Naruto is currently at the rooftop of a warehouse, which is located near the port of the village as well as one of the areas in the village that Gato's men are protecting due to his business.
Inside the warehouse are many people. Most of the people inside are part of Gato's force, while the rest are the teenage girls who are about to be sent to various areas in the Elemental Continent.
With the Land of Waves becoming the heart of Gato's criminal empire, human trafficking has become the norm in the nation.
One might question, how did Naruto end up here?
The answer is incredibly simple: it's because of the mission he had to accept before Team 13 arrives at the Land of Wave.
The mission isn't about saving the villagers from Gato's hand but about eliminating a cursed spirit that was reported spotted in the Land of Wave.
According to the information Naruto receives in the report from the window, the cursed spirit's strength is around Grade 1 or even higher, and it has a great ability to conceal itself.
The Window wasn't able to gather more information about the Cursed Spirit, as they were killed before they completed the investigation, and the only reason why the higher-ups even know this information is because of the Window report before he died.
The higher-ups suspect that the cursed spirit in the area is close to reaching the strength of a special grade, and it is something Naruto must eliminate before it causes further damage.
After arriving at the Land of Waves, Naruto already began his investigation about the Cursed Spirit's whereabouts, and it only took him less than a day before he found the Cursed Spirit's location, and from what Naruto saw, the Cursed Spirit is at Grade 1 in strength and not something close to Special Grade.
After finding the cursed spirit, Naruto quickly killed the said cursed spirit, completing the mission he was given.
... That would be the case, but a day after Naruto killed the cursed spirit, another one was spotted by him by accident, which made Naruto wonder about the nature of the target he was supposed to eliminate.
Naruto thought that the reason why he found exactly the same cursed spirit was because of the fact that they were born thanks to the suffering the villagers felt after Gato's control of the Land of Waves, but he later disproved such thoughts, as the cursed energy he felt from the cursed spirits he killed was subtly different.
This made him conclude that the cursed spirit that he was tasked with killing wasn't one being but multiple ones.
The question is how many are they?
That's the question Naruto hasn't solved yet, as the Cursed Spirits seem to notice the fact that their fellow Cursed Spirits are dying in a short period of time.
Naruto had a guess where the Cursed Spirit was hiding, but he needed the information for that location.
This is why he was in the area trying to search for the people who are most likely to know Gato's base location.
The Jujutsu Society is against disturbing the line of the non-sorcerers to avoid the increase of births of the Cursed Spirit.
Right now, did Naruto have to involve himself and help the people of the Land of Waves in order to stop the birth of the Cursed Spirit, which was something approved by the higher-ups?
In fact, this isn't the first time he did this.
9 years ago at the Land of Water, after learning the causes of the rapid birth of the Cursed Spirit—even though the Elemental Nation had a low birth rate of Cursed Spirits thanks to Tengen—in that nation, Naruto chose to step in in order to return the original balance.
Naruto killed the Fourth Mizukage, who is the Jinchuriki of the Three-Tailed Beast, ending the civil war of the Village Hidden in the Mist.
Naruto's action wasn't celebrated by the higher-ups; in fact, they reprimanded him about it since his action, while beneficial to the people in the village and lowering the birth of the Cursed Spirit in the future, also made people in the nation have a higher chance of knowing the existence of the Jujutsu Society, which made the existence of the Cursed Spirit spread out and become well known, increasing the rate of the Cursed Spirit's birth.
Naruto observes the henchmen of Gato's who gathered outside the warehouse and searches for the leader of the group.
"Everyone gather around!" A bald middle-aged man yelled out loud, attracting everyone's attention.
People slowly make their way close to the middle-aged man while having a quiet conversation with each other as they wonder about the reason behind the sudden gathering.
"Did all of you finally collect enough teenage girls that the boss required?" the middle-aged man asks, looking at his subordinate.
"Of course, boss. We already acquired forty-five girls, which are ready to deliver," one of the men responds.
"Good, once they are delivered, you can all relax and get ready for the payday headed your way—"
"Boss," one of the middle-aged man's subordinates interjects, "if I may, I have a proposition."
The middle-aged man angrily stared at the man who just spoke and said in an angry voice, "What have I told you about opening your mouth while I'm talking? And what the hell are you on about?"
"Sorry," the man scratched his head with an apologetic expression on his face. "Gato gave us a task, and we are about to complete it. We will be getting paid, but why should we relax when we can go the extra mile?" he said with a sadistic smile on his face.
"What do you mean 'go the extra mile'?" the middle-aged man asks in frustration.
"I mean, we should make sure the 'merchandise' we're delivering is fresh, if you catch my drift," he said, finishing with a smile on his face.
After the man finishes speaking, the others quickly shout in approval with lustful expressions on their faces.
Just as the middle-aged man was about to silence everyone, out of nowhere someone appeared in the middle between the middle-aged man and his subordinates.
"So you're the leader," Naruto said in a low voice while looking at the middle-aged man.
Before the middle-aged man and his subordinates could do anything to Naruto, something terrible happened.
Naruto's shadow suddenly enlarged, and two giant wolves—one is white, and the other is black with three red dots on its forehead.
These wolves are the size of a small house, and Naruto gives them a command mentally, and the two wolves immediately begin taking action.
The wolves immediately began massacring the bald, middle-aged man's subordinates, and they were unable to do anything since they didn't see the wolves themselves.
The men started to scatter in different directions, and before they could even begin to move, they suddenly found themselves flying in the air with their body parts being ripped in half.
The massacre that the two wolves did create a short blood rain, and the only person who 'escaped' from the massacre was the leader of the group staring at Naruto in fear.
The middle-aged man already guessed that the teenage boy in front of him was a ninja after seeing the forehead protector on Naruto's arm.
There are rare cases of idiotic people wearing a forehead protector and acting as a ninja to fool the civilian, but they are quickly found out as a fake and suffer terrible consequences.
The teenager in front of him was clearly a real ninja, especially after what the teenage boy did to his subordinate.
The middle-aged man's body trembles uncontrollably, and he instinctively steps back, but a few moments later the man suddenly falls to the ground as he slips.
The middle-aged man's eyes all this time didn't leave Naruto, in fear that the latter would suddenly take his life away like his subordinates.
His eyes are full of fear and terror, and his mind is also filled with terrible situations that might happen to him right now.
"Now that the trash is finally being cleaned, we can talk in peace now," Naruto said coldly, and the two wolves returned back to his shadow.
"Wh-what d-do y-you want...?" the middle-aged man fearfully asks, unable to control his voice.
"What I want is simple," Naruto said while slowly walking towards the middle-aged man.
"I want to know the location of Gato's base and his current location right now," Naruto coldly added.
"I-I-I d-don't k-know..." the middle-aged man responds while turning his eyes on the surroundings, trying to find a way to escape.
"Aaaaagh!" the middle-aged man screamed in a high and inhuman voice that the people inside the warehouse heard.
The middle-aged man found his legs being cut so cleanly and quickly, and his brain was being flooded by pain at this moment. Fear started to take root in his mind as he stared at the white-haired teenager in front of him.
The middle-aged man suddenly screamed out loud as he saw his feet cleanly cut all of a sudden.
"Quiet," Naruto coldly said while wiping the blood on his katana.
"If you don't tell me the information I want..." Naruto said slowly, his eyes landing on the eyes of the middle-aged man. "I don't mind torturing you for as long as I need. Be warned, though, I haven't tortured someone in a long time, so the pain you will feel will definitely be a lot more painful than I intended." A sinister smile appeared on Naruto's face.