Sasaki knew of the man's no bullshit policy from back when they first met. He was always grateful for a man who didn't waste any time. Time is money after all.
"I don't enjoy associating myself with criminal filth," Sasuke growled.
The henchmen were baffled at the attitude the mysterious man gave the boss. Normally no one was able to speak to Sasaki so disrespectfully without losing their head. They inched closer ready to fight for their boss' honor. Kurai put his hand up and the group stopped immediately.
"We may be on good terms but that doesn't mean that I'll let you stand there and disrespect me in front of my crew."
Sasuke sucked his teeth. He knew he'd get nowhere bashing the crime ring leader. The only option was for him to hold his tongue and keep his head down.
"My apologies," Sasuke stated as he bowed his head.
Sasaki's frown turned into a smile and he clapped his hands together in laughter.
"I'm glad we can be friends, Sasuke Uchiha. Not many people would say the same."
Sasuke bit his lip and kept quiet.
"So, what brings you to my domain?"
"I need information on a recent crime."
"Ah then you've come to the right place. Not much goes on without my say so or my knowledge. So what can I help you with?"
"A residential home was broken into on Sun Grove, near the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf."
"A burgary? That's what got the great Uchiha all worked up?"
"They didn't steal anything, just trashed the place," Sasuke rebutted.
"Probably the work of some delinquents looking for a quick buzz."
"Do you know anything about it?" Sasuke insisted.
"Beats me. I don't usually operate in that district on account of the Hokage building being in such close proximity."
"Does anyone operate through there?"
"Last time I checked you weren't the police, so what's with the sudden interest in crime?" Sasaki probed sternly.
"I have my reasons."
"Well I can't go around giving out information even if we ARE friends. At least not for free."
Sasuke reached into his cloak for his money pouch.
"Oh please I don't want money, Not from you at least. You have much more valuable assets that I could use."
Sasuke raised his eyebrow at the man's statement, waiting for him to further elaborate.
"Your combat prowess is known throughout the lands as one of the best. I could use someone with power such as yourself for expanding purposes."
"Forget it. I'm nobody's lackey."
Sasaki laughed, "Don't think of it like that." "It's a simple contract between the both of us," he added.
"And if I refuse?"
"You're allowed to refuse if you want. I'm not forcing you to do anything. I figured I would lend you a hand with this investigation of yours since you care so much."
Sasuke knew Kurai was the manipulative type, he could see it in the man's cold eyes. He sat on the sidelines and let everyone else do his dirty work. And he knows it. That's how he got so far in the criminal world. This was most likely a trap to set the Uchiha up for something that would affect his future. Question is: does he fall for it in hopes he'd gather some clues?
"What is it that you want?"
Sasaki smiled wickedly, "A man by the name of Haruto Tanaka owes me a lot of money."
"Who is he?"
"An ex-shinobi that got expelled for drinking on the job. He inherited a strip-club from his father and is currently running a prostitution ring inside."
"How much does he owe you?"
"One million yen."
Sasuke widened his eyes at the extreme amount. No wonder this man wanted his money back. Not many people would be willing to even loan that amount out. How did Haruto find himself in such a predicament?
"I'll return to you what is owed," Sasuke agreed.
"Owed? HA! You must not have heard me before: money is of no concern to me."
Sasuke was heading to the door and stopped in his tracks at the man's statement.
"What I want is respect! That's all a man can ask for in this cruel world!" Sasaki shouted.
The Uchiha felt chills run down his spine and his eyes slowly widened at the mention of respect. You mean to tell me a dangerous man like him isn't respected?
"You must understand how much of a slippery slope the lack of respect is. People can do some cruel things when they don't appreciate you."
Sasuke understood what Sasaki was asking him to do. Another leech disrespecting those who provide. Criminal or not, even a man like Kurai demands respect. Sasuke moved to the door in an attempt to leave but Kurai added another bit of information.
"The club is on fifth street. Give him a lesson that nobody would forget!" Sasaki yelled as the doors closed.
Sasuke wandered the streets in search of Haruto's club. Drunks, escorts, and delinquents crowded the sidewalks. He was able to blend in with the mass of people, although some did give him strange looks. Sasuke could tell he was getting closer to the strip clubs because of the influx of drunk men and half-naked women. Fifth street he told himself as he looked up at the sign.
A pair of gorgeous women approached the ninja with pretty smiles on their faces. They were looking for a man to spend all their money and treat them right tonight. Sasuke could see their plot from a mile away. He pushed past the voluptuous women without a second thought. The Uchiha could hear them complaining about his rudeness, and he smirked at their disappointment. Sorry but I have someone infinitely better at home.
Sasuke mentally facepalmed at his stupidity, he didn't ask for the name of the club. Fifth street was lined with strip clubs, it would take him all night to figure out where Haruto's place is. Luck was on his side at the moment supposedly; a female voice yelled out his target's name from in front of a club. Lust & Love. Huh, catchy name. Sasuke saw a red-haired man walking into the club's entrance with a woman on each arm. Several lackeys followed their boss into the building. Sasuke noticed the woman who called out Haruto's name standing by the doors. The club-owner completely ignored the woman on his way in.
Sasuke scanned high and low for alternate entrances, he was hoping to sneak into the place and catch the man off-guard. He snuck down an alleyway filled with trash cans. Sasuke passed a couple fucking out in open like a couple of dogs. A side door into Lust and Love caught the ninja's attention. He was about to reach for the handle when the door burst open to reveal a security guard stepping out for a smoke break.
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
"I need to get inside," Sasuke answered firmly.
"Are you blind or dumb? You passed the entrance back there," the man yelled as he pointed back to the alley entrance.
"I need to get inside," Sasuke repeated.
"Something wrong with your head, retard? I said that the fucking entrance is back that way!" the man cursed as he pushed Sasuke back.
Sasuke slapped the man's hand away, grabbed his shirt collar, and threw him into the brick wall. The guard stumbled over a garbage bag and crashed into the wall, sliding down it.
"What the hell is-"
A swift kick to the man's face shut him up immediately. Sasuke glanced back to see if anyone saw things unfold. He stepped into the dim club with a satisfied hmph. The only light available was the rainbow strobe lights being emitted from the nearby dancefloor. The rest of the building's lights were so weak compared to the disco ones. Sasuke could barely hear himself think with the loud music blaring from every corner of the club. Saying this club is popular was an understatement; people were shoulder to shoulder in this place.
Sasuke looked around for an empty corner to collect his thoughts in peace. A small side-bar huddled away from the action had the least amount of people. Most of the club-goers were too busy on the dancefloor or getting drinks from the main bar in the stripping section. Sasuke approached the bar and saw a mix of heart-broken, drunk, and tired men. There was a woman sitting at the end sipping a drink, she was trying to ignore the current guy flirting with her. She shut down every single one of his attempts. She wanted a man and from what she was hearing, a child was speaking to her. He only further proved her point when he started to throw a tantrum when rejected for the 100th time.
Sasuke grabbed the man's shoulder firmly and the man turned to curse out whoever touched him. A quick flash of his Sharingan was enough to scare the drunkard off. The Uchiha sat down in the now empty stool. He noticed the woman was the same chick that was ignored out front. On closer inspection, he also realized how pretty the black-haired woman was. She didn't even shoot him a glance, the woman continued to sip from her glass. Sasuk assumed he could get some information from her; she seemed to be close with Haruto from how she said his name.
"If you think scaring off the previous prick is gonna get your dick sucked then you couldn't be more wrong."
"I'm not-"
"What? You're not like the others? Oh honey, I've heard that line more times than you can count. You're going to have to come up with a better line-"
The woman stopped when she saw a glimpse of purple between the strands of black hair. She heard rumors of a purple eye that gave you godly powers. The lady also knew the rumors about who possessed said Rinnegan.
"Sasuke-"
"I'd rather you not mention that name here," he interrupted. "Since you know mine, how about sharing yours?"
"Yui Yamamoto."
"Okay Yui, I have a question for you," Sasuke said. "What's your connection with Haruto?"
Yui chuckled, "I guess it's impossible to keep anything away from you."
Sasuke glanced at the woman's face for the first time since sitting down. Her eyes were a warm brown like melted chocolate, she wasn't afraid to look into his dark eyes.
"We're work friends."
"I'm hesitant to understand what the title of work friend entails in this line of business."
Sasuke stood from the stool and turned to leave the bar. He wouldn't get useful info out of this woman. It was clear to him that she wasn't as important as the other women he saw Haruto with. Sasuke felt Yui grab his arm to keep him from leaving. He glanced back to see what she wanted and Yui shot the man a scared look.
"Whatever you're planning to do. Please don't do it."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the woman's statement for a moment. What is she talking about? He didn't have time to think too hard about it, so he chose to ignore Yui and head towards a guarded hallway. Sasuke wondered about the reason for having so many guards in one hallway. His question was answered when he glanced up at a sign with the letters V.I.P. hung from the ceiling. Sasuke assumed that his target was in one of the rooms in the corridor. It was heavily guarded so infiltration from the front would never work. He wanted to keep a low-profile so drawing attention to himself with a massive bar fight was out of the question.
He leaned against the corner away from the henchmen's sight and peeked around for another way in. Sasuke noticed a lamp sitting on a desk hidden away at the back of the hallway. He checked his immediate surroundings for anyone looking in his direction. The Uchiha's Rinnegan widened as his power activated, effectively switching places with the desk. He caught the lamp and placed it on the ground next to him. There was no sign of anyone noticing his sudden disappearance and the guards were still facing away from him.
Sasuke heard moaning from the door next to him and decided to try that room first. He peeked inside and saw everything but his target. Most of the rooms were empty except for one with women waiting patiently inside. It was the same women that came into the club with Haruto. Sasuke slipped inside quietly and closed the door behind him.
"Will Haruto be coming back?"
The women turned to Sasuke with confused looks on their faces.
"Who the hell are you?" asked the blonde one.
"Answer the question," Sasuke demanded with a glare.
"You think we're scared of some freak in a cape?" The brunette said.
Sasuke gritted his teeth at the disrespectful woman. A flash of purple placed both of them in a genjutsu in a second. He didn't have time to play games.
Haruto Tanaka watched his beautiful escorts head to his room. He couldn't wait to get a taste of those two. He had a couple things to take care of first. Haruto walked across the dancefloor and the crowd screamed in joy for the club-owner. He waved at his customers as he passed by. He couldn't help but think about how this was all his. His old man would never be able to grow the family business like he did. His father's death was a sign of good riddance.
A lackey led him into a small white room with a man tied up in a chair. Haruto's smile quickly turned into a frown when the door closed behind him. Tanaka glanced at the badly beaten man and sucked his teeth. Another one of Aku's men. That was the fifth one this week and it was starting to get on his nerves. The man had a business to tend to, he didn't need to worry about some jealous prick. Haruto leaned down and grabbed the chin of the barely conscious man.
"Tell your boss to fuck off, yeah?" he snarled.
The poor man nodded his head rapidly.
"Kick this loser out. I got a pair of bitches to fuck," Haruto told the guard.
Tanaka made his way back to the VIP section of his club. Not many people were allowed back there besides his closest friends and their dates. A few bigwigs would show up now and again, but no regular chump would dare show his face back there. He opened the door and stepped inside with a big grin on his face.
"I'm back ladies. Sorry for keeping you waiting."
Haruto was a little thrown off when the normally chatty girls didn't respond to him at all. That's weird, they were all over me earlier. Haruto was gonna be pissed if they weren't in the mood anymore. Maybe I won't let that Aku goon go after all. Haruto was unbuttoning his shirt as he stepped closer to them. Tanaka let a trail of kisses down the blonde's neck and squeezed the brunette's shoulder.
"What's wrong?" he whispered.
"They're in a genjutsu."
Haruto spun around to confront who dared intrude on his playtime. A tall figure stood in the inky darkness of the room's shadows. The red-haired man almost tripped trying to make a mad dash for the light. Sasuke's body was lit up by the sudden illumination.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"That doesn't matter."
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!"
Haruto pulled a switchblade from his pocket and swung wildly at the Uchiha. Sasuke easily dodged all of the sloppy slashes before slapping the blade out of the man's hand. He hit Haruto with a powerful sidekick that threw him into the bed. The club owner frantically sat up to face the slow approaching Uchiha.
"What do you want? Money? Fame? Women? I can make you a star in this world!" Haruto pleaded.
"None of those things interest me," Sasuke shot back coldly. "You owe a whole lot of money and the debt collector has come to collect."
"Wha? That's what this is about? Listen man, Kurai and I had a deal!"
"Deal?" Sasuke said curiously.
"Wait, are you not with Kurai's gang?"
"We have a contract with each other."
Haruto laughed, "Yeah I thought so too but that little rat backstabbed me."
"If you're trying to tell me something then spit it out," Sasuke snarled, pointing his blade at the man's face.
"A contract with Kurai is the same thing as a deal with the devil. What he offers may seem great at first then you end up with a knife in your back. My father was in debt when he turned over the club to me. Kurai came in asking for the club in exchange for payment, I couldn't allow for my father's legacy to burn out so I refused, but that only caused more problems. I went to Kurai on my hands and knees asking for debt forgiveness. He said he'd forget every cent if I agreed to lend him a girl once a month for his prostitution ring."
Sasuke wasn't surprised that a criminal mastermind lied to his face. He was more confused on why Kurai would even bring up the prostitution ring, if there was a chance of him finding out the truth. Sasuke was starting to wonder if Haruto was even the bad guy that Kurai painted him out to be. Of course he was; he was a criminal after it. The Uchiha didn't want to get involved in a criminal gang's beef. The thought of simply completing Kurai's deal and keeping his nose down came to mind. But he had a feeling that this predicament was going to come back to bite him in the ass.
"Everything was going fine for several months and then one of the girls ran away. He blamed me and said I skipped out on my payment. Kurai kept my girls hostage and started to demand the club as back-pay."
So Kurai is a complete asshole. What else is new? If he ended Haruto here and confronted Kurai later then he'd be killing two birds with one stone. With nobody there to feed the prostitution ring then Kurai would have no choice but to give it up. Haruto saw the menacing look in Sasuke's eyes and knew what was coming for him next.
"Please, don't do this! I'm an innocent man trying to run an honest business! I'll do anything-"
Nobody is innocent. The tip of Sasuke's blade cut through Haruto's throat within a second. He was silently choking on his blood as the thin slice inked the fresh red liquid. The club owner was dead in less than five seconds. Haruto slumped over on the bed like a ragdoll. Sasuke looked into the dead man's dim eyes for a moment before disappearing.
The ninja was moving through the crowd outside when he heard a distant scream from Love and Lust. No doubt the ladies saw Haruto's dead body after the genjutsu ended. Sasuke made his way back to Kurai's building with the intention of finding some info on the recent break-in. The Uchiha pushed the thought of stopping the prostitution ring to the back of his head. He was escorted to the top floor where Kurai was waiting in his elegant office.
"I'm assuming I won't have to worry about Haruto anymore."
"He's taken care of," Sasuke replied.
"Boss, he didn't even bring Haruto's head back with him. How do we know he actually killed him?" Asahi announced.
Sasaki laughed loudly, " Sasuke Uchiha doesn't lie when he says he's going to kill someone."
Kurai poured a drink out for himself and took a slow sip of the fine alcohol.
"I'll send a couple guys to take the reins of the place so it doesn't fall into chaos. And now it's time for your payment, I believe I owe you some information."
Sasuke stayed quiet and waited for his end of the deal. He decided to stay out of the criminal conflicts between gangs. For now.
"A gang of delinquents have recently popped up on the North-east side of the Hidden Leaf. At first it was a couple of jerk-offs mugging school kids, but they've grown quite a bit since then. Robberies, assaults, gang violence, drugs, and there are rumors of rape and murder being under their belt too. I wouldn't doubt it. My guys had a tangle with them a couple months back; they're a rough pack of shitheads."
"They got a name?" Sasuke probed.
"Night Stalkers," Kurai answered promptly. "And get this, apparently, the leader has one singular red and black eye."
Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment before looking into Kurai's stone cold ones. He didn't see any sign of deception. But that couldn't be possible. A Sharingan? It has to be something else. Another Dōjutsu or Kekkei genkai. There's simply no way for it to be a Sharingan. The idea of it being stolen popped into Sasuke's head and anger flowed through him, as he was reminded of Danzo.
"What happened to being the last Uchiha," Kurai taunted.
"Name?" Sasuke murmured.
"Hm-"
"HIS NAME!" Sasuke shouted loudly, his EMS shining brightly.
Sasaki chuckled, "nobody knows but people call him Star after the pattern in his eye."
Memories of his fight against Danzo and Itachi flooded his mind; a yin and yang of false illusions and truth. The pain he felt when he initially murdered his brother returned followed by the dread of learning the truth about him. They were stabbing into his brain, and blurring his consciousness. Could it be… Another remnant of the Uchiha clan coming back to haunt him?
Sasuke moved past the bodyguards back into the elevator without another word. He could hear the distant voice of Kurai speaking again but he blocked it out. More interesting things have moved into his mind. Sasuke needed to remember that rumors were not to be taken as fact and were often greatly exaggerated. Though, it did send a molecule of curiosity into the young Uchiha's brain. A sighting of his clan's signature dojutsu was not to be taken lightly.
Kurai watched the black-clad man disappear behind the elevator doors. A frown grew on his face and he turned to Asahi with his hand raised.
"Fetch me my phone. I'm going to let our little Uchiha impersonator know the real deal is coming for him."
Sasuke leaped onto the familiar rooftop of the Hokage building, from there he was able to see each district of the Hidden Leaf. He peered down at his home and saw several shinobi from the police unit scouring the place. Sakura must be staying at Naruto's home, he thought. Sasuke made his way over to a rooftop where he could see his friend's home from closeby. He saw a light shining in the window, but the blinds were hiding the inside of the home. The Uchiha figured that Sakura was telling Naruto and Hinata exactly what happened. He glanced lower to see Sarada and Boruto sitting on the porch steps talking. Sasuke smiled at the scene knowing his daughter was safe.
Now he could do his job knowing that they were safe. He would return the honor of his family, even if it was the last thing he did. Sasuke didn't know where this journey would take him but it would be another notch on his trial of atonement. As things currently were, it was dangerous to stay around Sarada and Sakura. They suffered enough in his absence, he didn't want his presence to be a nightmare too. This was his chance to make a difference. He would use the fear of the Uchiha clan as a weapon against evil.
Author's Note: I don't know where I'm going with this story, if I decide to continue it, but I always wanted a version/story of Sasuke similar to Batman. A caped crusader that uses his trial of atonement as a nail to hammer into the criminal underworld of the Hidden Leaf. Let me know what you think, we shall see where it goes.