Ch. 19

The three nin looked out across the lake surrounding the city. There was a faint mist on the lake and the fact that it was raining made it look even more ominous than it already did.

Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out three small rebreathers. He put his rebreather on, then gave Sakura and Sasuke theirs. "These were in the briefcase." Sasuke and Sakura gave short nods as they accepted them.

There were a few guards around the lake. Naruto quickly made a couple of shadow clones and sent them off to be distractions. The clones started making small noises to attract attention to themselves. As the guards began to investigate, the three nin silently dropped into the lake and started using their chakra to propel themselves towards the city. Naruto decided to undo his clones after they were a reasonable distance away.

As they reached the other side, they let only their eyes float above the surface. The three slowly and silently got out of the water, then climbed onto a wooden dock. Naruto noticed three nin standing guard at one of the main entrances to the city, then he turned over to Sasuke and gave a nod. Sasuke nodded back, then picked up a pebble and tossed it towards the guards. The three guards immediately turned and started walking towards them. They couldn't see them due to the mist, but Sasuke could see them due to his visual prowess. As soon as the three guards were fairly close, Sasuke activated his Sharingan. The three guards looked on the dock, then looked over the water and saw exactly what Sasuke wanted them to see…Nothing. As the three guards stared out over the water, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were already on the rooftop of one of the lower buildings.

It was still morning, but the rain clouds made it relatively dark and easy to find cover. The three nin made sure to stick to the shadows as they headed towards the building in the center of the city.

After a few minutes of moving through the shadows, the three nin stopped on top of a building directly adjacent to the target building. Naruto looked up at the sharp building. There were many air ducts they could enter through, but he was looking for one in particular. He pulled out some building plans from his pouch. After examining the plans for a little while, he finally located the air duct he was looking for. He pointed to it and whispered to Sasuke, "There."

Sasuke nodded and stuck out his hand. His Rinnegan glowed a light purple, then the duct cover flew off the building and into his hand. The three ninja threw kunais with strings attached and used them to pull themselves up to the air duct. Naruto entered first, then Sakura, then Sasuke.

Naruto looked at the plans he was holding, then he looked back to the two, "This way." The three nin crawled through the ducts and, after making a series of twists and turns, found themselves over a large office. Naruto looked at the plans again, then said to them, "This is it."

He put the plans back into his pouch, then kept looking through the vent opening until he spied the computer. It was resting on an office desk that was uncannily clean. The only thing that looked out of place was a sword resting against the side of the desk. Naruto nodded in the direction of the desk. "That computer has the information we need." He looked through the vents to make sure no one was in the room, then slowly pushed off the grate. He made sure to catch it so it wouldn't fall to the ground, then he placed it in the air duct. He slowly used one hand to lower himself out of the grate, then when he had steadied himself, he let go and dropped silently to the ground. As Sakura and Sasuke dropped down, Naruto immediately ran to the door and pressed his ear against it to make sure no one was coming. After Sasuke dropped down, he silently ran over to Naruto. "I'll keep watch." Naruto nodded and silently ran over to Sakura who was now breaking into the computer. She kept her eyes on the computer as she whispered to Naruto, "Gaara gave us some good intel...I'm in." Naruto replied in a hushed voice, "I knew we could count on him." Sakura smiled as she plugged in a small flash drive and started searching for the information they needed.

Naruto looked at the various files on the screen. "Got anything yet?" Sakura kept working and said in a low voice, "No…but I'm close." She looked through various files and, after a few short moments, she saw one titled, "O.O." just like Gaara's intel had said. Sakura gave a slight smile, "Got it. Just one problem…..It's encrypted." Naruto turned to her, "Can you crack it?"

"Yeah, I'll just need some time."

As Sasuke kept his ear to the door, he heard footsteps coming their way. "Someone's coming." Naruto looked over to Sakura and said with an urgency in his voice. "We'll have to crack it when we get back to Konoha." Sakura nodded, then removed the flashdrive. Sasuke had already jumped into the duct as Sakura and Naruto started heading towards it. Sakura jumped in first, then Naruto.

As Naruto got ready to put the grate back on, someone walked into the office. Naruto's eyes opened wide. It was Sasuke's impersonator accompanied by another man. Sakura found herself staring at the man while Sasuke held a very fixed gaze on him. He walked over to a small bar in the office. It had a small pitcher of water on it along with a few glasses. He poured himself a glass of water and stood there for a moment. After a few moments, Sasuke whispered to Naruto, "Cover the grate." Naruto was knocked out of his daze and slowly covered the grate. Naruto turned to Sasuke and Sakura. "That was creepy..." Sakura nodded while Sasuke remained reflective, then the three nin turned around and started silently heading back the way they came.

As soon as they left, Hikan smirked, then turned around and looked directly at the grate. He took a sip of water then looked over to the other man who was in the room, "Tashisu, notify Tanto that we have intruders. Let's give them a warm welcome..." Tashisu gave a short nod and quickly left the room. Hikan walked over to his desk, then opened a drawer and pulled out a black mask. He released his transformation jutsu, then put on his mask and grabbed his sword.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke came out of the same grate they entered through and landed on the same rooftop they had entered from. As they dropped down into an alley, Naruto turned to Sasuke. "Get us out of here." Sasuke nodded then looked into the alley as his Rinnegan started glowing a dark purple. A portal started forming, then, out of nowhere, it just disappeared. Naruto and Sakura looked over to see Sasuke grunting in pain with his hand over his Rinnegan. Naruto and Sakura gave semi-worried glances to each other. This mission was quickly getting a lot more complicated.

Sasuke looked up and tried to form another portal only to fall to his knees in pain. "Sasuke!" As Naruto held him by the arm, Sakura quickly turned to Naruto and put her finger over her mouth, "Shhhh. No names." Naruto remembered the nature of the mission and nodded.

Sakura was more worried than Naruto, but she tried to keep a calm head, "I can try some medical ninjutsu." Naruto thought about it, then nodded, but before she could do anything, Sasuke interrupted. "That won't do much." They both turned to Sasuke with looks of confusion. Sasuke reluctantly said, "The issue is overuse. I don't have enough chakra to make a portal. I've been using my Rinnegan a lot, and on top of that, I had to use it in a way I've never used it in before for us to get here."

Sakura remained serious then turned to Naruto. He was team captain so he had to make the next call. He let out a sigh of exasperation, then turned to Sasuke, "I knew it wasn't fine…"

Sasuke couldn't really argue with him, so he just kept looking down the alley. After a few seconds of thought, Naruto asked, "What if I give you some chakra?" Sasuke thought about it for a second then replied, "That could work..." Naruto clenched his fist. It turned a bright orange then he simply touched Sasuke's shoulder. A red aura similar to the one Naruto had given the ninjas in the fourth shinobi war formed around Sasuke. Sakura looked out to the other end of the alley, "We better be quick. I'm getting a bad feeling…"

After a few seconds, the red aura disappeared then Sasuke turned to Naruto and Sakura, "My visual prowess is back." They both turned to see his Rinnegan already had the 6 tomoe that were missing before. Naruto let out a sigh of relief. He thought the mission might end up going off script, but it looked like things were starting to get back on track.

Before anything else could happen, they heard a voice from the end of the alley.

"You know, it's not every day that I find people with enough nerve to sneak into my city."

The heads of the three nin swiveled to the end of the alley. To their shock, they saw three nin standing there with swords drawn.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura noted that they all had on masks and combat gear. The gear was similar to their own, but while two of them wore a very dark gray color, one of them was dressed in pure black. He was no doubt their leader and the most powerful in the group. He also had a Sharingan and a Rinnegan. He was definitely the Sasuke impersonator, but his eyes didn't look like Sasuke's. The three nin realized that those must be his real eyes and made sure to memorize the details.

Naruto turned his head slightly towards Sasuke and Sakura, and whispered through gritted teeth, "So much for a reconnaissance mission….."

Author's Note

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