Chapter 34: Sharigan's Code of Silence

Sasuke's POV

Augusta Lane is in the crappiest neighborhood in the western surburbs in california. The houses are set behind the backdrop of a Augusta graveyard, ripe for dirty drug deals and homeless crackheads.

Without time to spare, I take the gun from my closet and drive back to Shikamaru's. He'll give me advice without blabbling to the rest of my family. He's kept to the Sharingan's Code of Silence even when other guys blew it off.

I told Sakura I wouldn't do drug deals. I hate lying to her. If doing drug deals a way to gain Madara's trust and protect my family, what choice do I have? I don't want to do Madara's dirty work anymore than she wants me to, but I have to. I was being honest when I said I wasn't a Sharingan. While Madara might consider me one, I'm not. I'm just playing his game to find out what the Sharingan has planned. I've got to be strategic or this isn't gonna work.

Shikamaru looks at me from across his desk. "Damn, cuz. Augusta Lane's a rough place to be. That's enemy territory."

"Kiba;s going with me," I tell him. "For backup."

"Want me to go with you? Problem is they know me, and if a couple of Sound's OGs catch sight of me, it's gonna get rough."

"I don't need them retaliating against this place, or you."

"All right. You just watch you back at all times, Sasuke. Take my Mustang. At least you'll have a chance to get away if the Sound bakas start trouble. Most of their young bucks got shitty aim." He pats the back of my shirt. "You strapped?"

I nod. "You and I both know I aint gonna use it."

"Don't accidentally shoot yourself." He looks me straight in the eye and says, "If it you or them, let it be them."

I meet Kiba at the warehouse. We speed all the way to Augusta Lane, through towns that are worse off then mine. I slipped on a black hoodie and sunglasses, so hopefully nobody will notice that I don't belong in this hood.

Kiba's obviously been here before, because after we park he says to follow him. We pass a liquor store with a drunk out front talking to himself. Guys walking down the street heading toward us are defintely out looking for some action or a fight. We duck into a drugstore and stay out of their line of vision until they pass. I'm confident we could make a good showing in a fight against three of four guys, but when it comes to ten against two, I wouldn't bet on us.

We weave through the streets. I only lift my head when I have to. Kiba stuts right up to the house as if he collects in Sound's territory every day.

"Don't you want to check the place out first?" I ask him. "Or have a plan."

Kiba waves his hand, dismissing my concern. "Nah, it's cool."

A guy answers the door. "What do you want?" he asks roughly.

"Money. And if you don't give it to us, today will be your biggest fucking nightmare," Kiba barks through gritted teeth. his eyes are open wide, like he's one crazy motherfucker. I think it's just an act until Kiba pulls out a gun and points it right at the guy's head. "Give up five Gs or get your head blown off. Which is it?"

"Yo, Kiba." I say. "Cool it, would ya?"

"It's cool. stay here and keep watch. Don't let anyone in the house."

The guy holds his hands up and back into the house as Kiba walks inside. I don't know what the hell to do. Kiba is obviosuly on a power trip. Shit. If he's start shooting people . . . I start think of my life behind bars.

This wasn't supposed to be how it went down. I was supposed to come back to Konoha High, graduate, go to college, then apply to NASA'S space program-the chain of events on the timeline of my life. I had every aspect of my life perfectly planned out.

As it looks now, the only place I deserve to go to is jail. I look up at the darkened sky. I'm about to lose everything . . . including Sakura.

A few minutes later, when I'm about to knock on the door and tell Kiba I'm done with Madara's bullshit orders, he steps out.

"Did you get the cash?" I ask him.

"Yeah."

"So it's all cool?"

"Umm . . . I think we should bounce, like fast."

We hurry through the maze that's Augusta Lane. I look back and realize a bunch of guys are on our tail. They're waving guns, and we're trying to lose them in the overcrowded graveyeard of old railroad cars.

It's not working.

We ducl behind one of the cars. Kiba peeks his head out, and a bullet flies past his head. "We need to get out of here. We're screwed if we stay in one place." he says.

I've never been in a shootout, but I've witnessed them. I pull out my gun, but keep it at my side, partially hidden. Kiba does the same.

"Our car is right there. See it?" I say, my adrenaline pumping at full speed.

He nods.

"We're gonna run toward it, and drive away without looking back." I tell him.

"Got it."

"If they shoot, start unloading the rail cars to scare them. Hopefully they'll take cover atleast ubtil we can get to the car,"

There's no time to stategize plan B, because the guys are about to surround us. If we don't move now, we're fucked.

"Now.!" I yell, and we both book it toward Shikamaru's Mustang.

My pulse races as a shot rings out. Then another. And another. I jump into the car and look over at Kiba. He sticks his gun out of the front window and unloads the chamber as I start the car.

I screech away, knowing that we barely made it out alive.

"Put the guns in the glove compartment," I tell him, handing mine over to him. I check the rearview mirror for cops, but don't see any.

The sound of our heavy breathing fills the car.

"That was close," Kiba says, leaning his head back on the seat. A second later he says, "Holy shit, Sasuke?"

"What?"

"Dude, you got shot."

I look over at my bicep. Blood is rshing down my arm and staining the seat of the car, so I strip my hoodie off and tell Kiba to tie the sleeve around my arm. "I'm fine," I tell him. "It's just a scratch."

"Scratches don't gush blood. Yousure you're okay.?"

I can imagine Mikoto's face when she sees I'm bleeding. "I'll go to Shikamaru's and spend the night. He'll know what to do."

"You're lucky you made it out alive," Shikamaru says when I show up at his place a half hour later. "Your arm . . ."

"I kinda ran into a Sound bullet," I tell him.

He nods. "Your ma is gonna shit twice, then she's gonna kill you. Madara's one sonofabitch, sending you kids in Sound's territory."

"Tell me about it,"

I take a shower in Shikamaru's apartment above the garage. The bullet exited but let a two-inch gash, and now that I'm sitting down looking at the fleshy wound, it hurt like a bitch.

It won't be hard to hide, even with a bandage. I'll just wear a hoodie and long-sleeve shirts until it heals.

"Where did Kiba run off to?" Shikamaru asks me after he closes up the garage and meets me in the apartment.

"The warehouse." I put on a shirt Shikamaru lends me after he calls Mikoto and tells her I'll be bunking at his place tongiht. "What do you know about me being blessed in?" I ask my cousin as he takes a beer out of his fridge.

"I don't know anything about that," he says as he give me n intense, lazy stare. "And if I did, I probably wouldn't be able to tell you, okay?"

He knows something. I nod. It's no use trying to get any info out of him. If he was sworn to secrecy, he'll go to the grave with it.

The Sharingan Code of Silence.

It's a code that I haven't broken yet, but intend to crack sooner rather than later.