The new missing ninja

In the end, the guilt didn't take too long to catch up with Naruto.

Waking up with Karin drooling on his chest, his first instinct is to bring her close.

But whenever he looked at his hands, all he could see was blood. He had despised all the killing that went with being a shinobi. And now… As soon as he got angry enough…

Well, it turned out he was exactly as bad as other shinobi. There was no moral high ground to be had here.

Realistically speaking, he knew nobody whose opinion he cared about would blame him. Orochimaru, Anko and Sakura likely had high body counts already. Ino… Well, he couldn't pretend to know Ino at the moment.

Karin wouldn't care too much, as long as he himself was fine with it

But he wasn't. All he could think about was how easy it had been to get rid of Konoha's ANBU.

How much easier it had been than to use his bo staff in life or death battles, while being mindful of not crushing his foes' skulls.

And worse. The fact that in the moment, he had been fine with the feeling of steel biting, cutting flesh.

No. If he were honest, it was more than this.

He had enjoyed it, even.

The guilt only came much, much later, once his morals kicked in.

How he wished he had someone… something to blame for it. The seals he had carved into his skin. Indra himself. The situation itself. His rage at seeing Ino.

Deep down, though. Deep down, he wondered if maybe… This was just who he really was.

Another murderer.

Sakura had planned to ask Naruto to help her with the Mist thing.

Seeing his pale face in the morning, she decided that maybe a bit of exercise could distract him some. He still had some pretty strong objections about killing, and as far as she knew, had killed a grand total of one person before yesterday night.

He was probably feeling very conflicted, then.

It showed, as even his control over Lightning was a bit wonky, today.

Sakura dodged under his spinning kick, hitting the back of his leg with a hand chop. She cartwheeled, wrapping her legs around his neck in a chokehold.

"…I yield." He tapped out.

"Well. Damn, if you fight like this outside, you're in trouble." She said, quite bluntly.

Naruto let out a sheepish sigh. "Yeah. I know."

"You're shaken up."

"God damn, you're really laying into me today, huh…"

"Somebody has to. Orochimaru won't give a shit about politeness, so better if we get this out of the way."

Naruto winced. He knew the Sanin's blunt words would likely bruise either his ego or his feelings, as usual.

"Yeah. Don't sugarcoat it." He nodded.

"The way I see it, you won't always have a choice. You will have to kill people, no matter what you think about it."

"Ah. Thanks. I'm already feeling much better." Naruto snarked.

"Fuck off." She rolled her eyes. "For most ninja, the first few kills lead to a road of introspection. Some continue being ninja… some try to find a way out. It's not an easy decision, either way."

"…"

"It's going to be messy sometimes, too, as what probably happened yesterday." She said and Naruto looked away. "Don't feel bad about it, I killed my first victim by slipping an explosive tag inside their shirt. They managed to survive the initial blast. It was… bad. Body parts everywhere."

"Ugh." He winced.

She shrugged. "They were my target. Simple as that. I don't know them. Most of them were bad people. Some probably just had offended the wrong person. I don't know if they had a family, friends. And that's not really my problem."

He knew this was something of a lie, because she did try her best not to kill people who didn't deserve it, usually. Still...

"That's too cold." He decided. "There should still be room for some mercy, shouldn't it?"

"Naruto. We're mercenaries. Been trained as such since we were kids."

"I know this, but still…"

"And to tell you the truth…" She winced. "This is probably going to sound very nihilistic."

"Hit me."

"In times of peace, the value of life is just overestimated."

He couldn't help himself. "Careful with that edge, Sakura, you might cut yourself."

"Hey, I warned you this was going to sound goofy." She laughed. "But we've trained to prepare for war, even though it sounded so remote back then. That's what we learned from the very beginning. The most efficient ways to kill people. Just because we're a bit better at thinking than most animals — not the animal clans, obviously — doesn't mean our life has much more value."

"Have you been reading Orochimaru's philosophy books recently…?"

She cackled. "I'm serious, though. Why would I care about people who have no personal value to me… Or even somebody that I just met?"

"With this kind of logic, I don't think we're going to see peace anytime soon. And I don't agree. Respectfully."

"Eh. Peace is something only somebody strong enough can decide. We've got the strongest village after you, now. I don't think you will be able to keep things as neutral as you wish."

"And Akatsuki, too."

"And Akatsuki too, at the very least." Sakura nodded. "Who knows what Kumo might decide."

"Any ideas on what to do? Kinda desperate over here." He sighed.

"You can prepare to conquer the entire world, I guess." She joked. "Because you might just need to become that strong."

"Ah. Cool. Thanks."

She punched his arm. "The way I see it, you saved Ino's life and your own by doing what you did. So you saved two of my friends."

"I could have done it differently… I-"

"And are you sure you could have protected both of you and gotten out safely?" She asked, looking at him squarely.

"…I don't know."

"Then you did the right thing. And it might sound weird, but I'm glad that you did."

"…Thanks, Sakura. We have different opinions on the matter… But thanks." He rasped out.

It had helped, somewhat. He would need more time to process it, though.

Orochimaru dropped by, casually, a bit later.

"Here's yours, Naruto. Page 303. I'm on 210 myself. They update them so fast." He said, also leaving the pastries he had bought on the table.

'A bingo book. From Konoha.'

With a sinking feeling, Naruto opened it on page 210. A picture of his teacher's face, as well as his profile, lay in front of him. He looked terrifying in both pictures.

Orochimaru

Age: 57

Rank: Jōnin

Classification: S-Rank

Bounty: 150 million ryō

There was a description about his abilities, but this was nothing Naruto hadn't seen by himself, and a bit outdated, to boot.

"They really didn't get my best angle." The man declared. "And not even a 'flee on sight' to be seen. Anko's in here, too. S-rank, by the way. She really is my best disciple."

Naruto ignored him, and skipped to page 303, fingers shaking.

There was no picture, only a decent sketch of his face.

Indra

Age: ~20

Rank: N/A

Classification: A-Rank: Kill on sight

Bounty: 10 million ryō

Well, that confirmed it. He was wanted for being an accomplice in…

"What the fuck?!" He breathed out.

"Apparently, Fugaku died, yes." Orochimaru nodded. "And you're wanted for helping your friend murder him. I'm as surprised as you are, truly." He sipped on his tea.

His heart almost beating out of his chest, Naruto skipped to the end of the book.

Yamanaka Ino

Age: 18

Rank: Jōnin

Classification: A-Rank

Bounty: 50 million ryō

A mind-reader, genjutsu specialist who had… assassinated the previous Hokage?

Naruto let out a groan, palming his face.

He was almost certain that Ino had been framed for it. But yeah, this would complicate things a bit.

Orochimaru served him a cup of tea, as well.

He went back for a second spar with Sakura.

Somehow, he had wrestled back some control over his chakra natures again.

"Rising Dragon."

Naruto spun, in an anti-clockwise kick, sparks flying after him.

Sakura focused her chakra in a makeshift shield over her arm, taking the brunt of the attack.

She was in the air, now, where he had much more control.

"Wind Style: Whirlwind Sweep."

Naruto delivered a powerful horizontal sweep with his hand — normally, he'd use a weapon, but this was a spar.

The wind followed, aiming to throw Sakura off her trajectory, and straight to the ground.

At the latest moment, she did something that took him by surprise entirely.

What looked like a thin platform of water concentrated under her feet, in an intricate glyph. Sakura stepped on it, jumping a second time while she was airborne.

"What the fuck-"

She laughed as she fell on him.

"I think I win this one, too." Sakura said, once they hit the floor.

Her hand was near his throat, which counted as a win.

Losing twice in a day was pretty bad, by his standards, but he took it fairly graciously.

He sat down in the sand, feeling wiped out from the morning sun.

"So… I'm a wanted man in the Land of Fire." He started.

"Konoha or the Land of Fire?"

"…Both, I guess. But Konoha for sure."

"I see." Sakura nodded. "Sorry to hear that."

Naruto snorted. "You're awfully calm about this. Orochimaru, too, but that's a given. It's going to make going around a bit trickier."

"Maybe, yes." Sakura shrugged. "Use disguises."

"They don't have anything about you, though."

"Good, I'd hate to have to wear disguises everywhere. Anything interesting…?"

"Ino's got a pretty high bounty." Naruto noted dully. "Five times mine, actually."

"Jealous much?" Sakura snarked.

"…She's in even more trouble than I am."

"Did she actually kill the man?"

"What…? Of course not." He thought. "I mean, we can ask her, but… I really doubt it. That's Ino."

Sakura shrugged. "I don't think so either, just asking. Disguises for both of you, it is, then."

"Orochimaru and Anko are both considered S-rank missing ninja, too."

"As expected, yeah. What are you, then… C-rank?" She cackled.

"Fuck off, I'm worth at least an A-rank, by now."

"Not this morning."

He grumbled something rude before continuing. "Did you know Orochimaru's actually fifty-seven…?"

"Huh." She didn't. "Guess he moisturizes a lot."

"That or the lack of sun in the dungeons."

She chuckled. Then she stood up, holding a hand out to him.

"Well, I see you're feeling better about yesterday's mass murder."

He frowned at her.

"…Too soon?"

"Yeah."

"My bad." She didn't look really sorry, though.

He sighed. "Orochimaru really picked the wrong disciple."

"Absolutely. Ready to hit the Mist islands?"

"Will we be back for lunch?"

"Don't feel like eating some semi-decent island soup?"

"Eh. I guess we got a bit of time."

The Land of Water was composed of many islands, that was no secret.

Many were so small most mapmakers didn't bother with drawing them.

The biggest one, the one the village of Mist was built on, was too secure for anyone to go through without the proper authorization.

Most people didn't, and a fishing boat departing from the Land of Hot Water definitely didn't qualify.

The trade routes passed through a nearby island, where everything would be checked, double-checked… sometimes triple-checked for… well, anything.

Yagura's paranoia wouldn't allow for anything else.

Sakura had considered taking a smaller boat to Kiri, but decided against it.

Tales of people who had tried to sneak their way in had dissuaded her.

For the same reason — that being warships, sentries and archers ready to shoot down anything that wasn't going through the proper channels…

Walking on the sea to cross wasn't a real option. Never mind the fact that the distance would be problematic on its own.

"So yeah, that's why we're here." Sakura explained.

"Do you think Mist itself is this… misty?"

"I guess so. But then again, maybe they found a way to ward it off inside the village."

They could barely see ten meters in front of them.

"That's the most depressing place I've ever seen." He decided.

"Worse than the Mountain's Graveyard?"

"I'd say so."

"Worse than the empty, bleak patch of sea we spent days in on the boat?"

"Likely, yeah."

"Worse than your old house?"

"Have a bit of respect for your oldest friend."

"That's Ino."

"…Keep this up, and you're going to have to find a new second oldest."

"Technically, that would be the person that was the previous third." She snorted. "You're pretty good at this logic thing."

"I'm a man of action. I feel… I don't bother complicating things with… logic."

"So you don't think?"

"Nah. That's good for nerds." He shrugged.

"Says the book rat."

"I read good books. Not just typical bad boy romance." He gave her a pointed look.

She blushed. "I was young, then."

"What about Under Night? I found it in the living room, and it sure as hell isn't Karin's."

"Shut your dirty mouth before I make you."

Naruto made a silent sign. Sakura understood.

They continued to bicker.

The air whistled, and both Naruto and Sakura ducked under a pale grey… thing that would likely have chopped their heads off.

Thunder flashed, and a sword was in Naruto's hand. With his other, he threw twin daggers enhanced with Lightning.

Sakura put a mark on the floor, unseen. Then she shot a highly compressed stream of water where she could see a dark shadow in the mist.

"There are five of them." Naruto said, knowing she couldn't feel their signatures like he did.

Mist ninja knew how to fight in the mist, obviously, relying more on their other senses.

Sakura was at a big disadvantage here, he knew. He would have to attack, while she stayed on the defensive.

They exploded in motion.

Naruto's feet left a mark in the humid floor ground when he dashed forward, sword alight.

One of the men revealed himself. Long brown hair worn in braids, mad eyes, and two dots on the forehead.

He was thin… thin. Ribs jutted out of his chest, under his loose pink yukata.

Naruto's palm strike hit him head on in the plexus. The Lightning Strike, at this intensity, would make most men lose consciousness.

Apparently, this one was built differently.

He gave a mad, bloodthirsty grin. Naruto met his eyes, then looked down. The man's ribs jutted out. Not just because he was thin, no.

They actually went out of his chest, in haphazard spikes of razor sharp bones. And right through Naruto's left hand.

Naruto leaped back, already applying his messy healing technique to it. He motioned for Sakura to follow him, as he put some distance between them.

Naruto knew exactly where they were, so this was not too tricky.

"What the hell is this…?" He muttered out. "Sakura, be careful, one of these guys can use his bones as a weapon."

She nodded, speaking in hushed tones. "They're Kaguya, then. Some of them can pull their bones out."

"Anything to know?"

"They're very durable, apparently. Their bones are hard to cut through, for almost all of them. It could be easier to knock them out."

"Blunt force? Lightning shock didn't work."

"Ah, that's bad. Maybe using it to cut through could work, then. The ones that came at me used Earth release." Which was good against Water.

Naruto hesitated.

"I know what you think about it, but this might be a pretty bad matchup for me." Sakura said. "I can grab them, but they're super heavy. And I can't get through their skulls with water jutsu, or my chakra blade."

The mist was full of chakra here, which was almost suffocating to Naruto's senses.

He wasn't sure where they were headed to, now. Naruto heard something.

"Naruto, jump!"

He did, avoiding a close brush with a heavy broadsword, that cut right through a large tree, only stopping once it hit a second.

A man appeared on top of it, wearing a long, nondescript black cloak.

Bandages covered the lower half of his face, in something that reminded him of a rough-looking Kakashi.

The eyebrow-less eyes definitely looked more threatening, though.

The Kaguya band came to a halt once they saw him.

The man on top of the sword grinned. He was definitely expecting violence.

'Are they afraid?' Naruto thought.

"Ah. Kaguya, huh? This sure brings me back."

"Momochi Zabuza… is it?" The Kaguya who had the ability to use his ribs as spikes stilled.

They paused, the silence thick.

Then the Kaguya men started grinning like loons, pulling weapons out. In the case of their obvious leader, his left wrist started shaking. A bone slid out of his elbow, and he pulled it out with a noise that made Naruto cringe.

Zabuza grinned too. "Come at me, then, Kaguya. Your thick skull will make for a fine drinking cup!"

The leader attacked with another of his men. The three others went for Naruto and Sakura. She had been weaving hand seals, knowing that shit would turn bad quick.

The air was too full of water, Naruto had thought. It turned out that Sakura could make use of it.

Some of the mist dissipated around their enemies.

A sphere of water encased the thinner Kaguya clan member's head.

She kept her hand up in the Dog sign.

Naruto understood that was how she maintained the sphere, so he would have to protect her in the meantime, to allow her to focus.

He unsealed his bow, summoning two blades at once, that turned into arrows.

He focused Wind into one. Lightning in the other.

Shooting two arrows at the same time was not something he bothered with, usually.

He had learned it as a party trick, to be entirely honest.

It would serve as a helpful diversion for Sakura to finish the guy off. He hoped for a non-lethal takedown, but it was not the time to wonder about these things.

Both arrows flew, and one of them struck true. The Lightning one, as Sakura had said.

It went right through the smaller Kaguya's leg, leaving behind a large burn hole.

The man groaned in pain.

Neither of them halted their mad rush, rusty blades extended in front of them.

Nothing short of death would stop this kind of bloodlust.

His left hand was still too stiff for motions more precise than pulling the string of his bow. He would need to finish healing himself for anything more.

Behind him, Sakura's eyes were closed in focus, a vein throbbing on her forehead. She summoned two more spheres of water, one around each man's head. They stumbled, but continued to move forward, aiming at Sakura instead.

Naruto let his bow fall.

Before it hit the ground, he was in the middle of the two men still standing.

Lightning chakra coursed through both of his arms. He grabbed both of them by their necks, and with a grunt of exertion, he lifted them off the ground.

It was… messy.

The electricity coursed through the water, amplified.

He could hear their screams as they gurgled, looking for breath at the same time they were electrocuted.

Naruto held on. So did Sakura.

When he was sure they were unconscious, he let them go.

Sakura held the spheres up.

"Sakura."

"I'm not taking any chances."

"They won't be able to do anything else."

"Can you say this for sure? What if they can?" Sakura insisted.

"…"

"What if they attack people who can't stop them? This kind of bastard won't give a shit who they kill, as long as they get something out of it."

Some traitorous part of Naruto wanted to argue that it was not so different from her.

Some part of him knew she was right. Killing, raping… Might as well be a pastime for this kind of person. He had felt their chakra... and their intentions.

Truly, pacifism seemed to be the best way to get yourself killed in this world.

What would it take to change this…? Imposing your will…?

That kinda seemed to defeat the purpose.

He watched on, feeling as though his morals were crumbling in front of him, as Sakura made sure to slit their throats.

It was messy, and she had to press very hard to get through the bone.

She didn't say anything about his reluctance to do it himself.

Deep down, he thought that maybe actions made more sense than his. He was just a hypocrite, waiting for her to do the job.

Naruto said nothing.

"Can we leave a mark here and go…?" Sakura asked. "This is not exactly the fun trip I expected."

"…No. It's too dangerous. If there are more of these Kaguya guys around, it's just asking for trouble. We'll come back at some point."

"Then we need to go deeper. Before the others come back here."

He nodded, more than ready to leave.

A head rolled in front of them.

"I didn't expect anything more than killing some easy targets, today. But it seems I lucked out."

A rough voice called out.

"So, tell me. Where do you think you're going… Little Nine-Tails?" Momochi Zabuza asked, appearing out of the mist, his blade dripping blood.

Naruto froze.