Oh look, its update time again and I'm actually going to answer some of the questions flying around in this chapter. This is the unedited version (I'm impatient okay?) I'll be replacing it with the edited version once my beta has a chance to look it over tomorrow, so please excuse any small mistakes you may find here and there.
Night had fallen by the time Naruto and Deidara reached the shipping district—the direct result of an overly-cautious Naruto choosing a roundabout route.
He claimed it was to avoid any possible pursuit, but Deidara had a sneaking suspicion there was a lot more to it than that. It wasn't any of his business, however, so he let it slide without inquiry.
"Naruto, uh, do I have to see him too or..?" Deidara trailed off, his voice full of apprehension.
The assassin parked outside of a nondescript warehouse adjacent to the water and sighed, steeling himself for what was to come.
"I'll make my report alone, but he'll probably want to see you at some point. He's definitely not going to appreciate a possible witness."
Deidara's hopeful expression deflated a bit and he thought about the implications. "Well, you could just, yanno, not tell him, right?" the bomber finally concluded.
Naruto snorted at the notion. "Have you ever tried to lie to him? It doesn't work and it never ends well, trust me on that point." He couldn't suppress a shiver from running down his spine as unpleasant memories surfaced, only to be pushed away as quickly as they came.
They got out of the car and walked around to a side entrance where Naruto hurriedly typed a passcode into the keypad that kept the door locked. After a moment, they heard a small click and Naruto pushed the door open to reveal an empty corridor.
The pair entered silently and Deidara shut the door behind them while Naruto scrutinized the area.
Something felt...off.
Not one to endure silence for any longer than necessary, Deidara started tramping down the hallway towards the makeshift lounge they had set up for the 'normal' employees.
"I'm gonna go get a snack," Deidara informed him casually, patting Naruto cheerily on the shoulder as he passed by. "If I'm going to get shot, it's not going to be on an empty stomach," he added, seeing the incredulous face of his partner.
'Fair enough,' Naruto thought, watching Deidara turn a corner and disappear. The man had a point; it was entirely possible Deidara would be violently punished for his little slip-up. It was possible both of them would be.
Right now, though, there were more important things to worry about.
He advanced onto the main floor of the warehouse proper and was once again surprised by how deserted the building seemed. Where were the guards?
"Hello?" Naruto called, unsure of what was going on. It was definitely too quiet.
"You're finally back. We were beginning to worry," a thin, silky voice replied from a catwalk above him.
Naruto spun around wildly, his concealed pistol already drawn and ready for a firefight. He instantly relaxed once he recognized the owner of the voice.
Itachi Uchiha was an odd one, even by Naruto's standards.
He was legendary among the country's criminal element for the vast network of contacts and informants he employed; basically, if you wanted sensitive information on just about anyone or anything, you went to Itachi. However, the majority of his clients never dealt with him directly, but rather an elaborate dead-drop system he devised; thus he had developed a sort of 'boogeyman' status in underworld circles.
When Itachi had first joined the group—now almost six years ago, Naruto had been curious and did a little bit of digging around himself. He managed to obtain a civilian writeup on Itachi and remembered being surprised by what he found. Not only was Itachi the firstborn son and heir to the Uchiha, one of Konoha's oldest and wealthiest families, but he was also officially listed as deceased.
Naruto being Naruto, he had brazenly demanded to know what the true story behind it all was, to which Itachi had only smiled faintly and criticized the blond's poor choice of sources.
"Had you simply paid me for the information, you would have received a much more thorough dossier," he chuckled softly at the then-flummoxed Naruto.
Over the years, they had worked together on many contracts, ranging from corporate espionage and sabotage to high-profile kidnapping and assassination.
Naruto always knew a mission was particularly sensitive or important whenever Itachi was assigned as his handler—it meant that the job not only had to be done, but that it had to be done with the particular finesse only Itachi excelled at.
Of course, it didn't hurt that they actually got along quite well, either; the mutual respect forged from working together so often had eventually evolved into real friendship.
Well, as real a friendship as was possible, given their dubious line of work.
"Oh, Itachi, it's just you."
An almost imperceptible smirk crossed the other man's face; had Naruto not known him for so long, he never would have noticed it.
"Just me? Naruto, are you trying to insult me?" Itachi asked, his bored voice laced with dry sarcasm.
Naruto grinned and leaned back against some nearby boxes. "You know what I mean."
Itachi nodded, his small smile vanishing in the process. "It would seem to me that congratulations are in order. Another mission successfully completed—well done."
Naruto frowned and looked away. "Save it. You know I hate ones like this."
There was silence for a moment, until Naruto looked back up, only to discover Itachi had stealthily descended a ladder and was now mere feet away from him.
"I swear Itachi, you're a fucking ninja sometimes," he grumbled as the dark-haired man sat down on a crate beside him.
"Perhaps I was, in another life."
Naruto chuckled at the thought. "I bet you were still just as much of an aloof asshole. Maybe even more so."
Itachi huffed a bit, but the blond could tell he was amused.
"So, where are all the other members?"
"They have been assigned various tasks in preparation for the next phase. Everyone left once we felt your success. You should be glad you were not here to see the look of ecstasy on his face when the blast went off—it was...distasteful to say the least."
The blond blanched at the thought. It took a lot and he meant a lot to unnerve Itachi Uchiha, but hearing the tone of his friend's voice brought that same shiver racing back down Naruto's spine.
"I can well imagine. Is that why everything feels so, so wrong in here?"
Itachi nodded solemnly, letting Naruto know that he wasn't the only one able to feel it. "You know Pain; his presence and bearing are quite strong, even for those of us somewhat accustomed to it."
Naruto had never really understood the strange aura that surrounded Pain, Akatsuki's eccentric leader, though, this was by no means for lack of trying. It frustrated him endlessly that he was no closer to that understanding now than he had been upon first meeting the man—almost two decades ago.
He had gone by Nagato back then and that was what Naruto stilled referred to him as; it was his way of trying to keep some memory alive of the man who had saved him all those years ago. Nagato had been so different once, though in hindsight Naruto suspected he had simply been too naive to see things as they really were. Perhaps he simply hadn't wanted to.
In the quiet moments, when he was completely honest with himself, he admitted he still didn't.
Nowadays, the man called Pain was distinctly insane on multiple levels and made no apologies for it, yet he was still possessed of a cold, calculating intellect few could rival.
Every major crime syndicate and organization in the country danced to his tune, whether they were aware of it or not. It didn't matter in the long run anyway—Pain was too deeply entrenched in the inner workings of sin to be easily removed.
Smuggling, gambling, drug-running, arms sales, prostitution, human-trafficking, extortion, theft, kidnapping, murder—you name the illegal activity and it could probably be traced back to Pain.
Assuming one lived long enough to do so, that is.
The only one to ever really come close in exposing him had been Dr. Tsunade and...that clearly hadn't ended very well, at least not for her.
The bullet had been a personal; the time and place of the attack merely a coincidental expedient.
Pain's will, Pain's justice would soon envelop Konoha like a firestorm and after that...well, Naruto shuddered to think of what would come next. It could literally be anything.
"He's still waiting for you," Itachi whispered suddenly, breaking Naruto from his reverie. "You're going to have to go down there eventually."
Naruto inhaled deeply, releasing the air a moment later in the form of a long, sad sigh and pushed away from the crates. "I know. Its kinda fucked up but, part of me is actually looking forward to it. I keep thinking it'll be the old him this time, but it never is."
"Naruto..."
"He really was different before, Itachi. He may have done evil things, but he himself wasn't—" Naruto stopped himself mid-sentence and shook his head in an effort to regain his composure. "No, this isn't the time for this. I've got a report to deliver."
With that he walked off towards the hidden entrance to the sub-levels, determined to get through his debrief and finally end this terrible day.
Originally, I had planned for this to be a longer chapter, but it works out better when cut in half. I swear the actual yaoi part of this story is coming up soon. I haven't forgotten. XD