It had been 8 years since one Naruto Uzumaki had disappeared from the mainland to go into seclusion so as to hide from those who would rather see him in chains than free. In the past 8 years, many things had happened around the Elemental Continent, though the biggest was the large manhunt for the person responsible for the death of the Fire Daimyo.
There was an unspoken rule that had been broken with his death, which was that shinobi of their respective countries would not harm the Daimyo of said country. In return, the shinobi had mostly free reign in how they ran things in their villages. The death of the Fire Daimyo, even though it was well known throughout the land just how rotten of a human being he was, had just proven to the people that said unspoken rule accounted for nothing. This caused the Daimyos, the nobles, and various higher ups to come to the realization that their lives weren't as safe as they had initially thought they were. That one action had been enough to bring fear to the upper class, and it would be that fear that would haunt them for the rest of their lives…
Hiruzen had been the one to find the massacre that had taken place within the walls of the palace. There were bodies everywhere, with blood smeared all over the place. The only ones alive were the staff, who only suffered headaches from the blunt force they had been hit with that caused them to be knocked out. Hiruzen had his men search the whole palace, and yet they could not find a single armed person alive. Whoever had done this had been thorough in their endeavors since they didn't miss a single one.
They then checked the dungeons so as to bind Naruto and begin the process of bringing him back for reeducation, but all they saw there was more carnage. Just like above, there was not a single person alive in the cells. But what shocked them was that Naruto's body had not been found in all this carnage, so that meant one of two things. Either Naruto managed to escape before or after what had caused all this death had done just that, or said person or group had extracted Naruto before they themselves got there to do it themselves. Neither idea was good in their minds since no matter what they were down a Jinchuuriki and that meant that their village was at a major disadvantage when it came to their power in comparison to the other major villages.
The pinnacle to all this apparently one sided slaughter, which is what this was given there were only the corpses of those who worked for the Fire Daimyo without a single one of an invading force, was the body of the Fire Daimyo himself…
Allow me to paint you a horrific image of what had been done to this man…
Whatever sick fuck had ended the life of him had been sadistic as well as psychopathic. The man was hanging from the ceiling by his neck. What kept him up was his own intestines that had been ripped out of his body and used as rope. His head had been ripped… ripped… off his neck and shoved into his chest before his chest was crudely skewered shut with various sharp objects, all of which were made of some fancy and expensive material. All his organs had been removed, and yet somehow his ribcage was not only intact as though it had not been touched, but his head was placed within it somehow. That made no Kami damned sense but somehow said person who did this figured out just how to do it. His hands and feet had been cut off, with one of his legs shoved down the now open neck, which was then cauterized shut around the leg so as to not bleed around it. The other three appendages were literally shoved up the man's ass, with his balls removed and shoved into the mouth of his removed head.
If that wasn't bad enough, the man's organs had all been taken, smashed into a thick bloody paste, and said paste was used to write on the walls and floor. Most of it was used to make arrows pointing towards the man's private room that housed all his Kushina memorabilia, but some of it was used to draw a massive symbol on the floor. The symbol drawn was the Uzumaki clan symbol, one that Hiruzen recognized immediately given he knew them years ago before he betrayed them. Behind the man were words written in what seemed like the last of the paste given it lightened up as the words neared the end:
Thus is the fate of a man so despicable that no one cares if he dies…
A man whose entire life was wrapped up into too many lies…
Too many lies…
Hiruzen and those who came with him were stumped on just what the person who wrote that was fully getting at with this strange rhyme, but they were all in unanimous agreement that it was fucked up.
So while Hirzen and his men tried to piece together what had happened here for hours, Naruto had simply whistled as he made his way to his destination…
And like that. 8 years have passed…
Naruto now looked out towards the ocean once more with a smirk on his face. When he had left the mainland 8 years ago, he had been far weaker than he was now, but now he felt as though he could take on the world like he had done in his past life. Sure he didn't actually do just that, but he did fight off an other worldly army with his own so it was basically the same thing in the broad scheme of things. So with his newly acquired strength, he summoned his shark shadow once more and hopped onto its back before heading in a random direction. He had no destination in mind so any direction would do.
Over the years as Naruto had lived in Whirlpool, he had learned one major lesson when it came to the art of being unknown and remaining hidden to those you wish to avoid. It was simply to avoid going to the same place multiple times. The more you go to a place, the easier it is for people to recognize you since your image remains in the mind longer the more they see you. It was this reason that Naruto had mastered that since he had gone to a specific small town for a while to get some supplies, those he could not get on the island country itself, and soon enough ANBU from Konoha had appeared to try and capture him. His senses had gone off like fireworks that day when they had laid in wait so as to try and capture him, so he had sent a shadow to scout the area and found out that his senses had been right.
So he stopped going to that town, which he honestly thought that it being a small town they wouldn't find him there. He had been wrong, but he was still young and the concept of hiding from so many people was a new thing for him so mistakes would be made from time to time. After that day, he had been random in the near two dozen towns he would go to. And only twice did Konoha find him again. Apparently whoever was in charge of finding him was not so bad at their job. Once, and only once, they actually found him and gave chase, but Naruto simply used Stealth to lose them. He had seen their power and knew he was no match for them as a group at his current level of strength. One on one? Wouldn't have been an issue, it was just a group issue.
So when he had left Whirlpool like he had now, he had picked a random direction like he had last time, and kept going all the while wondering just where his travels would take him. And soon enough he landed onto the sandy shore of somewhere. He had no idea where he was, but then again it was hard to tell where you were just by the beach since most of them looked the same with the exception of those with some sort of landmark. This was not one of those ones so he did not know where he was. So instead of questioning it, he sent his shark shadow away and began to go further inland to see just where he had landed himself.
He saw a town in the distance, so he pulled up his hood to hide his face since for all he knew this place was in Fire Country and was allied to Konoha. So he was not going to make it easy for that village to find him. As he got closer towards the village, he noticed that the place had a certain atmosphere about it, one that was dark and depressing. Naruto easily recognized it as the aura of despair, and that meant that the majority of the people were feeling this if even he was able to sense it. He looked around and saw so many people wearing torn and ragged clothes, buildings worn down and in need of repairs. Plus there were the few children he saw, who should be playing about as kids did, yet all of them stuck to themselves and didn't even so much as look up when he walked past them.
Naruto couldn't help but wonder just what the hell had happened to these people to get them to this point of depression, but his answer came not too long later. He heard the sounds of a man being beaten up, so he decided to see just what was happening. And just like he thought, he saw four men, who he guessed were mobster type men given their choice of fashion, were beating up a man into the ground while who he assumed were the man's wife and son were held back by a fifth one as they begged the first four to stop hurting the man. Naruto couldn't just stand by and watch this, so he decided to take action.
"Where is our payment?" demanded one of the mobsters who was beating up the man.
"I already paid Gato last week!" shouted the man in pain, "why are you doing this to us? We already paid!"
"That's funny," said the man who was on the side holding the man's family back at bladepoint, "since I do the bookkeeping for Gato and I don't remember a payment from your family." This of course was a lie since the man had actually paid the tax that was forced upon the people of this village, which was one of the reasons that they were in such a poor state. This was just an excuse to beat up the man to the point he couldn't stop him or the others from doing as they wanted, which mainly involved the man's wife… Even in poor rags for clothes, she was a looker…
"What do you want from us?!"
"We want the money you owe us," said another one of the assaulters as he kicked the man in the chest hard to the point the man was coughing up blood. He was so skinny from malnutrition since he ate so little. He gave what he could scrounge up to his wife and son since he loved them more than anything in the world. "So pay up!"
"We don't have any more money to give! Gato took all we had!"
"Well isn't that a shame," said the one holding the family hostage, who seemed more or less like the leader of this group, with a wicked smirk, "then it seems we will have to take another form of payment instead." He then looked at the man's wife, who shuddered since the look in his eyes were so very clear on his intentions for her.
"Leave her alone!" shouted the man, but he was then kicked hard across the face to the point where he saw spots. Then two of the men picked him up so he would be forced to watch what was going to happen to his wife. The leader slowly ran his blade up her clothes, all the while savoring her twitching out of fear since she knew exactly what was coming. Even though this was happening with so many people witnessing it out in the open, no one would aid her or her husband. The others were too scared to do anything, so she began to cry since there was no way out, and then she began to silently pray for some sort of aid. And wouldn't you know it, but she was just about to get her wish…
"Hey," said Naruto loud enough to get their attention, "let those people go."
"Look brat," said the leader as he turned back towards the woman so as to concentrate enough to slice her clothes off with his sword. He had to be careful so as to not cut her skin while he did it. "This doesn't concern you. Head on home to your parent's and stay there before I scar up your face."
"Uh…" said one of the mobsters as he took a look at Naruto fully. The people who lived here wore basically rags on their bodies since they did not have the money for anything else, and they had to sell all their good clothes to pay the taxes Gato imposed on them. Yet Naruto's clothes were not like theirs, with a cloak and clothes of someone ready for combat. "I don't think he is from here. Look at what he is wearing."
"I don't know what your parents have taught you in life kid," said the leader as he actually took a good look at Naruto this time. He had to agree with his underling about the kids' clothing being a clear indication of him being an outsider. "But here we make the rules and rule over the people. So if you want to live or be here you need to pay your taxes or else shit will get ugly. So since this is your first offense towards us, we will simply settle for all the money you have on your person right now and a light beating." The leader then snapped his fingers and pointed at Naruto. Three of the minions smirked as they walked over towards Naruto, who showed no emotion as they did given he was not afraid of these men. The things he had faced in both his previous life as well as his current one made these guys look so weak in comparison to them, but they did have the large group to make up for that which made them a threat to the people here. One of them was brandishing a steel baton in his hand as he stepped forward and held his hand out.
"Alright kid," said the man, "cough up the cash. Make it easier on yourself."
"No," said Naruto simply as he looked the man directly in the eyes. The man wouldn't admit it, but he felt a small chill go up his spine as he looked in the kids eyes.
"Well," said the man as the fear he felt vanished as quickly as it had appeared, "we tried to play nice, but what happens next is your fault." He then swung the baton towards the side of Naruto's head, yet Naruto simply held up his arm to block the attack. Even with the man using a metallic weapon, it didn't hurt him in the slightest. But given the fights he had been in in his past like, as well as all the various tortures he had been put through back in Konoha along with the pains of his training, that was easily understood. He then grabbed the man's arm and twisted it so that the other two heard the snap of a bone breaking. Naruto then swept kicked the man off his feet, and grabbed the baton the man had let go of as his arm had been broken while he was still in midair. He then stabbed the weapon downwards with enough force to pierce not only the man's chest through the heart, but into the ground as well.
This action had shocked the other two men who had been told to ruff Naruto up for his money, and it was that shock that left them wide open for Naruto to slash their throats where they stood. They died with looks of horror on their faces as they clutched their necks in vain to stem the flow of blood coming out of the wound.
"What the fuck!?" asked the thug holding the man they were attacking, "that kid is a shinobi!"
"I'm not really a shinobi," said Naruto with a chuckle, "I'm something far more unique." But he then heard a click as the man had pulled out a pistol of all things and held it to the downed man's head from the side. Yet it was a flintlock pistol, which was nowhere near as bad or as powerful as the ones used by the military forces in Sung Jin-Woo's world. So there was a silver lining to this situation at least.
"I don't know who you are brat," said the leader, who had actually stopped what he was doing to deal with the brat personally this time. "But you just fucked with the wrong people. Make a move and your friend will get a bullet in the brain!"
"You are making quite a few bold assumptions," said Naruto with a smirk that pissed the leader off as he saw it. People around these parts were supposed to fear them, yet this brat showed no fear in the slightest. "You assumed that man is my friend. He is not, since I have never seen him in my life. And second, how can you shoot someone without a firearm?"
The leader looked at the boy's hand and saw that the brat had somehow acquired the flintlock pistol his underling had been holding to their hostage's head not two seconds ago. He looked back to see exactly what gave, but that made the color in his face disappear since what he saw was a person made up of shadows there with a blade running through his underling's neck. Their hostage had moved towards his family to comfort them, and when the leader turned back around to face Naruto, the brat was already in front of him, punching him square in the gut hard. The thug leader had been sent back quite a bit, but he then fell to his knees as he coughed out so much blood from the internal damage he had just sustained.
Naruto walked forward towards the leader, all the while not losing the smirk that had been on his face. This caused the leader to feel fear for the first time in such a long time. This was not supposed to be what happened. He had ordered a few of his underlings to come along to strongarm this man into essentially selling his wife to them to have some fun with for the future. Everything was going as planned, but this brat had screwed it all up!
"You fucking brat!" seethed the leader as he grabbed a hold of his knife that had landed near him and pointed it at the brat. But that was short lived since the shadow that had killed the other one sliced the man's hand right off to his horror. He screamed out loud as he felt the blood begin to drain out and held his now stump of an arm to try and stop the bleeding. Naruto stopped near the man who had been assaulted in the beginning and held out the pistol towards him.
"I believe that man was trying to rape your wife as he made you watch," said Naruto with a smirk. The man looked at him and then the pistol that was offered to him. He looked at it for a second before he took it from Naruto and glared at the thug's leader as he walked slowly towards him. They had done a number on him and so he could only manage a limp as he was and knew he needed to rest so as to heal. But right now his rage was overpowering his physical pain and he would make this fucker pay for what he had done.
"Wait wait wait," said the thug leader as he saw the look of rage on the man's face, "we can work something o…" But he never got to finish that sentence since with a loud bang, the thug was killed with a bloody hole appearing right between his eyes. The man then dropped the pistol and fell forward since his body had given out at this point.
"Kaiza!" shouted the woman as she saw her husband fall forward like that and feared the worst. She held his unconscious body in her hands and held him close as the tears ran heavily down from her eyes. "Please don't die on me. You swore you would be there for me and my son always…"
"Well," said Naruto more to himself than to anyone else, "since I went this far to help…" He then mentally rummaged around inside of his Inventory and withdrew his final health potion. He had brewed so many of these things as he had several of his shadows grow as well as gather the materials he needed to make them while he had isolated himself in Whirlpool. The sheer harshness of his training made them essential to heal his body given he literally trained to the point of breaking just about everything in his body on the daily. But now that he was at peak strength, with there being some room to improve in time as he grew older, he didn't really need the potions anymore. He healed from most wounds by his magical power alone which was enhanced by consuming the demon that had been sealed within him when he was 7 so why use them? Once he had said potion in hand, he walked over to the man, who was more damaged than he had first thought now that he got a good look at him. "Have him drink this."
The woman took the potion he offered and looked at the red liquid inside for a second. But the desire to see her husband better trumped any sense of questioning what it was and put the glass container to his lips after opening it up. The man felt the liquid enter his mouth and instinctively began to swallow it down. Within moments, his wounds had been healed, with not only the internal damage being fixed, but even his bruises were gone. He opened his eyes and saw his wife crying in joy to see him well again like this. He leaned up and kissed her to make her feel better before he then pulled her into a hug that was joined by the young boy that had been there as well.
"Thank you… uh… well I never did catch your name," said the man with a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"The name is Naruto," said Naruto as he held his hand out to help the man to his feet. The man took it and got back to his feet. He then helped his wife to get back onto her own. "And might I inquire as to who you are?"
"The name is Kaiza," said the man with a laugh, "and this here is my lovely wife Tsunami and her son Inari, who even though he isn't mine by blood, I will always see him as my own."
"Well it is always good to know those you help," said Naruto. He would have said more but he heard someone's stomach heavily growling. Apparently Kaiza was hungry indeed, yet Naruto guessed that given the man's skinny body. "And it seems like you need some food."
"Well this is a bit embarrassing," said Kaiza with a weak chuckle, "but ah…"
"Have food to spare?" Asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow since he had a feeling that was where this was going.
"I hate to ask really, but if you could by chance spare anything…"
"Well I have plenty to share," said Naruto since it was true. He spent so long preparing meals that he then placed them into his inventory so as to eat later when the need arose.
"But where is it?" asked Inari in a curious tone since Naruto had no bag on his person to store food away. This was mainly due to the fact he had a magical inventory so it was easy to see how that was the case.
"A magician never reveals his secrets," said Naruto with a smile and a raised finger, "so let's go back to your place and I will prepare a proper dinner for you to eat."
Kaiza and his family, who were curious to see what he would make, led the way to a house that was on the outskirts of town. The place was close to the beach and in fairly good shape given the state of the village, but it still was wearing down from what he could see. He followed them into the dining room and sat down at the table with them. This confused them since he said he was giving them food so just how he planned to do that while seated at the same table as them only confused them more as they thought about it.
Imagine the wide eyed look they got when they saw large steamy bowls of ramen with all the fixings just suddenly appear on the table before their very eyes out of the blue. Not only that, but it was steaming hot like it had just been freshly cooked. Naruto slid them towards the three of them and smiled as he motioned for them to dig in. And dear Kami did they dig in…
As they ate, Naruto couldn't help but reminisce on how he got the recipe for these noodles in the first place. It slightly pissed him off but not enough to make him flare up in rage.
While he had been in Whirlpool, he had used his vast number of Shadows to scavenge the ruins so as to find anything he could use or read or the like. One such thing was a recipe book, one specifically for ramen noodles. Apparently his ancestors were in love with the food like he was. But as he had taken the time to make and eat it, he came to the realization that the taste was similar to another's noodles he had in the past. Albeit without the poison added to the mix. Naruto had even sent a Shadow back to Konoha, so as to raid the old ramen stand he frequented in his younger years and copied the recipe so as to compare it. It was a perfect match, but the Uzumaki recipe was far older. So not only did Teuchi steal the recipe somehow and claim it as his own family recipe, he then made a poisoned version of it and served that to a member of the clan who made it in the first place. Naruto would get his revenge in the end, which if he was to be honest, would more than likely involve poison of some sort. Which type exactly, that was the real question.
Naruto had never seen people devour so much food so quickly like they did. But he could understand it since they had been on the verge of starvation before he had arrived. He kept the food coming since he had so much within his Inventory. He prepared meals months in advance. He would literally spend a full day making his food before storing it once a week just to make sure he had plenty for the future as well as serving as a break from the constant training he did. Once they had eaten their fill, they took the time to digest their food before they spoke more. From there, they told Naruto the state of their home in full…
A few years ago, there was an issue with their main shipping line since the man who ran it died. The issue with this was that they were an island country so they relied on shipping lines to trade and thus prosper as a community. While things had gotten tough, it wasn't too bad and they were managing as best they could. But then a new shipping company owned by the tycoon Gato had appeared and took over. And once he showed up things went to hell quite quickly. The man was a tyrant and since he was the only one with a shipping line in their country he basically ran the place. He hired thugs like the ones Naruto had killed (minus the one Kaiza had shot in the face point blank) and used them to control the populace since there had been talks of trying to throw Gato out. Those people had disappeared and were never found again…
And so for two years their home had been under the rule of Gato, who stole everything from them a little at a time like some sort of leech sucking out your blood. And now people were starving, too weak to actually stand up to anyone anymore. Tsunami had told him that her father had secretly been collecting money from people, who gave it willingly, to afford shinobi to come and aid them. He had just left the island with the money to hire them, and he was quite literally the last hope they had for them. They needed Gato gone, and with him gone they planned to build a bridge towards the mainland so as to not rely on solely shipping yards like they did in the past. This way no one man could have such power against the people of this town again.
As Naruto sat and conversed with the family, another one of Gato's goons had gone towards town. He had seen the bodies of the men Naruto killed and grew pissed about it. So he kicked in the door of the closest building and pointed his blade at a child's throat to get to the bottom of this situation. The mother of the little girl being threatened told him it was a man from outside the village who had aided Tazuna's daughter and son in law. The goon then left to report this to Gato, who he knew was not going to like this bit of news.
But as he was heading back, Kaiza and his family were feeling sleepy now that they had eaten a proper meal in a long time. So they offered Naruto a room to stay in and went to their own rooms to sleep off the meal they had. Naruto smiled as they all fell asleep quickly, and took a seat outside on the porch. He knew that if Gato was the type of man he expected a tyrant to be, he would send people this way to kill not only him, but the family within the house to send a message to the others so that they never thought to revolt again.
He summoned his shadows and sent them in all different directions so as to scout out the area for any and all intruders coming this way. And there he remained for quite a bit of time before he felt one of his shadows communicate that people were heading his way. As soon as that became known to him, he called back all his shadows, who submerged themselves into their pure shadowy form before they came back to him. As he sat there, he saw as a heavy mist all of sudden appeared before his eyes. It was so thick that it was hard to see, yet even though his eyes might be hindered, he still heard the kunai sent his way.
Naruto easily caught all the kunai sent his way, but then he had to dodge the shuriken that followed it. Those were harder to catch by design. And as he dodged the shuriken, he made his way into the mist away from the porch of the house. He closed his eyes since they didn't really help him right now, but so far nothing was happening. He had a feeling that whoever had conjured this mist was just waiting for him to drop his guard, but Naruto was not one for doing what people expected of him.
Eventually he heard the sound of someone coming up from his left, which he summoned his dagger to block. Whoever was using this massive cleaver looking blade he was blocking was strong, but Naruto was strong enough to be able to stop the blade with his dagger easily without much effort. And with a flourish as well as a quick spin in his hand, he moved forward and stabbed the person wielding the blade through the throat upwards towards the brain. The person he was fighting though exploded into water, which made Naruto raise an eyebrow, but he sensed an attack from behind and used another skill he acquired from his training known as Shadow Exchange to switch places with the Shadow that had marked this new target. Once behind the person, he stabbed him in the back of the head, thus ending his life, or at least that what was supposed to happen since what actually did is that this person also exploded into water. This was just getting annoying right now.
"I tire of these games," said Naruto simply as he stood there, "you can send clone after clone after me, but it won't help you. So come out and fight me yourself."
Nartuto didn't get a reply back, but the mist did disperse and he was able to see once more. But while that might be true, he was now surrounded by what appeared to be multiple mirrors all pointed at him so he could see his reflection. But his senses showed him that they were not made of glass and were in fact made of ice. He saw his reflection disappear and instead a masked individual appeared in its place. Said individual threw senbon at him, which Naruto was able to deflect, but the second he did so there were more sent his way. He knew he would have to do something quick since this was not going well for him. His enemy had the advantage and was using it to the fullest. Naruto noticed that the water from both clone explosions was still on the ground and smirked as he saw this. He had a plan, but he knew it would hurt like a bitch to implement, but he had felt worse pain before so he would get over it.
Naruto dodged the next salvo of senbon sent his way and then stabbed both daggers into the ground. Once there, he charged magical power through them to blast out heavy currents of electricity that spread all around him. It hopped from the water surrounding him towards the ice that did as well. He was hit with his own attack as he did it, but he heard someone scream as they were shocked by his attack. Said person was then launched backwards from the mirror they were hiding behind, knocked out from the electrical current that had coursed through them.
"Damn it," said the voice of someone hiding in the trees on the far end of the yard. Naruto was able to hear him given his heightened senses so he now knew where his attacker was located. So he rushed forwards and sliced the tree he was hiding behind with his dagger. Said person looked at him with wide eyes. This kid had cut a tree with one slice… with a dagger! That was not normal, even by shinobi standards! What made it worse was the steam coming off the tree where he had sliced through it since Naruto's blade had been superheated from the electrical magic power he had channeled through them and thus burned it as he sliced through.
The man was a tall and noticeably muscular man with light grayish skin, short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He was wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face. He wore his forehead protector sideways on his head. Said person was actually a bit scared for a brief second since this kid had skills already at his age and managed to kill not only one, but both his water clones with ease.
"I would ask you why you are attacking us," said Naruto with a slight glare towards this man, "but in the end it doesn't matter since you made a grave mistake the second you did. So before I end you, what is your name?"
"The name is Zabuza Momochi," said the now named man, "remember it as I send you to hell!" Zabuza then swung his blade towards the brat. He honestly assumed the boy would either get hit by the blade and thus this would end, or he would dodge it and give him some breathing room since daggers had a short range. Either way worked for him, but Naruto did something else entirely. He slashed at his blade with his own dagger, with Zabuza watching as the thing lit up an orange red color as it became superheated. The smaller weapon sliced through his own as if it was butter, and yet Zabuza was not able to do anything else since a second dagger was thrown into his gut. Naruto then hopped back a yard and held out his hand and lifted it.
There was a dark looking aura surrounding his hand as he did, and the last thing Zabuza felt was the dagger that was just in the lower portion of his body slicing through his organs all the way towards his neck. He was dead seconds later given the damage done, but this didn't bother Naruto as he looked at the shinobi that had challenged him like this. He was good, and as such would have further use to him. So Naruto walked forward towards Zabuza's sliced up body and stopped to pick up the man's now broken blade. He felt the weapon's bloodlust as he held it in his hand, and wondered just why that was. For reasons he himself didn't fully understand, he dipped what was left of the blade into the blood pooling from Zabuza's corpse, and surprisingly it reformed back to its full form. This made Naruto raise an eyebrow since it was a rather unique blade if it could do that. And the surprising thing was the fact that it wasn't even magic. He wondered what he would do with it, but then an idea popped up and he smirked since it was perfect. So he held out his hand towards the body.
"Arise," said Naruto, and as he wanted, the shadow of one Zabuza Momochi arose before him and kneeled in servitude. Naruto smirked as he tossed the blade the now deceased man once used and told him to use it from now on. The shadow simply nodded in thanks and vanished back into the shadows since he was not needed by his master. He then heard as the other person he was fighting was coming to, and so he prepared his weapon in his hand so as to use it if needed. Yet he would find out, he would not need it against the young man.
"Zabuza... " were the first words to come out of his mouth, but then he saw said man's body there sliced up. He looked back and forth from Naruto to Zabuza as the former held the still dripping dagger that was wet with the man's blood. The young man's head then fell in despair as his master had been slain, and since this person who had done the deed had bested his most powerful jutsu, he knew he had no shot at winning and would accept death for his failure. "I have failed you."
"So I am guessing that you were the servant of that guy," said Naruto as he pointed to Zabuza's corpse.
"I was his tool to use in battle," said the young man simply, "and now that he is dead I have no purpose. So end my life for I am lost without him."
Naruto heard that last bit, and it caused him to raise an eyebrow since that was not the response he was expecting from him. Apparently his past was so shitty that he had to rely on another to give him guidance to the point of wishing for death when he had no one else, and that was honestly just depressing to think about.
"Before I decide whether to kill you or not," said Naruto, who was actually curious as to what could cause a person to reach such a state of mind. "I wish to know a bit more about you. Can you tell me what happened to you? Also your name."
"My name is Haku, and I was born in a small, snowy village in the Land of Water, a land that had suffered from war not long before." said Haku in a fairly emotionless tone of voice. In his mind this was the end, so he would not show emotion towards the man he thought would kill him. "In this war, different sides battled each other using ninja, some of whom possessed various kekkei genkai. After the war ended, memories of the horrific battles still lingered in the minds of the people throughout the land. Those with kekkei genkai quickly became feared and hated for their abilities, out of concern that their existence would only bring about more war in the future."
Naruto remembered that he had read about that a while back. Mist Country had one of the darkest pasts that he knew about with the persecution of those who had bloodlines still being hated as well as hunted to this day.
"My father and mother were simple farmers, and we lived a peaceful life. They loved each other, and were kind to me as a child. Unfortunately, that would all change. My mother was a wielder of a kekkei genkai known as Ice Release. She hid this fact from my father, hoping that the love and peace that was shared in our small family would last forever. One day, I discovered the ability to manipulate water with my bloodline. Amazed by this, I had proudly shown this to my mother, who was horrified by what she saw. She harshly scolded and slapped me for displaying my ability, though she tearfully apologized to me immediately afterwards. Unbeknownst to us, my father had seen everything from the shadows. When he discovered that his wife and child possessed a kekkei genkai, he assembled a small mob of villagers. With tears flowing down his eyes, he killed my mother. He then attempted to kill me. But before he could, I used my Ice Release to create several large ice spikes to kill him and the rest of the mob out of instinct."
Naruto was seriously having flashbacks of his own life as he heard this story. While his story might have been a bit more graphic since his status as a Jinchuriki was known to so many and they made his life a living hell, Haku had been hated for something he had no control over as well. Even his own father had hated him to the point of trying to kill him, and that was the worst type of betrayal a child could experience in life.
It made him wonder what would happen if he was somehow captured and brought back to Konoha in chains. For Haku the answer would simply be death given the hatred for those with bloodlines, but for him…If he had been forced back, not only would the higher ups make sure he never so much as set foot outside again, they would no doubt use one if not more members of the Yamanaka clan to alter his mind to become the weapon they wanted him to be. So in a sense it was still like killing him since he wouldn't really be himself in any way.
"I became a child who was wanted by no one and was forced to take to the cold streets and rummage through trash bins for scraps of food, even sometimes having to fight off the wild dogs that roamed the streets. In time, I was confronted by Zabuza Momochi, a man who had the same eyes as me. Zabuza later asked me to become his "weapon," which I readily accepted this role, due to the purpose it gave me, and devoted my life to becoming the ultimate tool for Zabuza to use."
"That is a sad tale," said Naruto as he nodded his head in understanding, "almost like my own really."
"Don't mock me," said Haku simply.
"I'm not," said Naruto with a shake of his head, "since the life of a Jinchuriki is a harsh one indeed."
Haku's eyes opened wide as he heard Naruto say that. He had always heard about the life of a Jinchuriki, and if the horrific things he had heard were only a small fraction of the truth, then Naruto was not lying to him.
"So you say that you are lost since you have no one to serve," said Naruto as he kneeled down in front of the young man, "but killing you would just be a waste of a skilled fighter. So why not just go back to Kiri?"
Haku looked up at Naruto once more and looked him in the eyes to see if he was being serious right now, yet one look into his eyes and he could see that Naruto was in fact serious when he said that.
"You heard my story, and the suggestion you made to me was to go back to the place that wants me dead?" asked Haku with a quizzical tone of voice, one laced with just a tinge of anger.
"I did,," said Naruto with a smile, "and why not? You see yourself as a failure of a weapon, one whose worth is what use you have to others. Yet you are worth far more than that Haku. Take it from me. I heard my entire life that I was a monster, an abomination. Yet even though my home tried its hardest to keep me subdued, I broke free and found a new life for myself. So I am saying you should go back. Not to throw your life away like you want right now. There is a civil war in Kiri as we speak, one that would gladly accept you if you were to find the rebels. Find a new purpose is all that I can say."
Haku just stared at him, deadpanned as he had heard Naruto throw that at him. His mind was calculating so much right now, and yet the main thing was that Naruto had a good point. He did still have plenty to offer to the world and he honestly didn't wish to die here right now. What had he been thinking?
"Thank you for your wise words," said Haku as he got back onto his feet. "You have given me the proverbial kick in the ass I needed to keep going."
"Glad I could help," said Naruto with a grin.
"Then if that is all," said Haku as he turned around to run off to his next destination, "I hope that we meet again. As enemies or friends… only time will tell." And with those words, Haku dashed off into the woods.
"Indeed," said Naruto with a sad smile, "only time will tell…"
As soon as he knew that Haku was fully gone from the area, he himself activated his Stealth and then headed into town to deal with the more urgent issue that he sensed was going on at the moment.
He stuck to the shadows as he got near the town, but since it was later in the day, the light was fading and making it easier to hide himself. But he saw the lights in the village lighting up, showing a horrible scene before him that only angered him more than when he saw Kaiza being attacked. Gato had come to the town personally with the majority of his goons, who he had ordered to collect everyone to the town center. So there they were, bound in place as they were forced to face a platform that he saw a few nooses hanging from.
Naruto was not an idiot, in fact he was far more intelligent than anyone else his age, so he understood what was happening here from one glance alone. Gato had heard about his goons dying and more than likely strong-armed one of the villagers into learning who did it. Seeing that he was not from their village, they more than likely sold him out which he could not nor would he fault them on given the situation, and Gato being the evil tyrant of a man he was would execute the people he saved to send a grim message to the others to never allow hope to enter their hearts or else they would die just like them. Naruto saw this scene and took a deep breath before he pulled his hood back up and walked out into the open for them to see him.
"I think that I am the one you have been looking for," shouted Naruto as he stood there. Gato looked out from where he was standing on the stage and saw him.
"Who the hell is that kid?" asked Gato to one of his men.
"Manners state you should ask the person who they are," said Naruto simply, "but given what you do for a living manners escape you."
"Alright brat," said Gato with a frown, "just who the hell are you?"
"Who am I?" said Naruto in a bit of a sing-songy tone of voice. It was like he was asking himself that question more than actually answering it, "Who am I? What are you even saying?"
"What?" Asked Gato, who now was not only slightly pissed about his plans being delayed, but now was far more confused since how does one respond to that?
"Well the answer is simple. I am the loser of the game," said Naruto with a chuckle.
"What game?!" Gato shouted angrily. He didn't like the way this kid was dancing around a very simple question.
"The one you didn't know you were playing." Naruto laughed as he said this.
"Alright, enough of this nonsense!" Shouted Gato in rage, "kill the brat!"
"Oh there is no need for such anger." said Naruto with a smirk that only amplified the rage Gato was feeling as he saw this. "How about another game, this one I'll get to win."
As Naruto was spouting was sounded like nonsense to Gato and his men, they got closer to him to kill him as ordered.
"The rules are simple. Life on the line, winner takes all. Ready or not, let's begin!"
It was at that point that Naruto whipped out his daggers and moved faster than the few men who walked over to kill him knew he was capable of. While he was in front of them one second, the next he was behind them. But it wasn't like they had enough time to turn around since their heads fell of their necks since Naruto had sliced them clean off in less then a second.
Gato and his men were in shock to see this. In their heads this kid was a brat and should not have been any sort of challenge to them. But Naruto had just proven them so very wrong for thinking that way. And it didn't stop there. In that split second, Naruto channeled his power towards his chest to use an ability so as to end this here and now. These people were just a more fancy version of bandits, and as such not worth any effort at all in the land of shinobi.
Once prepared, Naruto leaned his head back and let out a might roar to the heavens that caused all to hear it to fall into despair. This was the power known as Dragon's Fear…
Dragon's Fear allows its user to release a mana-infused shout from their soul, driving anyone weaker than them into a state of intense despair and panic. Despite how powerful this skill is, it comes with two major drawbacks. The first is that it only works on individuals weaker than the user themselves, meaning that enemies stronger than the user are completely immune to its effects. The second is that its effects apply to anyone weaker than the user in the vicinity, including the user's own allies. As a result, it is only a good skill to use while fighting against an enemy alone. But Naruto didn't care about the second drawback since it made this all the more simpler.
Since the goons were all frozen in place, looking at the young man who in their eyes appeared to be a massive shadowy monstrosity capable and willing to devour their souls, Naruto then began to eliminate them with something he had made for him years ago…
When Naruto had Muramasa's son return his family heirloom to him, he had also sent a scroll with the blueprint of 2 new weapons he wanted made. Naruto hadn't been there to see the man look upon the designs himself, but the man had been a mixture of confused, impressed, and pissed all at once. But Naruto had done him a service so he would forge the items he wanted. It was with one of those that Naruto slew these men now.
While many people would use a variety of weapons that were both common, as well as some who used far more uncommon ones to go with their fighting styles and bloodlines, Naruto wanted to go beyond that. He was the only user (as far as he knew) of magic in this world. So that gave him such an advantage over others since magic was a power that gave the middle finger to physics and logic. So with that in mind, Naruto spent time designing a weapon that no one would ever expect.
Essentially, it was prayer beads, all forged with Chakra metal. 25 metal beads, all carved with various symbols that were wrapped around his neck. They were about the size of medicine balls with the added weight since they were solid metal. But given they were made of the stuff, Naruto could use electrical magic to use them as projectiles and recall them to use once more. And that was exactly what he was doing right now. Rapidly Gato's goons were falling in front of him, and since he was still affected by the Dragon's Fear, he wasn't able to move a muscle so as to flee for his life. But within a minute alone, he was alone himself since the rest of his men had been killed off. He saw as Naruto walked slowly towards him, and began to sweat bullets out of genuine cowardice. Apparently that made the effects wear off slightly since he was able to move back ever so slowly.
"Now hold on a second," stuttered Gato as he slowly backed away from Naruto. "We can settle this civilly. Just name your price."
"Name my price," said Naruto as he stopped in front of Gato and placed his hand on his chin and rubbed it like he was thinking. "Alright then. How much is your life worth?"
"What?" asked Gato, since that response was strange to hear in a situation like this one.
"I simply asked what you think your life is worth," said Naruto with a smirk. Gato hated to admit this, but that smirk disturbed him to no end and he did not like that one single bit. Never had he felt so powerless in his life before.
"No see," said Gato after clearing his throat out of fear, wanting a straight answer to his question, "I wanna know a specific amount to pay you so as to make this whole thing better."
"And I'm asking you just how much is your life worth?"
"I…" stuttered Gato since he honestly had no idea what to say to this, "I don't know…"
"Exactly my point," said Naruto with a chuckle, "you have no concept of the worth of a human life, and you never will since you see everyone else as expendable."
"Please," said Gato, who got on his knees at this point. While he hated begging, if he got out of this alive he would do so since there were no others to witness this, "spare my life!"
"A man who grew his empire and fortune through the suffering of others is now begging for his own life when he himself never granted mercy to others," said Naruto as he walked past the man who was shocked to hear him say that, but winced a little as he felt something poke him enough to draw blood. "Just why the hell would I allow you to live. You won't change, since people like you are incapable of it. You get that taste of power and will do everything in your power to regain it, and the amount of lives you would ruin to get to that point far outweighs your own. But I digress… I am not going to kill you."
That last sentence caused Gato to look at Naruto in surprised confusion given from how it started it seemed like he was dead set on ending his life here and now. Yet all of a sudden he had changed his mind? A small glimmer of hope arose in his mind and he began to think that maybe he could buy his way out of this somehow. Money did talk the loudest in the world after all.
"I am not going to kill you," said Naruto with a wicked smirk as he noticed that Gato's expression was lightening up, which is what he was hoping for when he said that last bit. "Since your fate will be in their hands." Naruto said that last bit while using his hand to motion towards the villagers who were being unbound by his Shadows as he spoke. "They will do with you as they see fit, and there is not a damned thing you could do to stop them. Men like you have no real power, only money to buy power from others."
Gato heard what Naruto said with fear showing on his face and he knew that he had to get out of there if he wanted to live to see another day. Luckily for him, the affects of Dragon's fear wore off right then and there so Gato got up to try and run for his life. But Naruto knew that he would try this and tossed several beads at him. While they could be used as very accurate and destructive projectiles, they could also be used as weights like he was using them for now. While on his neck he used magic to lighten their weight so they didn't really bother him in any way, yet what he did now was use them to weigh Gato down to the point that he was flat on his stomach and unable to move.
"Now now," said Naruto with a chuckle as he saw this man, one who was feared by so many for his actions towards them, fall so pathetically to the ground like this. His entire life he had been the one to be put down, so it made him a bit giddy inside to do the same to others who deserved it, and dear Kami did Gato of all people deserve this sort of treatment. "Did you honestly think that you would be able to run away like that? I mean… Come on… I just killed your men without so much as breaking a sweat. I am stronger than you, faster than you, and far more deadly than you. There was only one way that this was going to end really."
As Naruto stood there, he then used one of his beads to shatter the shackles that one of the villagers had been bound with. Said person rubbed his arms for a second before he proceeded to remove the shackles on the other people around them. The shackles weren't really hard to remove, it was more the threat of the goons with weapons that kept them from trying. So as the number of people being unbound began to increase exponentially, Gato struggled in vain to try and break free from his own bindings, yet was failing to do just that.
"Dear people of… well not sure on the name of this village so I'll just say Water village…" said Naruto, who thought about it for a second before he realized he honestly didn't know the name of this village which was weird, but irrelevant for this particular moment. "The man who has kept you in poverty has been neutralized. His men are dead so they can no longer harm you. He himself is a weak older man so he obviously can't do a damn thing to you. So basically what I am saying is… He's all yours…" Naruto said that last bit as he pulled his hood over his head and began to walk away. It wasn't long as he did that he began to hear the man's screams as the villagers were upon him. And while the screams didn't make him turn around, he did stop to hold his hand out so as to retract his beads and put them around his neck once more…
(2 weeks later)
Two weeks had gone by since Gato had been killed in such a gruesome manner before his body was burned from the face of the earth itself in a show that the people hated him so much that even a grave would be too kind for him. Once they were all done with their murdering of the self made tyrant, the people of Wave then went as a mob towards Gato's huge mansion that was near the water on the other side of the country.
They were briefly stopped by the big hulking gate that was in front of the place, but the people were in a mob, they were pissed, they had gotten the freedom they had so desperately prayed for, and a mere gate would not stop them from getting what they wanted. It did take a bit, but they managed to work together with makeshift tools to rip it off its hinges and then stormed the mansion. While there were some guards who remained to guard the place, it was nowhere near the amount of goons that had gone with Gato towards the town center not too long ago, but that was because Gato had brought most of his men to keep the people in line as he executed Kaiza and his family. The people were merciless in their actions to slaughter the men who had oppressed them for so long. Hell one of them ended up being impaled with a sharp staff of all things.
Once the remnants of Gato's men were dealt with, they all rushed in and began to loot the place down to the bare minimum of things. If it had any monetary value, it was taken by someone so that they might sell it for essentials, namely food…
But soon enough, they reached Gato's office itself, and it was there that they hit a fairly large snag in the reclamation of their stolen money. Gato had installed a massive vault to the side of his room with a number combination to open it up. The door was thick steel that was heavy as all hell so unless they knew the combinations then they would not be getting into the vault. They searched all over the place for any mention of the code needed to open the vault, but they could not find one. So then they tried to find a means to pry the door open, but they failed doing that since it was one of the best that money could buy so as to not be able to be ripped wide open like they were trying to do right now.
For about half a day they tried just about everything they could, and it was only then that Naruto himself made his way in that direction. He honestly went more out of curiosity since he saw so many people come to Kaiza's home to take any and all tools to what he assumed was to smash up the house so as to tear it down. He was half right in his thoughts, since it wasn't the whole house they were trying to tear down, but just a section of it in particular. He came to the place and walked past the people, all who thanked him as he did since he had set them free from Gato's cruel hands, and he saw that they had literally smashed the walls surrounding the vault so as to find some means to break into it. But unfortunately all they were met with was thick metal walls that they couldn't even dent.
Luckily for them though… Naruto was a walking talking multitool of sorts.
He asked the people to stand back, and so the people gave him his needed space, but still remained to watch since they were curious as to what the hell he was planning to do. Imagine the looks on their faces when they saw him throw out 25 metallic beads towards the wall. Surprisingly they stuck to it like magnets, but then they began to glow red and then white from the sheer amount of heat they were giving off. Once superheated, Naruto made a motion of his hand like one does when they use it to turn a knob of some sort, and as he did the beads twisted in the wall. This cut a circle of the wall out, and after about 3 minutes, Naruto stepped forward, superheated one of his daggers and then stabbed that into the portion he cut. Once embedded into the portion, he pulled it out, leaving a massive hole in the once solid metal wall so that they could now see inside of it. The sheer amount of money inside the place was baffling since the man had entire cubes of paper money in a manner for easy organization as well as easy transportation.
Naruto simply walked forward and grabbed two stacks of bills, and asked the people for that, which they were more than happy to give him. To be honest they were shocked to see he wasn't asking for more than that, but to Naruto, the money wasn't his since it belonged to the people that it had been taken from, and what he took was more than enough as it was. It was as the people began to take their money back that one of the villagers called out for the others in the back of the mansion.
What they saw was the opening to a massive warehouse that was hidden underground. Inside they saw so many construction tools as well as materials to build something, but what that something was unknown to them. But Naruto had found the main room where Gato had his blueprints. What they saw only made them pissed more than they thought possible. Gato had the plan to ruin their country, basically starving out the people to the point that people either sold off their children to him or the mothers would serve him willingly to help their family. The husbands and other men would be eliminated one by one when no more money could be taken from them, since why kill those who struggle so hard to make him money in the vain belief that they would live to see old age.
Once the people were either eliminated or enslaved to him, he then planned to turn this entire country into a business of pleasure. The blueprints were for a massive casino and various brothels that catered to many people's tastes, whether they be normal or… abnormal, hence why he wanted the kids since there were always those sick fucks who paid good money to do as they pleased to children without repercussion. And to add a full bag of salt onto the wounds, the man even had the materials to build a bridge towards the mainland so as to begin construction of it once the people were fully subjected like he planned.
So now that the man was dead, his plans were all for nothing, but his materials would not go to waste since the people already planned to build a bridge to avoid another like Gato taking over. Plus the added materials that were going to be used to build the casino and brothels could be used to repair the homes that desperately needed it now more than ever. So the people got right to work, with those proficient in cooking raiding the pantry and cooking up a feast for the people.
The people were grateful for Naruto's help and asked if he could stay to protect them long enough to build the bridge. While at first he thought about agreeing to it, it would take them nearly a year to do so, and he had other things he had to do so he could not remain for so long. In the end he did agree to at least remain until Tazuna, Tsunami's father, returned before he left.
So here Naruto was at the construction site, making sure that nothing happened to the place while the others were on break. Many things have gotten better in the past two weeks, with the people's mood lifting being the highlight of it. Those working on the bridge had gotten the end of it done at least, but that was the easy part since building it across only got harder the further you left the shore.
Naruto sat on the edge of what was built right now, which wasn't much, but it was a nice start. His feet were dangling over the edge as he whistled to himself, wondering just what to do once Tazuna, the man he was waiting to return, actually did just that. But as he was deep in thought on what to do, he was then pulled out of said thoughts by a sight that he honestly wasn't expecting to see…
In the distance he saw a lone boat, small in size so as to be stealthy. It was small and it only had a few people on it. But what had brought him out of his thoughts wasn't the boat or the people themselves that were on it, but the symbols several of them wore on their person.
This symbol caused Naruto's eyes to open wide…
This symbol caused Naruto's teeth to clench in rage…
This symbol caused Naruto's mind to go into a state of murderous killer intent…
For what he was looking at were shinobi hailing from his former prison of a home known as Konoha…