Perfection

Author note

A general oneshot about a potential Naruto fic I may put down more. But don't hold your breaths. I'm only this as an experiment really. Uh… guess that's it? Yeah, guess so. Enjoy the read!

Prologue: Minato

In the city of Konohagakure. The capital of the Land of Fire and home to the Hokage in the fabled Hokage tower. It was one of the few cities where you could feel safe thanks to its military strength and excellent economy and stable tradings with the other five great Kage of the largest world countries. It was relatively crime free, it was secure thanks to the fabled Konoha ANBU military black ops that resided within it. Along with the Special Uchiha Military Police branch of the law enforcement division. All these combined into one very safe city.

Until you crossed a certain line that was and got onto certain peoples bad sides or just happened to be in the right position at the wrong time in the world of inter-land politics. Below the safety, the nice buildings and impressive military might lay organizations like ROOT and Akatsuki. Root was founded by former Secretary of Home Security Danzou Ishimura and was to serve as the Hokage's unseen dagger in times of extraordinary need. Of course, the Third would have never guessed that Danzou would use this group to his own advantage until it was too late. The fourth Hokage. Minato Namikaze, had been a shining beacon of purity for Konoha and the people loved him.

They loved him too much and his views of the world were too naïve. Too friendly and the Warhawk saw this threat coming the day it had been presented to the world a year after Minato was re-elected for the position of Hokage.

"There is a dark side to our beautiful city!" He had cried to the masses as he stood atop that podium. "A darkness that is no longer needed! I plan to bring them to light because we do not need them anymore! I will make this city a gem for my family, for you and your families!" the blond man was charismatic. Energetic and despite the amount of political heat he received from Danzou, a man the people fell behind.

Deciding that the risk of using a ROOT assassin was too great to remove the Hokage permanently from the position. He decided to use a group with no real ties to any one capital. A group that supplied results at greater price. Akatsuki.

The shadowy organization was always on Danzou's radar. But he could never pin them, never catch their agents for interrogation of their various sleeper cells that even Danzou knew had penetrated Konoha's higher echelons. But not his ROOT. His ROOT was his own and he was safe from them. So. He hired them to ensure Minato would be laid to rest.

That was why Izuna Uchiha was in Konoha all the way from his home in Rice country and instead sitting in the hotel room of the four star "Nine Tails Casino". The room was lavishly furnished, smelled of freshly cleaned sheets and kept in a nice, even temperature. Truly a great place to be for comfort and relaxation. But Izuna wasn't here for either of those things. He was here for business. He was here to kill a Hokage.

He surveyed the room quickly. Checking for listening devices, cameras and other electronic devices of observation. Satisfied that he found none he moved back into the living room of the large apartment like space and after closing the blinds and ensuring the doors were locked. He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a slim laptop.

He laid it on the table, opened it up and tapped the power button. The screen brightened to form a red cloud outlined in white. The symbol of Akatsuki. It waited a moment without action until "Secure connection established. Linking to Operator" typed across the screen in dull white.

Izuna reached into the briefcase and withdrew a single earpiece that double as a microphone. He turned the power on and another light on the laptop flickered green. He was connected.

"This is Operative One. One. Nine." Izuna spoke lowly, knowing the sensitive mic would pick it up, enhance it and make it perfectly level for the operator on the other end. "I've arrive in Konoha as per the schedule without incident. Requesting mission updates." he stopped there and waited patiently.

After a moment. A woman's icy voice came back over the line. "Excellent news. Photos are being sent to you now."

Not a moment after she spoke the laptop screen filled with photographs of the target, Minato Namikaze. Blonde hair, sharp blue eyes and dressed sharply for someone of his position. The first was a picture of him and his family sitting at the dinner table. The others were of him leaving and entering the Hokage tower with at least five ANBU agents nearby each time. The next was his home. A simple two story house, painted orange and blue. Uninteresting to say the least.

And the last was of him standing on the podium where he had spoken the words that warranted his death sentence. He didn't know the photo was even taken. It was likely a cellphone photo since the quality, even after it was cleaned up, was still lesser to the others.

"This is Minato Namikaze. The fourth Hokage of the Land of Fire," The woman began the briefing. "He's not the kind of men we're usually sent to target. Being a Kage. But our client has paid a handsome sum to see Minato removed from office permanently. Reason being that he's going to put our client's interests at risk and that cannot be allowed. Now, the following week is a very open point for the target. He has three social appearances in three very public locations where you can attempt to remove him. How and where you handle him is up to you, of course." She paused to allow Izuna some questions, concerns, etc.

Izuna already looked into it and studied the three locations carefully to pick out the most effective kill zone for the Hokage. "I've looked into them. I'll be taking him while he's en route to the Konoha Academy to pick up his son." He said. It was the best move he could think of to minimize the chance of being spotted in the act and lower the possibility of scarring the masses by shooting him during his appearances to the public. The man was very predictable, least his security methods were. He always travelled to pick up and drop off his son. Naruto, every day using the same route every time like clockwork.

"There's a straight away where he goes for four blocks before turning onto the main street to get to the academy. There's a library there with a nice view of the straight away. I'll take the shot from there." Izuna further explained. "If all goes according to plan I should be back at the hotel before they search the area."

The woman was silent for a couple of seconds, no doubt running his plan over her superiors. "Very well. I assume you know what to do about witnesses?"

"Naturally." Izuna shrugged. "Just make sure the money is wired to my account when you hear about his termination."

"Understood. Good luck, One. One. Nine." The woman responded.

Izuna smirked. "Luck is for the unprofessional."

"Link terminated. Deleting signal codes…complete." Scrolled across the screen. The Red cloud returned and then faded as Izuna tapped the power key. He closed the laptop, removed and powered down the earpiece and put both items back into the briefcase. Securing them with straps before clicking the locks of the briefcase which cause the navy padding to click loose inside the case. He casually gripped the exposed edges and lifted them to reveal the real treasure of his case. His Modular Sniper Rifle System. The primary receiver, trigger and magazine docks were housed in the same primary "body" of the rifle. The barrel reached across the case and had to be screwed onto the main body. The stock was adjustable and was slid and locked into place on the body. The scope was attached via rails atop the body. The magazine sat at the right top corner of the case. It held a total of eight rounds.

When all this came together it became Izuna's primary means of removing his targets from a safe, reasonable distance and allowed him to carry it around as if it were nothing more than important documents. Izuna withdrew the rifles components and pulled a cleaning kit from beside the Custom Suppressor and began to meticulously clean and prep the rifle for its task tomorrow before he turned in for the night.

The morning light shone in through the cracks in the curtains as the sun began to peak over the building tops and onto the windows of the Nine Tails Casino's upper floors. The apartment was empty sides Izuna's briefcase which sat on the already made bed. From his place inside the bathroom Izuna stared into the mirror at his reflection with his casual Onyx eyes. His hair dripped from the shower he had stepped out of a few minutes ago. He had lazily dried his hair of course, it was the rest of his body he dried off so he could slip his choice of clothing for today.

He turned and lifted the bagged set of clothes and began to dress himself. By the time he was done he looked the part of the business man his briefcase signalled him as. A nicely fitted navy blue business suit. A simple white button up shirt with a black tie. All in all, the Uchiha considered himself to be looking sharp as a finely crafted scalpel. He moved back his hair, took the blue hair tie laying on the countertop and tied his hair back in its pony tail at the base of his neck.

Izuna was set for the task ahead. With a small yawn the man moved out of the washroom towards the bed. Grabbed his case and left the room after locking the door on his way out. He boarded the elevator, went down the twelve floors and handed in his spare key and a tip at the front desk before stepping out onto the parking lot and raising his keys and tapping the unlock on the remote with his said keys. His car pinged and the doors unlocked. A navy sedan with black tinted windows that had cost the man a small fortune since he had all the parts internally custom forged for his own purposes.

The car hummed to life and after a minute to warm Izuna was off onto the busy morning motorways towards the Namikaze household. At the time it wouldn't be another twenty or so minutes before Minato went to drop his son off at the Academy so Izuna didn't have to rush over. With Minato's security route Izuna could overtake the Hokage before he makes the straight away to get to the library and wait for the shot but he had to make sure Minato followed the route for his plan to work.

And so, a ten minute drive later the Uchiha stopped at the corner of the street down from the Namikaze household in time to see the Hokage grab his sun in a headlock and playfully ruffle his hair while they shared a laugh. Naruto Namikaze, Izuna realised the boy looked extraordinarily like his father. And said kid was his nephew's best friend. That said, Minato had to die and Izuna was a bit sorry the kid would be there when his father got put down.

The father-son pair moved over to the security van. It was bulletproof'd with armor in the doors, door and roof. Shatterless and bullet resistant windows with the undercarriage armored as well to product from most conventional explosives. Meant to be impervious to all but the most extreme of arms. True, Izuna could have risked the shot from here but there was too high a chance for witnesses and not enough of a window for a clean escape from the scene. So, he waited.

The pair entered the vehicle. Minato was seated on the right and Naruto on the left. Positions noted the seating arrangements Izuna took off around the corner, passing his target by and moving along without a care in the world. Minato or his bodyguards didn't give a second glance as Izuna turned the corner and proceeded down the paths of the security route. In moments his target's vehicle was in the rear view mirror several cars down and Izuna kept track of the turns. This continued for several blocks until they were three turns away from the straight away and Izuna missed the next turn to proceed on the direct route to the library. Five blocks and left turn later he arrived at the front of the large, three story structure that seemed more temple than modern library to the Uchiha. Then again it was a fairly old building at almost fifty-seven years and held one of the largest collection of books across the Lands.

Izuna parked upfront. Paid the meter for an hour and locked up before moving up the stairs, two security officers gave the Uchiha a greeting nod, deeming him unthreatening as he gave them a soft smile in reply before walking past them into the building up to the front desk. He checked online for a book that would take him to the third floor so he knew what to ask when he reached the desk and signed in.

A perky blonde woman, no doubt still in her teens with a rather familiar, albeit reversed, hairstyle of another Akatsuki operative, greeted him with a forced cheer that said she was doing this job for the money and nothing else. "Hello sir! Welcome to the Konoha national library. How can I help you?" she paused, as if observing the Uchiha before a glint entered her visble eye and she added with a more suggestive undertone. "Handsome."

Izuna didn't physically respond, instead he glanced at her nametag. Ino Yamanaka, and back up to her face. She was rather pretty, nice figure and a clothing style that did hint at what lay underneath without actually revealing much. Subtle, she was a pro at being a tease it seemed. He responded easily, "Yes. Miss Yamanaka? I was looking for a book called The Five Lands Divided and I was wondering if you may have it here?" he gave another soft smile.

She turned to her computer with a deliberate slowness to drag out their meeting. Assuming his glance at her nametag had been aimed at not only her nametag. She tapped a few keys, then replied. "Yes, sir. There is a copy on the third floor, shelf A-Seven in the History section." She turned back to him with a wide smile, "If you would please sign your name on the book in front of you and if you like I can show you the book?" she offered overly sweetly.

Izuna considered the offer. She was pretty, undoubtedly under his age however and probably not legal… but he was an assassin so legal was hardly a concern. But he still had morals. In the end, he shook his head and signed down his name as Izuna Uchiha and said, "Thanks for the offer, miss Yamanaka, but I have to decline. I believe if I took you up on that offer I would be too busy to actually read it if you actually came along." he smirked.

She winked playfully. "You don't know the half of it."

They shared a laugh between two people who loved to tease the opposite sex and Izuna moved along. Perhaps afterwards he would invite her to coffee or something, he was here for another day and perhaps a fling with a woman who likely knew her stuff would be a good parting gift to himself. He almost grinned, instead he kept a half smirk and proceeded up the escalators to the second, then third floor and stepped off looking for the bathrooms. He spotted them, moved into the men's section and into an empty stall. He was pleased to see it was clean and didn't smell of filth like most other public bathrooms.

He put the seat down, locked the stall door and placed his briefcase on the toilet top and opened it up, he unlocked the hidden compartment and pulled the barrel and body of the rifle free. He screwed the barrel onto the body and secured it firmly before reaching in and retrieving the stock, he slid into place with a click and soon the scope came up. He attached it to the rails and finally the suppressor was screwed on and he retrieved the magazine. It was freshly loaded before he had showered.

The weapon fired 7.62x51mm Armor Piercing round at more than four thousand feet per second with enough kinetic force to match that of a .44 at near point blank range. Add that to the fact that the target would driving in his direction and even tank armor would have a nice gash in its side from such a shot.

The magazine slid home. Izuna pulled the bolt back and fed a round into the chamber for the Cold Bore shot. He set up on the toilet, standing on the edge of the seat with one foot while the other rested atop his briefcase and his support arms elbow rested on the raised knee of his leg for further support and stability. He didn't dare stick the barrel out the window. He kept it so it just peaked the edges of anyone who looked up at the window.

He checked his watch. Any minute now Minato would turn the far corner five blocks down…

One minute twenty-five seconds later Minato's vehicle pulled into and around the corner of the straight away into Izuna's scope crosshairs. The Uchiha took a breath and placed his finger calmly on the trigger. With all the buildings around wind wasn't a factor, only bullet drop at this distance he was going to take the shot at. His crosshairs drifted over the right side of the vehicle. This had to be perfectly fired, if he aimed too low the driver would be paste. Too high and he could miss Minato entirely.

No room for error. He could hear his brother's voice, "Breathe, little brother. Just breathe and concentrate. Give that bullet no other choice but to find its target!"

And concentrate Izuna did, he waited… three blocks to go. The Uchiha took another, slow breathe and slowly exhaled… then stilled as his finger slowly closed on the trigger when the crosshairs drifted two notches up and just slightly more to the left to compensate for the slanted glass that would alter the bullets path upon spearing through it.

Slowly, ever so slightly the trigger was pulled back and just as it began to let loose the hammer his knee flushed the toilet to help cover the sound to anyone nearby outside the washroom. The sharp hiss of the shot was cover by the obnoxious flushing as Izuna watched with baited breath.

The glass of the lead vehicle cracked across the right side of the window. The vehicle swerved off to the side and stopped, the driver stepped out of the vehicle, along with the passenger bodyguard a moment later. They opened the back doors, the second bodyguard pulled a screaming Naruto away from the vehicle while people gathered to see the commotion, those that were on Minato's door side when the first guard opened the door all stepped back.

That was all the confirmation Izuna needed to know the job was done. If Minato wasn't already dead he would bleed out due to either a pierced lung, nicked or pierced heart and a multitude of other effects of being shot by these rounds. Izuna stepped down from the toilet, dissembled his rifle and slid the pieces into their places in the case before closing the compartment and closing the case with a click before unlocking the stall and moving to the sink to wipe his hands as if he had just finished taking a dumb. He sighed once and dried his hands on a nearby air dryer before stepping out of the bathroom.

He found The Five Lands Divided on its designated shelf. Move down the stairs casually up to the front desk and set it down. "Found it, mind if I rent this out for the day?" He asked.

Ino looked up at him, considering. "There's a considerable security deposit you have to make to actually rent out the books." she explained professionally like she had rehearsed the speech. "For that book. It's fifty a day while its out."

Izuna nodded. Produced a fifty from his wallet, put it down and signed his name on a card she handed him with the name of the book and handed it back to her with its expected return date the very next day. "Why tomorrow?"

Izuna smiled. "Just checking to make sure my history text is accurate. Have a lovely day, miss Yamanaka." he bowed his head, turned and walked towards the exit. He glanced in the reflection of the windows by the double doors to see Ino copy down his room number and slide it into her pocket before wiping it off the card with whiteout and she resumed her work.

Izuna stepped into his vehicle. Checked his watch and started up the machine. He pulled his cellphone, speed dialled a number and waited…riiiing. Riiing.

"Hello?" A grumble of a voice answered after the third ring.

"Sasuke!" Izuna greeted jovially as he moved along forward. "Hey, I got into Konoha last night and I was wondering if you and your brother would like to come out to dinner with me. You can even bring a couple of your pals if you want. As a treat to my favorite nephew for missing your birthday last week." he paused. "Oh, and happy belated fifteenth birthday, ducky."

Ducky was Sasuke's nickname due to his hairstyle. And Izuna loved to make fun of his nephew for it. Much to said nephew's chagrin. As was evidenced by the rather venomous reply from the other line.

"Call me ducky one more time and I will shave your hair!"

Izuna grinned cheekily. "Oh Sasuke, you couldn't shave my head if you were packing-" He didn't get any further when Sasuke interrupted him.

"Hold on. I'm getting a second call from the dobe." The line went silent, signalling Sasuke had changed lines. A moment, two… three. "Uncle? I have to go. Naruto's dad has been shot! I'm going to get my brother to go pick him up from the scene. I'm sorry, we'll talk later!"

"B-" Sasuke hung up. "Ye…" Izuna sighed once. As much as a hard assed exterior put up, he knew Sasuke was heavily emotionally invested in two people in particular. Naruto Namikaze and Sakura Haruno, Izuna imaged he also held a soft spot for their high school teacher.

As the Uchiha drove along he avoided the scene of his work by taking a detour and driving all the way around back to the Nine Tails Casino. He pulled up, cracked his neck and stepped out with his briefcase in hand before looking the area over briefly. People were coming and going, the city was now abuzz with so much activity it was so much more different than the air of laziness that he was greeted to this morning. He smiled a bit at the thought before moving back inside the casino, greeting the front desk worker and stepping onto the elevator to get to his floor.

One hour and shower later Izuna turned the TV on to the news channel and was delighted to hear the following sentence from the news reporter. "Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage of the Land of Fire. Has been shot and killed today in a vicious, premeditated attack that has claimed the life of one of Konoha's greatest heroes since Hashirama Senju, the first himself." the reporter turned to show the scene, police were about, keeping civilians back and ANBU agents were combing the area for anything out of the ordinary. Izuna knew the only thing they would find was a slug mangled beyond recognition inside the Hokage's body or in the seat behind him.

And that alone could not be traced back to him. They could trace the round to its caliber, but not its make, its original factory or to who purchased it. Izuna had did his job perfectly. Just as his brother had taught him to do for the last few years. He smiled and adjusted his bathrobe and brought out his laptop. Powered it up and waited for the connection to secure.

"We've received the report. Excellent, One. One. Nine." The woman spoke with an air of approval. "The money has been transferred. Mission updates are scrubbed and you're free to have a nice evening." the connection closed. So, that was it.

Izuna had killed a Hokage and got clean away with it. He almost laughed, he had been so tense but everything had gone as planned. He yawned, then a series of knocks on his door interrupted his silent celebrating. He stood with a frown and reached below the seating of his couch and withdrew a suppressed .45 Super caliber handgun from the confines and moved towards the door silently. He stopped, stepped to the side so his body wasn't directly behind the door and more to the right.

He waited a brow, then called. "Yes?"

Wood splintered as two Pff-Pfft! Sounded out behind the door and Izuna got the wind knocked out of him while his body turned to dead weight. The world slowed and spun as he fell onto the floor until he was staring at the ceiling with a surprising lack of pain despite the fact his trained mind told him he had just taken two high caliber pistol rounds to the upper right of his chest that pierced his lungs and likely took his heart. He had seconds to live.

He fought to move his hand and look up at the doorknob began to turn. He coughed once, blood splattering the floor before his eyes, every breath felt like a stab of a knife as the numbness wore off. He grit his teeth in agony and fired twice, the first going wide and ruining the wall and curtains by the door. The second however struck his target, his laptop screen flickered… then the explosives inside detonated the device with small patches of thermite on the hard drives. That duty done Izuna allowed himself to slip into death's embrace as the edges of his vision dimmed.

A series of soft footsteps and a pair of feet came into view. "Damnit…" A distant, garbled male voice said in frustration. "He blew out his laptop. Thermite, but the likes of that melted piece of metal and plastic." Izuna couldn't find the strength to try and direct his gaze to see his killer more clearly. "Understood, sir. I'll recover what I can from his gear. Maybe some of it can link him back to the Akatsuki."

The feet turned to Izuna, the man was silent. "He's taken of."

Pff-Pfft!

"Thoroughly."

End

Welp, there it is. How was it? Crap? Good? Award winning? Let me know then have a good day/night/evening/morning!