Sorry. I'm an idiot and forgot to add literally a whole section.
xXx
"Head for the exit closest to the entrance." Sasuke shouted, all while herding a still detained Kakashi and a gleeful Naruto.
"Wait. Why?" Naruto stopped retreat of the ominous purple smog. "There's literally a side exit right there."
In fact there was a much more accessible exit about ten feet away, compared to the front entrance that would take at least two minutes of running to reach.
"Because I said so." Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the elbow but was met with strong right to the jaw.
"Agh! What hell was that for-"
"What's going on here Sasuke?" Naruto scanned there immediate area and noted that their current 'crisis' was quite tame. Aside from the slow moving smoke, cells seemed to be opening radomly around the compound. Cell mates that weren't in the effected areas seemed confused, stepping out of there cells to survey the area. If the criminals noticed what he had, then surely they noticed the sudden lack of armed guards patrolling the area. The handful that were left seemed to be following Sasukes lead and heading for the farthest exit.
"What are you on about? We need to leave!" Naruto continues to ignore the Uchiha, creeping slowly towards the closest exit.
"Naruto." Naruto stopped his steady retreat when Kakashi called out to him.
"What old man?" The silver haired man had his attention. For now.
"I think it's in your best interest if you just follow us." Kakashi looked to Sasuke whom gave him a curt nod in thanks.
"And if I don't?" Naruto's smiley was cocky as ever, a shit eating grin at the thought of them trying to 'make' him do anything.
"Wel... 'sigh'" Kakashi huffed a tired breath. "I guess Juugo will just have to carry you."
"Wait. Who now-"
'Woah why am I falling to the ground?'
The hard smack to the back of Naruto's head echoed in the hallway, triggering the subtle sounds of prisoners racing down the hallway, eager to escape the fire the guards decided to correct this 'mistake'.
xXx
"So,when were you going to tell me?"
Gaara waited patiently for a reply, pushing a rusted push mow lazily across the Uchiha compounds south gardens, cracked and riddled with shabby crab grass.
"I mean... it never really came up in conversation." Tenten replied on the other end of her radio.
"It never came up when there were literally dozens of ROOT grunts headed our way that 'Hey you guys, I'm pretty good with A FUCKING KNIFE!'?"
"... Don't yell at me."
'She can not be serious.' But Gaara could all but feel the pout on Tenten's face, even over the frequency.
"You two were so busy with your whole super 'macho' thing that nothing ever really came close enough to me without getting filled with lead. So you don't have to be such a dick head about it!"
"Ok ok ok... I'm sorry." He really wasn't, but a smart man knows when to pick his battles.
"Good." Shikamaru interrupted. "Now if you two lovebirds are done-"
"Bite me." Came the simultaneous response.
"If you're done. Hound, please note the purple miasma like cloud creeping around the compound."
Gaara humored the man, a rusted shovel in hand as he left his position at the rear of the compound. His guise having been digging up the copious amounts of weeds and other mundane gardner task.
"Should he be looking for a purple Cheshire Cat too?"
"Ha. Ha." Shikamaru bit out. "Fox's line has gone quiet, and the last thing I could hear was chaos in the background. Either he's having fun, or you know, dead."
"I'd be lying if I said I thought he wasn't having fun. But I'll check it out." Gaara strolled his way through the West gate, giving himself a clear line of site of the compounds garden. " let's see, let's see..."
He walked towards the inner circle of the garden but found no traces of... well anyone.
'What the hell?'
"Well unless these inmates got a summer break, I'm not seeing a damn thing in this place."
"Nothing? Hold up, I'm pulling up the drone."
Shikamaru was known for his intelligence. But what good would a super genius be with out a plethora of cool toys? A standard four-winged drone took flight from above the compounds roof. Circling the compounds entirety with nothing out of the ordinary.
That is until it's camera panned in on the front entrance.
"Uh oh."
"What do you mean 'uh oh'?" Gaara paused his advance to the front gate when the genius fell silent.
Nothing.
"Stag? What's happening?" Tenten questioned.
"Um... Panda get the car ready. Hound needs a hasty retreat, ASAP."
"Woah. I'm a barista, Stag. Baristas don't fucking retreat, what the hell is going on up there??" Gaara said, keeping the very nonchalant sarcasm.
"Well Mr. Barista. You got about 300 angry customers at the front door. You either take care of them all? Or you close up shop, your choice."
"You're telling me there's a prison riot going on out there?" Gaara was at the front entrance by now, only a hand on the handle separating him from the parking lot.
"A riot? No, this is something else."
Shikamaru moved his drone ever so closely to a lamppost, balancing the drone on top for a vantage point. A sea of inmates littered the parking lot, crowded quiet calmly around a group of men standing atop a couple vehicles. "It looks more like a... rally?"
"Listen brothers!" One of the orange haired men Naruto had seen earlier spoke to the crowd with confidence. "Now is not the time for segregation."
Tenten revved up Gaara's Cameron in the back parking lot before interjecting. "A rally? Of the cities most dangerous criminals? What is this the warriors-"
"Shh. I can't hear!"
"Just over there we have the sound four, standing next to Demon brothers. Zabuza and his crew next to the Gato gang! This. THIS is what opportunity combined with POWER, looks like brothers. We have a real opportunity here." The six men spoke as one. Cutting in speech to have it fluently finished by the next member.
"We." The main one of the six gestured with a open wave to the group of them. "We are the six paths of Pain. And we invite you to join our family. There's only one station in this whole city, if we don't count those coward Uchiha who turned tail at the sight of a little prison break. And I think WE." The main Pain gestured instead at the crowd of criminals. "We can take over this town."
The crowd rumbled with agreement. Shouts of taking over the city coming from each group.
'Well it's kinda like the Warriors...' Shikamaru thought to himself.
"We've coordinated our release so that we may make these mere words a reality. And it starts with this man. Bring him up men!"
"Troublesome." Shikamaru zoomed his camera in on the captive.
"This man" the other 5 Pains brought forward Naruto atop the red pick-up truck that their leader had been speaking from. "Was a trusted pawn of that dastardly woman that put us all in here, the 'Honorable Tsunade'. Feast your eyes on our vengeance." the group stripped the wig from his head, revealing the cropped blonde hair beneath.
"Fox is in trouble. Get in there. Now!"
xXx
'How'd I get myself into this mess?' Naruto wiggled left and right at the hold of he two bigger men holding him as auction for the crowd.
"Naruto Uzamaki! Many of you have more than likely been busted by this guy. Or perhaps some of your colleagues have been shot down by his twisted since of "justice" under Tsunade's tyranny. And he dares to spy on us under the guise of this ugly broad? What should we do with him boys?"
"Hey guy I wasn't 'spying' and I ain't ugly-"
Naruto's back talk was cut short by a knee to the jaw from one of his captors.
The crowd shouted in outrage, many of whom had had close encounters with the blonde that left them severely injured or incarcerated.
"Hang em!"
Naruto schofed at the notion, how clichè of them.
"Beat him!"
At this he laughed at this one, mere thugs couldn't measure up to the interrogations he had in Oto. He spit out a bloody tooth that came lose from attack moments ago.
"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT YOU FUCKING COWARDS?!"
"Toss him off of the compound!"
"Oh..." was all Naruto could say at that one.
'But I HATE HEIGHTS!' Naruto struggled at the barbaric idea, and it didn't go unnoticed by the crowd.
"Well then Uzamaki." The Pains hoisted him up with relative ease. "We have a winner. Looks like you're taking a trip."
"Put me down you freaks!"
The mob shouted in triumph from the lot as the six Paths made their way to the buildings roof.
xXx
"So are we just going to let Pain poach our kill? This is horseshit!"
"Silence Deidera, something tells me the Fox has an ace up his sleeve."
"What makes you so sure Itachi?" Kisame questioned.
"If you haven't noticed, my incorrigible little brother and his prisoner are nowhere to be seen."
"Bet he's dead..."
Deidera's smart comment earned him a swift back hand from the rear seat.
"Ow! I'm just sayin, geez." He said, rubbing the forming knot on the back of his head.
"As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted... My grandfather seems to be absent as well." Itachi scanned the lot and found only a handful of guards that were effectively restrained by the prisoners. The mass majority of the facilities security as well as his grandfather, seemed to be completely absent.
"Uchiha's aren't so easily surprised, I'm willing to guess this 'escape' was premeditated and that Little brother knew about in advance. He would've no doubt informed Madara about it." Itachi seemed lost in thought as he pondered possible motives for letting this transpire.
"How does that even make sense? What warden just lets their entire flock walk out the front door."
Itachi's gaze wandered, but he answered anyway.
"The corrupt kind."
xXx
Ino's position has been placed as an overwatch. The girl had a high vantage point from the abandoned office building a street over, but the heightened altitude seemed to do her radio piece no favors as she effectively lost connection once she reached the top. She'd ran to her position as soon as the commotion rang out, having seen many a guard and prisoner fall unconscious when a thick purple smog started creeping out of the entrance. Even catching sight of Naruto, Sasuke and a handcuffed Kakashi.
By the time she made it to the top of her building, the parking lot was beginning to fill with a concerning amount of prisoners. Some whom made a break for it on their own, but a mass majority began to form a crowd. She studied through her binoculars and saw the capture of Naruto transpire.
Oddly enough, Kakashi and Sasuke were absent.
"Stag come in, are you seeing this?"
Only static.
'Damnit Shikamaru.'
The Paths made a quick trip of the four-story building and Ino still couldn't seem to get in touch with any of the others.
"You big dumb idiot, how do you manage to get captured? By B-list villains no less..." Ino traded her binoculars for her collapsible rifle she'd lugged around in her over-sized purse for the last hour. She steadied the scope of her rifle complete with neon yellow crosshairs, custom built for her 500m scope. It kinda looked like a sunset when she aimed it at the orange head of the bigger Pain holding Naruto in position. "Stop squirming sissy. It's just a four story drop."
'Should I line up and wait for a double?... nah there's not enough time. Maybe if I kill the first one fast enough Naruto can escape? No, that won't work either. Improvise?' Ino inhaled and exhaled deeply.
"Well here goes nothing." Her finger eased on the trigger, pulling smoothly for her first-
"BARBIE HOLD YOUR FIRE!"
Ino shrieked a womanly shriek only a shitty, melodramatic slasher film could provide. Successfully jumping out of her own skin and landing on her ass.
"Do NOT scare me like that!!" Luckily, she was able to take the rifle with her before she inevitably blew the orange headed man's head off.
She spotted the drone flying ever so close to her position and attempted to contact Shikamaru again.
"Stag? How do I read?"
Static fizzled on her end before Shikamaru's voice finally replied.
"Barbie this is Stag. I read you loud and clear. I'm using the drone as a median to reach your frequency. All parties say check."
"Hound. Check."
"Panda. Check."
"Stag. Check."
"Oh thank god." Ino let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Now what the hell was that about?? Don't you see them getting ready to execute him?... that's a total waste of those pumps-"
"Focus Barbie. Focus." If there was a way you could roll your eyes with your voice, Shikamaru would've mastered it by now. "Panada is currently sneaking up the staircase behind the Pains to support your attack. Naruto's radio seems to be compromised, he's kicking and screaming like a toddler and I'm getting no feedback. So this will be on you two."
"Oh ok… so two things."
"Shoot." Shikamaru was busy surveying possible exit points from the building to real hear the 'calm' nature of her question.
"First. The Who??? And second. You meant to say the fucking redhead. RIGHT?!"
"Barbie calm down, Panda is more than capable of-" Gaara attempted to reason. He himself having traded positions with Tenten, pulling his car around back for a hasty retreat.
"NO. You want me to trust his life in the hands of some random ass civilian?! What is wrong with-"
"I'm in position." Tenten had a clear view of the six men. They were putting on a show for their crowd. Dipping Naruto dangerously close to falling before bringing him back off the edge.
One palm sized serrated blade was her weapon of choice. With a built in knuckle grip, she held her blade in the reverse.
With having just ascended the staircase, the Path had no rear security to spot her. She crept forward slowly toward her first target, the Pain tasked with watching the only ladder to the roof, far away from the group.
A hand over the mouth and a slit of the throat from ear to ear left the man limp as he descended limply off the rear of the building. The thick splat on the concrete unheard against the boisterous cheers on the mob.
"One down." Tenten gave herself a high five on a job well done.
"We're going to have a serious talk when all of this is over…" Gaara waited impatiently, unaware at what skills it was that Tenten possessed. As well as HOW she came to acquire them. "Like seriously, when were you going to mention that you can casually assassinate grown ass men?"
"Second target down." This one fell more violently than the last. With a rough kick to the back of the knee, the Pain furthest from the groups view fell to his knees, a serrated blade piercing through his chest cavity before a word could be uttered. "Now there's 4 left, I'll be needing your help with this one princess."
"It's Barbie." Ino scoffed.
"I mean… you said it, not me. Just get in position."
"Ugh...Well I guess we're playing this games today huh? If the idiot dies it's on all of you."
Ino steadied back behind her rifle. Doing her best to keep a level head, she continued with her deep breathing, focusing her cross hairs on the thug tossing Naruto about by the hair.
"I have the one holding Fox in my sights."
"Good." Tenten replied, she took a knee behind a ventilation hub as she plotted her next move. "How fast can you shoot that thing?"
Ino looked down at her rifle and mentally noted the pull on the side, indicating it's use as a single shot rifle.
"Fast enough. But you'll have to give me at least ten seconds between shots"
"Ten?" Tenten giggled. "Don't tell me I'm the best here with a gun too?
"No seriously. Who are you? I don't think I even know who you are anymore." Gaara pouted.
"Babe... you're all just pretty ameatur marksman, that's all." Tenten fought hard to hold in her laugh, her bluff was bold and their reactions were worth it.
"Not on your life… Fine, give me five. Think you can manage to not die for that long?"
"Roger that Barbie."
"Well here goes nothing, as soon as that shots fired, secure Fox and get the fuck out of there." She took one last breath and gave a count.
"3…2…"
Tenten stalked her next victim, hanging closely on Ino's count.
"1!"
BANG
The first bullet sounded off like a cannon. The long haired Pain that had been holding Naruto dropped like a sack of potatoes off the four story building. A clean hole through his forehead that blossomed like a bloody flower on the rear of the skull. In tandem, Tenten forced here knife clean through the ear of the Pain closest to her and grabbed Naruto by the handcuffs before the weight of the dead body pulled him off the roof. With two left, another Pain sprinted at the pair in attempts to knock them off the roof, but met the business end of Naruto's double knuckle grip, a huge blow to the abdomen before Tenten finished the job, kicking him off the building to join the now forming pile of bodies.
"Serves you dick heads right for brining me up here." Naruto spit off the edge for good measure.
The mob was in hysterics.
"Sniper!" Zabuza ducked out of instinct, shoving a few other inmates out of the way to get underneath a car.
"Its the cops!"A group of Oto thugs we're immediately up in arms, searching for the source of fire.
"Fuck that! Everyone, FUCKING SCATTER!" Tayuya of the Sound 4 shouted.
Scatter seemed to be the trigger word. Inmates began to scale the fence walls at breakneck speeds, trampling over each other to get out of dodge.
"Well well, your reputation proceeds you Uzumaki, I see you were a bit more prepared than I thought." The only Pain left spoke, their leader with the row of pierercings scaling either side of his nose.
"Glad you heard about me, too bad you couldn't catch me at my Sunday best." Naruto said sarcastically, motioning at the disheveled get up he was forced to wear. "It's a good thing I had some good back up."
"Your welcome." Tenten chimed in with a smile as she wiped off the blood from her blade on one the fallen men.
"Did Gaara freak when you told him?" Naruto snorted at the thought of Gaara EVER being caught off guard.
"Oh my god he did!! It was adorable how upset he-"
"Egh-Hm!" Came the rather peeved interruption of Pain. "Aren't we in the middle of something here?" Pain very pointedly gestured to the now full blown prison break and the multitude of dead bodies.
"Yeah yeah, hold your horses there pin-cushion."
"Pin-cushion?" Pein very self-consciously brought a face to his piercings. "How dare you-"
"Shhh. Sh." Naruto brought a finger to his own lips. "Save it. I've got some questions, and unless you rather be filleted by my lovely friend here." Naruto gestured with an open hand. Tenten waved excitedly at the man.
Pein weighed his options as wise men tend to do. A gaze switching from the lot below to the crazy girl with a pocket sized trench knife.
"Fine. What do you need to know."
"Smart man." Naruto lead on. "How the hell did you organize this prison outbreak, and why the hell does it seem like nobody cares at all that there's about to be LITERAL jail worth of criminals in the streets."
Pain's face was masterfully stoic, and his reply was just as calm.
"The Path had nothing to do with this outbreak. We're only even here to take you, the prison break was just an added bonus."
"Wasn't you huh?... So what. There's a sudden outbreak of purple smog and no one has answers? Who did this? Where Sasuke? Hell." Naruto grabbed the man by his manila prison collar. "Where on earth is Kakash-"
BANG
A second round took Pains head clean off.
"Wha?…" Naruto blinked.
Hard.
Blood spray covered his face as what was left of the man he'd been interrogating went still in his grip.
"Um, guys?" Ino muttered.
"What. ACTUAL. FUCK. INO?!" Shikamaru screamed into his ear piece. He'd watched the mans head pop like bloody water balloon.
"Hey! Maintain radio discipline. No names! What the hell is happening up there?!" Gaara asked as he hid low in his drivers seat, clear from the eyesight few straggling escapees.
"Guys?" Ino tried to interject once more.
"Barbie just blew this guys brains all over the place before Naruto could finish questioning him!" Tenten replied, busy trying to get Naruto out of his current state of shake, tugging him without much success to the stairwell.
"GUYS!"
"WHAT?!" Came the unison response of Gaara, Shikamaru, and Tenten.
"I-I.." Ino was frantically surveying the area with her scope.
"Spit it out pig!" Tenten was at her wits end, finally deciding to drag Naruto by force down the stairwell.
"I didn't fire a shot!"
The group radio went quiet for a moment.
"Well if you didn't." Shikamaru maneuvered his drone as quickly as possible around the area. "Who did?"
"Oh, that'd be me." And additional voice entered the group.
"Who the hell is that and how did you get on this frequency?" Gaara questioned.
"A little buddy gave me this fancy earpiece. It seems someone has misplaced it." Came a monotone response.
Ino held her breath as she hastened her search for the source of fire even more.
"The blonde behind the rifle knows exactly who I am."
"S-sai?-"
"Hello beautiful."
BANG
The next round knocked Shikamaru's drone down from the sky, along with all of Ino's connection to the group.
xXx
A/N: Hey guys, not as long as usual, but I wanted to put something out there that was all progression, and without flashbacks (even though they're important.)
Hope you enjoyed it!
Oh, and thoughts on my flashbacks? They're actually pretty fun to write.
REVIEW. And thank you to those of you who do already(: