Aoba deflected the shuriken, and spun away to jump from the rooftop. His opponent was annoyingly accurate with their shuriken, and knocking them away was getting to be annoying. Naruto was wrapped up in his own battle, trying to close the gap and go for hand-to-hand combat to end it, but his opponent was quick with their shuriken as well. The ninja danced across the rooftops like warring lightning bolts, back and forth and back until the shuriken and kunai were exhausted.

Aoba's masked opponent closed in on him, but Aoba's eyes left the man's intentions and techniques wide open, and Aoba easily pinned him against the wall. "Who paid you? Chono?"

"Chono got iced two years ago, tried to double cross Shinozaki; Kimura's been taking care of anyone who was in the family."

"So Kimura, then..." Aoba saw the tell-tale change of color that meant he'd hit on the truth. He didn't even have to read the man's mind.

"I just go where the money is, Yamashiro. You should blame Shinozaki for putting the word out he bagged you." Aoba slugged the mercenary across the mouth, and then again when they began to laugh.

"I have more important things to deal with at the moment," Aoba said in a low voice. He held his finger up, and it began to glow and flicker with fire chakra. "So if you survive this, tell Kimura the crow has his eye on him. Erupting Burning Finger!" With a thrust, the finger buried itself in the mercenary's gut, the hired hitman starting to glow with the same chakra as the finger before he was blown through the wall in an explosion.

Meanwhile, Naruto had just managed to pin his mystery ninja. They had trapped his clone in a purple column of light, making it scream in agony. That was when the real Naruto had made his move, springing from hiding to pin the ninja into a shadow in the alley; and at that moment the explosion rocked him, and his hand slipped down to their chest. Naruto blinked, realizing the slim ninja was too fit to have flabby pectoral muscles. He backpedaled away hurriedly, arms windmilling about. "Y- y- you're a girl!"

"Oh really, what gave it away? Was it when you groped my boo-" The young woman was cut short, as Aoba suddenly appeared in the alley with Naruto. Crap, it's two on one now! She tried to make a break for it, but was cut off by the Konoha duo. "You'll never get me to talk!"

"You won't have to," Aoba said. Raising his hand to the young girl, he delved into her mind. What's this? Fuma clan? Yes, there! Contact with Kimura- no, now she's forcing me out! Dammit! Aoba shook his head. The kunoichi was still standing in the alley, but visibly nervous now.

"No, no! This- just when I think I've finally got it made as a ninja... Arashi and all the others..."

The name rings a bell in the back of Naruto's mind. "Wait... Sasame?"

"Yes, it's me." Sasame folds up her mask, revealing her face.

"What are you doing all the way out here?"

"I had a deep cover mission to assassinate a crime boss, but I guess since we're enemy ninja now..."

"We're not, actually." Stunned, Sasame and Naruto turned to Aoba. "I was once on a deep cover mission involving the same man. However... you'll need to come with us, at least temporarily. There are some things we're going to need to discuss."

"Ah- yes, sir..." Sasame bowed her head, and Aoba kept his eye on her as they exited the alley.

~oOo~

In the middle of the night, the three found an inn to stay at. The last room available was a small room with only a bed, small desk and chair. Being gentlemen, Naruto and Aoba let Sasame take the bed, and from there she explained how she'd come all the way from the Land of Sound to the Land of Clouds. Naruto was amazed by her growth as a ninja, and trying not to notice her growth as a female, which he did by checking Aoba's reactions to the orange-haired ninja's tale. He seemed at ease as Sasame related her scuffles with bandits on the way, and very interested when she described Kimura and his main hideout.

"So his warehouse and underground complex are only a few kilometers away from the bay?"

"Yes," Sasame nodded. "Ryuki and I were acting as lookouts when you two wandered by. But..." Sasame looked down at her hands before continuing. "There are far more powerful ninja than he and I are acting as guards inside, there's a group of eleven that work in rotating shifts of three, and one as Kimura's bodyguard."

"Well if you're talking about powerful ninja, you don't need to worry there! You've got me and Aoba on your side." Naruto did the Nice Guy pose, and Sasame smiled a little bit.

"In any case," Said Aoba after a few moments of silence, "We're going to need to sleep on this for a little bit. We can't be too hasty." Naruto and Sasame nodded in deference to Aoba's judgement, and got settled in on the floor and the bed. Aoba switched the light off, and before he knew it Naruto's snores and Sasame's slow, even breaths were filling the air. Aoba gazed at the floor, not asleep but lost in his thoughts.

"Tiger, Boar, Ram! Got it, Itachi?"

"Mm-hmm, I'll give it another try." Flashing through the hand signs, Itachi called out, "Scattering Thousand Crows Jutsu!" The birds burst into being around the teen ANBU, and spiraled into the sky, freewheeling and diving like mad almost as if they were avian fractals.

"Excellent! Can't believe I just taught this to you yesterday; but I suppose I should suspect no less from a genius like you!"

"Or it could just be I copied it using my Sharingan," Itachi said with a smirk, as he and Aoba chuckled.

"Now, a jutsu you'll be wanting to use with that is the Crow Clone Jutsu..."

Aoba sighed as the memory shifted.

The crows swarmed the battlefield, the fires of fallen shinobi dotting the twilit landscape. Aoba was keeping pace in his hand-to-hand duel with the Suna ninja, but his emotions were running over and his Daiyagan was going out of control. He felt the beams activate and stream from his eyes, crackling rays of yellow-white lightning on moment and tight beams of crimson flames the next, the unfortunate Suna nin cunvulsing and screaming in pain as Aoba's terrible gaze swept over the scene, his roar seeming to come from nowhere and all places at once. In the edge of his vision he saw two Suna nin closing on Itachi from behind. He incinerated a frying pan sized hole through on with his Daiyagan's eye beam, and made it in time to stave off the other with taijutsu. For a moment it was a close contest with sharp punches and sweeping kicks, but after Aoba adjusted to their intentions with the Daiyagan he was able to land a swift chop to their neck that downed them.

"I owe you for that one, Aoba!"

"Least I could do!" The elder ANBU kept up his defense of his younger partner's blind spot, deflecting kunai and dueling against the relentless Suna nin. "Oh no, I almost forgot! Where's Kakashi?"

"He's back at the pass! There were too many; he said to keep going!"

"No, he's- he's a member of the team, he's family! We're going back for him!" Removing his mask for a moment, Aoba let loose an enormous red beam of fire with his Daiyagan, consuming several Suna nin whole as he floated above the battlefield.

Aoba adjusted his chin as he rested it in his palm and he reminisced of the last time he saw Itachi.

"I can't do that..."

"No, you can, Aoba. It's a lighter burden than I'll be bearing."

"But..."

"I know what true family is now... his eyes will be yours."

"But what will he say...?"

"...Nothing." Itachi turned away. "This will be our last meeting, Aoba-sempai. I must become the night; the far-away stars to guide Sasuke on his path of revenge..." Aoba was startled out of his reverie by a knock on the door. This late at night? There was a stronger knock, and then the door was busted down as five masked ninja sprang into the room. Aoba hopped up from the chair, and called out, "Naruto, Sasame! Wake up!" The sheet flew up from the bed to cover one of the ninja, and Sasame wrapped it around their neck and spun, wringing them to the ground in a whirl. Two of the ninja leapt for Aoba, and he dodged their thrusting kicks and spinning backhands and needling punches, as he saw Naruto engage a ninja with his peripheral vision. Landing simultaneous punches to his attacker's stomachs, Aoba wove his blocks around the ninja assassin's punches until he grabbed their necks and forced their skulls together with a kiai. "Let's get out to the street, there's not enough room in here!" Aoba broke the window and dove through down to the pavement below, doing a somersault in mid-air before landing on one knee.

Looking up, Sasame and Naruto were leaping through, closely followed by the ninja. Aoba leapt up and caught one with a spinning side kick before using the momentum to shift his weight and start running on the wall to the roof of the inn. Hearing someone coming up behind him, he glanced back to find it was one of the assassins! He threw a kunai, but it was easily deflected. Up top, Aoba prepared and slung another kunai at the assassin, but they used a substitution jutsu and popped up behind him, dropping into a deep stance. Between his sunglasses and the night and their black clothing the ninja was practically invisible to Aoba, except for his Daiyagan. It showed them red and with hints of yellow, indicating htey were nervous and a little cautious. As they should be. Turning it up a notch, Aoba responded with a fury of his own, closely following the ninja's rhythm and striking with hard counter attacks.

"Sp- spare me, please!" The ninja cried, stumbling backwards.

"The crow shows no mercy to the dead," Aoba replied, thrusting his kunai into them with a kiai. He twisted it in and yanked it out, whipping around to see who had landed on the roof behind him. It was Naruto and Sasame!

"Aoba-san! You're alright!" Naruto called.

Aoba nodded, and looked to the blond young man and the orange-haired girl. "Let's head to the warehouse, as now that they know I'm back we'll have no rest until this is taken care of. Sasame, could you lead the way?"

"Alright!" Surveying the skyline for a moment, Sasame turned North and sprang away. The warehouse became clearly visible after not long, its large outline taking up a whole block. Sasame stopped them, holding up her hand. "They've probably got new guards, so be ready..."

Aoba looked around the chimney, and could make out two shapes silhouetted by the lights over the door. "You're right about the guards," Aoba confirmed. "I'll cause a distraction, then if any more come out you two deal with them and I'll slip inside-"

"By yourself?" Sasame and Naruto asked.

"Heh, thanks for the support, but... this is my problem. I'm sorry you two got dragged into it." Naruto and Sasame nodded gravely, and Aoba stepped around. Making five quick hand signs, he then made a triangle shape with his thumbs and pointer fingers, gazing through it and focusing on one of the guards with his Daiyagan. "Deranged Nirvana Jutsu: Path of Rage!" The long range genjutsu took effect, and the targeted guard began to argue with his partner, getting more and more aggressive until they were brawling. Then Aoba signaled for Sasame and Naruto to move in while he quickly cast his Scattering Thousand Crows Jutsu and made a Crow Clone. As the sound from the altercation grew, two more guards came out, and were immediately beset by Aoba's crows. While the melee escalated and Naruto began to gain the upper hand for himself and Sasame, Aoba's clone slipped in.

It was quickly spotted by two men up on a cat walk, but Aoba was not concerned with them. He had briefly been able too see the fear of a man in what he guessed what the underground meeting room when he had used the Deranged Nirvana Jutsu. The clone led the men on a lap around the inside of the warehouse, swinging around pipes and air vents as it deflected kunai, running on walls and upside down on the ceiling as it sped away. There, over by that wall! The clone was briefly caught up in a scuffle with one of the men, a brute with thick arms and a square jaw. But it was easy for the Crow Clone to read his intentions, and with a sly kick to his ankle the man was sent tumbling from the pipe he and the clone were fighting on. Darting away, Aoba went down to the door and ran inside, flying down the stairs and barely getting his footing and the landings before launching himself down the next flight. Moments later he came to another door and paused, weaving the hand signs for a jutsu: "Fireball Jutsu!" The globe of flame roared up the flight of stairs, bursting against the landing. Trying the door, Aoba found it locked. He activated his Daiyagan and used the fiery red beam to draw a circle, which he punched out and then opened the door from the inside. Looking around, he saw the chakra and alarm of several men down the hallway and around the corner in a room, and raced off to meet them.

He burst through the door, and the shocked men immediately turned to him. "Yamashiro!" Exclaimed a man with a graying goatee and hair as he stood to point. "How is this possible, we sent five assassins!"

"The numbers of the assassins you have at your disposal matters little to me, and will even less in just a moment."

"Such arrogance from a traitor! The nerve you have to even show your face at my headquarters is astounding." The man shook his head. "But you are right, the number of assassins available to me matters little, because the ones in this room are more than capable enough to do the job!"

"Wrong again, Kimura. They will never be able to soar with the crow."

"That's enough, after him!" Three assassins dropped their cloaking and threw shuriken straight into the clone's chest, and it began to laugh as it dispersed into crows. They flew around in the room, diving for the heads of the merchants and bodyguards.

Back outside, Sasame and Naruto had dealt with the door guards, and were back on the rooftop with Aoba. "Is this the actual you...?" Sasame asked.

"Yes, it's the real me." Aoba answered. "Now start heading back to the inn, I don't want you two very close for this..."

"A big fire style jutsu, then?" Asked Naruto. Aoba nodded, and in turn Naruto nodded and took off with Sasame. Waiting until he could hear them conversing as they leapt away, Aoba hopped onto the chimney and jumped up as high as he could, to get all of the warehouse in his view as was possible.

"AMATERASU!"