"Nah, little shit never saw my face so don't see any harm in letting him live. If anything it will help to spread our infamy." Clementine replied once again shrugging as she lifted a cup of cheap red wine to her lips before draining it, grimacing slightly at the nasty taste.
...
Naruto was not fooled though, he knew the real reason she didn't kill the kid. It was her way of maintaining her humanity. The life of an Outcast was hard; even now they had a Village to call their home. Especially when you had a bloodline that made it so you had to prey on others to survive, that kind of shit would make anyone go insane.
But not Clementine, for all she claimed she was a monster she still had her humanity. Showing the occasional mercy when she could was simply her way of holding onto her humanity.
"What about you? It's been two days since our last mission?" Clementine replied as she glared at the bartender, shaking her cup expectantly at him. Paling the man grabbed a nearby bottle and filled it up before he backed away.
'Yeah I doubt he will last long.' Naruto once again thought, feeling sorry for the man, as Mina the owner of the bar was not the kind of person who knew how to be merciful.
"Doing some interrogation work for the old hag." Naruto replied, which told Clementine that Mei had a valuable prisoner she wanted information from.
"Get anything good from him?" The blonde girl asked with interest.
"I'm not sure." Naruto replied with a slight frown. "What I got from him didn't make much sense to me, but Mei seemed to know something."
"I'm surprised she didn't tell you?" Clementine said, genuinely surprised. Mei had a very soft spot for Naruto, letting him get away with most things and often confiding in him more than she would with most. This was probably due to how grateful she was to Naruto over his contribution in the war. So for her not to tell him meant that it could be something big.
"She doesn't tell me everything you know." Naruto replied with a mock pout.
"Well she tells you what colour of panties she is wearing so I would say she tells you a lot." Clementine mocked as she took another swig of wine, only to gag a second later.
"If it is so revolting why do you drink it?" Naruto sighed as he saw her reaction. Knowing that due to her bloodline, normal food and drink tasted vile to her so much so that she could barely stomach it.
"It's alcohol isn't it." Clementine replied shrewishly. "Even if it makes me sick it gets me drunk."
"True but that buzz only lasts a few minutes due to your regeneration." Naruto replied without much sympathy, making sure to sigh in content as he drank his own liquor.
The girl gave him a death glare at that before she kicked him in the shin.
"Asshole." She muttered, even as her lips twitched. "At least I can heal."
"Ohh low blow." Naruto said with mock hurt. What she was talking about was a draw back in his bloodline ability, due to the nature of his abilities being based on death Naruto had lost the ability to heal naturally. He could still force his body to heal with chakra which made it a bit small drawback, but still Clementine found it very amusing for some reason.
"Pain, Clementine. Up to no good again I see." A familiar voice said gaining both of their attention.
"Ahh if it isn't patch, the patchwork scarecrow." Clementine said as she turned to face Victor.
"Funny," Victor said as he walked up to them.
Out of the three of them Victor was the one who had changed the least. That is to say his overall personality and appearance had changed the least, his actually body though had gone through a number of changes, him having now replaced all of his organs at least once and his limbs probably half a dozen times now.
Amusingly enough he was currently sporting a pale white arm, taken from a particularly annoying Iwa Shinobi who they had fought on one of their missions, on his left side. But a dark skinned arm from a Kumo Shinobi on his right side, which truly did give him the look at a patchwork man.
Looking at his dark skinned hand Victor raised it and flipped Clementine the bird.
This only succeeded in getting her more excited though. "So tell me Victor because I am curious."
"What now?" Victor asked wearily.
""Have you still got your original cock or have you replaced it now?" Clementine asked bluntly.
Victor and Naruto just stared at her in surprise, the sound of shattering glass telling them that the bartender had dropped yet another glass.
Turning to Victor an eyebrow raised Naruto asked. "Have you?"
"Why the fuck would you ask that?!" Victor said completely taken aback.
"Well I always heard that men from Kumo had bigger dicks than men from Konoha or anywhere else in the Elemental Nations. So I thought you might have decided to get yourself a new dick while you were there." Clementine said with a shrug, before looking over at Naruto.
"No offense for saying you have a little dick though Pain."
"Offense taken" Naruto replied as he clasped his hands over his crotch at the thought of Victor going around steeling dicks.
"How the fuck did we even get onto this topic?!" Victor shouted conspicuously avoiding answering as he did so. "I did come here for a reason you know."
"Course you did. You came to drink with your best mates!" Naruto said as he drained the last of his drink and slammed it down on the bar.
"Here here!" Clementine shouted as she drank her own drink, only for her mouth to bulge as she tried to force it down.
"No I am here to get you two for the next mission." Victor replied his voice still a little shrill as he took the goblet of wine out of Clementine's hand before draining it. "Well that was disgusting I don't know how you drink that cheap swill."
"Well if it is all going to taste vile I might as well buy the cheapest and most alcoholic one I can." The blonde said trying to justify herself.
"So what's the mission?" Naruto asked trying to get the mission back on track.
"No idea, that's why I came to get you, Lady Terumi wants to give us the briefing." Victor replied as he began to make his way out of the bar.
"But I only just got here." Naruto complained his black and red eyes looking pleadingly up at the tall Victor.
"So you won' have had time to get comfortable, now come on." Victor replied as he made his way through the crowd of other patrons, most of who back away as they saw Victor's hideous scars and stitches.
"Has anyone ever told you, you are a bit of an asshole?" Naruto replied as he followed along behind Victor.
"Speaking of which Victor have you ever stolen anyone else's asshole?" Clementine asked slyly as she too followed the grey haired man.
"Fuck off!" Victor called back even as Naruto laughed and Clementine giggled to herself.
...
(In the Mizukage Tower)
...
Looking on with a slight grin on his face Naruto could barely keep from laughing as he saw Ao, Mei's right hand man glaring at him from where he was standing at Mei's shoulder.
Currently they were in Mei's office, with Mei sat behind her desk in a form fitting blue dress a slight smile on her face as she looked at Naruto, Victor and Clementine all of whom were standing in front of her desk.
Around the room currently hidden from sight were her retinue of ANBU, elite Shinobi that acted as both her bodyguards and her secret police. Not that she need protection considering she was a Kage, one who had killed her predecessor to get the position.
"I am glad you made such good time getting here." Mei said with a smile. "I had been expecting to wait for sometime whilst Victor collected you."
"And leave you waiting here alone, with only that grumpy Cyclops for company? Perish the thought." Naruto said with a look of horror on his face, even as his eyes flickered over to Ao, hiding a smirk as he saw the man tense.
"Cyclops! Why you little…" Ao began glaring at Naruto with his single good eye.
Raising her hand Mei cut off his reply. "Do try to be nice to Ao Naruto."
"I'll try, but it will be hard. What with him being a massive dick and all." Naruto sad as respectfully as he could.
"How dar…" Ao began again only to be interrupted by Mei laughing softly to herself.
"Don't rising to it so much Ao and maybe he won't get as much satisfaction from baiting you." Mei said in amusement. "As amusing as this is I did call you here for a reason."
"Yeah I know. So who do you want us to kill?" Naruto asked standing a bit straighter as he did.
"Well I would prefer it if you brought them back alive, but somehow I think these two might put up some resistance." Mei replied with a slight frown.
"You would prefer them alive?" Naruto queried, justified in his question as they were a kill team, they did not bring back prisoners.
"Yes, but like I said I doubt they will come quietly. What is more important than their lives however is what they are currently carrying." Mei replied as she brushed away Naruto's concerns.
"Who are these guys?" Clementine butted in impatiently. Not caring as Victor shot her a warning look and Ao hissed silently in displeasure.
"Do not interrupt you Mizukage!" Ao snapped as he glared at the blonde girl, only for Clementine to glare back, her pink eyes flashing dangerously.
"Their names are Raiga Kurosuki and Zabuza Momochi. I presume you know what they carry?" Mei asked looking at Naruto.
"The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist?" Naruto questioned a frown on his face. "Are you planning to reform them?"
"Yes, I have decided that the time is ripe to rebuild them. Kiri is stronger than it has been in decades. Our forces are battle hardened veterans and but due to the infamy we have received from having the old Outcasts Clans we are not getting as many contracts as we should be.
Both Kumo and Konoha are receiving more, whilst Iwa and Kiri are trailing behind. This is not acceptable." Mei said a frown on her face.
"So reforming the Seven Swordsmen is some kind of gimmick?" Naruto questioned scratching the back of his head.
"Yes and no, the Swordsmen were a powerful fighting force, but more than that, they were also a symbol of Kiri's might." Mei explained.
"Ok so you want us to hunt down and either recruit or kill the current Swordsmen, but either way bring back the swords." Naruto summarized getting a nod from Mei as he did. "But wouldn't that leave us one blade short? After all Kiri only had four of the blades at present."
"Three of which are already in the hands of the next generation in training. " Ao added in.
"What about the other one?" Naruto asked ignoring Ao.
"Samehada, currently wielded by Kisame Hoshigaki. My agents are trying to get a location but have been struggling at the moment. But rest assured when we do find him I will be sending you after him to." Mei replied a scowl on her face as she thought about their lack of success in tracking down the rogue Shinobi.
"Ok sounds like a good fight!" Naruto said with a grin on his face at the thought of the mission to come. He loved travelling and he also loved fighting. "Where do we start looking."
The answer he received was two folders being dropped on Mei's desk by Ao.
Scooping them up Naruto nodded. "We'll get to work then. But what if someone gets in our way?"
"Depends who they are and what they are doing." Mei shrugged before gaining a hard look in her eye. "But if they get in the way of your mission terminate them with extreme prejudice."
"Understood." The three Hunter-nin said in unison.
...
AN :
I know some people may be a bit confused about why there was a timeskip. The reason for that is simple. Naruto was a kid, an untrained kid wouldn't have a lot of responsibility. They would clean up after the end of battle, run messages, and act in support. Similar to what Nawaki did during the Shinobi wars.
Events during the Civil War will be shown. Some in flash back some in explanation. I just don't want to do a montage. Never been a fan of montages in stories.
Naruto's abilities will be shown in more detail the next few chapters as will what has happened in Konoha.
...
If you're too impatient to wait for updates, the story's already at chapter 96 on P atreon.
p atreon.com/sybife