First off sorry this chapter took longer yet his shorter, really life was getting in the way and then I just reached a point in the fic that seemed a good place to stop (evil grin).

Enjoy :)

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Disclaimer- I own nothing :(

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Chapter 7- The Outcasts

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Naruto made sure to stay close to Furui as they were led through the camp, being careful to avoid tripping on any of the tent ropes as they moved. The camp seemed to be set up like an organised maze, with the majority of tents being made to look exactly the same so it was impossible to know what was in which.

No top of that was the fact that there were armed ninja at every turn, watching there every move with several fingering there weapons. It was more than a little unnerving for Naruto, but every time he hesitated Furui was there to give him a small nudge before anyone noticed. Despite the fact it should have been impossible to find their way around the camp, Mei was leading them with a confident stride that showed she knew exactly where they were going.

After almost 15 minutes of walking, they stopped outside one of the tents that had two shinobi standing outside it acting as guards as the only thing making it stand out from the others around it. Naruto was fairly sure they had been led in several circles about stopping in front of it, just to make sure they were lost.

The two guards snapped to attention as Mei moved to stand in front of them, before walking away when she gave them a nod of her head. When the two were out of sight she turned back to Furui, only for her eyes to move down to him and a gentle smile to spread across her face as she knelt down to his level and lay her hand on his shoulder.

"Ok sweaty, Furui says you will be able to help us convince the man inside this tent to answer our questions. So I want you to tell me what you will be doing?"

Naruto frowned under his mask, shrugging the hand off him.

However instead of calling her out on it, Naruto stood silently and starred at her from under his hood. After a few minutes passed Mei's smile turned back into a smirk as she stood up, seeming to be satisfied with something, though Naruto wasn't sure what.

Deciding he wanted to get everything over with and get himself settled into the Outcast Camp, Naruto spoke in a quiet voice that would be too low for any would-be eavesdroppers trying to listen in.

"What do you need to know?"

His question got a raised eyebrow, but the older woman seemed to take it in stride and gave a shrug.

"Anything that might be of use."

"Do you need him alive after you get the information?"

"No, once we have the information he will be killed anyway…why?"

Instead of answering Naruto gave a silent nod, motioning Mei to lead the way inside the tent. While still looking curious, Mei turned to the eye patch man who pulled the flap back without a word and held it for them to walk through.

The first thing Naruto noticed when he walked into the tent was the fact it was almost completely empty, with nothing inside other than a man tied to a chair in the middle and a desk with blank paper covering it and a pen. Said man looked to have been on the wrong end of an earth Jutsu, his clothes torn and covered in dirt. The only clothing that wasn't damaged was the Mist Headband on his head. He was also covered in injuries, with a black eyes swollen shut and several teeth missing.

However other than his sorry state, there was nothing about him that would make him stand out in a crowd. Short brown hair, brown…eye, neither muscled nor skinny. Everything about the man seemed plain.

Naruto stayed back in the shadows as the three adults moved to stand in front of the Mist-Nin, remaining unseen for the moment as he watched. The moment he saw them the Mist-nin's battered face turned into a sneer and he tried to spite at Mei, only to fail and have it fall down his chin.

"Fucking freaks, I'm not saying anything to you creatures. I'll die before I talk!"

Naruto didn't know if there could have been a better moment for him to make himself known, and smirked under his mask as he stepped forward to stand between Mei and Furui.

"That can be arranged…I'm hungry."

For all of three seconds after he moved forward there was silence, before it was broken by the Mist-nin suddenly bursting out in insane laughter.

"HAHAHA! Are you kidding me! You're getting a brat to interrogate me now? HAHAHA!"

Instead of answering and before anyone else could do anything, pulled out his knife and used it to slash the Mist-nin's throat. There was a small spray of blood that hit his mask, but Naruto ignored it as he wiped the blood off his knife and returned it to his sheath.

XXX

"Wait."

The only thing that stopped Mei or Ao from jumping forward when they saw the boy pull out his knife was Furui holding out his arm and telling them to wait.

Torture was a common practice in the Elemental Nations, a necessary evil. In fact before hearing that Furui had returned they had been beating the Mist-nin in an attempt to get him to talk, though with little success.

Mei didn't like the idea of a child being involved with an interrogation, or war in general for that matter. The only reason she agreed to allow him to come now was because she trusted Furui, and if the man claimed the boy had skills that could help them she was willing to give it a try.

But she didn't expect him to just kill the man, you couldn't get information from the dead after all.

Mei had no issues with the Lone-nin, or as she had learned they prepared to be called Outcasts. While she like many others held fear of what several of them could do, she understood that it would be hypocritical of her to hate them while fighting a war against a madman trying to kill them for having Bloodline Limits.

Though honestly she was still unnerved by some, Mei made the effort not to judge.

But even then not all of the Outcasts were hated for what they could do, but there refusal to join the any of the Hidden villages. Many of the Rouge Clans that had originally been refused when the Hidden Villages were first formed had simple been misunderstood, most not knowing about the intricacies of their abilities at the time.

The people setting up villages had been looking for perfection, and anyone that seemed to be anything less than perfect were not welcome as they were thought of as dead weight.

Such as the Katame Clan, who had been rejected for the flaw of having bad eyesight up close? All it took as a special pair of glasses and they were no different than any other ninja that needed glasses, but the short sightedness of the Shinobi of old had blinded them to the potential of many such clans.

By the time any of the Hidden Villages realised there mistake it was too late, and none of the Outcasts wanted anything to do with the people that had rejected them. Then there were the Clans and Shinobi that refused to join any village from the beginning, which left a bad taste in many mouths.

Mei wasn't even sure if people remembered why they hated the Outcasts anymore.

So she took the time to get to know them as humans, learning about who they were and what they could do.

Unfortunately most people weren't happy about this, which had forced her to set up strict rules to prevent her own people rebelling against her out of spite. She couldn't risk anyone from either side acting out against the other, so tried to keep them separated as much as possible.

Mei was well aware that the Outcasts were the only thing keeping them going at this point in the war, they were simple too outnumbered and outgunned to fight Yagura without their help. Unfortunately most did not agree or care about the hard facts, and were only tolerant of the Outcasts so long as they proved to be useful regularly.

Gritting her teeth and aiming a slight glare at the old man, Mei tried to ignore the voice in her head telling her to just push passed him. The only thing that stopped her was the respect he had earned, though that respect was wearing thin now.

"He just killed our prisoner before we could even get any information out of him."

Mei wasn't expecting the light chuckle that escaped Furui's lips at her words.

"My dear I can tell you now that death is not the final ending it usually is with that young man here."

Mei had no idea what that meant. However when she finally turned her attention back to the boy Mei felt her mind come to a stop, her eyes widening in shock.

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Naruto would have liked to give the man a quicker death, but he wasn't sure if he was strong enough to stab through his chest and into the heart. There was the brain, but if he hit the wrong spot it could also make it more painful, co he had gone with the only choice he was sure would work.

Naruto took no joy in slow deaths, even for people like he was sure this Mist-nin were like. If they deserved a slow and painful death then Shin would take care of it when they came to him, Naruto saw no reason to make it harder.

He could hear Furui and the other two adults behind him talking, but Naruto didn't listen to them. He was putting all his focus on the dying man in front of him, making sure he was watching as the light left his eyes. No matter what the man had done in his life, Naruto felt it important that he at the very least acknowledged his passing…especially when he was the one that ended it.

And then there it was, a Soul forming in front of him above the man's chests. It was smaller than he was expecting, and from what he could see more than half of it was covered in black spots.

Slowly out as he channelled chakra into his hand, Naruto grabbed the Soul and turned to the three reminding adults in the tent with him. He wanted Mei and the eye patch man to see what he was holding, and what he was going to do with it. The moment he saw both their eyes widen in shock and confusion, Naruto opened his mouth wide and pushed the Soul into his mouth.

He then closed his eyes and took a moment to concentrate.

Naruto and Shin could talk without Naruto entering his mind, but neither was as used to it.

Five minute of concentration later Naruto opened his eyes and without a word or glance at the others in the tent walked over to the table and started writing down everything he now knew, though he didn't write down the Jutsu. After all that information might be more useful later, so he would write them down in private.

It took another two hours before Naruto and Furui were allowed to leave, though Mei and the eye patch man still weren't happy to let them go. Both had wanted to know what Naruto had done, but neither the blonde or Furui would answer anything but the basics and eventually they had no other choice but to let them leave.

They had the information they wanted, though Naruto was sure they would be checking it several times before they trusted him. If nothing else Naruto had proved he was useful for now, even if what he could do clearly made people…uncomfortable.

The eye patch man led them out of the camp this time, leaving them the moment they reached the edge and pointing them towards the Outcast camp.

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The first thing that Naruto notice when they were closer to the Outcast Camp was just how…different, it looked to the Rebellion Camp. Where the Rebels had arranged everything perfectly military and uniform, the Outcasts Camp looked like a mixture of different camps that had been pushed together. Few tents looked the same, all different styles, sizes and shapes. But even the ones that did look the same weren't together, all spread out in a seemingly random pattern.

But the moment Furui led him into the actually camp itself, Naruto couldn't help but stare in amazement at the people walking around and between the tents. As they passed a dark purple tent Naruto saw a man sitting outside on the ground that seemed to have fallen asleep, with dark skin and coppery colure hair.

Naruto saw two women and three children all dressed in animal skins with the head of said animals acting as hoods/masks and green eyes crouched around a fire pit, with any exposed skin was covered in white paint. All but one of them was wearing a wolf skin, with the exception being one of the women in a bear skin.

Naruto also saw Kyojin standing outside a very large brown tent with a woman the blond could only assume was his wife and several other member of his Clan. Like Kyojin the all seemed to wear the bare minimum amount of clothing, and their bodies were covered in tribal tattoos. Though Naruto did notice that one of the men's tattoos were brown and others yellow for some reason instead of red like Kyojin.

He saw several members of Shapu's clan as well, all with their bows and arrows at the ready of close by.

They passed a tent that looked to have been made into a blacksmith, with a furnace built outside that was being constantly fed to keep it hot. Naruto was a little surprised to see a group of 10 men moving around it at a fast pass, yet not getting in any of the others way. However perhaps the most surprising thing about it was the fact that all the men couldn't have been taller than three foot at the most, with several being even shorter than that.

Even while living in the Hidden Leaf Naruto had never seen so many different people in one place, and based on the way they were all interacting and greeting each other everyone got along just fine. Hardly anyone even turned to look in their direction as they passed other than to wave at Furui before going back to whatever it was they were doing before, barley even glancing at Naruto.

There was an air of calmness that wasn't felt at the Rebel Camp around them and Naruto liked it.

"Hey! What took you so long?"

Jumping slightly as he was brought out of his thoughts, Naruto turned to see Victor waving at him from a tent in front of them with his usual grin on his face. The tent itself actually made Naruto think of his friend in that it looked to have been patched together out of several different tents, and not all of them were the same colour.

However the thing that really caught Naruto's attention were the woman and the…thing, stood next to Victor.

It had the basic shape of a man, though was twice the size of Kyojin in both height and width. It was wearing clothes that like the tent they were stood in front of were patched together without sleeves, most likely because no one would make clothes for something that size. Its skin was a dull grey colour and had more scars then even Victor, and its head looked a little too small for the rest of its body. It was also bold, though that was mostly because it was made of metal with the skin bolted to it in several places.

Its arms were also too long even though they were just as muscular as the rest of its body with a pair of giant bolts sticking out of its shoulders, and the way it stood made it looked to have the posture of a gorilla with its arms being used to walk more than its legs.

Overall it looked more like a zombie then Victor…made from several different bodies sewn together.

The woman however looked more like Victor, including the scars and grey hair that was stiking up in every direction while still falling to her shoulders. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and like his friend wore a patchwork lab coat and a shovel on her back. However the thing that really stood out about the woman was her right hand, it looked to be made of metal and was several sizes too big compared to the rest of her body. Instead of fingers Naruto saw what looked like giant needles that could have been used as senbon, and he also noticed that there was ninja wire running up from each finger into her sleeve.

For some reason Naruto couldn't help but be reminded of a sewing machine.

As they got closer Victor came running up to Naruto, the woman following at a slower pace while the giant…thing stayed behind and stared off into space with a blank look on its face. When the two were standing in front of him Victor was practically bouncing in place as he pointed to the woman.

"This is my third cousin Gekai, on my dad's left big toes side…I think…something like that. Anyway Gekai this is the friend I was telling you about that eats Souls, I still don't have a name for him though…"

Naruto ignored the pointed look Victor sent him with the last comment and expected the hand Gekai offered him, thankful it was her left. Now that she was closer Naruto also notice that she lacked the slightly maniacal gleam that Victor had in his eyes, and was more calculating but without any coldness.

"Nice to meet you, hope Victor isn't being too much trouble."

Naruto could only give her a blank expression that could even be seen through his mask, making Gekai give a quiet sign before noticing that the giant was still by the tent.

"Hey Freddy get your arse over here!"

The moment Gekai spoke the now identified 'Freddy' started slowly moving towards them, each step making a loud thud and leaving an indent in the ground. It came to a stop right behind the grey haired woman, but didn't say anything. After a moment he opened his mouth but instead of speaking, a large glob of drool right on Gekai's head.

"Freddy what the hell! I told you to stop doing that! This is the third time today and I am tired of washing my hair every few minutes!"

Well…that explained her hair.

Blinking as he watched the older woman start yelling at the giant Freddy, Naruto turned to Victor only to see him giggling behind his hands.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"Who Freddy? He's one of Gekai's 'Corpse Dolls', it's one of my Clan's Jutsu. Basically you build a body out of spare parts, then use a fuck load of Lightening Chakra to give it a jumpstart. They aren't the smartest and it would be an insult to wood to say they were as dumb as it, but if you know what you're doing they are strong and come in handy."

Naruto wasn't sure what to think about that, though when he turned back to look at Gekai to see her still yelling at Freddy for drooling on her head he couldn't stop the sweat drop from running down the back of his head.

Eventually deciding to just ignore it for now, Naruto turned back to Furui who had been standing quietly for the last few minutes with a smile on his face.

"So where can I set up my tent? I have one stored in a sealing scroll so I just need to set it up and I good."

The old man took a moment to think about it, before nodding to himself and walking off in a seemingly random direction.

"If I remember correctly, there is a space between Hodan and Hafu's tents in the north section of the camp. I'm sure you will be able to get along just fine with both, though I should warn you Hodan is also known as Cannonball around here…"

Not sure he understood but still willing to follow, Naruto gave a quick wave to Victor who would be staying with his Clansman before running to catch up with the surprisingly spry old blind man.

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Furui led Naruto to the other side of the camp before coming to a stop in front of two tents with a decent sized gap between them. The tent of the right looked normal enough and was made from a plain brown material, looking like it could hold at least five people with ease. There was also a foot wide pole stuck into the ground that reached high into the air, easily higher than any of the tents in the camp. It was a large contrast to the tent on the left, which looked to have been patched back together even more timed then Gekai's had been.

Before Naruto could even think to comment on either however, Furui grabbed his shoulder in a tight grip and pulled him three steps to the right.

BANG!

This action was followed by a loud bang sound, before something came shooting out of the left tent at high speeds and right through the space Naruto had been stood.

The blur carried on and cut through three other tents, much to the annoyance of the owners of said tents, before a member of the Okorimashita clan with a bold head and brown tattoos move to stand in its way and used his own body to bring it to a stop. The man was pushed back about a feet, but no more than that and the blur fell to the ground with a…groan.

Now that it had stopped moving Naruto could see that the blur had actually been a guy in his mid-teens, who was slowly pulling himself up and started apologising to everyone around him.

The teen looked to be average height, with a normal build for a shinobi. He was dressed in a black jumpsuit that looked to have extra padding on the outside, with a pair of fingerless gloves that seemed to be attached to the jumpsuit. Naruto also noticed that the boots the teen was wearing were huge and looked to be coated in metal, and the top of his head was covered by a helmet. There were also a pair of tinted goggles covering his eyes, and the beginning of a beard on his lower face.

"That's Hodan, like I said he is better known as Cannonball. He's not actually part of a Rouge clan, but a small village in Earth Country. From what I understand he was…asked, to leave after knocking down a few houses because of his ability before making a run for the border before the Hidden Rock could take him."

Naruto listened to Furui as the old man talked, while watching as the teen started helping to fit the tents he had knocked over while continually apologising.

"What was that exactly, I've never hear of anything like that happening…"

"And before meeting you, I had never heard of someone that could eat Souls. Things like this happen more often than people think, new Jutsu are created through trial and error or even accident. New Bloodlines can appear randomly, going unnoticed for years. Eventually most find their way to Outcast camps like this, the same way you yourself did. It's no secret that the Hidden Villages across the Elemental Nations have a habit of trying to collect people like that, many becoming breeding stock or worse."

Naruto wasn't sure what to think to this news, being the son of the Hokage. He knew there were parts of the job his dad never talked to them about, but Naruto just couldn't even imagine his dad ordering something like that. But then again, how many times had he heard Minato talking about needing to put the needs of the village second to only his own family.

Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, Naruto turned back to the empty plot between the two tents and pulled out his sealing scroll. Furui said a quick goodbye before walking off, telling him that if he needed anything to come and ask before disappearing between the tents.

He had just finished organising everything ready to put the tent up when a voice to his right caught his attention.

"You need any help with that kid?"

Slightly surprised by the voice, Naruto turned too looked at the speaker and much to his shame gave an involuntary filch and stepped back. The man that spoke was standing in front of the tent to his right, and Naruto wasn't sure what to think at first.

He had a very visible hunch to his back to cut his height by half and made his body look uneven, with very broad shoulders. His legs looked slightly too small and skinny to hold up his body, while his arms were slightly bloated in an odd way yet still showed signs of muscle and very big hands. His face was also horribly disfigured, with a large growth coming out above his left eye that forced it mostly closed. It was only because of his right eye that was slightly too big for his face that Naruto could tell they were purple. His noise was huge, but looked like it had been squished back onto his face and pointed up. His hear was a very deep red that reminded Naruto of his mum and sisters, and parted down the middle to either side of his oddly triangular shaped head. The man was dressed in a long green shirt that fell down to his knees, with brown pants and black cloth boots.

For ten seconds Naruto could do nothing but stare at the man as he patiently stood with a gentle smile on his face, arms crossed over his chest. However when he did recover himself the first thing Naruto did was stand straight and give a low bow.

"I-I'm sorry for staring, it was very rude-"

Before Naruto could finish his apology the man gave a soft chuckle and waved his words off, moving over to stand next to him and picked up one of the wooden support beams for his tent.

"Don't worry about it kid, you're not the first person to react like that."

Naruto was slightly surprised by just how soft spoken the man was, the voice seeming at odds with his appearance.

"I'm still sorry, I know better…may I ask…"

"What happened to me?"

Instead of answering, Naruto looked away and picked up another beam for his tent.

This only got another chuckle.

"You don't have to worry about offending me, I'm used to people being curious. I have been like this my whole life, I was born disfigured."

For several minutes the two worked in silence as they slowly set up Naruto's tent, the man moving around with surprising ease despite his body. Within 30 minutes they had the tent up and secure, all the ropes checked and tightly pegged into the ground.

They stood in front of it while the man wiped his hands on his shirt to clean off the dirt before turning to face Naruto and holding out his hand with another smile.

"I never introduced myself did I? Names Hafu, Uzumaki Hafu."

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Hope you liked the chapter, again sorry it took longer to get out then planned and that it is a little shorter but this seemed like a good spot to end it.

For those wondering, I based Hafu's appearance on Quasimodo from the hunchback of Notre Dame. I was going to post an information chapter after this, but am going to put it off for another chapter of two as I didn't get as far as I thought I would.

Let me know what you thought of the chapter :)