What's up? The action's really gonna pick up in this chapter. So I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never have, never will. Nor do I own Predator. Much to my dismay. Only the storm is my idea.
Warning: This chapter contains horror, violence, disturbing imagery, and may cause paranoia, insanity, and shock. Reader discretion is advised. Seriously.
Naruto sat up, breathing heavily. He immediately looked to where Hinata had lain, only to look at the narrow expanse of the alley. He felt something resting on the inside of his leg and instinctively rolled away from it. A kunai clattered to the alley floor. Naruto immediately drew his own kunai and did a quick 360. He noticed a small distortion by the dark end of the alley. He stared at it intently, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. He started to move towards the shimmer. As he inched closer, a strong, indescribable feeling came over Naruto. He felt completely calm inside a shell of paranoia and near insanity. He came within three meters of the shimmer when a pair of trash cans fell over against the alley wall. The loud clattering noise drew Naruto's attention away from the shimmer. He slowly edged towards one of the trash cans. He kicked one aside, and an orange blur flew at Naruto's face, and he heard three sets of feet hit the alley floor. Naruto caught the blur and an obnoxiously familiar voice cried, "Damn it, Naruto! You always have to go help me out!"
"Konohamaru? Is that you?" Naruto asked. "Who else could it be?" Konhamaru was ready to lose his voice screaming. "I can perform a frickin' Rasengan, but I can't catch a damn cat without your help? What the hell is wrong with me?" The orange attacker squirmed and hissed in Naruto's arms. "Is that Tiger?" Naruto asked. "Should be," Konohamaru replied. Sure enough, there was a telltale blue ribbon that read "Tiger" on the cat's ear. "Well, he's yours to take back to the Hokage's office if you want to," Naruto said. "No way!" Konohamaru cried, "Me and my cellmates don't need you to help us out on our mission! Right, guys?" Udon just stared at the alley wall blankly, and Moegi was busy fixing her pigtails. Tiger managed to wriggle out of Naruto's grip and ran out of the alley. "C'mon, team! Let's go catch that cat!" Konohamaru screamed, and the three amateur ninja sprang out of the alley. Naruto grinned to himself, almost out of remorse. Almost immediately, his attention was redirected to the kunai on the ground. He carefully edged towards it, in case it was a letter bomb. He carefully picked it up. A small corner of paper gently prodded Naruto's hand. He unwound it from the handle of the knife. He immediately recognized Hiashi's handwriting upon reading the note. The note read, "Naruto, if I ever see you near my daughter again, I will personally hunt you down and chop your balls off, demon spawn. –Hiashi". Naruto cursed out loud. How could Hinata's father still hate him for what he was not? Dejected, Naruto decided to treat himself to Sake. He walked out of the alley, unaware of the danger just paces behind.
...
Wuund was surprised that the quarry hadn't discovered him. The boy was perceptive, but he was easily distracted by trivialities. Wuund made a mental note of this as his cell leader rang in through the earpiece. "What is it?" he asked. "Where is the target?" Skahr asked impatiently. "He just left the alley," Wuund replied, "and Fraactuur is currently tailing him." "Track his movements from the air," Skahr said, "and calculate all possible routes he could be taking. We want to intercept him and draw him out of the village as soon as possible. Don't get any others involved." Wuund inquired, "What should we do if others get drawn in?" His cell leader didn't hesitate in his response, "Obliterate anything or anyone that stands in the way of our objective. Skahr out." Wuund growled, exasperated with his squad leader's seemingly endless objectives. But if it meant eternal glory within the clan, he was willing to do whatever it took to get there.
...
Kiba took another swig of Sake and sighed. His day was sucking ass. It started with Ino slapping him awake and having her ranting on him for twenty minutes, and ended kicking him out and taking Akamaru. He didn't want to go back sober, so he planned to go back drunk so that she would listen to him for a while.
His thoughts were interrupted when Tenten walked in wearing a very tight-fitting shirt and very short shorts. Kiba almost spit out his current swig of Sake. He had never thought about nor realized how beautiful someone other than Ino could be. He started back in on his bottle of Sake, watching Tenten as she sauntered over to the counter. Kiba was lost in multiple fantasies when a voice whispered in his ear, "Trying to get a peek of something, are we, Kiba?" Kiba whirled around in a drunken haze.
"Oh, Naruto! Wassup, dude?" Kiba greeted him with slurred shout. "Not much, you crazy drunk bastard," Naruto replied, pouring himself a round of Sake, "Hiashi's bein' an ass again. Why are you here, Kiba?" "Ah, Ino and I had another fight, and she took Akamaru. Imma go back there drunk as hell and beat the shit outta her," he replied, "but now," he continued, staring at TenTen, "I'm rethinking those plans." Naruto laughed out loud. He laughed so hard that he fell out of his seat and onto the floor. "Somethin' funny?" Kiba asked, his eye twitching. Teary-eyed, Naruto half-giggled, "Dude, she will castrate you if you even think about fantasizing about her!" Kiba chuckled in spite of himself and replied, "Yeah, she's probably thinking about castrating me right now."
However, as they continued laughing, malicious intent and dark clouds loomed outside.
...
"Wuund, have you located the target?" Skahr sounded more calm and less demanding than he ever did on this entire mission. For once, Wuund didn't feel like killing him on the spot. He replied, "He's entered a Sake bar." "Hey, when can I start tearing appendages off of people," Fraactur's voice broke in, "I'm getting impatient." Wuund immediately sensed Skahr's mood change before he spoke. "Fraactur, don't question my orders. If you do so again, I will kill you without hesitation." "Let him start, Skahr," Wuund suggested, "otherwise he'll blow our cover." "Very well," Skahr sighed, "if you really can't wait, let the target know what he's up against."
...
"KIBA, YOU LITTLE BITCH!" a shrill voice cut over Kiba and Naruto's casual conversation. "Oh, great," Kiba groaned. Ino stormed into the bar, raw fury radiating at Kiba. "WHY ARE YOU DRINKING AGAIN?" Ino screamed. "Bitch," Kiba replied cooly, "you broke up with me. My habits are no longer your business. Now get the fuck out of here. " Ino's jaw dropped. She started sreaming, "Kiba, if you don't stop drinking, I swear to God that I'll-" She abruptly stopped screaming and started gagging. "Finally, some peace and quiet," Kiba sighed. "Uh, Kiba?" Naruto stammered, "you should look at her neck." Kiba looked and his look of satisfaction turned to one of horror. A large serrated blade stuck out of the base of Ino's neck. She started coughing up blood and fell to the floor, twitched twice, and died.
Kiba couldn't even form words to express his horror. TenTen saw Ino and whirled around, pulling out her signature pair of kunai. Naruto leapt to his feet, a hand on each of his shuriken holsters. Kiba, finally overcoming the shock of Ino's sudden death, vaulted over his seat, fists raised. TenTen spoke, "We need to get out of this bar now." "I already figured that out, TenTen," Naruto replied. "What can we use for cover?" Kiba asked. "I saw a couple of benches outside," TenTen answered, "they're not much, but they'll suffice." Naruto edged towards the entrance of the bar. Five paces from the flaps, a line of shuriken buried themselves by Naruto's feet. "No good," Naruto whispered, "but if they had a clear shot at Ino, they should have a clear shot at me right now." "That means that he can move really quickly after a shot, or their's more than one of them," TenTen said softly. "Then if there's more than one, then why doesn't take another shot at me?" Naruto countered. "Let's go on three," Kiba interrupted. "One." Rain started to come down outside. "Two". An object whizzed by Naruto's head and hit the bar. "BOMB!" TenTen screamed. "THREE!" And as the three ninjas sprang out of the bar, the bomb went off and incinerated the bar and everyone inside.
...
"Damn it." Even though it didn't sound like it, Skahr was pissed. He was sick of the constant rejection of his peers in the village. He was sick of the fact that even though he'd manipulated every variable of this situation, he'd missed his mark. He was ready to incinerate the entire village in the same way he incinerated the bar. He spoke into his headset very intently, "Wuund, Fraactur, we're done playing games. Bring the Jinchuuriki back in as many pieces as you like."
Sorry about not updating sooner. High school is tough shit. I'll have the next chapter up soon. R&R, and check my profile for updates and random shit. Laters!
