Chapter 8 The Clan

By the end of March, Leon and Tsunade were finally able to ensure the loyalty of its first clan members. Some of these kids are so broken that a simple gesture already makes them loyal.

Some runaway kids who could have ended up dead, raped, or broken in the hands of LA Gangs, slowly gather under Leon and Tsunade. Most of them are under 10 years old. The oldest are John himself. For them, John giving them food and shelter, and not beating them unreasonable is already making him a better option than their parents.

Some of these boys and girls are from Skidrows, while most of them are throwaway kids. Abandoned by their parents, or running away from an abusive one. Finding them at daytime is quite hard as most of them would move at night just to keep away from the eyes of gangs.

Slowly Leon and Tsunade teach those kids how to use Chakra, after they learn to activate them. Most of them are barely passing Academy standards. They are mostly malnourished and starved but they quickly gain strength in weeks.

The first kid they recruit is Robert Watson and Millie Watson. They were abandoned by their mother on a bus stop at night. They are barely 6 and 4 years old. It was in the middle of January.

"Who leave you guys in here?" say Leon while giving them some hot food he put in his back pack.

"Mother. Mother said she doesn't need us anymore, so we were left there alone" said Little Millie.

Tsunade give a look to Leon. Leon just sighs and agrees. He bring Robert while Millie with Tsunade. They jump over the rooftops.

"Are you Ninja?" ask Robert with sparkling eyes after they arrived in their hideout.

"Yeah" Leon answers.

"Can we be like you guys?"

"Yes you can," say Leon.

It would take a few days for them to get to know Leon and Tsunade. Leon and Tsunade started with opening their Chakra Network first, than putting a Cursed Seal on Robert after a few days.

Most of the time, Leon left them in their Hideout when they needed to go to school. Right now without proper adult, they can't deal with papers. Asking those Roanapur acquaintances is too expensive in the long run. Once or twice is nice, more than that is a big deal and probable information leak.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next kid they found is Nguyen Cam, 8 her parents were killed by gang members. They rescue her from being raped when they raid the said gang. That night LA Police and news showed how gruesome the wrath of Leon and Tsunade can be as dozens of gang members were found sewn and stitched like a ball alive. Others were left as paste on the ground, courtesy of Tsunade.

Leon really mimics Kushimaru Kuriarare style on this one, he left them worse than death as many of them have their spine shattered, stitched alive slowly dying.

Leon and Tsunade brutally murder all of those gang members. That night, the Skinhead of LA chapter was decimated.

The cruelty and brutality of Leon when dealing with them send shivers to the cops. None of the survivors see who deals with them. But Nguyen couple corpses that the gangs haven't cleaned up tell the stories that whoever kills them they do it for revenge. The Stitch Killer code name was now recorded in LA cops database.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Katherine Brewster is the fourth member. The Oldest of them all at 11. Katherine training and Chakra Awakening is quite fast for kids her age. More like she was smart enough and persistent enough to complete Tsunade training schedule. Tsunade see her as her Apprentice.

As her mother used to leave at night for her work at the Hospital, she tend to use that time to join Leon's training regime at night. It is a good thing that their hideout is just behind the Brewsters residence. Thankfully after Chakra awakening and learning meditation, she could get full rest in just 2 hours of meditation so her schooling are not disturbed.

The fifth kid is Danny Lee, 9 and Kimberly Lee, 5. He ran away with his sister from abusive drunk parents, after he heard of rumors of hidden child sanctuary in their school.

Danny was thankfully sent astray to the Clan hideout. He pledged allegiance thinking this is a simple street kids gang watching Robert throwing Kunai on a target..

"Can I join you guys?"

"Hmmm why do you want to join us?" ask Robert.

"I need to find a safe place for my sister"

Robert remembers Leon's order.

"We could allow you to join us. But you must pledge loyalty to our boss"

When Leon and Tsunade return after school. Robert tells them about Danny's case.

"I could accept you into our Clan. But you must accept our clan tattoo, you must obey our laws, and you must not betray the Clan"

"I accept. So what must I do"

"Open your mouth, show your tongue!" say Leon as he brings out his ink and brush.

"Don't move!"

Leon paints Fuinjutsu all over Danny's body and all over the floor in a flash. Once it was done, he activated it.

"Fuin, Cursed Seal : Tongue Eradication Seal"

Danny suddenly feels pain. All over his body.

After he was done. Leon order him to take a medicine bath, he also activated his Chakra Network.

"So how do you find this place?"

"Well in my school there are rumors about a sanctuary for runaway kids, one of the kids leave me with this"

When Leon read the paper, he smiled

"Dude, you get the wrong address, that is another block from here"

"What?" Danny face is like shocked.

"What the hell are you guys anyway? Some kind of Ninja?"

"You could say that!"

"So what about this sanctuary then?"

"I think we should check it out. Leave your sister here. Tsunade, Robert, and Cam could take care of her. She's safe in here"

After saying a little goodbye to his little sister. Danny and Leon check out the place written in the paper.

The address they found out was a nice house in an empty corner. Feeling strange, Leon and Danny knocks, a man comes out.

"Mister, is this the place that gives resting place to runaway kids?" ask Danny.

"Yes. So why are you guys in here?"

"My brother and I are running away from our uncle. Our parents just pass away from traffic accident" say Leon.

"Poor kids. Come right in"

While Danny has no suspicion, Leon is suspicious of the man. He doesn't smell right. There is a smell of chlorine on that man's body. Not to mention the smell of sperms, and piss. He knows the darkside of LA more than others as Tsunade and him are used to raid gangs.

So when the man brought out some drinks for them, Leon just pretended to drink but quickly knocked out the man.

"Dude, why the hell you do that?" ask Danny.

Leon doesn't answer. He closed his eyes and emit a simple chakra pulse all over the house. Telling Danny to follow him after he tied the man with zip ties. They found out the Basement.

Down there, they found two small girls, naked, shivering on chain. Not too far there's a fridge, when Leon opened it they found some mutilated corpses of boys and girls. Danny throws up right over there.

The two kids' eyes are already broken.

"Release them Danny!"

"We should tell the Cops over this shit," said Danny as she bring some blanket.

"Are you stupid. That man is a cop" sneer Leon. Using some chat function, he told Tsunade to come by.

For once Danny was silent. He brings out his gun.

"Kill the man Danny!" Leon ordered.

"But!"

"Kill the man, because remember. If your luck was bad, you could have sent your sister to be raped by him!" Leon told him coldly.

"If you tell the Cops, that man would get out and rape again. If you leave him alive, more victims would be in your hand. Some scum doesn't deserve to be left alive. You do it or I do it. If you do it, it would be a simple mercy. If I do it, that man would rather be left dead than alive!"

Danny still shakes his head. Leon drags the man down the basement. He breaks some iron chairs, and crucifies the man. His scream was loud. But the basement is soundproof. Leon torture the man in front of Danny. Deadly toxins that cause pain were administered to the man.

"You enjoy raping and murdering kids are you" ask Leon coldly.

"Please, kill me please. I give you everything"

Both girls were awake now and watched Leon torturing the man.

After an hour, with the man in sobbing mess. Leon leave the room as he whisper to Danny.

"Tsunade is already outside. If he was still alive after this, I would give the gun to the girls"

Danny nods his head. He pointed the gun and shot the man on the head.

Marion, 7 and Taylor, 6 it takes a few days till the girls tell their name and ages. Leon ordered Danny to nurse those two girls. After Tsunade and Kate, Danny is the eldest in the Clan. Robert is too naive to be left alone. One reason why Leon push Danny to be Cruel is he prepared him to be his second in command after Tsunade.

Leon named them Clan Kurogane.

As the number of kids grow, using Earth jutsu, Leon and Tsunade enlarge and build a hidden underground hideout. They also steal an electric generator and water pump from a defunct company nearby for their electricity and water. It was easier to steal fuels from some gas stations than to fool the electric company about anomalous readings in their systems.

Building a secret underground aquaculture farm, Leon successfully ensures the clan's secrecy, safety and sustainability. He also forbade them to easily go out of the property to keep away from busybody eyes. LA neighborhoods where they are, is filled with so called nice busybody that could cause problems to them.

As slowly some of them are starting to be able to fight decently. Kate herself shows her talents that is not far from Tsunade in her age. She did learn some Martial arts training like Karate and Taekwondo. While she could beat other kids easily, she was easily manhandled by Leon and Tsunade, and always ends up pouting after their training. Well the main reason is Leon and Tsunade insisting that while she is Leon's girlfriend. She was not allowed to enter any adultlike relationship until she was 13 or if she finished her Shinobi Academy Curriculum training, or by Tsunade standard she became a Genin. Leon left his Shinobi Academy Books for the kids to read and learn.

To make sure none of them try to betray the clan or him as Leon shows the kids what happens when somebody did try to talk to others about the Clan. He captures a gang member, beating him black and blue, tells him about their clans, and puts a fuin mark on him. And let him run away. That gang members run away to his boss and try to tell his boss about them. That man dropped dead, paralyzed when he tried to talk.

Leon recorded all of these altercation in a video for new recruits to remind them the price of betrayal.

As May passes by, most of them are still focused on training inside their base as they are afraid to leave outside. Most of them find safety inside their hideout, some others still afraid to get out. Only Tsunade, Leon and Kate on occasion leave the premises.

On June 7 1997, a change was in the air. That day a series of strange lightning storms was recorded.

That day Leon, and Tsunade were on alert, as his trap code warned him that some people were searching for John Connor in the LA Police database.