Chapter 12 - Party Crashers
Everyone in the street knew better than to make eye contact. Reflexively, they leered to the right or left when Saizo Oza approached. The only people who stuck close to the middle-aged yakuza were the two subordinates at his back.
The male subordinate grunted. "I still can't believe this...Why are we all gathering because some brat asked us too? Especially a brat from the Hanimura clan! I bet his mom this wipes his nose."
"Stop complaining, Tsuno. We're going because the boss says so," the female subordinate said. She brushed away some of her lengthy locks. "And cut it out with the 'his mom' jokes. Shojiro Hanimura's mother died seven years ago. Boss doesn't need you starting a feud by doing what you do best – saying something stupid."
Tsuno glared at the female attendant through his shaded glasses. "Y'know, Eda... Sometimes you can be a real bi-"
Tsuno's future slur was interrupted when a loose pedestrian bumped shoulders with him. Redirecting his enmity from Eda to the poor passerby, Tsuno stopped him.
"Hey, you're just gonna walk off after running into somebody?" Tsuno asked while clutching the stranger's shoulder.
The stranger looked back, more annoyed then intimidated. "It's not my fault you guys are hogging the road to yourselves. Look, I'm in a rush, so can you-"
Tsuno snatched the man's collar, and reeled him in so close he could feel the breathe coming from Tsuno's nose. The other pedestrians on the street watched the scene in horror.
Eda just sighed. 'Why does he always have to make a scene...?'
"Listen closely, jackass, cause it seems you aren't aware of who it is you're dealing with. It'll only take me ten minutes to make you and everyone you've ever made eye contact with vanish into thin air..."
The man's eyes widened as he slowly came to realize his current situation. "W-wait... I'm sorry! I don't want any trouble! I'm just in a rush to meet a friend! He just got out of the hospital and-"
"Like I give a damn about your excuses! I'm going to-"
"Tsuno. That's enough," Saizo said while glancing back. "You're going to make us late. Just let him go and hurry up."
Tsuno bit his lip and did as his boss commanded. He pushed the man aside and followed Saizo and Eda while clicking his tongue. After watching them turn a corner, the man dusted himself off, and strolled into a nearby alley while whistling an offbeat tune.
"How did it go, Onbara?" a figure in the alley asked.
"Slipping normal-sized explosive tags onto people without getting noticed is a lot harder than slipping miniatures," he said while sitting on an abandoned refrigerator.
"Well, good job. Now we can proceed with the plan."
The figure came out of the shadows, and Onbara put his hands up in horror. "Ugh! Roba, go back in the dark! I don't wanna see that!"
Roba glared intensely at his partner. Ever since he had gotten out of the hospital, Onbara had been overacting about Roba's face. It didn't even look that bad to be honest; just a few bandages here and there, but it just wouldn't be like old times if Onbara wasn't having fun at Roba's expense.
"If you two are done, I'd like to get to work," a voice from above said.
The two yakuza looked up and saw a woman hanging upside-down from a flight of exterior stairs. Her long, shaggy hair dangled down. She also had gloomy eyes, and a half-smile seemed to permanently rest on her face. It wasn't hard to tell she from outside the city.
Onbara snorted. "Somebody's in a rush. I don't know why you're crunching for time. Your target isn't gonna be at the summit meeting."
"But his blood is. And the scent of blood always lures out bigger game..."
Sawako smiled and licked her lips. Roba shuddered. The goosebumps on Onbara's neck showed that he shared his partner's sentiments. Sawako was an rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist, and member of the notorious assassin's guild Kurotsurugi. In the past decade, the Kurotsurugi have already built up a level of infamy to compete with the Akatsuki during their early mercenary days. Onbara didn't know how his boss got the number of such a group, nor did he want to know.
Sawako dropped down between the two. "I have a schedule to keep, so we need to get started. Roba, you're with me. And Onbara... you already know what to do, don't you?"
Onbara smirked. "Ma'am, yes ma'am."
Shojiro could faintly see his reflection while gazing out the window. The window he stared out of was the height and width of the entire room the yakuza summit meeting was being held in; the most spacious room on the 6th floor of the Tengoku Hotel. Shojiro sighed because he knew that Ryoma had likely left the estate already. Despite his best efforts, she could still get away from home whenever she pleased. All he could do was assign a few members of the clan to watch over her when she did.
'Ryoma... wherever you are, just be safe...' he thought.
Shojiro saw Fudai's large reflection. "Young Master, everyone is ready."
"I see."
Shojiro took a deep breathe, then spun around. Five of the seven most powerful men in the yakuza were all seated before him in wingback chairs – Gyuichi Sakata of the Sakata clan, Takuma Handa of the Handa clan, Saburo Kato of the Kato clan, Jii Shimamura of the Shimamura clan and Saizo Oza of the Oza clan. Each clan head had two bodyguards standing over their chair, and every set of eyes in the room were focused on Shojiro. Despite the heavy atmosphere, Shojiro took a few confident steps forward and met the glares.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am most welcome to see you all here," Shojiro said. "Well... most of you. It seems that one guest chose not to attend."
Gyuichi hummed. "Minoru Yamabe of the Yambe clan. That man always hated gatherings. Especially pointless ones."
Some of the other men in the room laughed. Not even a full twenty seconds and shots had already been fired.
Shojiro sighed."It seems my credibility is still too low for me to be taken seriously."
Jii snorted. "What? You're surprised? You're not your father, boy. In our eyes, you're just so well-groomed brat who's swinging out of his league."
Fudai glared at Jii, and Jii's bodyguards glared right back. Shojiro gave Fudai a look that said "Let it go." At this rate, nothing was going to be resolved.
Gyuichi worked his cane. "If all you gathered us for was to show us how much of a big boy you are, then we might as well leave."
"Then go right ahead," Shojiro said with enough coldness to freeze the room. His tone was so chilly goosebumps grew on the back of Gyuichi's neck.
One of Gyuichi's subordinate shot Shojiro a look. "Watch your tone, brat."
"Watch my tone?" Shojiro smiled. He chuckled lightly. "Since this seems to be going nowhere, I'll just be frank. None of your five are in a position to be looking down on me. I am but a child; true. Yet, all of you came to a meeting that a child like myself proposed. And why is that?" The room stayed silent. "...it's because the 'bird' you are all so eager to get your hands on is in possession of the Hanimura clan. Out of everyone in this room, this child standing before you is the person closest to it. Understand, I held this meeting not to prove myself to you. I did it to be fair."
The room was dead quiet. The intimidating glares Shojiro received earlier were now bewildered gazes. Even Fudai was shocked by his young master's speech. The silence was eventually broken by clapping.
Saizo Oza gave a slow applause for the young Hanimura. "Impressive~ Sending chills up people's spines like it's nothing. Just like Yusano was fifteen years ago." Saizo folded his legs and arms. "Alright, kid. You've got our attention. Now, what are you going to do with it?"
Shojiro gave Saizo a brief smile. When his serious demeanor returned he said "I called for this meeting to discuss two things. The latter of which involves the 'bird.' Your responses to my first topic will determine what information about the 'bird' you will receive. Understood?" The proud yakuza leaders gave no response. "Right. Now, some of you may know about this already. Nearly a week ago, my father went to have a private meeting with the Hokage."
Like Shojiro had predicted, most of the clan heads already knew or at least heard about his father breaking the Three Laws. The two hold outs were Takuma Handa and Saburo Kato.
"Yusano did what?! Is he insane?!" Takuma shouted "Even if he just went to drink tea, that dumb bastard should know better! The Handa clan will have his head for this!"
"Now, hold on a second, Takuma. Let's let the boy finish," Saizo advised.
"Finish? He's already done!" Saburo declared. "The Hanimura's can't be trusted anymore. They always thought they were above the other clans, and now we know that their leader's been chatting it up with the Hokage behind our backs! Your clan's days are numbered, boy."
Shojiro blinked. "Right... If that is the case, then we should end the meeting right here. Father would not want me sharing information about the 'bird' anyway."
The awkward tension from before returned. The yakuza leaders were shooting fury at the young man standing before them. He bent them to his will so easily using only a few words, and his calm expression never left his face while he did so. In fact, he looked like he was having fun. He really was the spitting image of Yusano Hanimura. The only person not enraged was Saizo who was too busy being amused.
Gyuichi squeezed his cane. "...fine. Depending on your information involving the 'bird,' we'll let Yusano's breaking of the Three Laws slide. Of course, I doubt you'll tell us anything we don't already know. Unless you plan on giving us the 'bird'..."
"...I understand. Before we get to that, I would like to discuss something personal. It involves my younger sister. Due to her involvement with the 'bird,' she has been assaulted for information concerning it. I want that to end. More importantly, I want to know who's responsible for hurting my sister."
Just as the atmosphere started to get heavy again, Shojiro's felt his chest vibrate. "...I'm sorry. I will be back with you all in moment, so just..."
Embarrassed, Shojiro dug his cellphone out of his blazer and turned around to answer it. Before hitting answer, Shojiro dropped it. He looked down and saw the screen had cracked and the battery had fallen out. Shojiro made a tired sound as he bent down to pick it up. The yakuza, including Fudai, all watched the scene in astonishment. They couldn't tell whether the boy in front of them was genius or just an idiot.
"Hey, boss. Was Yusano Hanimura like this too?" Eda asked Saizo quietly.
"Heh. Seems like Yusano's brat got a bit of his late wife's personality," Saizo said. "Well.. maybe this is better for the Hanimura clan's future."
Shojiro finally put his phone back together. As soon as he turned the power on, it started ringing again. This time he answered it.
"Hello? This is Shojiro Hanimura speaking."
"Yo~ Shojiro~ Nice to finally speak with you."
"...who is this?"
"I'm the guy responsible for putting the hurt on your little sis. I heard you were looking for me."
Shojiro's eyes widened. "Who are you?! Where are you?!"
"Look out the window."
Shojiro did. Standing on top of the building directly in front of the Tengoku Hotel was man in gentleman's vest. He was looking directly at Shojiro with a smile on his face and a cellphone to his ear. The other yakuza were also curious about this mystery man that Shojiro was looking at. One of them even recognized him.
"Hey... that's the guy who bumped into me in the street earlier. What's he doing on that roof?" Tsuno asked.
Eda grabbed Tsuno's shoulder. "Will you just calm down for one... Hey... what's this thing stuck to the inside of your collar."
"Uh... its a tag isn't it?"
"Not like any tag I've..." Eda's eyes widened as she came to a realization. "Tsuno! Take off your coat!"
"What? Why?"
"Just hurry up and-"
Onbara held up two fingers. "Boom."
Five simultaneous explosions occurred. Even from this distance, Onbara could feel the vibration. Smoke now clouded the room to the point that Onbara couldn't see from outside. Before the summit meeting took place, he had been instructed by Sawako to stick a normal-sized explosive tag on each of one of the subordinates traveling with the Sakata, Handa, Kato, Shimamura and Oza leaders. The plan had worked perfectly.
Onbara had hung up before igniting the explosion. He had no desire to go deaf. Also, he doubted Shojiro was in the mood to talk right now. What happened in the hotel now was Roba and Sawako's responsibility. Honestly, he was a bit little bit bored now.
He scratched his chin. "I guess I'll go handle that other thing then."
Onbara gazed at the smoky room one more time before putting up two fingers and teleporting away.
Sprinklers activated, but they did little to clear the smoke fogging up the room. Eda coughed profusely while pushing herself off the ground. Tsuno did the same, still baffled by what had just occurred. His coat was gone – blown to smithereens. His shaded glasses were also gone. Though, considering how smoky the room was, that might have actually been a good thing.
"Eda... are you alright?" he asked.
She coughed. "Y-yeah... I'll manage. Hey... where's Uncle?!"
"I'm here," Saizo announced from behind them. "And I told you two not to call me uncle around other yakuza. It'll corrupt our image."
The two looked back and saw their boss laying against a wall. He had taken off his jacket and was wrapping it around a terrible burn on his arm.
"Uncle! What happened to your arm?!" Tsuno blurted.
Saizo rolled his eyes. "What the hell do you think happened, Tsuno? Save the dumb comments for later. Go and check on the other clan heads."
Tsuno looked and Eda shared a look. Eventually, they nodded to their boss and went to check for the others. Thanks to Eda noticing the explosive tag tucked in Tsuno's coat, she was able to yank it off him before the proceeding explosion took them and their boss out. The others were not so lucky. Gyuichi Sakata, Takuma Handa, Saburo Kato, Jii Shimamura, and all of their men were dead; caught in the explosions the Oza had just barely avoided.
"There's only one guy who could have done this: Kamikaze Onbara," Eda summarized.
"Bastard... I can't believe I didn't notice him when we met in the street!" Tsuno exclaimed.
"Forget about it. We need to get Unc- I mean, the boss out of here. Before that, though, we need to find that Hanimura kid."
"Why? If he got killed in the explosion that his fault."
"Think for a second, you idiot! What will it look like if during a meeting with the yakuza leaders, all of the leaders and their subordinates got killed except for us?"
"...oh. Yeah, that'd be pretty shady."
"Exactly. So let's-"
Eda was interrupted by the room's doors bursting open. "What the hell is going on in here?"
Some of the smoke fumed out into the hall, and Eda and Tsuno could see the two men who entered more clearly. They were obviously yakuza. Of which affiliation, Eda and Tsuno were not so sure.
"Who started that explosion? Was it you two?" one of the man drilled.
"No. Those two are clear," Shojiro said while coming out of the smoke with Fudai.
The two men bowed. Their alliance had been made clear.
"Master Shojiro, do you know who's responsible for this?" another one of the men asked.
"It's pretty damn obvious, isn't it?" Eda asked. "Who was the one clan head that didn't show up? Who's the only guy who can benefit from this? Which clan is Kamikaze Onbara affiliated with?"
"...the Yamabe."
"Bingo."
Shojiro sharpened his gaze. "If Minoru Yambe is responsible, I will personally make sure he pays. Right now, however, we need to minimize damages. You two – get together with security and scan the building. Do not leave a single floor unchecked."
The two men nodded. As they turned to leave, a myriad of kunai bombarded them from the hall. When the two men hit the floor, the kunai retracted and flew back into the hallway. Shojiro, Fudai, Eda and Tsuno all backed away into the smoke.
"Who was that?! Reveal yourself!" Shojiro commanded.
A feminine voice laughed. "I just love men who give orders. It makes it so much more fun to break."
A woman strolled into the wide door frame. She had black shaggy hair that extended all the way to her exposed midriff. Her eyes were gloomy and had permanent shadows underneath them. The woman's most stand out trait had to be her half smile. It was half hearted, but also sincere, and it never went away.
"Shojiro Hanimura, my name is Sawako... and I have come for you," the woman said possessively.
"...you're with the Yambe clan aren't you?"
"I'm not with them. I'm just on their payroll. More specifically, their boss's payroll. He paid some big bucks to get a member of the Kurotsurugi to do his dirty work."
Everyone's eyes trembled.
"D-did she just say... Kurotsurugi?" Tsuno asked Eda.
"If she did... we're about to end up like those guys on the floor."
Sawako snickered. "Don't worry. What happened to those two wasn't my handiwork. It was his." On cue, a bespectacled man wearing a tunic with loose sleeves walked into the room. "Meet Roba. He'll be my little helper during this party crashing."
Roba raised his arms. From his sleeves came several kunai that danced in the air above him.
"Young Master, you should-"
"No, Fudai. I will not run," Shojiro said. "They would catch us easily should we show our backs Right now, we're dealing with the Kurotsurugi. If we wish to live, we must fight!"
Shojiro threw away his blazer. Then he made the hand signs Tiger → Hare → Ox → Bird.
"Wind Style: Streaming Gust Jutsu!"
Near the ceiling, the eye of some storm had emerged. A gale of wind started to gather, and the smoke in the room began to flow upward and swirl around the eye like a black hurricane. Then the eye adjusted its trajectory and blasted the smoke toward Sawako and Roba. Roba moved out of the way, but Sawako just smiled as the smoke rushed past her and into the hall.
"Using a wind jutsu to clear the smoke. Handsome, assertive and clever I see..." Sawako licked her lips. "You are going to make a fine meal, Shojiro..."