Last Time:
Kiyoshi smiled at her. He squeezed her hand once more before getting up and leaving the room. Once the door clicked shut, Kushina loved over to Minato's bed and poked out her bottom lip. "I was lonely."
Minato half-snorted half-chuckled as his eyes fluttered open. "Sorry."
"How are you feeling?" she asked as Minato looked at her. "You look like Hell."
"I feel like Hell," Minato answered. "But I'm alive so I guess I can't really complain." He put on an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," Kushina repeated. "Minato…"
"I know." Minato looked back at the ceiling. "Kyosuke brought this on himself."
Opposites Attract: Chapter 41 – "hitting where it hurts"
Yahiko yawned loudly as he finished polishing the last glass and putting it in its rightful placed in the shelves above the bar. He stretched and rubbed the back of his neck before looking over at Konan who sat at the end of the bar and went over the night's numbers.
"Wife," Yahiko called as he went over to her end of the bar and leaned against the counter, "have I told you how beautiful you are today?"
"I don't believe you have, Husband," Konan answered as she continued to type away at the calculator displayed in front of her.
"Shame on me," Yahiko scolded himself. "You are positively glowing. I couldn't help but watch you all night as you effortlessly waited on tables and served drinks and entertained guests. You are remarkable, and I am the luckiest man alive to have married a woman such as yourself. And I couldn't be happier with the fact that you are pregnant with our first son."
"Daughter," Konan corrected him with a sweet smile.
"I doubt that," Yahiko argued. "There's a boy swimming around in there and he's going to be named Yahiko Junior. We'll call him Little Yahi. Or Hiko."
"Little Yahi sounds like a rapper," Konan commented.
"Huh, it does, doesn't it? Okay, maybe not Little Yahi then," Yahiko murmured. "What would be a good name?"
"Well, it's going to be a girl, so it has to be something with a T or J," Konan told him. "Something like 'Tamiko' or 'Tsubaki.' And for J, there's 'Junko' or 'Jun' or whatever else we can think of or look up."
"I like Tsubaki," Yahiko admitted. "We'll name our first daughter Tsubaki."
"Luckily, she'll be here in another six months," Konan assured him before writing down the final number and shutting down the calculator. She giggled as Yahiko rolled his eyes. She leaned over on the bar and planted a sweet peck against his cheek.
"You know," Yahiko smirked, "I haven't wiped down the bar yet. How about you and I dirty it up a little more before heading home?"
"As tempting as that sounds, you're forgetting that Nagato is still in the office," Konan reminded him.
"Oh c'mon, it's not like he hasn't walked in on us doing it before," Yahiko reminded Konan as she sat back down in her stool and gathered the papers in front of her. "Please, Konan-chan?"
"Next time." She winked at him before getting up. She stood up and began to head towards the back when she heard chattering outside. She glanced up at the digital clock and noted it was almost six and they had closed an hour ago.
"Must be some stragglers heading home," Yahiko commented as he took off his apron and slung it over his shoulder. "Which is something we should be doing. Come on."
Konan nodded. Yahiko came out from behind the bar, but as soon as the door separating the back of the bar from the rest of the place shut, they heard something click outside. Immediately, Yahiko grabbed Konan and pulled her into the kitchen as bullets came flying into the main room of Yahiko's Place.
Yahiko held Konan close to his chest as bullets continued to fly into the bar. He looked towards the back of the kitchen towards his office door where Nagato came out. He was already holding a semiautomatic rifle in one hand and a modified assault shot gun in the other. Nagato joined them on the floor and handed Yahiko the shot gun.
"The Eternal Flame?" Nagato questioned.
"Who else?" Yahiko growled. Bullets continued to fly in the other room. He didn't even want to think about the cost of remodeling and replacing the furniture. They stayed there for a few more seconds before the bullets finally stopped. "They're reloading."
"What's the plan?" Nagato questioned.
"We're not fighting," Yahiko answered. He looked at Konan who clung to Yahiko with one hand while the other covered her stomach. She was just starting to get a bit of a baby bump. He was about to open his mouth to speak when he heard the main entrance door be kicked in.
"Hello?" Haru sang. "Anybody alive in here?"
Yahiko patted Konan's back and nodded his head towards the freezer. Konan nodded, and she released Yahiko. Carefully, Yahiko picked up a nearby mop and pushed the pole through the handles of the kitchen entrance. Once it was secure, he followed Konan towards the freezer. Nagato covered the back.
"Yahiko? Konan? Nagato-nii?" Haru called.
Yahiko pulled open the freezer door and watched as Konan hurried inside. Nagato went next and Yahiko followed behind them. He shut the door. They went towards the back of the freezer and Nagato and Yahiko pushed a shelf out of the way to reveal a door.
Nagato knocked the ice off the large gear like knob on the door before he and Yahiko began to twist it. Together, they managed to turn it three times before the door unlocked. Nagato pulled the door open and Konan went through first. Yahiko followed, then Nagato. They moved through a dark pathway for a while before reaching the door at the other end of the path.
Yahiko pushed it open and they ended up in the laundry mat supply closet that sat at the other end of the block. Yahiko opened the supply closet door and saw the elderly owner of the mat huddled against the wall of her office. She had heard the gunshots just a few doors down. He brought his finger to his lips and she nodded.
"Go," Yahiko whispered with urgency. Together, the three of them hurried out of the laundry mat and jogged a couple of blocks up the street and further away from Yahiko's Place. Once they were huddled together in an alley, Yahiko pulled out his phone and called Itachi.
He answered on the fourth ring. "Itachi here."
"Itachi," Yahiko breathed as he looked around the dumpster they were hiding behind. "They shot up the bar."
"Are you okay?" he asked immediately. "Were Konan and Nagato still there with you?"
"We're fine," Yahiko assured him. "They're probably going to try and hit Sasori and Deidara's place next."
"I'll call them. Where are you?" Itachi asked.
"We're in the alley off 31st Street between that gimmicky tourist shop and the bakery," Yahiko told him.
"I'll send Kakuzu and Hidan over to pick you up," Itachi said. "Stay there."
Yahiko hung up and let out a heavy sigh. He looked over at Konan. He held her hand and felt just how badly she was shaking. She squeezed his hand and he gritted his teeth. "We're okay."
Hidan and Kakuzu pulled into the alley ten minutes later. The three of them climbed in and shut the door before Kakuzu backed out and drove away.
"How's Konan?" Hidan questioned, clearly concerned.
"Let's take her to see Rin," Nagato urged as he held Konan's other hand.
Kakuzu nodded.
At the Whirlwind Estate, Naruto came downstairs and saw Akatsuki standing and sitting around together in the living room. With it having been three weeks since his run-in with Haru, his face was mostly healed as were most of his injuries. But during the last three weeks, The Eternal Flame and Whirlwind had been butting heads in the street. From fist fights that ended in massive brawls to guns being drawn and cars being wrecked, the two Yakuza were wreaking havoc on Konoha City.
The assault on Yahiko's Place was the peak of their feuding.
Shikaku, Inoichi, Shikamaru, and Ino seemed to be working triple overtime to keep Whirlwind's names and faces out of the media. Some names had slipped through the cracks but there was only so much they could do when there were at least ten reported incidents a day.
Naruto was half-awake but dressed. He carefully rubbed his eye before shoving his hands into the pockets of his shorts and murmuring, "Morning."
"Morning," they all murmured.
"What happened?" Naruto asked.
Yahiko stood the closes to Naruto. He was biting at his thumb while he anxiously tapped his foot and kept his eyes glued on his wife. "The Eternal Flame hit Yahiko's Place less than an hour ago. We were still inside."
Naruto didn't say anything.
"I'm taking Konan to Ame City," Yahiko announced. "I'm not letting her stay here where she could get hurt and potentially lose the baby. I'm not running that kind of risk."
"Yahiko." Konan looked at him.
"This isn't up for discussion," Yahiko argued. "If you're under too much stress then you run the risk of miscarrying and I'm not willing to risk that. We'll stay in Ame City until all of this blows over. And you," Yahiko looked at Naruto, "you need to do something. They came for my wife and unborn child!"
"Yahiko," Nagato put a hand on Yahiko's shoulder.
"No!" Yahiko shouted before staring down Naruto. "Threatening them and trying to talk Kyosuke down isn't going to work, Naruto. You have twenty times the amount of manpower The Eternal Flame has, use it! I get that you don't want to draw blood but The Eternal Flame isn't scared to and if you continue to stall, they will!"
"Take him outside," Itachi urged.
Nagato nodded before grabbing Yahiko's arm and pulling him out of the living room. The rest of Akatsuki looked at one another before looking over at Naruto.
"Forgive him, Young Master," Deidara apologized. "He just needs a minute to cool down."
"It's fine," Naruto assured him, "I'll figure something out." He smiled at the rest of them before squeezing Konan's shoulder. "Try and relax for now, okay? I'll get Kakashi-nii to get your flight arranged so you can be out of here in the next hour or so."
"We can't leave you here on your own like this," Konan argued. "I'll be fine."
"You have to worry about more than just yourself now," Naruto reminded her. "I don't want you to run the risk of losing the baby because of what's going on here. Go to Ame City and lay low there for a few days and when this is all over, you can come home. All right."
Konan pressed her lips together but nodded. "Handle this."
He headed back upstairs and into his room. He was about to head into his closet when he heard his text notification. He picked it up and saw it was Hinata. He read aloud, "I haven't changed my mind." He sighed and put on a sad smile. "You're about to."
later that night: Whirlwind Estate – foyer
"The Eternal Flame has a couple of caches set up all throughout The Whirlpool," Kiyoshi began as he stood on the steps in front of Whirlwind, "if we hit these, you hit Kyosuke where it hurts. Each of them is heavily guarded though so if you shoot, you better shoot to kill."
"We already received confirmation from Sai and Shin that these locations are legitimate," Naruto spoke up as he stood from where he sat. "Each of the caches hold staples for The Eternal Flame to operate: money, drugs, and weapons. Instead of doing this over a couple of days – which would be ideal, don't get me wrong – we're going to destroy each of them tonight."
"You're serious?" Anko questioned. "We've already drawn more than enough attention thanks to The Eternal Flame and their lack of discretion. A stunt this huge is going to put all eyes on us, Young Master."
"We'll let this one slide," Naruto announced, and everyone murmured. "Listen," Naruto called, "I know this isn't ideal but sometimes we can't always hide. Now, I'm not saying that you should find the nearest camera and announce your affiliation with Whirlwind but I'm saying that this isn't something we need to be overly cautious about. These caches are set up in fairly remote and private locations, far away from the city and civilians. If anything makes the news, it'll just be that Whirlwind and The Eternal Flame clashed. And the only names and faces they'll show are gonna be of the victims they'll identify. None of which will belong to Whirlwind.
"Not only that, Kyosuke decided to throw discretion out the window when he started to attack us in the street. I admit, I was negligent with my response to Kyosuke and The Eternal Flame these last few weeks. I figured that he would get tired of this game, but I was wrong, and I apologize for that. I know a lot of you have been involved in these fights recently and I applaud you for standing your ground and reminding those of The Eternal Flame that Whirlwind isn't an organization – no, a family – that's so easily swayed.
"Tonight, we're ending this idiotic war in one fell swoop. That I can guarantee. Sai and Shin will be sending you all the locations in which you'll be in charge of hitting. Included in that information will be the people you'll be working with, what the cache contains, and what weapons are stationed there. Some caches are more heavily guarded than others and thanks to our friends in the Lightning Yakuza, we received a few extra toys earlier this evening. Use them wisely. Hit hard and hit fast so that by the time they realize what's happening, it's already too late," he informed, and a chorus of chimes filled the room.
"And what'll you be doing during all of this?" Deidara questioned. "You aren't the type to just sit back and watch, Young Master."
"You're right, I'm not," Naruto admitted. "I'll be heading to the Uzumaki Estate to confront Kyosuke face to face. He's the one keeping hope alive within The Eternal Flame that one day they'll be able to overtake Whirlwind. I feel it's my responsibility to remind him of who we are. Who we truly are as a force within Konoha City.
"Now then." Naruto clapped and rubbed his hands together, a new gleam in his eyes that was all too familiar to the members of Whirlwind who had worked under Minato during his reign. "Who's ready to finish this?"
Third Ward: Hyuuga Estate – Hinata's Room
Hinata was in the middle of studying sheet music and brushing her hair when she heard her phone ring. She immediately recognized the ringtone and crawled to the head of her bed. She grabbed her phone and answered, "Naruto-kun."
"Oh, you answered," Naruto sounded a bit surprised. "I figured you'd be busy practicing or something."
"I'm studying sheet music so that kind of counts as practicing," Hinata commented.
Naruto chuckled, "I guess you're right. I…I just wanted to hear your voice."
"Naruto-kun?" Hinata sat up. "You sound funny, are you okay?" She heard something click. "What was that?"
"It was nothing. And I'm fine," Naruto assured her. "I just needed to hear your voice."
"What's going on?" Hinata questioned.
There was a moment of silence. "I'll talk to you soon, okay?"
"Naruto-kun," Hinata called.
"I love you," he murmured before he hung up.
Hinata looked at her phone. She looked down at the photo of her and Naruto together at the Kurama Festival back in October just after he had asked her to be his girlfriend. She clutched her phone in her hand and looked towards her window.
The Whirlpool
"It looks like it might storm," Kiyoshi commented as he stopped at a light and looked up towards the darkening sky. "That girl you called…is she your girlfriend?"
"Something like that," Naruto answered from the backseat.
"I have a girlfriend," Kiyoshi answered. "Well, a fiancée. She lives outside of The Whirlpool and far away from the mess called the Uzumaki Clan. I got a little girl too. She's three."
"I didn't know that," Naruto said.
"Barely anybody does," Kiyoshi said. "The Uzumaki believe in interclan marriage. It's a bit dated but they like to stick to tradition. I was for it too until I met my fiancée. She and I met in the Youth District. She was working at The Brewery."
"That's where Hinata and I had our first date," Naruto commented.
Kiyoshi chuckled. "I guess that place has some sentimental value for the both of us. Say, Nephew? When all of this is over, I want you to meet my daughter. I think she'd like you. Her name is Namiko; she looks just like her mother."
"I'd love to meet her," Naruto said. "Make sure you introduce us properly when this is over."
Kiyoshi was silent. He nodded. "I'll do that. And introduce me to your girlfriend too."
"Sure."
The light turned green. Kiyoshi hesitated for a moment before pulling away from the light. "It's going to be a long night."
To Be Continued…