A/N: Due to some error or other, it appears that the last update didn't bump this fic up to the top like it should have, so if you missed any previous chapters, check 'em out before you read this one! Also, I hope you're having a Merry Christmas or whatever it is you celebrate!

Another case down, and patrol resumed. Hinata wiped her brow.

"Boy, that was a tense standoff!" she said. "I don't know how people can get used to that!"

"I don't think we're supposed to get used to…" Naruto was interrupted when he felt his stomach growling.

"What's wrong?"

Naruto smiled. "Ah, I guess being near a bodega made me hungry!"

"Do you wanna take lunch now?"

Naruto gave a thumbs up. "Believe it!"

"Where to?"

"Ever heard of Samurai Papa on 594 Lafayette Ave?"

"No."

"They have some really good ramen! Believe it!"

"OK…" Hinata picked up the radio mic. "79-Adam to Central."

"Central, go ahead."

"Central, we request 10-63 at Samurai Papa on 594 Lafayette Ave."

"79-Adam, 10-4 on the 10-63."

"10-4."

An offshoot of Williamsburg's Samurai Mama, Samurai Papa had two locations in operation. The one on Lafayette Ave was a rather cramped place with no sitting room, but that made no difference to Naruto or Hinata. They strode on in, picked free spots at the counter and waited for somebody to take their order.

"Hey, officers!" said their waitress, a blonde with her hair in a bun. "Can I start you two off with drinks?"

Hinata raised her hand. "Just water, thank you."

"Yeah, let me get a Coke, please," said Naruto.

The waitress left to get their drinks. Shortly thereafter, Naruto felt a cold, menacing presence sit down on the empty stool next to him.

"Hello…Officer Uzumaki."

Naruto turned to see who was greeting him. Much to his misfortune, it was Gaara.

"Hey there, Gaara!" Naruto faked a smile. "Please…call me Naruto!" He couldn't help but notice another familiar face with Gaara. "Hey Sasuke, how's this hump been treatin' you?"

"He's actually not that bad," said Sasuke.

"You know, you really should watch your mouth before making assumptions about people," said Gaara. "One day, you might get killed because of it…or didn't they teach you that at the academy?"

"Hey, you'd be surprised what they taught us there!" said Naruto. "Believe it!"

"Quite frankly, I don't believe it."

"He seems like a loser, but he's actually a very kind person," said Sasuke. "Just ignore him if he's bothering you."

"I for one would rather waste him," said Gaara, "but since we're on the same side, I'm staying my trigger finger."

"Guys, can we please get a grip on ourselves?" said Hinata. "We're making ourselves look bad in front of the general public!"

The three male officers simply stared at Hinata as if she had three arms, causing her to blush.

"So Gaara…h-how's the Tobi case coming along?" asked Hinata.

"We've found no solid leads on his location," said Gaara, "but the boss will inform you when we do."

Hinata nodded. "Understood."

Once their meal had ended, Naruto, Hinata, Gaara and Sasuke went off on patrol again.

"So, as I was gonna say earlier, I'm gonna tell you who I picked," said Naruto.

"Who?"

"It's Gaara."

"Why didn't you say so before?"

"Well, I got interrupted by the last call, plus with him being at the restaurant, I couldn't say it out loud."

"I…guess I understand." Hinata put her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll try to feel him out."

"You'd really do that for me?"

Hinata smiled. "Of course!"

"Any units in the vicinity, we have multiple reports of 10-10 shots fired, near 95 Sandford Street. Handle Code 3."

Hinata picked up the radio mic. "79-Adam to Central, will handle the call near 95 Sandford Street."

"79-Adam, 10-4."

With lights and siren going, Naruto and Hinata headed to the location of the shots fired. It wasn't too hard for them to find, for there was a group of people massing around what appeared to be a short alleyway. Once they came to a stop, the two officers began crowd control.

"Step aside, we're police officers!" said Naruto.

As the two cops came through the crowd, they found the source of the shots fired, and it was anything but a pretty sight: a fat black man was lying on his back with a bullet through his head and a Smith & Wesson Model 686 in his hand. Despite the damage, Naruto recognized the man as Sean Douglas, leader of the Gates Ave Mafia. He had no time to dwell upon what Douglas was doing there, however, and instead took his handie-talkie out.

"79-Adam to Central."

"Central, go ahead."

"We got one DOA at 95 Sandford Street. Get a squad down here ASAP."

"10-4."

While waiting for a detective unit to arrive, Naruto and Hinata tried to sort out the actual witnesses from the random onlookers and keep the scene secure. Soon enough, Sasuke and Gaara were on scene. Within minutes, Sasuke found an expended shell casing.

"Take a look at this," said Sasuke.

"I recognize the casing," said Gaara. "That's a 7.62 Tokarev."

"I've never heard of it before."

"It's a Russian design."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that the Russian Mob is involved?"

"Not necessarily. The New Dawn could be responsible. They tend to favor exotic weaponry."

"If that's the case, then this could be the big break we've been looking for."

Sasuke slid the shell off of the pencil he was using to hold it and into a small plastic bag. Little did he know that the denouement to this case was going to have a significant impact on one of his fellow officers…

The next hour proved to be an oddly snoozy one for Naruto and Hinata. Then, they got orders to report to Greene Ave.

"10-4." Hinata put down the radio mic. "What do you suppose this is about?"

Naruto shrugged. "Who knows?"

"You don't think this could have anything to do with the New Dawn, could it?"

"Hinata, I don't care what it has to do with! It could be that somebody's planted a nuclear bomb in the city! As long as I get that gift for Gaara, that's what matters!"

"Do you think we could…Naruto, we're here."

Naruto pulled the RMP up to Greene Ave. A bunch of NYPD vehicles were here, including Kakashi's 1974 Chevy Blazer and a 1977 Boyertown van, which meant that members of the famed Emergency Service Unit were on the scene. Upon exiting, Naruto and Hinata exchanged their normal hats for black-over-white riot helmets. As for weaponry, Naruto grabbed an Uzi from the Fury's trunk, while Hinata popped open the shotgun lock and grabbed the Ithaca 37 from inside the car.

"So, what are we lookin' at, Kakashi?" asked Naruto.

"Tobi and his gang are believed to be holed up in a townhouse on Clifton Place," said Kakashi. "We're not sure how many are inside, but we're considering all of them armed and extremely dangerous, which is why ESU is taking care of the situation."

"So what do you want us to do, sir?" asked Hinata.

"Hold tight and establish a perimeter," said Kakashi. "Don't move in unless anything goes especially wrong."

Both officers nodded and headed back to their RMP. For Naruto, waiting for the ESU to come out with Tobi was one of the more boring parts of the day, although considering that the gang were willing to murder a notorious gang leader, he was sure that there would be at least some shooting involved. He kept a firm grip on his Uzi. Under ordinary circumstances, Naruto was like most cops in that shooting a suspect was generally the last thing he wanted to do. However, the New Dawn were no ordinary suspects, and he would waste them without hesitation given the chance. For now, though, he figured it would be best to let ESU do their job. Judging by the radio transmissions, things seemed to be going well for the team. To alleviate his boredom, Naruto hummed some Bachman-Turner Overdrive tunes that he'd heard on whatever classic rock stations tickled his fancy over the years. He was in the middle of "Roll on Down the Highway" when he heard a sinister series of transmissions…

"Hey, is that door wired?" said one voice.

Naruto cringed when he recognized it as Sakura's

"GET BACK! GET BACK!" shouted another.

Though a bit muffled, Naruto could still hear the explosion that came from within the town house. That, and the subsequent barrage of gunfire told him everything he needed to know.

"Screw this scene, man!" Naruto hopped in the driver's seat of his Fury, dumped the transmission into Reverse and pulled a J-turn.

"NARUTO!" Hinata attempted to run after him.

"Naruto, where do ya think you're going!?" Kakashi tried to stop him as well, but human feet were no match for the power of a V8 engine.

After pulling onto Clifton Place, Naruto stopped, exited the car and rushed into the townhouse like a bat out of hell. By this time, the shooting was still ongoing. A few ESU members had been injured by the explosion, but no officers were dead. Yet. Ignoring the barrage of bullets and letting out a mighty scream, Naruto opened fire on any gangbangers he saw and didn't hesitate for even a microsecond. Within the proverbial New York Minute, he had managed to waste numerous gang members – including one with an M240B machine gun – chew up some serious flooring and destroy some priceless artifacts. Only Tobi – a taller man wearing an orange mask – remained in any condition to fight, and it was only after Naruto shot him in the hand and caused him to drop his Heckler & Koch G36C did he stop.

"All right, let's see if you're the guy Alice Cooper was singin' about…"

Keeping one hand on his Uzi and a devious smirk on his face, Naruto removed Tobi's mask and got a rude shock: the man behind the mask was none other than…

"Obito Uchiha?"

"Yes, I remember you well…son of Minato Namikaze."

Naruto went pale and lost his smirk. "That's Officer Naruto Uzumaki to you, you putrid mope!"

Obito picked up where Naruto's smirk had left off. "And you've still got the same fire as your father did. Too bad it won't bring him back."

"Drop the act and put your hands behind your head, bub!"

"You're telling me to drop the act? Tell me, Uzumaki, do you remember the day your parents died?"

"SHUT UP, MORON!"

"Oh, how I still relish that day. You should have seen your father begging me to stop as I cut poor Kushina's throat open from ear to ear."

Obito started cackling. This was the straw that broke the back of Naruto's camel.

"DIE!"

Naruto gave Obito a seismic shove and prepared to fire…

"NARUTO…NO!"

Hinata had arrived at the last second, which prompted Naruto to back off on the trigger.

"Naruto, don't shoot!" said Kakashi.

"This mutt ruined my entire life, and I'm not about to forgive him, so give me a good reason why I shouldn't!" said Naruto.

"Because you're a good cop, and that's the last thing you should even think about!" said Kakashi.

"I know I'm a good cop, but sometimes, we have to break the law like Judas Priest!"

"Naruto, if you kill this man, we might lose out on valuable information that could topple other gang members."

"Yeah, see if I give a rat's ass!" Naruto turned around and prepared to fire.

Hinata put a fist on her hip. "Naruto, I'm warning you, if you even think about pulling that trigger, then we're through!"

"Let me ask you," said Kakashi, "is jeopardizing relations with your friends worth getting revenge on those whom you deem responsible for ruining your life?"

Naruto gave a death stare to Kakashi.

"If you don't care about losing your job and going to prison…" said Hinata, "…what about us?"

Having discovered a slight hint of vulnerability in Kakashi's uncovered eye, Naruto found the effect even more pronounced in Hinata, who reminded him of the day they met back in grade school, only this time, it was even sadder. How could he disappoint her like this? After receiving such looks, Naruto tossed his Uzi aside.

"All right, guys…you win." Naruto pointed a thumb at a confused Obito. "Now get that mope outta my sight!"

Hinata, Kakashi and a couple of ESU members moved in to secure Obito and any other gang members who might have survived. Objective one accomplished.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.