The Cloaked Viper:- Ambiguity

"I had gone upstairs to use the washroom, when it happened." Naruto said. "The explosion threw me off my feet and I may have lost consciousness for a while."

"Hmm... People mention seeing you drag out a boy from the building." The officer inquired writing away at his pad fixing him with his best you might be in trouble glare.

"Just doing what a responsible citizen would do officer." Naruto said infusing as much sincerity in his voice as he could. "And it wasn't as much dragging as it was helping."

"Responsible?" The man said with a scoff. "A party of minors where alcohol was served, doesn't seem too responsible."

"I don't know what you mean officer? The party was supervised by adults." Naruto said a little coolly.

"Yes, and the said adult is now dead." The Officer quipped.

"Stop bothering the kid Ibiki. I know the boy." Naruto had never been so glad to hear that voice.

"Hmmmm... if you say so." The officer said without taking his eyes off Naruto.

Naruto had to admit the man was sort of intimidating. Tall and well built with a grim face, whose seriousness was only accentuated by two scars running across his face as he stared him down.

Naruto could tell the wanna be's from the real thing. And this man Ibiki was definitely the real thing. He was the kind of man who knew exactly what he was doing.

Overall he didn't look like the kind of man Naruto would like to spend any amount time with.

Especially with the number of secrets he was keeping.

So he was actually glad that he came when he did.

"I will take it from here Ibiki." Anko said finally getting Ibiki to break the staring contest that had engaged Naruto in.

"Well until next time kid." Ibiki said finally relenting.

"I certainly hope not." Naruto couldn't help firing back. Ibiki had already pegged him as a troublemaker, so he would play the part he was given.

And he had had a long night.

Anko waited until Ibiki was out of earshot.

"This is some mess." She said looking around to the scene before her.

It had been two hours since the explosion. The fire department was busy putting out the dregs of the remaining fire which had broken out in the house.

Naruto had been given a blanket along with an oxygen mask. He played along his role of a traumatized victim. He was none the worse for wear, but he did smell like smoke and ash.

"What are you doing here kid?" Anko asked him, keeping her tone even.

"Attending a party." Naruto said sarcastically.

"Don't have time for this kid." Anko's tone brooked no argument. She was pissed and she wanted to make sure he knew it. "I told you to pull out and yet I find you here, so you better have a good explanation or I go get Ibiki and trust me when I say he makes me look like a docile kindergarten teacher."

Naruto knew empty threats when he heard them. Anko's threats were anything but.

"So, you're gonna rat me out, because of something that's not even my fault for doing something you asked me to." Naruto retorted.

"I won't have to." Anko walked a little closer to him. "A couple of hours with him and as tough as you seem to think you are, it won't be a couple of hours before he has you singing like a canary."

Naruto doubted that. But then a victory in a battle of wills wasn't going to get him anywhere. You have to pick your battles.

"What are they saying was the cause of the explosion?" He inquired. Better to know what she had, before deciding what he wanted her to know.

"They are calling it a gas leak." Anko said her eyes implying that she didn't believe a word of it.

Typical. Make it look like an accident. With so many kids fooling around mostly unsupervised. Shit happens. Another lesson for parents to look just that much deeper into their kid's lives, without anyone having so much as an inkling to what really transpired.

Despite how messy it looked, Naruto knew better.

It was clean. calculated and efficient.

Just as he would have done it.

Daisuke's girlfriend, Mai. He had his doubts about her, which had just taken shape only this evening. Even then he had nothing concrete.

It might be the same assassin or maybe a different one. Though his hunch was leaning towards the former.

"I wanted to see who Kazuya was?" Naruto finally said.

"He was here tonight?" Anko raised an eyebrow at this.

"Most probably." Naruto admitted. "Daichi was meeting someone, so it had to be him, considering the level of secrecy surrounding this public event."

"So what happened?"

"I was going to the office on the first floor, when the entire thing exploded." Naruto said omitting some details. "Daisuke was in his room unconscious, I knew I couldn't help the others, so I grabbed him and got out."

"That's all?" Anko said. "You didn't see anyone with him? No mystery assassin?"

"No, he did have a girlfriend though." Naruto made a show of shaking his head in a regretful way. "Didn't get to know her personally however."

"You don't believe this could have been done by the mystery assassin?" Anko queried.

"Can't say with any certainty. It might have been." Naruto said. "You just said it was a gas leak. That may very well be the reason."

"If this was an assassination how would you have done it?"

Not for the first time, since he had known her, this question confirmed what Naruto already knew. Anko had the habit of asking all the right question. Probably what made her such an effective interrogator.

"Something different." He lied smoothly, without missing a beat. Technically he could have created quite a few scenarios with what he had. But the way it was handled, was probably the best.

"I hope for your sake you're not lying to me kid." Anko sighed, realizing that was all she was going to get out of him. "I can't help you if you won't let me."

From the corner of his eye he spied the kids standing around, being questioned by the officers on the scene. He spotted Ino talking to Ibiki, her father by her side, looking none to pleased with his daughter.

Kiba had already left after having been picked up by his mother. Teuchi was standing some distance away, looking a little out of place, as he kept shooting occasional glances in his direction.

"So what now?" He asked her.

"You can go home." She replied.

Naruto nodded before removing the blanket he had been given, walking up to Teuchi.

"Naruto." A familiar feminine voice beckoned him.

He turned around in the direction of the voice to see Ino rushing up to meet him, panting slightly she stopped a couple of feet in front of him.

"Hey Ino, what's up?"

"Just wanted to ask you if you were okay." She said catching her breath.

"Yeah I am fine." Naruto assured her.

They stood around awkwardly for a few seconds, it looked like she had something more to say, but wasn't sure how to.

Teuchi was looking at him a little confused about the hold-up, Inoichi too now seemed to be glaring at them. Though it seemed to be directed more towards his daughter than him.

"Look I really need to go. I will talk to you later." Naruto said sparing her the trouble.

"Yeah sure." Ino looked a little relieved at this.

Waving her goodbye Naruto walked up to Teuchi.

It had been a long day. But he doubted the night had ended.

Naruto unlocked the door to his apartment, having just endured a 15 minute lecture about responsibility from Teuchi. Though he failed to see how being responsible could help in this situation.

But then he had just survived a fire which had claimed two people. So he cut him some slack and took his dressing down quietly.

"You have some explaining to do." The first words he heard on entering his apartment.

To be frank he knew he had walked into this one. Naruto knew he had to answer some questions to his partner from the old days, who he had dragged into this mess.

"I know." Naruto sighed turning to Sasuke who was sitting in one the chairs, obviously waiting for him.

"Are you waiting for a hooter?" Sasuke said in his usual deadpan voice.

Naruto had to admit, he was impressed. For an emotionless assassin, 3 sure had a flair for sarcasm.

"It was executed by one of our 'replacements'." Naruto said. "Most probably another infiltration specialist, integrating herself close to the mark by befriending the brother."

"You didn't catch on to this?"

"Didn't know her well enough to arrive to any conclusions." Naruto admitted. "She had me fooled."

"This oversight on your part could get us both killed." Sasuke commented drily, but Naruto could detect the edge in his voice.

"I made a mistake."

"Does she know about you? About us?" Sasuke decided to assess what the damage could be.

"Highly unlikely." Naruto said after thinking it over. "I wasn't her target, just like she wasn't ours. It was coincidince we ran into each other."

"You probably realize you just risked our lives for nothing."

"On the contrary we now have a visual on one of them. So, no it wasn't a total waste." Naruto tried to be optimistic.

"You know that isn't going to help us. The risks we took or rather you took for us weren't great enough for these gains we got." Sasuke's tone had just a hint of reproach.

"Look, what's done is done. It might have been a mistake, but there is nothing else we can do about it now." Naruto was beginning to lose his patience now. Already having been chewed out by Ibiki, Anko and Teuchi, he just wasn't in the mood anymore. "All we can do right now is just take what we have gotten from this and maybe use it to our advantage."

Sasuke silently contemplated Naruto for a while.

"What happened to you 9?" He said. "You never made mistakes like this before."

Naruto sighed. "It was an easier time back then 3. All we had to do was follow orders."

"And now?"

"We take responsibility for the choices we make." Naruto said gravely.

They remained in silence.

"Do you ever feel regret for killing all those people 3?" Naruto couldn't help himself.

"We were following orders. There is nothing to regret." Sasuke replied coolly.

"But most of the time we didn't even know why we killed them." Naruto didn't know why he was touching upon this subject with 3. He wouldn't understand. He didn't feel regret. He didn't know what regret was.

Sasuke took that as his cue to leave. Walking up to the window he fired one last comment before he disappeared into the night.

"We are assassins 9." He said without turning around. "We belong in the shadows. No matter how good you are at pretending to be one of them, you will never be. Maybe its time you realized that."

It had been 3 days since the incident. School had just concluded for the day. Their mid-session exams had commenced.

Naruto was feeling pretty good about his maths exam. He said goodbyes to his school friends, Kiba and Ino included. Both of whom had recovered from their ordeal, fairly well.

Apart from being grounded for a couple of weeks, they wouldn't be in too much trouble.

Daisuke had taken the death of his brother hard. So much so that he didn't even question the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. He had left for Okinawa the day before, where he had a few relatives, who would be taking him in till he finished school.

He had visited Naruto before leaving, thanking him for pulling him out of the burning house.

He himself hadn't been doing too bad. Though he did get another lecture from Ayame after she had glomped him the next day she saw him.

The concerned older sister routine, he supposed.

3's words from the other night still rang in his head. Is that what he was doing? Trying to be normal. Was that such a wrong thing?

He spotted Anko, standing a few yards from the school gate, leaning on her car, smiling when she saw him coming.

"Hey gaki." She greeted him.

"Anko-san." He acknowledged.

"Get in I will give you a ride." She offered.

Nodding Naruto got inside the car, placing his school bag on the back seat.

"So, how did you do?" She tried to make small talk.

"I did well." Came the reply. "So, what is it?" He decided to not beat around the bush.

Anko sighed. "I wanted to apologize for giving you hard time the other day. You had been a great help and we managed to tie all the loose ends."

"That's great." Naruto said with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

"One of the bodies found at the house belonged to one Kazuya Minamoto." She said before pausing for dramatic effect. "He was the principal of at your friend Takeshi's last school. We believe he was running a drug-operation using his position. Still not clear about all the details, but we will get there."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Naruto interrupted her.

"To show you that I trust you." Anko said without missing a beat. "No matter who you were at one time, I do trust you." Her grip over her steering tightened as she spoke the next words. "I just wish you would trust me too."

Crap, she had him cornered.

"We're here." She said pausing in front of his apartment. "I won't force you to do anything Naruto, but just know, that I will listen if you have anything to share. And I mean anything."

Naruto grabbed his bag, feeling a little awkward but not unpleasant at her words.

"Thanks." He said before exiting the vehicle.

Location:- Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa hospital

Time:- 5:15 PM.

Dr. Nakamura entered the reception area, acknowledging the receptionist as she greeted him, before signing himself in.

As one of the leading psychiatrists in the country, he had a thriving practice and a loving family consisting of a wife and two kids aged 14 and 10. At 45, life was good.

After finishing his rounds, he picked up a patient-chart. Ones he was supposed to be counselling.

This particular case had baffled him for months now.

The photograph attached to the file showed a red-haired boy of about 15 with dark circles under his green eyes. The boy had no parents or peers they knew of. The only thing they knew about him was his name. Even that they made up.

The boy was a deranged psychopath and wasn't above spouting death threats to anyone who tried to talk to him. The doctor included.

He supposed the boy had a history of abuse, though the lack of information about his past, prevented them from knowing who could have been responsible.

The boy himself refused to talk about his life. Something which confirmed the traumatic nature of his ordeals. More often than not the boy had to be restricted to solitary for the safety of others.

But he hadn't stopped trying to get through to the boy.

He was a doctor after all. He couldn't just give up, no matter how much the boy scared him.

Taking a deep breath he entered the room where the patient was being kept.

The room was pleasantly lighted, with sunlight entering from the lone window. The boy strapped in a straitjacket was sitting with his legs folded below him, studying the doctor with mild curiosity.

"Hello Gaara. How are you feeling today?" He began genially.

"I am fine doctor." The boy replied in his soft but cool voice. "Could really use some fresh air though."

"I am sure, we can work something out later." He assured his patient.

"But I was thinking more on the lines of...now." The boy's grin turned maniacal as he slipped off his jacket, lunging towards the man.

The scream that was building up in his throat never got the chance to be released.

Well that concludes this arc. Thanks to Namikaze541, iamnarutofan2200 and Unknown Shinobi for their reviews.

Until next time.