"Naruto." Speech.
'Naruto.' Think
Warning: English isn't my first language
Mitsugoshi Company was a relatively new, but highly successful multi-trade company known for its innovative products and becoming the largest well-famed commercial trading enterprise with a significant reputation in the world due to their business empire activities have progressed in the industrial, extractive, real estate, banking, service firm, infrastructure and technology development sectors until it had become a worldwide international mega corporation.
Unbeknownst to the public, Mitsugoshi Company was operated by Shadow Garden as their primary front managed by Luna as the company's director, who founded it with help from Alpha. The establishment of this company was inspired by the knowledge given to them by Shadow, which actually came from Earth as they were able to recreate modern products and then traded until they gained enormous amount of wealth, thanks to their unique goods which had been sold well by buyers because its revolutionary qualities that were has been considered a trend and loved by all people.
In addition, Mitsugoshi even promoted all types of business commodities and ventures that they own which were favorites with visitors, as well as introducing all kinds of entertainment for customers who came to visit until Mitsugoshi gained popularity in the public society.
This company was used as an important asset funding Shadow Garden's missions as well as their employees, the Numbers and became a fundraising base in storing their wealth to increase their source of financial income, which became a vital place for building Mitsugoshi's foundation until the company had advanced considerably in order to consolidate their power against the Cult of Diablos by eliminated their influence.
Mitsugoshi had reaped success with astounding product sales rates in conducting trade, both in urban and rural areas accompanied by a high demand to trade their merchandise to the general public and conglomerates, even nobility until Mitsugoshi's commerce system had made progress on the economy in the Midgar Kingdom.
"Well… here we are," said Cid while he looked at the line of humans.
Cid was a slim young man with an athletic frame, short black hair, and black eyes. His facial features were average, without impressionable qualities. A countenance that was forgettable as it was generic. Cid wore the compulsory male uniform of Midgar Academy just like Naruto.
The standard navy-blue blazer with gold shoulder straps and a white dress shirt. A casual appearance was facilitated by keeping the black apron necktie loose. White loafers and navy-blue trousers round out the bottom.
"Yeah… I think I could hear how this woman over there said that we have to wait like 80 minutes before we get into the building," said Naruto with a sigh.
"Let's just join the line to not have to wait longer than necessary," said Cid, getting a nod from Naruto. Both were about to join the line when out of nowhere the woman approached them with the shield who announced that the waiting time was about 80 minutes.
"Excuse me dear customer, would you take part in a survey?" asked the woman. She was a beautiful young woman with dark brown hair and eyes with matching color, fair skin with a clean skin complexion. Her hair was parted to give her face full view, her long hair ending roughly around her waistline, with two locks of hair partitioned beside her cheeks ending at breast length, and decorative choker around her throat.
Her attire was professional, as to be expected of a woman in a commercial workforce. She wore a collared v-neck, deep blue mini-one piece atop a white dress, stockings with high heels.
Naruto and Cid looked at each other for a second before each holding a finger at themselves. "Me?" asked both at the same time.
The woman bowed once with the shield in her hand. She looked at Cid and said, "It would be our pleasure to have you as a special guest while you would take part of the survey."
"Well… I guess we see each other later, buddy," said Naruto.
"It seems like it, see you later Naruto," said Cid while he was walking away with the beautiful young woman. Naruto smiled with closed eyes while he waved after Cid and the woman. After both were inside of the building his eyes opened and his smile faded. His eyes flashed crimson for a moment before his blue eyes came back. He simply stood in the line and waited without talking much.
'So, it is as I thought, Mitsugoshi is one of the bases of Shadow Garden. They need money to fund their operations,' thought Naruto while he put both hands in his pockets. He looked ahead and thought about this or that. It would be a little over an hour before he could get into the building itself but that wasn't really a problem.
After an hour past by he finally went inside and looked around. He had to say that the inside of the building was very different from every building he was inside so far in his life. 'I guess this is what is called a modern shopping center?' thought Naruto. Modern shopping centers were multifunctional complexes where people came not only for shopping, but just to have a good time and relax with the whole family. There were several galleries of retail outlets and shops, as well as cinemas, sports and playgrounds, cafes, restaurants and other facilities for the entertainment and recreation of visitors.
'Ok… are they for real with this?' thought Naruto. Shadow and Seven Shades were displayed in the atrium-style hall of the royal capital head office. 'Why would they put a massive statue of Shadow and the 7 Shades in the middle of the main branch? Do they think no one would notice?' He shook his head and felt how his stomach growled a bit.
'Well… time to eat something. Let's see where that noodle soup restaurant was that I heard about a few minutes ago from one of the visitors,' thought Naruto. On the first floor wasn't the restaurant he searched for but on the second floor was something interesting. He saw some interesting glasses with black glasses. He only saw rarely how someone was wearing one of those sunglasses. He went into the shop and came out of it 10 minutes later. He was now wearing a pair of sunglasses.
He continued with his search for the specific restaurant until he was spoken to. "Dear customer, would you have a minute?"
Naruto looked to the side and raised an eyebrow. 'Tell about a coincidence… firstly Cid and now me,' thought Naruto. She wasn't holding her shield any more, but it was the same woman who took Cid away an hour earlier.
"It depends… could I eat something first? I am hungry and would like to eat some noodle soup first," said Naruto with a nervous smile.
"Of course, please follow me. I will be your guide in the meantime," said the woman while she bowed once before she turned around and walked into a certain direction. Naruto simply followed her and thought, 'I guess Alpha is here and wants to speak with me or Cid wants something from me… either way it will become interesting but for now… noodle soup!'
After 2 minutes Naruto was sitting at a table and was just ordering while the woman was standing at the side at a wall, observing Naruto. Naruto thanked the waitress and took a black book out of the inside of his blazer. He leaned back in his chair and opened the black book. He was reading in it while he looked like he was thinking about something. He took a pen out of nowhere and began to write something in it while he smiled the entire time.
The woman standing at the side was observing him carefully, trying to find any clue that Naruto Uzumaki was really "Menma" how Alpha, Beta, Epsilon and Delta called him. Well… Delta called him something else. She called him Kyōi (Danger). She didn't know why but Delta simply called him Kyōi since she encountered him in the crater.
She couldn't feel anything special from Naruto while he was writing something into his black book with a smile on his face. Even when the food came, he put the book and pen away, looking normal not like a being who could rival the strength and mighty from Shadow.
After Naruto was done, he thanked the waitress and paid with gold coins before he stood up and looked at the woman. The woman began to walk, and Naruto followed her with a carefree smile on his face.
They went through the shopping center with ease and went up stairs to the roof of the building. When Naruto saw the big brown double doors at the end of the stairs, he could only imagine what lied behind it. The woman opened the doors and let Naruto walk out of the door revealing a massive roof with a mansion on it. The roof was surrounded by a wall so that no one could see the mansion on top of the building.
Naruto looked to both sides and could see 2 elf woman who wore mostly the same as the woman who escorted him. They closed the door behind him again and the woman began to walk towards the entrance from the mansion. Naruto simply followed her and saw another building next to the mansion. It looked like a giant room from the outside. Just before Naruto was about to enter the mansion, Cid and Gamma left the other building. "Yo, Cid!" said Naruto while he raised his hand.
"Yo, Naruto. What are you doing here?" asked Cid while he went towards Naruto with Gamma behind him.
"I don't know why I am here to be honest. After I came into the building after an hour, I searched for a noodle soup restaurant before this woman talked to me. She asked me to follow her but since I wanted to eat something first, she waited and now I am here," explained Naruto without a care in the world.
"Oh right, they mentioned something about a second person who would be good to take part of the survey," said Cid. "We see each other later then."
Naruto nodded and said, "Alright. I hope this won't take too long. We wanted to go through the shopping center together after all." Cid nodded and walked away with Gamma at his side.
"I'm sorry for the disturbance," said Naruto while he bowed once.
The woman simply nodded with a serious expression on her face. Naruto could see that her body became stiff when she saw Cid and Gamma. 'She must be new when she reacts like that to Cid,' thought Naruto.
Both went inside and after a short while were both in a kind of office. Naruto looked around and was impressed a bit. It was definitely modern in the mansion. The lights, the walls, the decorations and everything else looked very good. Not like his apartment or the houses he built in the hidden mist village.
"So, we meet again, Naruto Uzumaki," said Alpha with a smile. Naruto nodded with a chuckle. "So, it seems. I hope you and Natsume found your old friend in the Kagenō territory," said Naruto while he sat himself down on a chair that was in front of a desk Alpha was sitting at.
"I don't want to take up too much from your time, Menma," said Alpha. Naruto didn't react to the statement and simply smiled at her without a care in the world.
"You were right, we are still searching for a permanent base for our organization. Our hideouts were found by a few members of the cult of diablos," said Alpha. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before she opened them again and looked into the blue eyes from Naruto. He still smiled but she could see that she had his attention. He looked carefully at her, and his muscles twitched slightly when he moved a certain way in the chair. Alpha knew that he was ready to defend himself even now.
"Why isn't Cid here? I thought he would be the one who would take the initiative to get Shadow Garden a perfect base. He just walked away with a woman with long dark blue hair and eyes. Care to explain?" asked Naruto.
"You know why he isn't here," said Alpha with closed eyes.
"Does she know it?" asked Naruto while he pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards the woman with long brown hair.
"Not yet," said Alpha while she opened her eyes.
Naruto didn't say anything and looked over his shoulder. He looked the woman into her brown eyes and saw her focused eyes on him. He looked forward to Alpha again and said, "Have you tried to talk to your leader?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"He simply said that he would take care of everything," said Alpha.
"It doesn't seem like it to me. He would need to talk to me about the entire thing and doing this here would be the best decision. So, what am I doing here, Alpha?" said Naruto.
"There was one more thing I wanted to talk to you about," said Alpha while she placed a document in front of Naruto.
"That's the document from the killer who pretended to be from Shadow Garden… what about it?" asked Naruto while he held the document in his hand and looked at it.
"Have you more information about that matter? We can't find more evidence and information about the entire situation. Our name gets used still to this second and I can't tolerate it," said Alpha.
Naruto placed the document on the desk and took something from the inside of his blazer. It was a little black box. He opened the box and took a folded document out of the black box. He unfolded it and placed it on the desk. "It has to do with this artefact. The cult is interested in the eye of avarice. I don't know everything yet, but a leading role has a very rare disease which can't be healed in normal circumstances, not even with magic. The artifact has some special powers that could hold a method to heal the rare disease," said Naruto.
Alpha looked at the document and saw a picture of the eye of avarice with a few words in the old rune language. "What stands here? This is written in an unknown code," said Alpha. She could read the rune language but even in ancient time codes were used to encrypt information.
"What I told you. There stands the name of the artifact and what kind of abilities it has. The main ability from this artifact is the absorption of magic. When the artifact gets activated a sort of bubble is created where every form of magic is absorbed with a few exceptions. The user can sort of tell the artifact that it shouldn't absorb the magic of certain individuals," said Naruto. "However, this is everything so far, I know. I don't know who that leading role in the cult is exactly and when they are going to strike. Everything I know is that the artifact will be the center from all of this."
Alpha laid the document back down on the desk and Naruto took it and folded it again. He put it in the black box again and the black box vanished inside of his blazer again. "Was everything else? Cid is waiting for me. We wanted to walk through your establishment a bit," said Naruto.
"Yes… I wanted to ask you something personal," said Alpha while she looked at the women. The woman bowed and went out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"What's wrong?" asked Naruto.
Alpha sighed and closed her eyes in the process. "I don't know what I should do right now," said Alpha.
"Care to explain?" asked Naruto.
"Since you came into the entire picture, Shadow Garden isn't the same anymore. Especially Beta, Epsilon and Delta have changed. I have changed as well to be honest," said Alpha while she opened her eyes.
"Because I am strong enough to rival Cid's power?" asked Naruto. Alpha simply nodded and remained quiet. "Because I showed you a major flaw of your leader?" asked Naruto. Alpha nodded again without saying anything.
"Because I gave you some sort of reality back?" asked Naruto. Alpha's eyes widened when she heard those word. "Shadow Garden as entire picture functioned so far because you all knew that Cid was stronger than anyone else. You all believed everything he told you, because he saved you… well you are a special case since I was the one who cured you 5 years ago but that isn't the point. Even you created a strong bond with him since he was the one who trained you, gave you hope, gave you knowledge and the truth about everything that was happening," said Naruto.
"You all lived with the belief that Cid was some kind of perfect being, untouchable and without any flaws. That is something I could see in the eyes from your comrades. Maybe you saw some flaws but that wasn't worth mentioning since he gave you all the power to fight against the cult who brought sorrow in the life of every victim of the diablos curse."
"Now seeing how that entire picture gets shattered to some extent is a punch in the face for every one of you who realizes it. Cid is like every one of us a human being who has flaws. He might look like the perfect king in the shadows, but you know it better… he had luck that you all simply thought he knew what you all talked about. He simply had to fake his reactions a bit since you all would believe him anyway," said Naruto.
"Now remains the question… what are you going to do? Will you all remain on the same path, blindly following Cid without questioning him or will you all question his motives?" asked Naruto, standing up while he looked at the ceiling.
"You don't make this easy for me," said Alpha with a small smile. Naruto looked at Alpha and saw her smile.
"Reality is cruel. I am not better than Cid myself, but the big difference is that I am not the leader of a giant organization. I am only responsible for myself and not for someone else. It doesn't matter what I chose to do, I am only responsible for my own actions," said Naruto.
"But I hope you remembered the words I said to you a few days ago," said Naruto. He went around the desk and stood directly in front of Alpha.
"Always look underneath the underneath," said Alpha.
"What I just told you could all be a giant lie, ever thought of that?" asked Naruto.
Alpha shook her head. "No… I know that you are right. I saw it myself today… Shadow didn't know anything about the killers who used our name," said Alpha.
"Even so… I hope you don't believe everything I just say. It could well be that I am part of the cult and simply are a spy," said Naruto. "With all the darkness that exists in this world could it well be that I am some kind of spy. Maybe there is another giant organization who is still hidden and used the war between Shadow Garden and the Cult to expand their power. Think about that, Alpha. What have I done for you beside the fact that I cured you 5 years ago?"
Alpha remained silent and looked into his blue eyes. Everything he said made sense to her. After he cured her 5 years ago… she hadn't heard of him ever since besides a few rumors. He wasn't the one who trained her… he wasn't the one who told her the truth about the cult and everything else… he wasn't the one who gave her a new reason to life again… he was simply the one who cured her and helped her one time in the past.
"Never forget that everything could be deception. Always be careful around someone you don't know. Always question the things you see, you hear, you read and smell. Would we be normal citizens, then this wouldn't matter since we wouldn't know about the darkness that lies in the depths of this rotten world," said Naruto.
"You are unpredictable, you know that?" asked Alpha. Naruto chuckled a bit while he held a hand towards her. "I heard that a lot in the past," said Naruto.
Alpha took the hand and could feel a warmth that spread inside her body. White lines became visible on Naruto's arm that spread over Alphas entire body. The office was lit up by a white light for a few seconds before it vanished. Naruto took his hand back and smiled at Alpha. "I am happy that you are the person I thought you would be, Alpha. I will accept an alliance and I will grant your organization access to the hidden mist village," said Naruto.
"Why?" asked Alpha. "After everything you just told me… I simply don't understand it right now."
"It's pretty simple," said Naruto. "Even when I confused you with my words since they are conflicting you had your opinion and that didn't change. First, I said to you that I gave you all the raw truth and brought you back into reality and in the next second said I that this could all be a lie or just deception to waver your beliefs. You know what the truth is, and you won't let yourself get confused just because I gave you a reason to question everything. You are a strong woman with the heard in the right place," explained Naruto.
"I am ready to place my trust into someone like that since I know you won't waver even in the toughest of situations," said Naruto.
Alpha stood up and made a step forward towards Naruto. Naruto raised an eyebrow and was even a bit surprised when Alpha slung her arms around his upper body. She hugged him right now, clinging to him as if her life was depending on it.
Naruto hugged her back and strokes her head a bit while he could feel how the strong woman in his arms showed him her vulnerable side. He didn't even know why she did this. He never thought that she had this much trust in him… not that he would complain. A minute later took Alpha a step back and wiped the tears from her face. "Sorry… I needed that right now."
"It's alright," said Naruto with a gentle smile. "You have a giant responsibility, and you don't need to be ashamed of that. It is okay to show weakness from time to time. You can always come to me when you need someone to speak."
Alpha shook her head with a smile. "Don't worry… I just wanted to feel your warmth again after 5 years. This was something I wanted to do all this time. Even when you "only" cured me… you are the single reason why I am still here. Without you I would be dead," said Alpha.
Naruto nodded and said, "Alright. I would say that we discuss our new alliance," said Naruto while the woman from before came into the room again. She saw how Naruto just sat down in front of the desk again on the chair.
"Before we do that, I want you to meet Nu, our newest numbers member," said Alpha while she mentioned to Nu. Naruto looked over his shoulder with a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Nu! I guess you already know my name… my name is Naruto Uzumaki or Menma Namikaze," said Naruto.
Nu simply bowed once and said, "It is an honor, Naruto-sama." She had heard everything that was said inside of that room. She now knew why Alpha trusted him so much… he really was someone special. He gave you advice that was worth more than gold or experience. He made good points just to throw them out of the window. He lets you think about everything and lets you come up with your own beliefs and your own truth. He didn't simply tell the truth. He gave you a few ways to discover the truth on your own.
"You can use her as you see fit. She will be your helping hand from now on," said Alpha.
"Hmm… I see. Alright, this way it's easier to get in touch with you and the others from Shadow Garden," said Naruto.
Author Note: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! If you see any major grammar mistakes, please notify me about it! I really try to improve but I can only improve if I get feedback. Besides that,… I wish you all the best and I hope you all will have a good day! See you in the next chapter!