Chapter Eight: Shinobi Vs. Assassin.

"The Wild still lingered in him and the wolf in him merely slept."
-Jack London.

{Belladonna Estate.}
[One Day later, 7:02pm]

Ghira was sitting across the table from Kali. Although Ghira hated it, and in his heart knew Sienna was doing this for political gain in some form or fashion, Naruto had made his choice. The blonde was currently sitting across from Blake, who was digging into her fish.

Kali watched as Blake shot glances toward Naruto who wasn't eating. That wasn't normal in of itself, because Naruto ate as if the world was ending. The blonde stared at his seared grouper fillet, something Kali herself made especially for him. He slowly raised his head, smiling softly whilst closing his eyes to increase the smile.

"Thank you, for everything, Lady Kali." He stated with pride before holding his hand over his heart. "I promise, I'll be coming back whenever I can, ya know!"

"Please do so," she replies whilst stopping to sip some tea. "Your room, upstairs will always be ready for you when you need a place to sleep."

"That garden is also yours to visit if you need time to think. Our door is always open for you, no matter what." Ghira stated before reaching over and patting his shoulder. "You've made your choice, but just know, I'll be standing in your corner no matter what…no different than I do with Blake."

That made Naruto tear up slightly, he grabbed the man's forearm, tightly gripping it. "Yeah, and I'll do my best! I know it's something you don't want me to do, but I want to help people. If it means me fighting Grimm, then I say bring it, ya know!" He declared with the fire burning hot in his eyes.

"So full of passion, please don't lose that fire." Ghira thought to himself before patting Naruto's back. "So, The Black Cats, huh?"

"It's what Sienna said, well…I guess Lady Sienna now since I'm serving under her." The shinobi corrected himself, and then began to cut into his fillet. "I heard they're an elite squadron."

"They very much are, they're a specialized squadron for Grimm Extermination missions. Specifically, they're our counterpart to The Kingdom's Hunters." Ghira explained before taking a sip of his tea, sighing in content before setting the saucer down. "To get invited is an honor."

"Yet, you have an open invitation straight out." Kali stated with suspicion laced in her voice. "I want you to promise us, though, that if things get dicey-"

Naruto shook his head, giving her a saddened smile. "I'm sorry, Lady Kali. I made a vow to myself long ago to never run away from a fight. I haven't since, and won't start now. If it's all the same though, I'm not going down by some monsters. Besides, I have a new chance at life, and I should embrace it, ya know!" He cheerfully told her whilst beaming.

"Hey…" Blake silently called out before looking at him. "Do you want to take some of my books with you, since we like the same stuff?"

"I'll be glad to!" He replied before raising his fist up, smiling brightly.

Blake let it hang there for a minute, before nervously raising her own right fist up and bumping his. She slightly felt the stares of her parents, which made her nervous. Still, there was something about Naruto that threw her off. That smile he was showing them, it was nearly genuine, but what he had told her…how can someone experience so much and come out fine? She noted that he was depressed, she got the same way, and wouldn't really touch her food. The blonde lowered his fist down, and giggled a little bit.

"It's nice to see you two getting along." Ghira commented before turning toward Kali. "Dear, I do believe that since this is Naruto's last night with us for a while…" There was a pressure in the air as he said that, becoming slightly downcast when he turned back to him. "So, let me start by saying that I'm for glad that you're choosing your own path."

"Yeah, thanks, ya know." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I just, well, I need something for my skillset. You said I can't become a guard till I'm fifteen, but from what I read on the information that you only to stay in The White Fang actively for three years."

"That is true," the large chieftain confirms, "it is a three year service."

"So, technically I get out when I'm fifteen, ha!" Naruto laughed before sighing, rubbing his arm. "You're not angry at me, are you?"

Ghira took a deep breath, and he sighs, "I'm not angry…just concerned."

"I get it, but Sienna was blunt honest with me. It makes no sense for her to lie to me." Naruto replied whilst cutting into his fillet again, taking a piece into his mouth. "Mmm, this is good."

"Naruto…" He looked up at Ghira, who had a frown on his face. "Listen, please. I know you're desperate to find a purpose. I couldn't imagine what you're going through, but this isn't something you owe us."

"I know I don't owe you all my abilities, but that's not why I'm joining up." Naruto said before placing his fork and knife down. "I want to help people. That's all I ever was brought up to be, a shinobi, and we're meant to serve our village. Kuo Kuana, though what you call a city, is now my village. I am not forced into anything. I see how hard you work for the people, and as of Monday in a few days, they'll officially be our people, ya know."

Naruto smiles at the end of his speech, and says, "I want to be a hero…like you."

"Hah," Ghira slaps the table before wiping his face of an errand tear. "Boy, I'm no hero, I'm just a really good chieftain."

"Back in my village, the strongest shinobi was made The Hokage…our chieftain. I was a little bit younger than now, and my village had come under attack. The Hokage, Old Man Third, since he was The Third Hokage, sacrificed his life for the sake of our village. Prior to me being born, my hero, The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze did the same thing." Naruto's bristled with pride, and he smiled brightly. "To be able to stand sit here, and eat at your table, whilst talking like equals…what other choice was there for me?"

The blonde smiled brightly whilst sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "It wasn't that you just saved my life, you kept me from having a crisis of identity. You, Lady Kali, Cloud, Doctor Vista, and the others…you all gave me a purpose. Besides, saving Matilda, and Tucker wasn't something I would ever regret doing." He moved his right hand off his hand neck, and pointed the fist out at Ghira. "I never go back on my word, ya know. So, I give you my word that I'll be okay."

That took everyone at the table by shock, the sheer conviction in his voice. Ghira smiled knowingly, reaching his hand up to fist bump Naruto's. "I just still don't feel comfortable about you, a twelve year old kid, walking into an elite squad." He commented whilst pulling away his fist.

"Okay, well, what if I told you that I once fought a giant tanuki made of sand." Naruto stated with gusto, crossing his arms childishly. "Not only fought, but won."

"I…need context for this." Ghira said whilst trying to process what he had said.

"Okay, so in my village, well in my world shinobi are divided into ranks. Genin, Chunin, Jonin, Specialist Jonin, and if you're really good at killing, ANBU." Ghira and the family nodded there head as Naruto continued. "Okay, so, I'm…well I was a Genin. I'm the lowest rank, technically I'm supposed to be "weak," ya know."

"So, wait, time out." Kali placed her hands together in the eternally universal symbol of stopping someone. "You aren't some high ranking soldier, you're just literally a kid still to even your own people?"

Naruto scrunched his face up in thought, rubbing his chin before nodding. "Yep, just a Genin."

"Yet, you told us you were sent on a mission, where you ran into four- "

"Five." Naruto corrected her.

"-Five elite shinobi, where you and your group had to fight." Kali then remembered something, and noted the look on his face. "You don't know what happened to them, do you?"

"Not a single clue, and trust me I thought about it." Naruto sighed in reply whilst crossing his arms in thought. "Kiba had to take on these weird twin guys with dog Akamaru…and then there was Shikamaru going after this one redhead with a flute that casted illusions." He rubbed his chin, thinking. "Choji stayed behind to take on the larger guy, and then Neji took on a spider guy."

"Yeah, you told me about them before, I just never realized how bad that mission went south." Kali stated whilst watching his face become a mix of emotions. "Do you think- "

"That they're dead?" Naruto finished for her before sighing, and biting his lip. "Well, to be fair, Rock Lee…another one of my friends made it in time to save me from this guy who could grow bones out of his body."

"Gods above, what kind of messed up world is this?" Ghira breathed out.

Naruto chuckles lightly, "oh if you think that's messed up, imagine talking frogs!"

"I can only imagine," the matriarch of The Belladonna family sighs whilst wrapping her head around what he's saying. "Still…doesn't it bother you not knowing?"

"Well duh, yeah it bothers me. I think about them every time before I go to sleep, but somehow, I know in my gut they're okay." Naruto admitted whilst rubbing the back of his head again. "Neji, Shikamaru, and Rock Lee are all tough guys, and Choji isn't a push over…honestly the one I worry about most is Kiba."

"Was he a friend to you?" Blake asked.

"Eh, rival, but he was cool with me for the most part. I'm pretty sure that he's fine too." Naruto's smile faded a little as he said that. "Still, I do have some nightmares about them, but if Lee made it to me…I can only assume that maybe others were coming to help him."

"Why would your village send you all after this, Sasuke, after he defected with those rouge shinobi?" Ghira inquired whilst watching Naruto frown slightly.

"Well, Konoha, where I'm from just got done fighting a brief war. The Third Hokage had just died, and many of our own elite shinobi got killed in the ensuing chaos. So, with numbers thin, we were pretty the bottom of the barrel scraped up for this." Naruto admitted whilst slightly biting his cheek at the idea of calling himself the bottom of the barrel. "Plus, Shikamaru was our leader since he had just got promoted to Chunin."

"That's insane…" Blake replied nearly breathlessly.

"Pfft," Naruto rolls his eyes whilst smiling brightly. "What's insane is that I got off topic, ya know. So, all of that was preceded by our Chunin Exams. Boy was that a doozy, I mean, there was this written test that I passed without writing anything down. Then there was The Forest Of Death- "

"You had a literal forest named The Forest Of Death?" Blake interrupted him, now fully engrossed into the conversation. "That sounds almost like The Never Leaf Forest from the book The Rusted Knight."

"Heh, I guess that's true, it's similar. Save mine is full of giant monstrous animals. I'm talking giant centipedes, spiders, flowers that mimic someone you hate, and giant snakes…fuc-I mean-screw the giant snakes!" Naruto stated with fiery passion as he held his fist up, flames emerging from his eyes. "I've been eaten once before, and let me tell you…it's not pleasant, ya know!"

Everyone just stared at him, and even Cloud poked his head into the room. "I'm sorry what in the fugle did he just say?" He asked whilst still peeking into the room.

Blake just stared at him, "you've been eaten, by a monstrous snake…did it have two heads and bony armor?"

"Nah, what, no! It was just a really big snake. I mean super huge, like um…let's see here…" Naruto tried to think of a reference before snapping his finger. "Like the pier on Kuo Kuana's beach!"

"That pier over one hundred feet long!" Everyone shouted in unison.

"Huh, that's awesome to know! Anyway, so yeah, this thing tries to eat me whilst I'm using the bathroom." Naruto blushed at that part, and then chuckled loudly. "I didn't know what to do for a moment, because part of my brain was worried about losing my pants, and the other part was going YOU JUST GOT EATEN DO SOMETHING!"

Ghira struggled to hold in his laughter, whilst Kali was pinching her nose. Blake was just blushing at this point at the sheer brashness at how he was telling his story. Cloud had just noped out of the room in its entirety. There was limits, and this one of them.

"So, how did you escape?" Blake questioned him, looking away.

"Okay, this is the part that's gross!" Naruto warned them before forming his hand seals. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Another Naruto appeared right behind the original, and he formed the same hand seals. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" and two more appeared behind him…followed by two more behind them until the back of the of the room filled up with Narutos standing shoulder to shoulder.

"Okay, so you made it throw up…or?"

"We used Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu, and made it blow up, ya know!" Naruto answered Blake's question outright, not even showing a hint of disgust. "I mean, my brain said do something, and I resorted to my number one go to problem solving technique."

Ghira and Kali look at each other, and then to Blake who was trying to wrap her head around what Naruto was saying. Finally, Kali said it for her. "So, you used the shadow clones behind you to…blow it up?"

"Well, more like made it eat more than it could hold. Next thing I know I had sweet freedom!" Naruto before slapping his head. "Okay, seriously, I'm needing to tell my other story, ya know!"

"Hey, when you first arrived here, didn't use something involving the clones?" Blake asked whilst looking at them. "I mean, I heard the guards talk about it for a good week."

"Blake no!" Cloud screamed out as he ran into the room. "Naruto don't you dare!"

Naruto was already forming the hand seal, with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Behold my ultimate technique! Transform!"

The room filled with a cloud of smoke as feminine giggling could be heard. As the smoke cleared, Cloud was inches away from a faunus woman with fox ears clad in a very small bikini. She had three whisker marks on her face, with a toothy grin, and wink that somehow caused a heart to appear just a above her head.

Blake's knife and fork dropped out of her hand as the smoke continued to clear with more feminine giggles, and more bikini clad women. Her eyes widened further when she saw Princess-frigging-Lavender from Ninjas Of Love of novels she liked reading. Apparently, he really liked reading them as well since the details were perfect.

She felt something run down her nose as she thought about him, possibly using this in conjunction with another transformation into the hero of the book…perhaps they could even…yep that was blood leaking down her nose. Her brain short-circuited as she fell backwards, a perverted smile on her face. Kali herself was just staring out in horror as Cloud took off flying in the opposite direction.

"Harem Jutsu!" Naruto…err…the women called out in unison. "This is the technique we used against Cloud, and the others in the room when we first woke up!"

The guards came running inside only to stop. Most of them passed out from the sheer surrealness of it all. With the many women striking one pose, and keeping it like professionals. Ghira was trying his best not focus on it, instead focusing on Kali. The dual heads of The Belladonna Family just both looked at each other, and both realized one thing.

Naruto Uzumaki was a never ending gift basket of pure chaos.

Naruto finally releases the jutsu, making the room fill with smoke briefly, with striking a pose standing up after it dissipated. "What did ya think, huh, that's my ultimate technique, ya know!" He declared only to see Kali and Ghira glaring at him whilst most of the guards were out cold. "Ooh, yeah, I think I might've gone a little overboard."

"You think?!" Kali yelled out, anger burning in her eyes.

"I mean, well, Blake wanted to know…"

"You could've used the singular version, what was the need for the other version?!" She roared out at him, again, grinding her teeth together with the fire increasing in her eyes. "I mean look what you did to my daughter for brothers' sake!"

He looks over at Blake who was blushing madly, mumbling stuff about having Naruto use that technique to make characters from Ninja Of Love. It was the first time he saw her broken, and in the funny way that others were made when used that technique too. Naruto stares back at her, and then bluntly states it out.

Naruto laughs a little whilst saying it, "I think Blake is effected so much because she has a dirty mind." He stated whilst looking over at Ghira. "And Ghira here doesn't."

"Eh?!" Ghira and Kali screeched out at the same time. "Why would you ever come up with something like that?!"

"Because, well, you get desperate for attention when you're an orphan." Naruto admitted whilst sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Plus who's going to expect that in a fight?"

"I mean, hate it as I might…he has a point." Kali conceded before thinking to herself. "Can you do a male version of that?"

"Kali!"

"What, I'm curious!" She defended herself from Ghira.

"Well, I never tried it before because most of the transformation are based on books I've been reading…and some imagination." Naruto blushed whilst explaining how the jutsu worked. "I think I can give it a shot, let's go!"

"NO!" Ghira screamed out.

Naruto suddenly transformed into a Ghira…who was mostly naked save for a speedo that was orange.

"Kyaaah!" Kali screamed out as she saw this transformed Ghira.

Her eyes went from flames to hearts in an instant as blood shot out from her nose, and she fell backwards. Her impossibly heart-shaped eyes twitching whilst she giggled girlishly.

"Pot calling the kettle black much, Lady Kali?" Naruto/Ghira said before transforming back, and sitting down. Feeling Ghira leering over him, "eh?"

SMACK!

A comically large lump formed over his head where Ghira's right knuckle was steaming. The man was blushing a trickle of blood finally breached his nose. The images of the women earlier flooding his head. "You're a pervert, Naruto." He stated plainly.

"And ninety precent of everyone here it seems." Naruto achingly pointed out whilst rubbing the lump on his head. "Hey, don't ask me to show anything, because I'm not afraid to give a very in depth look into what I can…and can't do."

Blake shot upward; she looked around before using a napkin to wipe the blood from her nose. She was blushing mad when she saw Naruto. "You are a horrible person, Naruto Uzumaki!" She stated angrily whilst blushing.

"I'm not horrible, I'm…what was that term Cloud?!" Naruto yelled toward the lobby.

"Adorkable, asshole…" Cloud called from the main lobby where the guards were finally getting out of their stupor.

"Adorkable!" He chimed brightly before beaming a foxlike grin.

"Idiot." She grounded out before holding up a fist. "That was super perverted!"

"Hey, it's not idiotic if it works, who knows it may just save the world one day!" Naruto laughed boisterously before seeing Blake blush again. "What, hey, I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings!"

"My feelings aren't hurt, idiot!" She yelled out whilst going back to her food. "Shut up and eat already!"

Ghira laughed under his breath, "truly an endless bundle of chaos, brothers above what have you given us?" He thought to himself before sinking back to his knees. "As mad as I should be, I think I found that spontaneous little episode funny…and that Princess Lavender transformation wasn't half bad either…does Kali really want me in a speedo…wait where did he…"

Horror etched itself across Ghira's face, and then he reminded himself of a particular Faunus actor that wore a speedo in some films. "That little punk has been reading celebrity magazines…still…maybe I should dress up like that, for Kali."

"So," Ghira looked at Naruto who had the biggest Cheshire grin on his face. "Are you imagining something there, Ghira, or do I need to transform again?"

"No!" Kali shot up this time, waving her hands frantically. "No more transformations, no clones, no more talks of getting eaten by giant snakes!"

"Aww, but there was this one guy who acts like a snake…and liked to bite necks." Naruto offered up.

"No!" Kali yelled out whilst pointing at him. "We're going to sit here, eat in peace, and discuss something else."

"Okay, well, so I am passing all of my classes from my tutors." Blake said whilst trying to swing the subject away from Naruto's techniques. "My biology test went well."

"That's good dear, and I hope that cut has been healing up rather well." She said whilst looking at Blake's arm, which still had the clothed bandage over it. "I can't believe Adam…"

"He didn't do it on purpose, mom, it was an accident…I wasn't dodging like I was suppose to." She said with a sigh before taking another of her food before swallowing it. "Plus, he said he wasn't feeling well that time too."

"If you come home with another cut like that, I bet he won't feel well with my foot up his ass!" Kali thought to herself before sighing with a smile. "Okay dear, I believe you."

Naruto saw this, and frown slightly but bit his tongue on it. He knew better than to intrude in others personal lives. Earlier was all fun and games, even if it was a slightly out of hand. He then smiles, and looks over at her.

"Hey, do they give some lessons in The White Fang, Blake?" He asked, trying to switch the subject for her. "I've been thinking about doing a little bit of schooling myself…well specifically for just getting information on the oceans and stuff."

"I mean, yeah, if you're going to serve one of the most elite squads of The White Fang. Still, I think it's just combat studies." She answered him before looking down. "Why don't we go to the library in town tomorrow, we could look for some books there?"

"Sure, I guess, I'm sorry to bother you about it." Naruto said with a smile before rubbing the back of his head again.

"Why do you always do that?" She asked him, then did the same thing he did. "Rub the back of his head."

"I-it's a nervous tic." He admitted shyly before smiling brightly. "Kind of like you avoid eye contact with people you get embarrassed by!"

"No, I don't." She defended herself disbelievingly before hearing her mother snicker. "Mom?!"

"I mean, despite earlier, if someone's right their right." Kali laughed before seeing Naruto smile brightly. "Naruto, do me a favor though, please don't do those transformation in this house again…give me your word."

Naruto nods his head, and softly smiled at her. "I give you my word, no perverted transformation in the house anymore." He stated with honesty before going back to eating.

They continued small banter until late into the night.

{?}
[Five Hours Later.]

Naruto awoke in the strangest place. It was the floor of a wooden house with a tatami mat. He got up, slowly feeling his bones ache. He slowly walked toward the door. Opening it, and walking into the crisp morning sun, he found hundreds of people meandering about a village. He saw this village was atop a large mountain, with different layers, and wide rice fields at the bottom.

He looked at the clothing he had on, a white robe with magatama on the sleeves. It felt weirdly soft, like cotton and silk laced together. He saw little children run by each laughing and giggly as they played.

"What in the…" He spoke, finding his voice much deeper. "What the heck, why does my voice sound like this?"

"Lord Ashura!"

Naruto turned to see several people running toward him. They stopped in front of him for some reason, and they called him…Ashura? Why did the name sound so familiar, so keenly apart of him, yet distant? The older man of the group was on his knees, begging him.

"Lord Ashura, there's demons coming from the forest!" He stated whilst pointing down at the forest, and Naruto watched as several black beasts that were wolflike came running out. "Please sir, my family need your help, Lord Hagoromo and Indra are currently on pilgrimage!"

"I'll do what I can!" Naruto answered immediately without thinking, finding himself no long in control of his own body as he jumped off the area of mountain he was on. "Holy crap, I'm gonna die!"

Instead, Ashura began to weave hand seals. Naruto felt these revibrate through him as his own body was under a spell of sorts. This Lord Ashura having taken control, and in the drivers seat at the moment. When the seals finished, Lord Ashura landed in the small little border clearing between the forest and fields as winds whipped around him.

"Wind Style: Great Whirlwind!"

Naruto felt his chakra grinding against each other harshly as a massive tornado formed around him. The beasts, obviously Grimm, were taking into the maw and shredded apart. Yet, so controlled was the winds as he held his hands out that they didn't effect another part of the landscape. The demons, Grimm, or whatever was in this surreal dream were ripped to shreds within a instant.

Naruto canceled the jutsu out, or rather Ashura did, whilst looking upon the forest as something massive waddled it's way toward it. It was a massive demonic creature, with spiked tails, and the body of many serpents. Each of its eight heads hissed, leaking poison. Naruto felt Ashura move using his body, and a black orb formed next to him…followed by a naginata.

"Foul creature of dark design." Naruto felt Ashura speak through him. "I'm not like these poor souls you've tortured. Have at thee!"

Naruto felt Ashura leap upward toward the beast, forming single handed hand seals whilst spinning the pure black naginata next to him. A war cry emerged from them both, and just before they made contact. Naruto felt himself ejected from Ashura's body, and falling into a black pit upon the ground!

He screamed out as he reached up, screaming as he fell, lower and lower!

"You'll never be the hero of this story." He heard someone say. "Jinchuuriki never have happy endings, it's always the same."

Naruto realized that this dark narrator was in this dark realm with him. He turned around to meet a woman with violet eyes, and red hair. She had the prettiest smile on her face, whilst slowly it turned into a look of sheer horror as seal markings appeared around her body.

"They are vessels made to break, receptacles meant to leak, a flask not up to it's predetermined task!" The dark narrator yelled out as Naruto found himself falling right into Kuo Kuana.

The city was on fire, the entire city burned as The Nine Tails rages amongst it. He watched as a stream fire emerged from the fox's mouth, burning the city to ashes before it saw him. It snatched him out of the air, and grabbed him amongst it's giant clawed hands.

"Is this what you meant by protecting them? Hiding me away!" He roared out as he squeezed Naruto's frail body. "You cannot escape what you are, who you are! You're a monster, and when they see me for the first time…they'll fear you!"

"Get off me!" Naruto screamed out before watching as something leapt up.

It was Blake!

"Get off him!" She screamed.

"How adorable…" It snapped it's jaws shut around her, and then…

CRUNCH!

"How pathetic."

Naruto felt himself getting angrier, and angrier. He was thrown to the ground as Grimm came up from the shadows. He ran toward them, screaming bloody murder whilst grabbing a discarded sword from the ground that looked like Cloud's saber!

"You bastard!" Naruto screamed as he stabbed through the first three Grimm, spearing them apart whilst using his momentum and chakra. "Nine Tails!"

He let go of the sword, and tried to use a jutsu, but found that he couldn't. Instead, as he neared The Nine Tails, a sudden new figure emerged from under it's paw. It was…himself? This dark version of him clashed his head against his own, his black sclera and red eyes staring into the whites and ocean blues of Naruto.

"This is our destiny." He stated whilst backing away and turning into Gaara. "We have no one left to truly understand us, and when they see who we are…they'll fear us."

"Fear leads to hatred."

"They'll never understand us."

"Hatred leads to anger."

"You will never truly be one of them, even if you dress yourself up."

The Gaara transforms back into himself, with red hair, and dark red eyes. He smirked before forming a red rasengan in his right hand. Naruto growled whilst finally forming a clone, and forming a rasengan of his own.

"Your ANGER leads to suffering, Naruto Uzumaki."

Both this Dark Naruto and Naruto clashed their rasengan together, with both stopping each other's short. Only for Naruto to see Kiba, Neji, Shikamaru, and Choji behind him. They were ghastly, decrepit, and rotten. With soulless eyes, and death reeking from them.

"You failed…us…"
"You let him get away!"
"Failure!"
"Hokage my ass, you couldn't make our deaths worth anything!"
"Failure!"
"Some Hokage you would've made!"
"Loser!"
"Freak!"
"You let us die!"
"You failed us!"
"What about our families?!"
"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke!"

Naruto backed up only for a Chidori covered hand to emerge from his chest, and hold his heart. Sasuke came right next to his left ear, and smiled devilishly.

"You're better off just being my sacrifice, Naruto, thank you for the power." Sasuke stated before a black pit emerged under Naruto, and Sasuke kicking him into it. "Sleep for all eternity…no one will ever miss you."

Naruto closed his eyes.

{Naruto's Room.}
[Thirty Seconds later.}

Naruto jolted up, holding his left side of his chest. He felt his heart thumping rapidly before he started retching. He ran into the bathroom, throwing up into the sink before feeling his thump. Sounds going in, and out as his vision swam. He looked up into the vanity mirror, finding his eyes shimmering red as he felt something was wrong.

He came out of the bathroom after washing out the sick in the sink. Grabbing a shirt, he quickly moved into the hallway where some of the guards were busy playing a match of spades. His azure eyes winning out as he moved with a purpose. He got near Kali's and Ghira's room, hearing them talking, Gods, he hoped it was just talking.

Then he moved down the hall, not opening her door, but hearing Blake loudly snoring. He shook a little as moved back toward his room. Closing the door as he entered it, walking over to the nightstand and pulling out a pill bottle and taking one of the tiny white capsules. Dry swallowing, he took a moment to sit down, and breathe.

That dream was surreal, and it felt real like the last nightmare one week ago. His heart thumped into his chest as he thought about his friends. He thought about them often, what if they really did die, and he failed?!

Did that make him a failure, and if so, was this him just trying to justify himself. Still, he couldn't stand the feeling that something was wrong. He felt it in his soul, he felt it in the air, something was wrong!

Something was very wrong!

Naruto clenched his eyes, focusing, and focusing hard. It was immediate, unintentional, but the chakra pulse emerged from him as it echoed out throughout the house silently. He could see it, through his mind's eye, all the guards. Cloud talking to four of them. The two playing their game of two men spades, and then there was…an eighth?

This eighth wasn't anywhere near the other guards, this eighth was posted just outside of Blake's room! That didn't make sense, because guards weren't supposed to patrol the outside, that was meant for the city guards!

He focused more on the eighth, unlike the others his color was black and red. A malice color, and he felt his heart skip a beat as he moved toward Blake's window. It was pure malice intent, murder, murder! Blake's life was in danger, his friend was in danger, and he moved.

Naruto's body reacted before his mind caught up.

It was an immediate action, trained action, and as he slipped past one of his pouches he picked it up and took a kunai out. No longer caring for stealthy movements, his loud footfalls alerted the guards as he ran toward Blake's room. He heard the guards calling out to him, and demanding that he stop when they saw the kunai in his hands.

He didn't say anything, instead he crashed through Blake's door with his shoulder. She woke up, watching as he ran across her room and crash out of the window. Snatching the hooded figure who was trying to unlock her window. They fell backwards, their mask in the mockery of an animal. He slammed his kunai down, right on their neck, only for a shimmering light to make it bounce off!

"What the hell?!" The hooded figure shouted in a masculine voice.

Naruto realized that his attack was ineffective, but felt something sink into his stomach! It emerged on the other side of him, a long pointed sword. The man, who's eyes shined a bright gold under the mask, smirked under the mask before suddenly threw a left hook as they fell onto the ground. The man's face contorted around the punch, and it sent him rolling onto the ground.

The shinobi got up, stomach bleeding from the sword that was still in it. He hissed as he reached down, and pulled it out. Revealing it to be a saber, which made the hole in him leak fresh ichor that dripped onto the ground. Blood came from his mouth as he stepped forward, growling before staring toward the man as he got up.

He saw the man reach under his cloak, and pull out two machine pistols. Naruto's eyes widened as he dodged the side as a spray of gunfire hit the area he was. He held his kunai out to block stray bullets that came too close for comfort, sparks flying around him as he tucked himself into a smaller figure whilst jumping back.

Naruto turns himself, and then slams the kunai toward the masked man. It soars right toward, and impacts one of the guns out of the man's hands. The man in turn turns on his heel, taking potshots with his left pistol whilst looking at the broken one several feet from him.

He watches as Naruto ducks behind a landscape stone, and smirks under his mask as he hears the guards coming.

"Yo, kid, nice takedown…you're weird for not having aura and yet reacting so fast." The masked man stated, before reaching behind his cloak and getting a ball out. "Sorry to say, but this dance is over."

He goes to toss it, only for shuriken to come whizzing over the rock, and impact each other. the impacted shuriken soars down, and knocks the ball out of his hands just as it was activated! The man's eyes widened as he brings both arms up in defense as it smacked against ground!

KABOOM!

He flew backwards with his remaining gun dropping out of his hand, getting out two combat daggers as Naruto suddenly came up on his side. His eyes widened, but he smirked as slashed the kid's neck. Only that kid exploded into a cloud of smoke, throwing him off as he suddenly felt the blonde's knee crash into his back and sent him flying back toward the ground. He smacked it hard as Naruto dropped on top of him, and threw a punch straight into the man's face before getting stabbed in the heart by the daggers.

"Got you, you little bas- "

Naruto bursts into smoke again, revealing itself as a clone only for the real Naruto to suddenly run toward him and grab him by the legs. Stopping briefly to pivot himself into a spin, he throws the would be assassin across the ground. His blue eyes shining in the light as the pupils became angular, like those of a fox's.

The assassin smacked against the ground, tumbling over and over himself as the guards started to shoot at him. "Son of a bitch!" He thought to himself as he got up on his feet, grabbing a long tubelike object from under his cloak. He aimed it as he backed up.

THUMPH!

The guards screamed, ducking for cover just as it nearly made impact. Naruto, however, appeared right above it and kicked it away in time to send it over into toward a palm tree. The palm tree exploded into splinters that impacted Naruto's forearms he used to block them. He landed onto the ground, the wound on his stomach already closed as he turned toward the fleeing assassin.

Without a second thought he channeled chakra into feet and gave chase. His orange shirt leaving a streak in the brilliant moonlight from the full shattered moon. He vaulted over obstacles as the man moved into the crowds. Occasionally throwing balls that began to tick. Naruto formed clones that grabbed them, and threw them into the air before they could explode.

The assassin laughed as he turned around, pulling out a revolver. Naruto's eyes widened as a bullet whizzed by him, grazing his cheek open as he was forced to sidestepped the next two shots. He ran up onto the roofs before vaulting over onto others as he kept his pursuit up. He ignored any splinters he got in his bare feet as he moved.

"I'm not letting you get away!" Naruto screamed out as he formed clones next to him, grabbing their hands before throwing them like orange missile toward the assassin! "Uzumaki Missile!"

He turned around, smirking under his mask as several shots rang out from the distance as his clones exploded.

"There's another?!" Naruto realized as a set of bullets nearly took his feet off as he was forced into diving into the streets. He slid on his bare feet, and rolled to the side as another round of shots nearly got him. "What in the world, is it multiple shooters?!"

Naruto breathed hard as he ducked behind a building as another round shots fell upon him. He saw a little girl run out the door. His eyes widened as he suddenly leapt out, tackling out of the way of incoming rounds, and rolling forward just in time to enter her house.

"Hey, you stay here!" He told the girl in a yell as her parents ran down the stars. Naruto exited the house just in time leap across the gap in the street as more rounds impacted where he had been. Taking a deep breath, and growling.

"Alright, let's play then!" Naruto thought to himself angrily as he felt his eyes burn red. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The entire block erupted in a cloud of smoke as the small army of Narutos began to scour the area for the shooters. Finding one of their nests, and taking them down with heavy casualties. Naruto's clones that died gave him feedback, and his eyes widened when they tackled the next one to the ground, only for it to cackle mechanically before exploding.

"Puppets?!" Naruto assumed before growling as he ran from behind cover and onto the street amongst his clones. His red eyes scanning the area just as he caught sight of the fleeing assassin. "There you are!" He screamed.

The assassin turned on his heel, grunting as he saw the dozens of Naruto clones converge on him. He suddenly held a remote in his hands before clicking a button. "Converge!" He ordered as several robotic troopers leapt down and began to spray the street with gunfire. He gave Naruto a two finger salute before running again.

Several of Naruto's clones guarded him from the gun fire as he ran up toward the assassin, trying his best to keep pace. They tackled, and covered the robotic puppets as they began to glow. Their explosions were more muffled than before, less damaging due to his clones mitigating the blast. He twirled the daggers in his hands as the smoke plume filled the street.

Naruto suddenly came racing toward him on his left flank. The assassin smirked before pointing one dagger at him, the cylinder at base of the knife spun rapidly. It suddenly sent out a wave of fire that consumed the boy, who screamed out in pain before exploding into a cloud of smoke. Tsking, the man turned around in time to slash upward, killing another clone that tried to get him whilst he backstepped, bounding with each step.

A wave of shuriken, whistling through the air, flew out from the smoke and dust of the explosion as they collided with each other and scattered. He easily blocked them, whilst he thought of something. The man smirked as his second dagger spun, electricity consuming the blade as the right dagger ejected a dull red crystal before slotting a blue one into the cylinder.

A group of Narutos emerged to his front, and he smacks both daggers together. Water suddenly exploded from the right dagger, creating a funnel that flooded the road, and knocked most of the clones back only for surge of electricity to follow the wave of water from the left dagger. Both daggers ejected their crystals into the dirt as the assassin flipped backward before sheathing both of his daggers and pulling out a grapple gun.

He shot it to a nearby building, and rapidly pulled himself up onto it's roof. His cape fluttered in the wind as he landed with a slide on the roof. Taking both daggers out, he spun them in his hands as he slowly walked toward the edge of the roof.

Naruto suddenly appeared over the crest, and clashed his kunai against one of the daggers. His hands in a loose hand seal that formed another clone to block the other dagger as it came down. Both slashed at each other, the man able to keep up with the clone easily enough. Sparks flew off their respective blades as both slashed, stabbed, ducked and dodged against their dance of blades.

Naruto's cheek opened up from a missed block, but the man's body just glowed red whenever Naruto's kunai made contact. Both got back-to-back, dancing around one another before the man smirked and kicked backwards. It sent the blonde ninja flying face forward onto the shingles. The assassin smirked whilst spinning his daggers.

"Damn it!" Naruto slammed his fist against the tile. "How is he keeping up with me, there was several attacks I should've hurt him, but something made it bounce off…is that aura?"

"Frustrated fledgling?" The assassin mocked him whilst walking toward him. "So, you live in The Belladonna house, tch-tch-tch, my employers have very outdated information…didn't know The Belladonna's had a son. Oh well, I kill you, and go back to my regularly scheduled homicide of one of the true Belladonna. Messages to be sent and all."

Naruto got up, wiping his lip before he smirked. "Son, huh, is that what you think I am? Good then, then I'll beat you to a pulp, ya know! For ever trying to hurt those I care for, you bastard!" He screamed as he suddenly lunged at the man, who blocked the kunai strikes with dagger as the blonde's clone came behind him.

He flicked his wrist, throwing the left dagger into the clone's head, making it disperse. The assassin licked his lips as Naruto and him clashed over and over again. Both dancing around another again as sparks flew off their respective blade. He suddenly moved his left hand down, grabbing the grabble gun before making him reel back to throw Naruto off balance. He smirked as he detached the cable from the roof and flew into the air. His cloak suddenly stiffing slightly into a gliding suit.

The man thought he was home free until a shuriken came flying out at him. He rolled his eyes, only for it to suddenly wrap around his arm. His golden eyes widened as it became tight, and Naruto suddenly pulled hard! Launching himself up toward the man whilst forming a clone next to him. That clone held his hands out to Naruto's right hand. A screeching ball of energy was formed.

"I said…" Naruto held his hand out as the ball grew slightly large as it came into contact with the visage of moon, and screeching a different pitch becoming a humming ring as it glowed purple instead of blue. "I won't let you get away, rasengan!"

The assassin's eyes widened as the ball collided with his stomach! His mask flying off to reveal a scarred up face, with a carved Cheshire smile, and a numeral VI on his left cheek. His eyes widened more as his red aura suddenly broke, and he felt the ball hit his bare skin. Shredding the armor underneath as it dug into it. His eyes met Naruto's crimson ones, and saw what no one else had seen yet in the boy, the demon behind them.

"Wh-what is this, kid?" The assassin thought as the sphere suddenly collapsed and exploded!

It blasted him, spiraling, right into the ground.

Naruto breathed hard as he saw the man impact the ground, making dust fly everywhere. His crimson eyes retreating to their normal azure color. He landed in the dirt road as people started to wake up, opening their windows to look, and see Naruto stalk toward the downed assailant as Menagerian Guards came running down the streets.

"Stay inside your homes!" One of them screamed as he saw people trying to exit the door to a house. "Stay in your homes!"

The blonde shinobi saw the man was still alive, although his legs were broken. He bit his lip before took both of his hands and grabbed him by the collar of his cloak. "Who sent you, who?!" Naruto demanded as he draws his fist back. "I won't hesitate to beat it of ya, ya know!"

"Heh," the assassin coughed up a glob of blood from his mouth. "What the fuck are you, kid? You aren't Faunus…and you're not human. Oh well, doesn't matter, I failed…too bad for them, I'm usually the fast and easy type."

"You bastard…" Naruto growled as he slammed his fist down onto the man's face, feeling something hard damage his hand. He pulled it back to reveal a metal jawline of the man, who laughed in a more robotic tone, his left eye now gone. "Sorry little boy, can't beat a dead horse already…also…Ten…Nine…"

Naruto's eyes widened as he grabbed the man's foot. "Get back!" He yelled as he tossed the man into the air. Noting that now that he saw the gears in the man's legs, it made it more apparent that this guy was more machine than human!

The Menagerian Guard watched Naruto formed a clone, which quickly formed a small rasengan. It slammed into the man's side before launching him upward into the air. Naruto's next move as the seconds counted down was to form dozens of clones which quickly ran across the roads and into houses to push people away from windows, and doors.

"Three…"

"Two…"

"On- "

BOOM!

With the self-destructive bomb detonating in the assassin, a large plume of black smoke appeared over Kuo Kuana as Naruto shields himself with his forearms. The concussive wave shattering windows around him, glass cutting him as he was thrown into the ground. His shirt ripped to shreds as he forced himself up, breathing hard as looked at himself in the mirror of one of the glass shards.

"I…killed him." Naruto thought to himself as he stared up into the sky, where the black plume was. "I actually killed someone; this should make me feel proud…but…it doesn't…Blake!"

He goes to move until falls to a knee, finding blood dropping from him as he looks down. A glass shard was poking itself out from his side. Grunting, Naruto bit his lip as he reached for it and pulled it out with a wet squelch. The guard soldiers from earlier get over to him.

"Naruto, what's going, who was that?!" The leader, Saber demanded.

"Don't know, Saber, he wasn't really human. Had a bunch of metal parts to him." Naruto answered him as he stood up, watching as one of the larger guards knelt down. "Are they okay, Saber?!"

"Yes, shaken up, but fine." Saber answered him before nudging his head to the larger guard. "Hop onto him, go get medical treatment."

"No way, not until I see for myself that they're fine, ya know!" Naruto argued as he shook his head. "Saber, did anyone else get hurt?!"

"We don't know, but I can tell you that they found a body of a younger city guard near the docks." He told Naruto before watching hop onto the larger guard. "Get Uzumaki toward The Belladonna household, put a call out for medics to get here, asap!"

"Yes sir!" All of the guard, including the larger one shouted in unison.

{Belladonna Estate.}
[Thirty minutes later.]

Kali was comforting Blake as Ghira was talking to the guards. Learning that it was Naruto that noticed something was amiss and ran into his daughter's room. He saw the fear in her eyes, and heard from reports that this man had committed suicide whilst trying to blow himself up to take out a few houses in Kuo Kuana. No word on Naruto as of yet, he paced the room after the guards, and Cloud left.

"Mom, I swear to you, I saw him get stabbed through the stomach." Blake shuttered as she hugged herself. "He ran through the window, my window, why were they after me?"

"I don't know sweetheart." Kali cooed her whilst rocking her back and forth. She racking her mind around what she was saying about Naruto, and she had seen the blood on the ground outside. "Please walk back through those doors…come on…you promised us you'd be okay."

The door's burst open with Naruto walking into the lobby as he saw them. Not wasting any time, he ran over to Ghira and hugged him tightly. "Oh, thank goodness you're all okay, I thought that nutjob had explosive planted or something!" He stated whilst breaking the hug off Ghira.

Kali saw the blood on his shirt, whilst he had some healing scratches and cuts on his skin from glass. She saw some glints from the light, noting there was a couple of shards he hadn't noticed still stuck in him. He sheepishly smiled before holding his right hand up to greet Kali, and Blake.

"Yo," he greets them casually to disarm the fear in the air. "Are you okay, Blake?"

"Am I…okay?" She shook before seeing the hole in his shirt's abdomen area. "You got stabbed through the stomach, what do you mean if I'm okay, are you okay?!"

"Huh, oh, that? Pfft, I survived worse, ya know." Naruto lightly downplayed before hissing when Ghira pulled a shard of glass from his right here. "Ouch, damn it, I thought I got them all…oh…sorry Lady Kali!"

She got up from Blake before running over to him, grabbing him into a hug. Kali was lightly crying as she held him. Naruto was confused by it at first, but just enjoyed the warmth. It was slightly cool outside from the summer night. He felt her break the hug before dropping down eye level to him, grabbing his shoulders.

"You saved Blake, thank you, thank you!" Kali thanked profusely before looking at him. "Are you okay? stop all that macho manly crap, and be honest."

"Honestly, I'm fine, really. I heal much faster when I can focus my chakra onto the wounds. It's why I healed so fast despite ninety percent of my body being broken when I fell. Blake isn't kidding over there, he did stab me through the stomach." Naruto pats the hole in his shirt, and then frowned. "I got cut by his daggers a couple time, whoever he was, he was very good at fighting."

"He matched me in hand-to-hand."

"Cyborg." They heard Saber behind them as he entered the house. "Naruto described him to Jackson on the way over, and it's a dead ringer. Not many countries practice military cybernetics. It was deemed illegal, and unnaturally cruel in a conclave nearly thirty years ago."

"Yet, this man, or thing…he had them?" Ghira asked.

"Yes, if Naruto is anything to go by. He risked his life making sure civilians across the city didn't get hurt during his fight. We found him in an injured state, much more than when he arrived. He had a deep gash on his left cheek from the fight…but it looks like that healed." Saber continued before patting Naruto's back. "I heard he's joining The White Fang in two days, damn glad for it."

"Saber…" Ghira sighed before looking at Naruto. "Are you sure it was a cyborg?"

"Whatever that is, he had a bunch of metal bits." Naruto answered him before crossing his arms. "I don't know how I knew he was there…but just something in the air set me off. I felt some type of evil in the area, and I managed to sense him from my room."

"Sense…" Kali mouthed before snapping her fingers. "I remember feeling some sort of energy in the air briefly before things ignited off, was that you?"

"It might've been, actually, it was ya know. I sent a chakra pulse out by accident, and in doing so I knew about the guards in the house doing rounds toward the garden entrance and lobby." Naruto then got a hard look on his face. "Then that metallic guy was trying to sneak up to Blake room from her window, and I just felt it…he was going to hurt her for some reason…something about sending a message."

"He talked to you?" Ghira asked him whilst walking over to Blake.

"Gloated more like it, kept saying that he had outdated information since he didn't know about me." Naruto told them before crossing his arms. "Also he has this weird tattoo on his cheek, I think his right one, it was like I and V. No wait, it was V and I."

"Six, it's six in Old Valian numerical value." Kali recognized what he was trying to say. "For someone to have that on them…it could mean many different things."

"None of it good." Saber concurred before folding his hands behind his back. "Chief Ghira, I recommend that all transports from The Kingdoms to be stopped until tighter security measures can be implemented."

"Get it done." Ghira ordered him whilst clutching his daughter close. "Send this information that Naruto has provided us to the human kingdoms, and see if these details match any known gang, or group."

"Right, and if they refuse to answer?" Saber asked.

"Then we never deal with them again. Menagerian money flows out for their products to come here, those who provide information keenly related and helpful will be seen as furthering their alliance with us." Ghira stated whilst looking toward Naruto. "Did he say anything about others?"

"He kind of did, about how he's the one who usually does it quickly…" The blonde shinobi found himself gripping his fists tightly. "I don't think I can sleep until I try to do some scouting around."

He suddenly formed hand seals before taking deep breath. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Dozens of bursts of smoke filled the house, the clones standing there as the original barked his orders. "Go around the estate, dig up anything that looks out of place! If you see anyone suspicious, you beat them to a pulp, got it!"

"Right!" They all shouted in unison, and ran out of the lobby and various doors of the house.

"Naruto…" Kali watched as he fell to a knee, breathing hard. "Naruto?"

"I'm fine, just slightly drained. Honestly, never pushed myself like that in a while, ya know." Naruto took a deep breath, and then he looked at Blake. "You don't have to worry about that one ever again…I killed him."

That surprised everyone in the room as he regained his composure, and stood up. "He was going to detonate himself near those houses, and so I tossed him up into the air. I hit him with a rasengan, and next thing I knew he just blew." He told him before looking away.

"I never…killed anyone before."

"It's a hard thing to process, I know." Ghira comforted Naruto from a distance as he kept near his daughter. "You did the right thing, which is came back home."

"Why would someone try to kill Blake?!" He suddenly yelled out whilst looking at Ghira. "It doesn't make any sense; you guys are the nicest people I've ever known!"

"Psychopaths rarely do things with logic." A new voice joined the house, revealing itself as Dr. Vista as he entered. "I came as soon I could, I just got down downtown. Besides a few deep cuts from glass, no fatalities."

"Oh, thank goodness." Naruto breathed before hissing lightly. He rolled his shirt up, making everyone gasp he saw another glass shard sticking into his side. "Damn it all, I thought I cleared that side of me."

He casually pulled it out, a spurt of blood falling onto the woodwork of the house as his wound steamed closed. Vista nodded his head before looking over at Blake, walking toward her. He knelt down to be eye level with her.

"Hello sweetheart, my name is Pine Vista, Dr. Vista for short. Are you hurt, did that assassin break into your room?" He asked her whilst looking at her arms, and legs, checking for cuts, even small ones.

"No, Naruto got there just in time…I…" She looked past Vista and toward Naruto who was turning his attention to her mother. "I…I'm fine, but what about him, he got stabbed in the gut! That's usually fatal, I mean he's just standing there, but you gotta take a look at him!"

Vista turned to Naruto, his semblance activating. He saw some internal damage, yes, but if there was severe damage it was already healing. He turned back to Blake, smiling lightly. "He's going to be just fine, little one. Trust me, okay? As for you, no small cuts, or anything?" He inquired.

"No," Blake answers him whilst shaking her head. "Naruto got into my room, and tackled the guy through my window."

"Blake!"

Adam ran into the house, looking at Blake. He ran up to her, nearly shoving Vista out of the way. "Are you okay, are you hurt?" He questioned her whilst kneeling down.

"I'm fine, Adam, really. Naruto saved my life." She replied whilst looking past Adam, still worried about her blonde savior, who just seemed to be back to his happy go lucky self. "I'm trying to get Dr. Vista here to check him out."

"I did, my semblance let's me see someone's internal organs and bone structure. You were right, he got stabbed, but he's almost healed." He told her before getting up. "You look fine internally as well, no signs of any degradation from poisons."

Ghira breathes a sigh of relief, "good, at least we're dealing with a stupid assassin it seems." The chief of Kuo Kuana growled out before getting up.

"Dad?" Blake called out to him, noting the anger in his body language.

"Sweetheart, I'll be fine. Please, go upstairs with your mother." He lightly ordered her as Kali walked towards them. "Adam, fall in with me, and Naruto."

Naruto's azure eyes widened when he felt his clones burst. Their information coming back to him, showing the areas they searched was all clear. He breathed a sigh of relief before sinking to his knees. Holding his head as it thumped, and throbbed.

"Thank goodness, no traps." Naruto breathed before looking up at Adam, and Ghira. "Adam…I…"

"Have my respect." Adam reached his hand out, balling it into a fist. "Blake tells me you fist bump…well…"

Naruto was confused at first, and then slowly bumped Adam's fist. Getting up shakingly as he felt his migraine slowly go away. "Is she okay, Ghira, that bastard didn't sneak in a quick poisonous gas…or anything else, right?"

"No, and yes, I doubt she'll get sleep for a minute." The chief of Kuo Kuana told him, and then he looked at Naruto in the eyes. "You had Kali in a fright, she thought you were seriously hurt when Blake told her you got stabbed."

"I'm fine, really, ya know. Gonna take a lot more than just gut stabbing me to take me down." The blonde boisterously stated whilst pointing a thumb to his chest. "Even if he got something I needed, I'd still beat him to a blood pulp, no one touches my precious people!"

"Precious people…" Adam breathed before closing his eyes. "What does that even mean, no I shouldn't think like this, he just saved her life…"

"Naruto's term for those that are close to him. As you probably already know, Blake and him have gotten close due to their love for books…well his newfound love for them." Ghira explained before feeling pride well up inside of his chest. "You have no idea how much pride I have for you right now, Naruto."

"Meh, don't sweat it too much, Ghira." Naruto played off with a slight blush. "Still, if there's others here…I'll- "

"Leave it to The White Fang." A new voice interrupted him as Sienna entered the lobby. "I heard that an assassin almost killed Blake, I have most lower ranks mobilized, and reviewing any new arrivals into Menagerie."

"A smart play, but we're stopping all trade ships with the kingdoms until we can isolate the channel he used to get in." Ghira told her before crossing his arms. "Tell me there was something left of the bastard."

"Nothing, the detonation charge was thermal based, melted him to ashes and useless scrap." She told him whilst shaking her head. "Whatever outfit he was apart of, obviously was professional enough to cover their tracks completely."

Naruto listened to this before taking a deep breath. He walked toward the front door, and went outside for fresh air. Staring up into the stars, he took a deep breath before hearing a cackling inside of his head.

"Felt good, didn't it…taking a life?"

He gripped the side of his head lightly, sighing before severing the mental link the Nine Tails created to bait him. Still, it bothered Naruto that the man-thing was able to keep up with him despite him drawing on some of The Nine Tails' power. It replayed over, and over in his head. The images to all of their fights, and how the man's body had that over shield called aura protecting him. It meant that he was trained by someone, somewhere.

He continued replaying it inside of his head, and continued more until he remembered an interesting detail. Each time the man countered him, and faced him, he saw flashes coming from the man's right eye. Flashes…as if it was a camera. He took a deep, shuddering breath as thought back to punching the man in the face.

Then he remembered, the man's left eye had gone missing after that punch!

"Sienna!" He screamed out before running back inside, and looking at them as they turned to see him. "That guy had a weird eye, his left eye, it went missing when I punched him before he activated that bomb inside of him!"

"Weird eye?" Adam questioned him.

"Brothers above, one of the man's eyes was a cybernetic enhancement!" Ghira exclaimed before looking at Sienna. "Get men and women down there, find that eye!"

Sienna nods her head, and as she walked past Naruto she stopped. "Good going there, recruit, perhaps I was right to put in my elite squad early." She said before walking out of the lobby and front door.

Naruto smiles a little bit before looking at Adam. "Do you wanna go check it out?"

"No, I'll leave that to Sienna. You look like you're about to fall asleep anyhow." Adam replied before walking past him, and then slamming a palm onto the younger boy's shoulder. "Sibling In Arms."

Ghira frowned at that, but then notice the pride swell up in Naruto's eyes as he smiled. He sighed before looking at the blonde shinobi. He motioned him to follow, and Naruto did so as they both went upstairs. He walked into Ghira's and Kali's room where Kali was holding a sleeping, Blake. Naruto so the daybed, and didn't need anyone to tell him.

He walked over to it, and flopped down into it. Sleep didn't take long to claim him.

{?}
[One Hour Later.]

"Six failed." A woman stated to a round table as she walked about. "His life signs went into the red, meaning his mission failed…and reports are indicating that he died fighting a brat of all things."

"Impossible."

The woman, who had short black hair, and blue eyes growled. She was slender thing, with a tattoo on left cheek of numeral III. She turned to the male voice at the table, who was holding a wine glass. His golden eyes, much like those of Six shined in the darkness. He sipped the wine, and then looked at her.

"Three, you know well enough that were supposed to be able to take down Huntsman Teams individually. A brat killing Six is not possible." The man, a large figure with short brown hair, and golden eyes stated. "What footage did we receive from Six's eye?"

"None, his eye didn't transmit in time. No doubt Menagerie will go in high alert. Meaning any more agents we send there will have a harder time accessing the country." Three states as she crosses her arms. "We only know it's a brat simply because of the audio readings…still something weird about them."

"Hmm, well then, I guess that means more work for us. After all, those filthy animals on that island continent are getting a little too uppity. Killing that bitch daughter of Ghira Belladonna was supposed to incite the race war, that way we humans could take our rightful places to the top again." The got into the light, revealing a numeral II on his left cheek as well. "After all, without that foolish King's degree eighty years ago, these faunus would just be house slaves."

"You both are making a big stink over nothing. Six was the weakest, and an outdated model of our cybernetics division." A teenager with a numeral IV on his cheek stated as he entered the dark room. "I mean c'mon, they should've sent a sniper…they should've sent me."

His light violet hair glistened in the overhead lights as they came on. His green eyes glowing slightly in the dark as clothing shuffled about. He looked at a picture of Blake on the screen, along with her family. He whistled.

"That animal might make me switch teams when she gets older." The teenager commented with a whistle again. "Look at her mom, well such a shame that they now both gotta go."

A very large man, with no hair, and a beard walked into the room with heavy foot falls. He had two large axes on his back. A numeral for V on his cheek. He grunted as he took a seat at the table. "Yes, unfortunate for them. Still, we won't be able to move until after another year. I'm hearing chatter about them closing all trade until they trace Six's route of entry." Five stated before crossing his arms. "Hopefully those charges blew him completely up, otherwise it may cause some issues in the future."

"I think we should focus on that supposed brat," Three interrupts Five before looking at Four. "He could be your target along with them next year."

"Heh, well-well, I guess I get me a triple kill." Four laughed before looking at Five. "Big guy, wanna come join in with me?"

"Might as well." Five shrugged before hearing footfalls.

They turned to entrance of the room, where a slender man with golden hair and violet eyes stood. He had the numeral I on his cheek. He looked at them all, grunting as he moved golden locks out of his eyesight.

"Our benefactor isn't pleased with the fact that there hasn't been discord sown into Menagerie…well not yet. Trust me when I say this, she isn't happy. Our organization, founded by The Great General, is needing to impress this one. So, unless we have plans to attack sooner, I suggest we focus on targets outside of Menagerie." He ordered them before sitting at the head of the table.

"Humanity First." The team all said in unison, raising wine glasses that were now filled.

"Indeed, Humanity First." One laughed before downing his glass. "Let's go sow some heartache for those filthy mongrels."

Chapter End.

Trivia.

The Moon Rasengan is a reference to The Crescent Moon Rasengan in Naruto Movie 3: The Crescent Kingdom.
This is canonically the first-person Naruto had ever killed.
Humanity First Initiative League gets there first appearance here, and it's a doozy.
Each member is named after their number.
Naruto's sensory abilities are one of the abilities Uzumaki members are fabled for.