Hello everyone I'm back once again to bring you another chapter of my story; if you are enjoying the story please keep on supporting me and my other works. Now with nothing else to say lets begin.
Money and Malice: Chapter 6
Suna Desert: With Naruto, Kakuzu and the others
Naruto, Fu, Karin and Mie were all following Kakuzu through the Suna desert to their destination; the town called Kareta Ki.
"So Kakuzu sensei" Naruto spoke up as he wiped some sweat from his face "what is this town like" Naruto said and Kakuzu chuckled.
"It's a criminals wet dream and a civilian's worst nightmare" Kakuzu said making Naruto and the others nervous "it's a disease ridden, crime infested hell hole; I don't expect all of you to come back alive" Kakuzu said.
Outskirts of Kareta Ki
"Hello welcome to Kareta Ki" said a young woman at the village gates "please take this map and explore our fine city" she said; Kakuzu looked on confused while the others looked on in awe.
The village was full of bright neon signs, hundreds of tourists and looked relatively nice.
'Must've changed ownership last I was here' Kakuzu thought "what happened here; when I came here 10 years ago this place was hell on earth" he said and the woman giggled.
"Yes, it was very nasty" the woman said "but when a new business tycoon named Gato came in he tore it down and rebuilt it; now it's a gambling town with over 100 casinos, hotels and bars" she said. She then looked to Naruto, Fu and Karin "and thanks to our loving new founder Gato we have a amusement park; completely free for kids" she said making all 3 of them light up "and for you miss I have a coupon where you can get in for only 3,000 Ryo (about $20)" she said handing Mie a coupon.
"Alright a amusement park" Naruto cheered "I never been to one; can we go Kakuzu sensei" Naruto said looking to Kakuzu who looked uneasy.
'Ughhh the world is changing and I don't like it' Kakuzu thought; he turned to Naruto and spoke "meet me at the town square in 7 hours" Kakuzu said as he walked on ahead. 'Let's go see this Gato they speak of' Kakuzu thought.
"Awesome, free time" Naruto cheered as he grabbed both Fu and Karin's hand "lets go guys" Naruto said as he pulled both Fu and Karin along; Karin and Fu were both blushing from the contact. Mie giggled as she followed Naruto and the girls to the amusement park.
Amusement Park: hour 1
Naruto and Mie were both sitting on a roller coaster as it was going up into the air "N-Naruto; we are really high up" Mie said nervous and holding his hand.
"I know isn't it great" Naruto said smiling under his mask.
"It's not that; it's- "Mie said as they reached the top; just then they both descended Mie screaming while Naruto laughed during the ride.
Hour 2
Naruto and Fu were both sitting in a tunnel of love ride 'huh there are a lot of heart around here' Naruto thought as the boat floated down the artificial river.
"We are now approaching the end of the tunnel of love; the couple should kiss in 5…4…3" the automatic announcer said.
"Huh kiss" Naruto said confused; Naruto then had his head grabbed by Fu who looked at him with a mischievous smile.
"Pucker up" Fu said as they entered the tunnel; when they exited the other side Naruto was fumbling with his mask and Fu was giggling "good job Naruto" Fu said patting Naruto on the shoulder.
"Eh, I, eh. Uh" Naruto stuttered while blushing and poking his fingers together; when the ride stopped both Naruto and Fu got out and they saw a T.V with a picture of them kissing on it.
Fu took out her ladybug wallet and handed the photo lady some money "one wallet, one key chain and one 8x12 please" Fu said with a smile; the lady handed Fu the photos and she blushed at the pictures 'I'll treasure them forever' she thought.
Hour 3
Naruto was sitting in between Mei and Karin while Fu sat on the far end on a bleacher as they looked and saw a live circus. Right now, a lady was riding a zebra while doing ballet on it.
"Woah look at her dance" Naruto said while looking on in awe.
Karin who was sitting next to Naruto began to fidget while taking quick peeks at him 'ok Karin, be a big girl' Karin thought to herself; Karin scooted over and pressed herself against Naruto 'there I did it' she thought in victory.
'Huh is Karin cold' Naruto thought looking at her 'well she is wearing only a thin shirt and it's kinda chilly in here' he thought; Naruto proceeded to wrap his arm around Karin making her 'eep' and blush. "Don't worry Karin; I'll warm you up" Naruto said while rubbing her arm.
Karin smiled at this and Mie looked on thinking the whole thing was adorable; Karin then felt malice coming from and Karin stuck her tongue out.
'Red haired hussy' Fu thought.
'Mint green grinch' Karin thought.
'This is a nice show' Naruto thought looking at the animals not realizing the tension between the 2 girls.
Hour 5
Naruto, Karin, Fu and Mie all just got done eating lunch "*burp* man that was some good ramen" Naruto said rubbing his stomach "and we still have another hour to kill" Naruto said as he walked through the casino, he was in.
As he was walking he saw a black jack table and he shrugged 'might as well try' Naruto thought as he walked over.
"Naruto really gambling" Mie said.
"Why not; I have some money" Naruto said as he sat down at the table.
"Sorry kid no minors" the dealer said; Naruto smirked under his mask.
"I'm an adult who suffers from dwarfism" Naruto said; the man was about to repeat himself but he left something tap his foot. The man looked down and saw 6,000 Ryo being put into his pocket by a thread; he looked to Naruto who winked at him.
"Sorry for that sir; 3,000 Ryo a hand, 1,000 for black jack and 1,000 to double if you win" the dealer said and Naruto nodded; Naruto put some money down 10,000 in the pot, 1,000 in black jack and 1,000 in double your money.
"Ha bad move kid" came a feminine voice; Naruto looked over and saw a beautiful and busty blonde woman with a diamond tattoo on her fore head "you should've have done that; the deck is nearly gone" she said as the dealer started dealing. "You aren't going to win- "she began.
"Black jack; pit boss" the dealer announced; making her eyes go wide.
"Hey I won" Naruto said pointing "look 7-7-7 and all are the same shape too" Naruto said pointing; the pit boss came up and looked at the winning hand.
"Wow 7 of clubs suited; very rare indeed" he said as he opened up the chip's drawer "you win 20 times what you betted so you win 20,000 Ryo" he said as he handed the chips to Naruto.
"Awesome" Naruto said as he grabbed all his chips "now what do I do" he asked and the blonde woman looked at him.
"You can hit or you can stand; you try to get as close to 21 as you can" the woman said.
"Ok ummm hit" Naruto said tapping his cards and the woman chuckled.
"You got luck but-" she began.
"Holy crap black jack again" the dealer said making the woman go wide eyed as he threw down another 7 "congrats kid; your move lady" the dealer said.
The woman looked at her cards and winced as she had a 7 and a 3 making ten "damn I would double down if I had the money" she said to herself.
"Is that where you put down your money again for a card" Naruto asked.
"Yeah but this is the last bit of my money" she said; Naruto then put down some of his chips on her spot.
"Go on ahead" Naruto said shocking the woman.
"You heard the kid; double down" she said; the dealer shrugged and threw down an ace.
"Black jacks all around" the dealer said as he looked at his card; he had a king of hearts. He flipped his other card as shrugged "queen of spades; winners the both of you" he said.
"Yay I won" Naruto shouted as he reeled in all his money 41,000 Ryo in all "ok I gotta go" Naruto said getting up. "Bye card guy" Naruto said; before he could go he was grabbed by the blonde woman who had a smile on her face.
"Have you ever played craps before" she said with Ryo signs in her eyes.
Hour 6 and a half
Naruto walked out of the casino wearing a nice leather jacket, Fu walked out wearing a silver necklace, Karin had a portable gaming system and Mie had a nice hand bag.
"Wow that was fun; and now I have more money in my pocket" Naruto said as he turned around "hey thanks boob lady" Naruto said until he got a fist on the top of his head.
"I said my name is Tsunade you little shit" Tsunade said with a tic mark "but yeah it was fun; thanks for the help" Tsunade said tapping a brief case full of money. "This will pay off my debts in no time" Tsunade said with a smile "But I'm also in your debt too kid; if you ever see me again just know I owe you a big ass favor" she said and Naruto nodded.
"Sure thing Tsunade" Naruto said "and my name is Naruto; but keep it on the D.L. ok, I'm a mercenary you know" he said making his group sweat drop. Tsunade however just laughed.
"And I'm running away from half the Yakuza on the continent" Tsunade said as she began to walk off "take care; I have to find my apprentice and her pet piggy" Tsunade said.
"Ok you 3 let's head to the town square" Naruto said as he walked off.
With Kakuzu
Kakuzu was walking to the meeting point to see Naruto and the others; he was able to set up a meeting with Gato and he needed to bring Naruto and Karin with him for this particular job.
As he walked up he saw them sitting at a café table drinking a assortment of drinks; as he walked up he began to speak "Ok here's the deal I- wait where the hell did you get that jacket" Kakazu said looking at Naruto.
"Oh, I won it in a raffle in a hotel casino; it's made of special leather so it reflects heat and keeps cool inside and does the opposite on cold weather" Naruto said "I also won a 3 day stay at that hotel so we have a room now" he said making Kakuzu sweat drop.
"I left you alone for 7 hours; how did you get so much done" Kakuzu said.
"He actually only gambled for 1 and a half hours; we spent the majority of the day at the amusement park" Mie said.
"Ok… whatever, fuck it" Kakuzu said "Naruto, Karin; you 2 and me have a job" Kakuzu said and both nodded. "Mie, Fu you 2 go and wait at the hotel; we 3 will be back tomorrow morning" Kakuzu said and Mie flinched.
Mie looked over to Karin and went up to hug her "stay next to Naruto and if things go bad run back to us" she said and Karin nodded.
"Ok I will" Karin said; she then got up and left with Kakuzu and Naruto. Fu saw this and grabbed her hand.
"Lets go to the hotel; we have cable and movies in the room" Fu said as she walked off with a worried Mie 'Naruto, Karin… be safe' she prayed as she walked off with Mie.
Hotel across town: Penthouse entrance
"Hello there" a bald joyous man said "I'm 'No-ho' Haru; would you like a water, juice maybe a beer" he said to Kakuzu, Naruto and Karin.
"No now take us to Gato" Kakuzu said and Haru nodded.
"Ok follow me" Haru said as he led them to Gato's office; when they reached a large double door Haru knocked "Gato… hey buddy, those mercenary guys are here" Haru cheered.
"I think this guys might be gay" Naruto whispered to Karin "he seems kind… frilly" he said.
"No shit sherlock" Karin whispered back "I kinda like him though" she said.
"Me too; he seems pretty chill" Naruto said.
The doors opened up and a short man in a nice suit opened up "thanks Haru; I can always count on you" Gato said and Haru gave a thumbs up.
"Ok I'm gonna go, me and Natsu have a dance class soon" Haru said doing a little dance and Gato laughed.
"Go get em' my friend" Gato said as Haru walked off "He's a great guy; that's why he's my number 4" Gato said as he invited Kakuzu, Naruto and Karin inside his office that had both expensive and illegal furniture and decorations made of animal skins and ivory.
"Alright then" Gato said sitting down "as you can see this place is pretty damn nice right" Gato said and the 3 nodded. "That's because this is a hub of underground crime" he said looking out the window "I use all these Casino's to both make money and launder money; kind of a double win in the underworld" he said. "But there is another reason I have this city the way it is… opium" Gato said and Naruto got confused.
"What's that" Naruto asked.
"Drugs kid, hard stuff" Gato said "Suna has a lot of poppy fields in the southern territory; they bring the product here and process it and ship it" Gato said. "The railway here to supply the casino's and bars with food and liquor also ships the drugs as far west as the land of lakes to as far north as the land of snow" Gato said "but I ran into a problem" he said.
"What kind" Kakuzu asked.
"One of my suppliers hiked up the prices so high I'll be taking a loss" Gato said "have 4 in total so that's 25 percent in losses and I can't except that shit" he said. "I want you to work with a local mercenary to take out the operation" Gato said "it will give me an opportunity to put one of my guys in place and keep the other 3 suppliers from getting any funny ideas" he said and Kakuzu nodded.
"How about muscle; ninja, ronin, bandits" Kakuzu asked.
"About 200 strong; Yakuza, ronin and a few ninjas here and there" Gato said "Will that be a problem" Gato asked and Kakuzu shook his head. "Good head outside the city and meet the other guy" Gato said "Oh and there is a bonus if you bring back any dope they have" he said.
"Very well; Naruto, Karin, let's go" Kakuzu said as he exited the room.
Gato looked on in intrigue 'hmmm… if they do a good job maybe I can rely on them for that job in wave' he thought.
Outside the village
Naruto, Kakuzu and Karin all walked to an old shack outside the village; as they approached a large hunched figure wearing a cloak spoke up.
"Gato sent you" the figure asked and Kakuzu nodded.
"Yes, he did; who are you" Kakuzu asked and the figure looked up revealing a brown skinned man with corn rows and a mask covering the lower part of his face.
"I am Sasori of the red sand; thank you for arriving on time" Sasori said in a deep voice.
Naruto flinched at this; he was slightly scared of this new guy.
"I'm Kakuzu" Kakuzu said.
"K-Karin" Karin said nervously.
"Naruto" Naruto said confidently.
"We wasted enough time" Sasori said "lets get going; if we are quick enough, we should be done by dawn" Sasori said.
Sasori led Kakuzu, Naruto and Karin into the desert ready to do the mission.
Ok another chapter done; I hope you all enjoyed it. If you're wondering yes the village is a stand in for Las Vegan; I've been there twice and I actually won money at blackjack. If you did please like comment ad share with your friends; and until next time bye.