C5, The Plot Thickens
"Talking." 'Thoughts.'
XX
Akima walked down the hallway to the room known as the Soul Sanctuary which contained the legendary Animus as it had become known to the Uzumaki Clan which had been once used by none other than their ancestor Desmond Miles.
The 17-year-old woman walked into the massive room that held the legendary machine and all its intricate workings as well as her twin brother Minato who was currently working at one of the many stations that helped the animus ran at its top performance levels, sitting at a another console was none other than Shikamaru Nara who looked both board and sleepy at the same time as always and was muttering the words troublesome from time to time.
Shikamaru looked up from his work to see Akima walking into the room, he noticed her looking around the room and then spoke, "It's troublesome but this place never seems to cease to amaze me as well."
She turned to him and then said, "Well this place was built to last despite what happened to the village above it long ago."
"I know, and pretty soon you'll be able to see what it looks like long ago before the reconstruction began my daughter." Yugito said as she walked into the room.
Akima and her Brother turned to their mother who had just made her presence known to them, she then walked up to her children and gave them a once over as she then said, "Is everything ready two?"
Minato nodded to his mother and then walked over to one of the many terminals that enabled the animus to perform its functions, he then sit down and put on a headset and turned to face his mother and sister and then said, "All right in the last two days I've gotten the Animus up to a new level originally it was 8.0 now it's 10.0, basically babies going to be one hell of a ride for you sis."
Both Akima and Yugito gave him curious looks as his sister then said, "I swear you're beginning to sound like our ancestor Rebecca now."
"Thanks to the animus bloodline how do you think I know how to operate baby here, all the features we've seen when we relived Desmond's memories are in the animus as well."
"So I'll be able to see information on the people that dad had an encounter with and the people who were interacting with the Templars, which brings up a point exactly what the hell is allowing us to see them since we can only see dad's memories when we use the animus or our bloodline?" she asked him.
Minato then pointed over to a corner of the room that was occupied by a strange object, "That's the object in question that lets us see what the Templars were up to in the water capital at the time and I'm afraid to say only the water capital."
"So it's like what part of the animus?"
"Yes and no, it's first function is designed to record events for what I can tell up to a 1000 years or so in a given area, after that the only way to retrieve the data is through using an animus. But here's the kicker it's only designed to work with our bloodline." He said.
Akime was shocked to say the least but her brother wasn't finished just yet, "and get this was designed by the Templars to work for us as some kind of security measure."
"So the stories we were told about the two types of."
But before she could continue her mother walked up to them and said, "Some of your questions will be answered but you really need to get into the animus as we are running out of time."
Both of her children just nodded as they took their positions, Akime then set down on the reclining chair to then gain access to the Animus mainframe through the white room.
Her brother then turned to her before she entered the system and said, "All right sis babies all set everything you see and experience while you're in there will be recorded and at the same time we've updated all the data systems so if you come across any places or people or events the Animus will give you information from its digital archive and you got us helping right you lazy bastard over there."
Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and then said, "You two are so much like your father it's scary and so troublesome."
Akime just shook her head and leaned back as she entered the main frame and was in a room of white, within seconds the white room dissolved feeling with the structures of the capital of Water Country forming before her as it also said the year of 526 A.E. May.
As she watched the buildings formed she was then taken by the animus and figure out to sea to in incoming ship and came to rest on its deck as a man with a mask and a headband covering one of his eyes silver spiky hair that seemed to defy the laws of gravity itself was currently at this time staring out upon the sea as a woman with long black hair and red piercing eyes walked up to him and decided to speak out loud for him to hear her, "You look like a man who has the world on his back and can do nothing to stop it from crushing him because of his own fears that have caused this event?"
Kakashi then turned to his fellow Jonin and said, "This mission requires me to be at my best if I am to bring him back to his home, I still can't believe he just ran away."
Kurenai herself had found it difficult to accept that Naruto had just ran away after being removed from the Shinobi program in the first place by the Civilian Council and the Council of Elders decision following the disaster that had become the Uchiha retrieval mission, in fact it was quite suspicious to her that a vote had been conducted in the first place to remove him at all.
It was at this moment that his only remaining student of his Genin Sakura Haruno walked up to them and said, "Sensei do you think we will find him here of all places?"
Kakashi and Kurenai could only hope that they would as the village had become quite boring and in some respects quite corrupt since his departure from the village, they could only hope that his return would bring some kind of stability back to the village.
Before they could respond to her question they heard some of the sailors talking amongst themselves and took interest in their conversation almost immediately, "I'm telling you man I think things are getting better they just look like they're getting worse."
"I know what you mean ever since they assassinated Oboro and his apprentice things have gotten better in the docs and other ports because of it."
"It's hard to imagine that all of this happened within the span of a few months, and I'm telling you those Assassins are far more dangerous than any of the ninja or the Daimyo's Red Guards could ever be."
"Yeah I know what you mean man, so I'm just a little bit curious with what our Daimyo is up to now in bringing all of these foreign Ninjas to the capital for?" one of them said as his partner began to look around them.
The other sailor then said, "You're right but we should talk about this later as I feel there are too many people listening in and I'd like to stay a free man you get my meaning."
Kurenai watch the two of them returned to their duties and then turn to Sakura as she then said, "What were they talking about Kakashi Sensei, I thought ninjas were assassins?"
Kurenai however it was the only one to notice his look of concern as he then said, "I don't know Sakura, but I have a feeling we are going to find out quite soon."
XX
As the Konoha ninjas disembarked from the ship they were generally unaware that they were being watched by almost all of the dockworkers and including a couple of them who reported directly to the resistance and by that and the Assassin Brotherhood as well, the same one who had seen the ninjas from fire country disembarked had also seen several strange individuals in black battle cloaks with red clouds also disembarking with a clear objective on their faces as they then put on several straw hat and walked into the heart of the land of water.
The dock worker continued his duties and knew that he would be giving a very special report to his superiors in a bout a hours' time, he also knew that this, and that the peace and calm that had come over the city was going to be shattered like glass in no time at all.
It was only a question of when?
XX
Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Guy and Yamato as well as their former students stood before the water daimyo himself as he had a cruel smile upon his face as he looked them over like a predator stalking his prey, a predator savoring the meal to come with confidence that his will would be done no matter the cost.
It unnerve them all to such an extent that they were jumping at shadows and sounds even the Jonin were unnerved by this man as he then stopped directly in front of Hinata and lightly stroked some of her beautiful hair and then said to her as he looks into her lavender eyes and in this sense was looking right into her soul, "My, my, you are indeed a very lovely young woman, and a very rare bird, aren't you? Perhaps you will be the one to convince him to go home and leave all this foolishness behind."
Kurenai so badly wanted to break this man into pieces but knew that this was in impossibility at this time and any attempt to do so would be an act of war on their part, he then turned to one of his many assistance and handed the Jonins a set of maps of the capital city, "These maps should help you in locating your missing friend a little easier now if you'll excuse me I have a meeting I must attend to."
XX
Hinata had never in all of her life felt more violated then that very moment, she could now I understand why her closest friend and brother like figure had chosen to come here, and she knew he would not go home with them until his work was done.
Her sensei walked up to her and asked, "Are you are all right Hinata?"
"I'll be fine sensei I just don't want to ever be in that man's presence ever again, what do we do now?" She asked.
It was Kakashi who then took charge of the situation and began to give orders, "Yamato, Guy, take them back to the hotel along with the information and try to develop a plan of attack for bring Naruto back to us. Kurenai, Asuma you're with me."
XX
As soon as the Konoha ninjas had left the room Sado turned to Bane who had just stepped out into the open from behind one of many pillars that lined the Royal meeting room of the Daimyo of Water Country and said, "You and my father are quite the crafty ones I must admit Sado, either they will capture him or the Akatsaki secret agents who have safely arrived as well I might add will do it, either way the Templars are now winning this war and we are one step closer to true order my friend."
Sado's smile could only grow larger as he then said, "It is true my friend that we are much closer to victory, but let us not forget that they are a wildcard to be sure and I suspect they could turn on us in end. It is certainly a calculated gamble we are taking on here, by the way has Aizen finally managed to locate that filthy pirate yet?"
"Not yet, he is having as much luck as we are in finding the Assassins. However he does suspect that they are using part of the wave countries natural defenses to keep us at bay they seem to know how to navigate successfully, any time his less experienced captains engage them there the ships and crews are lost to the whirlpools in the area."
"Tell him to find a way to take them out as soon as possible and not just that traitor Jack Webb and his mud blood daughter either."
Bane could only smiled to himself as he placed his hat on his head and went to do his work, the work of the Knights Templar.
XX
The two of them followed Kaskashi for a while as they eventually came up to a bookstore entitled the 'World of Old Books' which eventually made Kurenai a little mad as she turned to face Kaskashi and said, "You brought us to a bookstore, if we are here to pick up one of your dirty novels I swear Kaskashi that I'm going to."
Before she could say anymore he turned to face her and said in a commanding tone that only a former ANBU captain could possess, "I don't hear about it right now, all right. We're meeting someone here who might know what the hell is really going so I don't want to hear about it, okay."
They could both only nod their heads as he said this and followed him into the store, after looking around the store for a couple of minutes they heard a voice call out to them from behind a bookcase, "I don't see many foreign ninja walking into this country or even this capital for that matter without a purpose in mind."
Kakashi then walked forward to the elderly man and bow to him in a show of respect who wore wireframe glasses upon his face to aid him in his site, a cane in his left hand and a book in his right, it was clear from Kakashi's demeanor that this was the man they were supposed to meet in the first place upon coming here to this unique shop, "Master Jiraiya told me to seek you out here if we ever needed your assistance and I believe this is one of those times."
The man looked truly thoughtful as he then walked over to a desk and chair and proceeded to sit down as he then looked upon these young ninja who had come to him seeking knowledge and assistance, "The question must be asked first what do you seek of me here in the water capital if I may be so bold."
It was Kurenai who then decided to answer him, "We are here looking for a young man named Naruto Uzumaki."
Kurenai then noticed his look of shock and surprise, "Why do you seek a member of the Assassin's Brotherhood, and aren't his first name Washi?"
This surprised all three of them, "But the Assassins have been extinct for almost 30 years, you must be mistaken he can't be one of them."
"They were never truly extinct; they had just fallen for a time, and what falls can rise again. The Assassins are no different."
Kurenai and Asuma were still trying to figure out what was going on when she finally had enough and wanted to know what they were talking about, "What the hell are you two talking about I thought that Ninjas were Assassins?"
The old man turned his head to look her directly in the eyes and then said in a voice that only a man who had seen great battles and death could muster, "The only ninjas that I know of that could even match a mid-level Assassin besides the Kage's themselves are the ANBU's and that's because they are trained similarly in the ways of stealth and even they and normal every day ninjas use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu way too much nowadays and don't even bother to operate on the concept of stealth."
Kurenai almost felt a little insulted by what the old man had said about ninjas, "Okay, then what's the difference between us?"
The old man then got up and walked to a door and opened it and motioned them to follow him in, upon Internet room they noticed that there were several books on display pedestals including one with a strange red letter like symbol that they had never seen before.
He then opened the book and motioned for them to walk over and then began to narrate, "The Assassins Brotherhood as the world knows it has been around for a very long time, in fact almost 1000 years before the great event even occurred."
This bit of information surprised all three of them as the old man then continued, "This book contains a large amount of information that was thought lost to the world about them, it has taken me decades to compile this and even to create this book that stands before you now. The Assassins were trained to be perfect killers; they were truly one with the shadows, in fact it was said that they had a saying, "We work in the shadows to serve the light, we are Assassins." And from what my research has revealed it is more than just a saying."
Aauma was the next one to ask a question as he then said, "What do you mean?"
The old man then continued his story, "It is said that they could walk amongst the people themselves blending in hiding in plain sight was even said to be one of their three tenets of their creed, blend with the crowd become one of many and strike your target and disappear. And I can assure you in the last month they've done just that, but sometimes they do make a spectacle of their kills like when they murdered that son of a bitch Oboro and his apprentice."
This caught both Kakashi and Kurenai's attention as they head over heard the two sailors back on the ship talking about the same event, "We heard about this from two sailors talking about the same thing, who was this guy anyways?"
"The former dock master for the grand Navy who reported directly to the Daimyo himself, the man was also responsible for turning in a lot of bloodline users. He helped kill a lot of people during the purge and has continued to help the Templars in controlling this city and country, both he and his apprentice's death have read this city from their grip up to an extent and it's all thanks to the Assassins."
"And they just did it in broad daylight?"
"More like at sunrise, and they were able to disappear into the city like ghosts something you people can't do anymore with the same vigor and ability, what's more they don't need the use of chakra to be who they are." The old man said to them.
This caught them all by surprise as there were only a few people in the world who had the necessary drive and training to combat any form of ninjas without the use of chakra, "So you're telling us that they can be just about anyone and everywhere?"
The old man just nodded to this and then said, "Exactly, they can do many of the same things you can do without the use of Chakra. In fact it gives them a huge advantage over you, especially since almost every sensor type ninja is looking for your kind of chakra output so they can track you or know if you found a way into their strongholds, even assassins who do use chakra are trained to control it to such an extent that tracking them by is almost impossible and it doesn't help that they had the help of the Uzumaki clan to help them. In fact I think the Uzumaki were the Assassins if you ask me. It in fact makes sense that the brotherhood fell when their Clan was pretty much wiped out which I might add also started the last great ninja war."
Kakashi all of a suddenly remembered an event that almost started another great ninja war involving his sensei and their targets mother Kushina Uzumaki, that same event was also what made his former teacher and since it the bearded man he had become and what led to his ultimate election to the seat as the fourth Hokage Konoha.
Asuma then decided to ask another question of this old man, "Okay what else can you tell us about these Assassins?"
"Quite a bit, bear in mind what I have already told you but then there is their creed."
"What's the creed?" Kurenai asked him.
He turned to her and then said, "The Creed is how they live their lives, nothing is true, everything is permitted. Where other man blindly follow the truth remember nothing is true, where other men are limited by morality or law remember everything is permitted, we are Assassins. That is their creed, and the creed comes with three unique tenants that not even you ninja would even consider following."
"And those are?" Asuma asked.
"The first tenant of the Creed is to stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent, despite being trained killers they do not kill indiscriminately. Unlike most ninjas I know I might add."
"What is the second tenant?" Kakashi asked.
"Become one with the crowd; let them mask you while you do your work. Stealth is one of their tenants and they make it a part of them every single day that they live and move about this city."
"And the final tenant?"
"Do not compromise the clan or the Brotherhood, that basic code of honor not only protects them but also the people they are trying to save. So good luck in trying to get one of them talk you caught them that is." He said to them.
The three of them were totally some guys by this bit of information and realized that there mission had become a bit more difficult to say the least.
"Well that sucks." Asuma said more to himself than anybody else.
"There's a history isn't there?" Kurenai asked him.
"Of course my dear there is, would you like to hear about it?"
"Yes."
"You know I like her more than you two, from the little pieces I was able to put together the story begins in the holy lands in the year 1191 with an assassin by the name of Altair. He was a young man the power of their grandmasters could only possess but, he had become arrogant and prideful, eventually he broke the tenants of the Creed because of a failed mission. All of this led to an attack on their home, Altair was given a chance to redeem himself and learn what the Creed really meant. He sent to kill nine plague bringers, and in time he eventually succeed discovering that there was a vast conspiracy to control the lands themselves. That group was the Knights Templar." He said.
"How do you know all of this?"
"As I said, I have compiled years of research to learn what I know now and when I was a young man with first-hand experience seeing them in actual action but even that is just scratching the surface of their hidden history, and I'm not the only one looking." He said.
"You mean the Templars?" Kakashi asked him.
The old man nodded and just give them a smile and pointed at Kakashi and said, "Very good Mr. one eye, but I still like her more. I was lucky to get some of this information before certain other undesirables got their hands on it, some of the information revolves to the second part of the war another assassin named Ezio had to fight, and I don't even know if that's his real name."
"Who was this Ezio anyways?" Asuma asked.
"A young Italian nobleman who was forced to become an assassin when his father and brothers were murdered by the Templars, he then spent a good chunk of his life fighting them. From what other information I was able to uncover there were a few other assassins here and there throughout the centuries who continued the fight against the Templars and who were of some importance but I don't know where to even start looking for this knowledge of them. Then in the year 2012 a descendent of those two men named Desmond did everything he could to try to live a normal life that was not part of the ancient war his ancestors had fought. Unfortunately he wasn't that lucky."
Asuma then caught something, "Wasn't 2012 the same year that the great event occurred?"
The old man just began to clap his hands together and then said, "That's right he can be taught, because of the event gaining information on the Templars and Assassins is very difficult to say the least."
It was then that Kakashi thought of something, "Unless you're an Assassin or a Templar I take it?"
"Yes and no, if any of them still have the knowledge it's the assassins unlike the Templars, the assassins stayed in hiding the Templars were practically everywhere they were a huge company whose name is lost to time and when the event occurred it practically annihilated them leaving very few survivors."
Kurenai then asked her question, "And I take it unlike the assassins they did not stay in hiding?"
"You're half right my lovely dear, after the event some of the Templars realized their original goals to create peace through forced control were just an impossibility and tried to convince the rest of them that they needed to work with the Assassins and survivors of the world to achieve that piece. From what little pieces of information I was able to find out they were quite possibly wiped out as well and if they did survive they went into hiding as well to protect themselves." He said.
"So there's a possible group of Templars hiding somewhere in the world who are secretly waiting to help the Assassins stop their evil cousins."
"Basically yes, but I believe they have personally become guardians of knowledge trying to share the world and know that the assassins will let them do it where's their cousins would kill them at a drop of hat."
"So, how do we find them?" Kakashi asked.
"You might get lucky and see them in action on the streets or they're more likely to find you, just make sure they see you as friend not an enemy or you'll have a hidden blade in your backs." The old man said.
"Hidden Blade?" Kurenai asked with curiosity in her voice.
"It is the weapon of the Assassin Brotherhood, it is easily concealed on their wrists and forearms. Jiraiya told me to have certain items copied from my collection so you could prepare yourselves for what you would see here." The old man said to them and then handed them several boxes as they prepared to leave the shop.
It was at this moment that the old man stopped Kurenai and handed her the book from the pedestal and said, "Within these boxes and this book are all the information that I have gathered throughout my long 94 years of life will be in your hands from this point forward my dear lovely lady."
She looked into his eyes and then said, "You're handing us your life's work, why?"
"You have to realize that I have lived a very long and full life and I remember when people would see them simply running and the hope it would give the people, and then 30 years ago they were all but wiped out and then all of this darkness fell upon us and is only now beginning to be lifted. I also have no illusion that I will live much longer either from old age or if something is happening to me, all I ask is that you keep this knowledge safe."
Kurenai was curious about something and had to ask, "What is your name?"
"It is Hanzo, and now you will remember me." The old man said.
XX
Yugito walked into the bedroom she shared with her future husband Washi who was at this time taking a much needed nap after all of their constant work for the brotherhood that required their attention.
She then sat down on the bed and laid next to him watching him as he dreamed undoubtably reliving one of his ancestors memories, she often wondered what it would be like to experience them as well.
It was right at this moment that Akima noticed that everything seemed to focus around her father as the white room reappeared indicating that she was saddened when entering a new memory that her father was reliving in his sleep at that time, "Hey Minato what's going on?"
She then heard her brother talking to her as the white room loaded the memory, "It looks like you get to we relive another one of our ancestors memories like when we saw that memory from Ezio."
Akima then decided to ask her mother if she knew what this memory was going to be about, "Hey Mom do you have any idea what we're about to see?"
"Why spoil the surprise sweetheart."
"Great, but here we go." She said as the white room dissolved into what looked like they open fields that were a luscious green color that blew ever so slightly with the wind.
The border of the Lands of Fire and Earth, 510 A.E. April.
The board of the Lands of Fire Country and Earth Country seemed to be quite peaceful and surreal as the wind blew the tall grass upon the plain without a care in the world, this scene of calm was quickly shattered as there was a sudden appearance of nothing but over 500 Earth ninjas who had taken up position to prevent anyone from taking their hostages away from them.
Sitting among the hostages were the peace delegate of the Land of Earth which also included their Kage of the Hidden Stone Village as well as his son and daughter-in-law who was in her last month of pregnancy and the Land of Fires peace delegation as well which also included a rather annoyed redheaded woman by the name of Kushina Uzumaki.
A good distance away stood the slowly assembling members of the hidden leaf Village and several stone ninjas who had come to try to save their people, the Third Hokage Sarutobi himself stood alongside two of his students the Toad Sage Jiraiya and the Snake Sage Orochimaru as they attempt to find a way to save the hostages without starting a new ninja war that would be the cause of many tips to come if it was allowed to come to fruition.
Directly behind them stood none other than Minato Namikazu and his surviving student Kakashi Hatake work currently listening in on the conversation hoping to find a way to resolve the situation, and from what they had heard so far it wasn't looking good so far, "Is there any way for us to successfully rescue the hostages without starting a war?"
The Snake Sage then said, "Not from what we've seen, so far they haven't heard any of the hostages but we all know that's going to change shortly."
Jiraiya then asked them, "Did anyone tell Minato that Kushina was assigned to the peace treaty team and that she is currently in the hands of our enemies over there?"
"Jiraiya, your student better not do anything stupid." Orochimaru said.
The Hokage then said, "It may not matter if he does something radical, I fear we may already be in a new war and there is nothing we can do to stop it I'm afraid to say."
The look of dread on Minato's became one of determination, he instantly turned on he's heels and walked over to his bag to pick out some equipment that he was going to need to rescue not only all the hostages but also Kushina as well.
Kakashi saw the look on his face and instantly tried to stop his sensei, doing something incredibly stupid, "Look sensei I know how much you like her and all but this is not a good idea and you could get them killed if you do something right now?"
He turned back to his student and said, "You make it sound like I'm going to get them killed, I'm just going on in enthusiastic walk to clear my head before I do something stupid Kakashi."
All Kakashi could do was slap his own face at the realization of what was going to happen now, "You and your very enthusiastic walks Sensei."
What no one knew was that Minato had recently perfected his Flying Thunder God Jutsu and was just itching for a chance to test it out and knew that he would have no better a chance then now to try it out, he had also placed upon both his wrists his hidden blades knowing they would come in quite handy and was happy that Kushina had taken him with her to meet the great mentor Raven and trained to become one of the few remaining Assassins in this world.
He very quickly summoned one of his best toads to help him close the distance and unleash his plan upon his enemies, he mounted the toad and quickly pulled his hidden hood over his head and prepared himself for the mission and hands and said to his summer, "I know that I'm asking a lot of you but will you help me out in doing this?"
The toad nodded his head and said, "It would be an honor to fight and die with you if that is our fate."
"Then let's hope it doesn't come to that, now it's time to show them what I've kept hidden all this time and what happens when they threaten everything I hold dear, let's go."
The Third Hokage was still trying to come up with a plan to rescue the hostages without starting a war but came to the realization he needed more men and that they would not arrive in time to prevent this from happening, all he could do was pray for a miracle and saw right at that moment what look like a blue and red toad with a young Jonin who he instantly recognized went flying past them surprising the gathering troops who were too shocked to believe that someone would be crazy enough to go up against 500 rogue stone ninjas.
The gathered enemy ninjas were shocked that one of the leaf ninjas would be crazy enough to straight out attack them head on like this crazy man with a hood was doing, to all of their astonishment the toad jumped high into the air and through the man up in the air before returning to the summoner realm man then unleashed a scroll and throughout hundreds of strange three-pronged blades that then began to rain down all over the field some even hitting near the hostages including one nearly hitting the leader of this operation who managed to sidestep it just in the nick of time.
As the leader of the group turned his head to look at the strange man who had dared to attack them head-on suddenly disappeared in a yellow like flash reappearing next to a small group of his meds who he then began to cut down like they were nothing in 4 seconds lakh each one with a slit throat and then disappeared in the same fashion reappearing in front of an another group performing the same kind of attack killing them as well, the leader of the group is the try to look into the eyes of this strange warrior only to see a part of his face and a determination that showed it was not over.
Minato looked the renegade leader right in the eyes and could tell that this man was not acting alone and that he needed to call out all the stops if he was to stop this madness once and for all, he then noticed Kushina getting loose of her restraints and preparing to attack as well.
To everyone's surprise he created a small group of about 10 additional shadow clones of himself and all of them quickly engaged the enemies using the Flying Thunder God technique cutting them down like they were practically nothing within moments, it was only at this moment that the leader realized what was about to happen and went to kill the stone Kage and his daughter-in-law first despite the old Earth shadows pleaded that she was an innocent and should be spared.
As the renegade leader and his three men were about to carry out the deed they were shocked to see the redheaded woman free of her restraints killing them with strange weapon's attached to her wrists that they had missed, it was at this very moment that the renegade leader realized he was standing near one of the strange weapons that had littered the ground only to see the yellow flash appear right in front of him and then leashed the same kind of weapon hitting him right in the chest.
The leader had managed to knock Minato off of him but realize that any hope of defending himself was now gone, Minato quickly ripped open the man's combat armor to reveal a cross like a piece of jewelry with a red Ruby in the middle of it and realized instantly who this man was belonged to, "Why did you do all of this? What could the Templars have offered you to willingly start another war and kill many more lives in the process?"
The leader was shocked by this and said, "It was all for power, the man with the mask gave me what I needed to destroy the hidden leaf's one hope of stopping us in the next war then we would have finally been the strongest hidden village and you would either be dead or are nothing more than our slaves in the end."
"You would willingly murder so many innocents for your own selfish needs and you are responsible for starting the last great war and here you are trying to start a new one, did the Templars even give you a hint this could happen and that all your hopes for the future would be torn asunder."
The rebel leader just laughed and then said, "I never would have thought that this could happen to us just remember it's not over."
Minato placed his hand on the man's face and close his eyes and then said, "May you find peace and rest in the next life."
Kushina had already rushed over to help the stone Kage's daughter in law who was now in the throes of labor, the old man then turned to Minato and said, "I thank you for saving us and my family, and I want you to truly know I want peace yellow flash of Konoha."
As soon as this was said the white room reappeared sending Akima right back to the land of water in her father's place as soon as she had seen the bedroom ring material as she saw her father wake up and turned to her mother with a smile upon his face.
It was right at this point that a message appeared saying that she had achieved 100% synchronization with the ancestral memory that she had just experienced through her father's memories, her mother then said to him, "So what did you do this time?"
But before he could answer her they heard a knock at the door and Fu telling them to come quick as something had happened.
XX
Kakashi had decided upon their return to the hotel to go over the information that the old book store owner had given them on the Assassins thanks to master Jiraiya's informant in the land of water, he had decided to give the information to three of the best experts in their various teams who had been sent on this mission.
To study the hand-to-hand combat or Taijutsu styles that the information showed he had chosen his longtime rival and former ANBU member Might Guy and his student Rock Lee, to study the potentials of the Assassins weaponry was none other than Guy's only female student Tenten who was a true weapons expert who could determine the effective capabilities of the weapons used by the assassins.
The last person to receive the gathered information was none other than Shikamaru Nara who was none other than a certified genius and was predominantly in charge of developing attack strategies against their enemies, all of them were quite engrossed on the gathered information trying to develop a plan to deal with these Assassins and successfully retrieve their target.
Shikamaru just had to ask a question, "Why are we doing this in the first place?
Kakashi then decided to give a basic example of why they were doing this in the first place, "if what the old man told us is true then we have a major amount of problems in the future, and as the old saying goes we must know our enemy's."
Shikamaru only muttered, "Troublesome." And perceived to get back to work, working on theories and strategies about their potential either ally or enemy.
Kakashi then given them more than an hour and decided to see if they had any preliminary information to share at the moment, "Does anyone have any employment information and can share, yet?"
The first to speak was none other than Guy, "From what I can tell they are extremely effective in several different forms of Taijutsu that we are extremely unfamiliar with, I'm sorry to say."
"Can you guys give us an example?"
"Well they use a form of free running that does not require the use of chakra at all, it is known as parkour and I hope I have pronounced it correctly. The idea behind it is to use it to climb and maneuver using the environment itself, the problem is I don't have enough of the system to re-create it perfectly."
This surprised everyone in the room that even the mighty Guy was having problems with a particular fighting style, "So you're having a problem re-creating this fighting style."
"No it's not fighting style at all but it can be adapted to assist one if need be, as I said it is predominantly designed to work as a form of transportation. And in this city where they have seals that can suppress the use of chakra altogether makes it quite ineffective way to get around and to escape your enemies or to get the drop on one." Guy said to them with a sense of admiration in his voice.
Kakashi Suddenly realized that this type of free running was indeed quite deadly in the wrong hands, "You said it could be used with other forms of fighting styles?"
"Oh yes it can be very easily adapted to just about any fighting style to assisted it my eternal rival, the problem here is that their primary fighting style is designed to use your opponent's actions against them in an effective counter kill system that evening we would have problems trying to counteract."
Kiba then decided to put his own two cents in, "I doubt very much that they could counter my family's signature attacks."
"As much as I would like to say that your families fighting style with be effective against them is a good chance it would not stop them in the least, they're fighting styles don't use a single bit of chakra at all and they quite possibly have chakra suppression seals that they can use and since they don't use chakra it can give them a huge advantage in combat since we tend to enhance all of our attacks using chakra."
Kiba and his Nin-dog Akamaru were surprised to learn that it was possible to counteract their fighting style with almost no effort at all gave them quite a bit of concern, "How skilled would they have to be to do that?"
Guy Was trying to come to an estimate about how skilled they would have to be and realized with a bit of a shock, "I hate to say it but they may already be a credible threat to us, individually it one of the more skilled students could probably be injure or if they got lucky kill one of us, in about a year's time we may not be able to fight them individually without your team present and even then it could be incredibly dangerous to us."
It was Yamato who then decided to ask a question, "So you're saying that right now is our best chance to get Naruto back before the assassins grow in strength anymore."
"I'm afraid so since they have a another fighting style that is designed predominantly for offenses rather than defensive and they can switch between the two at the drop of a hat, the current recruits I have not yet been trained to properly use this yet but in say six more months we won't be that fortunate and they will be a considerable threat to their enemies. The problem isn't the students but the three master assassins here that we've going to have problems with and I believe that one of them is Naruto which also means that he knows a certain degree of what we're all capable of."
The realization of this hit them all like a ton of bricks, Ino then said out loud for all to hear, "It's been a year and half since we last saw him, I find it very unlikely that it the dead last could predict what any of us would do or that he would even consider hurting us."
Kakashi then decided to shift the focus to Tenten, "Before we can answer that question Ino we need to put together more information on our potential target?"
Tenten then cleared her throat and began to describe what she has learned so far, "well I can tell you one thing for certain, these weapons I want them."
The look of surprise on just about everyone's face was priceless as she then continued, "They use a lot of our weapons but some things that are described here are just too incredible to imagine without seeing firsthand in action, this hidden blade for example could be easily concealed on anyone. The term that's used to describe this weapon's effective nature, "A blade in the crowd" is far more accurate than I would have thought possible."
It was Sakura who then decided to ask the next question, "So it's the most common weapon among them, so it's predominantly used as an assassination weapon?"
"That's its primary use but he can also double as a pretty effective hand-to-hand combat weapon if the need arises, there's so many hairs can take time to develop just what they're capable of, I need more time." Tenten said.
Shikamaru was still compiling all the information he'd gone through but could at least give a preliminary observation, "So do I but I can at least give you a pulmonary evaluation on these Assassins from what I've learned so far, if Naruto is indeed one of them then they can develop strategies to counteract us from succeeding in our mission."
Sai then decided to ask his own question, "So then why would the Assassins come to the Land of Water in the first place?"
It was Kakashi who then came up with a possible answer, "They're here because the bloodline war isn't completely over yet, even in the land of fire we heard rumors that innocent people were still being murdered on a regular basis here. It's quite possible that they came to liberate this country and to rebuild their order; the truth is it's quite possible we're here to stop then from saving this country altogether and our own elders could be directly involved as well as they're the ones who forced the Lady Hokage to send us on this mission in the first place while all except for."
"Danzo." Asuma said.
Kakashi could only nod as he then said, "Exactly, look underneath the underneath, I think both he and the Hokage sent us here to uncover what is really going on. And if what we've learned already is any indication on what to go by, we are running out of time."
Sai listened in on the conversation and realized how right Kakashi really was and how important it had become too complete the mission he had been get by his own mentor, their order had had mourned the loss of their secret ally the assassins for some time now, they had come into existence because of the tyranny of the Templars.
There order had originally been part of the Templars as they had believed that their search for knowledge would benefit mankind only to discover that that knowledge would be suppressed and that they would be killed for wanting to help the world, if it had not been for one assassin who had saved their first true leader Copernicus.
They had been called many things over the centuries, Illuminati was just one of many they had come to be known by, but they commonly preferred the name Free Masons.
It was time for both of the Assassins and the Masons to put in and to the Templars tyranny once and for all.
End of C5
I hope you all like the new direction of the story and I want to hear what you all think, I've been playing all of the main console games and some of the download content on the games. I'm currently doing some research and will start work on the next chapter very soon, Please read and review.