Naruto had heard his father talking about the newly formed Hidden Sound Village, though not much was known. It turned out that the self-proclaimed Otokage had taken an interest in the Frankenstein Clan and there inherited abilities, and had been sending teams to try and…invite Victor to the village.
Apparently they were all little more than cannon fodder and 'scrap parts, as Victor liked to call them.
It turned out that the string trap he had set up was actually not as impressive as it looked; those Shinobi had just been incompetent. All they had to do was charge their kunai with chakra and they would have been able to cut through the wires with ease and if they had any brains they wouldn't have walked into the trap in the first place, which had apparently taken the boy hours to set up after he had left a trail for them to follow to the village.
Naruto wasn't sure how he felt about Victor using the loggers and their families as a distraction, but at least he had stopped any of them from being killed. A few days out of Konoha and already he was finding out that the world was a much harsher place than he had ever imagined while living in the sheltered Uzumaki compound.
By the time Victor had finished talking about himself, the boy giving Naruto the feeling he was lonely which was why he was being so open so he could continue talking to Naruto, all of the piles of body parts had been sealed in separate scrolls, leaving nothing but the four remaining Souls floating in the air.
Most of the houses had been mostly burnt down by this point, though the flames were still going strong from the collapsed timber.
Naruto didn't miss the fact that the four remaining Souls that he hadn't gotten around to eating yet looked smaller than before, and were starting to fade slightly.
"So I told you all the dirty details, now what your story?" Victor asked looking intently at Naruto now, no longer distracted by his macabre activities.
Licking his lips, Naruto paused for a moment to think about what exactly to say. He couldn't tell him the truth, the main reason he had left home in the first place was so people didn't find out what he was and what he could do.
Thinking quickly Naruto gave a small shrug before he walked over to the nearest Soul on of the few remaining ones that he hadn't been able to subtle consume when Victor's back was turned. Something that appeared to have been done in vain as there were still Souls present and he was still hungry.
"I gained a newly unlocked Bloodline, first in my family to ever possess it. Didn't like the idea of being turned into breeding stock or a weapon so I did a runner." Was Naruto's abrupt answer to the boy, as he chose to rely on half truths.
The Soul was cold to the touch and about the size of an apple now that it had shrunk.
"Really? So what's your thing? I met this guy from one Clan once that could turn his entire body into water, which was really cool." Victor said enthusiastically as he continued to watch Naruto intently looking for any indications of what this mysterious bloodline could be..
Turning back around to face Victor with the Soul still in his hand, Naruto smirked behind his mask at the surprised look on his face before lifting the Soul to his mouth.
This was the reason he made it so his mask was in two parts.
He hesitated for all of a second suddenly unsure if this was the right thing to do, to reveal his ability in the form of a bloodline so blatantly, but then the growling of his stomach decided it for him. Opening his mouth impossibly wide, Naruto put the Soul into his mouth at once and swallowed it whole.
Once again he felt the adrenaline rush like nothing he had ever felt before exploding inside his body, filling him with energy and washing away all the aches and pains after having tree jumped for so long. He felt his own chakra more than double, straining slightly at his core before it grew to accommodate the added chakra.
Eating this Soul was just as intense of the other ones he had eaten; it was so different to the animal souls he had eaten before.
Rolling his head on his shoulders and making the joins click loudly, Naruto turned back to Victor with a smirk hidden behind his mask. Victor gave a low whistle, scratching his head with a small frown on his lips as he seemed to be trying to understand what had just happened.
However when Naruto moved on to the next Soul, making it visible as he grabbed it with his chakra he seemed to slowly start to understand when he looked at the bloodstains on the ground under the Soul.
"Are those what I think they are?"
Shrugging as he another of the remaining Souls, Naruto rubbed his jaw slightly to ease the ache that was starting before speaking as he grabbed the next.
"Depends…if you think they are the Souls of the Shinobi you just killed, then yes. I can not only see them after something dies, but my chakra allows me to touch them and when I eat one the chakra is added to my own.
My body needs a mixed diet of both Souls and normal food to survive, which is why-" Naruto began, outline a very rough summary of his 'bloodline', it was only fair after all, Victor had told him his and so Naruto would reveal his own. Of course he wouldn't reveal everything; after all it is easier to get away with half truths than lies.
"You're so skinny. Let me guess, you didn't start seeing Souls until after you unlocked your chakra, meaning you were starving?"
Naruto had to give it to the boy, he was smarter then he looked…and acted…and sounded. He also seemed to be very indifferent to the fact that Naruto was eating human Souls, though Victor seemed to understand his silence and gave a shrug.
"Dude I'm a freaking Grave Robbing nut job, you eating Souls is not a big deal. Though I doubt you would have been used as breeding stock wherever you came from, because a skill like that is more suited to a Rogue Clan. You my friend as far as most people are concerned, are little more than a parasite that needs to 'feed' off of other people to survive.
That's how most of us ended up becoming Rogue-Clans after the end of the Clan Wars. Just another Outcast, or as the 'proper' Shinobi and villages call us…Lone-Nin."
The way he said 'Lone-nin', Naruto knew that Victor didn't think much of the title.
Naruto had never even thought about it like that, but Victor was right. Would his family have thought the same, thought less of him because he needed to eat Souls to survive? Before Naruto would have said that yes they would have accepted him without a doubt, now though after having found out they had lied and misled him for his entire life, he was not so sure.
But one thing he knew was that the rest of the Hidden Leaf would not have accepted his existence.
Suddenly his plan to run away to Whirlpool sounded better, while at the same time not as well thought out as Naruto had first thought. Where would he find Souls? Sure animals kept him fed, but they didn't make him strong.
He needed to be strong for when people eventually found out what he really was, when they would come for him. After all was that not his original plan, to get so strong he would never have to feel scared or weak again?
His hand hesitated as he reached for the last Soul, suddenly unsure with what he was going to do.
Until Victor spoke again.
"So are you heading to Water Country too?"
His question was quite simple, but all the same it through Naruto for a loop. Blinking Naruto turned away from the Soul and back to Victor, only to deadpan when he saw the boy wasn't even paying attention, instead he was just picking his nose.
"What?"
"The Land of Water, you going? With the Hidden Mist Civil War going on, it's the perfect place for Outcasts like us. More people killing each other than people ever bother to count, and there is always work in war for people like us with…special skills. So you going?" Victor asked again a grin on his face.
Naruto turned back to the last Soul and held it in his hand for a moment, before giving a silent nod and swallowing it.
"Yeah, I guess so…"
"Great! We can go together…by the way what is with that stupid mask?"
"It is to hide my identity."
"Oh okay, so… are you any good at digging?"
...
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