Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or CSI

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry any mistakes in the previous chapter, I hope this chapter can clear things up. By the way, Kakashi is only nine in this story, so he doesn't have his Sharingan yet.

The Ninja Game

Chapter Two

Minato strolled down the street, whistling a song. This city was, to put it simply, awesome. He stared at yet another building with flashing lights, in the shape of a palm tree with some foreign language he could not understand. But he did not look at the girls anymore, however tempting, for he remembered the previous incident when Kakashi told him that the "girl" he saw was actually a guy. The Yellow Flash still shuddered when he thought about it. No way he would risk that embarrassment again.

But, he though, ripping his gaze away from the multi-colored, lighted bus passing by, I still have a mission to complete.

Sighing, he got to work. The most logical place to start, of course, was to scout out the city. Minato disappeared in a flash of yellow, appearing on the roof of a tall building. From here, he could see the whole city bathed in the myriad lights, like a sea of fireflies.

Now, if I were a missing-nin, what would I do? Minato wondered idly. The logical thing to do was to find somewhere to live first. And according to the information the Hokage had given them, the missing-nin they were after had come from the Mist, so he would probably choose somewhere that was close to a source of water.

His eyes scanned the city, and fell on a small, dark creek snaking its way through the lights. Well, it was a place to start. Minato disappeared in a flash of yellow, headed in the direction of the river.

*~*~*

In a puff of smoke and a flash of yellow, Minato appeared inside by the street next to the river. After a cursory glance around to make sure there was no one waiting to ambush him, he sauntered off towards the river.

There was a bridge across the river, bordered by a fence to keep pedestrians from falling off. Underneath this bridge, Minato could sense a faint trace of chakra. Though it was hours old, he could still tell that it belonged to someone he did not recognize.

So he was right, the missing-nin must have been here, or at least performed a jutsu here. Hopefully, there would be something left behind. Minato considered summoning a toad to track his quarry down, but decided not to. Kakashi's nin-dogs would be much more suited to the task, especially in such a large city.

Suddenly the sounds of loud voices caught his attention. He turned to see a group of people stumbling towards the alley he was in. There were about six of them and they were all pretty big, but Minato knew from experience that size did not always mean strength, especially in his own profession.

He did not need his superhuman senses to tell that they were drunk. Some of the words that they shouted sounded offensive, though the blonde did not know exactly what they meant, and raucous laughter followed these comments.

Minato groaned in exasperation. Just what he needed. Drunks.

The men caught sight of him, and made their way over. "Wadda we 'ave 'ere?" one of them said, pointing to Minato, "Lost little boy." Minato understood this, and bristled in anger. They called him a boy. Sure, he was the youngest jonin and barely twenty years old, but no one would ever call him boy, at least not if they wanted to leave with all their limbs attached. He wasn't a jonin for nothing.

"Not a boy." Minato snapped, "Go away." The thugs seemed to find this funny, and laughed loudly.

"Cocky, aren't we. Say uncle, and maybe we'll let you run home." Another drunk said, making a rude gesture.

Of course, Minato did not even need to know what he was saying; the gesture was enough. Without hesitation, the jonin reached out, grabbed his hand and twisted it painfully behind his back. The thug yelled in pain.

His friends stood there, shocked, not believing that anyone would be bold enough, or stupid enough, to do this to one of them.

"Damn punk!" the one with a tattoo on his right forearm shouted after the initial shock had worn off, and launched himself at Minato. Once the first move had been made, the others were also quick to attack. It was a six-on-one fight, after all, and the odds were in their favor.

Or so they thought. Minato disappeared before they could reach him, and the five thugs, not including the one who was still holding his arm howling in pain, landed on a heap on the floor. Minato flicked some non-existent dust off of his shirt. Really, he hadn't even broken that man's arm, there was no need to make such a fuss.

The people in this world were obviously not strong, Minato concluded, if they were all like these punks at his feet. He could not feel any chakra off of them, and their fighting stances were worse than the youngest student at the academy; they would make terrible ninjas.

After a moment, the first drunk, who had sobered up a bit, pulled himself to his feet, his face twisted with anger. He threw a punch at Minato.

Sighing, the jonin caught the punch easily. He held the man's wrist in a vice-like grip as the others also got up off the floor.

"Go, or…I kill you." Minato said seriously. Hopefully that would scare them away. They attacked again. Minato shrugged, he'd go easy on them.

Two minutes later, six bodies lay on the floor, unconscious. Maybe I went a little too far. Minato thought, surveying the rather pathetic sight. Then he shrugged Maa, whatever.

The sound of one of those smoke-emitting things that they called cars caused the blonde to turn, then squint as the headlights of a car nearly blinded him. More trouble? He wondered, rolling his eyes. When would they ever learn?

*~*~*

Warrick was not with the others at the Ripper scene. Of course, he had asked, but Grissom had refused and sent him on this case instead. After all, the supervisor had told him, the other cases won't solve themselves.

The CSI groaned as he hit another red light. While Grissom, Catherine, Sara, and Nick were having all the fun, he was here investigating some bank robbery. Where was the justice? Then, sounds of fighting in an alleyway caught his attention.

Immediately, Warrick took out his radio, "Dispatch, this is CSI Brown, reporting a fight. It's in a small alley on xxxx Street (A/N: Sorry, couldn't think of anything), downtown Las Vegas." They told him to wait for backup. So, being the obedient CSI that he was, Warrick pulled over and did nothing as the sounds of fighting continued to go on in the background, knowing that he was only following protocol.

It sounded intense. Hesitating for a slight moment, Warrick's green eyes hardened in determination. Hell with the protocol. He backed up his car and turned, entering the alleyway with his headlights blazing.

What he saw there was definitely not what he had expected.

Instead of the scene of carnage he had expected, there was only one man standing in the alleyway, a blonde young man wearing a vest and a headband of some sort which would be considered strange if this weren't Las Vegas. Stranger things were a common sight in Sin City.

The young man looked up in surprise as Warrick's car, squinting at the bright headlights shining on his face. Behind him, Warrick could see the bodies of five, no six other men, who were out cold, but still breathing.

Cautiously, Warrick stepped out of his car, a hand on his gun. "Yo." The blonde greeted him, raising two fingers in a strange salute. "You want fight?" his voice was strongly accented, and the English sound strange coming from his mouth, as if he had just learned it a few moments ago. A foreigner.

"No." Warrick replied carefully, "I don't want to fight."

The blonde grinned, "Good."

"Sir, what's your name?" Warrick asked, still wary.

"Namikaze Minato." He replied after a moment of consideration. "You?"

"Warrick Brown," Warrick said.

Minato smiled, "He-llo Warrickbrown-san." He greeted amicably. He extended a hand. Warrick did not take it.

"What happened here?" The CSI asked, gesturing towards the six unconscious bodies on the ground.

Minatio shrugged. "They…not dead." He said simply, then smirked. "Yet."

Warrick stared. He did not buy that at all. The six unconscious men were large, and probably strong too, and there was no way only one relatively thin young man could take them all down without help, especially unarmed. But his hand did not leave his gun; the young man could still be hiding something.

"I need you to tell me what exactly happened here." Warrick said again, "How did you get into a fight with them?"

Minato shook his head, "I not fight." He said, "They fight, I make them so-rry."

"Okay…" Warrick took another look at the unconscious men. They looked drunk, probably on their way home from a bar after a night of partying. It was easy for a conflict to rise from misunderstanding if you were drunk and saw a stranger in a secluded place who did not know what you were saying. "I'll still need you to go the police station to leave a statement." He said.

The blonde frowned, "I look for person." he said, "Is dan, uh, dan-gous." He stumbled slightly over the last word.

"You mean dangerous?" Warrick asked, interpreting the mutilated English. Minato nodded and took out a piece of paper from a vest pocket. It was a photograph of a man's face, scarred and scowling, with a headband similar to Minato's on his forehead. There was a single line, like a scar, drawn through the middle of the headband.

"You see?" Minato asked, pointing towards the photo and watching Warrick's face carefully. The CSI studied the photo, careful to keep his distance, "No, can't say I've seen him." he said. Minato sighed and placed the photo back into his pocket. He knew that the CSI wasn't lying.

The sounds of police sirens caught their attention. Two police cars pulled up next to Warrick's car and the police officers stepped out, looking confused. "Where's the fight?"

"Don't worry, I've got this under control." Warrick said, grinning as he saw their dumbfounded expressions. "When are the paramedics going to arrive?"

"They should be here in a few minutes."

"Well, after you take these guys to be patched up, take them back to the station for questioning." Warrick instructed gesturing towards the unconscious men on the ground. "And please take Mr. Namikaze, was it? Back to the station for his statement."

The policemen nodded and got to work. "What exactly happened?" one of them whispered as he passed.

"Hell if I know." Warrick whispered back.

"Sir, would you please come with us," another policeman, the younger looking one, was leading Minato to the police car.

Then, suddenly the blonde froze, his eyes widening in surprise, as if he had sensed an undetectable change in the atmosphere. "Kuso!" he turned to look towards the other side of town. "Kakashi!"

The policeman with him looked up in surprise, "Excuse me?"

But Minato was not listening, and he shook of the policeman's grip on his arm. "Hey!" the policeman tried to grab him again, "You can't do that!"

Minato glanced back at him, "Gomen," he said apologetically, then disappeared in a flash of yellow, leaving behind six unconscious men, and two very perplexed police officers.

Warrick stared at the place where the blonde had stood just two seconds ago, wondering if there was something wrong with his eyes. How could a man just disappear into thin air? A small part of his mind wondered what Grissom would say, There must be a scientific explanation for this.

*~*~*

The Yellow Flash of Konoha felt the flashes of chakra on the far side of the city and cursed his own stupidity. He recognized one of the auras—Kakashi had the special white chakra of the Hatake clan—and the other one, though not familiar, was undeniably strong. No doubt the missing-nin had found Kakashi, and Minato was too far away to help.

Damnit! I should never have split up with him! He thought as he rushed towards the chakra bursts, ignoring the lights around him; this was no time to admire the scenery.

The chakra signals were flaring, and Minato knew that now Kakashi was fighting the missing-nin. He just hoped his apprentice would remember his orders to get out of there as fast as he could and let Minato deal with the enemy.

Almost there! The white chakra was fading. Minato cursed again. Kakashi was losing, he realized, and put on another burst of speed. His own chakra flared, warning the missing-nin of his arrival. He hoped that this, at least, would buy him some time. And the missing-nin seemed to have gotten his message, since the unfamiliar chakra turned and left.

Minato sighed in relief once he realized that he could still feel Kakashi's chakra, though it was growing steadily fainter. The kid had passed out, no doubt, or was very close to it. The blonde jonin sensei willed himself to run faster.

Hold on, Kakashi.

*~*~*

TBC

A/N: Wasn't too boring, right? Sorry if there was no Kakashi in this chapter, but I promise he'll be in the next one. Please review! 