K: Hey peeps! We have a chapter!
MM: Unfortunately no gaarahina in this chapter, but great things come to those who wait!
K: Also, a few people were worried about an OOC Hinata. Don't worry! She was just tryin to be tough(plus she's a little cranky that he found her).
MM: Don't tell them too much! They'll see for themselves in the next chapter!
K: Oops...
Chapter 10
Sasuke's dark eyes scanned the room, searching for his target. He was seated in a bar in a small village not far from Konoha, the popular tavern a hive of activity. Waitresses buzzed among the tables, tight smiles plastered to their faces as they welcomed even the most boisterous of customers. A haggard singer crouched on the stage with a decrepit guitar. His lonesome wailing could be heard over the cacophony of other noises that pervaded the crowded room, yelps interrupting his sad melodiesas the occasional beer can from the unimpressed crowd landed a blow.
Men lined the counter, sharing tattoos and comparing battle scars, cigarettes hanging from their protruding lips. Their complacent grins grew wider with each new glass, as did their rowdy boasting, the speakers ungracefully falling from their stools. Women prowled through the packed table tops with painted smiles as they sought a lecherous body to keep their beds warm at night. They roamed in packs, like less majestic versions of lionesses on the hunt. Upon finding potential tables, the groups greedily converged, attempting to claim suitable prizes, much like children squabbling over candy thrown from a parade.
Sasuke had left a few weeks ago to begin his mission, not bothering to tell Naruto goodbye. The doofus would know where he had gone; Sasuke Uchiha did not break his word. He had jumped from village to village, trying to gather information on the organization. But whoever they were, they knew how to cover their tracks. Sasuke left each new village more and more frustrated, this past time with only a few sentences of information: the name of the organization—Saisei, thedescription of a person who might be able to give him some clues, and the village where he would find him. And so here he was, another town, another sickening display of the shallow stupidity of man.
Somehow separated from the crowd's oppressive embrace,Sasuke lounged languidly in the corner of the smoky bar. Lifting a drink to his lips, he watched the scenes in front of him in disgusted apathy. It was pathetic, really, how easy people were to read. Even without the Sharingan, he could decipher every action and the meanings behind them; it was obvious, from the slobbering drunks leering at waitresses to the simpering women begging to get laid. The minds of the public were so simple and one-minded that Sasuke almost felt embarrassed for them.
His obvious disinterest in the scene in front of him did not seem to deter the idiots, though. A few of the women detached themselves from the mass of limbs, reeking with the stench of alcohol, eyes glistening with captured interest. Sasuke shot them a crimson glare. He was NOT in the mood to deal with fangirlstonight.
The women stumbled backwards in shock from the spinning black of his Sharingan. Glasses shattered as they knocked into the table across the aisle from his booth, the brackish contents leaking onto the dull, dirty floor. Eyes wide with fear, the hookers reeled away in search of easier, less threatening prey.
Sasuke smirked at the chaos he caused, only to have the condescending grin shift into a taut line of focus. A movement behind the scene had caught his attention, flashes of suspicious actions seen behind the failing arms and curvy bodies of the now absent women.
A man hunkered over something protectively, shielding it from the destructive clutches of the liquid dripping off his table. His hair was dark and slicked back into a greasy mass. Sasuke's eyes narrowed infinitesimally. Bingo... Watery, beady eyes; bony limbs that jutted out like some sort of grotesque scarecrow; pointy nose, hooked like the beak of a bird of prey. The small, mousy man that crouched in his chair perfectly fit the description of the man he was looking for.
The person in question caught Sasuke's eye, a knowing look on his unaesthetic features. With a nod of acknowledgement, he made a show of tucking a scroll into his long, white sleeve before standing up, placing a payment on the table, and ducking out a side door into one of the taverns many side was not even surprised that the man seemed to know who he was; it was like he wasn't recognizable anyway. He would have been more worried if the man had not have realized who he was.
Sasuke let a few minutes pass before he, too, made his move. Checking for extra chakra or any signs of a trap, he made surethe room and adjacent hallway to be clear before deactivatinghis Sharingan. He stood up in one fluid motion and followed.This better be good... He wasn't sure if his already thin patience could take another dead end.
The shadows of the hallway engulfed him as the door swung shut behind him, the din of the bar behind him fading into a soft echo. The man stood at the end of a long line of doors. His whiteshirt seemed immaculately bright in the darkness of the hall. Various moans and giggles could be heard down the hall, muffled by the thick bedroom doors. Sasuke blocked them out with disgust and focused on the figure in front of him.
"I know why you are here. One of my informants told me you might come." Head high, shoulders thrown back, the pitiful mantried to look braver than his trembling body suggested.
Sasuke jumped straight to the point. No sense in wasting any more of his time. "Tell me all you know about the organization called Saisei," he smirked, "if that's even much at all."
The man bristled at the comment, his already tense shouldersraising like the hackles on a small, angry dog. "I can tell you almost anything you want to know," he snapped. Sasuke'seyebrow quirked up at his tone, and the man recovered himself, remembering who he was speaking to.
He slid a roll of paper out from his sleeve. "I've written everything I know about Saisei on this," He waved the scroll in front of him, "I'll give you this easily, if I can have some...motivation." A toothy, self-satisfied grin split across his features. Sasuke grew irritated at the sight; this man had some nerve calling him, Sasuke Uchiha, out there only to try to bribe him. Or he was just plain stupid.
Before the man could react, Sasuke had the man pinned up against a wall, his forearm mercilessly pressed against his throat. He could feel the hard bulge of the man's Adam's apple dip as he swallowed nervously. His eyes were wide as they met the red flash of the Sharingan, terror flying across their depths as they comprehended a bloody crimson that promised pain beyond his imagination, inescapable, endless torture. "Or I could just take it from you and kill you..." He snarled, taking pleasure in the tremors of fear that he sent through the man's quaking body.
"No!" The man thrashed for a moment before he whimpered in defeat, "Please...no... You can have the scroll, no problem." A hard, cylindrical object was shoved against Sasuke's wrapped his free hand's fingers around the scroll. He backed away from the wall and let the man unceremoniously fall into a gasping, twitching heap. Tucking the paper into his belt, he headed for the entrance to the bar without a backward glance.
"Wait!" Sasuke halted midstep and turned his head sideways, glancing back out of the corner of his eye. "There's one more piece of information I think you would be interested in..." The man stood up and brushed himself off, clasping his hands in front of him nervously.
"This organization, Saisei... It's lead by a man whom I think you know..." Sasuke turned to face him, attention fully grabbed by those words. How the hell would I know him...? Head cocked curiously, he waited for the man to continue. The informant wiped his sweaty palms on the front of his white shirt.
"His name is-" The man's words were cut short as a crimson flower blossomed on the front of his spotless shirt, its gruesome petals surrounding the kunai protruding from his chest. With a sickening gurgle, he slumped to the ground and moved no more.
Instantly alert, Sasuke's hand darted to the hilt of his sword as he spun to face his attacker. His muscles froze in shock as he recognized the person who approached, but he kept his face neutral as the man walking toward him addressed him.
"Long time, no see...Sasuke."
Sasuke eyed him warily. The white scales that had covered the man's body were gone, his snakelike eyes reverted back to their original dark color. Even in the dark hallway, the lens of his glasses held a malicious gleam. He sauntered toward the Uchiha, two girls draped on his shoulders, giggling flirtatiously. Candlelight flickered through the crack of a now open door along the hallway. Ewww... Sasuke tried to resist the urge to vomit as the man smiled smugly at the silent Uchiha.
"Hello... Kabuto."
K: Yaaaay! It's Kabuto! Eww, Kabuto.
MM: Don't forget to review! Tell us what you think!