Child Of Hate

Chapter 11

Onoatochi countryside

Outskirts of the Fire country capital

Fire country

"Sir, I still insist that there are better living conditions in the capital that are far better than my hideout." Sasori said in a low, hurried voice. He was hunched over inside his Hiruko puppet as he passively walked with his puppet. Diedara was prattling on about something he couldn't care to listen to. "I have not used that hideout in several years, my lord; surely you will prefer lodging in the capital. I will pay for it myself."

Naruto placed his hands on his hips and looked up at the wooden shack before him. It was as wide as his arms outstretched and as tall as his arms over his head. The small building looked like it was falling apart from the termites and the small colony of bees inhabiting it. There was clumps of weeds around the shack but as he looked around there were only trees for miles around until the capital walls, which was about a three kilometres away from where he stood, securely shaded by the trees around him, a few of which Sasori planted himself.

This clued them in on the age of the hideout.

The king wasn't startled when he felt his sister slink her arms through his own and hug his side, settling her head onto his shoulders and smiling peacefully.

"This feels…familiar." She said and nuzzled her nose into her brother's neck. Naruto nodded as he replied. They used to live in a rat hole like this but this place was a hundred times better.

"Yes. But this is better." He voiced his thoughts. His sister agreed. "Is there a security system, Sasori?"

"Yes sir, a mere Chakra Sensor seal that allows me entry once I am near it."

"What of a backdoor seal?" Naruto didn't have any of the puppet man's chakra handy with him and it was in the middle of the night, so finding a way to get it was way out of the question.

"There is a key under the floor board inside. I have that in case I am low on chakra."

"That will be all. Stay vigilant, Sasori." Naruto said and the red haired puppet man bowed with his hand over his heart seal as he answered, hidden inside his Hiruko puppet body.

"Of course, sir."

The king cut the connection and hefted the black duffle bag his sister dropped before them with his left arm, slung it over his shoulder and walked towards the shack. Naruko pried open the door with her right arm and winced when it collapsed inside. Naruto waved her concerns away; Sasori won't mind.

The interior was as small as he had guessed, forcing him to separate from his sister and walk in by himself. The floorboards creaked in agony and his rinnegan flashed in the dark, directing him to a loose floorboard at the very centre. He lifted up the board with his foot and the key flew into his hand.

After that there was a second long tremble that had the hairs at the back of Naruko's neck stand on end.

Three floorboards at the far back of the tiny shack slide aside to reveal a stairwell winding downwards. He felt his sister reach in and grab his shoulder as he began his walk down the narrow stairs; she followed after him and trusted in his ability to anticipate danger because the narrow space was giving her terrible flashbacks.

She clenched her eyes shut and allowed her brother to protect her.

They soon got to the bottom of the staircase and there was a low buzz before the lights fizzled on to reveal a fairly large room about four times as large as the Hokage's office. There were three work tables at the very centre of the room, joined together by strongly welded bars but at the same time separated enough to show that they were initially different tables. On the joined tables were wooden and metal parts of unfinished puppets, a few of which were weaponized body parts life a hidden section of an arm with kunai launchers or a toxic green eye that spat out acid. There were also completed of unfinished puppets hanging on the walls, peering at them in frozen positions and gathering dust.