."

He winced at the tone she used and had to agree, he may have gone a little far with beating the man. "Sorry, he ran in here and one thing led to another… I'm sure he's got the eddies to pay you back."

"I know what happened out there," she sniffed, having seen the entire thing over her surveillance cams. The woman narrowed her eyes behind her large round rimmed glasses, "My grandson will indeed be paying for his part in damaging my Pachinko parlor but I am holding you responsible as well."

"He was…" he started to tell her just what her grandson was going but remembered just how fucked up the peoples moral compass here was. She hadn't even checked on her grandson aside from a cursory glance. He doubted she'd care at all about him assaulting a woman, and even in the street in front of her shop. "Fine, I'll pay my part."

She scoffed, "I have no need of your eddies," the woman rolled her eyes and stepped closer to him, looking him up and down. "You will do work for me, I'm certain to have a need for a man of your talents… that is how you will repay me."

-xXx-

Wakako Okada, the lady of Westbrook.

Naruto had heard of her before but never had a face to go with the name and as he wasn't hurting for gigs, never tried to go out and find other fixers. She reminded him of the village elders if he was honest, kinda like how the Padre reminded him of the old man. But she struck him as a lot more vicious than either of the old man's old advisers could be, seeing him beating her grandson like he did as an opportunity for free labor.

The deal was simple enough, in return for the damages he caused to her place he would have to do three gigs for her without pay, she originally didn't want to specify the number, probaby to try and force him to keep working more and more but he wasn't gonna fall for that. She demanded five but after a bit of back and forth she settled for three, never bringing up the bleeding lump that was her grandchild a few feet away.

As he left her Pachinko Parlor, Naruto found himself once again the center of attention as he walked down JigJig street. The crowds that congested the roads parted for him as he walked, with various Joytoys, shopkeeps, and passer-bys gossiping about him. It gave him a bit of a flashback to his childhood but from the snipits he caught, they weren't scorning his actions but applauding them.

Through the crowd, surrounded by a few of her fellow joytoys, Charlene watched the blond walk out of Wakako's place and met his gaze. Her eye was already starting to swell and her arm ached from where she'd been kicked but she nodded to him and offered a little smile, which he returned with one of his own before disappearing behind the crowd.

-xXx-

As the blond solo left her place of business, Wakako walked back around the counter and looked down at her grandson who rolled over slowly and laid on his back, "Huang you foolish boy," she muttered, looking down at him with narrowed eyes, "I told you and told you about your temper… now look at you," The man's eyes fluttered as he shifted, looking up at her with a groan. "I suppose you've done something right at least."

She'd have to make a call and have someone come and pick this little brat up at least, after all, his inability to keep his temper in check had gained her quite a bargaining chip. Shame she couldn't nail him down and keep the merc on permanent retainer but she hadn't become the top fixer of Westbrook merely because of her sons.

He tried to move but could only whimper as he shifted, "Stop whining," she snapped, "As if you weren't a big enough disappointment as it is."

Looking at him for a few more moments she scoffed and turned on her heel, heading back to her office, "an EMT will be here soon enough," she needed to contact some people to replace her machines and clean the place up. "And you won't be doing rounds on Jigjig anymore Huang, someone with more… self restraint will take over from now on."

It was poor practice to beat a working girl in the middle of the street, it scared away the kinds of customers you wanted to attract. Only freaks and animals liked their meat bloody afterall.

-xXx-

"Kirk, I'm not seeing any transfers into my account," Naruto called over the holo with a sing-song voice, "I can either go home or I can come and visit you at the bar!" he continued while stepping over to where he parked his bike. It may have been slower than running but damn if it wasn't fun as hell to ride around on.

[You're not bringing the girl back to the client Rudo, you failed the gig choom.]

Rolling his eyes, Naruto mounted the bike and drummed his fingers on the tank, "The gig was to find the girl, if she was being held against her will I would've but as far as the gig goes, I've done my part." he fished the key out of his pocket and turned on the ignition. "Check the deets you sent me yourself,"

There was some humming and hawing on the other end as he hit the kickstart, bringing the engine to life, "I hope you're not self conscious Kirk because this time I'm hanging you upside down from the Coyote Cojo's sign naked." he stated, voice full of annoyance. "I'll see you in a few minutes,"

[Wait a-]

Cutting the call, Naruto grinned and pulled out onto the road after waiting for another car to pass and headed towards the overpass that would take him towards the city center where he could cut through into Heywood. It probably wasn't much of a shortcut but riding on the overpasses above parts of the city felt pretty awesome if he was honest and the lack of people walking let him really open it up.

As he pulled up to a stoplight, he accessed his holo again and dialed Pepes number. After a few beeps, the small screen in the corner of his vision changed and Pepe's face came into view, looking a bit surprised,

[Naruto? Hey 'Mano what's up?]

"Hey Pepe, Kirk at the bar?" he asked, letting off the break and twisting the accelerator as the light turned green. Pepe looked at him with a raised eyebrow and turned to look.

[Yeah, looks like someone just kicked him in the cojones though, why whats up?]

"I'm about to come and have a little chat with him," Naruto chuckled darkly, turning and going up onto the onramp of the overpass that would take him into the city center, "Just did a gig for him and he's trying to skip out on the pay," That made Pepe's eyes widen before he snorted, shaking his head

[You'd think he'd learn after last time, you gonna do it again]

"Worse, butt ass naked"

The scary looking bartender snickered and held back from laughing as he noticed Kirk pace by the rails above the bar, looking worried and annoyed, [I'm certain jefe has the rope you used last time somewhere in the back, want me to get it?]

Before he could respond a notification popped up, alerting him to a banking transfer being sent through, earning him a decent little payout for today's work, "actually, he just paid up," he snorted, making Pepe roll his eyes. [Of course he did,]

"Guess he won't be hanging around again like last time," naruto joked, opening up the throttle to zoom past another car, "whatcha been up to Pepe?"

The man shrugged, picking up a glass and cleaning it as he spoke, [Eh, same old shit different day 'mano. Cynthia wants to go to some spa thing for her birthday and of course that shit costs an arm and a leg.] He sighed and finished wiping the glass clean, [Kirk's been offering to loan me the eddies and-]

Naruto snorted, "Course he did,'

[Yeah I know,] the man grumbled, [But I can't exactly afford a loan from a legit place… 'sides, it's been something she's wanted to do for years and I really wanna do something for her,]

"I'll help you out," the blond offered, he had a decent amount of eddies stashed away from selling a bunch of the random guns and equipment he took from his various gigs, especially the scavs. "Just pay me back whenever, you don't even have to pay interest or anything."

[Really?] Naruto nodded. [Shit, I won't turn that down 'mano. You sure?]

"You've been a choom ever since I met you Pepe," he told the man with a smile, passing another truck as he blasted down the overpass, "And I still feel kinda bad about dragging you over the bar back then,"

[Water under the bridge] Pepe looked like he was preparing a drink and knowing the people on NC, Naruto didn't doubt for a second that the bar was probably already in full swing despite being around noon. [Besides choom, don't you remember? I've been spitting in your drinks to get back at you for that,]

"Hahaha, that's funny dude" Pepe gave him a smirk, "Pepe you're joking right?" the call ended, "Pepe?" He really hoped Pepe was joking and started to call him back but his holo chirped with a notification telling him he had a message.

[Mr. Naruto, it's Randel. Those guys are back.]

With a sigh, he sent one back, [On my way]

-xXx-

Randel wasn't a brave man, far from it. He'd seen what happened to people brave enough to stand up for themselves and more often than not they were quickly tossed into the garbage in separate bags by the local gangoons. The best lesson he'd ever learned was that around here, the strong made the rules and you could either listen, stay out of the way, or suffer their wrath.

For the last couple of years or so since he'd lost his job, ending up homeless in the very Megabuilding he once had a apartment in, he'd made it a point to stay the fuck out of everyones way and not fight back. If anyone tried to mess with him it was always easiest to curl up and hope they got bored of hitting him than to fight back, that always made things worse.

So when the brightly dressed blond man had approached him earlier this week, he'd been afraid that he was like the others, here to hurt and torment him for fun. He didn't have anything valuable aside from a holo older than he was so he'd already been prepared for the worst so imagine his surprise when the man turned out to be a good soul.

If he was honest, when he offered him a job his first fear was that the man was some freak wanting to get his shard slotted. Rumors of gonks going around wanting to use unfortunate souls like himself for XBDs have been circulating for years and he'd heard of more than one of his fellow homeless being used like a joytoy for a few eddies.

But thankfully, all Mr. Naruto wanted for him to clean up, even paid him one hundred eurodollars on the spot. That was enough for him to eat for days! He even paid some of his chooms to help out too and went out of his way to keep the more violent elements in line. He was… definitely not from around here.

So when these two gonks came by looking for him, Randel would be the first to admit to being afraid for the man. These guys had that hardened mercenary look and when they started asking around, apparently, some asshole pointed them in his direction.

"Take it easy Dyna, we were hired to find this Naruto guy, not cause shit with locals," gumbled one merc to the other.

"Bite me Sham, this is the second time we had to deal with this gonk shit and I'm still nursing a hangover."

The calmer of the two, Sham was a shorter but well muscled dark skinned man with a pale chalk white face-plate with dreads wearing a nice brown synth leather duster over a armored vest with several wires and devices strapped to the front. He shook his head at his partner and huffed, "I told you to cool your jets last night choom, keep cruising that fucking high and your aint gonna come back from the crash."

His partner was slightly taller but a lot thinner and pale as could be without going through a chemskin process, dressed in a red collared shirt with a pair of pistols strapped to his belt seemed to be a few steps below a maelstrom gonk with how much chrome he was chipping. "And I told you," he grunted, crossing his arms and smirking at his partner, "I'm here for a good time, not a long time."

Randel watched as his ancient holo rang in his ear with a message, looking very much out of place between the two as he checked it to find a message from Mr. Naruto. [Tell them I'm at the Manufactory, get them to go there.] He waited for a chance to chip in, "Ah, excuse me?" They turned to look at him, making him swallow nervously, "He's down the road at the Manufactory, he'll probably be there for a while if you don't want to wait."

Sham looked at him with a suspicious look but his partner, 'Dyna' let out a long drawn out groan, "Fuuuuck, lets roll choom," he huffed, smacking Sham on his chest, "Sooner we find this guy the sooner I can go home."

The Manufactory was a well known one stop shop for various vendors to come together and sell their wares like a flea market or a bazaar. They rented out a small lot, set up shop and hoped to sell what they had to make ends meet. Secondhand clothing, repurposed parts, refurbished tools, guns with questionable histories sold by a guy that swears he can mod just about anything, and even a small-time pharmacy run by a doc down on his luck but still hoping to help the masses.

Randel hoped Mr. Naruto would be ok. He's heard the rumors about him, that he was a mercenary in his own right and remembered seeing him beat up those gangoons trying to use the stairs as a toll road. But even seeing how easily he wrecked those gonks he couldn't help but worry about the man, he was a good soul.

And good souls never lasted long in this city.

-xXx-

"So Sham, would you rather…"

The man in question groaned as they stepped out onto the streets, "Dyna, for fucks sake choom not another one of those-"

"Naw man listen, this is a good one." he laughed as they headed to his car, a four door Thorton Mackinaw Larimore with a camper shell sporting several large bullet holes and a few burn marks he could never quite get rid of. Sham only sighed and motioned for him to continue, crossing his arms. "Would you accidentally send your parents a nude pic of yourself full mast or ass dail them while screwing, and they have to listen to the whole thing."

Sham groaned, looking up in the air, "Pick a better one choom, I've done 'em both." he sighed, turning and walking around to the passenger side door and leaving Dyna laughing on the driver side.

"Hold up, hold up, hold up!" He rushed over to the driver side and opened the door, "You gotta tell me how that shit happened."

Both climbed in and Sham grumbled, "Man that shit happened on the same day, I was fucking this chick in the backseat and somehow… I don't know, I guess all the bouncing made it happen, I didn't have it connected to my neural and when we got done I could hear my old man and sister laughing at me, moms was so embarrassed she wouldn't look at me… man one of her chooms was there too and to make it worse, she was a pastor or some shit with moms church group.

"Why?" the other man couldn't stop laughing, "Why was she embarrassed, you screamed her name when you busted a nut or something?"

"Man fuck you," he punched him in the shoulder, "Naw it was her chooms daughter I was interfacing with. Had to walk in that house knowing they heard everything and do you know how hard it was to look her in the eye knowing she heard the fucked up shit we were saying?"

"I can't say that I know the feeling." they heard coming from the back seat.

Before either could react, Dyna felt something sharp against his neck and froze while Sham turned only to come face to face with the business end of a rather large Overture held by a blond man wearing… how the fuck didn't they see him with all that fucking orange!

"Woah now." the man started, eyeing the barrel in his face. From where he sat, he could see the hollow point ready to ventilate his skull in the end of the barrel, "Let's be cool choom," Dyna felt the cold steel against his neck and wisely kept his mouth shut.

"You two looking for Naruto?" the blond asked, getting a nod from Sham and a tiny nod from Dyna, "Why?"

"Got a message for him, from the Queen of the Afterlife herself…" seeing the man raise his eyebrow he continued, "You know Rogue… Rogue Amendiares?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah I've heard of Rogue before," Jackie wouldn't shut up about her being 'the' top Fixer in Night City and how he couldn't wait to make it big and be drinking in the Afterlife bar, maybe even take gigs from the queen herself. "Well good work fellas, here I am."

"Your Naruto?" he nodded from behind the pistol, "You don't look like a Naruto,"

The blond raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"You know…" the dark skinned man trailed off, "Nevermind… Look, Rogue wants you to swing by the Afterlife for a convo, something about you butting into a gig of hers."

-xXx-

A while back, Jackie had told him about an old saying "There is only one path in Night City worth walking: the one that leads to the Afterlife." He thought it was a neat if morbid saying but honestly, Naruto couldn't see what was so special about the bar that made Jackie go on and on about the place. 'Hermano, once you make it there, sooner or later, everything else opens up to you.' he had said, stars in his eyes.

To Jackie and many other Edgerunners, the Afterlife is an iconic bar where the who's who of mercs and first-rate fixers gather to kick back or conduct biz. It's also a major nerve center for the city. This was supposed to be a place where the biggest deals were cut and the job rewards have the most zeros slapped on. Stop here to spot big names such as Rogue and that guy who "drank with Morgan Blackhand once"... Speaking of, if you're one to believe rumor and hearsay, it's said that Blackhand's ghost still wanders the bar, switching off the safeties of customers' holstered guns.

A little more than an hour had passed since his little impromptu meeting with Sham and Dyna went down, Naruto had taken the time to personally check in on Randel and the others just to make sure they were ok and that the two mercs hadn't done anything stupid. Luckily for them, they hadn't.

"Looks like this is the right area," he mused to himself standing on the street corner just over the bridge leaving Corpo Plaza and leading into Watson or more specifically, Little China.

Several large advertisements were flashing across the road, one showing a wrapped Burrito XXL with 'IT'S BIG!' plastered next to it while the one next to it showed an attractive black woman in a bikini with an overweight couple in the background sitting on a beach offering fifteen percent off the price of a vacation trip Sunny Somalia, last year's number one vacation destination.

But he needed to go a bit further, across the street and under a connecting bridge to where he found a small parking lot surrounded by towering buildings that kept the alleyway in nearly perpetual shade during the day. Past the graffiti covered walls and the overflowing dumpsters, he spotted the blue and pink neon lights with the Afterlifes signature stylized A above the door that made the entire parking area glow a soft blue.

"Gonkass' prick wouldn't pay up so someone had to flatline him."

"Choom you gotta check out that new Ponpon BD, shit's preem!"

"Think that skeezy doll gave me a fuckin neural-virus, gotta go take to my ripper choom,"

'Funny, for the club Jackie swears has the biggest contracts… it doesn't seem like much,' he thought while walking past the people standing outside, catching snippets of their convos as he did. Through the open doorway, he passed under what seemed to be a broken or deactivated metal detector and chuckled. That probably had to be turned off with the amount of people sporting chrome, it had to be going off every single time someone went through.

Halfway down the steps he could hear the screaming vocals of Chipping in getting louder and louder the closer he got to the bottom where a pair of steel doors slid out of his way as soon as he neared.

The music was loud but somehow not uncomfortably so. Naruto stepped through and down another couple of stairs, a few random armed mercs and gangoons glanced his way before going back to their own business as he approached a pretty tall guy sporting facial chrome and a armored jacket with an orange lining.

"And what kinda clown are you supposed to be?" the man questioned, cocking his head to the side and looking down his nose at the blond in front of him.

Naruto rolled his eyes then smirked, taking on an astonished look, "You can see me!?" he looked around as if he was checking to make sure no one was behind him, "Oh god I thought I was a ghost!"

The man blocking his way groaned, "It's too early for this stupid shit," he grumbled, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, "Either tell me who you are and what you want or fuck the hell off gonk."

"I'm supposed to meet Rouge here today," he shrugged, "Was told to meet her here."

"Yeah you and hundreds of other punks," the man huffed, "Name?" Some of the other mercs nearby heard him and openly laughed at him, mocking this fresh faced merc that tried to get into the club with such a blatant lie.

Naruto ignored them, "Naruto, and I'm here because-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't care." the bouncer cut him off, looking to the side as his eyes lit up, "Hey Boss, got some chump here says he's here to talk to ya… Says his name's Naruto," the man's eyebrow raised, "Really?" he looked back at Naruto and hummed, eyes going back to normal, "Well whaddya know, she's waiting for you, head on in turn left and she's straight ahead."

The man stepped aside and the door opened for Naruto to walk through.

The building that the Afterlife was in was supposed to be an old city morgue and looking around, Naruto could see it. Many of the walls were covered in rows upon rows of morgue drawers which held the bodies of the deceased once upon a time, from the looks of it, several were being used as displays for various bottles of liquor or memorabilia for various people or bands.

Following the directions he'd been given and wanting to get this over and done with he turned and headed past the bar, glancing towards the red headed bartender that was pouring several drinks as he did.

Further ahead the blond spotted the only person who could be Rouge, sitting in a private booth with a clear view of the entrance. Silver gray hair with one side shaved close, two silver patches of cyberware on each cheek, rocking tight leather pants and a short yellow crop top with SURVIVE scrolled across the front, the woman kinda reminded him of Granny Tsunade… mainly due to the fact that she was supposed to be pretty old and looked quite a bit younger.

But it wasn't her looks that clued him into her being 'the boss' it was the bodyguard partially blocking the way into her booth.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" the man droned, looking at him with a large glowing red optic with a leather mask partially covering his lower face. When the blond nodded once, he glanced back behind him to the woman who waved the blond in.

The bodyguard wordlessly stepped aside and Naruto walked in, finding himself standing next to a long wrap-around couch with a pair of square metal tables pushed together in the center. There were several other people sitting around in the booth as well, from where he stood, Naruto counted no less than four mostly concealed weapons pointed in his general direction.

"So you're the solo that crashed my gig." the woman started, sounding half intrigued and half mocking as she spoke, "Most gonks have the sense not to fuck around with my gigs unless they find out not to fuck with me."

He snorted, crossing his arms, "I'm the solo that made sure your clients survived," he snapped, instantly feeling the temperature around the area get cooler, "You took their eddies and left them to make it outta the city alone, it seems to me that you should be thanking me." the ninja stepped closer to the edge of the table, ignoring the muffled clicking of a weapon being readied.

The woman glared at him for a moment and he matched it. A couple of the nearby mercs looked pretty tense as they watched, "You got balls, I'll give you that." Rouge scoffed as she leaned back, "Either that or you're gonked in the brain." It seemed as if the club had let out a breath it'd been holding, everyone relaxing slightly. "Sit down,"

Naruto slowly stalked around the table and sat down, the woman turning in her seat to face him and laying her arm across the backrest while crossing her legs, "So what do you want?"

Rouge raised an eyebrow, "I wanted to get a good look at the amateur gonk that butted into my gig, see whether or not if I should just hand you over to Militech for a reward," that made Naruto's eyes widen and narrow, making her smirk, "Oh you didn't know they're after you?" holding out her hand to the person behind her, she was handed a dataslate and tapped it. "Runner pulled this from a Militech server before it was locked down, look familiar?"

As she held out the dataslate, Naruto took it from her and found himself staring at his own picture. Studying it for a moment, he noticed that he was wearing his old tactical vest and looked like shit, this had to be when he was rampaging against Gunner and his crew for what they did.

She let him look at it for a few moments before she continued, "What kinda gonk doesn't think of surveillance? Any merc worth a damn knows better, you went in and didn't even get a basic scrambler to blur your face," there were several chuckles at his expense but Naruto kept his cool even as he had to bite his tongue.

He didn't know about such things, no one had mentioned it before and honestly, back then he wasn't exactly in the right state of mind to be thinking about cams. He'd been struggling not to lose his cool and wreck the city one block at a time, much less worry about being recorded. 'I'll talk to Vik and see if he has something like that,'

"So…" the woman began again, "Why shouldn't I just throw you to Militech and bank a nice juicy payday huh?"

Naruto lowered the dataslate, "I guess you could do that," nodding idly while tossing it on the seat between them. "But I have a feeling you'll regret it pretty quick," he finished by giving her a small smirk of his own while leaning back

"Oh?"

He nodded, leaning forward, "Yep," he smirked back at her, "Cause there's not nearly enough of you here to stop me and if push comes to shove…" his eyes flashed red, "I'll slaughter you all."

Optical trick or not, Rouge felt a chill worm its way up her spine, envisioning another monster with a synthetic voice threatening to slaughter all that got in his way. This guy was no Smasher but for some reason he just gave her that same chill. "Neat trick with your optics," she stated, not showing just how much it had indeed affected her. "But if you think you can get past everyone here, then your more fucked in the head than I thought,"

"I know I can," The self confident, bordering on arrogant smirk he gave her said that he believed every word he spoke, reminding her of another arrogant CHOO headed rockerboy from her past. "Cause I'm the best fuckin Ninja in Night City,"

That broke all the tension and she laughed, causing the others to laugh as well, "Ninja… you?" she choked out between laughs, making him frown at her as she nodded towards his choice in clothing. "You look like an escaped con… no their jumpsuits are darker, you look like a bright ass traffic cone, what kinda ninja looks like that."

'Ok, you're getting pranked,' he muttered darkly in his own mind, already planning ways to get back at her before smirking, "I'm wearing orange to give others a chance to see me coming," he stood up suddenly, "but if I'm only here for you to insult me then I'll be going, Granny Rouge," The others looked shocked that he would openly call her that, even Rouge looked as if he'd just slapped her.

Stepping past the random merc sitting between him and the doorway, Naruto stopped as the fixers bodyguard stepped in front of him, "Move,"

"We're not done talking yet," she mused from behind him, "and Squama here isn't moving until I say you can go."

Naruto could feel her smirking at his back before glancing back at her from over his shoulder, "That so?" Sne nodded. Turning back to the merc blocking his path, Naruto cocked his head to the side and said, "You sure you wanna listen to her choom?" when the man didn't budge or speak, Naruto nodded slowly, "Alright… no hard feelings ok?"

Rouge watched with an amused look on her face as both mercs seemed to go still, Weyland was as solid and dependable as they came, having watched her back here at the bar for quite a long time. She couldn't wait to see the look this young gonk had when he realized she had all the cards. The blond seemed to flinch and her bodyguard suddenly cocked his head to the side, making her believe that their staredown had ended in her favor.

But asNaruto stepped aside, she was shocked when her long-time bodyguard slowly fell forward and collapsed in a heap on the floor. "W-what the… Weyland!?" He twitched and groaned on the floor.

"He'll live," Naruto called, stuffing his hand into his pockets and looking out at the rest of the bar, some of which seemed to be watching in shock. "Thanks for the info though granny," he started heading to the exit, "Oh and next time, call me instead of sending a couple of people to harass my neighbors," he finished his sentence off by raising one hand and flipping her off over his shoulder.

-xXx-

Nix had seen some shit in his time, even back in another life as just another Arasaka branded cog in the corpo machine he'd been exposed to the type of paydata that gonks died over on the regular. When Rogue had him on hand for this little meet and greet to bust some poor gonk balls he wasn't expecting to be doing much, maybe disable his chrome or slap the gonk with a quickhack if things got too heated. What he didn't expect was to see Crispin 'Squama' Weyland, son of legendary solo Andrew 'Boa Boa' Weyland get floored faster than they could see.

"Nix?"

"Checking the vids now boss," he answered, already knowing that Rouge wanted the deets as to what the hell just went down. He'd been tucked away in the corner of the booth, giving him a clear view of everything that went down.

"Thought you were watching him," she continued, watching as her guard was picked up and carried towards the back where he'd get looked at by one of her other guards that happened to have some medical training. "What happened to shorting his chrome if he started using it?"

"Pinged him outside when he walked under the sensors," he stated, turning to look at her through his round framed sunglasses. "Chooms got basic shit but nothing heavy came up."

The woman turned to him with an incredulous look on her face, "You saying he did that," she motioned to the spot where Crispin had fallen, "Without chrome?

"No, I'm saying that it didn't show up… hold up… the fuck?" she raised an eyebrow, "Yo Rouge, check this shit," he brought up the feed and connected it to the dropped dataslate, "Check the slate," She picked it up and the screen flickered to the hidden cam she had installed in the wall. It didn't have any connection to the local subnet and only he could access it for security reasons, having packed it with enough ICE to fry and refry any nosy netrunner that tried poking around where they didn't belong.

He'd already queued up the vid and remotely started the vid, "Check it," she saw the blond flinch in real time with Crispin cocking his head to the side, "Had to slow it down but…" the vid restarted and she saw the blond move, hitting her bodyguard in the chin with a backfist, "your amateur solo gotta be chipping some next level shit, some sorta ghost sandy that runs dark."

She had to agree, most cyberware showed up on a scan and she made sure any fucker walking through her doors got scanned before they even walked down the stairs. She'd had him scanned and only his basic shit showed up but that kind of speed outclassed even top spec Sandevistans like the rumored QianT Mk5, nicknamed the 'Warp Dancer' that she'd been hearing blips about.

If he was running that type of tech then that left a blaring question, just where did he get it and who was he?

"Must've missed something, look into him Nix."

The man nodded, standing up to return to his runner's chair in the back to do a deepdive. He was already planning on doing just that anyway, any cat with that type of chrome could either be their greatest enemy or if they played things right, their greatest pawn.

-xXx-

Returning home from the Academy, David couldn't help but feel nervous as he paced down the hallway towards Naruto's apartment a few doors down. All day today he'd been looking forward to his first day of learning from the edgerunner and hadn't even paid Katsuo Tanaka's taunting any mind. As soon as classes let out, he'd all but ran out from the room and bolted from the academy. He'd made it to the NCART in record time and if it wasn't for him having to wait for it to depart, he would've been there even sooner.

But after a quick change of clothes, he started feeling his nervous excitement skyrocket as he got closer and closer to the door.

"H-Hey there… David, right?"

He blinked, not expecting anyone to really speak to him and stopped to see who it was, "Ah, yeah." he answered slowly, looking at the nervous looking guy he was about to pass. "I'm sorry but do I know you?" The guy was clearly one of the many homeless guys that lived in the halls, probably one of the ones Naruto was paying to clean up.

"Probably not," he replied, rubbing his neck, "I'm Randel, I live… ah," he motioned over to a set of boxes where some others were sitting on the ground around a small hotplate, a pot of something cooking on top. "Here." he looked a little embarrassed to admit it but David didn't judge, he'd seen guys like him in these halls for years. "Mr. Naruto mentioned you'd be coming by,"

"He home?"

Randel nodded, "Yeah, I just left. He's on a call with someone though. Said if I saw you to tell you to come on by…"

The teen nodded, "Thanks choom, I'm headed there now."

"Nova," The man said softly, nodding slowly, "Nice to meet you David,"

While a little weirded out that the guy had just up and spoke to him out of nowhere, David gave the man a small grin and a nod, returning the sentiment before heading further down and up to Naruto's door, a green holo display above it reading RENT: PAID that made his eyes roll. He hated that damn sign, it was tied into the locking mechanism and more than once the thing had glitched, locking him and his mother out until one of those gonks in building management reset it. Jokes on them though, he'd discovered a way past it and while his mom hadn't been happy, it kept them from being locked outside for the three days it took for them to come by.

"Hey Naruto!" he called out, pounding on the thick metal door knowing that was the only way for anyone on the other side to hear, "It's me!" A few moments passed and he just could hear the sound of the blond calling for him to come on in.

"Hold up a second," Naruto spoke, holding his holo in one hand and one eye glowing as he was connected to the call, "Hey David, give me a minute would you?" the teen nodded looking around the apartment from the doorway, "Feel free to grab a drink if you want, this will only take a minute."

Stepping in, David saw that the layout was pretty much identical to his own apartment just without the years of nicknacks and other random stuff they'd picked up over the years. Looking over to where Naruto had pointed earlier, he saw that the Spontaneous Cravings vending machine had been removed and a small fridge had taken its place.

"Sorry about that Padre," Naruto continued, voice slightly lower than before as he spoke. "Yeah that's what I found out… yeah," David tried not to eavesdrop but the guy wasn't exactly trying to hide his convo. He was talking to the Padre himself, probably talking about a gig or something nova like that. He really wanted to know more about that but knew better than to even try and get into the blonds biz like that.

Opening the fridge, there was a can of Real Water, Chromanticore, a few different flavors of Nicola, and a half eaten Burrito XXL Turquesa on top of a slice of Artichoke 'n' Avocado Pizza. Not being a fan of carbonated drinks, he grabbed a can of water and continued to look around.

"No Padre, it was-" the blond suddenly stopped and glanced over to the teen, "ah, give me one second." he walked from in front of the window and headed towards the small room next to the couch behind a dark sliding glass door. "Sorry David, I'll only be another minute."

-xXx-

As the glass door behind him slid shut, Naruto stepped further into the small room he'd been planning on making his workstation for maintenance and most importantly, a controlled area to work on seals. "Sorry about that Padre," he continued, walking over to the workbench against the wall and leaning against it.

The man on the other end gave a little hm, "It's fine, Naruto. Now, what is it that you are asking?"

"According to Rouge, Militech is after me," he continued, explaining how things had gone down earlier between him and the fixer queen on NC, her taunting or better yet, threatening him with handing him over to Militech for 'crashing her gig'. The Padre stayed silent throughout most of his story, chiming in only once or twice asking for deets.

"You are indeed in a difficult situation," the man muttered over the holo, making Naruto sigh, messing with a loose screwdriver he'd left sitting on the table he was leaning on.

"Any ideas?"

There was a small silence, making the blond worry, "I believe it would be best for you to meet with a representative of Militech, see why they are after you." Naruto grimaced, if they were after him due to the damage he caused during his rampage then he doubted they could sweep things under the rug and write this all off as a misunderstanding. "Hmm… actually, I've been hearing rumors lately that Militech lost some rather important cargo, a corpo higher up on the chain seems to be in quite a bind."

That made Naruto nod, eyes widening, "Use it as leverage and have the corpo pull some strings?"

"Indeed."

"So… any idea where to start?"

The old man chuckled, "When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles," Naruto could hear the man moving around "I shall make some calls, but I will not put my people in danger again, remember our last convo. Just lay low for a bit, I'll call you back with news as soon as I hear something."

-xXx-

"No Padre, it was-" the blond suddenly stopped and glanced over to the teen, "ah, give me one second." he walked from in front of the window and headed towards the small room next to the couch behind a dark sliding glass door. "Sorry David, I'll only be another minute."

"It's preem choom!" he waved it off, eyes going wide as he spotted what was behind the door as the blond stepped in. He couldn't see everything and only had a second or two to look but he could recognize weapons and gear when he saw it. 'Fucking nova, chooms a legit runner!' The giddy feeling was back and after a moment, he calmed himself down and sipped his Nicola, going back to looking around.

The built-in shelving all around the room was mostly empty, a few small things sitting here and there but the strangest thing had to be a small potted plant sitting on the edge of the window. Of all the things he expected a solo merc to own, a potted plant never crossed his mind, where did he get the soil for it? Most soil was so polluted that very few things were capable of growing, even the trees lining the roads around Santo had around the clock monitoring via attached transmitters and testing devices.

"Where's the trash can?" he muttered to himself, finishing the last bit of his water. With a quick look around he spotted a small trash can back near the door, sitting halfway underneath his desk, David walked over and tossed it in. "Hm?" seeing a framed picture sitting next to his terminal, he gave it a look.

It was Naruto, except his hair was longer and spiker. A good looking latino woman with blue hair was sitting next to him at what looked like a dinner table and they were leaning against each other and smiling at the camera. "Must be his output"

"She was,"

Jumping, David whirled around to see Naruto standing behind him and clutched his chest, "Oh shit, choom don't sneak up on me like that," he hadn't even heard the door slide open at all.

"Hehe, sorry 'bout that," the blond snickered, not looking sorry in the slightest as he walked around him and picked up the picture, "But yeah, she was my girl… her name was Cami."

"Oh," hearing the past tense, David knew something had happened, "I'm ah… sorry. How'd she, you know what, nevermind." he didn't want to bring up any bad memories and from the way he was looking at the picture, he got the feeling that things ended poorly one way or another…

Like most things in this city.

But Naruto waved it off, "Nah it's fine… she was killed in a driveby while I was gone."

"Did they get the ones who…" he trailed off, wincing as he spoke without thinking.

"No," Naruto set the picture down and turned to look at David, his eyes icy cold, "But I did." a moment passed and Naruto was back to smiling, "But what's up David, you need something?"

"You said you'd start teaching me some things, remember?" he thumped himself on his chest with his fist, "All healed up and ready to train."

"You don't have homework or something?" Naruto questioned, remembering the few times he'd been bogged down with that hellish experience that made him want to rip out his own hair. He wouldn't be responsible for David blowing off his schoolwork just to train…

The irony wasn't lost upon him either…

But David shook his head, "Nope, they don't do homework, everythings done at the academy." Naruto had to admit that he felt a tiny twinge of jealousy at that, homework had been the bane of his school years… well that among other things.

"Alright then," Naruto stated with a grin, "So long as you're not slacking with school then let's go to the gym and see what we're working with." slapping the teen on the back, they left from his apartment and headed down the hall towards the stairs.

For some reason, the grin Naruto had on his face worried him.

-xXx-

Groaning, David sat down on a bench and downed a bottle of water as if his lie depended on it. "So… how was that?" he asked, face red and breathing heavy before looking over to the blond to see him looking pretty unimpressed.

"Eh, I'll be honest with you David, you got a lot of work ahead of you," Naruto answered honestly with a shrug, ignoring the squawk of indignation from the teen in front of him, "You don't work out often do you?" the teen grumbled but shook his head no. "Alright, first off you need to work on your stamina and cardio, I'll teach you some basic stuff but we gotta work our way from there ok?"

"So are we starting today?" The stars in David's eyes reminded him of himself so much that it made him chuckle.

"Sure, I'll show you a couple of things right quick, I got something to take care of tonight though, so I can't hang out for too long alright."

"I could help out if you want," David offered, looking a bit hopeful only to huff when Naruto laughed, "I won't get in the way!"

But the blond waved it off, "Sorry David, this isn't something you can help with," motioning for him to follow, they headed over to the sparring mat, "but hey, maybe one day I'll let you tag along."

David nodded, "So what're you taking care of?" he didn't expect the blond to answer him honestly but he couldn't help but hope for a hint at least. The choom was probably planning on taking care of some badass merc job or something, probably taking on a gang of gonks that crossed the wrong person or something nova like that.

"Nothing too impressive honestly," he chuckled, "Just dropping in to visit someone and have a chat. But let's get down to it huh, come on and attack me, I'll show you how to defend then you'll try it… oh and I promise I won't smack you around or anything… too much."

-xXx-

"I do not care what it takes, you won't see a single Eurodollar until I see confirmation." The cold callus voice echoed throughout the penthouse as several lights powered up, brightening the room which sparkled and gleaned with sleek and elegant furniture, sculptures, and paintings. "Then you should've sent skilled operatives to kill them, not the worthless dregs you picked up from the nearest streetcorner."

He was a rather average man, dressed in a sleek black suit with a golden lapel pin bearing the Arasaka Corporation logo, he was tanned and well groomed, taking pride in his appearance. "I don't care if one of them was your brother, I hired you for a job and I expect results," The man stopped to look at himself in the mirror by the door and frowned, spotting several small wrinkles on his face. "The next time you contact me, I expect you to have better news and to watch your tone when speaking to me."

Taking a breath, the man loosened his tie and disconnected from his holo, frowning at himself in the mirror, "Contact Dr. Narrem," he spoke, knowing his homes AI would do as it was told as he touched the crows feet by his eyes "Schedule another rejuvenation therapy," when he didn't hear the soft feminine voice of his AI respond, he turned and stalked towards the open lounge, "System status!"

As usual, when he walked into the open lounge, the massive windows that took up the entirety of his wall shimmered to show the skyline of Night City while the rest of the lights brightened.

"Hope you don't mind," he heard a voice call out and turned quickly to see a strange man standing behind his bar, "But I made myself a drink while I was waiting,"

"Who are you and what are you doing in my home!," the man demanded, reaching under his jacket. "Security!" his hand wrapped around the grip of his personal firearm and he snatched it from his leather shoulder holster, leveling it towards the man, "How did you get in here?"

The intruder turned, holding a jar of olives in his hand while popping a handful into his mouth. "So you're Francis huh?"

Francis narrowed his eyes, studying the intruder. Short blond hair, scars on each cheek, black shirt with an orange vest. He couldn't see past the bar but the man had to be some streetrat, how he made it past his security he didn't know but he'd make certain that his people beat the information out of him. "I said-" he stopped when he heard a click just behind him and felt cold metal touch the back of his neck.

"I'll take that," a voice from behind him spoke. Francis fixed the blond in front of him with his best cold stare and slowly lowered the pistol, feeling it be snatched from his hand a moment later.

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage Mr…"

"Naruto, just Naruto."

"Well then Mr. Just Naruto," Francis started, resorting to his Corporate training, "I would offer you a drink but you seem to have found one yourself just fine." he glanced back and found himself staring at another man dressed in tactical gear with a strange mask over his face, shaped like a animal with long ears with flowers painted on it. "Would your associate care for one?"

He wanted to see the face of the man's hustle, he'd make them all pay but the man shaking his head ended the notion.

"He's good, but how about I pour you one and we can have a chat."

The corpo bristled but didn't let it show as he stalked over to his bar. As he did he spotted a white bottle sitting open and felt his blood pressure skyrocket, his company biomonitor alerting him to its increase via a small popup in his peripheral. "Is that…" he slowly pointed to the bottle despite already knowing what it was.

Naruto followed his finger, "Oh that? Found it when I was rummaging through your bar. Been a while since I've had sake… you should've gone for something better, this tasted funny."

Francis wanted nothing more than for this man to die a slow and painful death. That bottle had been sent to him by the Emperor Saburo Arasaka himself and was the greatest trophy he had to show off his success. Only three others had been given the honor of receiving one of his personal sealed bottles and this… uncouth mongrel had opened it, drinking something worth millions and 'it tastes funny' was all he had to say?

"Hehe, your daughter was right, you do twitch when you get pissed,"

Hearing that caught Francis off guard, "Ameila sent you?" he narrowed his eyes at the blond again.

Naruto shook his head and popped another olive in his mouth, "No not exactly,"

"Then why are you here?" All he needed to do was activate his neural implant and security would be on the way in less than a minute. Walking up to the bar, he fixed the blond with the coldest stare he could muster and snatched the bottle of sake towards him, "You must've gone through a lot of trouble to get here, surely it wasn't just to drink from my bar." The man took one of the glasses nearby and poured himself a glass. The man had already opened a priceless bottle of sake, he might as well try it himself before having this punk murdered slowly.

"I wanted to see what kind of man sends assassins to kill his only daughter… I took the chance to look around while I waited and honestly, your home's impressive."

The corpo sipped the sake, "I've worked hard to earn this," his voice was sharp and cold as he jabbed a finger down onto the wooden bartop. "And forgive me if the praise of a common thief means nothing to me."

Naruto chuckled, tossing another olive up in the air and catching it between his teeth. "I've been called worse things by better people." The pair stared at each other for a few moments.

"So you know my daughter?" he got back on topic, getting a nod from the blond.

"Oh yeah, well… not really. Saved her from your goons, they're spattered on some godforsaken rooftop in Heywood right now,"

"You killed them?" Naruto nodded, "I see…"

"Not only that, I made sure they escaped the city unharmed… well for the most part."

Francis hummed, "I see, well she's resourceful I'll give her that," He looked at his Sake and shook his head, downing it, "I gave that girl everything she could've ever wanted…" reaching out, he poured another glass, "I won't expect someone like you to understand, but all I did for her… she had the best of everything. I made sure she wanted for nothing, her and her ungrateful mother. The best education, the best clothes, tutors… She could read and write four languages without translation soft by the age of seven." The man poured another glass and picked it up, setting it down in front of the blond who raised an eyebrow at the man. "All I asked is that she be a good girl and not bring shame on my family name…"

"She told me all about it." Naruto stated, taking the glass and rotating it around with his thumb and middle finger, "You can spin it all you want but you were keeping her trapped in a cage."

"Like I said, I don't expect someone like you to understand." Francis sneered, looking down at the glass in his hands, running his finger over the monogrammed B etched on the side, "Maybe she didn't have all the so-called 'freedom' she wanted but I gave her all she wanted… What else was I supposed to do? Let her roam the streets and end up like her whore mother?" he rolled his eyes and gave a humorless chuckle, "Actually I guess that's exactly what happened,"

"She's your child," Naruto exclaimed, looking at the man in shock at him calling Amelia a whore.

But the man only shook his head and looked back up at him. "She's no child of mine… she threw that away the moment she betrayed me, just like her mother did." he slowly drank down the sake and leaned against the bar, "She is her mothers daughter I guess… fitting I suppose, if she wants to whore around with some filthy Valentino like her mother then she can end up just like her."

"You mean,"

"Indeed," Francis looked him in the eye and Naruto couldn't see a shred of remorse, "Not exactly sure where but my people dumped them both into the ocean with a pair of concrete shoes… after breaking every bone in their bodies just like she broke my heart."

The masked clone looked between the original and the corpo, wanting to shoot him in the back of the head but didn't.

"The only reason I'm telling you this," The man continued, "Is because you're going to share the same fate. Then I'm going to contact my people and have them track that girl down and finish the job. I've already alerted security and they'll be here in less than 20 seconds."

"Then I guess I need to do this quick then huh?" Slinging the still untouched glass of sake, it shattered on the corpos cheek, the shards cutting his flesh with ease as sake covered him. The man sputtered, one hand going to his bleeding face while the other clutched the bar to steady himself from the unexpected assault.

Hopping over the bar, Naruto grabbed the man by his shirt collar and pulled him close. "You fucking piece of shit!" he growled out, hoisting the man up straight who clawed at his wrists, "You're supposed to protect your child no matter what!"

Spinning on his heel, the blond flung the corpo off his feet and sent him rolling across the floor into his 'living room' "You don't try to kill them for not doing what you want," he stalked over to the groaning man, kicking him in the chest. "She wanted to be happy, she fell in love," he kicked him again, getting breathless gasps as the man lost his breath and coughed, specks of blood hitting the floor as he wheezed.

'Francis Bennett, customer number: 29381738-A Platinum Coverage, Your Biomoniter has alerted us to critical internal damage, if you are conscious please assume a recovery position. A Trauma Team is on route, ETA 1 minute.' came a robotic voice from a bracelet on the man's wrist, a small flashing medical symbol lighting up on it.

Nodding to the clone, Naruto reached down and snatched the weezing man up off the ground while the clone vanished in a puff of smoke, "I wish I had the time to make you feel every bit of pain you've inflicted on others," he growled in the mans face, who spat blood at him, "You might have Platinum coverage but lets see them patch you up from this."

Francis felt himself being dragged and despite his Biomoniter repeatedly alerting him to his punctured lung, he looked to see the man bringing him to the massive windows and tried to fight back. His shoes scraped the floor as he struggled but his assailant's grip was too tight and all he could do was wheeze and choke on his own blood as the blond flung him towards the massive window.

A large spider web of cracks formed as the corpo slid to the ground with a thump, his biomonitor alerting him to multiple broken bones this time, "W-Wait," he choked out, spitting more blood out and he raised his hand, "You… you can't do this," the man gasped and coughed as the burning pain worsened

Naruto crouched down next to him, face spattered with his blood, "Who's gonna stop me?" his cybernetic hand clenched around Francis' wrist, painfully snatching the man up from the floor, "The world will be better off without someone like you," Once again grabbing the man by the front of his now bloodstained shirt, Naruto slammed him repeatedly into the glass, causing more and more cracks to form.

-xXx-

Minutes earlier…

"Hey Dwayne, thought you clocked out already, choom."

Looking up from his 5th cup of synthcoff, the man looked towards his coworker and shook his head slowly, "Evening Chance, Boss said I had to stick around and cover Sakus shift or he'd tank my next review." and raised his cup, the flimsy styrofoam flexing in his grip. "Here's to my third double in a row." his usually slicked back hair looking half combed and messy.

"How the fuck havent your blown a circ yet?" his choom asked, logging into his own surveillance term and sitting down to go over the security feeds. "Saku's been putting his workload on you nonstop, no way he's getting away with that,"

The other man nodded, "yeah, but the Boss keeps trying to cover for him. His sister's kid or something. Don't know what he's planning to do when the higher ups flag him for inactivity though, no way he's getting past that."

"But till then we're left holding the bag." Chance grumbled, making the other shrug, "How are you ok with that choom?"

"Well Saku might be pushing his workload on me but I'm pushing my load in his mom."

"You…" the man whirled around in his chair, mouth open in astonishment, "you mean the boss's sister?" he only got a smirk in response, followed by a little wink. The two burst into laughter that was quickly interrupted by an alarm.

"Oh shit, that's Director Bennetts penthouse." One called out upon reading the alert and in a flurry of motion, one went about alerting the rapid response security team who would be armed and on the move in less than a minute while the other coordinated with the buildings manager, who would have to contact Arasaka corporate about the incident later.

The pair worked like a well oiled mech, calling out any needed information while each handling their own tasks. "RRT is on the way up, arriving in less than a minute."

Arasaka's Rapid Response Team was renowned for their quick deployment, their units basically spending several hours a day on call and stuck in their posts waiting for a call at any time. These gonks either had the best or worst luck considering that they were posted in this building, lucky as they barely had a reason to be deployed and spent a lot of down time just waiting and unlucky for the same reason and spent the entire shift in a constant state of boredom but being unable to relax.

"Trauma team has been alerted and are on route… what the hell, how did someone infiltrate this place!"

-xXx-

"What's going on?"

"Saka squads are rolling out,"

"Buildings going into lockdown,"

"I can't be stuck here, I'm gonna be late!"

All around the corpo housing tower, employees crowded around the doors in little groups all gossiping while armed guards and two Arasaka Minotaur mechs enforced the lockdown. Aside from angry mutterings at being detained inside the building, security made it clear that anyone wanting to leave without clearance would be liquidated without a second thought. Even higher level executives tried to flex their authority but were soundly told to back off and wait.

So here they were stuck in the atrium of the building during the lockdown, unable to leave due to security, unable to access the elevators as only the RRT could use them at the time, and unwilling to take the stairs up to their housing due to how far it was. The atrium was a large open area of the tower displaying multiple cultivated plants below a massive skylight with seating all around, some employees had taken to starting what little work they could do remotely while others went about trying to contact their management to hopefully not get docked too much on their pay for being late.

It was tense but somewhat peaceful as they waited.

That was until the skylight above them shattered, sending deadly shards of thick jagged broken glass raining down, a few unlucky corpos found themselves being lacerated by the glass that fell on them, one security guard even had to rush over to a screaming man who got a long gash ripped across his face from not only the glass but part of the metal frame that fell with it.

"Oh my god!" someone screamed over the noise, making nearby corpos look at the speaker only to see what he was pointing to. It wasn't so much as a body but a broken lumps of flesh held together only by broken cyberware. After the shock had started wearing off, several curious corpos approached to see who the unfortunate gonk was and at first no one recognized him thanks to the damage, it wasn't until security scanned him did they know just who the person was.

Francis Bennett, Director of the Arasaka Special Operations Division was dead.

-xXx-

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To be continued…

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-xXx-

Sorry about the wait, I wanted to post this earlier but I didn't get a lot of time to write so I could finish it. But as always, I hope you enjoy the story and look forward to the next chapter as Naruto deals with Militech and Stout.