Back in the present, Naruto drove his RMP – a 1977 Plymouth Fury – with listless energy and joyless precision.

"Naruto…are you all right?" asked Hinata, wearing a Smith-Gray wool reefer coat.

Naruto didn't respond.

"Naruto, please answer me!"

Naruto cracked a slight smirk. "Oh, don't worry about me! I'm absolutely THRILLED to have picked a random EDP who I know NOTHING about to play 'Secret Santa' to! Nothing else could make my day better! Believe it!"

"Is that what's bothering you?"

"NO! I'm FINE!"

"If you don't know what to get, I can help you. It's OK to tell me who you picked."

Naruto dropped his phony smirk. "Thanks, but I'm gonna pass."

"Central to 79-Adam," said the dispatcher.

Hinata picked up the radio mic. "79-Adam K."

"79-Adam, we have a report of a 10-24 man with knives, at 753 Myrtle Ave. Gonna be at Marcy Playground. Suspect is described as a male Caucasian, blue jacket, black pants."

"10-4, Central."

Naruto and Hinata headed down to Marcy Playground, which had nothing to do with either sex or candy. In order to help their arrival, Naruto turned on the car's lights and gave a few "whoop whoops" from the siren when needed. At the playground, they pulled up and got out of the car with their revolvers drawn.

"Hey, drop the knives!" said Naruto.

The knife thrower froze.

"All right, what's this about?" demanded the knife thrower.

"I said drop the knives!" said Naruto.

"But how else am I gonna practice?"

"Drop the knives!"

"Look, I'm tryin' to practice for next year's circus! I had nowhere else to do this!"

"Sure ya didn't! Now drop the knives, put your hands behind your head and interlock your fingers!"

The knife thrower groaned. "Fine…"

As the knife thrower did so, Naruto and Hinata moved in quickly yet gingerly. When they got closer, they got a rather shocking sight: a little girl on the ground, groaning and bleeding after being struck by one of the knives.

"I'll help her out!"

Hinata rushed back to the RMP when she noticed this. In the girl's favor, the knife hadn't managed to embed itself deep into her flesh. Meanwhile, Naruto kept his Smith & Wesson Model 10 trained on the knife thrower. Hinata made it back with a medical kit.

"I called for a bus," said Hinata.

"Good." Naruto moved in on the knife thrower and cuffed him while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

After bringing the knife thrower in for booking, Naruto and Hinata continued their patrol. A few flakes of snow were coming down by now, and Naruto's mood had yet to improve.

"Hmph…" Naruto gripped the steering wheel tightly.

"Naruto, are you still worried?" asked Hinata.

"What, me worry? Hardly! I mean, have I ever worried before?"

Hinata averted her gaze and tapped her index fingers together. "Well…"

"Know what? Don't answer that one! I…"

Naruto was cut off when he saw a couple arguing. Knowing that nothing good could come of this, Naruto slowed the RMP down, and as he was doing so, the man snatched the woman's purse and dumped the contents onto the sidewalk.

"You pick that up right now or I bust your face in!" said the man.

"I told ya, my momma needed that money for groceries!" The woman appeared to be tearing up.

"Well, she gonna need it to…"

"FREEZE, BUSTER!" shouted Naruto.

The man turned around when he heard Naruto shout. In spite of this, he held his ground.

"Yo, what's your problem, fuzz!?" said the man.

"Don't ya know it's illegal to force a woman to pick up the contents of her purse?" said Naruto.

The man crossed his arms. "Big deal! Bitch owes me a lotta money!"

"Don't listen to him, officers!" said the woman. "I already…"

The man smacked the woman. "Shut your mouth, bitch!"

Naruto quickened his pace. "Oh, you just dug yourself in deeper, pal!"

The man put up his fists. "Wanna scrap!? Come on! I got a black belt in kung fu!"

Naruto let out a devious smirk. "I'll bet you do!"

Naruto approached the man. When he got close enough, the man sent a powerful right hook Naruto's way, but Naruto sidestepped the blow, grabbed the man's arm and threw his weight at him. Though half a head shorter, Naruto managed to throw the perp on the ground and subdue him. While the perp was disoriented, Naruto gripped the guy's right hand behind his head and did a quick pat down for weapons, which yielded nothing.

"Not so tough now, huh?" said Naruto. "Looks like you'll be gone for a while!"

"Suck it, pig!"

While Naruto was dealing with the perp, Hinata was helping the woman gather her belongings, keeping in mind the slight yet real possibility that the victim could be setting her up.

"Thank you so much, officer!" The woman did her best to suppress tears. "I don't know how I can repay you!"

"Oh, that's really not necessary," said Hinata, "but I can put in a good word to our supervisor if you want."

The woman took her purse. "What's your name, hon?"

"I'm Officer Hinata Hyuga."

The woman cracked a weak smile. "My name is Patricia Newbury, but you can call me Pat."

Hinata did a slight bow. "Nice to meet you, Pat!"

With the man locked up, patrol continued, and Naruto's mood had not improved. Hinata put her hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Naruto, you can't keep worrying like this! It's not good for your health!"

"Yeah, well neither is having to get a gift for somebody you don't even know!" said Naruto.

Hinata smiled. "You could get an Amazon gift card. Everybody loves those!"

"Nah, this guy doesn't seem like the kind who would appreciate it."

"Who did you get, anyways?"

"Well, since we might die, I'm gonna tell you. It's…"

"All units in the vicinity, we have a 10-11 silent at Eli's Deli & Grocery on 282 Nostrand Ave," said the dispatcher. "Handle Code 3."

Naruto avoided using the siren when he could, but did flip on the lights as he barrelled on to the bodega where the incident was taking place.

Meanwhile, Hinata picked up the radio mic. "79-Adam to Central, will handle the alarm at 282 Nostrand Ave. Can you give us a description of the suspect?"

"79-Adam, we have no description of the suspect at this time."

"10-4, Central."

He screeched to a halt outside the store and drew his service revolver as he stepped out of the car. Both officers ducked behind the car doors as cover. Meanwhile, Hinata grabbed the radio mic and switched the siren to PA mode.

"Attention, this is the NYPD," said Hinata. "You are under arrest and there is no way out. Please exit through the front door with your hands in the air. We will give you fair treatment if you do."

By this time, 79-David – a 1976 Plymouth Fury driven by Officers Rock Lee and Tenten – showed up. Both officers took a similar approach as Naruto and Hinata. Keeping his revolver pointed at the store, Naruto drew his handie-talkie.

"79-Adam to 79-David, see if there's a back alley you two can go through," said Naruto.

"10-4," said Tenten.

Lee and Tenten got back in their RMP and drove around the block. Not long after, two Hispanic males emerged from the bodega: a scruffy looking one in a black hoodie who was holding the other – an older guy – at gunpoint.

"If you two cobanis don't back away, grandpa here's gonna get it!" said the robber.

"Please, do what he says!" cried the shopkeeper. "I don't want to die!"

The robber jabbed his Detonics 1911 at the shopkeeper. "Shut up, pendejo!"

"Listen, man, you don't wanna do this!" said Naruto.

"You think I don't wanna do this!?" said the robber. "I will splatter this guy's brains all over the ground! Go on, keep messin' with me and find out!"

"Please, talk to us!" said Hinata. "Let us know what you need!"

"You know what I need!?" said the robber. "Money! My father's dying in one of your hospitals and he needs a new heart!"

"We're sorry to hear that! What's his name?"

"Why should I tell you his name!? He's probably gonna get shot again by you trigger-happy pigs anyways!"

"Why would you think that?"

"Don't play dumb! This is America! You people and your stupid guns killed my mother, and now one of your bullets grazed my father's heart!"

Hinata did her best to keep her emotions from welling up as she remembered how her cousin Neji was killed on The Job not too long ago. She kept a firm grip on her gun as she tried to avoid getting absorbed in the situation.

"We'll do what we can for your father!" said Hinata. "I promise!"

"Promise all you want, but…"

Suddenly, Tenten snuck up and grabbed the robber's arm and attempted to snatch the gun from him. The robber managed to discharge the weapon once before losing his grip on it, but nobody was struck. He spat all manner of curses and insults in Spanish at Tenten and Lee as they wrestled him to the ground and cuffed him.

"79-Adam to Central," said Hinata.

"Central, go ahead."

"79-David has apprehended the suspects."

"10-4."

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.