Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. When Kishimoto kicks the bucket he should set up the ultimate scavenger hunt with clues only a true fan or the series would be able to comprehend leading to a hidden underground tomb or something with a blank legal contract that can be signed by whoever gets there first for the rights to Naruto. You know, pull some National Treasure shit… and for the record if this happens and I see Nicholas Cage anywhere near one of my goddamn clues I swear to God I'm going to capture him and beat his ass, and blame it on him making Bangkok Dangerous.

Chapter 37: Devil's Night

After arriving at the hospital, Naruto bid the Hyuuga Clan a thank you and took Sasuke, Konohamaru, and his little friends inside to get the raven-haired police trainee some medical assistance. Luckily for them all, Shizune was basically there to meet them at the door to the emergency room and quickly got them to the room she had managed to get vacant without any questions asked.

After a few hours of work, Shizune was able to let Naruto and the kids he had taken responsibility for inside of the room Sasuke had been placed in to rest. Medical ninjutsu weren't widely known by doctors, and Shizune never used them in front of those that weren't mercenaries or people that were in the know so to speak, but that wasn't a problem here. Still, even with the effective medical treatment, Sasuke had been heavily injured and needed more time to wake up.

"He can go home when he wakes up Naruto-kun." Shizune said to Naruto inside of Sasuke's room after finishing his treatment, "I know how you and people you know are about staying in hospitals." She then placed her hands on her hips with a stern look on her face, "But you seriously have the worst track record of easy missions I've ever seen."

"I know…" Naruto said in exasperation. She was right. Barely anything he did was easy, but he had to admit that if things were he wouldn't find his job nearly as interesting, "Well at least the people are after Sasuke and maybe me instead of Konohamaru." He said, actually comforting the boy knowing that he wasn't being targeted, "We already beat some guy that could split himself into two, I fought and beat some super-strong guy, and Sasuke beat a long-range specialist. That's got to be the entire team so we're safe for now. If there was anyone else wouldn't they have tried to grab him when Princess was dragging him out of the rain?"

"Were you all hurt?" Shizune asked, checking the unconscious Uchiha over while questioning her little brother figure.

"Neji was more or less out on his feet." Naruto said, remembering the way Neji walked all the way back to the others, "Princess seemed shaken up after whatever had happened, and I'd say I'm the only one who wasn't tired. I'm good from that check-up you gave me aren't I Shizune-neechan?" He asked her.

"Yes Naruto-kun you're fine." Shizune said with a smile, "I wish that the Hyuuga boy that was here when you arrived would have stayed though. He looked rather concussed, but I guess they would trust their own doctors for something like that."

Sasuke's eyes started stirring as he slowly opened his eyes, "Ow…" His eyes snapped open and he had a rather glazed look in them, "Actually nevermind. No ow after all. Instead, content haze of fuzzy numbness. I feel awesome."

Naruto smirked at the lightheaded words from Sasuke and turned to Shizune, "Can you give me some morphine so I can shoot him full of some when he starts acting like an asshole? I like the doped up Sasuke, he seems like fun." He looked back over at Sasuke who was laughing stupidly as he apparently got a kick out of activating and deactivating his Sharingan repeatedly.

Shizune watched the same scene with a sweatdrop on her head, "Um, no. Anyway he's awake, so you guys can leave. Get him home quickly though and let him rest."

Naruto nodded, "Okay. We have to go back to the park and drop the brats back off before I get the douche with the cigarettes and the hot red-eyed lady with the attitude problem after my throat. Then I'll drag him right home. Pick-up time is supposed to be 8pm and Deputy has been out of it for the last five hours, we have thirty minutes."

"Hey dobe… how are you doing?" Sasuke said brightly as Naruto walked over and roughly picked him up fireman style, "Where we going?"

"I'm doing better than you at the moment. And I'm taking your wounded ass home to get some sleep." Naruto said with a grin as the kids began to follow him out of the room. He poked his head inside of the door to give Shizune one last smile of gratitude before leaving, "Bye Shizune-neechan. I owe you a huge favor in the future, so don't hesitate to cash in alright?"

She waved him off with a cheery smile, "Just get out of here Naruto-kun, and be careful alright?"

Naruto nodded, "Sure thing… I'll be as careful as the world will let me be. I'll see you later."

Sasuke waved from over Naruto's shoulder as the blonde carried him away, "Bye lady that could pass for a member of my clan on any day of the week!" He tapped Naruto on the back to get his attention as he carried him out of the hospital, "Hey Naruto, who are we?" He asked good-naturedly.

Naruto grinned back at his friend, "Sasuke Uchiha!" He said loudly and obnoxiously with a fist in the air.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" His dark haired best friend shouted back in reply, patting Naruto on the back.

"Leaders of men-!"

"-With bullseyes on our asses!"

They both shouted at the top of their lungs as the kids followed them with confused looks on their faces as they continued. Moegi whispered to Konohamaru, "What are they doing Konohamaru? Mercenaries are so weird…"

"Weird nothing." Konohamaru said, almost in awe of the two powerful teens, "These guys are so awesome! I want to be a mercenary!"

Naruto pointed his thumb at Sasuke as they traversed the halls, caught up in Sasuke's drug hazed good mood, "You're a star Sasuke Uchiha!"

"Big star!" He yelled in agreement, completely out of his usual character, "I blow solar flares out of my ass!"

"Yeah!" They both yelled as they walked through the lobby, though once Naruto got outside he calmed down, "I think I should let you sober up a bit before I take you home or Mikoto-kaa will stomp my ass."

"Actually… that Shizune lady gave you something to give me so that I don't pull my hair out from the pain right?" Sasuke asked, "Because I'm going to need a reason to not answer my family's asinine questions tonight."

XxX

Asuma and Kurenai returned to the park at 8 o'clock sharp to retrieve Konohamaru from Naruto. The two guardians found Naruto and Sasuke sitting exactly where they left them earlier that afternoon. Asuma walked over and saw bandages through holes in Sasuke's clothing, "What in the hell happened to him?"

Naruto yawned as a side effect of the long day, "Do you really care? I could just tell you that the reason had nothing to do with Konohamaru and we could all move on here."

Asuma frowned. He couldn't really blame the kid though. It had probably been a long day, and it wasn't like he and Kurenai had endeared themselves to him by their earlier interaction before, "Alright. There doesn't even seem to be a scratch on him and you've got the council members kids here too just like they said." He noticed a light glare coming from Naruto and rolled his eyes, "Yes, dad said we were going to pay you extra for the additional work."

"Sweet." Naruto said as he stood up, "Then this mission is done. Can we get a ride to the subway station so we can go home though?" He motioned back to Sasuke, "He's kind of really messed up and the walk back all the way to the Res where he lives would take hours the way that he is now." Asuma looked unsure about giving them a ride, the car would be packed. Realizing that his plan wasn't working, Naruto switched his attention to Kurenai trying to pull a puppy-dog eyes trick.

Kurenai just stared at him blankly before sighing, "Fine, the kids have to sit on your laps because there's no room."

"That's fine." Naruto said with a grin before running over to the bench and picking Sasuke up again, "Come on Deputy, we're getting a ride to the station."

"Ow!" Sasuke yelled in pain as Naruto carried him to the car Asuma and Kurenai had taken to pick the children up, "Put me down damn it! I can walk on my own now and this fucking hurts, the morphine wore off!"

Naruto ignored Sasuke as they headed towards the parking lot and Asuma turned his attention to his little nephew, "So Konohamaru. How was today? You weren't bored or they didn't do anything bad to you did they?"

The ten year old eagerly shook his head, "No way Uncle Asuma. Boss is awesome!"

"Boss?" Asuma and Kurenai repeated in confusion. Kurenai shook her head trying to make sense of the boy's last statement, "Who is 'boss' Konohamaru?"

"Naruto is boss!" He said, trying to explain, "He's so awesome, he's the real deal! Just like all the stories you and grandpa tell me about when you guys used to do it, a real mercenary! I want to hang out with him all the time!"

Asuma and Kurenai looked at each other strangely before the bearded male shrugged and began walking towards the car to get it started, "Okay kids." Kurenai said, getting their attention as she smiled warmly at them, "It's time to take you all home. It seems like it's been a long day." She motioned and corralled them towards the car.

XxX

(30 Minutes Later)

Sasuke and Naruto sat on the subway train heading back closer towards their neck of the woods so to speak as both were basking in the relative vacancy of the car they were in. Sasuke tried shutting his eyes to catch some z's, but every bump and shift of the train aggravated his wounds, "Getting shot hurts…" Sasuke mumbled as he leaned back in his chair before Naruto reached over and poked one of his visibly bandaged wounds, "Ow! Prick!"

Naruto whistled innocently as Sasuke glared over at him, debating the positives and negatives of trying to start a fight with his street urchin friend on the subway.

"I really don't think you should mess with your friend's injuries like that." A silver-haired man a quite roughly five years older than Naruto and Sasuke said helpfully with a smile on his face. He wore glasses and purple hospital scrubs and had his hair in a ponytail, "They look rather fresh. Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?"

Sasuke and Naruto looked at one another before realizing that he must work at the hospital due to his attire and attitude about Sasuke's injuries. Sasuke looked at the young man and shook his head, "I'm fine. I just don't want to be poked by my idiot friend here."

The man chuckled, "Yeah I suppose that would be pretty irksome to any kind of injury." He then gained a look of realization on his face, "Wait, you're Sasuke Uchiha. Yeah, I saw you on the news today." He let out another laugh that sounded rather anxious, "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you, my name is Kabuto Yakushi."

"You a doctor Kabuto?" Naruto asked him lazily, not really interested in someone else in the city being starstruck at speaking to Sasuke. He had gotten used to that years ago, "Do you know Rin Hatake, or a lady named Shizune?"

"Yeah!" Kabuto said in reply, "I'm an intern and I actually work under Shizune-san." He saw Naruto's face brighten up, "Do you know Shizune-san…" He finished tentatively as he didn't know Naruto's name.

"Naruto." Naruto provided his name for him, extending his hand for a shake that Kabuto accepted, "Naruto Uzumaki. And yeah I know her. Shizune-neechan's one of the few doctors I actually trust. I love her like family." He then narrowed his eyes at Kabuto, "You don't give her any trouble do you?"

Kabuto started backing away, waving his hands in front of him defensively, "N-No! I don't, honest!"

"Good." Naruto said firmly before getting slapped in the head by Sasuke, "What the fuck Deputy?"

Sasuke painfully pulled his arm back from hitting Naruto, "How you think that you have a right to talk to someone else about not causing trouble is beyond me. What did we just get through doing not even three hours ago?"

Rubbing the back of his head angrily, Naruto huffed, "That's just it. I can cause problems because I don't know any better. I'm not about to let some random guy mess with my big sister… that's my job."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and faced Kabuto again to try and smooth things out with this guy they just met. There was no need for him to think they were crazy just because… well, just because Naruto was crazy, "Sorry about that. Naruto has a kind of abrasive personality to most people. He's not what you'd call civilized."

"It's alright." Kabuto assured him, "I've had some rather unruly patients before, at least he didn't blatantly threaten me or curse me out. You'd be surprised how often I get earfuls every day. I wish I was more assertive like Shizune-san is with her patients. They never give her much of an issue at all."

Naruto shook remembering how Shizune almost took his manhood before it was ever even used in the first place a while back, "They don't give her much of an issue for their own safety. Shizune-neechan is super-scary when she wants to be." 'I can see how Tsunade-baa trained her sometimes.'

"Well it was nice to meet you both." The unassuming silver-haired medic said brightly, "My stop is coming up next and I need to get out of here. Twelve hour shifts aren't very fun…" He said with a smidge of humor, holding on to the rail to help people stand on the train as it came to a stop. The doors opened and Kabuto waved to them both, "Well keep up the good work Sasuke-kun, and Naruto-kun if you see her tell Shizune-san I said hello."

"We've got to get home too Kabuto, maybe we'll see you around." Naruto waved to the man as he left the train, "I like that guy. He's kind of timid, but he seems decent." He said to Sasuke who leaned back in his seat.

"Yeah I guess…" Sasuke said absently, cringing at his wounds once the train started moving again, "Kami, I think I'm going to need that second shot before I get home. Eitehr that or something to bite down on. My shoulders feel like they're being held on by electric tape. The stitches are good though."

"Fine…" Naruto said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a syringe and the morphine that was given to him because of Sasuke's pain by Shizune, "Deep breath." Naruto said as he filled the syringe and Sasuke obeyed.

"Gah!" Sasuke yelled out loudly in the empty train car as Naruto drove the needle into his wounded shoulder, "That hurts sooo fucking bad!"

"Yeah." Naruto said, discarding the needle on the floor of the train as he sure as hell wasn't going to keep it with him, "I know. Just calm down because you're not even going to remember being hurt in about forty-five seconds."

Sasuke was breathing heavily for a little more than a minute and a half before he started mellowing out again. Naruto simply put his headphones in and let Sasuke sleep as they continued on towards their stop.

XxX

(One Hour Later – Uchiha Main House)

Naruto had never been so grateful for the cover of darkness more than right then. Apparently when Sasuke was all up on morphine or any other kind of painkiller he became pleasant to deal with. Pleasant and talkative… because all the way to Sasuke's house, all the way through his neighborhood that was filled with members of his family he simply would not shut the hell up. Naruto knew that with the exception of Itachi, Mikoto, and Obito, the entirety of the clan hated him.

He couldn't really blame them. He was sort of a punkass kid for a long time, and still was, and he would readily admit to being a horrible influence on Sasuke, and for these reasons the rest of the clan didn't really like him being so close to their family. They were supposed to be the pinnacle of justice in the city, and having Naruto so close to the top of the family so to speak was not exactly endorsed. Even Sasuke's dad didn't like him, but he tolerated him because his wife liked him, as did both of his sons. However if Itachi ever told him to do anything he would, even if it was to never see them again. Itachi was one of the few people in the world that had his full respect for what he had done for him years ago when he and Sasuke were kidnapped that only those two were aware of. A secret that the two decided to take to the grave if it came down to it. It would either destroy Itachi's career, or the Uchiha Clan's standing in Konohagakure no Sato, and Naruto didn't want either.

But that was another issue altogether. Currently at the moment, Naruto wiped a bead of sweat from his face as he set Sasuke on the front porch of his house. Naruto made sure that the Uchiha with the loopy look on his eyes was steady on his feet before making for the doorbell, "Good luck Deputy. I'll call you tomorrow and see how you made out. Maybe they won't be too rough on you with your injuries." With that, Naruto rang the doorbell and hightailed it out of there as fast as he possibly could, not turning back or slowing down.

Sasuke stood in place, looking down the street where Naruto was currently burning the rubber out of the soles of his shoes from how fast he was running before he turned back around to the sound of the door opening. He then came face to face with the uncharacteristically stern face of his mother Mikoto Uchiha, "Hi mom!" Sasuke said with a smile.

Placing her hands on her hips Mikoto looked at her son, shaking her head in disapproval, "Sasuke, Itachi has already told me and your father about the case that you're working. I hope you enjoyed your day after what we saw on the news because I don't think you're going to be having too many free days out until this business is solved." She then noticed his rather tattered attire and the bandages underneath, "What on earth happened to you? You didn't look this bad on TV."

Sasuke looked up at his mother with a tired expression on his face, "Long story mom." Sasuke said as he slogged past her inside and walked through the living room past his father, wearing a long black trenchcoat with the clan crest on the back, and brother, who was wearing a black shirt with the clan crest on the back and black pants, both giving him Sharingan enhanced looks that he couldn't care any less about if you had asked him to, "You guys can chew me out tomorrow morning. I'm tired. And Naruto says hi you guys…" With that he left and headed back towards his room.

The three other Uchiha in the house simply watched as Sasuke walked back to his room and shut the door before Sasuke's father turned to the others, "Did he really just walk past all of us like we weren't even here?"

Mikoto's gaze shifted from a stern one to a look of concern, "Sasuke really looked beat up. Did he look like that when you saw him earlier Itachi?" She asked her eldest son.

"No." Itachi said calmly, "He must have had to fight again after I left him and Naruto-kun alone." He looked over at his father, "I believe that the matter of Sasuke and exactly what he's gotten himself into can wait until he's had sufficient rest."

Mikoto moved over to Sasuke's father and put a hand on his shoulder, "I think Itachi is right. He's here and he'll be here in the tomorrow. I'll make sure he doesn't leave Fugaku."

Fugaku looked between his wife and oldest child and sighed as he stood up, "Alright. I need to get to the station anyway. Itachi if I'm not here when Sasuke wakes up then you can be the one to ask him about everything that's happened so far." He sighed as he started walking towards the door, opening it before looking back at the others, "There's a reason we steered clear of that case after it went cold. It's definitely not something for a kid to handle. Not in any way at all." He left, shutting the door behind him.

Mikoto looked at the shut front door and back to Itachi with a rather concerned look on her face, "Itachi-."

"Everything will be fine mother." Itachi assured her, standing up and placing his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down somewhat, "I promise you that nothing will happen to Sasuke. That's my job, I'm his big brother aren't I?" He said with a ghost of a smile.

Mikoto smiled at her son, "Thank you Itachi. I know that you will. I think I'll go to bed now. And don't think about asking Sasuke your questions without me there. I know I never made it up the ladder in the police force as far as you and Fugaku but he's my son and I believe I should know what's going on as well."

"Of course." Itachi relented without any argument whatsoever to his mother, who despite him being stronger than her was still very scary when she was upset somehow. Something he never quite understood, "Get some rest. I'll stay up for a little while longer." Mikoto gave Itachi a kiss on the cheek and retired to the main bedroom for the night. Being the only Uchiha left up and about in the house, Itachi looked down the hall at Sasuke's room for a short while before going off on his own business for the time being.

XxX

Kimimaro walked through the midnight streets of Konoha before coming to a stop at the mouth of an alley and looking down it blankly. After a moment he walked into the alley out of sight of any of the few people that could have possibly seen him and waited for a moment before a voice spoke, "You took your time getting to the city Kimimaro." The sly voice said, "Any loose ends?"

"No." Kimimaro said firmly and without room for question, "Sakon was burned to ashes by the Uchiha, I disposed of Ukon's body as well as Jirobo's and Kidomaru's, and Tayuya will not be an issue. They knew the price of their failure and they underestimated the target and his resources." He scoffed in disgust at the failure of the others, "If he were that easy to obtain he would be of no use to Orochimaru-sama's ambition."

"Indeed." The voice said with more than a little trace of humor in his voice, "Well from the condition that Sasuke-kun is in I would say that you wouldn't have to worry about much of a fight from him for quite some while. Kidomaru managed to do more than enough damage to make him all but defenseless."

"Where is he?" Kimimaro demanded.

The voice didn't answer at first, "Kimimaro you could wait. Sasuke-kun won't be any kind of threat for quite some time with his injuries and even if he were full strength you know that it wouldn't matter anyway."

The white-haired teen shook his head, "Orochimaru-sama cannot wait. This is the reason I've been dispatched to handle the matter. No matter the issue, Sasuke Uchiha will be in Orochimaru-sama's hands by sunrise. Now where is he?"

"He's back at his home. You know where the Uchiha have decided to roost? That neighborhood, the main house. You'll know exactly which one it is." Kimimaro nodded and left the alley. The shadowy figure smirked and pushed a pair of glasses up on his face, "I wonder if requesting Kimimaro to come in was a little bit too much? Overkill maybe?" He chuckled before slipping deeper into the darkness.

XxX

(1:00 a.m. – Naruto's Apartment)

Naruto dropped his gear at the door and yawned as he walked inside his darkened apartment, "Today was more trouble than it was worth for a measly 5000 ryo. I'm going to kick Ero-sennin in the face Monday if it's the last thing I do." As he made it to his room in the back and emptied his pockets he looked at his cell phone and smirked, "Man I wish Kyuubi-chan was awake right now. Talking dirty to her would make me feel better about how much today sucked."

Taking off his shirt, filthy from his fight with Jirobo earlier and dragging a bloody Sasuke to and through the hospital, Naruto threw it aside and walked back out to his kitchen and living room area, however when he walked past the hall closet he stopped and channeled youki to his right hand and slashed the door apart, revealing a black blur that jumped out and into the living room in his dark apartment, "I can smell you hiding in the closet you asshole." Naruto said with a growl as yet another person broke into his house. At least this time he was the only one here.

A man with a high spiky black ponytail wearing a white mask with red markings and a cream colored cloak slowly pulled out a tipless tanto, much like the one Sai tried to use against him and Kyuubi two days earlier, "You know Sai. Why are you in my house?"

"A test." The man plainly said before jumping over Naruto's coffee table and couch to slash at him with his blade. Naruto rolled backwards down the hall out of the path of the attack and from his crouched position post-roll he pulled out his large bowie knife from a concealed spot attached to his thigh.

Running back down the hall to start his own attack, Naruto cut at the man but missed, only leaving a huge gaff mark in his wall. In response the man kicked Naruto in the stomach, sending him stumbling back a few feet.

Rubbing his torso where he had been kicked, Naruto had to roll his eyes at how contrived and premeditated his day had been. He had fought four times, of the four fights he had been attacked three times, and two of the three attacks were ambushes. He liked fighting as much as the next guy, but this was ridiculous.

Not nearly hurt enough to think about surrendering or running away, especially after his promise to never lose again, Naruto switched his grip of the knife to a reverse position and came back in, swinging at the man, hitting nothing but air despite his use of an old tried and true tactic of melee fighting, "Swish-! Fuck, swish-! Goddammit! Stab-! Why the fuck is this not working?" He asked as he continued to attack, "What's so hard about 'swish, swish, stab'? Youtube said that shit always works!"

In retaliation, after dodging Naruto's attack, the masked attacker lashed out with a slash at Naruto's belly that he jumped to the side and avoided. Naruto growled and leapt at the man who fell to his back and threw his legs up in the air to kick Naruto back away from him, sending him flying hard into his bathroom door and smashing right through it.

Naruto's knife fell behind the toilet, disarming him as the mostly silent man made his way to the doorway. As he entered, about to cut Naruto with his tanto, Naruto ripped the metal bar of the towel rack above his head off and sharply jabbed him in his masked face before jumping back to his feet and swinging at his hands, smashing them and forcing him to drop the tanto. He bent down to retrieve it, but an upwards swing from Naruto again hit him in the masked face and sent him stumbling back before catching himself on the doorframe.

The mysterious invader rushed back at Naruto and rammed into him, driving him into the wall of the small bathroom as he tried to knee Naruto in the groin while trying to push the towel rack bar into his throat.

Naruto was able to keep his goods safe with his own knees and fired back with a pair of headbutts to the porcelain mask that gave him some room to free a hand that immediately took on an appearance of clawed nails as the young mercenary swiped at his attacker, cutting into his torso through the cloak. The red staining it mere seconds after his attack made contact let Naruto know that he had hit home with his assault.

The towel rack fell to the floor with a clang as Naruto stepped forward to follow up and beat his home invader into the ground now that he had the advantage. The man wasn't out of it yet as he kicked Naruto in the knee and dropped him down to one leg before grabbing a handful of blonde hair and slamming Naruto's head to the side to bounce it violently off of the sink, following with a knee to the face.

Naruto took the shot to the face and held on to the knee, ignoring the elbows and fists dropped on the back of his head and neck for his troubles. After taking a dozen hits, Naruto delivered a mean-spirited punch to the testicles that caused the man to let out an actual squeak of pain, the only indicator thus far that Naruto was really doing any damage to him.

As he stumbled back clutching his junk, Naruto delivered three hard punches that knocked him back under the doorframe of the bathroom. The nimble young fighter jumped up and grabbed the top of the doorframe, using it to swing and propel himself forward to deliver a pair of twin kicks right to the attacker's face, knocking him backwards into Naruto's hall closet again.

Naruto grinned ferally and realized that he had his enemy pigeon-holed at this point. He formed a blue fireball in his right hand and launched it, "Kitsune-bi (Fox Fire)!"

The man wasn't as trapped as Naruto thought as when the fireball hit him he disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal a log that immediately caught on fire in a blue blaze. Naruto looked at the burning log in shock until he took a punch to the face and focused back on the person standing less than four feet from him, "Kawarimi? Really? Son of a bitch I thought I was the chosen one of the log! How are you going to use my move against me?"

The man merely shrugged and prepared to continue until both he and Naruto both smelled something. The barefoot Naruto then realized that he had been standing in something wet. Looking down he realized that his feet were covered in all kinds of cleaning solvents that spilled all over the place when he first ousted his opponent from the closet. His nose was burning from the strength of the chemical smell.

Naruto then went wide-eyed as he remembered the burning log in the closet. If the guy he was fighting wasn't wearing a mask he probably would have had the same look on his face. The floor all over the apartment was coated in highly flammable material and there was a fire right where it originated from. The two began punching at each other and shoving their way to the living room where they then split off. The attacker dove through Naruto's balcony window and escaped that way, while Naruto grabbed his shoes and bag at the door and ran outside that way, shutting the door behind him. Both made it to safety a second before Naruto's closet and his entire apartment burst into flames.

Naruto watched the man in the distance, leaping across the rooftops away from his apartment complex through where he was sitting against the wall outside and cursed as he saw him disappear into the dark, "Fuck!" Naruto yelled in anger. He couldn't even track him. He wasn't Kiba even if his nose was better than most, and at the moment his sinuses were filled with the smell of cleaning supplies. His heart, still beating quickly from the short encounter, started to slow down as he placed his shoes on and threw his backpack on before making his way down to where he had hidden his motorcycle.

As he started it up and pulled his goggles down he let out a sigh. There was always one place he could go even if his apartment was a flaming wreck, and from the sound of the sirens he needed to get out of there now, "The whole fucking world's against me dude, I swear to Kami."

XxX

(Uchiha Main House)

Itachi had a small smile on his face as he read through the files he had found in Sasuke's room while the younger Uchiha had been out all day, "Little brother you really need to learn how to hide things better." He chuckled as he looked over everything that Naruto had managed to get Sasuke as far as information on Orochimaru. Both of them had put their respective reputations on the line cooperating like this. Naruto for getting sensitive information like this to Sasuke in the first place, and Sasuke for accepting information from a PMC like Kaisha Hien. He didn't even get it from their uncle Obito where it might have been able to be explained away.

It was damn good information though. Naruto either had one hell of a portable hard drive or he had a ton of copying machine credits to get all of this stuff. He hadn't left out a smidge. Anything with Orochimaru's name in it was taken. Sasuke must have hated having to go through all of this stuff to get anything useful out of it, but he guessed that it was a lesson he could learn for the future.

Letting out a groan, Itachi stood up and stretched his tense muscles. He wasn't going to sleep that night. He wasn't going to sleep at all until Sasuke woke up the next day and the little Uchiha family interrogation took place. The reason he was going through all of the Orochimaru stuff before Sasuke could tell him anything was because he was the older brother, and as big brother it was his responsibility to cut off any answer Sasuke could give the family the next day during his explanation. He had to take the small pleasures in life, and no matter how old he got, making his little brother squirm and pissing him off was always a staple of entertainment.

While most of this stuff about Orochimaru was before his time he had heard the horror stories back when he was a kid of how the man abducted citizens. He had never had an inkling of what the motivation had been until he got to looking through what Sasuke had collected and put that together with the fact that he was now apparently pursuing Sasuke, 'Over my dead body you're getting Sasuke.' He thought to himself as he headed to the kitchen to fix himself some coffee, because once again, he wasn't going to sleep that night.

As he waited for it to brew he thought to himself, "I've had all I can stand of going through the intel from Sasuke. Maybe I should train? No, that's too loud. It would wake up Sasuke and mother." He said quietly to himself as his coffee finished brewing. After pouring himself a mug he walked outside and sat on the roof of his house, enjoying the silence of the night. After a while he felt the presence of someone standing on the top of the roof behind him.

"Where is Sasuke Uchiha?" The person asked him, "Tell me now and I'll make sure you die quickly and painlessly."

Itachi narrowed his eyes and stood up before turning around to face the man that was two years younger than him. A white haired young man in loose fitting clothes who had two dots on his forehead was giving him an even and cool glance that could have given his own a run for its money.

Itachi kept his cool as he shoved his hands into his pockets, subtly reaching for a fist full of shuriken, "Is there really a reason to fight? You're not getting Sasuke so just return to where you came from and tell your master that he's not getting my brother."

The strange young man stared at Itachi impassively before nodding, seemingly to himself. He pulled one of the shoulders of his shirt down, "Then you are Itachi Uchiha. I am Kimimaro Kaguya. If you won't hand over Sasuke Uchiha to me then I will simply have to go through you and take him. Tsubaki no Mai (Dance of the Camellia)." A short sword of bone emerged from his left arm that he pulled out and held in his right hand.

"Feel free to try." Itachi said calmly, "I wouldn't recommend it though." He said before jumping back off of the roof, dodging a slash from Kimimaro. As he fell from the roof he unleashed his shuriken at Kimimaro. The bone-wielding warrior deflected the metal projectiles and leapt off of the roof towards the backyard after Itachi.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Itachi's eyes were directed up at Kimimaro who fell from the sky and attempted to stab him, only getting the ground for his troubles when Itachi dodged. After Kimimaro missed, Itachi lashed out with a kick directed at his head that he dodged by bending backwards perfectly and lashing out with a backflip kick in response. Itachi cartwheeled out of harm's way and kicked low with a sweep that Kimimaro again dodged before he started slashing at Itachi's lower body. Itachi remained crouched and spun away from the murderous stabs from his enemy.

Itachi finally stopped spinning and pulled out a kunai to block Kimimaro's sword as they both remained crouched. They then pushed away from each other and stared at each other, both still brandishing their respective weaponry.

'He's fast.' Both men thought simultaneously.

'I am the only one of Orochimaru-sama's forces that can handle this.' Kimimaro thought to himself as he and Itachi stared one another down, 'Why does he not use his Sharingan? That's what his clan is most famous for.'

Itachi had his own thoughts in mind as he and Kimimaro faced off properly, 'Sasuke couldn't beat this person even if he wasn't gravely injured. His body isn't fast enough to keep up with him, Sharingan or not. It doesn't matter how good he is though. He cannot be allowed to get past me, he won't harm mother or Sasuke.' He then looked intently at Kimimaro's bone sword, 'What a strange kekkei genkai though… what is it exactly?'

The first to make a move towards the other was Kimimaro as he lunged forward, but this was simply a feint to get Itachi to move towards him, when the Uchiha did so, Kimimaro lifted his free hand towards him, fingers out and called out a jutsu, "Teshin Sendan (Drilling Finger Bullets)." Small, hardened finger bones flew from his hands at Itachi and hit him flush, jerking his body violently with the force of the attack hitting.

However, Kimimaro narrowed his eyes when Itachi's body turned into dozens of crows that flew off. He looked around the yard for Itachi, impressed greatly at the man's skill, "He's very fast. I never saw the hand-seals for any jutsu, nor did I see him ever replace himself with the clone." Itachi's body dropped from a nearby tree as he launched the kunai in his hand at Kimimaro, which was deflected, but it allowed Itachi to again disappear from his sight, "He's incredibly fast." Kimimaro said out loud in surprise, "I've never fought anyone so fast in my entire life."

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu)." Kimimaro turned his head and began rapidly dodging a large volley of fireballs that were launched at him from the roof of the Uchiha Main House. Instead of Sasuke's five or six, Itachi's consisted of over a dozen fireballs being launched.

Kimimaro took great care dodging them all, aware that more than a few Uchiha were known to hide weaponry inside of their fireballs when performing this technique, for all the good it did him when he found his body bound by nearly invisible wire attached to the shuriken in the fireballs, "Clever." Kimimaro said, dropping his bone weapon as his arms were bound tightly to his sides and his legs were bound together.

"I like to this so." Itachi said, jumping down from the roof and walking towards the man, "Now if you don't mind I'll be hauling you off to jail now. We need more information on Orochimaru anyway. Sasuke and Naruto-kun have a nasty habit of not being able to keep his other workers alive when they're through fighting them."

"I would never betray Orochimaru-sama by giving trash like you and yours information." Kimimaro said defiantly, "And I find it amusing that you think this is all that it will take to hold me here." He said as bones grew from his body and cut him free of Itachi's wires, "Karamatsu no Mai (Dance of the Larch)." He surprised Itachi as the wires fell from his body and he rushed at Itachi who had dropped down to finish him by incapacitating him somehow.

Luckily for Itachi he planned to put him down with a genjutsu and had activated his Sharingan to do so, this allowed him to not be caught off-guard by Kimimaro when the man rushed towards him again. Unluckily for Itachi, a backpedaling Itachi was slower than a Kimimaro that was rushing him down, especially when strange markings covered his body starting from the spot on his chest right under his collarbone, 'That's the marking that Sasuke and Naruto-kun kept talking about!'

Itachi didn't have much time to dwell on that, as that little power kick was the boost that Kimimaro needed to reach him. Spinning like a top, he ripped into Itachi's front with the bones protruding from his entire body. Itachi desperately lashed out with a kick to get him away, but ended up getting his foot caught in a trap of sorts on Kimimaro's body made of bone. The man never stopped spinning and used that momentum to throw Itachi hard against the stone wall surrounding the rather spacious amount of his family's property.

Itachi looked down at the cuts he received on his chest, ruining his shirt and forcing him to begin to bleed. They weren't even close to fatal however, and even if they were that wouldn't have stopped him from trying to continue however. In slow motion he saw Kimimaro rushing towards him to finish the job he started and Itachi immediately jumped up on the top of the wall and began running the length of it with Kimimaro hot on his heels.

Eventually the eldest Uchiha son flipped off of the wall and landed on the surface of a small pond meant for aesthetics… and something else, "Suiton: Suigadan (Water Release: Water Fang Bullet)." From the water, a liquid mass formed into a spinning drill that launched at Kimimaro and missed when he jumped off, instead hitting the wall itself and pulverizing it. Itachi launched into the air after Kimimaro, making hand-seals faster than he could keep up with before calling out his next move, "Katon: Hijikkou (Fire Release: Running Fire)!"

While in mid-air, Itachi took aim at Kimimaro and launched a kick at him that shot off a rolling wheel of fire that hit him in the chest and sent him flying into another yard nearby. Itachi chased after to confirm whether or not his foe was defeated, hopping a few more stone walls only to find Kimimaro standing up with his back towards him, "I see that I was right to tap into Orochimaru-sama's gift to me. You are quite the powerful enemy."

Itachi noticeably widened his eyes once Kimimaro turned around to reveal the top layer of skin on his chest had been burned away and underneath was a layer of a white material that looked like bone, "Hm." Itachi said dryly, hiding his shock and interest at Kimimaro, "That's interesting."

"It is the Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse)." Kimimaro explained helpfully as the skin over his chest grew back over, "You didn't think that you were the only ones with a powerful bloodline in the world did you? I am granted an impenetrable skeletal frame that can resist any type of physical attack, in addition to being able to turn my bones into the sharpest spear. I grew a layer of bone directly underneath my skin to prevent your last attack from damaging me more heavily than it did. It hurt, rest assured, but other than that… nothing much."

Itachi just stared at him for a moment and noted that he wasn't stupid enough to lock eyes with him. Damn, he had intelligence on him. Another reason why it sucked being the media darling of the city; it wasn't that hard for people to find out things about you. No easy catch for the fight ending genjutsu it seemed, "I planned on doing this quietly and quickly, but I think I'm going to have to get a little loud to end this. I would apologize to the neighborhood in advance if I could, you are too dangerous to be subtle with."

He had told Sasuke that relying on his Sharingan was a weakness, that it was to be used as a trump card… he could only wish Sasuke could watch this battle for evidence as why that was most effective. He now was firmly committed to using the Sharingan against Kimimaro if he had that strange marking that exuded a strange chakra that he had never been in contact before, "I hope that you are prepared Kimimaro-san. If you are not then I fear that this battle will not last much longer for you."

Character Profile 16

Name: Ino Yamanaka

Nickname: Ino-pig (by Sakura)

Age: 15

Height/Weight: 5'3/101 lbs.

Special Skills/Traits: Skilled in her family techniques that are mostly centered on affecting the mind, perceptive, rather intelligent, amateur (almost instinctive) ability to sense others. Long blonde hair and distinctive blue eyes, rather bossy temperament, cheerful, energetic personality, infatuation with Sasuke Uchiha.

Likes: Sasuke, flowers, shopping, messing with Sakura, gossip, cherry tomatoes, purple, taking care of her appearance, bossing around others, gardening, dancing, dieting.

Dislikes: Getting one-upped by Sakura, sashimi, losing, ugly things, Sakura, having secrets kept from her, being forced to work part-time for her family company.

Theme Song: "Killer Queen" by Queen

Notes: Ino is a classmate of Naruto Uzumaki's, having been around through most of his school career. Despite only recently making an active effort to befriend Naruto, mostly due to his association with Sasuke Uchiha at first, she has found him to be a relatively good person to be around and has slowly learned to enjoy and appreciate his company. She has a long-standing relationship with Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi, due to their families having a close knit relationship going back for at least an entire generation. Despite the radically different personalities, they are all close friends, though Ino is rather bossy to the other two who usually go along with it just because. She has a rivalry with Sakura Haruno going back many years stemming from their mutual attraction to Sasuke, however he couldn't care less about either of them, something that they both lack the ability to notice. Ino's family is rather wealthy giving her a very materialistic view of the world.

Quote: "You just can't help but love me can you?"

"Come on, you can tell me anything, just think of me as your friendly psychiatrist. [You're just going to tell everyone after I do.] Well duh. I'm not really a psychiatrist, there's no confidentiality agreement here, so spill!"

"A woman's heart is a tempestuous place, so approach at your own risk."

"It's okay. You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson here is 'never try'."

"I'm not going to waste time trying to get into your head. I already know there's nothing there."

"As a beautiful woman anything that I do must be done twice as well as a man in order for me to be taken seriously… luckily this isn't really that hard to do."

Character Profile 17

Name: Sakura Haruno

Nickname: Forehead Girl (by Ino)

Age: 15

Height/Weight: 5'2/103 lbs

Special Skills/Traits: Long pink hair, random emotional outbursts (usually violent in some way), very intelligent and knowledgeable on many matters, great textbook intelligence, rather nonexistent combat skills and stamina, talent at observation and analysis, very opportunistic in dire straits, deep infatuation with Sasuke Uchiha, prominent forehead that she is rather sensitive about.

Likes: Sasuke, cherry blossoms, fruit, doing better at anything than Ino, trivia games, memorizing things, taking care of her hair, being useful to her friends, romance novels

Dislikes: Ino, stupid people, anything spicy, her own helplessness, winter, her forehead, people who make fun of her forehead, sitting back and doing nothing, physical activities, watching the hardships of others, soft drinks or anything with an exorbitant amount of calories.

Theme Song: "She Hates Me" by Puddle of Mudd

Notes: Sakura is a rising freshman in the same year as Naruto Uzumaki. Through a series of events she is now considered a confidant of sorts to Naruto and his mercenary activities. Despite not being of use in battle, Sakura is very smart and has shown use in other ways as she has assisted Naruto in past conflicts in her own way. She has something of an inferiority complex once she learns of the various skills that her other classmates around her possess, making her the only relatively normal one in comparison and by her own view 'useless'. She is very intelligent and this shows in Sakura's scores in school, however she lacks knowledge in combat oriented areas of life making her something of a liability to the other more battle-adept teens. Sakura has a massive crush on Sasuke Uchiha that supersedes most of her other ambitions and goals, even long term. Sakura is mostly a very normal girl except for random violent mood swings that show off some kind of hidden strength of hers that forces others to tread rather lightly around her.

Quote: "Women have to be strong to survive in this world."

"Of course you have your own opinion… it's just that yours in particular is stupid so I'm going to ignore it."

"If I was really as intelligent as I think I am then I wouldn't even be here right now stuck in this stupid situation with you."

"The Weather Channel… do you want to know what I call the real weather channel? The window."

"TV is educational. Every time someone turns it on I go into the other room and read a book."

Character Profile 18

Name: Chouji Akimichi

Nickname: N/A

Age: 15

Height/Weight: 5'11/237 lbs.

Special Skills/Traits: Tremendous size and physical strength, skilled at his own rather stationary style of taijutsu, not very fast by mercenary standards, long brown hair, very proficient with his family techniques involving him expanding his size in various ways, gentle demeanor, usually seen eating food of some kind (usually chips).

Likes: Buying snacks, eating, Shikamaru or any others that he sees as close friends, Korean barbecue or any kind of meat, potato chips, hanging out with his friends, cooking shows, lifting weights, ramen.

Dislikes: Wax fruit, losing weight, fighting for no reason, lizards, people that insult him or his friends, diet anything, running or jogging.

Theme Song: "Self Esteem" by The Offspring

Notes: Chouji is a classmate of Naruto. He is a rather large teen for a boy his age, this led to him being picked on as a young man, however with the help of his best friend Shikamaru he eventually got over this and embraced his size as a positive instead of the negative many people portrayed it as. Chouji dislikes fighting, but is more than willing to defend his friends when they need him to. He is a very friendly person, but can become violent and hostile when a chance at food is threatened. To go with his size, Chouji has great physical strength, even among mercenaries like Naruto and he has great durability. Most of his attacks are centered around his size and strength accentuating it and hiding his lack of speed.

Quote: "Fat? Who's fat? I'm big-boned!"

"This is the real concept of dieting. 'If it tastes good, spit it out.' You can now see why I don't exactly endorse the practice."

"If that thing keeps talking bad about me I'm going to fucking smash it."

"What if we have to kill something? I'm a lover not a fighter!"

"Sorry about this, but the faster I kick your ass the faster the others are going to go get me my takeout, so you've got to go to sleep now. Goodnight."

I'm tired. You don't care… I don't either. Later. Drop the kid a line. Next chapter is Itachi vs. Kimimaro so be ready for that, it should be awesome. Plus the fallout from all the crap going on, so… YEAH!

Kenchi out.