And we are back to updating another chapter for Just a Dust Shop. Hope you enjoyed the first one and look forward to this one. Once again, if you like the story, then check out NeonZangetsu for his other stories. Without further ado, here is the next chapter.
Kakashi took a deep breath as he flipped the page and started reading immediately. He could see Kushina from the corner of his eye and was starting to get impatient which meant trouble for him if he waited any longer.
Naruto's broom attacked the floor ruthlessly.
There were no survivors.
"That's an interesting way to start." Kushina said with a raised eyebrow.
"Sounds like something happened, I wonder who he fought." Anko wondered as she grinned, hoping there was a fight and he just destroyed them.
The whiskered warrior hummed softly while he worked, sweeping bits of broken glass and shattered dust out into the street. It was slow going. Tedious even. Roman's men had made quite a mess; to say nothing of the hole he'd blasted in the ceiling. Really, he could have used his shadow clones to expedite the process tenfold by now, but it was the little things in life -things like this!- that kept him going. It also gave him time to think, to consider just how he was going to make Torchwick pay for his transgressions.
Everyone just stared blankly at the book with Anko pouting at the lack of a fight. They were all lied too damn it and she doesn't like being lied too. Damn it Naruto!
"Or maybe you're just stalling." Kurama yawned from his customary perch on the counter. "We both know what comes next, don't we?"
Without missing a beat the blond swept up a bit of desiccated dust and winged it at the fox's head.
"If you can talk, you can help." he growled. "I gave you that body for a reason."
"Oh, so Naruto gave Kurama his own body, but still has the Chakra?" Jiraiya asked with interest.
"I'm not sure. I didn't think that was possible if that's the case. The book will probably answer that question though if we keep reading." Minato said, his hand on his chin in thought.
"Let's keep reading and we can find out more." Kakashi said as he went back to reading the book.
"Fine, fine, twist my tails why don't you."
Cold blue eyes met his.
"You let him go." his partner stretched once and uttered a jaw-popping yawn as he hopped down to the floor. "He's probably delivered his message by now." with but a flick of his tails he righted a fallen shelf and swept the ruined merchandise aside. "Now its time to hunt him down like the dog he is. Him, his associates, everyone who knows his name. No one will respect us if we let something like this slide."
"Oh, so he's making this a hunt? Oh ho, I like this already. The chase is so fun to do, I know exactly how he feels." Anko grinned as licked her lips at the thought.
"I know right, it's always fun seeing your prey feeling cornered and terrified of what you'll do when you catch them. If he's like me in any shape, then Roman will be watching his back constantly." Kushina said with a laugh as she and Anko shared a high five while the others moved away from them. Nope not dealing with that mess!
True enough.
When you were immortal, you learned to appreciate the simple pleasures in life. When you ceased to age in the conventional sense of the word, you found meaning in the smaller things, the simple minutia of living. When time could not slow you, when death was unable to hold you, you had to find things to live for, if only to stay sane.
Surprises, for instance.
No matter how long you lived, you could never know all there was to know, never see all there was to see, for each day there was always something new to find. It added that little bit of spice to life. Just the sort that kept an ancient shinobi going. Even the odd spot of bad luck could prove a surprise, a shock to break one out of a tedious cycle.
It could also serve as a warning.
Not to him, of course, but others. There was always a bigger fish out there, always a monster hiding under the bed. Today, someone had poked that monster. Roman's actions had been...well, less a surprise and more of a shock. A wakeup call, really. He'd been quiet too long; spent lifetimes getting this place up and running, not for the cash, not for the reputation, but the simple joy of having something to call his own. People might wither and die, but a business, a legacy? Those were eternal.
And one punk comes along, ruining it all.
The handle of Naruto's broom cracked under his grip.
Not just him, but Junior's boys. He recognized the Red Ax Gang when he saw them. They'd destroyed no small amount of his Dust. He'd be paying the Club a visit, too. Kurama was right. Maybe it was time to clean house. Time to remind the world why you didn't mess with a man's life.
"Well, they'll be dead soon. I almost feel sorry for them and Junior, but at the same time, I don't since it was Naruto's shop after all." Kushina hummed in thought.
A phone rang in the back, cutting the dark spiral of his thoughts short.
Blue eyes shifted to regard it.
Glass and masonry crunched underfoot as he stalked towards it. Still it rang. Once. Twice. Thrice. It was an old piece of work; not a scroll, but a landline, corded and all, with a dial to spin numbers. He wasn't sure why he'd kept the blasted thing around. Nostalgia? Memories of a simpler time? Who could say?
Kurama hopped onto his shoulder. "You gonna get that?"
Naruto didn't speak. He reached down, and after a moment's hesitation, picked it up.
"Hello, old friend." a familiar voice came through immediately. "I heard about your shop. You have my condolences...
(.0.0.0.)
"You're in a great deal of trouble, miss Rose."
Ruby flailed her arms in a vain attempt to ward the words off, to no avail. They hit her like a physical blow, sending all her hopes and dreams crashing to the ground. Was this the end? Was she going to jail? No, she rallied her thoughts. This wasn't a police station. Miss Goodwitch had brought her here...wherever here was, but it certainly wasn't downtown.
"But why?!" she whimpered a little. "I was fighting bad guys! I did good!"
"Oh you did really well Ruby. She's so cute with how she reacts." Kushina was gushing at how cute the girl was.
"I agree with Kushina on this one. She's adorable and I hope we see her and Naruto interact more." Tsunade said in agreement.
"We get it Kushina, she's adorable, I'd like you to get on with reading if you wouldn't mind." Minato said with a groan as the redhead chuckled sheepishly but went back to reading.
"You did." the man before her tented his fingers with a sigh, "But it does not excuse your crimes. You inflicted significant property damage on that shop."
Right, calm down. Remember! This wasn't the police station. This was probably Headmaster Ozpin's office; likely one of the many he kept around Vale. He couldn't arrest her...could he? Oh gods, what if he could? She didn't want to go to jail! She was too young! Too pure! They'd eat her alive!
"Naruto said I wasn't in trouble!" Her voice hitched a little. "He did!"
"Be that as it may," Ozpin winced, almost as if he were afraid of something. "We cannot simply let you off lightly on this."
"So even this guy is afraid of Naruto? Jeez, is there anyone that isn't afraid of him?" Jiraiya wondered with a smirk.
"If he's been alive for as long as the book says, then it's no wonder that most people would be afraid of him." Kakashi said in agreement with the pervert.
"I'm sure he only goes after those that hurt those he cares about, so that guy shouldn't have anything to worry about." Minato said as everyone nodded.
"Am I," her voice warbled and she swallowed once to recover, "Am I going to jail?"
"That depends." The ancient hunter blinked. "Do you wish to?"
She made a keening noise through her teeth.
"Noooo!"
"That was a joke." Here at last his countenance softened. "You'll simply be repaying your debt to mister Uzumaki." He laughed a little as she collapsed like a wet noodle in her chair. "You will work in his establishment on the weekends, until such a time as your debt is repaid."
"Wait, why weekends?"
"Because," He continued with a smile. "I suspect you'll be quite busy with your new coursework in the meantime."
New what, now?! Ruby's heart skipped a beat. Then another. Another still. Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Surely he wasn't suggesting...was he?
"Bwuh?" she managed.
Ozpin leaned forward and offered her his hand.
"I do hope you'll be less rambunctious in Beacon, miss Rose."
Was he moving her ahead two years?! A full two years?! Ruby's heart howled back to life, turning her pale face a bright shade of red. Full steam ahead! All systems are a go! Forward, forward, forward! She lunged across the desk and clasped his hand, pumping it up and down like a madwoman.
"Huh, so they have academies too, but don't have their students start young like we do. That's interesting." Kakashi murmured.
"It seems like they have an academy that prepares them for the bigger ones and they have to get tested to get into ones like Beacon." Tsunade said thoughtfully when a note appeared in her lap as she picked it up. "Oh it says here, that huntsman-in-training go to their first academy when their thirteen and when they turn 17 they move on to the next academy for four years, but Beacon is the most popular and the hardest to get into, so they somehow get into it, they have initiations still before they actually are allowed in." Everyone pondered what they just learned.
"Okay, I'll say this, I'm jealous that those kids can have actual childhoods and not have to be child soldiers like we all were. It seems they don't have problems with the other kingdoms, but it's mainly the grimm that is the problem." Anko said with a thoughtful look and a little jealousy.
"Wow, Ruby must've impressed him a lot to get bumped up two years early. She has potential and with that weapon of hers, she'll only get better." Kushina whistled.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll be the best huntress ever!"
"Do not thank me, dear girl." he withdrew, rubbing his arm with a wince. "Thank Naruto. He called in a favor in a personal favor." that chagrined smile returned, more rueful than ever before. "Now then, I believe your mother wishes to speak with you."
All of Ruby's newfound joy turned to ashes in her mouth. Meep.
"Any chance you can, I dunno, pretend I'm not here?"
"Aww, that's my sochi, helping someone out like that." Kushina said in a coo at her son's kind nature.
"Who's her mother though if she scares Ruby this much? She must be impressive to even put Ozpin on edge." Minato said with his hand on his chin.
He sighed. "I'm afraid that fox is out of the bag."
"Wait, that's not how you say-
The door slammed open behind her, cutting the girl short.
"Ruby Rose!" a familiar voice cried! "You are in so much trouble, young lady!"
"Well, she's in trouble." Jiraiya said in a chuckle.
"A stern mother there, if anything. I like her already." Kushina grinned with a thumbs-up as Minato chuckled nervously, but didn't say anything.
(.0.0.0.)
Roman was late.
On a certain level, Cinder wasn't surprised; one could hardly trust a common criminal to keep their word in this day and age. No honor among thieves and all that. Roman had always been surly, and it wasn't as though he had chosen to cooperate with them. He and Neo had been forced into this arrangement, like so many others before him. Still, was it so wrong to expect a little professionalism in this day and age?
"Oh so Cinder is mentioned now huh? She doesn't seem happy at the moment." Anko said with a chuckle.
"I wonder what she'll do to him when she learns of his failure." Kakashi said.
"That's to say that it probably won't be good with how Cinder is annoyed at the moment." Minato said in agreement with his student.
Their place of meeting wasn't much better.
Golden eyes flicked about, regarding her surroundings with nothing short of disdain. What had Roman called this place? The Club? How droll. Even a private room such as this was too dingy for her tastes. Too much red by half, to say nothing of the wine. It would suit her needs. For now. Honestly, it galled her. She couldn't wait to be rid of this filthy city.
If it wasn't the bad wine, it was the people.
At least Emerald and Mercury had the good grace to be silent.
"Ahh, so she has her own personal subordinates. What does she have against the city though?" Tsunade wondered with a raised eyebrow.
"I wonder what they can do if she works with them directly, they must be useful enough to her." Kushina said.
"I want to see what all three look like, all we know is Cinder has golden eyes, but nothing else. I'm quite curious." Anko said as if she was getting an answer to her question, the tv lit up showing the three individuals.
Mercury is shown to be a pale, young man with gray eyes and gray hair, partially slicked back while unkempt at the front. Mercury wears a slate gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket that covers his upper body. He also wears a single notched belt with what appears to be a sash or bandana draped over it. Protecting his arms are a set of rerebraces and vambraces.
Emerald is a young woman with medium-brown skin and dark-red eyes. Her hair is a light, mint-green with a straight fringe and bangs as well as two long locks on each side in the back. her attire consisted of an intricate white top and an olive-colored crop top, on the back of which is her personal emblem. This emblem is in the shape of a cut gem, most likely referring to her name. This was intended to be accompanied by white shorts, decorated with what appears to be a gold coin-plated belt with four gold chains draping around her back from two of the coins and what seems to be a green loincloth. She also wore a gold, three-ring armband on her left arm and a string of gold beads near the same wrist.
Cinder is a fair-skinned woman with ashen-black hair that covers her left eye. She has bright amber eyes and looked to be in her early twenties. She wears a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck mini dress with yellow designs. There is a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress. The dress ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees.
"Oh Cinder is quite hot. Yes, some more material for my books." Jiriaya giggled pervertedly as he quickly started writing down her measurements.
He was quickly sent flying courtesy of a pissed off Blonde Senju who had her fist extended and it was smoking. She huffed and looked at his broken form with a growl.
"You perverted asshole, those books are a disgrace." She said in an irritated voice.
Perhaps they'd sensed her mood. Perhaps not. She didn't much care at the moment.
When Roman finally stumbled in, she considered killing him out of principle if nothing less. The man looked awful. His white coat was tattered and stained, his hat horribly dented, and good gods...he reeked! The smell alone was nearly enough to make her eyes water. Only her finer instincts prevented her from pinching her nose outright. Had he gone swimming in a dumpster?
"Where have you been?"
"Such a nice boss I have." Torchwick collapsed on the couch opposite her, all but sprawling himself out without a care in the world. "How are you, Roman? How was your day, Roman? Why do you look like shit, Roman?"
Cinder exhaled slowly.
Must. Not. Kill.
"Hehe, well he's in for a beating am I right?" Tsunade chuckled with everyone else agreeing, wondering how this meeting will go.
"I should probably feel bad for him, but he did try to rob my son, so now I don't feel any sympathy for the man." Minato said sheepishly.
"Naruto really did a number on him though with how he's looking." Anko chuckled with a grin.
This. This was why she loathed working with common criminals. Always so crass. Always thinking of themselves and nothing else. Always so...small, in their worldview. Never once thinking of the bigger picture, nor the long term. For all his flair and panache, Roman was no different. Ah, but he was speaking to her, and she must attend.
Her gaze flitted over him, noting the curious lack of the case she'd given him. "Where's the dust?"
"Don't have it."
A slender brow rose. "Excuse me?"
"Will he's dead now. I know that look anywhere." Kakashi said with Minato nodding his head in agreement as the women looked at them with her eyes narrowing making the guys stiffen.
"Some guy threw me out." he sat up with a growl and began, massaging his dented hat. "Beat my ass then kicked me to the curb like I was nothing."
"You cannot be serious." Cinder's mouth twisted in a grimace fused with a snarl. Worthless fool. "You lost to a common shopkeeper?"
"Of course not!" Roman's voice cracked like a whip eye, surprising her with its intensity. "What do you take me for?!"
Many things. A fool, a lech, hired help. But she'd assumed he was at least reasonably competent. Now it seemed that assumption was all for naught. Disgraceful. He'd gone with a score of Junior's men, meaning he was hardly alone at the time. And yet here he was, broken and battered.
She leaned forward in her chair. "Was it a huntsman?"
He winced. "Well, no, but...
So he had lost to a civilian, then. Deplorable. A strange nagging sensation tugged at the back of her thoughts. Surely not. What were the chances? She folded one leg over the other as she poured herself another glass of wine. Her luck wasn't that bad. It couldn't be. Yet that thorn of doubt continued to tug at her nonetheless. It just wouldn't let her be.
Curious.
...do you recall the name of this shop?"
"Eh, it was some dinky little place." Roman shrugged. Nothing special. Sparks and 'Splosions, I think? Weird name."
No.
"Oh, it seems like Cinder knows Naruto if her reaction to what he did to his shop is anything to go by." Kushina said with a grin. This was getting more interesting.
"I wonder what they're connection is though and how they know each other." Jiraiya said with the others agreeing.
"Let's keep reading and we'll most likely find out in this chapter." Tsunade said and like that Kakashi went back to reading.
"Joke's on him, though." he chortled, unaware of her dread. "Junior's boys really trashed the place."
No, no.
"Way I see it, he'll be out of business for weeks...
No, no, no!
Cinder's blood was no longer cold in her veins; it was ice, frozen completely. She could barely breathe. This was a bad dream. It had to be. She pinched her left arm, only to wince as pain flared through her limb. Not a dream, then. This was terribly, horribly real. Fury heated her heart, breaking her free from her frigid stupor.
"You must be tired, Roman." she whispered at last. "Come here. Have a drink."
He eyed her warily, but yielded beneath her state. "Don't mind if I do."
And just like that all of the reader's slapped their foreheads as they couldn't believe this guys stupidity.
"He isn't that bright if he's actually going to drink something while she's this pissed off." Anko laughed.
Like a good little worm, Roman did as he was bade. She poured, filling his cup to the brim. Roman accepted the glass that was offered and drank. His glass clinked against hers. Cinder waited, watched as he downed it in a single gulp, her body coiled like a viper. She counted to three. Two. One.
Then she surged out of her chair and buried a fist in his gut.
Torchwick doubled over with a rasping gasp and vomited what he'd just imbibed. Red liquid spattered the floor.
Anko chuckled darkly. "Ahh there it is. I like this girl." She said with a vicious grin.
"Me too. I hope we'll get to see her and Naruto meet. It'll be interesting, that's for sure." Kushina hummed with Anko and Tsunade who agreed.
"Why are they so terrifying sensei?" Kakashi whispered to his teacher as he and the other guys watched as the girls talked about Cinder and how they'd like to meet her.
"I don't know Kakashi, but we can only hope that this'll be over soon. Kushina is already scary enough, but the way she's getting excited about this is not helping." Minato whispered just as terrified as his student.
Cinder callously flung a nearby cloth at him. "Clean that up. You wasted good wine. Absolute ingrate."
He did so, wasted and gasping for air. A minute passed. Then another. Another still.
Behind him, Emerald gulped. "Cinder, should we leave...?"
"Stay." she hissed.
"What," Roman rasped as he looked up at her, "What did I do?"
"Its not what you did that angers me so, Roman." Cinder stood andpoured herself another flute of wine. "Its who you did it to."
"That fucking nobody?" Roman retched where he lay on the floor. "What about him? It was just a dust shop! What does it matter?!"
Fool! Imbecile! Idiot! She wanted to shriek at him for what he'd done.
"She's pissed. I'm liking her more and more." Tsunade chuckled with the girls nodding in agreement while the guys whimpered.
"That " fucking nobody" as you so eloquently put it...is Naruto Uzumaki." Instead, her golden eyes flashed over the rim of her glass as she drank, "He once was an...associate of ours." those eerie burning orbs closed for a moment, then opened again. "Do you know what we called him?"
Roman gulped. "I'm going to find out, aren't I."
"..." She muttered a phrase in a language he didn't understand.
His visible eye squinted at her. "What was that?"
"Japanese. She took another drink. "He taught me a bit. The closest translation would be...the boogeyman."
"So they do know each other and he taught her apparently. Oh, now I really want to meet this girl and learn how close she is to our son, don't you think so, Minato-kun?" Kushina asked in curiosity.
"It is interesting to know that they seem close if he taught her as much as I'm thinking. Think she and him are…?" He left that question in the air with the others wondering the same as they went back to the book, wanting to know themselves.
"What," he climbed to his feet with a groan. "You called him a demon?"
"Well, Naruto wasn't exactly the boogeyman." she sat and crossed one leg over the other. "He was the man you sent to kill the boogeyman."
His face paled. "Oh."
"Naruto is a man of focus." Thrice as quickly she stood again, unable to stand still. "Commitment. Sheer will." her forehead pressed against his. "Something you know very little about. "I once saw him kill three men in a bar with a pen." he looked away and she snarled at him. "A bloody pen, roman!"
"Hahahaha. The gaki is definitely brutal. I love it!" Anko laughed.
"A pen, we can do the same thing, but to hear that Naruto of all people is this scary." Jiraiya shuddered at the thought while also proud of his Godson.
"To think that they used to work together and the way she defends him, makes me wonder about their relationship." Kushina said with a growing smile.
"Now, now, don't get ahead of yourself Kushina, we don't know what their relationship is exactly." Minato calmed his wife down who pouted.
"But, think of the grandbabies Minato-kun. They'd be so cute if they got together." Kushina got teary eyed at her husband who looked away while Jiraiya and Tsunade chuckled.
"Then suddenly one day he decided to leave." her visible eye flashed with golden flames. "He never said why. He wanted out. We made a deal. A truce." her lips peeled back in a slar. "And then, Roman, a few days before the anniversary of said truce, you raid his shop, destroy his stock, and smash his windows in."
"To be fair," he hedged, "that last bit was the kid-
"I DO NOT CARE!"
Cinder rounded on him with a hiss, temper still unspent. Her glass struck the wall and shattered, spraying bloody wine everywhere.
Roman recoiled. "I can fix this!"
"Oh?" she cocked a slender brow. "How?"
Torchwick actually stood a little straighter, the fool! "By finishing what I started."
"Didn't he hear a word I said?!" Cinder cast a despairing glance at Emerald, then whirled and drew him into an embrace. "Naruto will come for you, and you will do nothing; because you can do nothing."
"But he let me go...!"
"Only to send a message to me." she pulled away and touched his cheek. "There is nothing he loves more than the thrill of the hunt." Her palm caressed his face. "I should know. He taught me a great deal, after all. I suspect he'll be paying Junior and his men a visit as well. But you...?"
"Well now, he's really putting people in their places if he can put the fear of god into people like this if this is how she reacts to Naruto now being in the mix. I am curious how she'll try to fix this whole thing." Kushina put a hand to her chin in thought.
"If he's going to be paying this Junior a visit for his men being part of the reason his shop was destroyed, than we know that he'll be making them pay in blood if he's anything like what we're reading." Anko's smile grew sadistic at the thought. "And I can't wait to see what carnage he does." She chuckled.
Without neither word or warning, her hand twisted, striking him. Roman's head snapped to the side.
"You have endangered years of planning." flame leaped to her hand, promising pain if he raised so much as a finger against her. "All my schemes will be naught because of you." She brandished the globe of fire at him with intent. "Count yourself grateful I don't kill you here and now! Get out of my sight!"
Roman got.
The door slammed behind him.
Cinder whirled and began to pace immediately thereafter. She had to fix this. She must fix this. He could ruin everything. Would ruin everything. She couldn't hope to stop him. Few could. Ozpin himself turned a blind eye to his activities, catered to him, appeased him, for fear of provoking his wrath. Nor would Salem dare involve herself in this. Which meant...
She reached for her coat and donned it quickly. "I'm going out."
"Ma'am?" Emerald flinched but a little. "I don't understand. Do you want us to come with you-
"No!" Cinder paused, realizing how shrill she'd just sounded. "No," she repeated, forcing her voice to regain its calm tenor. "That won't be necessary."
She had to speak with him. Did she still have his old number? Of course she did. She'd committed it to memory. Something told her a phone call would be...insensitive if she didn't visit afterwards. Fine. In person, then. It presented a great danger to her of course -to say nothing of her pride!- but there could be no risk without reward. Call first, then a visit. Right.
...so be it. Face to face it was, then.
Nothing else would suffice.
Damn Roman to hell.
"Well, that's the second chapter. I liked it." Anko said with a grin with Kushina nodding in agreement with the same grin.
"We learned a lot about Naruto. Who knew that gaki could be this terrifying?" Tsuande asked with some surprise visible on her face.
"And he has no problems with getting his hands dirty either and dealing with enemies like this. He's not afraid to use his strength to get his point across." Minato said.
"But what I'm really curious about is how Cinder and Naruto's meeting will go. That should be interesting to find out about." Kakashi said as he held the book up. "Who wants to read next?" He asked when the book flew out of his grip and landed in Anko's lap who cheered, having become very interested in the story.
"Yes!" Anko pumped her fist in the air excitedly as she flipped the book open to the next chapter.
And that's the end of the chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed the second chapter and will continue to do so. I want to say sorry for taking so long on getting this chapter out and to let you know that I won't take nearly as long to get the next one out now that I will be getting back into it. Take care everyone and stay safe, KillerSSGRed out!