19 Information is Everything

-Triskelion, Washington DC-

-January 26, 2007, 1000h local-

"I'm better, she said. We'll find him in a week, she said." Barton said out loud while sitting on his desk, sorting out files.

"How many times would I need to say I'm sorry!" Natasha shouted, her face showing visible signs of stress only covered by light makeup.

The duo had been following around Naruto for almost 2 years. At first, every time he showed up, they would check it out personally. But they quickly realize how futile it is. He can be in Rio in one minute the show up in Seoul the next. After three months of cat and mouse, they finally gave up. His cloning and teleportation ability must have a high limit, if not limitless. His clones must have the ability to disintegrate too since there's no trace of his clones anywhere. It's like they just vanish in a puff of smoke.

"Sorry, Nat. I just seriously hate this guy right now. For God's sake, he's making us look bad, and it's not like he's really hiding! He knows who we are. He's taunting us that piece of shit." Barton exclaimed. His frustration is getting the best of him.

"He sent another package, didn't he?" Natasha asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, he sent another fucking package." Barton confirmed.

"What did it say, and what does he want?"

"Some Iranian General is going to Budapest to buy some plutonium. He'll send the details if we leave him a cargo container of groceries, more than half of which are ramen, on the port of New York by tomorrow night. The good kind, he says."

"He's not even trying to hide it anymore." Natasha said her observation with a small smile. She can admit to herself that the situation they are in is hilarious.

"He's making us do his groceries! Us! He's making SHIELD do his groceries! We can't even track him with anything!"

Six months after Naruto's disappearance, chatter about an information broker. Law enforcement, military, and spy agencies around the world are receiving packages with incomplete information and a price. The one similarity that stood out between all of them is that they are signed as Nine tails using the native language. No one initially took it seriously until a relatively wealthy businessman was kidnaped, and his family is forced to pay a ransom well above their means. The LAPD, rapidly losing time, received a package. The Chief of Police opened it. Inside is information about the case not shown to the media, the first name of the suspect, and the price, a King size bed to be left in front of the H of the Hollywood sign before 6 pm.

The Chief informed the family about the possible information and its cost, explicitly saying that it has no guarantee. They immediately took the deal as time is running out. They bought a premium $7500 bed with pillows, and a police van brought it to the agreed-upon spot. SWAT was left to see who will take it, but to their surprise, it just suddenly vanish. Even the bugs and trackers were left behind.

At precisely 6 pm, another package was received. Still, this time, it contains the information of the kidnappers, their location, blueprints, and a video was seemingly taken outside and inside the building. Checking out the information was easy enough and they confirmed that everything seems authentic.

LAPD immediately did a rescue operation, and it was a success. News about the authenticity of the information broker spread throughout the world like wildfire.

Fury immediately sent a team to find the information broker to no avail. He was about to assign it to a secondary priority status until he received a package from the broker, placed on his table. The possibility of the broker to have enough reach to put a box on his table already sets him on edge.

The information inside outlined the presence of a terrorist cell that uses possible alien tech—the price for further details, a decommissioned quinjet to be left in a hanger in Reagan airport.

Fury accepted the deal and left a fully functional quinjet, not a decommissioned one, in the hanger but not before leaving a bunch of trackers and cameras in the jet and the hanger. In case all of this doesn't work, the functional quinjet can be tracked down remotely. He was confident he could find out who the broker is until he saw the jet fade in front of the camera, leaving behind everything that he added, i, including the built-in tracker.

That's when it suddenly clicked. They can't find the broker since he might be the person they can't find already. Naruto probably built an information network and selling it himself. This was only confirmed by the whisker drawings in the package he received after the payment.

Two months after that event, a different type of package arrived at the Office of the Field Marshal of the United Kingdom. It still has it's information and a price, but the purpose is wholly different. It states that after the payment, he would do the mission himself—something like a mercenary. The Field Marshall checked the information and figured out why the broker offered to do the task himself. An English journalist is captured by the Taliban and taken to a fortified hideout. The mission would likely cause high casualty before even retrieving her. That's why he decided to accept the deal but still sending SAS units near the area.

The following day, the SAS units reported that the journalist appeared in the middle of their camp, unbound but with a sack over her head. The bag itself has a face drawn on it with whiskers. Interviewing the journalist yielded no clue to the broker's identity.

This incident opened up a new avenue for the broker, not only selling information but also selling his services. Luring him into a trap to ascertain his identity proved futile since he's the one who chooses which group or person he would offer his services. The only upside is that the people could see is that he only seems to help the good, weak, or vulnerable. The governments, on the other hand, wants him for their own.

He is already considered a thorn to all the organized crime groups, terrorists, and some politicians. They pooled their resources to place a bounty on the broker's head, which is currently at $740 million. In retaliation, the broker pranked all of them.

To this day, the only persons who are sure that the Nine tails and Naruto are the same people are Fury, Barton, Coulson, and Romanoff. Other organizations are still speculating who it is.

"You going to accept the deal?" Natasha asked after Barton finally calmed down.

"As much as I don't want to, Fury already green-lighted it. The cargo should be arriving any second now." Barton answered.

"Did he place trackers on it?"

"Yup, for all the good it's gonna do."

"Did he say if he's gonna do it?"

"No. Fury's going to send us to wherever the information says. Too high risk to send some other team."

"Anyway, did they find Banner already?" Natasha said, changing the topic to something less stressful.

"Not yet, but the military is taking point in this one. It's their screw up. Thunderbolt's heading the op."

"That's a disaster waiting to happen." Natasha commented.

"He's furious about the broker not sending him anything. He's been spewing that the broker is 'Working against US interest.'" Barton recalled a meeting Fury took him.

The two chatted for a few minutes until Natasha noticed something on Clint's desk.

"Looks like you got a package." Natasha said, pointing behind Clint. This is one of the infuriating things about Naruto. He can somehow get in and out anywhere.

Clint turned around and saw a box.

"I really hate him." Clint said through gritted teeth.

He stood up and opened the box. Inside are various tapes, photographs, and a folder. All must be damning evidence against the general. The folder also includes floor plans of the hotel and approximate hostile numbers.

"It looks like we're going to Budapest." Barton said before standing up and taking the box with him. Natasha followed close behind him.

-Malibu, Los Angeles, California-

-January 26, 2007, 1800h local-

Naruto finally decided to cash in on Tony's bet. He's been traveling the world, but he spent most of his time in Kyoto, enjoying the nostalgia the place made him feel. He saw as much as he can see without relying too much on his clones, only using them as a diversion.

But travel is not the only thing he did. Naruto finally managed to build up his information network that encompasses the world. He sold his information as planned but not for cash—only for goods he needs or wants.

Naruto made sure that he only helps the people in the right. He really wanted to save everyone, but Gyuuki's argument made him act otherwise.

"You can't save everyone, and even if you can, you shouldn't. You would be the crutch of the world. You would prevent them from growing. Even God does not help everyone." Gyuuki advised him.

Naruto's mercenary work, on the other hand, is due to his boredom and Kurama. He's always been an active person, always wanting to do something. Kurama's solution is to do the hard jobs himself,which helped him relieve a lot of his tension.

But the information network and the mercenary work didn't consume most of his time; it was setting up his business. He needed a front to launder his money and a base of operation for each place or country.

His great idea is to establish a Japanese style fast-food restaurant with on-site living arrangements for workers. He named it Shokugakure or Hidden Food Village, an obvious pun for the hidden village's system. The spiral symbol of the Uzumaki's was used as the logo for his business. He blew through his cash, just to set up the company, and had required for him to steal some money from terrorists and crime groups.

It took him a year just to start the business and make it look legit, including establishing identities for the manager of each place. Hiring people has also been a problem since he needs to find someone relatively trustworthy and train them up to acceptable levels. He focused on hiring people who are in the lower class and aimed to help them up.

The easiest part, on the other hand, is encouraging costumers to eat there. Aside from the delicious meals comparable to five-star restaurants while still using relatively cheap ingredients, he used fuinjutsu in everything he can get away with.

Fuinjustu is one of the most versatile stuff he ever learned. It can do almost do anything you can imagine, even bending space-time. The only problem is, his business needs to stay under the radar. It means he can't use fuinjutsu to create his own electricity or extract water from the air. But through hard and continuous thinking, he found where he can use it, attracting customers.

Most, if not all, of the printed Uzumaki symbol used by his restaurant, is a Fuin designed explicitly to attract customers. It implants a minor genjutsu that places a suggestion into everyone's subconscious to eat at Shokugakure. Since it's embedded in your psyche, any conscious choice to eat somewhere else would still happen, but the choice of eating at Shokugakure would always be in their minds. It also has multiple security features like implanting the thought of not examining the symbol. The best part is, almost no one can counteract it due to their atrophied chakra network.

In the seven months his restaurant's been operational, he already has acquired a hefty profit from both sides of his business. He's already traveled the world and made his system partially automated due to his clones. It's finally time to learn more stuff from the best.

Naruto headed straight to the cliffside house of Tony Stark, forgetting to call ahead first. He jumped over the fence while still subconsciously using his stealth to move around. He walked past the gate and knocked straight at the door.

This threw the recently upgraded AI of Tony, JARVIS or Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, for a loop. It was added to the house system and the company servers four months ago when Tony finally achieved pseudo-AI status with JARVIS.

It started as a simple PDA assistant that he named after his family butler that died a few years back. Continuous tinkering and upgrades have made JARVIS more intelligent and sophisticated.

"Good morning, sir. May I ask who you are, and how did you get past the gates?" JARVIS asked while already informing the residents of the 'guest.'

Naruto jumped backward and looked around for where the voice came from. Seeing no one around, he figured it might be from a speaker.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a friend of Tony, and I just jumped over the fence to get here." Naruto answered. The fence he is referring to is a 10 feet high wall.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Uzumaki. I'm JARVIS. An AI built by Mr. Stark. I have already informed the residents of your arrival." Jarvis introduced himself.

Naruto had read about those AI's or artificial intelligence and was surprised that Tony already built one. Every book he read says it's still about 1 or 2 generations away.

While thinking about how Tony managed to build an AI, he heard the sound of running from inside the house and muffled shouting that seems like 'Get back here.' Naruto got down on his fighting stance, preparing for whatever might happen when the door opens.

As the steps got closer, Naruto tensed up to prepare an opening attack. When the door opened, he started to attack but immediately held himself back, surprised at what he saw. With his body still in a fighting pose, he dumbfoundedly said,

"Hello there, I'm Naruto. What's your name?"