Naruto: The Renegade
Chapter IX
Heart-Shattering Goodbye
"Dhriti was shot on her body "
West Bengal, India
There were heavy army guards in front of room 751 of the Old Digha Oghorkamini Hospital as the wife of one of their greatest late brigadier, who could have very well become a field marshal, the late Shankar Ghosh's wife, Dhriti Ghosh, was shot right under their noses. Thankfully due to her being a dextrocardiac person [a person whose heart is placed on the right side instead of the left side], she was saved as the bullet entered her chest and missed her heart by a centimetre. So for the Eastern command, this was a personal attack, as the said woman had fed them and had also saved them multiple times, sometimes by nursing them, other times by passing them crucial information that saved their lives. They often had to guard politicians out of duty, but this was for their family. For the younger generation, she was their grandmother, and for the older ones, she was their second mother. They made sure that they balanced their national duty and her security. All personnel on holiday were posted on her security and investigating the shootout. Along with her, her neighbors were also given security. Shrishti, who was in her school in Uttarakhand, was coming back with Naruto, who had booked an immediate flight to India and was coming to her.
Meanwhile in a dark room
"Hello mate wag warn"
"You Failed," the caller said in an eerie tone.
"Yeah I know"
"You could not kill both of them"
"Look man the plan was to shoot her so the brat comes immediately to Kolkata and I blow up the train coach she was on."
"So what went BLOODY WRONG?!"
"I DON'T KNOW maybe the fact that no one told me that the old hag had dextrocardia or that she had a grandson named Naruto or Ranvijay or whatever the fuck his name is!"
"Look this is the first time I got to know that she had dextrocardia but I did tell you about her grandson."
"You DID NOT tell me he was traveling with a fake passport."
"I did not know-"
"Do not worry what's done is done but I do have a plan."
"What?"
"Since the boy is here along with the girl, once they bring the old hag home from the hospital, I will blow the fucking house."
"What about the security?"
"Along with the security."
"Fine do what you will, but I want them FUCKING DEAD! YOU HEAR ME? FUCKING DEAD!"
"Copy that."
A Week Later
A taxi pulled up in front of the Old Digha Oghorkamini Hospital and stepped out a concerned Naruto and an equally concerned Shrishti. He ushered Shrishti to enquire about their grandmother's room number while he paid for the taxi. Once they got the room number, both concerned grandchildren moved from the third-floor corridor hand in hand, with Naruto leading the way toward their grandmother's room.
Once they reached the room number, they saw a whole army guard with Parvati and Abhijit being there. Once they saw both of them, they quickly ran towards them and Parvati hugged and comforted Shrishti about her grandmother's condition then asked about her well-being. At the same time, Naruto started enquiring with Abhijit about the current affairs regarding his grandmother.
"How is she?" asked Naruto
"Well she is out of danger right now, we would keep her here for 72 more hours for her safety, but you can see her right now. You want to?"
"No, let Shrishti go in first and then I will. Although why are there so many Army guards?"
That is when an army officer approached them, "Hello, I am Naruto" he greeted the officer.
"Myself Major Sukhdev Chandrashekhar, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, sir. Although I am very grateful, may I ask why such protection was given to her?"
"Young man, your grandmother is like a mother and a grandmother to our eastern command of the army, so it is given."
"Is it government-sanctioned?"
"Is she a politician or an IAS?"
"No."
"Then?"
"But is it fine with you guys, I mean like, you have your duty and then coming here to protect her, I cannot be enough thankful."
"Do not worry son, it is a debt we would repay with our life."
"Still sir, how are you managing this whole thing?"
"Well son, those who were on holiday have volunteered for the security detail while the other personnel do their duty and some other personnel do the investigation."
"Ok sir, but according to the army charter, your guys' vacation ends in three days."
"Yes, that is quite unfortunate, but we will manage."
"Thank you, sir, but it will not be required. I will do something about it. Although I would love it if you could share the investigation details."
"Sure my child but are you sure about the security detail?"
"Yes sir, you have done so much for the family, I will always be in your debt, and so if anything you require of this hon. Wing Commander please never hesitate."
The major chuckled and then said, "Sure son."
Naruto nodded, he then turned to Abhijit and said, "Abhijit da [an endearing term for big brother in Bengali] give me the diagnosis of dida."
"Are you sure you want to hear the diagnosis?" He asked hesitating but when he saw the look on Naruto's face he relented and then divulged.
"Two shots were fired on her. One on her left shoulder blade and another on her heart. Thankfully she had dextrocardia-"
"Dextrocardia?" Naruto interrupted.
"It is a rare heart condition where the heart instead of being on the left side of the body, is on the right side of the body so the bullet missed the heart by 3 inches. And in the shoulder blade, the bullet was lodged a good 2 inches deep. When she reached here she had lost a lot of blood and had stabilized the day before yesterday."
Naruto nodded and said, "OK, I will go and visit her."
"Fine," Abhijit said.
Once talking to him he went toward Dhriti's room and saw Shrishti was already there, so he waited. That is when he saw Parvati, and then she came running to him and they started conversing. At first, they began chatting about their well-being and then about Naruto's travels after which Naruto addressed the elephant in the room by asking Parvati, "What happened that day?"
Parvati sighed and said, "A week ago Dhriti and I, were thinking about having a feast, so we thought that we could go to the bazaar [market] and shop, and after shopping when we were returning, Dhriti invited me to her house and she was in the lawn when a person riding a bike shot her in the lawn. I am so sorry I could not do anything."
Naruto put his hand on her shoulder getting her attention as he shook his head, "You did the best you could, you are no god, you cannot magically heal her. Anyway did you see the person?"
"No. He wore a government school uniform and a helmet."
"Shit" He swore softly. Then they started conversing about other things when the door to the room opened as Shrishti came out. Parvati signaled Naruto to go in, Naruto nodded and went in.
Background Music [Papa Meri Jaan (whistle)]
As Naruto entered the hospital room his heart broke seeing the condition of his grandmother. The once jovial eyes of her now were dull and her face had also lost its shine. It was as if she had lost her will to live yet her face had no concern but acceptance about her fate.
He gingerly walked towards her bedside stool and sat there while noticing all the flowers and get well soon cards then he softly spoke,
"How are you feeling?"
Dhriti smiled softly and said "I am feeling good. Although…"
"Although?"
"I think my time has come."
"What?!" Naruto almost yelled shell shocked. "What the fuck are you saying?!"
"Language! Hospital or not I will still tan your hide young man" Dhriti said sternly. But this brought a smile to Naruto's face.
"You are getting released in three days." Naruto softly said.
Dhriti held his hand and said, "You know there is no need for that, my time is nearing."
"Again with this bullshit -"language!"- you are far too young to die."
Dhriti chuckled and said, "Naruto remember that there are four eternal things no one can run from birth, age, sickness, and death. I was born, am aging, had sickness and now the only thing left is death. So, I have accepted it."
"So, this is it huh? What about the boy you taught to live again huh? Or what about the little girl whose only relative is you?"
"Naruto …"
"Don't Naruto me. You don't get it. You taught me how to live. You gave me the best two years of my life without having any ulterior motives. All the people I have ever met in my life had an ulterior motive to get close to me but you, you never had one."
"Maybe that was my purpose."
"Huh?"
"Maybe my purpose of coming to this earth was to raise a capable child like you and to show you that sometimes being selfish is the best for someone. And now that I have raised such a person, my time has finally come."
"Then what about all those promises that you will be there for every great moment of mine and Shrishti's life? What about that promise?"
"Some promises cannot be fulfilled due to some reasons but enough of this topic, tell me how everything is."
"Well bad after talking to you."
Dhriti gave him a stare and said, "Naruto…"
"Fine, fine, it was good, I will be traveling to Punjab today and will be returning tomorrow."
"Punjab, why?"
"That is a secret."
She again held his hand and said, "You know, when I was shot, I felt lonely at that time and my greatest regret was that I could not see my grandchildren before passing away. But now that both of you are here my wish has been granted."
Before Naruto could reply a nurse knocked on the hospital door signaling the end of visiting hours. So Naruto quietly left the room contemplating what Dhriti had said.
End of Background Music
As soon as he came out he met and started discussing post-hospital recovery.
"Abhijit da, is there any requirement for a house nurse?"
"Not as such, since she only needs the medication for her low BP [Blood Pressure] and thankfully there were no fractures so no. But in case of any complications in the upcoming days, I will let you know."
"Ok thank you da" Naruto thanked him and then approached Major Sukhdev Chandrashekhar and asked him, "Major if it is alright, I would like to make a request."
"Sure son, go on."
"If it is possible, could you possibly arrange arms and ammunition for about 10 people?"
"May I ask why?"
"Well, Grandma said that she was happy that her grandchildren were with her. Then I am sure she won't mind her grandnephews being there with her."
The Major getting the message, said, "Sure I will arrange the weapons, you bring the boys."
Naruto smirked and said, "Roger that Major!"
After this, he met up with Parvati and Shrishti and instructed Shrishti to stay with Parvati for two days until he returned from Punjab and left the hospital for the airport.
Same Day Afternoon, Punjab, India
Background Music [Haiwaan (From Animal)]
[Conversation from here on out till Naruto leaves Punjab will be in Punjabi]
In the lush farms of Kartarpur, Punjab lived the Tabar family. Today was also an ordinary day for them, in the late morning, Gurpreet Singh Tabbar [Nickname: Gippi] was bench pressing on the terrace, and spotting him was his brother Harpreet Singh Tabbar [Nickname: Happy], when Happy saw three large SUVs coming towards their house and stopping before it's gate.
Gippi felt his brother stop spotting and also sat up to see who it was, along with, Gurnoor Singh Tabbar, who was on the terrace, also saw the SUVs and took a rifle in his hand to see who it was, and Manpreet who was changing his car's engine oil was surprised as to why there were SUVs in front of their house.
Out of the front SUV came Naruto who was driving it. He was dressed in a formal shirt and pants and had a cream-colored overcoat on with his dyed raven locks left untied with a blond beard and sunglasses on. He got out of the SUV breathing in the fresh air of the village.
Parvinder Kaur Tabbar, wife of Balbir Singh Tabbar who was combing her granddaughter's hair was staring at the young man with confusion evident on her face.
Naruto then started walking towards the premises when he looked up at the terrace to see Gippi and Happy staring at him with suspicion.
He removed his sunglasses, folded his hand towards the matriarch of the Tabbar family, and said,
"Grandma, you don't recognize me? I am the grandson of Dhriti."
A look of recognition came upon her face as she welcomed him to the house and he was escorted to the second-floor terrace.
Then a small kid came running to him and asked, "Is it true that you have two lexuses with you?"
Naruto amusedly hummed and lightly pinched the boy's chubby cheek while he continued, "My father has two tractors." He hummed in faux surprise while his mother, the wife of Gurnoor, lightly tapped his back and told the kid to go inside while handing a glass of water to Naruto.
"Thank you bhabhi [Sister-in-law]." She then proceeded to ask him,
"So are you married?"
"No bhabhi, not right now but surely in the future."
"Do call us at the wedding."
He smiled and replied, "Sure"
Then Parvinder interrupted and said, "Before getting married do show us the bride's photograph."
"For sure Grandma."
Naruto handed the glass back while looking at a person, who excitedly hugged him and asked,
"Paaji [an endearing term for brother in Punjabi, it can also be 'veerji' which also means the same], do recognize me?"
"Jetta [Nickname for Jitender]" he softly replied.
"Yes and do recognize the others, look there's Gippi and Happy and there is Gurnoor." Naruto nodded at that while Jetta said,
"Man, you have grown so big. So when did you arrive?"
"Just this morning"
Then Jetta holled, "Hey guys, K.P., Balli, look who's back!"
After some time, a Jeep pulled up with people in it, Balbinder Singh Tabbar [Balli] being the one driving it as he jumped out, he hollered,
"Why the hell were you calling me like a madman?! What happened?!"
While going inside he noticed the three SUVs parked there wondering what had happened.
End of Background Music
Then suddenly from inside the terrace an old man or better yet Balbir hollered, "Did you find who shot her?"
Naruto walked towards Balbir who was sitting with two other men.
"Sasriyakal [Greetings] Grandfather"
Balbir nodded acknowledging him, while Balbinder put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and asked, "Who are you?"
Jetta nudged and said, "Grandma Dhriti's grandson"
To which Balbinder replied, "Who's Dhriti?"
Jetta grabbed his arm and said "Grandma Dhriti"
Balbinder then said, "Dhriti Ghosh, but she was shot, what the hell are you doing here?"
Naruto replied, "I want help."
Balbinder then said, "THE Dhriti Ghosh now needs our help."
Balbir interrupted him and asked, "What help do you require from us?"
"Grandma has everything, resources, army personnel to back her up but the only thing she never had was time and courage, for that I am personally apologizing to Gramps but she is my grandmother. That thing is above all, whether the world survives or gets destroyed. Two bullets hit her, and no one knows when or where the next shot will be fired."
"Don't beat around the bush bruv" Balbinder said
"I want to request my Tabbars, to my brothers, I want your strength, your courage with me. I know this is an immediate and frankly absurd request, but only you people are the ones I can request this to."
Happy unfolds his hands and asks, "What is your plan going forward?"
Naruto looks at him and says, "Come with me to Bengal."
That is when Manjot enters the terrace, hugs Naruto, and says, "Paaji when did you come? You could have informed me beforehand. Man, I am so proud of you! Heard from a major of the Eastern command that my brother is not a group captain!"
After the brothers left the elders were discussing about the request.
"It has been years since the relationship was broken, and now just by listening to a damn story our boys will go after him?!" raged one of Balbir's sons.
Balbir calmly said, "When we were at rock bottom, it was his grandfather who helped us to where we are."
Then another of his sons said, "His father never tried to contact us, he could have rekindled the relationship. Right?!"
"You could have also rekindled the relation, son."
"But, father, our boys are going to fight a war, do you think we had the capacity?"
Meanwhile, Naruto was enjoying the homemade meal when one of Balbir's daughter-in-law said, "Son, this is our homemade food. I know you will like it."
"Taiji [Elder Aunt-in-law] this food is heaven"
Then Balbir's granddaughter-in-law said, "Don't worry about your brothers, they will surely go with you."
The story with the Tabbar brothers was a bit different,
Jasmeet, one of the younger ones raged, "Have you all lost your mind?! A monkey doesn't flip as quickly as you guys! Two little sweet he said and you flipped, do you have something to say?!"
To which Gurnoor calmly said, "I don't know about any of you, but I am going with him."
Jetta then spoke up, "I am also going with you." He then looked towards Jasmeet and said, " You moron, if he wants, he could have the army by his side but he was not here for that he was here to borrow his brothers' courage."
Jasmeet retorted, "Riiiight, after 20 damn years!"
"Jasmeet he is our brother, I don't know about you but I am going," Palveer said.
"I will give you a backhand. Go study for your college exams. I know he is new to this but the older one will understand." while looking at Manjot.
Happy then said, "Jasmeet there's no bigger thing than family."
Siddhu then jumped in, "What cause we are going for, our future generations will give our example that a brother stood up for his other brother."
Then Manjot joined in the conversation, "He brought the SUVs because he hopes that all of us will be going with him."
Jasmeet then softly said, "I wanted to hear this."
All his brothers were shocked at the sudden personality change, "What?!" some of them exclaimed.
"I was testing you guys, whether have we all rusted or not. Making a relation is like writing mud on mud with mud but upholding it is like writing water on water with water. And we all brothers will write water on water!"
They all laughed as they joined in a group hug.
In the evening, Naruto stood in front of the front lawn as the brothers got settled in the SUVs. He folded his hands to ask for their blessings in his endeavor and they reciprocated in kind by giving him their blessings as he settled in the SUV to go back to Digha.
Thus now what he did not know was that he got his greatest allies, his brothers. And together the Tabbar brothers reunited as a family ready to pounce at anyone like a hungry pack of wolves with Naruto like the alpha.
The Next Day, Digha, West Bengal
Once they reached Digha, Naruto called Parvati telling her about his guest and telling her to open their house, so that they could go inside. Once they reached, they offloaded their luggage and chose the one in which 3 people lived together. Parvati made lunch for all of them. During lunch, they met Shrishti, and it was a meeting of the ages, as Shrishti only knew Bengali and the broken English of a sixth grader. As hilarious as it was, Naruto felt pity for them so he became a translator. Then something more hilarious happened was that, 15 hulking men, who were there to protect and kill anyone were immediately melted by the cuteness of a sixth grader, and vowed to protect the said sixth grader. After sometimes it was decided that everyone would bunk, and Naruto would bunk with Shrishti while Manjot would sleep alone opposite Shrishti's room.
As the morning sun rose, after breakfast and morning workout, they started planning. Naruto for out that out of the fifteen of them, five of them were tech-savvy, and two of them had worked in the cyber security area, so it was decided that the five of them could do any form of hacking to gather information on their enemy. The rest waited for the major to arrive at their house, they did not have to wait for long as, at peak noon, an army vehicle arrived at their house, and Naruto knew that arms had arrived but was surprised when the major himself delivered it.
"Major" Naruto greeted him. That is when Manjot saluted the Major, "Major!"
"Major Manjot Singh Tabbar, it is an honor to finally meet you." Major Sukhdev Chandrashekhar said.
"Honor is all, mine. Sir." Manjot replied
"So, Naruto, they are all here?" Chandrashekhar asked.
"Yes sir."
"Good, now Naruto let me warn you, these weapons are not sanctioned by the government, we confiscated them from the enemy or terrorists but I will personally guarantee you that the weapons are in first-class shape."
"Sir, I do not care about the legality, only its functionality. Its working means it is fantastic for use."
"OK son"
With that, every one of the Tabbars took their weapons which ranged from CZ-100 to AK-101. As everyone took their weapons, Naruto was talking to Major Chandrashekhar,
"Sir, I have some more to request of you."
"Go ahead, my boy."
"Sir, 5 of my brothers are a bit more tech-savvy and thus can help me intelligence sir, I would like to take it from here and not give you any more troubles, you are a soldier, sir, you can't focus on just a single person."
Major chuckled at that and said, "Young man, there was never a doubt why you were made an Hon. Army personnel. Your Grandparents and parents would be immensely proud of you my boy."
"Thank you, sir."
"Do not fret about the intell. Collect it from me by the evening."
"Will do. Also, thank you very much, sir."
"It's my pleasure."
After the weapons deployment, the brothers went inside where Naruto addressed them, "Boys, happy with your weapons."
Balbinder smirked and said, "Bro, it's the best."
"Good, Shukhhi, Palveer, Gurkeerat, Man, and Ranjit, I want you guys to work around the clock to find anything about the killer. Once I get the information, I will give it to you. Find that motherfucker."
"Don't worry, we will find them, though we would need a computer," Palveer said
"My study room is all yours."
"Then consider your work done." Said Ranjit
"Thanks then enjoy your afternoon."
With that, Naruto left for his other side job [vigilantism] and returned for lunch, as the lunch was happening Parvati informed him that both of their LPG cylinders were finished, Naruto nodded in acknowledgment and mentally jotted it as another task to be done after he collected the information for the army. After a midday nap, he went out of the house, not knowing what his brothers were planning to do.
It took him three hours, but by 4 p.m. he reached his house with a dossier containing the crucial information along with the request for two gas cylinders. Since the delivery was in the morning, he requested his neighbors to receive it on his behalf. As he entered the house, he removed his overcoat and kept the dossier on the dining table, he smelled someone smoking and it came from his grandfather's study room, which was converted into a bedroom for the boys, so he went to check it out.
As he went inside, Happy was buttering a toast on a sofa while beside him was a white chick sleeping, while on the bed was Sangram doing a weird [childish, fifth grader] handshake with another white chick, while Manjot was sitting on a sofa massaging the foot of a white chick and another one sitting on adjacent sofa and smoking a cigarette. As Naruto entered, Happy loudly whispered, "Hey, Manjot." Warning him of Naruto entering, but it was too little too late. "What is happening? Who are these people?" Naruto asked in a shocked voice.
Manjot grinning like a loon looks at him, while Sangram covers his body with a sheet while Happy nudges the girl sleeping next to him to wake up. Then the girl next to Manjot says something in Uzbek, while Manjot says, "Housewarmers [For 18- people and idiots it means prostitutes]."
"You guys are married! Do even have an ounce of shame?!" Naruto scolds them while continuing, "K.P., you have a serious girlfriend right?!"
K.P. replies, "Paaji, I am not involved in any of this." Naruto then continues scolding, "Wife is away, so that means, you will do all this?!" while pointing fingers at the girls and their handler who was counting the money, and says, "Anyone of them can have a hidden camera on them, they can scan the house, do anything. Do you guys have basic threat perception or not?!" He claps his hands and says, "Come on, get them out." And then looks at the handler and rages, "Hey, get out motherfucker!"
Manjot trying to calm him down says, "Man how are you talking? Motherfucker, get out, get lost. They are our friends, they are our well-wishers. They would not come again."
"What do you think? We will call them here again?" Happy says to Manjot, while Naruto has a half-rage half-What the fuck face looking at the debauchery going on. The Sangram tries to calm him down and says, "Paaji, don't worry about the security, it's all normal. Everyone is personal."
"Whose all habits are these?" Naruto asks while Jetta who was near him answers, "Manjot, Happy, and Sangram."
To which he again questions, "So, why four are here?"
Jasmeet who was near him replies, "Manjot always requires two." Manjot had a come-on bro look on his face while looking at Jasmeet. Naruto then looks at Manjot and asks, "Do they know this at home?"
"Bro, who tells all these things at home," Manjot replies.
Jetta then says, "Bro, it won't happen again."
Naruto, fed up, says, "Don't fuck around guys, I know it is hard but come on! This was once grandfather's study room." And leaves the room.
"Come on man," Jetta says, while Manjot looking at the chick next to him says, "Sorry".
"Hey first you get lost," Jetta says while kicking out the handler as the prostitutes leave the room.
After some time, Naruto had finally calmed down from the fuckry his brothers had caused and called the cyber department to the living room so that they could finally have the intell and start working on finding the assaulter. As the brothers came inside the room, they were of the perception that Naruto was still pissed off thanks to their idiot brothers, so Gurkeerat took charge and said, "Bro, um, sorry about Manjot, Happy, and Sangram."
Naruto sighed and said, "It's ok, I know everybody has their bad habits and I am not condemning them for having them, but the problem is when the habits interfere with duty. Anyways, I want you guys to go through the files and find that fucker."
"Don't worry, we will find that fucker and his head will roll on your feet," Palveer said while taking the information file with him, while Naruto nodded as they left.
Next Day
As Dhriti was signing her release papers for Abhijit, Dhriti noticed Naruto walk in wearing a black shirt and pants and with a cream-colored overcoat and stood in front of her as from the sides all the fifteen Tabbar brothers came from either side of her chair and touch her feet and stood in a semi-circular arc with Naruto. She was in shock at what was happening and stood up and slowly made her way towards Naruto, who said to her, "Next time so much so someone scratches you, I will burn them." While Naruto was speaking Shrishti pointed at all of them and did the fantastic gesture [the hand gesture in which the last three fingers are up while the index and thumb make an 'O' shape].
Dhriti said with concern lacing her voice, "You did not have to do this much."
"Nothing is more important than your security."
Dhriti sighed in frustration and said, "Your silly little child. Come here," and drew him in a hug which he happily reciprocated.
After which, all of them sat in the cars and while returning to her house, she said, "Naruto, could you do me a favor?"
"Anything within my power."
"Do my lawyer and tell him to meet me today."
"Ok, that will be done."
Once everyone reached the house, Dhriti was surprised to see no one standing there. Generally, if something big happens in the locality, especially if someone gets shot, there will be a crowd in front of their house asking about their well-being, health, etc. but there was no one, as if reading her mind, she heard Naruto say, "I told the locality that you needed some privacy and security after the incident, thankfully they were understanding."
In front of the house, they met with their neighbors, as the ladies embraced each other and the younger one fussed over the older one, Shivansh went towards Naruto and said, "By the way Naruto, the gas guy came and fixed the gas in your house and also gave an additional cylinder." He nodded in acknowledgment before both of them were forcefully inserted into the ladies' conversations. As they entered the house, Parvati forced Dhriti to sit as she declared that she would cook for all of them, with that she sent Shivansh, Naruto, Sangram, and Gippi to the market to buy ingredients for the feast. The boys left, and Manjot approached Dhriti,
"Sasriakal Beeji [Greetings Grandmother], how are you feeling right now?"
"A lot better than the week before. So let me guess when that idiot said that he was going to Punjab, he meant that he was getting all of you."
"Yes, but don't fault him, when we heard about the shooting we were worried about you."
"How did you hear about that?"
"Well, I was once in the eastern command right?"
Dhriti chuckled and said, "You cheeky brat!" then she sighed and bullied through her insecurities and asked the question that plagued her mind, "How are everyone back in pind ['pind' meaning village in Punjabi]."
"They are well. Gramps still wishes you could come to visit us."
"I know, but sometimes I just can't, so many memories, so much love yet so much pain. Your uncle offered me to come to Bombay with him when they shifted away, though it was more like your aunt who gave me the proposal, but I could not for me this was my life. Then after your great-grandfather's death, going to pind became too much painful for me. Balbir tried but you cannot help someone who does not want to be helped. Anyways, enough about me, about the guns I saw. I know that air security would not allow guns and the same about the railways. So how did you get the guns?"
Manjot gulped knowing that he would get grilled he threw Naruto under the bus by saying, "Well Naruto arranged the guns with the help of Major Sukhdev Chandrasekhar. Most of them are a bit illegal."
"A bit illegal?"
"Mostly confiscated from terrorists."
"You boys are going to be the death of me."
"Hehehe, sorry grandma."
"It is good to see you all here."
"Us too grandma, us too."
As the talk came to an end with Manjot informing him about his wife and others introducing themselves and chatting, the four men who went out came back with a variety of vegetables and spices. As they put the groceries on the table, Naruto insisted on helping out Parvati in the kitchen, while Shrishti was clinging to her grandmother and Dhriti accepted it, knowing about how her granddaughter lost her parents and then almost lost her also. The afternoon feast was a blast for the group as the brothers could not stop singing praises of both Naruto and Parvati. As the evening came around, the family lawyer Arjun Roy visited them. He was a bit shocked at the amount of security but was escorted inside the house.
Inside the house, he and Dhriti went into her study room where they were discussing something, while Naruto was in his room resting after the day's work, that is when Jetta knocked on his room door, "Paaji, grandma is calling you to her study room."
"Did she tell you why?"
"No" Naruto nodded and left towards the study room. As he reached the room, he knocked on the door and entered the room. Dhriti ushered him in by saying, "Naruto, come in. I think you have met my lawyer Arjun Roy."
Naruto nodded and shook the said man's hand, "Nice to meet you again."
"You too."
"So, why have you called me here?"
"Naruto, I need you to sign some documents."
"Sure." With that, the lawyer pointed to the space and Naruto signed it. Once done it was evening, so Dhriti insisted him to stay for dinner. And after dinner, everyone went to sleep.
Next Day
In a remote building,
A person rang the telephone,
"Yello Mate!"
"You sound a lot jolly for a person whose targets are under high-end security."
"Oh! That. That's not a problem anymore. Today she dies along with the brat and one or two collateral damages."
"Oh! Really! Pray tell how?"
"That would be telling, but should I tell you my plan?"
"You should because I paid you."
"Humph spoilsport! Anyway, I have created 6 fake signals, and knowing your little soldier problem would rush in like a mad bull. I am anticipating about nine to twelve and at best fifteen of the security boys to go after the signal, then I will kill them."
"You told me how you will drive away the security, what about the murder?"
"You see your little soldier had submitted a request for LPG gas cylinders, now instead of the guys at the office taking it I took it, and delivered the two cylinders but one of them had a time bomb. So TIK TIK BOOM!"
"Heh, there was a reason I paid you. But what about the little soldier, how are you going to kill him."
"Mate, you did not give me money for killing him. Money equals Murder."
"You greedy bitch!" With that, he cut the phone.
Ghosh House
Naruto woke up to the sound of breaking glass. He woke with a jolt, thinking someone had broken into the house. As he ran downstairs, he saw not only him but some of the brothers were awake as well. When they reached downstairs, they saw a black cat had pushed one of the spice jars. It irritated them but they started their morning early as their sleep was already destroyed. The rest of the morning was pretty mundane for them, after breakfast the tech team went to work to find any ounce of a clue for it was futile as they could not find anything.
Shrishti woke up that morning with a cold sweat and a sense of dread filling her as she had a nightmare of getting burnt alive. Dhriti on the other hand a weird dream of talking to her father and her husband. As both of the ladies woke up, the breakfast was being prepared. So not thinking anything both of them got freshened up and sat for breakfast. After that they had a slow morning which turned into the afternoon, doing mundane jobs and chatting with the neighbors.
The lunch was a rowdy affair as usual but Naruto, Dhriti, and Shrishti along with some of the Tabbar brothers had an underlying sense of dread filling their hearts. After the late lunch at 2 p.m., the tech department shockingly made a breakthrough, they had hacked some CCTV cameras in the state and had tapped some calls and had a possibility of finding the criminal jotted down to six places, two in Shankarpur, two in Padima and two in Talgachhari.
As soon as Naruto heard the news of finding the criminals, he immediately called for a meeting with the brothers.
"So, bro what happened?" Manjot asks.
"Palveer, tell them." Naruto tells them. Then Palveer shares the intell with them.
"Are we one hundred percent sure about this?" Sangram asks.
"I don't know, but it is worth a shot." Naruto replies and then continues, "Also the areas are fifteen to twenty minutes away from here."
"So we go in blind?" Ranjit asks.
"Yes"
"So, how are we doing it?" Gippi asks.
"We will go in pairs of two and four of us will stay here while the rest twelve of us will go. One techie will go with one non-techie. You can make your pairs."
With that, it was decided that Gurkeerat and Balbinder would be a pair investigating one place in Shankarpur while the other would be done by Naruto and Manjot. Sangram and Man will go to Padima along with Ranjit and Jetta while the two pairs that will go to Talgachhari will be Palveer and Happy and Sukhhi and Gippi. While K.P., Siddhu, Harpreet, and Jasmeet will guard the house. As this was decided they all left with the blessing of Dhriti.
Meanwhile
A Caucasian man with raven hair, a light beard, and 6 ft. tall was going through the locality when he saw the Tabbar brothers pass by him. He smirked and called someone.
"Hello, mate." He said.
"Hello"
"Well, your little problem soldier just went out."
"So what?"
He sighed and said, "Well in 10 minutes your target is dead forever."
"Hehahaha, Good! Very Good!"
Back with the Tabbars
As Naruto and Manjot went in Shankarpur and then wildly started searching for the killer not knowing that they passed him. As they found the building, they wildly searched for the shooter and came with nothing. As he was raging in frustration, his phone rang he saw Balbinder calling him and telling him they found nothing. Not only Balbinder but Jetta, Happy, Sukhhi, and Sangram called him also telling him that they found nothing. He sighed as if it was for nothing, and then he told each of the team to meet them at the Digha bus stand.
Once they met at the Digha bus stand, all of them shared their experiences, as all of them found out it was just a hoax. Dejected, they all were returning home which was a seven-minute walk from there, as they were walking towards their house, they saw smoke coming from that direction, so they increased their pace and as they reached a bit closer, they could see a part of their house burning so, the brothers made a run for it, pushing the police and the blockade out of the way.
As he reached the front lawn, they saw Shivansh was still there, "Oh, thank god, you boys are here."
The only thing Naruto could say was, "How?-What?-When?-Where?"
"There was a blast 20 minutes ago, both Dhriti and Shrishti were injured along with one of your brothers, the rest three are ok, they escorted them to the hospital."
Without saying anything else, he and the others packed themselves into the other SUVs and left for the hospital.
Old Digha Oghorkamini Hospital
Abhijit Katta, a doctor by profession was sometimes not recognized as an Indian due to his looks. He looked like a Caucasian man with curly hair and a dense beard [Due to 'spoiler' reasons his look reference will not be disclosed], sometimes he felt a bit weird when the people from his locality would come and talk to him in broken English and would be surprised when he spoke in fluent Bengali, but then 3 years ago, his brother in all but blood, Naruto Uzumaki had appeared and faced the same problem, why? Due to his blonde hair, they pretty much bonded over this and other things.
And now the same brother in all but blood was rushing towards him like a mad bull, looking distraught. He grabbed him and tried to calm him down, but before he could say anything, Naruto questioned him "Where are they?"
Now, in his work, the worst part was to face the relative of the patient but it is what it is. So he bullied through and spoke, "All three are admitted, Shrishti miraculously had only first-degree burn, so was not a problem same for Sardar Ji but he had a bit of second-degree burns too, not that it is life-threatening…."
When Abhijit did not speak further Naruto egged him, "What about grandma?" Again Abhijit did not respond. "Abhijit, what about grandma?"
Finally, he replied, "I am sorry…"
These three words broke him from inside, but he listened to the diagnosis, "She was impacted the most by the blast, there were numerous third burns to her body. It was too late by the time she came here. We tried our level best, but could not do so much." When his eyes met with Naruto's, he saw a man broken by grief. Then he softly said, "She has about 20 to 25 minutes left, you can say your last words to her."
That is when the comforting hand of Jetta fell on his shoulder, as he looked towards him, Jetta nodded softly. Naruto inhaled and then said to Jetta, "You guys go and pay your respects to her, and I will go after you guys." Before anyone could he went towards the balcony of the hospital. As he reached the balcony he leaned towards the balcony and lit a cigarette then he took a few puffs of it before holding the rails with both his hands and lightly sobbing, the only indication being his shoulder shaking.
This was a new kind of grief for Naruto to experience. Sure this was not the first instance of death that he faced. Sandaime was one, but this one hit hard for him. Unlike Sandaime who used to visit Naruto once a month, give him his monthly allowance and Naruto visited him in his office, Dhriti was a real family member to him, she was there during his lowest of lows, and she showed him real kindness, without any ulterior motive, supported him through all his endeavors, and most important of them of all, she loved and cared for him like a family member and that kind of love had moved him.
A part of him was still thinking of this like a sick prank and at any moment she would spring up to life and hug him. He wanted to punch Abhijit in the face when he told him the diagnosis, but the rational part of him was commanding him to accept the dark reality.
That is when, his thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder, when he looked it was of Manjot, indicating that they had paid their respects and only he was left. As he was going we met K.P., Siddhu, Harpreet, and Jasmeet, all looking ashamed and defeated. He saw K.P. with heavy bandages on. Before anyone out of the four of them could say anything, Naruto softly spoke, "It's OK. None of you should blame yourself. None of us could tell that there would be a gas leakage, so it's ok, you should go and rest." That said, he went towards her room to see her for the last time. In the hallway, he met Shrishti, whom he drew in a tight hug and kissed her head, after some time he let go of her and opened the door to her room.
Once he opened it, his heart broke into pieces. Looking at her, his throat closed. He forcefully blocked his tears so he could speak. He slowly walked towards her sat on the stool beside her and spoke,
"You know I hate you a lot" he started with sadness oozing from his voice and continued, "You old people are the biggest hypocrites, you said never to break any promises, but what about you, you old bag why are you not speaking." He gripped her hand while laying his head down on her belly and said, "You taught me to live, taught me that there is life other than surviving and fighting, and now you are dying yourself, I HATE YOU, you old hag." He raised his head and looked at her, "You promised me that you would be there at our weddings and be there for me at any and every step of my life but you broke that promise but I am not like you." He found a scalpel near the bed, took it, sliced the face of his thumb, and said, "I, Naruto Uzumaki take the oath of blood that I will protect Shrishti till I die and that is a promise no matter what I will fulfill even if I have to flow a sea of blood, you hear me you old hag, I promise that." After that emotional high, he deep breathed and said, "Even if you were not my real grandma, I still love you like one, I love you, Grandma."
As if she was waiting to hear that, after he said that, her heart monitor graph showed a flat line, indicating she passed away. Naruto closed his eyes and went outside. As he emerged from the room, the adults saw his body language and understood. Parvati hugged Shrishti closely to her and her damn burst while others put their head down in respect of her. Abhijit came and put a supporting hand on his shoulder. Naruto turned to see him and then said to him in a soft, almost non-hearable voice, "When can we bring her home for the last rites?"
"There are just some formalities you have to do. Just some signatures and she could be transported home by the night."
"Alright." With that, he went to Shivansh and said, "Can you guys bring Shrishti home? I will have to contact the cemetery for her cremation."
Shivansh gave him an understanding nod and ushered Shrishti and Parvati to come with him, while Naruto ushered the brothers to go with him. Once done with booking the cremation, they stopped at a restaurant and ate after which, he told them to go to the house, pick up Shrishti and the neighbors for the last rites, and go to the local cemetery. In contrast, he went to the hospital and after some formalities, he took her directly to the cemetery. He steeled his nerve for the cemetery as they reached there. They saw the brothers present there and the last rites commenced, it was an hour-long rite after which her ashes were collected and given to him in a container.
Once home none of them could sleep for different reasons. The Tabbars could not sleep out of the shame of failing their brother and not protecting their grandmother. The neighbors out of the death of someone close to them, while the grandchildren had other reasons altogether.
Naruto lying on the bed could not sleep a wink, when he tried, his eyelids could not shut. So, he got up from the bed and started wandering around the house when he walked into Dhriti's study room, once walking in, he started reminiscing about the good old days, and spending time with her. She struggles with teaching him, joking with him, supporting him during his bout of vigilantism, also comforting him during his first kill, and celebrating her and his birthdays. It brought tears to his eyes as he sat on his chair. When he looked at her desk, his attention was drawn towards a certain envelope. The envelope was regarded towards him and Shrishti, so he chose to open it. There were two letters in the envelope, one towards him and another towards Shrishti. He opened the letter directed towards him,
Dear Naruto,
If you are reading this, then either you have broken into my study room and read it or I am dead. If it's the former, then boy get your ass out of the room before I spank your ass. If it's the latter then read further. I know you are very cross with me but as I told you, there are four things a person cannot run from, birth, aging, sickness, and death. When I was in the hospital, I knew my time was up. I knew I had completed my life's mission. What mission you may ask? It was to guide a terrified child to become a lion. Before I met you, there was a part of me that always felt incomplete, as if someone was telling me to do something, the was a bear in me trying to get out. When I met you, I did not see a dangerous rogue ninja, I saw a terrified little child, whose reality was shattered, who was afraid to trust. After I met you I found my life's calling, first Abhijit, then you. Maybe my life's mission was to help people like you, who have lost their way to guide them. When the first bullet hit me, I could hear you shouting at me to watch out "Dida watch out!" by the second bullet, I realized, I was alone. When you came back, I was so happy that I would not die alone. I know that the bullets won't be the only assassination attempt, if I die an unnatural death, don't go taking revenge. No one is a saint in this world, the world can never be black and white, it is always grey. I am getting karma for what I have done. And I have done things, I will never forgive myself, so do not go flowing other's blood. When I met you, I knew you were special, you were a grandson, I will never deserve. If I die, do me a favor, or rather two favors. First be there for Shrishti, no matter what. And secondly, call Arjun so he could deliver my will.
Your Loving Grandmother
Dhriti Ghosh
Naruto was silently sobbing after reading the letter, regretting his action of not spending the last moments of her life. He sobered up after some minutes of sobbing and went towards the kitchen to drink water and eat a midnight snack, after which he went towards his room that is when he heard someone go up the stairs, when he checked he saw it was Shrishti going up towards the terrace. When he saw her, he made a decision. He went towards Dhriti's study room and took the letter tailored towards Shrishti. He went up towards the terrace and saw Shrishti sitting, facing towards the railing.
Sometimes silence speaks the loudest. He quietly went on the roof and sat beside her, and then he slowly slid the letter on her lap. As she read the letter she started bawling, and the only thing Naruto did was hug her tightly. She cried herself to sleep and Naruto carried her to her room and tucked her in.
Next Day
As the morning came, the news spread like wildfire in the locality and everybody came to their house to pay their respects. Not only the locality but also the extended family in the pind, called him and asked about what happened and gave their condolences and then Naruto gave the phone to Manjot so he could talk. While all this was happening, Major Chandrashekhar visited.
"How are you feeling?" The Major asks.
"Numb, but thank you for asking. And thank you for coming."
"No problem. She was a great person."
"She was." Naruto then inhaled and said, "Well since we don't need the arms anymore you can take them."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yeah, she dead, so there is no need for no weapons."
"Ok."
With that, he went inside the house and took out all the weapons that were given to them. And then handed to the Major, "Here, these are the entire weapon, check them."
"OK, yeah it is the entirety."
"OK, thank you."
"No problem, but do call me if anything happens."
"For sure." With that, he left the house and Naruto then called the lawyer. "Hello," Arjun answered.
"Hello, this is Naruto."
"Hello Naruto"
"Hey, I called to tell you, that Grandma passed away yesterday night."
"Oh, my condolences."
"So, Grandma instructed me to call you after her death, and said about some will."
"Oh, that! OK, no problem. I will be at your house in thirty minutes."
"Ok thank you."
After half an hour, Arjun arrived at the Ghosh house. He went in and met Naruto and both of them went inside Dhriti's study room. After getting seated, Arjun started talking, "Sorry for your loss." Naruto nodded and then Arjun continued, "Well, Dhriti predicted her death in near times. So, she modified her will."
"What will?"
"Well, she had made a will about dividing her money and property between you and Shrishti. Since Shrishti is still a minor, you were the only person she could depend on for the legal work."
"Ok, so, how much are we talking?"
"Well, she made you the official guardian of Shrishti, so all her share will be under your care until she becomes a major." Naruto nodded and then said, "So what split are we talking about?"
"It is a 50-50 split."
"How much is a share worth?"
"Well, both of your shares are worth rupees 10 Crores [100 million] each."
Naruto's eyes bugged in disbelief, "You fucking with me?"
"No, I am not. She was a great businesswoman. She has some real estate here in India and some in the foreign, investments in companies, and her total assets worth up to 21 Crores [210 million] rupees."
Naruto was shocked still. He did not know, how much she was worth and she was that rich. Now, he realized how she could afford five passports and tried to sponsor his trip. After some time he said, "Motherfucker, so how will the asset be divided."
"Well, as you have visited the foreign countries, you get the foreign real estate, some in Turkey, some in England, some in the US, and some in France." Naruto nodded, and then he said, "Ok fine, so do I have to sign on some shit or something."
"Well, you did two times."
"Oh, so that was, that for."
"Yes."
"Oh ok thank you, sir."
"No problem." With that, he stood up and said, "Well I will take my leave now."
Naruto also stood up and said, "Yes, let me escort you out."
As the lawyer was leaving something was brewing between the Tabbar brothers after he entered the house and that is when Manjot approached him with something important.
Flashback, to the morning
Manjot could not sleep last night as the death of Dhriti struck him. This was the first time that he lost someone personal under his protection. It burned him. The moment he closed his eyes, all his dead comrades called him FAILURE in a creepy voice. He could not sleep at night so he roamed in the house, and he saw Naruto sobbing in Dhriti's study room, this made his self-hate grow further. This caused him to think about the blast and his suspicions grew. The blast exactly happened after all of them left, exactly 10 minutes later. It was too suspicious for him. Then he remembered that the gas was changed just 3 days ago, when he overheard Naruto talking with Parvati so he thought that he would go to bed and ask Parvati tomorrow.
When Naruto was talking with people, Manjot asked Parvati when the gas was changed and his guess was correct. So he went towards, one of his brothers, a brother who was hungry for revenge, Palveer. So he approached Palveer and explained his plan. He was onboard and after their investigation, what they found made their blood boil. So he approached Naruto as he came back from escorting the lawyer.
Flashback End
"Hey, bro got a second?" Manjot asks him.
"Yeah, sure what's up?" Naruto replied.
"You might wanna come with me, I found something, you might wanna see."
Naruto nodded and then both of them went into Palveer's room where once the three of them were inside the room Manjot said, "Palveer, tell him."
Naruto looked towards him as he said, "Well bro, I know this might sound offensive to you, but do not interrupt me while I will be telling you what I found out" Naruto nodded, "Well…There is no sugarcoating… Grandma was murdered." As he looked at Naruto's face, it was a cold face with his eyes telling him to go on, "You can see on the screen there are three pictures, one during her shooting, another as the guy came to change the gas, and the last one was after we left for the ghost search."
Naruto nodded and Palveer continued, "They once zoomed in, we can see he had an 'A' tattoo on his hand, so either this guy is a gang, which is highly impossible or he is a cold-blooded assassin, which is likely true. It took some time to render but this might be the tattoo." He handed Naruto a picture. All Manjot saw in Naruto was a cold emotionless face.
Naruto then spoke in a soft voice, "You guys, let's go have dinner, tomorrow, at the terrace where we meet up." With that, all of them went for dinner.
Same Day Midnight
Naruto was sitting on the porch shirtless, only with his white pajamas on. One hand holds the tattoo picture, an old monk is in the other hand, and a cigarette is on the fingers of the same hand. His long hair was all messed up reminiscing the past.
Short Flashback: Three Years Ago – Valley of the end
Sasuke said to him, "You cannot understand me!"
Short Flashback End
Naruto then started talking to himself, "Hehe, I hate to say it but that cunt was right about that. Sorry, Grandma, but blood will flow. I did tell you, if anybody so much so put a scratch on you, I will burn them." As he was speaking that, he again looked at the tattoo and burned it. He knew that tattoo very well as it was of that gang he beat up during his stay in L.A. The only thing in his mind after he took a puff of his cigarette and then a swig of his old monk is revenge and his eyes turned red thinking about it.
Meanwhile in Elemental Nations – Konohagakure
In the hokage office, Tsunade and her unofficial advisor Jiraiya were chatting, Tsunade said, "Jiraiya, 3 years have passed"
"I know"
"Do you think-"
"He is alive Tsunade, I know, he is alive."
Arc: India Arc [Flashback Arc] (Arc II)
Date: 03.07.2024
Words: 10,139
~Cubicreates