CHAPTER 20
Inspecting the damage done to the entrance room and the elevator, Naruto's face was a tersely grim mask. His lips were pressed tightly into a straight line, fighting against a frown but still clenching and unclenching his teeth.
Twenty nine group members had been slain, all of whom were now covered with white sheets to hide the hideous wounds and scars on their bodies. The white sheets bore splotches of dark red, still oozing from the open wounds on the corpses' bodies.
The atmosphere was sullen and quiet, with the group members that had followed Naruto into the room remaining respectfully silent with their heads dipped and their hands at their backs. However, there were some low sobs.
Naruto knelt beside a covered body, one with a large bloody stain on its neck and stomach area, and gently patted the back of a grieving group member, who sobbed inconsolably, clutching the exposed hand of the dead person in both of his hands.
The man's eyes were wrenched shut, shaking terribly and pressing the person's hand to his brow.
Naruto's pale eyes dimmed, reaching around to the man's other shoulder and pulling him into a side hug.
Naruto knew everyone in his Whisper Group.
Everyone.
If he didn't personally recruit them, he organised for them to undergo rehabilitation, or he sent their children to school, or he cleaned them up and gave them a new life. Or at the very least, he had sat down with them and talked to them—signed—extensively about their life.
He knew them by their faces and their names.
Thousands of rehabilitated homeless people and destitutes, junkies that were simply searching for a better life, disgraced ninjas that had been foisted out of their nation's ninja force, discredited professionals that were bankrupt and down on their luck, forgotten orphans, and repentant criminals that wanted a safer and better life, all spread across Lightning Country, Snow Country, and some of Iron Country. Soon, Waterfall would follow, completing the organisation's assimilation into the northern regions of the continent, and then the rest of the world.
Naruto knew everyone.
The person lying under the white sheet was the man's wife. The woman had been ejected from the Snow Country military because of her refusal to look the other way as her superior stole items from a house they were raiding, and the result had been the utter dismantling of the kunoichi's way of life, seizing her money and other assets, finding a means to sack her husband from his job as a chef in the Snow Country military, evicting them from their home and expelling their children from the local ninja school. They had been recruited into the organisation through one of their friends and had met Naruto shortly afterwards.
Naruto promised them certainty in their lives; food, water, clothes, shelter, a supportive community, money, and a good future for their children, as long as they followed his instructions to the letter. He promised that to all his followers, and they willingly joined the criminal organisation.
Carefully, he stood up with the man and led him away from his wife's dead body. He nodded to a group member and the person came close and helped the man off Naruto, gently taking him out of the room.
More than thirty group members were crowding the room, standing away from the dead but raptly watching their boss, though averting their eyes when Naruto looked around at them.
His displeasure was apparent on his face.
Naruto turned around to the destroyed elevator, and Lio was there. The girl was on her knees, her forehead pressed into the ground and her hands on both sides of her head, positioned in total submission and acceptance of whatever punishment her boss decided. She hadn't changed, or so much as exited from the room, as the collar of her white dress shirt and the sleeves were blackened and frayed from using her fish eyes jutsu, as well as expelling her chakra.
The girl didn't dare lift her face.
Nearby, One leaned against the mangled elevator and was filing her nails, tutting in disapproval. The girl was dressed in a sleeveless purple and black kimono, fitted to allow her the best mobility, with a large black sash tied twice around her thin waist, a deep brown, long-sleeved shirt that hid her arms, and dark sandals that showed her trimmed toenails. There were a pair of tough purple forearm guards on each arm. She also wore a plain white bandanna around her forehead, tying down her short orange hair.
Underneath the bandanna and drawn on her forehead was a modified Caged Bird seal.
It was the condition attached to her employment in Whisper Group.
If not for the caged bird seal, she would not have been armed; a simple katana with a purple and black woven handle was attached to her hip, enclosed inside a plain black sheathe. The handle guard was square and unassuming. The clothes and the sword, though selected by One, were done to project the image of a samurai, or at least a samurai-in-training.
She, nevertheless, carried ninja weapons under her clothes.
One glanced at the doors of the elevator that had been torn apart and the destroyed interior light, and shook her head again, clicking his tongue.
The silence strangled the air.
"Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy…" One muttered, breathing heavily and regarding Lio's subservient posture with visible contempt. Her words broke through the tense silence, both unafraid of her brother and condescending of Lio. "This is what happens when you play with your food. Things get messy and your target escapes."
Other group members looked at each other uneasily, then glanced at their boss, and saw the way his knuckles whitened as he clenched his fists.
Lio trembled. The hands on both sides of her head slowly curled into her palms and her back tensed.
One smirked, gasping dramatically and covering her mouth in faux disgust. "You're not even sorry." She gestured to the dead, tutting like a disapproving parent. "Look at all these—"
Naruto snapped his finger and One's lips shut immediately, and not by any seal compulsion.
The sound of the boss's finger snap rang through the silence like a death bell, and the group members stood upright. One unconsciously straightened up and squared her shoulders, lifting her chin in defiance, but not daring to utter another word.
Naruto's byakugan thrummed aggressively and they burned, activated. The veins webbing from the corners of his eyes to his ears pounded.
The group members stood back with an audible shuffle. One took a step away and frowned, looking down at the deathly glare her brother was sending her. Her haughtiness was squashed and her posture was bowed.
Naruto pointed at her and pressed his finger to his lips. One didn't move from her spot, flicking her eyes up at him then instantly back down. She nodded dumbly and dragged her thumb and index finger across her lips, zipping her mouth shut.
Next, Naruto pointed at Lio.
Slowly, the girl raised her head. She looked up at her boss with sunken pink eyes, wet with remorse. Naruto's expression hardened into emotionlessness at the sorry sight of his friend.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" Naruto signed, looking at Lio without an ounce of pity.
"I messed up. I'm sorry," Lio answered in a quiet voice.
"Why didn't you kill him when you were at the auction hall?" Naruto pressed mercilessly. "It could have been self-defence after he used the illusion on you, but you decided to let him escape."
Lio wilted, opening her mouth and saying in a cracking voice, "I-I…didn't want to disrupt—"
"Screw that!" Naruto snapped, barely holding back from using a more colourful word. Lio winced and slid back a little. Naruto's activated byakugan blazed horrifically, widening to make the organisation's boss look like a ghoul, even as his face was still empty of expression. He still had not had a good night's sleep or eating properly in a week, and it showed. "Screw disrupting the auction. You show our strength and put that fossil in his place! You should have killed him on the spot!"
Lio trembled, this time in fear, shakily nodding.
Naruto pressed his finger to his chest, signing, "I take full responsibility for not vetting him thoroughly. That's my fault. But since this is OUR territory, I trusted our ability to maintain order." He scowled at the girl, and Lio crept back again with a whimper. "That man made us look weak, Lio. Not dealing with him immediately put our credibility in jeopardy. You know better."
"I-I'm sorry, sir," the girl stammered.
Naruto's face twisted and he turned around, sucking in a long breath through his nose and shutting his eyes. The group members seeing their boss forcefully calm himself shuffled uncomfortably.
One glanced up at Naruto's back, though her eyes shot down when he turned back around.
"Did you tag him?"
Lio nodded, a glimmer of light flickering in her eyes, hopeful. "Yes, sir."
"Where is he now?"
"I—" The girl wilted. Naruto's eyes narrowed. "He's…still underground. I don't know where…" she then shuffled forward on her knees, placating Naruto, "But as soon as he surfaces, I'll find him."
"Fine." Naruto spat. "As soon as you have a location, let me know."
Lio bobbed her head enthusiastically. "Of course, sir."
Lio's chakra had the uncanny ability to mark a person for life, creating a beacon only she could see or sense anywhere around the world. It was how the girl was able to locate Naruto wherever he was when they first met when he had tried to lose her.
Now, though, the same ability the person named "Zetsu" had that obscured him from her senses was also confusing her ability to sense the chakra tag she left on the Uchiha man.
Naruto addressed the group members with him. "We've been compromised. This hideout and our organisation."
Guilt weighed harder on Lio and her eyes fell.
It didn't matter that Doton Kazahana and some of his family members were active participants in the auction. They were corrupt branches of an even more corrupt tree. Outing their organisation would work badly for the man and his family, so he actively covered for them.
Still, Naruto worried that the Uchiha would alert his clan and Konoha to their precise location and activity; not even Minato Namikaze knew that.
"The auction is dismissed until further notice; we will find another way to offload the items we haven't yet sold. Our top priority now is safely escorting our guests out of this place." He shot a look at his remorseful friend. "We can yet still salvage our reputation."
A few muted nods followed the boss's declaration, pointedly averting their eyes from the kneeling girl.
He pointed to four group members. "Call as many carriages as possible for our guests. There's no such thing as too many carriages. But make sure to be discreet." They saluted. "After we get everyone out, we will evacuate the base; rip everything out and hand it over to our people in Little Whirlpool. Buildings, portable restrooms, planks of wood, and curtains. Everything. They'll have plenty of use for them."
It was Naruto's initial plan when the auction concluded, but given recent events, the timeline had to be moved forward. Fortunately, since Little Whirlpool wasn't so far from the hideout, they didn't need to use carriages to move the auction assets. They could simply have people from the town come and collect the items.
"Pack up all of our unsold merchandise and move it to our base in southern Snow Country." If they risked moving auction items out of the country into Kumo, it could raise some alarms, and there was also the chance that Kumo would wise up to the existence of their organisation and stage raids in the redlight district. "I want this place to be empty and scrubbed of all signs of life by sunset. Am I clear?"
"Sir yes, sir!" the group members shouted, saluting.
Naruto dismissed them with a wave.
He waited as they trooped out, spreading their boss's order and ensuing a series of coordinated actions that started the end of the auction.
Before One could creep past him, he held his arm out, stopping her.
"What?" she asked hesitantly, looking at her brother with raised eyebrows. "I want to go and help."
"No, you're not." He shook his head.
One gawked, offended. Her glasses nearly fell from the end of her nose, before she pushed it back up. "Are you implying that I'm going to steal something from this fine establishment?" she placed her hand on her chest exaggeratedly, rolling her eyes. "I am a proud member of this esteemed organisation, brother. I would never…"
Her humour tapered off at the unamused and unimpressed look on Naruto's face. His empty side-eyed stare wore down on her attitude and she smiled shakily, shrugging in surrender.
"What do you want me to do, boss?"
"There's been a change of plans. You're not going to Kumo. You'll be meeting your teammates at the Samurai Bridge in Iron Country." One's eyes lit up, a smiling tugging at her lips. "Our caravans going to Iron Country will escort you there."
"Great," she chirped.
Naruto then faced her fully, his serious expression wiping the smile off her face. He tapped her forehead, where underneath the bandanna, she was reminded of the caged bird seal.
He didn't need to sign anything further.
If she took one step out of line, Naruto assured her of pain.
Unimaginable pain.
It was as simple as that.
It didn't matter that CORE pain tolerance was far higher than humanly possible; the pain was pain. It would leave her vulnerable wherever she was, and One didn't like that.
She didn't like that one bit.
One gulped, nodding and lowering her head.
"Great," Naruto threw a patronising thumb up, flashing a fake grin. He snapped his fingers twice and a group member swooped in from outside, wearing the dark clothing of a Whisper Group Shadow. Naruto's invisible enforcers.
He gestured to his sister and waved them away, and the shadow bowed deeply, fixing One with a hard stare and jerking their head to the door, walking out soon after. One hurried after them, jogging and anxiously keeping one hand on the butt of her sword. The shadow was taking her to the hideout's escape tunnel.
Finally, only Naruto and Lio were left alone in the roomful of corpses.
The boy cast a scathing look at the girl, and the girl shrank under his eyes.
He nodded his head to the door and walked out, as Lio scrambled to her feet and followed him. As he left, he snapped his fingers twice again and two shadows came out from the darkness, sealing the dead bodies into separate, named scrolls.
The dead bodies were going to be delivered to their families to be buried.
A consolatory package awaited each bereaved family.
When the shadows were done, they left the entrance room and sealed the door shut.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The Auction Hall
The Auctioneer was banging his gavel insistently, speaking over the din of angered yells from the guests.
"Once again, dear guests, on behalf of my Boss and our organisation, we would like to apologise for risking the confidentiality of this assembly." He hammered his gavel hard, nearly yelling. "We can assure you that all of your identities are unquestionably hidden and your exit from his event will be unnoticed by outsiders."
"This is an outrage!" someone shouted.
"An absolute disgrace!"
"Hmph! The insolence!"
"The gall!" Doton called irritably, pointing a brazen finger at the apologetic Auctioneer. "To inconvenience us for your own mistakes! I demand compensation!"
"Yes!" a swath of guests crowed. The rich guests and their bodyguards were raising a fuss, though a few of the smarter people crept to the back of the room. Zabuza and Haku ushered Gato away from the front and slinked to the back, warily watching as tempers flared. "We demand compensation!"
"Dear guests—" the Auctioneers pleading was interrupted by a bang when a chair was thrown at the bottom of the stage. The man winced, sweating profusely. "Please, let us not behave like animals."
A firm hand on his shoulder stopped the portly man from retreating, carefully easing him aside.
The sight of the newcomer sent a ripple of apprehension through the rowdy guests, still rancorous but more cautious, eying the person carefully. The person was a six-foot-tall man wearing a black overcoat, black boots and a dark wide-brimmed hat that obscured most of his face, aside from his pale chin and mouth, the white bandages that wound around his neck and the bandages on his hands. His clothing was reminiscent of a black hole, sucking in every ounce of light by his mere presence and demeanour.
A pair of bright white eyes glared from the dark recesses of the white hat, looming over the people like spotlights.
He leaned into the podium, gripping the edge in a display of muted frustration.
The people knew who he was before he introduced himself.
The One from Chill.
The Leader of Whisper Group.
He exhaled tightly from his nose and tapped the microphone. Once. Twice.
He licked his bottom lip and leaned down. "Hello."
His voice reverberated across the entire hideout. It was deep and emotionless, driving frigid blades into the lungs of those who heard it. A terrible hush fell on the crowd and goosebumps surged up their arms at the sound of his voice, exhaling hard as if to expel the cold from their bodies.
Although the setting wasn't exactly public, this was the first time anyone but the group members and the Kumo Civilian Academy Director had seen the elusive Leader of the reputable organisation, and seeing him now, they understood why the man commanded such undying respect among his followers. He resembled something that had walked out from the abyss. An agent of darkness.
Anyone who tried to get a good look into his eyes was unable to, as it seemed that their eyes would water if their stare lingered on the Leader's glowing eyes for too long.
He carried himself with a dignified posture, leaning into the podium to speak, but his glower of contempt for the guests was tangible.
The man's mouth curled into a forced smile. "We do apologise for the inconvenience." He nodded to Doton, and the Snow Daimyo looked unmoved, albeit gnawing on his tongue. "To make up for our…regrettable mistake, we have organised an all-expense paid trip back to your respective homes." They saw the man's faux geniality waver. "You will have all of your properties returned to you, and you will be carried to your homes in style and comfort." He gestured to the only entrance into the hall, at the group members waiting there. "Kindly, and in an orderly fashion, follow my people to the emergency tunnels." He nodded. "Thank you."
He stepped away from the podium, but Doton spoke up, just as the people began filing out of the hall, "What about Samehada and the Needle Sword? My primary goal here is to have them for my collection."
The One from Chill stared long and hard at Doton, his frosty glare eating into the Snow Daimyo's resolute stance.
"We'll keep you posted, Lord Kazahana," the other man said after a long pause, turning and walking to the backroom.
No one saw when the One from Chill dispelled the illusion of misty darkness and killer intent on him, revealing Naruto, the true Leader of Whisper Group. The boy tore off the hat and the overcoat from his body, messily handing it to Lio. Next, he removed a mouthpiece from his face and left it with another waiting group member.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Somewhere in Waterfall Country
Sunlight barely penetrated the dense waterfall into the hidden cave, casting glittering water reflections on the stone wall and floor but not illuminating the dim atmosphere much.
Kakashi assessed his position, not moving to sit up from his back, pretending to sleep. He looked through squinting eyes, breathing evenly and relaxing his muscles, and saw that the cave was etched unnaturally deep behind the waterfall, hence why the sunlight couldn't pierce the waterfall by much.
He also noticed that although massive volumes of water poured from the numerous waterfalls overhead, the crashing noise of the water making contact with the body of water below was faint, meaning that they were reasonably high off the ground.
He was lying down on a flimsy mattress. It was thin and barely separated him from the ground. He felt every jagged bump of rock under the bed, as well as the sheen of sweat, water and dirt on his skin. The air was dense with moisture and heat, making the boy uncomfortable as his clothes soaked deep with sweat.
Where am I…? the boy wondered.
Slowly and carefully, he twitched his fingers and toes, relieved that he still hand sensation in his extremities. He opened his eyes a bit wider but didn't raise his head, flicking his dark eyes about the cave from that position.
Now widening his senses, he started to hear something strange. Stranger than his current situation.
It was a faint noise like the rustle of grass hardened by the sun, rhythmically swaying back and forth by the wind. The noise sounded like it was coming from numerous sources that were all in the same position, prolonged and distant. Kakashi tried to think of what could be making that sound, but nothing came to mind.
The base of Kakashi's brain tickled and a headache pricked his forehead, making the by wince.
The sound faltered and Kakashi froze, holding his breath.
He stayed unmoving like that for what felt like an eternity, waiting. For what, he didn't know.
Then the noise continued, though this time it was nearer and it sounded different; it sounded like the restful hiss of a million snakes.
Kakashi's eyes bugged wide and he hardly controlled his first impulse to leap to his feet, carefully and slowly turning onto his left side, as if doing so in his sleep, and his eyes widened even more at what he saw.
It was a snake, but not any ordinary snake.
This snake, with its head hidden in the middle of its coiling body, was white and could easily wrap itself around the Hokage's Tower. Its motley white scales shook and wriggled in its slumber. Its body vibrated minutely with each hissing breath, and that was when Kakashi realised that the giant snake was made up of millions of other white and grey snakes, all sleep-slithering lazily along the massive snake's long body. Relative to the giant snake, the smaller snakes resembled maggots. Their eyes were shut.
The cavernous cave was just enough to fit the giant creature.
Kakashi squinted at the terrifying creature, confused, and then he gasped.
He remembered Obito, and the boy's vegetative state due to One's interference in the mission.
He remembered his brother taking One's side, refusing Kakashi's revenge.
He remembered his father, and what his brother had done.
It was as if lightning had struck the area between Kakashi's eyebrows, and he gurgled with heavy tears, clawing at the ground.
"Yesssss…" a rumbling hiss sounded, and the giant snake shook with glee, shifting and moving its massive body. Kakashi rolled away and got to his feet, crouched and looking up at the impossible creature with bloodshot eyes.
The snake unwound itself to reveal its head, and Kakashi's stomach dropped; Orochimaru's face had warped into something reptilian and beastly, with his black hair shortened and spiking about his head, his chin elongated and his nose smoothing down into thin slits, and his golden yellow eyes gleaming at Kakashi's despair.
It opened its mouth, showing rows and rows of venomous fangs, but Orochimaru's mouth didn't sync with his watery, slow words. "Keep hold of your pain…. It will keep you sssssane…"
The air became pungent with the stench of death. Kakashi warily stood back in his lowered stance, reaching for a weapon on his hip and gnashing his teeth that he was still unarmed and wearing the psychiatric hospital patient's pocketless clothes.
Orochimaru swayed left and right, slowly swooping down and grotesquely twisting his head. His mouth hung open and the words exhaled from his throat, adding to the overpowering stink. "Don't be afraid... Assssk…"
Kakashi covered his nose and Orochimaru chuckled, his face not moving as the grating sound ebbed from his neck. His motley skin writhed and Kakashi's cheeks turned green. He spat out his question before his common sense caught up with his mouth, "What happened to you?"
The Sannin laughed, longer and deeper. It was a sound like nails on a chalkboard, scraping inside Kakashi's ears with a blunt knife. The boy was starting to think that the man was speaking directly into his brain, with how Orochimaru's mouth wasn't moving. "My…pain became too much for my human body. I was forced to revert to my…natural form…" The millions of snakes on his form wriggled, moving like maggots through rotten meat. "Thissss way…I divide my agony…between mysssself and my ssssnakessss…"
Kakashi nodded, still covering his nose. His eyes watered and he turned his face away.
Distortedly, Orochimaru's neck stretched and he brought his face horizontally in front of the boy. "The sssssmell…issss of my decay…" Orochimaru's teeth snapped together into a fierce grin, saying in a clear but watery voice, "In thissss state…I am between life and death…conssstantly decaying but…consstantly healing…until I can finally bear the pain enough…to find another body to…inhabit…"
The man's grisly face neared the boy, beaming.
"May I have your body…?"
Kakashi jumped away, again scrambling for a weapon on his person but finding none. He snagged a sharp rock from the ground and held it up, much to Orochimaru's open mirth.
The snake fell into peals of sputtering, unbearable laughter, writhing, coiling and uncoiling at Kakashi's alarm. The action slammed his tail against the hard wall, creating tremors and leaving deep, jagged gashes in the wall.
"That's not funny!" Kakashi shouted, throwing the stone away when it became apparent that the snakeman wasn't serious. Either way, Kakashi doubted a simple rock would stop Orochimaru if he truly wanted to steal Kakashi's body.
"I beg to differ…" Orochimaru exhaled, bringing his head back around and staring at the boy, openly grinning in amusement.
Kakashi's serious face made Orochimaru snigger.
"Assss you are now…you are no match for your brother…much lessss his ssssiblings…" The hard truth made Kakashi glare at the giant snake, and Orochimaru lowered his face close to Kakashi's, breathing his words out from his throat and through his grin. "Encounter them…and you will be defeated…easily."
Kakashi grit his teeth but he doesn't contest that.
If Orochimaru had allowed him to fight Ten back in the ROOT Archives, Kakashi would have been soundly beaten.
CORE was one thing, and Naruto was another.
Naruto was the sibling CORE regarded as their older brother; him fleeing from them, and Danzo, had broken their hearts completely. They looked up to Naruto in many ways, and not because he was the most powerful of the one hundred siblings. By CORE standards, Naruto was still remarkably strong, and fast, his jutsu knowledge was commendable, his intelligence and adaptive skills were exceptional, his chakra control was good, and his ability to use his doujutsu was extraordinary.
For all intents, Naruto was a monster among monsters, but he wasn't nearly the most powerful monster.
Not by a long shot.
There were CORE operatives that had the bloodline ability to manifest multiple blades out of thin air, there were those that had experimentally modified magnet release that made it impossible for them to be ambushed, there was a speedster that could manipulate ions in the atmosphere, there was an Uchiha that could put a person to sleep by simply glancing in their target's general direction, Operative One had the Kraken summoning contract and was training to use her senjutsu, Operative Ten's ability with his wood release could suppress the One Tails, and there were a vast number of other such monsters in CORE.
For someone like Naruto whose doujutsu was the byakugan, he shouldn't have been anything special.
But he was.
Naruto was somehow able to reel in his siblings, despite how powerful they were.
There was one reason Naruto's siblings looked down on Kakashi; they all knew the boy to be far weaker than them, barely qualifying for ROOT, and Naruto associating so closely with him made Naruto look weak.
COREs disdain for Kakashi was no secret.
"Train me," Kakashi said after a long moment, bringing his face up and meeting the reptile's mirthful eyes. He bore the brunt of the unbearable stench, standing his ground when Orochimaru swept down to him, staring deep into Kakashi's hardened stare. "Make me stronger than him, so I can make him hurt."
Orochimaru grinned. "Of courssse…" he swayed left, then right. A small mound of snakes on his neck peeled off and spattered messily onto the cold, hard ground. The tangle of snakes unwound and rose, and one of the snakes gagged. A single, preserved sharingan eye rolled up from its stomach and stopped in the snake's black mouth. "Firssst…we level the playing field…"
Kakashi, enraptured by the red eye in the snake's mouth, stood still after Orochimaru's proclamation.
"Naruto getssss the byakugan…you get the sharingan…"
A slow, creeping grin snuck up Kakashi's face.
Things fell into place and events moved into motion.
The path Kakashi took for revenge was one he could never return from.
On that day, Kakashi and Orochimaru vanished off the face of the earth. The next time they surfaced was months later, in an event that sparked the beginning of the end.
The world would never be the same again.
Authors note
The next chapter, 20.5, is going to be about Lio's backstory. After that, we'll get into One's first job with Whisper Group.
There's still a lot of this story left to tell.
See you when I see you ;)
Foy.