Naruto gently placed an ear against the door to improve his ability to perceive the environment outside of the door. Silence. With a gentle touch, he reached for the doorknob and slowly turned the knob opening the door as he moved. Quickly Naruto stuck his head out of the door to inspect the hallway. It was empty.

He opted to exit the room and walk in the opposite direction he entered the hallway. As he walked, he looked behind himself keeping his head on a swivel doing nothing but making him look suspicious the entire time. The hallway presented with him a dead-end and a staircase on his right. Naruto thought back to the emergency exit diagram from earlier, he was going to use his knowledge of the map to guide his exit. Naruto opened the staircase door and began to descend the staircase. Moving at a moderate pace, he heard a familiar voice in the stairwell. The valet. Naruto surmised he was about 2 floors down from him putting the valet somewhere near the 8th floor. Naruto stopped himself on the 9th floor landing and entered on this floor instead.

This floor was populated heavily with guests and housekeeping staff creating barriers for Naruto as he walked through this crowded corridor. Progressing at a brisk pace, he kept walking with his head down as to not draw attention to himself. Intermittently looking up so that he didn't collide with anyone, he would stop every few feet to hide in an open room that the housekeeping staff was cleaning catching the staff off guard when he'd randomly pop into the rooms they were servicing.

He was nearly at the other end of the floor before he saw a flash of black hair. The mysterious man from before. Naruto ducked into another open room. Had the man seen him? Naruto was a few feet from the next stairwell. He just had to make it to there and then he'd be ok for a few moments. With one deep breath, Naruto ran towards the adjacent stairwell bursting through the door. He had made it to the stairwell. Naruto had no time to celebrate as he rapidly descended the stairs passing the 8th, 7th, 6th, and 5th floors. He was moving at the speed of lightning. As he kept a brisk pace, he heard that a door from a higher floor had burst open and someone was pursuing him. Naruto tried to make it down to the first floor, but as he ran, the loud unmistakable sound of a gunshot rang out in the stairwell. Someone had seen him. Naruto exited the stairwell on the 4th floor and immediately sprinted down the hallway looking for an open room.

Unlike the floors he had previously used to make his escape, this floor was locked down tightly. No open door or housekeeping staff were on this floor. Naruto kept running rounding the corner of the hallway. As he cleared the corner, the stairwell door slammed open and very fast footfalls could be heard behind the blonde man. Naruto spotted another stairwell down the hallway. He pushed himself to speed up, there wasn't much time until his pursuer would round the corner as well. Naruto was starting to get winded. His pace did not waver, he used his right side to shoulder check to door into opening. This door flew open as well however, he ran into a person. The valet with a gun. The collision had knocked the valet onto his back and sent the weapon flying down the stairwell onto the 3rd floor landing. Naruto had been knocked over slightly by the collision, but quickly got back onto his feet as did the valet. Naruto immediately threw a left hook causing the younger man to fall back down. Naruto slid the now unconscious man's body in front of the door hoping that would slow down the black-haired man on his tail.

Naruto began to run down the stairs to the third-floor landing picking up the gun dropped by the valet in the process. Naruto continued down the stairs. As he ran he heard the door open and hit the valet's body. A loud yelp was heard, presumably from the semi-conscious valet. Naruto did not slow for any of this. He kept running. In the background, Naruto could hear footsteps running as well. The pursuant must have gotten around the valet's body. Bursting through the doors of the first floor, Naruto was a strange sight to see. He was sweating, panting, running, and holding a pistol in his hands as he ran out of the front door.

Where was his car? That valet had taken it. Naruto looked around only to see the hustle and bustle of the inner city. He looked back through the tall panes of glass that made up the front of the hotel to see his pursuer exit the stairwell. They locked eyes. Obsaidian black versus cerulean blue. Naruto took off again as the man raised a firearm and fired towards Naruto. The first shot missed him, but quickly shattered the glass panes that made up the extravagant hotel entrance. The people in the hotel lobby shouted and ducked down as a series of shots rang out. The sound was deafening to Naruto temporarily impairing his hearing.

Naruto ran forward into traffic narrowly missing being hit by cars or bullets. Running dead ahead into a parking structure, Naruto ran looking for a place to hide or a car to get into. He didn't look back to see if the man was still pursuing him, but he knew he couldn't risk it. He needed to run for his life. Naruto stopped once he found a familiar car, it was his. He ran to it and got into it. The lousy valet left his keys in the ignition. Naruto started the vehicle and wildly drove the car out of the parking structure. The exit placed him facing the hotel entrance. He noted that the local traffic had stopped.

Shattered glass filled the street and hotel lobby. The locals were crying, people were on their phones recording the event, others looked like they were dialing for help- presumably calling 9-1-1. He noted none of the attention was on him at the point. Keeping his head on the swivel, he noted he couldn't see the black-haired man any longer. Where had he gone? Naruto didn't have time to concern himself with this as he got onto the street and drove.

As he drove, he kept his head moving to assess if he'd been followed. He was starting to get confused. He was tired, and the adrenaline was starting to wear off. He needed to go home but didn't want to take a direct route so he continued to drive in nonspecific routes making sure he could shake anyone tailing him. After 15 additional minutes of driving, he arrived at his house and pulled into the garage shutting the bay door behind him. He got out of the car and noticed the left side of his shirt was wet. Why was it wet? As he examined his shift closely it wasn't just sweat; it was blood. He had been grazed by a bullet. There was not a large amount of blood leaking out of him, but enough to cause pain.

Grabbing the gun he took from the valet, he went inside and walked inside applying pressure to his wound with his other hand. As he walked, he left a small intermittent trail of blood leading to his kitchen. Once he reached the kitchen the blonde-haired man placed the gun on the kitchen countertop. Naruto then began to rip off his shirt. He examined the damage to his side. It was a light grazing by the bullet. Naruto took the other half of his shirt and placed it into the sink. He wet it with warm water and began to clean and dab the site. It stung slightly but was a very minor injury considering the fact that he was almost publicly executed. After the stinging sensation temporarily subsided, he thought about when he could have been hit. It was likely at about a distance of about 100 yards. The shooter must have been very talented to hit a fast-moving target through glass across a street with a handgun. This wasn't any average joe with a firearm. This person must have extensive experience with a gun. A fright-provoking thought.

After he'd cleaned up the site, he walked upstairs and went into the bathroom. He retrieved some extra-strength painkillers and turned on the shower waiting for it to warm up. As he blankly stared into the stream of running water his mind began to wander as the reality of the events set in. He was almost killed less than an hour ago investigating a case while suspended. He could exactly stroll over to the nearest hospital and obtain medical care. Being an officer (suspended or not) he knew that anyone who presents to an emergency department requesting care after a gunshot wound would be reported to the police. The Konoha police. Not a good look especially since he was suspended and suspicious of the police chief.

As his shower progressed Naruto thought back to events of the day while the water cascaded off his back. His thoughts were haunting him. The amount of trauma and anxiety he'd experienced these past few days was causing his getting to him.

Instead of bathing himself, he stood there watching the water roll off his skin. Slowly the water at the base of the shower took on a light red tinge as the blood from his wound mixed into the water. The pain was mostly gone or at least numbed as he dissociated. This lasted for about ten minutes until he decided to get out of the shower.

He dried himself off and placed a makeshift dressing over his wound. Dressing in a pair of simple back shorts and a long sleeve black t-shirt, he stood and looked at himself in the mirror. This needed to end.

This operation had gone on too long. None of it made sense. His life was in danger, Sakura's life was in danger, and the captain was somehow linked to everything that had happened to this point forward. Being suspended limited his options on who he could count on to provide help, but Naruto never gave up on anyone or anything.

All contemplation was halted when Naruto heard the doorbell ring. He froze and listened closely. Another ring from the doorbell. Naruto stealthily walked to the precipice of his staircase. He slowly crept down the stairs careful to avoid making any noise. Instead of walking directly to the front door, he crept back into the kitchen and retrieved the gun he'd stolen earlier in the day. Now armed, he progressed to the front door stopping a few inches away from the door. He placed his back against the wall adjacent to the front door and slowly slid along the wall. Suddenly, another knock against the door. This time it was followed by a very familiar voice.

"Detective, open up. It's the Captain."

"So you really thought I was dating that goofball of a cop?" She added laughing midway through her sentence.

"Hn." Was the only reply she got back from him. She clutched his arm as they walked out of the restaurant back out towards the street. They had a wonderful lunch and even in her workout clothes, Sakura looked stunning to him. He just wanted her to be around him often, but he was a rather shy and awkward individual. He did not have the gall to approach such a topic with her.

"Anyway, I should probably head home and shower. That run made me work up a sweat, but that pasta we ate just undid all the running I did today." She chuckled.

He did not want her to go.

"I'll give you a ride home." He offered. "You don't need to jog back home."

"Are you sure this won't be an imposition?" She questioned.

"Hn." Was the reply she received.

"Uchiha-sama, I am more than comfortable making my way back home." She started letting go of his arm.

He frowned slightly not just because she was letting go of his arm, but also because she had referred to him so formally.

"Itachi." He corrected her.

"…Itachi?" She replied as a question.

"We don't need to be so formal; you can call me Itachi." He responded.

While she often referred to him as Itachi in casual conversation with other people, she'd never really committed herself to the idea of calling him Itachi in person.

"I'm not sure about that." She voiced her resistance to the idea. "Well," She began again "How about Itachi-sama." I like that better.

"Itachi-sama. That is… acceptable." He said back to her. Very few people ever referred to him in such a manner. It was nice to add her to that small circle of people who referred him like that.

"Thank you for lovely meal and charming conversation, but I've got to run, literally." She said turning around and starting her jog again.

He was sad to see her go but did not mind watching her leave. She was a sight that he did not mind seeing every day for the rest of his life. She was stunning in nearly every respect. His mind began to drift into the gutter as his limo arrived.

Pulling up to the curb, the back door opened and Tenten exited the limo holding the door open for him. Itachi pulled his mind together and got into the car.

"Uchiha-sama." She started as she closed the door. Itachi knocked on the glass and the vehicle took off.

"Your brother would like to speak with you." She added earning a frown from Itachi.

"Hn."

"There has been an incident at the hotel." She added.