Chapter 4
Changing his appearance wasn’t supposed to be scary compared to seeing the aftermath of the massacre. But against all odds, it was one of the scariest things he ever did by himself. He hadn’t even looked at himself properly in the mirror, snapping his gaze away when he had met his eyes through his reflection. He had turned towards his companion instead.
Tetsuya sat on the toilet, watching Naruto with such an intensity it kind of made him scared of what the frog would say. He had dyed his hair red and Kurama had straightened it out. Kurama also changed his eye color to a deep magenta. He hadn’t recognized himself in the mirror, didn’t know who he was looking at. Change was scary. There had been too much change in the past twenty years of his life(Lives?).
The frog tilted his head and Naruto scanned the frog again. His colors had shifted with the years and they dulled a bit when he wasn’t using his poison, which he supposedly could turn on and off. He had black lines going down his back and the color faded from a blue to a green at the bottom. Dots outlined in black decorated his side and legs and the gradient went from a red down to a yellow. It was pretty in a weird way, but the colors also just screamed poisonous. Which was good because at least predators wouldn’t eat his friend by mistake.
The silence was eating at him and Naruto shifted uncomfortably under the frogs scrutinizing gaze. “I like it,” Tetsuya finally said, nodding, “It looks good.” Naruto let out a breath of relief and smiled at his friend, “Can Kurama hide the whiskers?” he asked, tilting his head.
“No,” Kurama answered immediately. Naruto shook his head, “They’re fine. I might just get some black paint and paint over them,” he said, shrugging, “What’s important is that I change my general look.” He looked back into the mirror and frowned, “And color scheme,” he added.
Kurama snorted, “At last. The hideous color of orange will leave.”
Orange is a great color!
“Red is better.”
Naruto sighed, “Red it is,” he muttered. Tetsuya snickered and hopped out of the bathroom, settling on the window seal. Naruto smiled at him, settling on his futon before he recounted the yen Shima gave him. Four thousand yen to get him started. Enough to get clothing and food for about a month but he’d need to get missions quick if he wanted to keep earning money.
He just hoped they wouldn’t cheat him out of his pay.
Naruto sighed, collapsing on his futon and staring at the ceiling. The question was how he was going to get those missions. He was unknown and he’d probably have to ask around for them. But the question was how. His first stop would be the Land of Water. From what Naruto remembered, it was unstable and the multiple islands held more safety than any of the lands inland. Some islands held tyrants while some were just overrun by gangs. Though every place had their own struggles. But the problem still remained at how he was going to get the money. He couldn’t go wandering into bars lest he want to attract unwanted attention and fight more fights than needed.
Naruto groaned, rubbing a hand down his face. “Where are we again?” he asked, looking at Tetsuya out of the corner of his eyes.
“In the Land of Lightning,” Tetsuya replied, “We’re basically on the coastline, though. Pretty nice if you ask me.”
“Kinda stupid, though,” Naruto muttered, frowning at the ceiling, “Not much of an escape if I have to run on water. Open view to get attacked.”
“You have plenty of chakra. Anyone who tries to come after us doesn’t have your speed or chakra capacity,” Tetsuya pointed out, “I think we’ll be fine. Plus, reverse summoning.”
“True,” Naruto said. He closed his eyes, shuffling to let his hands cradle the back of his head.
The Land of Water sounded good. He could make some stops around the mainland before heading towards the islands. They could stop at Doto Island. Last he heard, the island was constantly under attack because of their abundance of gold. He could take care of a few of their gangs. Plus, there was gold in case he just needed to scavenge for some money. Then just hop around islands and head west towards the Land of Waves.
Maybe there, they could create an alliance with Zabuza and Haku, maybe work together every now and again.
“Alright!” Naruto shot up. Tetsuya let out a yelp and fell off his ledge, glaring at Naruto when he regained his senses. “We’re going to the Land of Water!” Naruto grinned, sitting in a butterfly position as he looked at the frog.
“You had to yell?”
“Yep!”
Tetsuya let out a sigh, grumbling as he jumped back up onto his ledge, huffing an amused laugh, “Why are we going there? I’d think you’d go to the Land of Waves first.”
Naruto shook his head, “I’m gonna gain popularity in the Land of Water first, then in about 2 years, I’ll head over there. Besides, I might run into someone there.” Naruto grinned, “We’ll work there to spread my name, Naoki.”
“Okay…where first then?” Tetsuya asked, “There’s a lot of islands.”
“Well, I’m gonna travel the mainland first, then head to Doto Island.” Naruto looked out the window, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration. He never was really good at remembering politics and the welfare of the lands. “If I remember correctly, they’re known for their abundance in gold and fishing. Gangs had taken over the island and the villagers aren’t safe there,” he said, “Last I checked, they didn’t have a central leader, all the gangs taking over certain districts on Doto. Though I’m sure there’s an underground resistance.”
Tetsuya hummed, “Where next? After that.”
“Go around to the different villages in the Land of Water,” Naruto shrugged, “See who hires, who doesn’t. I’ll make my way West and take any mission that’s offered. Hopefully people will give me more bigger tasks. Money and Bingo Book status is important.” He didn’t have a strict schedule to follow until the Land of Waves mission, he just had small tasks to complete. The goal, though, was to at least make it to a General Rogue Ninja in the Bingo book, maybe even an S-Class. His hope was to be put as an entry by Kiri, in the two years he was here.
As long as he got bigger missions.
“Wow,” Tetsuya deadpanned, “What a plan.”
“I know, right!” Naruto grinned, and plopped on the mattress again, folding his hands behind his head. “But seriously. I have no other option. I have to grow my reputation to be Bingo Book status so that the Akatsuki will look at me.”
“Fair. Now what are we going to do about your clothes?” Tetsuya asked.
Naruto huffed, frowning because he would have to change and get suitable clothes. He wore the protective chain mesh and baggy black pants with tape wrapped around his ankles, but that was all, really, that was suitable for what he was going to do. The pants would be fine, he’d just need a jacket and tabi boots. He’d need a hood and a mask, preferably a fox one but any would work. He’d go with something red.
“Come on, let's go shopping.”
“We can’t spend a lot of money,” Naruto reminded him, though he did stand up. “Two thousand yen max.”
“We just need a jacket with a hood and boots.”
“And a mask.”
“That’s easy to find.”
“Fair,” Naruto conceded, “Not that expensive either. I could also steal it…”
“That’s a last resort and for easy to grab stuff,” Tetsuya said, “Mainly when we don’t have money to spare and need food.” Naruto shrugged, followed Tetsuya out after grabbing the orange jacket he had with the smaller kodachi swords strapped to his back. They left the apartment and went into the village. “Time for shopping!”
*****
Tetsuya liked to shop. That was the one thing Naruto knew before they left Mount Myoboku. The one thing he didn’t know is that Tetsuya actually had a sense of style, unlike Naruto, though he loathed to admit it and ignored anyone who had anything wrong with his obsession with orange.
“Orange is just…weird and can’t be anything but bright. Like yellow.”
Like the one he was hosting.
Naruto grinned in the mirror, eyes lighting up as he turned around. His swords were easy to access and the outfit gave him free flexibility. He ended up getting rid of his entire outfit save for the chain mesh. It only cost 2500 yen, luckily. He wore black pants with red detailing of swirls. A black tank top sat over the chain mesh. He had a black jacket with red trim on the ends and around the hood. Red detail decorated it of a fox on his back and mist exiting under the fox. A red uzushio symbol sat on his shoulder and behind the fox. The idea was from Kurama and he was pleased with the design, so was Naruto.
The tank top tucked into his pants and a red wrap covered the line between the pants and tank top. The jacket sat loosely over him and it was easily taken off. It was also reversible, so that when he was going out, the outside would be white and the same pattern could be seen. A red belt sat on the inside so he could tie it shut when hanging around others or not doing work.
He found a white fox mask with red detailing and it fit him perfectly. The black boots reached just under his knees and fit comfortably. The red detailing looked like mist and looked really cool. All in all, Naruto and Kurama liked the outfit and Tetsuya wasn’t complaining. The fox would make him distinct and people would talk after a handful of murders and missions. Death tended to gain attention.
“Nice. I can’t really complain about all the foxes, with Kurama.” Tetsuya shrugged, “And the Uzumaki thing.” He muttered something about how frogs and toads still should have been added before exclaiming, “Anyway! Are we ready for the trek across the sea?”
Naruto laughed, standing up and stretching. “As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” he said, looking out the window, “The real question is are you ready?”
“Oh, I’ll be going back to Mount Myoboku when we hit the water,” Tetsuya said.
“Traitor.” Naruto childishly stuck his tongue out at the frog. He slid the mask on and they jumped out of the window, running across roofs. Kids pointed at them and adults scowled at the boy for causing such a ruckus. Colors flashed by and it sort of gave him a headache, so he decided to just focus on what was in front of him. Smells wafted in his mask and his red hair flew behind him.
Another thing that happened. He let Kurama grow his hair out. It sat at just the middle of his back now, long and straight. It reminded both of them of Kushina. Maybe that was the point.
Naruto let out a giddy laugh as the air blew past him, the smell of the ocean hitting him. He didn’t know why he liked the smell so much, but it was calming. So was the smell of sweets and ramen and flowers that hit his nostrils as they ran. They jumped down from the roofs and skidded to a stop in front of the water. The feeling of sand in his sandals were foreign, but he had rocks in them before. Rocks sucked. Sand was tolerable, though. Naruto inhaled deeply and smiled. They’d already eaten food and had some dried meat in a storage scroll. They were all set. His smile wavered as the seed of fear, of doubt, grew in his stomach.
What if he made a mistake? Maybe he should have stayed in Konoha, maybe he should have just sent out a horde of shadow clones to do the work outside the barrier. There had to be a better way to go about it.
Maybe he shouldn’t even be here.
“You okay?” Tetsuya asked, hopping onto his shoulder.
Naruto stayed silent for a minute, staring at the horizon. The sun wasn’t yet setting, but it would soon. He had no doubt it would make for a pretty scene. Too bad he couldn’t stay. Don’t be an idiot, Naruto scolded himself. “Yeah,” he said, smiling, though the mask did hide it. “I was just thinking.”
“Don’t think too much,” Tetsuya retorted, though Naruto picked up on the hidden worry. “We wouldn’t want your brain to break. Leave the thinking to Kurama.”
“Shut up,” Naruto laughed. He made several shadow clones, watching them run off in separate directions. “They’ll be reaching the current jinchuuriki,” he said, “While I pay attention to the kiri’s jinchuuriki’s. Maybe we could warn them, quickly enough that we won’t have anything else to worry about.” Tetsuya nodded and hopped into his hood and Naruto once again took off, running SouthEast to the Land of Water. Nothing else was said and Naruto appreciated Tetsuya not asking about what he was thinking about — he didn’t like the path he was going down and wouldn’t like the pity and worry he would receive. He already had enough from the nightmares, he didn’t need constant present worry.
The sea spray sprinkled through the openings of the mask and Naruto lifted it, sliding it so it rested on the side of his head. They wouldn’t stop anywhere. It would be a straight shot to the destination. It would be a long run, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have stamina and a massive chakra reservoir. The run shouldn’t be that bad.
*****
He didn’t think running non stop would get him this tired. Sure, he wasn’t naive enough to get off scotch free, but at this point, he was running a fumes! A few of his shadow clones had dispersed, though they hadn’t reached their goal. He had to use extra chakra to make more. He decided to blame it on that.
Naruto collapsed on the beach, letting out ragged breaths. Tetsuya had Ankoku reverse summon him and slapped a summoning tag on Tetsuya for when Naruto arrived at the Land of Water. Naruto didn’t think he had the energy to summon him, though. He let himself indulge in just laying on the sand for a few minutes before he heaved himself up to walk towards the rocks to the left, feeling chakra signatures ahead of him and he plopped down in front of a rock, leaning against it. Running nonstop across the ocean took a lot of energy. But he did it! Not many could say that.
While he was here, he could meet Kiri’s second jinchuuriki, Yugara was it? He could also talk to Utakata before he deserts.
He sighed, staring up at the clear sky, void of any clouds. Shikamaru would say it would be a boring day. Naruto snorted as he closed his eyes, smiling slightly. He liked watching clouds with Shika, always had even before they started dating.
Naruto let out a sigh. Shikamaru would be ten years old, did he even miss him? Did he even remember Naruto? Maybe he should ask one of the toads to scope out the village. Or send a shadow clone over there to send his message. Then keep in contact that way, until after the Land of Waves. Maybe then he’d be less of a coward and he could meet with him in person.
He stood up and headed into the cave system behind him. There were chakra signatures in other caves, but the one he chose was an easy cover up. It was too hollow for anyone to live in, but deep enough to hide in. He lifted his hood and brought his legs up to him. Two shadow clones disappeared – one had made it deep into Kumo before running into a trap while the other made it to Iwa before being taken out by Shinobi. Naruto hummed as he filed away their information before settling on the wall. He couldn’t get comfortable but he could get something that would resemble it. He settled his head on his knees, drawing in a breath.
He was really doing this. He was setting things right. The world wouldn’t be covered in blood again.
Naruto shook his head. “Naruto is dead,” he whispered, “And Naoki is born.”
“Deep shit,” Kurama hummed. Naruto snorted, banging his head softly – or else he’d get shit for it from Kurama – against the wall. “What? It’s the truth.”
Shut up, Naruto laughed, though it was quiet. They didn’t speak and no one was there to talk, so he sat in silence in the cave. Water dripped from the ceiling and wind rushed into the cave, almost sounding like a high pitched whistle. Bugs danced around the entrance of the cave and the sounds were starting to get to him. Tell me a story about, hm, mom, he said suddenly. Kurama hummed and Naruto felt him stirring in his mind. It’s quiet in here, he added quietly.
It was a few minutes before Kurama actually spoke. “There was one time, where it was before I was sealed in Kushina. Mito was quiet, respectful. Though, she did have some gusto in her youth, much like any Uzumaki or, well, anyone from Uzushio.” Naruto snorted, wrapping his arms around his stomach. “Mito was attempting to teach Kushina fuinjutsu. Kushina decided to put a bunch of seal parts – symbols? Or whatever they're called – together. She ended up summoning up this neon pink and yellow powder somehow and it seemed to permanently be stuck to her.” Naruto laughed. “Mito knew how to get it off, of course. She just decided to make her suffer for activating a seal in her house.”
Naruto looked up at the ceiling, a small smile on his lips, Sounds like something I would do.
“The problem is that you would do it,”Kurama said dryly.
Any chance you remember the seals?
“I am no fuinjutsu expert. I don’t even remember any of those weird symbols. It’s very specific, though. Like, if one stroke goes up, it could kill you, if one stroke goes down it could summon neon pink and yellow powder.”
Naruto snorted, That simple, huh.
“Don’t you dare go throwing random lines together and putting chakra into it,” Kurama said, “I don’t need your mind wiped and pushing me away so I can’t help you.”
You can do that?
Kurama nodded, “It was convenient for T&I,” Kurama hummed, “Mito made a whole bunch of seals for Konoha. She’d give those to rogue shinobi, so that they could integrate back into society, or sent back to enemy villages. It depended on the time and the shinobi.”
Naruto grinned, loosening up slightly. He fiddled with the edge of his jacket, his grin faltering slightly. Do you think I’ll learn fuinjutsu?
Kurama stayed silent for a moment, though Naruto could feel him pondering, on the edge of saying something. “Yes. I’m sure even with your poor study methods, you could find the remaining texts at Uzushio helpful. If I remember correctly, some authors even put pictures into the scrolls. I can’t promise that they’ll be any good, but from the ones Mito had given to Kushina, they help. Kushina learned from those more than the written texts,” Kurama chuckled lightly, “Much like you.”
Naruto snorted before pausing. He frowned, Uzushio? You think there's more than ruins there?
“I know so.” Naruto didn’t ask how Kurama knew, how he felt so sure of the fact that there will be more than corpses and ruins. “There won’t be any corpses. Konoha had the mind to bury them and clean up a little.”
Naruto nodded, Okay. We can spend a year or two there and learn the basics. You and me. I’m sure the Akatsuki would welcome a fuinjutsu user or two. Maybe I could make a permanent clone and you can inhabit that, huh?
“No.” Naruto laughed, staring out at the rising sun. “Ironic.
What?
“We’re talking about the Akatsuki and it’s basically dawn.”
You need a new definition of irony.
Kurama scoffed, and it was almost as if the fox was curled around him and not in his mind “cell”. “Whatever. You basically failed the academy.”
Hey! I still made genin!
“Miraculously.”
*****
Through the week, Naruto meditated, spending the time alone. He would have to apologize to both Ankoku and Tetsuya, but they probably figured he needed some time alone. Which was true – he needed to get his thoughts and feelings together and figure out his own timeline and intertwin it within this one along with his own timeline to work with getting his own goals done.
He sent a clone to Konoha under a different identity. He’d simply named her “star clone” and she adorned blue hair, silver eyes, and a black outfit. She had more chakra and was more sustainable to fights than his normal clone. She’d do fine meeting with Shikamaru for the years to come.
He’d spent most of his time in the cave, taking in massive amounts of nature chakra to implant his body into the ground. The rock ate at his clothes, though not enough to damage and his body shape would stay there for at least the next decade.
Not that he cared. He was strong enough to defeat about one hidden village as it was. Well maybe not the ANBU but he was leaving his mark. That’s all that mattered. It’s not like they’ll come here immediately. He’d be long gone by the time they investigated this place specifically. Naruto wasn’t worried about being found by an ANBU squad, anyway. He had reverse summoning for situations like that at the moment. Later, when he finally was strong enough and joined the Akatsuki, he wouldn’t need to worry until the entire ANBU from a hidden village came after them.
Though that was unlikely, considering his past life.
His mask had been laid on a crevice on the wall, but other than that, he kept everything on him. But it wasn’t like he could afford to sit idle forever.
Naruto yawned and stretched, arms popping before he stood up. He grabbed his mask and slid it so it rested on the side of his face. He looked around to make sure he didn’t forget anything before walking out the caves. The chakra signatures had become more restless throughout the week and he had two shadow clones with chakra nature in the cave. He was prepared for the worst – or so he liked to hope.
He settled down on a rock, peering at the dark sea in front of him. The sun was just rising behind him, so the water wasn’t as beautiful as he had seen it before. Not that it mattered, Naruto hated it for the moment after the long trip. He didn’t even know how long it had been.
Fear spiked in the small chakra signatures around him and despite himself, Naruto stiffened. He didn’t really like how he could sense negative emotions, but he couldn’t necessarily turn it off. It did come in handy, though, when in an unfamiliar land. Most people had negative emotions around strangers, unless their naive little kids. Then he’d be caught off guard because of their lack of self-preservation.
“HEY! WHO ARE YOU!”
Naruto let out a sigh, heaving himself up into a standing position. He slid on his mask before turning around on the peak to look at the group of five. They had bats and dulled kunai in their shaking hands and they stood there quivering. The only strong one stood in the middle, a female glaring at him as she held a sword stiffly in front of her. She had auburn hair in a ponytail and pale skin. Her clothes were a ugly green matched with a brown. She was probably the one who yelled at him.
“Someone tired and exhausted,” he said, rolled his eyes as they tensed. “Those are the same thing.”
There’s a difference, Naruto replied cheerfully. “Relax, I won’t kill you.” He crossed his arms over his chest and scanned them. Non-threatening females under the age of twenty. They didn’t have any weapon training and he’d be fine despite the bigger number advantage they had. Though if they secretly did have training, he’d probably be in for some trouble. Maybe it was just an act to make themselves appear weaker than they really are. Who knows.
“How old are you?” the woman asked, sword dropping a bit as a frown settled on her lips.
“Old.” Naruto offered. Kurama snorted.
“No.”
Naruto sighed, “Ten years old. Though just as dangerous as an ANBU,” he said. He knicked his thumb on a small blade on his belt and slammed his hand down on the ground, muttering the mantra he said many times to summon the Toads. The smoke left the air and Tetsuya sat there, looking quite annoyed.
“Finally!” Tetsuya exclaimed before pausing, “Oh, we have company.”
“What do you want?” the woman asked, herding the younger members of the group away from him. Her sword was back up, ready to attack him if need be.
“Missions,” he shrugged. “A new mercenary. I’m trying to spread my name. I heard the place is overrun by gangs and thought that some people would want them gone.”
“Oh.”
Naruto rolled his eyes, walking towards the forest behind them, “Yeah. ‘Oh’.” He passed them and Tetsuya jumped ahead of him, his colors brightening slightly. He purposely walked slower, knowing they wouldn’t be of any danger. And hoping that they’d ask him for his services. “You still hope.”
That’s all I can do.
“Wait!” the woman called. Naruto suppressed a shout of joy, settling on a grin under his mask. “We’ll pay you to take care of one of the gangs. They’ve overrun our town and killed all of the men.”
Naruto hummed, spinning around, “Where is this town?” he asked.
“Just south of us, the first village,” she said. She paused, glancing nervously at the woods before looking at him again. “Name your price.”
“I’ll check the town out first, then name the final price. I need to see how bad they are,” he said, turning around and starting to walk to the forest. He paused, glancing back and scanning the group. They were all females, now that he actually looked at them. “What happened to the boys?”
“They took them,” she said, “To train them to work for them. We saved a few but we kept them hidden.”
Naruto hummed, jumping up into the trees. He turned around and leaned against the trunk, scanning them once more. They all looked malnourished and worse than the orphanage kids, though that wasn’t saying much. Maybe they were on par with the Land of Waves kids. Though they shouldn’t have a problem with food with the abundance of fish in the sea. Unless they had hundreds of people or didn’t have someone who knew to fish. The latter seemed more likely.
Tetsuya spoke up, “You should be looking at about 130000 yen.”
They boggled at them but Naruto shrugged at their protests. “What’s your name?” he asked, cutting the protests off.
“Why should I tell you?” the woman snapped, glaring at them. Naruto wanted to lower the price, but this was the life of a mercenary. If they wanted to be free, they had to be able to pay, as much as Naruto hated it.
“So I can find you.”
The woman sighed, “Himari.”
Naruto paused, turning around so his back faced them. The fox would be on full display as Naruto raised the hood. “Naoki.” He took off, a giddy feeling taking over the dread. He’d found a mission! They were going to pay for him! He’d have to kill a few people but at least he’d have money. It’s not like being a shinobi was going to keep his hands clean. He’d have killed someone eventually.
Plus, wars.
And the Akatsuki. They had to have taken missions to build their name, more than likely taking those the hidden villages would take. He’d have to get used to doing dirty work.
“How are you feeling?” Tetsuya asked.
“I don’t know,” Naruto responded, “Giddy. Maybe not really giddy but I don’t have a big dictionary. Anyway, dread and worry are there too. Something of those three and more.” Tetsuya hopped next to him, nodding along. “Do you think they’ll be able to pay?”
“Yes, but barely. They probably found an abandoned gold mine in those rocks,” Tetsuya said. A tense silence followed before the frog broke it again. “Do you think I put the price too high?” he said, guilt eating at his words.
“No. For what we’re doing, it’s the right thing to do,” Naruto said, “I’m just worried they won’t be able to pay and I’ll have to move on.”
“I have a feeling you wouldn’t do that.”
“I might have to.”
“You would,” Kurama said, “If you want, I’ll take over and walk away for you. I know you have that self-sacrificing thing going on.”
Naruto let out a snort, yeah. Do that. They went the rest of the way in silence, jumping silently and swiftly through the woods. The wind passed through them and ruffled the leaves, the only give away their presence. They hid their chakra as they stopped on the edge of the forest, hiding in the leaves as they watched the town.
Men strode around the town with swords strapped to their backs, patrolling the edge of the town and the abandoned streets. From their chakra, Naruto could tell that they were about chunin level. Easy enough to get rid of, but their numbers posed a threat. Inside the houses, smaller chakra signatures sparked around. Probably the woman and children. Sexist bastards.
Naruto sighed, looking at Tetsuya, “130000 yen. This will be easy. Tell them to get it by the end of the day tomorrow or I won’t do anything.”
Tetsuya hesitated for a second, scanning Naruto’s form. “Got it.” Tetsuya hopped off in a flurry and Naruto rested against the trunk of the tree, his hood up and his mask hidden in the shadow of it. He felt a small relief for the mask, it hid his emotions well enough that the frog couldn’t probe at him. He only then realized why the ANBU wore them, the appeal to wear them while on a mission. It hid their emotions, which were useless on the field. They could act as if they didn’t have any, which makes the more difficult jobs easier to complete, to trick themselves. He always hated those masked men following him, emotionless and almost characterless. Though now, wearing the mask seemed like extra skin, a new person, Naoki compared to Naruto without the mask. Screams broke his train of thought.
“Let me go! Let me go! Sasena!” a woman screamed. Naruto looked, eyes scanning the village and found where the screaming was. “Get your hands off my daughter!”
“Shut up, lady. We’ll have our fun with her and then you’ll get the brat back.”
“Mom!”
Naruto jumped down from his tree, running towards the noise. He skidded to a stop, multiple kunai hidden in his sleeves as he strolled into the alley. “Hey!” A hand landed on his shoulder and Naruto slipped a kunai out of his sleeve and slit the man's throat. Creep.
“Y’know, it’s rude to just grab people,” Naruto mused, watching the man fall lifeless next to him. First kill of this life…woohoo. Kurama laughed at him. Though it wasn’t a ‘haha’ laugh. Naruto didn’t try to decipher it deeper than that.
“Who are you?” a man hissed. He was fit, muscle lining his arms and a six pack on his open chest. He didn’t have a lot of chakra though. Brute force, probably. He wouldn’t have much on Lee or Guy-sensei, though. He held a squirming little girl - a little older than Naruto, if not his age - in his hands, her feet flailing in the air despite being able to touch the ground. Fear radiated from her small reserve chakra, though he didn’t have to focus on her chakra to see she was scared.Rage spiked in Naruto and the man tensed, glaring at him.
“Naoki!” Naruto replied cheerfully, masking the rage leaking into his chakra. “Pleasure to meet your acquaintance.”
“We couldn’t say the same,” the man snarled, his grip switching from the back of her shirt to her arm, hand in a bruising grip on the limb. She let out a cry, trying to pull her arm out of his hold. “Now scat, boy, you have no part in this.”
Naruto shrugged, his hands lifting and his kunai by his shoulder. “I mean, my employer is paying me 130000 yen to get rid of you…” he trailed off, letting the implications rest in the air before he spoke again. “So I would say that I am in this.”
The man glared at him for a moment before a smirk lifted on his mouth. An ugly look. It didn’t suit him. “You’re just a kid, what can you do?”
Naruto resisted the urge to laugh, only looking at the body next to him, “Uh-” he pointed the kunai at the corpse, “Kill? I don’t know…I can barely read though…” Naruto frowned. “Ankoku will help you with reading if you want,” Kurama said. “I don’t need you pouting about such a trivial thing.”
The man laughed, cutting Kurama off. “He was weak. He wasn’t on guard.”
“Neither are you.” Naruto threw the kunai at the man to his left, landing in his neck and effectively killing him. “Like, come on! I just killed one of your own, be more on guard!” He ignored the pitiful thump of the body next to him.
“Get him!” the man yelled, glaring daggers at Naruto despite being useless. The group charged at him, minus the one holding the woman back from her daughter.
Naruto took out his kunai, 3 in each hand as he threw them at the advancing gang members. Four hit their targets while two were defected be the men’s own dull kunai. Naruto took out his twin kodachi swords and laced them with wind chakra, slashing at the advancing men.
Afterwards, when he had time to think about the fight, if it could even be called that, he would put one word to it. Easy. It was insanely easy compared to the toads and compared to him. Though it wasn’t pretty, and something he wouldn’t dwell on.
Blood splattered on the ground and onto his mask and jacket. Men went down, not getting nearly close enough to actually hurt him. Though he didn’t slightly twist his ankle after jumping off a wall. He pointedly ignored Kurama after that.
Naruto let out a sigh as he sheathed his swords, looking up boredly at the remaining men. The leader stared wide eyed at him while someone else threw his weapon away, running. Naruto let out a suppressed sigh and threw a kunai, embedding itself in the nape of his neck.
“Either die peacefully or put up a fight,” Naruto said, sounding weirdly bored. Hopefully he wasn’t picking up Shikamaru’s habits. Or Sasuke’s when he wasn’t acting insane.
“Who do you fucking think you are?” Naruto smirked, feeling a certain bright chakra slowly getting closer to them.
“Naoki. Mercenary. Uh…friend of the frogs…friend of the foxes?” Kurama snorted, shaking his head as he let a little bit of his killing intent roll off of Naruto and intertwine with Naruto’s normally peaceful chakra, sending the two men staggering. Naruto grinned under his mask. Thanks!
“No need to be so happy.”
Maybe, but I’m trying to trick myself here.
“Weren’t you the one to dissuade me from being a maniac?”
How the tables have turned?
“You’ll regret this!” the man yelled, getting out a knife. He held it to the girl's throat, pulling her to his chest.
“Oh? You think I care if you kill her?”
“Yes.” He’d be ignoring Kurama at this point.
The girl let out a sob as she clung to the hand holding the knife, trying desperately to get it away. The mother wailed, pulling at the other males grip. “Let my daughter go!” she kept screaming, tears streaming down her face. Naruto made it a fact to look away from her, to block her out.
The man cursed, throwing the girl away to cower in the corner.
“Don’t move, or your mom gets it,” he hissed before looking straight at Naruto. “Let’s go, you and I.”
“Only one of us walks away alive?” Naruto teased, delighting in the sharp spike of anger. The more angry he was, the more sloppy he would be. “Come on, make it unique!” The man’s lips curled into a snarl before he lunged at Naruto.
He turned out of the way with practiced ease. It reminded him of Kakashi-sensei and the bell test. He remembered it like yesterday, Kakashi-sensei’s hands were in his pockets while Sasuke and he tried to get those damned bells. He didn’t remember where Sakura was.
Except now he was in Kakashi-sensei’s place and instead of grabbing hands looking for bells, he was dodging badly timed swings of a knife. “Come on!” Naruto goaded, “You should be better with a knife! You can’t be a real fighter. Even a child wields a knife better than you! Well, a shinobi child, but still!”
“Shut up!” The man lunged at Naruto with an angry yell, kunai out to kill him. Naruto sighed, so sloppy.
“And loud.” Naruto hummed in agreement, grabbing a kunai and embedding it in the man's neck. The man let out a wet cough as Naruto threw him to the side. He raised an eyebrow at the remaining man, though a wet tongue darted out before he could yell out, squeezing tight around the remaining man's neck. The woman scrambled out of the man's grip, running towards her daughter and letting out a sob.
“Oh, Sasena,” the woman sobbed, holding her tight.
“Mom, mom, mom,” the daughter cried. Naruto watched the exchange for a second before looking at Tetsuya. The frog had let the man collapse on the ground, dead.
“I could of handled him,” Naruto said walking around, collecting the kunai from the corpses and the ground where a few were embedded.
Tetsuya stuck a little bit of his tongue out, “So? I can’t let you take all the glory.” Naruto rolled his eyes good naturally. He kneeled down and got a sealing scroll out, sealing the kunai and shuriken and rolling it back up, putting it inside his jacket before standing back up. In that time, the woman had stood up and held her arms out, shielding her daughter.
“I-”
“I won’t let you hurt her,” the woman said, glaring at Naruto.
Naruto snorted, “I don’t mean any offense, but you wouldn’t be an obstacle even if I wanted to ‘hurt her’.” Naruto sighed, “But I’m not here to kill any innocents. Tetsuya, please tell me they’ll pay, I didn’t want to do that for no reason.” Both Kurama and Tetsuya knew he still would have saved them, but the woman and the girl didn’t need to know that.
“They’ll pay. They said to meet them at the ocean tomorrow midday. I said gold will be fine.”
“Who are you?” the girl peeped.
“Naoki,” Naruto said, “I thought I said that earlier.”
“Well, trying not to be raped kinda takes over remembering your name.” Naruto only shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets as he strolled out of the alley, “What are you doing?”
“Killing the gang here. Setting the village free.” Naruto looked at the girl, “For money, of course. I’m not a good person.”
“At least you’re convincing yourself now,” Kurama said bitterly. Naruto couldn’t help but agree with him. Before, he’d do this even if ordered not to by ero-sennin or Kakashi-sensei or oba-chan. Though the bitterness Naruto chose to ignore. He knew the fox liked his hero tendencies, to a point. Liked his kindness and giving nature. He wouldn’t be doing much of that now.
Naruto wouldn’t be able to do that in the life he was leading. Maybe not ever again.
“Are you sure?” the girl asked, “You just saved us without knowing you’d get the money.”
Naruto strolled past the mother and daughter, walking into the street and looking around, “I’d just kill everyone here then. Work on my strength.” He walked towards the first building before walking up the wall, Tetsuya climbing next to him. He ignored the disapproving glare from Tetsuya, not used to Naruto’s detachment and fake emotions.
To be fair, Naruto wasn’t either.
He collapsed on the top of the building. He let out a small breath, looking at the sky. “Are you sure this is the right way?”
Too late now.
“You okay, Naruto?” Tetsuya asked, “Or should I call you Naoki? Kiki?” Naruto snorted, walking back on his forearms before he rested on them, “What?”
“Kiki?”
“Yeah!”
Naruto let out a small laugh, “Whatever, you idiot. If you call me Kiki, you’re Yaya.”
“Kiki it is!” Tetsuya grinned, “I like Yaya too, so.” Naruto snorted. “So, what next? How long is it gonna take?”
Naruto hummed, looking at the darkening sky. Weird how quickly a day goes by. “I don’t know, a month?” Yaya frowned, “As a maximum.”
“So…find their leader…kill everyone around them…get Ankoku to help with the rest?” Yaya said, “He said he wanted to hear all about it.”
Naruto sighed, “You’d think he was our mother.”
“Like we had one.”
“I’m pretty sure he makes up for not having either parent,” Naruto said, “Get the money tomorrow then deal with the gang? Should we do that?”
Yaya hummed, “Yeah. I think that sounds good.”
“Great.” Naruto collapsed on his back, staring at the clouds. “That cloud, see?” he pointed to a cloud that looked like a frog, “It looks like Daichi, doesn’t it? And! And! That one? It looks like a dragon.”
“Daichi-san and the dragon-”
“Lulu?”
Tetsuya snorted, “Why not. Lulu and Daichi-san are fighting with glitter-” He and Yaya made up stories about the clouds that looked like something or something they made up, adding onto it one after another until they were laughing at how absurd it was. Naruto always wondered how Shikamaru could stare at the clouds all day and not move. Maybe he used his chakra all day? Naruto didn’t know, but he could see the appeal of watching them. If he had someone with him, maybe he could do it too.
*****
Naruto let out a sigh, stretching his arms as his shoulders satisfyingly popped. Blood was splattered on his mask and clothes, but those were easy to get out. It wasn't like he never went hard core in training and got hurt. The gang members were embarrassingly weak, their leader not even being the strongest of them all, surprisingly. The teenangers and women they were using as shields remained with small cuts and bruises - most of them were from the gang, too.
“They’re…they’re all dead,” a kid whispered, cowering behind the older of the group, “He just…killed them.” Naruto let out a snort, turning towards the group. He leaned on his hip as the teenagers leveled their swords at him. Naruto raised an unimpressed eyebrow before remembering he had a mask. He’d have to get out of the habit of making facial expressions. Or maybe continue it. It didn’t really matter. How did Kakashi-sensei manage? he thought, scanning the crowd before focusing his gaze on the apparent ‘leader of the teenagers’. Who was the konoha 11’s ‘leader of teenagers’? Shikamaru, probably, or maybe him? He did get them together the most…
“What? I’m not about to kill the people I was paid to free,” Naruto said, “Besides, you’re holding it wrong. No wonder they were easy to take out.”
Yaya let out a dramatic sigh, “I was wondering if you were gonna say it!”
“Why did you help?” a teenager asked, his sword lowering slightly. Whispers exploded behind the teen and Naruto resisted a sigh. Who knew this would be so tiring, he thought. It wasn’t anything new, but it was something no one really knew about him. He actually liked to be silent, despite his extraverted demeanor - as long as someone was talking, he was fine. He was constantly exhausted after a day back in his old life, even if he hadn’t trained at all. He didn’t have all that much social energy as most thought he did. But this was an entirely different type of tiring, one he didn’t know how to place yet. It wasn’t physical exhaustion, but he didn’t know what it was.
“Money.” Naruto shrugged, watching as women and kids came out of their hiding spots. They all stared at him as he sheathed his kodachi sword. He resisted the urge to fidget under their watchful gaez, looking at Yaya, “Ready to go, Yaya?”
“Yep!”
“Wait!”
Naruto suppressed a groan, glaring at the teen, “What? I did my job.”
The teen flinched, shuffling in place, “How do you hold a sword correctly?” he asked, straightening slightly. “They only taught-”
“Is that a katana?” Naruto asked, nodding at the sword. His words were tinged with annoyance and impatience, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
Yaya sighed, “Oh, Ankoku. You’d be so disappointed.” Naruto flicked his head.
“Yes,” the teen nodded.
“Right hand goes on top-” the teen followed his command, stumbling with the sword before placing the left hand on the bottom. “Right.” Yaya hopped up to the teen, ignoring the flinch when he repositioned his feet and hand.
“There! Now Ankoku would stand in silence glaring at you compared to yelling.”
“Shut up, Yaya,” Naruto hissed, “Let’s go. That’s all I’m helping with…” Naruto hesitated for a minute, scanning the crowd that had formed. Himari was in the crowd, hugging a group of people. Her eyes were shining and that was when Naruto looked away. “Besides, I’m not a teacher.” He shushined into the trees, jumping away as the exclamations from the village dulled. They jumped along the tree for the next few minutes in silence, waiting until he didn’t hear the village anymore before speaking again. “Next village?”
“Are you okay?”
Naruto faltered, slowing down slightly. He wasn’t okay, he probably would never be okay again, but that would be obvious. He opened his mouth, closing it again and speeding up. He pursed his lips, hands clenching slightly. The fight brought back too many bad memories, from the small part of the war he saw. He didn’t like the feeling of seeing so many just die. He couldn’t help but think of him, of Obito, how they both just killed hundreds of people, left them to die, to rot on the ground. How they watered the earth in the blood of thousands. But now…now he was in Madara’s place.
That would definitely bring some nightmares.
“That’s irrelevant,” he settled on. Yaya let out a quiet sigh, though didn’t push the topic. Naruto knew that Yaya worried about him, couldn’t figure out how to just say that it wasn’t worth it, that Naruto couldn’t heal so soon. But Yaya ignored every attempt, everytime Naruto tried to distance himself from either Ankoku or Yaya to cry and doubt and brood alone. Naruto was sure they teamed up to make sure he was never alone during those times. He was sure, even that day where Yaya pranked Ankoku. They both knew he had a nightmare and was sure that Yaya had stayed around, though respecting his privacy, to make sure he always had company.
They both made sure he didn’t do anything stupid.
Same with Kurama. The fox had threatened to take his body over if he did something stupid. “Damn right.”
“Next village?”
Yaya shrugged, “You’re the boss, Kiki.”
Naruto sighed softly, “You can still go back.”
“I want to be here.”
“Okay,” Naruto responded quietly, speeding up.
He didn’t want to burden Yaya, but he wasn’t going to send the frog away. He didn’t want to be alone with only his thoughts and the easily annoyed fox in his head.
“Hey!”
Case in point.
“As if you don’t get annoyed too!”
Guilty as charged. Naruto felt Yaya’s gaze on him, “I’m fine, Tetsuya,” he said, “Or at least as fine as I can get. It just reminded me of something I don’t want to remember.”
“We’re just worried.”
“I know. Just don’t worry too much, it’ll hurt your brain,” Naruto teased.
“Oh shuddup,” Yaya snarked, “I’m the backup, I have to worry more.”
“Nah, you’re the cheer-”
“Don’t you dare.”
“-leader of this group.”
“I really wish I had a paralytic on me.”
“Too bad you don’t,” Naruto sang, snickering even as Yaya smacked him with a branch. “Learning the ways of the forest, I am proud.”
“I’m learning the ways of Ankoku,” Yaya amended, “Soon it’ll be rocks and not sticks.”
Naruto gasped, “You can’t steal his ways! Pick a unique style!”
“Water bullets?”
“There we go!” Naruto laughed, “Originality is key! I made a jutsu – nearly killed all perverts! It even took out the Sandaime hokage!”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Don’t you fucking dare use it.”
“I think I should show you after we kill the hunters coming right at us. Or maybe right now!” He made a bunch of clones, “Sexy harem jutsu!”
“I hate you.”
“It works! See!”