14. Shinigami

As I left the table I made my way to the back kitchen and placed the dishes aside and went over to a separate grill on the side.

Most of the people I hired at first didn't know much about a grill, except that it looks similar to a barbecue stand and all. But soon some of the food was prepared on the grill. And this one was specially reserved for me to use, be it testing new recipes or just experimenting with a blend of dishes, tastes or textures.

Right now I needed to distract myself as I couldn't wait to try out that Kumo nins sword, well technically it's my sword now.

I buried myself into the grill, a very tender yet striking aroma escaping the open booth into the dining area salivating everyone who came in a whiff distance of it.

All the customers were mesmerized to see this as they were wondering how a four year old kid like me had such comprehensive knowledge of food, ingredients and cooking.

Those who were surprised to see me work my magic soon learned of me as those who had seen it before quickly told the tales of me. Which weren't really tales and more of how my cooking is amazing and how I'm the owner of the place serving them divine venturing delicacies.

I finished from side dish to main dish, all packed with amazing nutritional meals and packed it up in to go bags and packed them up nicely and made my way over to the counter and placed them in a warmer and took over the register taking orders and preparing a few of the meals.

After a while Naruto finished eating and approached the counter and thanked me for the meal once again and I passed him the packed meals and told him how to warm the up and invited him to come here any time.

Anyone who saw this and bore fangs at Naruto were quickly defanged by a single look from me and they didn't dare to cause trouble in here.

As the blonde left a flurry of notifications popped up which almost startled me as I was still getting used to them popping up.

'I need to get glasses to hide my eyes when reading these notifications or its gonna seem odd to people'.

Like that I read the notifications one after another. Mostly saying my cooking skills have improved and my reputation has increased with a few more people even the villagers who had crossed feelings and didn't recognize their savior before them.

But a few stood out.

[Reputation increases with Kakashi Hatake, Uzui Yugao]

[Reputation increases + decreases = slightly increases with Kinoe]

'Guess that was a given that Kakashi would be watching Naruto some of the time. But who is Kinoe and how can a reputation increase and decrease and then end up slightly increasing. Did it increase more than it decreased?' He wondered as he continued serving people who came in.

Little did he know, Kinoe was a spy from Root sent to watch over Naruto and when he saw Nahen's affection towards Naruto. Due to his "Root impulse" a dissatisfaction arose while his locked away emotions were touched by this and felt a resonance towards this.

{TS: Kinoe aka Yamato is a spy from Root and is a fellow orphan, so seeing how Naruto was being looked over by someone without ulterior motives was moved by this. I don't know if they can regain their affection since Danzo did them dirty in that aspect, but after his death Yamato led team 7 and showed some.}

After a while it suddenly became dull and a couple of ideas flashed through Nahen's head and as he was about to leave and head back home to think about them more, a familiar felling entered his senses and he felt a bit heavy and went home immediately.

On the way home Nahen spread out his senses reaching all the way far out as a quarter way through the village. His house was in the sensing range from where he was currently and spotted a few chakra signatures lurking around the compound in a hidden manner and most of them he hadn't sensed before but a few he had and it wasn't the usual Anbu who would hide but not totally hide.

It was the Root.

'What are they doing there? Danzo wouldn't make a move unless it was guaranteed he was gonna succeed in catching me. I need to turn back.'

Walking a few steps he turned a corner to the left instead of the right leading him home and once he slipped into the crowd he dashed of at the nearest intersection making another left turning a full 180° from before and dashed straight for the Hokage building, not that he'd be any safer there if this was a decision by the higher ups but he'd take his chances.

If this was an individual Root action then he was likely more safer there than anywhere else as the Third would do something about it.

As he came closer towards the Hokage building an uneasy feeling kept creeping up on him but he relented and made it all the way up intending to confront the Third if this was an action taken by the higher ups including him.

Previously the Third had mentioned to his secretary to notify him if Nahen ever came over and she understood he was valued by the Hokage and as soon as he arrived and said his name she escorted him up to his office.

Entering the office Nahen fixed up his composure and was equally stunned to find the Hokage and Danzo of all people discussing something and he seemed to have overheard his name in this debacle.

==================

Meanwhile on the border to the land of earth.

Earlier that same day Mai was a part of a reconnaissance team responsible for the tracking and assassination of enemy teams reported to have reaked havoc on the border line. Apparently they were Iwa nin that invaded the land of fire.

On that time they followed tracks and intel leading them to a valley and when they scouted the valley from outside it seemed abandoned and when they entered to gather more clues, they were ambushed on the spot with a flurry of jutsus and ninja tools.

After some time the previously team of eight was now down to five as they faced against fifteen enemies, three jonin, five special jonin and the rest elite chunin.

Most of them were already tired and the enemy kept picking them one after another and claimed their lives.

Before they entered the valley, the leader of the team seemed to have seen something off with this as if they were being baited and he sent off and emergency call back to the village a day prior to entering the valley.

A while after Nahen had left the Hokage's office earlier the message was delivered and a back up team was sent out to assist them, but it was already too late.

Just when Nahen entered the Hokage's office now Hiruzen had a complicated feeling as he looked at Nahen and sighed while taking a long breath of cold air in.

"Nahen what are you doing here?" He asked as he looked at the young boy infront of him.

"I came by to retrieve my compensation from earlier" He said as he released his senses towards the two grown men infront of him lying about his intentions wanting to see their reaction in person and asked them why.

'What is he doing here, shouldn't he already be taken care of. Anyway it's already too late he'll be gone by tonight' Danzo thought to himself as he saw Nahen infront of him and got worried for a second without thinking properly and quickly calmed himself as if it never happened.

Nahen who had his senses out felt the fluctuation from Danzo and knew that he was indeed up to something but Hiruzen had a complicated gaze as he had an internal battle with himself.

"Take a sit Nahen" Hiruzen's voice changed from that of the Hokage to that of a grandfather.

Sitting down Nahen had a bad premonition again as he saw the worried gaze on Hiruzen's face and knew something was up.

After a long while he finally spoke.

"Earlier this morning we recieved a distress call from a patrol team on the border and were ambushed by enemy ninja and a backup team was immediately dispatched to assist. By the time they left its perceived it was already too late. Nahen..." Hiruzen froze for a minute and stuttered.

"Nahen.....M-...Mai was a part of that of that patrol team" He said as he stared at Nahen's reaction.

The feeling in Nahen's gut started swelling and exploded as the words kept echoing in his ears.

After a coupled of seconds he spoke " You sent her to her death!" He said as got up from his seat and clenched his fists tight.

At that time a murderous aura filled with the lurking feeling death spread throughout the office and the entire building.

"No...it's not like that, they were ambushed by the enemy" Hiruzen said as he was slowly being suffocated by the feeling and felt sluggish and the feeling spread even more.

On the other hand Danzo had a bad feeling in his heart as cold sweat flowed from his back pinning him down as he never expected this outcome.

At this time Nahen's entire body was surging with chakra, even gushing out of his body becoming visible to the naked eye and potent it was.

Nahen's right eye changed in color and became pitch black as if an endless abyss was confined in it. A black pattern of flames and swirls grew on the right side of his face to his shoulder and covered his entire right side and he fell into a trance.

A cloud of black smoke rose up from the floor besides Nahen and materialized into an Oni with a Shinigami mask on its face. Clad in full black battle armor and a cythe on its back which gave an oozing feeling of death and black clouds formed above the Hokage building.

Just as Danzo was about to attack, a shadow spread from under Nahen's feet and held him in place hearing these words "Move and you die!"

As the words fell the Oni in a Shinigami mask clad in battle armor crouched down and swirled backwards disappearing out of sight.

'Spacetime fluctuation' Both Hiruzen and Danzo said as they noticed a space time ripple when the Oni disappeared.

At that moment in the valley on the border to the land of earth.

"On last frontal attack! Let's take them down" An enemy dressed in the common Iwa flack jacket ordered, he was the leader.

"Yes!" All the other Iwa nin responded in unison and they all weaved hand seals one after another.

Before they could even call out their jutsus or weave the last hand seal they all froze in place as the feeling of dread filled up in the air.

Everyone was alarmed by this as they felt their hearts about to flee out of their chests. Then a Matagama mark appeared around Mai and the remaining Konoha ninjas.

Mai and those in it were horrified as they thought this was the enemy jutsu and they were goners. Then a cloud of black smoke rose up infront of Mai swirling and a seven feet tall Oni in a Shinigami mask clad in full black battle armor wielding a cythe formed facing Mai and the other Konoha ninjas.

Recognizing Mai it turned around and faced the Iwa ninjas and move in a heartbeat wielding its cythe. With a swift motion a head would be sent flying along with blood spraying in the air. It's movements were as if dancing and it's feet never lifting off the ground.

Within seconds all the Iwa ninjas were slaughtered like sheep, frozen in place and unable to fight back.

The Oni then faced Mai and the rest and raised its left palm and with a flash of the sockets in its eyes through the mask and a second Matagama flashed under their feet.

When they saw the enemy killed they almost heaved a sigh of relief but then their enemy's killer turned in their direction and they felt they were next.

With a flash of the Oni's eyes, the Matagama lit up and Mai and the others disappeared in place.

Back in Konoha in the Hokage's office. Hiruzen was still at a loss for words and was debating whether to attack but his senses went haywire whenever he stimulated his chakra and he stopped remembering the Oni in a Shinigami mask and the shadow leaching from under Nahen's feet still stitching Danzo in place as he couldn't move an inch.

Just then a Matagama appeared behind Nahen and with a flashing light Mai and the four others appeared along with three corpses of the konoha ninjas wrapped in black bandages from head to toe. Mai was a part of the five.

The black marks on Nahen's body receeded back and his eye returned back into he seemed to regain consciousness and he fainted falling to the ground face first.

The two old men seeing this were left speechless as they remembered that this group of five were part of the patrol group with Mai in it and they realized what had happened.

Upon disappearing in the office, the Oni teleprted to Mai's side and protected her and her squad. Well the remainder of it anyway.

After the feeling of death suffocating the office perished and the clouds in the sky dissipated. A large number of ninja and Anbu swarmed into the building and some covering its exterior since they could finally enter.

A dozen ninjas flooded into the office and were glad to see that the Third was safe but they noticed the horrified expressions on everyone here, a small boy laying unconscious on the floor, five ninjas in tattered uniforms with bleeding wounds and three corpses on the floor wrapped in bandages as if mummified.

After a while the Third recovered "Send the injured to the hospital and check these in bandages and identify them and take the boy to the hospital too."

As he said that the newcomers took the five out and carried the three corpses outside to the morgue for identification and burial. And when they were about to take Nahen.

The Oni in a Shinigami mask appeared again but without the suffocating feeling of dread and tossed a black scroll over to the Hokage and said "Enemies".

Then it watched the ninja carefully carry Nahen with an attentive gaze and followed pursuit to the hospital calmly.

Outside everyone who saw the Oni was petrified and almost attacked but the one carrying Nahen stopped them in time and they let it go as it showed no hostility.