Naruto sighed as he plopped down on the edge of a building, uncaring of the heavy rain that thoroughly soaked his hair and his clothes. If only Kiba wasn't there, he wouldn't have gotten blood all over the floor. He sighed a second time. And Sakura would make him clean it up too.
"You have a job to do, Naruto-san."
The aforementioned flopped onto his back and stared at his visitor's serious obsidian eyes.
"Such a sour puss, Lee-kun. Can't I have a little break every once in a while?"
"No."
"Keh! Sakura-chan's rubbing off on you." he scoffed. Hopping back onto his feet, he stretched his arms and stepped under the overhang. Lee followed him, wringing out his braid as he did so. The two walked back into the Usuakari's main base: the tallest tower in the thriving country of Whirlpool. It was one of those rare days when it rained, and Naruto enjoyed taking breaks outside when it did. What could he say? He loved the rain. Once he stepped foot inside, he spread his arms.
"Good afternoon, everyone!"
Sai was the only one in the common room. He looked over his shoulder and smiled.
"Good afternoon, Naruto-san." Sai greeted. He soon returned his attention back to his sketchbook. Naruto sauntered over and leaned over the couch.
"Whoa— is that a geisha?! That looks so cool!" he exclaimed. Lee was far from amused.
"Work. Now." he demanded. Naruto sighed in defeat and let his shoulders droop down.
"Fine, fine! I'm going!"
Naruto begrudgingly made his way to his office with a pout on his face. Lee followed after him, but not before glancing at Sai's work of art himself.
"Nicely done." Lee commented before disappearing through the doorway. Sai grinned happily to himself.
"Thank you."
Luckily, Naruto had made it to his office this time. Sakura was sitting at the edge of the desk, blank eyes roaming over papers on a clipboard. She acknowledged Lee's presence with a minuscule nod before looking at Naruto, who had sunk down in his plush chair.
"We have received news about our contact in Kirigakure. Shigure-san died approximately three days ago for confirmed suspicion of having ties with us. He was tortured for information before cutting the chakra flow from his heart." she informed. Naruto cocked his head to the side.
"Did he tell anything?"
"No."
"Then it's not a problem." he chirped, flashing a bright smile, "Anything else, Sakura-chan?"
"Hinata and Neji have just returned. The Nibi has been contained."
"Good, good. That means we're over halfway there. Two more tailed beasts and we'll have them all. That's very good." Naruto said. Wordlessly, Sakura reached into her kunai pouch and pulled out two marbles. She set it on his desk.
"These were purchased in Kumogakure after the Nibi was captured."
Naruto's eyes brightened up considerably as he picked up the the marbles and held them up to the light. Besides the rain, he absolutely adored marbles. His entire office was lined with shelves that had various unique jars which held equally unique marbles. An odd hobby for an odd occupation if Lee had anything to say about it. Lee glanced at Sakura, asking if there was anything else she had to add. She nodded once and flipped a page on her clipboard.
"Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. Strong, intelligent, gifted. A threat."
Sakura tucked the clipboard underneath her arm and stood up. She slid her eyes towards Naruto.
"Your orders?"
"Leave him be for now, if you encounter him, find a fun way to kill him. I'm sure you two can get a kick out of that." he beamed. Lee and Sakura made their way out of his office. Before Lee strode through the door, he looked over his shoulder.
"Make sure the work is finished or I will have Sasuke-san burn all your ramen."
A shrill cry of 'YOU MONSTER' was heard before Sakura shut the door. The two of them walked side by side in a comfortable silence, the sound of thunder crackling outside and lightening brightening up the hallways every minute or two. Their masks were pulled down and scrunched up at their necks, but the kanji written on them was still visible, Sakura's with 'dark' and Lee's with 'dragon'. As they journeyed to the archives in the next building over, they met with Gaara.
Sakura and Lee took in his rumpled appearance with blank eyes. He always looked at this, fresh from somebody's bed, shinobi and civilian and man and woman alike. Naruto had no complaints with how much he slept around as long as he did his job without hassle. Gaara saluted them with two fingers.
"Yo." he greeted, "Off to do more research?"
"Aa. You are welcome to join if you're finished with your indecent activities." Lee said. Gaara smirked and locked his fingers behind his head.
"Not interested. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a nap for the rest of the day." he grinned. As he sauntered back to the main base, Sakura cast him a look.
"Do not track water into the building."
"Yeah, yeah. I got it, darling."
At the archives, Lee and Sakura seated themselves at one of the grand mahogany tables where all their research from the day before lay right where they had left them. Very few people had clearance in the area, so this place served more as the Usuakari's work room as far as anyone else was concerned.
Ah, the Usuakari. It was a notorious organization that was extremely close to its eighth birthday. Those who knew about them never spoke about them. Their name was like taboo in the underground circuits and could strike fear into the hearts of the strongest men if it was even whispered. Those who didn't know about them were lucky to not have to constantly watch their backs or be careful of every single syllable that flew out of their mouths. And those who involved themselves with the organization, and brave, insane souls they were, had stepped through the doors of hell and locked it behind them whilst throwing away the key.
The Usuakari was a madhouse with an extremely powerful man at its helm. With Naruto's power came his madness, one that was shared amongst the members of his organization. They're crazy and they at least know that much about themselves. The sad part was that they were only kids but with a taste for chaos and an eye for spilling blood.
One could say that they were very much truly psychotic.
But they would only smile and reply 'Why, we already know.'
A frightening bunch, they were. Not counting their leader, there were nine of them, each of unsound mind and each deserving of a one way ticket to the nearest asylum. They knew that. Everyone knew that. But no one dared to try because they knew it was impossible to stand up to people like them.
Who in all the cosmos could be so stupid?
::
"I'm going after them."
"Ita-chan, think this through!" Shisui sighed exasperatedly, "You heard what Inuzuka-kun said! The Usuakari! We haven't even heard of this organization until an hour ago! Not only that, it's led by Uzumaki Naruto, the devil himself! Don't you remember what happened? He killed the Sandaime single-handedly, planned for our clan's massacre, and destroyed half the village using his completely controlled KYUUBI CHAKRA!"
Itachi brushed past him and continued packing everything he needed for a mission that could last at least two weeks.
"And you know who else he mentioned? Haruno Sakura! You said it yourself that she was the one who poisoned you and that the poison was encrypted so perfectly that no one could decode it to get you out of the hospital faster. And she was eight at the time!"
Itachi walked over to his desk and perused through scrolls and seals he could take with him on his trip.
"Don't even get me started on Nara Shikamaru, Shikaku's estranged son!"
"Shisui." he interrupted his red-faced cousin, "Believe me, I know what trouble I'm getting into-"
"Do you?! Do you really?!"
"If I can do it I can find Sasuke!" snapped Itachi. Shisui fell silent and looked away from his younger cousin. It was no secret that Itachi still loved Sasuke despite what he had done all those years ago. Even if Konoha as a whole deemed him an immense threat and issued a kill-on-sight status on him, Itachi still believed that Sasuke could be saved. That if he tried hard enough, he could bring his little brother back home. Itachi recollected himself.
"With the Usuakari, I finally have a lead on him. After eight years... I can bring him back. You said it yourself that Naruto planned the massacre. It couldn't have been Sasuke's fault."
Shisui wisely kept his mouth shut. As he watched Itachi strap on his ANBU gear, he groaned and grabbed at his hair.
"Fine! You win! I'm going with you, dammit!"
Back at Konoha Hospital, Kiba watched the people bustle about the place from the window. It was a while until he noticed both Itachi and Shisui clothed in their ANBU garb and were walking towards the gates. He smirked.
"Idiots..."
There were two knocks on his door before Ino strode in in her white doctor's coat. She smiled at him and tapped her clipboard with a pen.
"An entire shattered leg, eh? You're getting better at hurting yourself." she commented. Kiba laughed and patted Akamaru's head.
"Well, you know me." he said. She set the clipboard on a table and took a seat on the stool next to Kiba's bed. She leaned against the wall and crossed both her legs and her arms.
"The room's sealed. What do you have for me, oh masochistic one?"
"I told them what Naruto-san did to me." he shrugged, "They believed it, no sweat. I just saw the Uchihas making their way out of the village probably because of Itachi's drive to find Sasuke. Crazy bastard. Naruto's a better actor too, and he had to go all villain on my ass because someone was watching."
Akamaru barked.
"Oh. Akamaru says that they were Suna shinobi, so I'm guessing the Kazekage knows what happened by now. What about you?"
"Shino's bugs haven't picked up anything from the Hokage's office and Chouji says that the clans have been quiet lately, no fuss. We don't have any juicy information worth handing over to Naruto-san yet, but we're getting there. If his plan goes over smoothly, Konoha will be done for." she smiled. Kiba scoffed.
"This is Uzumaki Naruto we're talking about. It's not if his plan goes smoothly, it's when."
He looked back out the window.
"With Itachi and Shisui doing what they're doing... well, I can guess that this is the last time they'll see Konoha."
::
Jiraiya stared out the window of his office with worry-filled eyes. He had heard accounts of the Usuakari before, but he never imagined how grave the situation was becoming. The eight kids who disappeared after the second time the Kyuubi attacked Konoha... It was them. Unfortunately, it was them. And their leader was the boy he promised Minato he would look after with his life.
"Quite the face, old man. Looks like you've got a few more wrinkles."
He spun around to see a figure lounging on his desk, cloaked and brandishing the kanji for 'two' on his mask.
::
As Sakura went through one of the back aisles of the archives, she saw Shikamaru curled up on the ground with a forbidden scroll serving as his pillow. His mask was still on his face, displaying the kanji for 'general' written on his lips. She tapped his stomach with her foot.
"This is hardly the place for sleeping. Get up and go home or do research."
Shikamaru pried an eye open and moaned.
"Fine, fine."
He tugged his mask down and stretched his arm over his head.
"So, did Neji and Hinata do the job?"
"Yes. We will begin sealing tomorrow."
Lee was still at the table, writing down notes on anything he could find concerning Hoshigaki Kisame. As of right now, he couldn't make due with what was given. But no matter. If he met a dead end he could always make Neji and Hinata do it for him, seeing as they loved that kind of thing.
A box was placed in the seat beside him and he looked up to see long black hair and a mask with the kanji for 'earth'.
"Haku." he greeted. Haku smiled and signed him.
Hello, Lee-san. This box just came in for us. It's filled with the weapons you ordered last week.
"Ah, I see." he answered. He saw the stamp 1010 on the front and whipped out a kunai to pry the top off. Inside the box were various pieces of kunai, senbon, tanto, and others of the like, crafted beautifully. Lee nodded with approval.
"Would you send a letter of thanks? Thank you, Haku."
You're welcome.
Lee's attention returned to the task before him. Hm. Maybe he really did have to ask Neji and Hinata's help...
