Chapter 93: Extortion
"Inu, wait, we have got a tail!" Kaname whispered, jumping behind the closest tree. Soon Utakata showed himself at the spot Kaname flickered away from. The jinchūriki put his left hand on a hip and anxiously tapped his foot on the ground waiting for Kaname to show herself back.
"Should we leave Utakata here? He is not in ANBU, Kitsune."
"Meh, we're halfway there already." Kaname jumped down from a nearby branch, landing in front of her boyfriend.
"Hmm, a new kind of play from you? You know, I don't have anything against foxes, Kana-chan."
"No way, how did you guess my identity?!" she mocked, "Maybe next time, why are you following me, Snail Boy?"
"Just making sure you won't get into trouble, Foxy-chan. Hello to you too, Inu."
"Yo~, Utakata." Kakashi raised his hand in a greeting, walking from behind the cover of the bushes.
Utakata's eyes traveled over Kaname's body in her ANBU uniform, "Hmm, even in the baggy ANBU clothes, you're beautiful, Kana-chan." Her hair was freely resting over her shoulders. She wore, out of the standard, dark-grey protection vest and classical baggy trousers. Kaname's back was occupied by her trusted sword hidden in a polished-black sheath, and a small dark-red pouch on top of her hips filled most likely with Kaname's seals. [AN: I did the visualization - it awaits you in the comment section :-)]
She lightly scratched the side of her face, trying to hide how happy the compliment made her, "Thanks. So, do you want to go with us?"
"Wait, he doesn't have a mask, Kitsune. It could be dangerous for his family..." Utakata just stared at the silver-haired jōnin with a deadpan expression on his face.
"Right... Still, your close ones could get in danger, ANBU tasks are likely to bite you and your closest ones in the asses." this time, the kimono-clad shinobi pointed his finger at Kaname, "... Point taken." Kakashi agreed.
"Don't you worry, Inu, I got it all covered! Wait a moment, toiled break, be right back!" Kaname dived headfirst behind the thicket.
"I can't even comprehend what she is thinking half the time..." The Dog-masked ninja complained.
"Ha! It's the standard way of things with Kana-chan - you just need to get used to her quirks. For me, her eccentric behavior is somewhat cute."
"I didn't congratulate you two yet, good-"
"WOW! Look at what I have found!" Kaname jumped out from the bushes, "A new, neatly folded ANBU uniform and a mask, it was all there as if waiting for you, Snail Boy." she held a provisional Konoha's ANBU uniform in hand. Clothes were still in a plastic foil with a clear stamp noting it was just taken from the unit's warehouse.
"Hmm~." Kakashi squinted his eyes at her, trying to figure out how did Kaname procure an entire ANBU set two hours away from Konoha.
"As I said, you need to get used to it, Inu," Utakata explained.
After a short thought, Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and covered his eyes with a small orange book he pulled from his vest.
"Okay, on this mission, your codename is Snail!" Kaname passed the clothes to Utakata, with Kakashi snorting on the side.
"*Sigh* Again, it's a Slug, Foxy. And stop grinning."
"A Snail or a slime, your choice. How do you know I'm smiling right now?"
"I hear it in your voice..."
"I can henge you so you will get a nice shell on your back... Hmm, no? So be it, a slime!"
"Ugh... Okay, you can call me a snail." Utakata dropped his shoulders in defeat.
"Booo~, it doesn't work for you. Let me think..." Kaname took a thoughtful pose, "I have a mind-blowing idea! We will call you a slug!"
Utakata put his right hand over his closed eyes, his eyebrow was twitching in irritation.
"You see what I ended up working here with, Slug? As you said, we need to get used to Kitsune's quirks, and she is becoming an even bigger annoyance once she gets a mask on her face..."
"Here you go. I will wait for you down the road," Kaname passed the clothes and a white mask over and snorted after a thought. "We don't have the time for me to appreciate your little striptease, Slug, and it would end up like always - with us snuggling the shit out of each other." she walked away, pulling Utakata's eyes to the hypnotic sway of her hips.
Only after a moment, he noticed Kakashi speaking something next to him, "... As she walked away, Ami-chan's perfectly shaped bottom, beautifully moving from left-to-right, drew the eyes of every male in the vicinity. It made them salivate for this unripe-"
"HEY! She is my girlfriend..."
"Oh. I'm just reading the book, huhuhu~, Jiraya-san is a genius." Kakashi replied, not taking his eyes away from the smut.
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"So? What's our job?" the brown-eyed Anbu inquired, his face hidden behind a simple white mask with a single golden teardrop marking falling from the left eye-hole.
"Have you heard anything about Gatō?" Seeing Utakata's turning his head sideways, Kaname continued, "The man either got lucky, or he has a good head on his shoulders. Once there were signs of the commencing rebellion in your country, Gatō started to buy out all the possible harbors on Fire Country's east coast. Now he has a monopoly, he dictates the prices of all shipping goods going between the countries."
"Are we going to eliminate him? A monopoly is never a good thing for the economy."
"Nope, Mizu has a lot of warships, but they're not adapted to trading. Unfortunately, Gatō is the only choice for both countries. I have Jiji's signed documents already - I just need to negotiate the same terms as they're written."
Utakata stopped running and called out to Kaname, "Wait! All of it is already signed? Without any contribution from the second side?"
"We have her. Kitsune can be very persuasive." Kakashi pointed at her.
"I have something Gatō craves the most in my grasp, Slug-kun."
"And that is?"
Kaname's laugh sent a shiver through Utakata's spine, "Huhuhu~, his life."
"Welp... That will end in a disaster, won't it, Inu?"
"That's why I'm here, all in all, I think it's nice to have you here as well, Slug." Kakashi shot back unconcerned, his eye never left his favorite story, "... Hehehe." the silver-haired ANBU giggled.
'Utakata, do I have the same idea as you?'
"Yes, I think so too, Saiken. Kitsune-chan, we have an idea, I'm sure you will like it."
"Hou~, okay, I'm listening, Slug-kun."
--------
'This is not an office of a businessman, but a fucking fortress...' Utakata and Kakashi walked side-by-side towards a palace-like building protected by high walls and multiple guard towers. The main complex was built from white marble. Utakata noticed several patrols walking on the building's roof.
"Who are you?" A thug at the front entrance called out to them.
"We come from Konoha, we're here to strike a deal with your boss - he is expecting us," Kakashi replied calmly.
"So, a ninja? Hmm, I always wanted one of your forehead protectors."
"Just call your Boss, moron. He would skin you alive if he heard you cost him a deal of the century," the jinchūriki called out.
The guard measured the duo with his eyes, a moment later, he spat on the ground and turned his back on them, "Che... Wait here."
"Will she get through the defenses?" Utakata whispered.
"Easily, I'm interested only on how many bodies she will leave behind."
The thug came back, "Gatō-sama is waiting for you, follow me."
...
They were led towards the building's main room, it was very similar to a Daimyo's audience chamber, showing off the man's wealth. The room was filled with thugs to the brim. Gatō was waiting for them atop the dais - their target had shaggy brown hair and sported a pair of small, circular black glasses. He wore a black suit with a purple tie, a yellow shirt underneath his coat.
"Took you long enough." the shrimp greeted them rudely, "Welcome in my kingdom, shinobi of Konohagakure. Let's finish the negotiations quickly - time spent here costs me money."
"Oh, Gatō-san, there is a small problem. The two of us are not here to negotiate." When Kakashi finished his part, the lights on the far side of the chamber got cut off, casting a deep dark shadow.
"What's the meaning of th-!" Gatō shouted out loudly, his rabble army started moving towards the ninjas in the middle of the chamber.
Everyone stopped when they heard a loud *Click-...clack* of high heeled shoes slowly moving towards the room entrance. Soon everyone looked towards the doors hidden in the dark - everyone only heard them ominously creaking open in a slow matter.
"Hehe, she is hella scary if you ask me, partner."
"Yeah, I got goosebumps myself, and I know it's only for a show, Saiken," Utakata admitted.
*Click-...clack*
*Click-...clack*
"*Growl* I don't care, someone, go there and check who is this!" Gatō ordered, but all of his troops felt like they were frozen to the ground, "I said-." the small man silenced when the darkness was cut through glowing eyes, blood-red Sharingan eyes. The sight made all the thugs take a step back.
*Click-...clack*
Kakashi lightly elbowed Utakata's side, "Psst, Slug. Kitsune knows how to make an entrance, I think I could learn a thing or two from her."
*Click-...clack*
The next thing that the receding darkness revealed was a white-fox mask, the Sharingan behind it made a staggering combo, "I'm sure she is barely holding herself from laughing out, just look at their faces. They're so pale, those idiots look like they saw a ghost." Utakata whispered back.
*Click-...clack*
"A... woman?" Gatō murmured in consternation when Kaname left the protection of the nearby darkness.
"Hello, Gatō-san. You may call me Kitsune." Utakata noticed the hidden amusement in her voice.
"What is the meaning of this?! Where are the guards? You can't enter my chamber without-"
"I let myself in. Your guards are alive - they never saw me coming." Kaname interrupted the businessman, "That was a little show of what we could do if you piss Konoha off. You will never know what awaits you in the night. So... Do you want the deal or not?"
"Who do you think you are? A simple woman wants to negotiate with someone like me? Go back to where you came from," Gatō sat upon his throne, waving Kaname away.
"Huhuhu~, you like power plays, don't you, Gatō-san?" Kaname started impatiently tapping her foot on the ground, "Good for me, you will never win against me. It's either you negotiate with a woman a price for the shipment of all goods between two countries, or you can still deal in small fry money."
"And why do you think I have a shortage of capital, woman? I'm the richest person on the east coast!"
"Hmm, so be it. I'm sorry for the loss of your time. We will leave now and find someone smarter." Kaname bowed, turned her back on him, and started walking away.
"... Wait!" Gatō called out three-seconds later.
"Yes?" Kaname asked, once again tapping her foot on a marble floor.
"We can reach a mutual agreement, but..." Once she turned her head towards him, she instantly did not like his sneer.
"But?"
"Woman, don't play dumb, I know Konoha needs me more than I need them. There is something you can give me - a rare commodity on the market. I never saw an ugly kunoichi,"
'Another power play. I don't like where this is going...' Kaname analyzed.
"Looking at your body, I expect your face should at least be nice to look at. My men always wanted to taste an adult kunoichi. If you do agree to that, we can start our negotiations." the man in black suit proposed.
"Oh, really?" she internally debated on commencing the slaughter in this building. One burly man walked towards her with a lustful smile.
He put his hand atop her arm and squeezed it, showing off his meager strength by trying to hold Kaname in place, "Let me show you a real man."
'Should I cut the arm, or peel the skin off with the dull side of my blade, hmm...' Kaname's hand twitched, getting ready to erase the thing.
"*Growl* Remove your hand from my girl, or I will remove it myself." a guttural growl stopped her thoughts. There were wisps of bubbling purple aura covering Utakata's feet. The bloodlust instantly knocked the burly man out, making his mouth expel a large dose of foam.
"She is yours, you say?" Gatō joined in the worst possible moment, "How much do you want for-" his voice trailed off as he looked into Utakata's glaring golden-colored eyes.
'Huhuhu, damn, that was hot. I will have to reward Utakata later.' Kaname calmly walked towards her boyfriend and whispered into his ear, "Slug, control yourself for now. And thank you, I have it all under control."
He squinted his eyes at the old dwarf-like man, "Tsk... If you say so." Utakata clicked his tongue and withdrawn his bloodlust. He walked towards Kakashi, the silver-haired jōnin was, without batting an eyelid on present tense atmosphere, reading Jiraya's smut book on the side.
"Gatō, I believe there has been a misunderstanding here. I'm here to save your life, I'm sure I won't be the one sold as a toy of pleasure for your men."
"Save my life, from what? I have an army here, woman! Even your Hokage won't be able to touch me inside my kingdom."
Kaname impatiently tapped her feet, "An army? This rabble?" her comment was met with a chaotic cry of tens of men. With several mentions of rape, she had enough.
"Yes, this-"
Kaname's right heel struck the marble floor with a loud *clack!*.
"My-My hand! Stop!"
"Agh, no!"
"Why?!"
The thugs started fighting each other, in below twenty chaotic seconds, the pure white floor turned into a shallow red lake. The last survivor looked at Kaname's Sharingans with rage in his eyes, without control of his own hands, he impaled himself with his associate's spear.
"What army? We can talk freely now, asshole." Kaname turned towards Gatō.
"Hii~!" he squealed under her glare.
"I should just kill you, but unfortunately, you are a necessary evil." Kaname pulled out a scroll, "Here I have a document signed by Hokage, I want you to sign and act on it, is that understood, Little Piggy?"
She was a little impressed when, instead of putting his name down in an instant, Gatō started reading the document, "This will ruin me!"
"No, it won't, and you know it. You get a two percent of each shipped item's value. ANBU understands that to run your business, you need to, so to speak, 'grease the wheels from time to time.' So it won't hunt you down for bending some rules. Don't push your luck, a single move against any of the villages, and they may send me back to get you. I don't like going to the same place twice, and I would be very annoyed. Is. That. Understood?"
The businessman looked at her for ten seconds, after a long sigh, his right shivering hand signed the papers, "Leave, and never come back."
"Doing business with you is a pleasure. Goodbye." Kaname took hold of documents and turned on her heel, leaving the ruined chamber behind.
When the trio left the compound, Kakashi stopped her, "Okay, what type of a genjutsu was that? I never noticed you cast it."
"You pulled the same trick you did in the Academy, right? You talked about it before." Utakata inquired.
"Hahaha, you have a good memory, Slug."
"Thanks, Saiken helped, he pulled me out of your genjutsu the moment I got caught in it."
"Stop. Can you tell me how you did that, Kitsune?"
"It's easy, Doofus-kun. Have you heard the racket of my heels? It was the source for the mass genjutsu, neat, isn't it?"
"With a sound? But we would get caught in it too. How-?"
"The tapping of your foot inside the chamber! Once you were inside, Saiken didn't have to pull me out of genjutsu anymore."
"You had it all planned out, didn't you?"
"Almost everything, Inu. I admit I didn't expect you going full jinchūriki for me, Slug."
"Hmph. I came here to protect you."
"Hehehe." Kaname jumped to his side and intertwined their arms, resting her head on his shoulder.
--------
"Where the fuck were you two?! You are useless!" Gatō shouted at his personal bodyguards.
"Boss? But, you send us away? What happened?" Waraji was a man of tall stature, he wore an eye-patch over his right eye and had brown hair, which he parted in three, finishing it in an elaborate topknot. He had an intricate tattoo that seemingly stretched across his entire left side.
"Fucking Konoha happened, that's what!"
"You said they're going to be simple extortion slash negotiations and sent us to collect the tribute from the closeby village?" Zōri was a light-skinned man with bluish-white hair and black eyes. Lined markings were tattooed under his eyes. He commonly wore a dark purple hat, the top of which extends far beyond the top of his head. [AN: Two side chars - do not keep them in your memory, they're useless cannon fodder :-) Even someone like Haku easily obliterated them.]
"I was wrong, you imbecile! I pay you handsomely to protect me - from my mistakes included! Are you samurai mercenaries or what?!" Gatō continued shouting at his underlings, "The fox almost killed me!"
"A fox? What about the band? There were almost eighty people left to protect you, Boss."
"We need to move. The fox knows where I live. Recruit some boys to keep hold of my dealings here and run." the short man was delirious in his quickening rambling.
"Slow down, Boss. Where do you want to go? Why?"
"No time, she is watching me. Outside the Fire Country. And I need more men, no useless, I need ninjas, yes, mercenaries from Kumo and Iwa, the best of them, pay any price, yes. As soon as possible. Outside the country, yes..." Gatō bit into his fingernail, deeply thinking of his next move.
"Then maybe let's go to Wave Country, it's closeby." Waraji proposed, stopping the train of thoughts from the short man.
"Wave...? Good. Let's go." Gatō started running towards the exit, leaving behind his bodyguards.
Zōri looked at his partner and vice-versa, "It's the first time I saw Boss running." the heavily-clothed man noted out.
"He will get tired before he reaches the gates. I never saw him walk on the dirt without ordering people around to carry him. Something must have badly startled him."
"If the band is dead-"
Waraji shrugged his shoulders, "I say we were lucky we weren't here. All in all, it's a good thing, less to share with those weaklings."
"Heh, right, more money for us."
--------
[At the same time, Konoha]
"Kaname-sensei? Why are you here, where is Ayuko-sen..." A pink-haired girl called out.
Kana-1 observed the kunoichi classes attendees, "She got sacked, I'm sorry the flower arrangement course is as of now canceled."
"Ugh. I liked the course, an easy grade for me." Yamanaka complained.
"No wonder, Ino-chan. Your father has a flower shop. Now, I have something else all of you will like. Kunoichi classes. Everything that is needed for a ................" With amusement, Kana-1 noticed the fire lit in every young kunoichis' eyes, "Firstly, the rules. Till the next week, each one of you has to cut your hair to Hinata's or Sakura's length."
"Ugh, I thought I got spared." Ino caught her long ponytail in panic.
"Hehe. Nope, not at all, Ino-chan."
"But why? You have long hair, Sensei, and Izumi-senpai has even longer!" a civilian girl shouted from the back of the class.
"Because we can deal with the hair being long, you do not. I got surprised at the number of you girls having long hair - it is an encumbrance during a fight, I mean - your opponent could easily get hold of it. How did you spar with it, girl?"
"Spar? Today was my first time fighting, Sensei."
"... Hinata-chan?" wide-eyed, she turned to one of her pupils.
"Eto~" the Hyūga played around with her fingers, she continued silently, "According to the old curriculum, the future kunoichis weren't requested to spar against each other, it was seen as too manly for young girls."
The clone facepalmed and sat on her chair, 'No wonder pinky is the kunoichi of their year! Shit, the entire education system was doomed to fail... Once she comes back, Boss will tear those civilians a new one. Those kids are not training to be ladies for heaven's sake! They should have left all of that bullshit back in kindergarten.'
"Sensei? Kaname-sensei?!"
"Ah, I'm sorry, Ino-chan, I was just perplexed at the idiocy of the previous administration. What did you want to ask?"
"Heh," the platinum blonde girl snorted with a burst of cute laughter, "You were just sitting there like that for a minute. I thought of waking you up."
"I see, *Sigh* I will make something you will hate, Hina-chan."
"Y-yes, Nee-sama? Ah! I'm sorry, Sensei?"
"I don't care if you call me Nee-sama here. Let me ask all of you, do you want to be a proud kunoichi or just a damsel in distress for your friends?" Kana-1 looked around the classroom, "Good, there is still some stubbornness in your eyes. Girls, from tomorrow on, all of you will join the sparring sessions. I'm sure some of you will draw a fight against one of the boys as there is a much larger number of them. Excluding Hinata-chan, you're far behind the boys. If you don't want to become just a punching bag, I propose an early preparation."
The young Hyūga successfully hid her irritation after hearing the news, "Nee-sama, what about my situation?"
"Heh, there was a new development, I now have a say in the teams' compositions. No more holding back for you, show your classmates how much they lack in preparation, Hina-chan."
Ino heard some whispers from behind her desk - turning her head around, she noticed Sakura rattling about with her sycophant friends. Yamanaka tried to eavesdrop on her late friend, "I hope I will be able to fight against Naruto, he should be the easiest one of the boys."
"*Pfft*!"
"Hmm? What's so funny, Ino-chan?" Kaname inquired.
"Nooothing~, Kaname-sensei. I just heard something amusing from someone with an illusion of grandeur. In truth, I believe that karma is a force of maliciousness, with some of it, one of my... acquaintances will have her hopes and dreams squashed right about tomorrow." Ino's pearly-blue eyes looked straight into Sakura's as the pink-haired girl squinted back with her green ones.
'Boss will need to work with developing kids' cooperation skills. Random teamwork spars? Nah, too mainstream... Hehe, I have a nice idea, no one would miss a bunch of kids if they landed themselves in training grounds forty-four for a week or two. Anko would most likely protect them while they're in there.' [AN. Training grounds 44 - Forest of Death, a very dangerous place filled with gigantic, poisonous fauna and flora.]
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
dahnik
dahnik Hope you liked it, my new approach to writing the chapters worked wonders. :-) Having so much time, I will try to publish Omake *ehem*... side stories, later next week :-). I will give you an update once they're up. I can't wait to read your comments and ideas, some PSs and reviews are an always welcome addition :-P
The chapter was something of a prologue to Naruto's Wave Arc - it will get a big redo from my side. Kaname's life bad choices will bite Naruto in the ass :-) No, no one important will die... I hope :-P.
If you found any mistakes please inform me :-), I don't like mistakes :-)