Thoughts could leave deeper scarring than almost anything else.- J.K. Rowling.
"I'm going into town for a bit!" Naruko called to the house.
"Okay!" was the reply from nearly everyone.
She was on a mission. One that was far different from bridge builder protection. She needed info and the only way to get it was to go into town.
She frowned at the state of things. It was sad that there were so many starving children, and the adults were overlooking them, like they weren't even there.
The stores were bare. And she literally watched someone walk in and steal. They weren't secretive or anything. They just walked in, grabbed something, and left.
She looked around and sighed. Gato had to have men somewhere around here. With the way everything looked, she was sure that some fools would try and take advantage of a small island nations fear and use it against them.
She was right. Not too far away, there were three guys picking on a woman. From the bag in her hand, Naruko could guess that she had some food that the men wanted.
"Come on, We're just collecting taxes. Give us the bag, and you don't get hurt!"
Naruko growled in annoyance, and Shunshined in front of the woman.
"Back off!"
The guys jerked in shock but grinned when they took in her short stature.
"Don't try and play hero, little girl, or we'll kill you!" the first guys said as he threw a punch.
Naruko caught his fist and gave a sharp jerk. The pop coming from his wrist and his cry of pain, gave her much satisfaction. "I said back off."
The two behind him moved, pulling out swords.
She snorted and pushed the first one away. Ducking low, she grabbed their wrists as well and broke them just as easily. The swords fell to the ground. "Anyone want to try again?" she taunted.
When the leader ran forward, Naruko used her foot to pick one of the swords up. Flipping it expertly, she drove it through the man's chest. His lackeys froze in fear as the blood of their boss stained the ground.
Naruko pushed the body away and rested the sword on her shoulder. "Do either of you know where Gato is?"
Both shook their heads. She sighed, "What good are you then?" Before they had time to react, their heads were rolling on the ground.
Naruko turned back to the woman, who by now was crying from fear. "Please don't hurt me!"
"Wouldn't dream of it," Naruko replied blandly. "Are there any other groups like these three roaming about who decide to 'pick up taxes'?"
The woman became confused. "Why are you looking for Gato?"
Naruko sighed once more. "I'm one of the ninja assigned to protect Tazuna."
The womans eyes sparkled with recognition.
"However, who's to say that this Gato won't just hire someone to destroy the bridge once it's finished? A good jutsu, and that bridge will fall. So, I figure, why not take out the problem at its source? One of these guys, knows where Gato is, and I'm going to find out where."
By the time Naruko had finished speaking, the woman has stopped crying.
"You would do that for us?" she whispered in shock.
The blonde nodded, "Now do you know about any others?"
"Yes! They rotate every half hour. If you wait here, another group will come. Thank you, ninja-san!" With that, she ran off.
Naruko sighed. She had a few minutes to get rid of the bodies. Then, she'd question the next group.
She didn't have to wait long before she saw five men walk into a store and threaten the owner to give them his money. Naruko stepped inside as well and shut the door.
They all turned to her. "Get lost, girly! This is no place for you!" the smallest man ordered.
"Yeah, you heard the boss! He's one of Gatoi-sama's best men, so do as he says!" one of the bigger ones yelled.
Naruko grinned beneath the mask. "Perfect! You have the info I'm looking for!" She held up the sword she had taken from the other group. "Where is Gato?"
The men burst into laughter. Naruko rolled her eyes and flashed forward, decapitating the four larger men before they could blink.
The leader and the shop owner screamed. Naruko turned her blade toward the small man. "You don't know how to use your sword. I can tell. Now, where does Gato live?"
He backed up, screaming when he hit the wall. Naruko threw the sword, enjoying as it landed next to the man's face. "Please don't hurt me?!"
"Tell me what I want to know."
"He'll kill me!" the man cried.
"And you think that I won't? Look around. Your thugs are dead, and if you don't tell me what I want to know, I'll kill you or worse," she threatened in a deep tone.
He didn't say anything until she advanced. "Okay! He lives in the center of the island! But he's planning on moving soon and letting someone else handle this place for him! The building is huge and white! Guards everywhere!"
Naruko nodded, "Thank you!"
She turned to the owner of the store and handed him the sword. "Do as you wish with him."
A horrified "WHAT!" met her ears, but she ignored it and walked out.
She froze when she saw Sai, standing in front of her. He looked to be confused.
"Hello, Sai."
"I looked in the book, because I was unsure of my thoughts, and I confirmed that you are acting suspicious. What are you doing?" he asked as he held up his book.
Naruko looked at Sai closely. Then, she got an idea. "Did they teach you infiltration in Root?"
Sai's eyes went wide, but he schooled his features quickly and nodded.
She grabbed his hand and began tugging him along. "Good. You can help me then."
"What exactly is it that we are we doing?" he asked as he tried to keep up with her.
She looked back at him. "We're killing Gato."
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"So we're getting paid to kill an old man, a group of brats from Konoha, and my old colleague? This sounds so boring."
"Kisame, stop whining. Not only are we getting paid twenty-five million just for killing some weaklings, your old friend is worth twenty million in Kiri. We hit the jackpot. You do the killing, and I get the money. Then we're both happy," Kakuzu growled out.
Kisame snorted, "Whatever! I hope Zabuza hasn't gotten weak over the years."
"Let's just go."
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"I don't understand. Our mission is to protect the bridge builder. Why are you doing this when it isn't required of you?" Sai asked as they flew above the island.
Naruko sighed, "Okay, I'm going to tell you something."
Sai was looking at her, paying absolute attention to everything she said.
"I grew up, much like these people did, living in fear and wondering when my next meal would be. They have one man doing this to them, while I had a whole village. I know how they feel. I've been where those children were, except I wasn't ignored. I was looked down upon and hated. I know poverty well. And these people, when it comes to poverty, make me look like a Daimyo. I can connect with these people. And I'm angry at Gato for putting them through this," Naruko glared at her hands.
Sai frowned, "You are angry? But this has nothing to do with you?"
She nodded, "You're right, it doesn't. But, if I can get rid of the problem and make it so that these people don't have to suffer any longer, then I will, because It's the right thing to do."
It was silent after that. Sai was trying to understand what drove Naruko to do this. He didn't really get why she would through all the trouble when it wasn't in the mission description.
She seemed completely fixed on doing it though. The way she spoke about how she wanted to help the people of Nami no Kuni made him feel strange. She had such emotion in her voice. The look in her eyes and the way she tensed. She was serious about this.
For some reason, he felt that he wanted to help her. He couldn't understand why though. He pulled out his book and began searching, trying to find out what it was that made him feel like this.
The book described it as desire. He wanted to help Naruko remove this Gato from power. That want was a desire. A desire to see something happen.
He looked over at Naruko. He couldn't see most of her face because of the mask, but he had a feeling that she didn't need her face exposed in order to express herself. Her eyes were filled with hidden emotions. But he could tell that she was unhappy.
The book said that when people smile, it could be a form of happiness. Their eyes would light up and their eyebrows would rise slightly. If they were angry, then their eyes would narrow, almost suint and their eyebrows would turn downward, creating a dip as their mouths would purse or form an upside down U.
From what he could see, she was angry. She was angry over something that didn't have anything to do with her. Was that a normal thing? He looked back at the book to find the answer.
Naruko sighed. Sai was so out of it emotionally. She wondered if he could ever go back to normal.
They flew in the cover of the clouds for a while, before they noticed the huge building.
"Why would he live in the very area he's terrorizing? Does he not fear that someone is going to grow a backbone and attempt to attack him?" Naruko muttered.
They landed pretty close to the building, Sai's bird dispelling immediately.
"He hired several samurai but no ninja. This dude is stupid."
They watched the door for a an hour and memorized the rounds on the outside of the building. Every five minutes, a samurai would walk by. They recognized the one samurai, noticing that had come by every half hour. There were sentries stationed on the roof. Two of them that rotated every half hour.
Naruko picked up the pattern and found the proper time to attack.
She turned to Sai. "I'm going to have my Bunshin take care of this."
She created several Kage Bunshin. With their orders already in mind, they split up. Minutes later, one of the Bunshin waved from the top of the building and gave a thumbs up.
"Shunshin to the roof."
Both appeared next to the Bunshin, who saluted Naruko.
The rest of the Bunshin jumped onto the roof and awaited further instruction. "We're going in. You will find the boiler room and in half an hour, I want you to use whatever jutsu you can to destroy it. Go!" They nodded and headed off to the door.
Naruko created one hundred more Kage Bunshin. "You guys have half an hour to collect ever expensive looking item from this property and seal them into these scrolls." She handed over ten scrolls. "In groups of ten, you'll carry this out as well as killing all who you come into contact with. Go!"
Naruko looked at Sai. "Can you do anything special with your drawings? Something that can tie Gato up for me?"
Sai nodded, "Just get me to where he is."
"Good. My jutsu usually destroy, and we can't afford for him to call for help. Lets go!"
They crept through the mansion, Sai creating several snakes and mice to scout the area. They found that Gato had his office on the third floor. Directly in the middle of the building. Sai let his snake travel under the door.
They waited for the sound of a struggle before entering.
Inside was a chubby little man and four samurai. All of them were captured, tangled up in the ink snakes.
"Hello!" Naruko gave a false cheery greeting.
"What the hell are you doing?!" the fat man screamed.
Naruko tsked and waved a finger. "Now now, no need for the language."
"Fuck you, bitch!"
"Never in your life," she mumbled.
Sai stood by the closed door, watching what she was doing with interest.
"You see, Gato, you've gotten too full over yourself. You hired the Demon of the Bloody Mist to kill my charge. You have a previous Anbu Captain now Jonin, another Jonin and several Genin pissed at you. Then there's me. Unlike them, I'm not nice and considerate to assholes who deserve death," Naruko said as she moved forward.
"You will give me everything you have. All of your money will be in my possession by the time this is over."
The man actually had the balls to laugh at her. "I can get my men to take care of you, no problem."
Naruko shook her head, "I have over a hundred people in this building collecting your valuables and waiting for the cue to blow this place sky high. I'm not some person from that town. I'm a ninja, and I have nothing against killing you. Now, are you going to tell me what I want to know, or do I have to show you something horrible first?"
Gato's eyes looked worried, but he didn't say anything.
Naruko grinned, "Yay! I get to have some fun! Sai, could you step out of the room for a moment?"
Though he looked confused, Sai nodded and left, waiting outside.
Naruko looked at Gato and pulled her mask down. "I'm going to let you meet my good friend Kyuubi."
A reddish/orange light came from Naruko's body. It wrapped around her person for a second before traveling down to the floor. This was no longer Naruko. It was Kyuubi.
The once blue eyes were now blood red and the KI flooding the room was enough to choke the men.
"What are you?!" Gato screamed in fear.
"A real demon," came the demonic reply.
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Sai stood outside the door, wondering what Naruko was going to do.
He gripped his chest when an unimaginable amount of KI came from the room. A red light was coming from under the door. Something horribly cold rushed down Sai's spine, and he shivered. His heart was beating rapidly, and his palms began to sweat.
He knew what this was. This was fear. Whatever the blond was doing, she had unleashed so much evil energy, that it had scared him! The first time he had ever felt fear. He didn't like it at all.
Is was gone as quickly as it came, and Sai let out a sigh as he slumped to the floor. Relief, he realized. So many emotions he was feeling today and all because of Naruko. How strange.
"Sai, you can come in!"
He stood slowly and opened the door.
Inside Naruko was sitting at Gato's desk, writing something. Gato was shaking and sweating as he gave her instructions on what to do.
"He decided to do as I said. I think I just have this way with people, you know?" Naruko said in a cheerful tone.
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In the end, Naruko was able to get Gato to make a transaction, forwarding everything he owned to Naruko's account. Naruko sent a message to the Hokage with one of Sai's ink birds to explain the situation. The fact that she was now the CEO with Gato's express permission. She asked him to set up a meeting with the Fire Daimyo. Since Naruko was on pretty good terms with the man after that A rank mission, she was pretty sure he wouldn't be opposed to any of this.
Gato then sent a letter to his Vice President that he was giving over his holdings to Naruko and naming her the new CEO of Gato Company and Holdings. He made a very believable story about how he had hired a missing ninja to take care of something, but when they failed, he hired more missing ninja to kill the original, but got caught up in a dangerous situation and had a feeling that he didn't have much time left.
Naruko was supposedly a ninja who had the connections to make the business grow and therefore, he trusted her to expand the company's reach throughout the elemental nations, even further than it already was.
Naruko let the building live as they waited for the replies to come.
It wasn't until early the next morning that she received a reply from the Hokage, who was completely startled about everything but wished her good luck. He even gave her the permission to do what was necessary. The Fire Daimyo having agreed to meet with her when she returned to the village.
A reply from the Vice President came much later that day, who was a little reluctant about everything but agreed and asked to meet Naruko in Tanzaku Town in three weeks. The V.P. wished Gato well and said that he hoped Gato was safe.
From there Naruko and Sai got moving, taking Gato with them. The samurai were left in the room.
When they reached Tazuna's house that night, Naruko had Sai stay outside with Gato as she went in to break the ice.
Kakashi was at her side in seconds, "Naruko! Where did you go?! You said you were going into town and then Sai disappeared, and I couldn't track you, because your scents stopped in one place!"
Sasuke was right with Kakashi in that moment and they bombarded her with questions.
"Well, I was going to do something. Sai felt that my behavior was strange and found me in town. From there, well, I did something."
Kakashi went quiet. "Something?" he asked in a deadly calm voice.
Naruko gave a nervous laugh, "Well, I decided to deal with this whole Gato problem and I went into the town to get information from his men."
Kakashi's head leaned to the side. "What did you do Naruko?"
She held up and hand and called Sai in. Sai walked in the door, holding a tied up Gato.
"What did you do?!" Sasuke was the one to ask this.
Naruko laughed again, "I'm the new CEO of Gato's many companies. It's legalized and everything!" She reached into Gato's suit pocket and pulled out an official paper, stating that she, Naruko Uzumaki, was the new CEO of Gato Company and Holdings, along with many other smaller companies. Gato's and her own signature were at the bottom.
"So, I have to meet the V.P. in three weeks at Tanzaku Town and when I return to the village, Jiji got me a conference with the Fire Daimyo," Naruko trailed off, waiting for it.
By then, everyone had come to see what was happening. Tazuna, Tsunami and Gai were gaping and the Genin all looked to be shocked.
Naruko turned to Tazuna, "The people of this village view you as a headman, and as such, I decided to have you deal with what happens to Gato. Then I will be speaking with Tsunami-san about the welfare of Nami no Kuni. When we deal with Zabuza, you'll no longer be in danger."
Everyone was too shocked to say anything. Kakashi pulled her upstairs to talk to her more.
"Was this all just on a whim?" he whispered.
She shook her head. "I was originally going to steal everything he owned and the kill him. But then I thought, that could cause problems for Nami in the future, so I forced him to sign over everything to me. At first he laughed, but then, I let him meet someoneand he had a change of heart."
Kakashi got what she meant immediately, "You know?"
"Ever since I was kidnapped and tortured eight years ago. So, I let Kyuu have some fun scaring him. Now, Nami will decide what to do with him."
Kakashi let out a loud sigh, "Wow! The Hokage knows?"
"Mhm. Sai's messenger birds are fast! On our way back to Konoha we can stop in Tanzaku Town. I'll even pay for us to stay the night. But I will need to talk with the V.P. and name a new V.P.," Naruko told him.
"Okay then. Just don't go off again. Zabuza will be around tomorrow and I don't want to worry about you anymore. Next time you decide to do something like this, give me a heads up. Now go calm Sasuke down. He's been a wreck ever since you didn't return last night."
Naruko nodded and went off to find the Uchiha.
Thanks for letting me have some fun, Kit!
We both benefitted from it, so why not let you?
Now, go and make you Uchiha happy again.
He's not my Uchiha!