AN: This isn't my first fan fiction, but it is the first I'm sharing with the world. I usually end up not liking how things come out and decide it'll never see the light of day. This idea has been swimming around my head for quite some time, morphing from one thing to the next. I've finally began to write it, and I'm not 100% sure where it'll go yet.
Warning: I haven't finished any of my previous fictions, so this doesn't have a very hopeful prognosis.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or anything within the Naruto universe.
She moved like a shadow, a presence so faint, so quiet, it was almost as though she wasn't there at all. The building was small, with only three rooms, one of which was a shoebox bathroom. She watched from the ceiling, as if she were some supernatural predator. Two others were in the room with her, unaware of their unwanted guest. One paced to each window, the other guarded the door to her mark. Time seemed to slow as her mind began to process her surroundings on a higher level.
Her first target didn't have the chance to struggle. She dropped behind him, her hand around his airways and kunai in his carotid in one fluid motion. The standing shinobi let out a shout, alarming his comrades, as he let fly a handful of shuriken. The masked kunoichi rolled away, gathering chakra to her feet. She ran across the wall, short sword in hand, enemy blurring through the hand seals for a water technique. A crystalline dragon came roaring at her. Focusing on the slim space between the man and his jutsu, she disappeared. Her blade pierced his heart and left lung as the body flicker inertia faded.
The ANBU operative took a moment to cross the arms over her victims' torsos as she debated her next move. They were expecting her by now, and if her intel was right - and it usually was - there were three more B to A rank rogues guarding the one she was after. There wasn't much use in stealth anymore, no way to ambush them. She was at a disadvantage, unless…
Sending a clone crashing through the door, she climbed out the closest window. A fire and wind combo hit the clone on sight. She brought chakra to the second degree burns and lacerations that itched at her shoulders as she swung into the room, the window shattering beneath her feet. Glass rained down on the shinobi, along with chakra infused shuriken. Most were deflected or dodged, but a lucky two found their mark. One lodged between the right deltoid and pectoral of a shinobi, the other in the left quad of another.
A jolt rocked through them the moment they were hit, causing the shinobi with the leg injury to collapse. She made quick work of him, a fresh clone snapping his neck as she charged the other wounded enemy. She attacked relentlessly with taijutsu as her clone distracted the remaining target in a similar manner. With a kunai in his arm, it was almost too easy to break his defense. Taking the first opening she saw, the assassin struck. Hard and fast, her fist connected with his sternum, shattering the bone. Electricity pulsed from her fist, and his heart beat no more.
She watched the light fade from his eyes, the only visible part of his face. She guided him to the floor as his brain shut down. She crossed his arms, and turned to see her clone barely dodge another wind technique. Flickering behind the final enemy, the real kunoichi slid a kunai between his first and second cervical vertebrae. The clone crossed the arms of the remaining bodies and released the jutsu as her original searched the room.
The desk held nothing of interest. The walls had no hollow areas. The floorboards were a little creaky, but stomping periodically resulted in no echo. There were no suspicious cracks or gaps anywhere in the room, no - but there was that.
How careless. She knelt beside the desk and ran her fingers across the miniscule scratches at its base. She flipped the desk aside and lifted the hatch beneath it, finding exactly what she was searching for.
"P-please," Kodomo, the local civilian cartel boss, was visibly shaking as he gazed up at the featureless wolf mask. "Don't kill me."
"That all depends on you." Her voice rang out with authority. It was firm and strong, almost harsh in the otherwise silent room. She dragged the man out, wondering how he fit in the hidey-hole. He whimpered as she let him fall at her feet. The pungent scent of piss mingled with that of fresh blood. The assassin ignored it. "I was told you're an associate to the Akatsuki. I need any information you have on them. Their current location, safe houses, movements, habits, anything. The more useful the information you share, the more likely you are to keep your life."
"I-I don't k-know anything! I swear!" He clasped his hands together and kneeled in front of her as though she was some sort of god. In a civilian's eyes, it wasn't too far off. "Please, I don't know anything." Snot dribbled from his nose as he cried for mercy. She stared him down, like a silent force urging him to continue. "I only pass on information on bounties, that's it! I don't ask questions."
Another hopeless lead.
"Plea-"
Her body acted on its own, throwing herself to the side as a triple bladed scythe sliced through the space she had been. Kodomo's head rolled across the floor as the ANBU operative slid to a stop.
Two cloaked figures stood just within the doorway. The one with slick white hair let out a sickening laugh as his scythe returned to his side.
"2.3 billion." The kunoichi didn't wait for the masked man to say any more; she lunged for the window. The hand of the larger rogue wrapped around her ankle, so tight the bone would've fractured had her boots not been armored. "Too bad I can't collect the reward for you, Undertaker. We have other plans in mind."
