Responsibilities | A Naruto FanFic

Chapter Eleven: The Worth of the Kyōraku Blood

"Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it."

— Mark Twain

————————————————————

"Yes of course I'll find the scroll of sealing and kidnap the brat," Mizuki said, the figure casted into the shadow nodded its head and disappeared into said shadow.

Naruto who was slightly watching those events unfold but was mostly listening in felt a load of emotions.

It was clear to him that he was a traitor to the hidden leaf, but it didn't take long to realize that Mizuki and that shadow figure were talking about him.

Hearing footsteps get closer out of the alleyway, Naruto saw this as his que to the immediate vicinity.

Rushing at speeds which could make anybody under high chūnin dizzy, Naruto quickly rushed feeling the presence of Mizuki following him but at a slower rate.

Eventually Naruto made it to the small ramen shop and took a seat, unintentionally missing the fact those two joūnin watching him with the hokage had left.

Naruto tried his hardest to calm down his hard beat which effectively worked after a while, unfortunately, the world wasn't on his side as he felt the cold hand on his shoulder.

Naruto froze up and turned his head slightly, he saw the soft and light face of Mizuki looking at him with a small smile with his eyes closed.

But all that Naruto could see was the image of a snake behind the silver haired man, eventually, the young chūnin instructor took a seat and started to eat his noodles.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Mizuki sighed and turned his gaze towards Naruto.

"Are you okay, Naruto? You haven't eaten yet and you have a weird feeling about you, you sure you don't have anything to do?" Mizuki asked, a light smile on his face.

Naruto turned his face towards Mizuki and saw the same image of a snake looking at his pray, "C'mon Naruto, C'mon Naruto...remember what father told you. 'When faced with a hard situation, by all means you have to be the calm and logical one.' This traitor just gave you a perfect opportunity to leave his side" Naruto hurriedly thought.

"Now thinking about it...I'm pretty sure my sister-in-law needs my help with something. I'm sorry to leave you dry, Mizuki, but I need to go" Naruto said politely, his voice filled with confidence and sorrow but if you look deep, you could see the slight hint of fear in his voice.

Mizuki smiled and stood up, "Well I decided to treated you to some food, you wouldn't go well with my conscious with I left you all by yourself," Mizuki said, insinuating that he was going to take him home.

"Damn it!! Why do you have to escort me! But he won't try anything right now, he is surrounded by Konoha shinobi on all sides and especially with me since I'm part of a dying out clan. But how exactly can I determine the mindset of a man I know very little about," Naruto thought while thinking of a way to get to safety or outright leave the solution.

"Sure, Mizuki~sensei" Naruto said while leaving the store, he felt the presence of Mizuki follow him and continued to walk to his very secluded clan compound.

Fortunately, during their walk to the compound. A small ball rolled to the feet of Naruto and said clan son grabbed the ball.

He saw a small group of boys a few years older than him and passed the ball over towards them, but those few seconds of stopping was enough time for Mizuki to walk in front of him giving Naruto a slight advantage in battle, if it came down to it.

The enemy duo continued their track towards and eventually made it to the clan section with them entering the small and completely empty area where the Kyōraku clan was located.

" I know you overheard me, Naruto. You have great skills in hiding yourself, but you're still a child and lack control that comes with your body aging. I'll try not to kill you, all I need is the money," Mizuki said, his voice calm considering that he just admitted to being a traitor to the village.

For Naruto's part, he didn't freak out at all and just kept his calm. "Who are you working for?" Naruto asked, his voice equally as calm as Mizuki's own.

"Whoever's the highest bidder, so right now, Iwagakure and Kumogakure," Mizuki replied, both student and teacher walking towards the Kyōraku clan compound.

"Why are you revealing this to me?" Naruto asked, desperately thinking of a plan but coming up short while continuing to remain calm throughout the conversation.

"My mission here will be done after today, there's no need to hide. After all, my contractors will pay a hefty price for the heir of the Kyōraku clan," Mizuki said, his tone too calm to the point of being bored.

"You're not the strongest, Mizuki. I doubt you can defeat me, let alone others like the hokage or joūnin," Naruto said, trying to get a reaction from the traitorous shinobi.

Mizuki merely laughed, "Nice try kid, but in my line of work. You show all your power to those you betrayed, you'll be dead faster than you can blink," Mizuki said, as the gates of the clan compound were in view.

"I see, but I take me to my compound, surely you know that you'll die when my father or brother catches you," Naruto said, as both men entered the clan compound.

"Oh I know, but that's why I set up a council meeting. Your father being the clan leader and your brother being first in line, they expected to be there," Mizuki said, it all started to connect with Naruto.

Since both of them are gone and the clan compound is on the edge of the village, it's expected that Mizuki's employers are waiting on the opposite side of the clan wall.

"You disappoint me, Mizuki. Someone with your skills and talent would've made an excellent spy or shinobi to the Konoha ranks," Naruto said, as the two walked past many empty houses that used to belong to the dead Kyōraku numbers of the past.

"I am a spy. Do you not understand the political and social implications of me selling you off to another village? Do you even understand what's happening in the world?" Mizuki said, while Naruto grunted.

"Of course I understand what would happen to me. I'll be used as breeding stock for a village's military might or be killed to motivate their forces and bring despair to Konoha's forces. And there's a war happening right now," Naruto replied to all of Mizuki's questions.

The silver haired man just chuckled, "Am truly amazed at your intelligence, I guess the rumors of the Kyōraku clan having an average IQ of three hundred wasn't a lie. But you're mistaken about the last part," Mizuki said, getting Naruto's attention.

"The world is only now finding out about your existence. Having the children of clan heads being revealed when they enter the academy isn't an uncommon practice around the world. But you have home field advantage, as of right now, Konohagakure is in a Cold War with the other villages as it has not officially joined the ongoing conflict between Kumogakure and Iwagakure, so getting your information on the village and clan is valuable,"

"Let me put it in basic terms kid, everything about you is worth more than gold,"