Ayame chuckled, "It'll look for one … We'll have to clear out a space for it." Her finger tapped her cup thoughtfully before frowning. "Kaji will be happy if we can help the guy in the tube … I wonder who it is."
The ramen chefs spent the few days like they normally would. They tried to stay completely calm as they listened to the gossip hounds they served. With every other bowl of their regular ramen brought a little trickle of information. Thankfully, none of it implied that a scientist died.
"Get me some pork ramen, Ayame." An older woman ordered with an exasperated groan.
Ayame looked at the woman with a smile, "Of course! Dad! One pork!"
"Coming up!" Teuchi said as cheerfully as usual. However, both chefs were suddenly anxious. After all, this was the woman who owned the house that they broke into and murdered someone.
"Everything ok, Mary? You usually only order that when you're really stressed." Ayame commented, sounding concerned as she set the steaming bowl in front of the woman.
Mary huffed and grabbed her chopsticks, clearly irritated, "Some bastard broke into one of my rentals and threw a bash with some slut."
Ayame's eye twitched ever so slightly when Mary unknowingly insulted her, "That's terrible! Who was it?"
"The Hokage investigated and they don't know the slut. Apparently, she is a terrible cook since she burned some asparagus, has cheap makeup, has blurry fingerprints, and has sex in the shower." Mary explained furiously before scarfing down a few mouthfuls of noodles. "Delicious! I needed this. Anyway, even a team of ninjas couldn't even get the lucky tramp's scent with the smoke, but the guy left some hairs behind and clear fingerprints … On my good crystal champagne glasses, of course. The fool embezzled money and decided to have a big party before running away with his mistress!" Mary growled and continued gobbling down her meal.
Despite the relief the two chefs felt when hearing that they kept casually serving people their food. They also kept in mind that it might not be true. Just because the results came from the Hokage didn't mean it was true. So far, however, the chefs seemed safe. Safe enough to deal with the next strange development that a certain blonde, formerly called Naruto, brought home two days later.
Ayame and Teuchi had already closed up and went home for the day. It was right when they were sitting down to their dinner when their blonde walked in. Right away they knew something changed just by the blonde ninja's demeanor.
"Kaji? What happened?" Ayame said, but then shushed him. "Hold it! We have fresh mini meat pies for you! I'll warm one up and then you can tell us."
The blonde, clad in an orange jumpsuit and black goggles, smiled. Not only was it nice to be back, but he loved the sound of his new name Kaji. Granted, only Ayame and Teuchi will ever use it, but it still made him happy.
"Meat pie?" Kaji pondered out loud as he sat down at the dining room table. His eyes widened when he realized what happened while he was gone. 'You guys found a new body? Did you have any trouble?" He asked, feeling guilty about putting his friends in danger just so he could eat.
Teuchi smiled, "We had a target in mind after looking through the photos of the files again and it was easy enough. It's been days now so I'm sure we're safe. Don't worry." He mumbled around a piece of gravy-soaked chicken from his and Ayame's pot pie.
Ayame grinned as she came back and set a hot mini pie in front of Kaji, "Yep! We actually found this guy's signature on the file for your … vine attacker." Ayame said softly as she sat down to continue eating her own meal. She knew it was still a sensitive subject for Kaji. "All that can be explained later. What's going on?"
The blonde smiled when he saw the top crust of his meat pie was shaped like a heart, "Right … First." The chefs jumped when Kaji's black goggles and jacket suddenly vanished. "I found a bookstore with ninja scrolls and … stole a few. I learned about seals." He admitted weakly, feeling guilty about that too. Before he'd be scolded he grabbed a fork and immediately took a bite of his yummy pie.
Ayame chewed her food thoughtfully before swallowing, "Oh that will make getting more meat much easier!" She exclaimed happily and immediately started exchanging ideas with Teuchi.
Kaji was so stunned by the response that he choked a little on his food. The last time he took something, which was candy from Ayame's stash, he was scolded. Of course, he assumed the same would happen. Since it didn't he was shocked and puzzled about the reaction.
Why were they already focused on getting another body and excitedly at that? It will be a couple of months until this next one is done. Did feeding him unlock a deep homicidal urge in them?
Maybe … but the meat pie he was eating was too tasty for Kaji's thoughts to linger on the possibility for long.
After getting another bite of juicy meat with a flaky buttery crust, Kaji started talking, "I was-"
"Don't talk with your mouth full. I don't want you to have dad's manners." Ayame scolded while shooting her dad a look.
Where Teuchi looked sheepish, Kaji was just stunned again. He didn't expect that scolding. However, he just chewed and swallowed in his amusement.
"Sorry. I learned a few jutsu, but without access to my chakra it's pointless …" Kaji started saying and became nervous right at the end. "I discovered that I have a new form … A scary form."
Teuchi chuckled, "It can't be that bad-" A puff of smoke from Kaji unsealing something huge interrupted him. "Holy shit!" He yelped in horror when the smoke cleared.
Ayame unintentionally gasped in shock at the sight before her …
Standing next to their dining room table was a 9-foot-tall slender, nearly skeletal, creature. It had no eyeballs in the dark sockets and no lips covering the razor-sharp teeth on its wide-open jaws. Every finger and toe were unnaturally long with sharpened nails. Altogether it was frozen in a pose as if was about to charge and it was quite spooky, but after a minute the chefs got curious, especially when they noticed the one severed arm was sitting on the table.
Teuchi felt his heart finally stabilize and he blinked, "How is this your form when you're sitting here? Why are there holes in this thing's skull-"
"And why is this arm separated from the rest of this?! Were you hurt?!" Ayame gasped, tempted to check Kaji over for wounds. In fact, she was about to do exactly that, but Kaji immediately shook his head frantically.
"I'm fine! I was already out of that thing when Sakura ripped it off." Kaji exclaimed quickly and Ayame looked less worried, but definitely more confused. "As for the other questions … I was reading one of the things I took and I think anger triggered it and I suddenly shifted into that, but …" Kaji chuckled sheepishly. "Well, I saw my reflection in a nearby pond. I went from angry to terrified in moments and suddenly I went from that thing to my little form. Before I knew it I heard crackling, which attracted Sasuke and Sakura even if it didn't last long. Unfortunately, I was inside the chest."
Teuchi raised an eyebrow, "Inside?" He pondered and turned without getting out of his chair. Curiously, he tapped the thing's chest. "Oh! It's completely hollow! How'd you get out?"
Kaji shrugged, "It was really dark, but I remember climbing up towards a breeze so I'm pretty sure I came out of the mouth. I got out just before my teammates arrived. Those holes on my head were where my vines came through."
"Your vines?" Ayame got up to look closer at the thing. "It's made of some type of wood. It's like your skin, but not the vines, oozed out something when you were scared and the crackling was it drying into this." She commented after a few taps and then tried to move or break it.
However, she wasn't successful. After that Teuchi joined in the fun and upped the attempts until they actually hung their entire weight on the one arm that was still connected. Kaji just ate as he watched the two hilariously try to break the shell. It didn't tip, shake, or crack despite all their effort.
A completely breathless Ayame dropped to the floor, "Sakura broke this?!" She gasped as her dad flopped to the floor too.
"Like a twig." Kaji shivered as he recalled how easily she pulled it apart. "I was hidden close by but heard everything. They actually thought it was a shell for an art project and yes. I tried to break it too. Didn't work … They seemed to feel bad about breaking it." He muttered bitterly, stabbing his meal to munch on the warm comfort food.
"Did they now?" Ayame murmured dangerously as she got up from the floor. "We might have an idea on how to keep our friend in the tube safe. Your seals might be just what we need to get him out. We can start in the morning." She said and smirked when she saw Kaji light up.
"Um … Can I have a hand? I threw out my back." Teuchi whimpered from his spot on the floor.
Suddenly everyone went from vengeful to clamoring to help Teuchi stand up …
XXXXXXXXXX
The third Hokage was seen strolling into the Hokage tower. However, instead of going up to his office, he went into a room with computers. The people working at those computers nodded in greeting but kept working. None of them responded as Hiruzen activated a seal on the floor under the desk of the person working in the back.
Again, no one batted an eye when a hole in the floor opened up. Hiruzen simply strolled down the spiral staircase that was revealed in the hole. Soon he reached the bottom of the steps, but there was more. A long well well-lit hallway greeted him. When he got to the end he climbed up some steps and was met with the sight of a laboratory.
"Morning, Hokage-sama!" Each scientist said as he passed by.
"Yes. Hello, everyone." Hiruzen said pleasantly and smiled as he walked up to a certain tube.
As he stood there staring at the floating man with charred skin, a noise was heard. The scent of blood filled the room, but Hiruzen just kept watching the prize before him. Not even the footsteps coming towards him or the person who stopped next to him took his attention away.
"No sign of Dr. Mo." The person next to Hiruzen said casually as the people from the computer room in the Hokage tower began dragging out the bodies of all the scientists.
Hiruzen sighed but didn't look away from the man labeled '000', "I honestly thought he'd be too arrogant to realize we were downsizing permanently. No wonder the fool had some fun and bolted." Finally, Hiruzen turned to look at the old man covered in bandages next to him. "Did your agents completely remove Dr. MO's records and access, Danzo?"
"Of course. They're almost done transferring all the information on these computers too and freezing his accounts. If Dr. Mo attempts to reveal anything no one will believe him with the criminal charges on his record and we made sure that no one could copy, send, or remove information outside of this room." Danzo reported indifferently as the last dead civilian scientist was dragged out leaving a blood trail behind.
Hiruzen sighed, "Good … While the separate, very secure, seal-covered civilian entrance in a separate building was a wise change to avoid suspicions we need to find a better method. If we keep running projects this way we'll run low on scientists."
"Well I wanted the mind walkers on the team, but no." Danzo huffed, sounding quite childish.
Hiruzen scoffed, "Do you honestly think Inoichi would play along if he finds out?" He asked seriously while looking at '000'.
"Kakashi did." Danzo countered.
"Kakashi is a bit obsessed and he doesn't know everything," Hiruzen said and tapped his temple. "The Yamanaka clan jumps into the minds to remove memories and, even though we're the only ones who know everything, the last thing we need is for that clan to slowly put together the story piece by piece. We especially can't use your Yamanaka agent since we can't guarantee that another Yamanaka won't notice something odd and investigate."
"A valid point." Danzo muttered with a frown but shrugged and looked at '000' with a smirk. "At least, this one is stable and healing on his own now so we don't need to worry about the staff for a little bit … We especially don't want anyone around when he's recognizable."
The Hokage smiled, "It'll be a few years yet, but you're right. He'll be quite useful and with Naruto on our side he'll have no choice but to behave." Hiruzen gave a perverted giggle. "I can't wait to see if this is true! It's like one of Jiraiya's books came to life."
"Right," Danzo grumbled as his uncovered eye rolled. "Let's go. Everything is going to be swapped out with the basic, more legal, jutsu experiments. The basic stuff will be moved or sealed away now, but he will be moved during the cover of night and we need to cover up all these deaths again."
Hiruzen huffed, "Perhaps Dr. Mo did us a favor by disappearing. I can easily pin it on him."
The Hokage and leader of ROOT casually left as unmasked agents pretending to be civilians kept moving out things. Both leaders had just left when the agents started removing filing cabinets. For a brief moment, they were all gone. It was then that a vent in that room moved.
A frantic moss hedgehog dropped from the ceiling. Kaji used his vines to propel himself over to the tank. In a flash, he turned into his human form, unsealed a canteen, and opened the lid to the tank.