Chapter 13 - A Perfect Shot

It was the afternoon after class, and like a wolf tailing an elk, Hana stalked Sarada carefully as she paced through the streets. He was better tracker than she was. Unlike Sarada who only had experience following Bolt, who was only an academy student, Hana spent half a year trying to catch Sasuke Uchiha, of all people, off guard.

Hana hid behind a street light while he watched her. His gaze was chilly and focused. Then he felt something crawl down the back of his shirt, and his eyes lit up like fireworks.

"Ahh! W-what is that?!" Hana blurted while reaching into the back of his shirt.

"A spider," a familiar voice said.

Hana turned around and saw Bolt squatting behind him with an entertained look on his face. "You threw a spider down my shirt?!"

"Stop spazzing out, momma's boy. It's not poisonous."

"That's not the—-" Hana's face got sickly once he realized where the spider was crawling to. "M-my shorts! It's trying to get into my shorts!"

Bolt laughed while pointing a satisfied finger at Hana who began stripping in the middle of the backstreet.

After shaking the adventurous spider out of his trousers, Hana and Bolt continued walking together.

"Hey, I already said I was sorry. You don't have to cry about it," Bolt said with his hands behind head.

Hana sniffed. "I'm not crying... I'm just having an allergic reaction to that spider's bite."

"But I thought you said it didn't bite you-"

"F-forget about it! ...I'm just lucky Sarada didn't notice me freaking out."

"Why are you following her anyway? Don't you two already live together?"

"Yeah, but Sarada stopped going home immediately after class. She ran away a little while ago, so Miss Sakura is getting worried. She asked me to follow her and make sure she isn't going anywhere dangerous."

"Oh~ So you're not just a stalker then. Good to know."

Hana wanted to point out that Sarada had stalked Bolt not too long ago, but he and the blonde came to their destination before he could bring it up. Hana and Bolt ducked into some nearby shrubbery and watched Sarada. She had arrived at the park; a typical place to find academy students after class was over. Not so typical for Sarada who wasn't a fan of childish things. Regardless, she was there, sitting a swing. What's more she was completely alone. No one else was in the park at the moment.

"...why are we in the bushes?" Bolt asked, wondering why he was still there.

"So she doesn't seen us. We can't let our cover be blown."

Bolt made a face. "This is waaaay too shady..."

Hana shushed him. "Someone's coming."

Sarada smiled as another girl joined her on the swing set; one that Hana recognized.

"Ryoma?" he uttered.

"You know that girl?"

"Yeah, but I only met her once. I didn't know she and Sarada hung out like this."

Bolt hummed as he watched the girls lean closer together. "I wonder what they're talking about?"

Suddenly, Bolt and Hana heard footsteps behind them. "Brother? Is that you?"

The two boys dug their heads out of the bushes and looked back. The younger of the Uzumaki siblings was standing behind them.

"Hima..." Bolt muttered while his eyes dimmed.

"H-himawari?" Hana babbled while his cheeks flushed.

The blue haired girl peered at Hana and her brother curiously. "What are two doing in the bushes?"

"We... Uh..." Hana's mind was too scrambled to come up with a plausible excuse.

"We're playing hide-and-seek...! Looks like you found us!" Bolt threw up his hands while congratulating his confused sister. "I guess we need to find a better place to hide next time!"

Bolt was still bitter about the Rasengan incident the happened night before. He didn't have it in him to be 'big brother,' at the moment, so he was just going to avoid his younger sibling at all costs.

He grabbed Hana's collar and started dragging him along. "Come on, momma's boy. Let's go find a new hiding spot!"

"W-wait! Bolt, let go! I still have to-"

"Hana?" said a voice that made Hana's heart sink.

He looked and saw Sarada standing from her swing, looking directly at him and Bolt. He meekly waved.

"Hi, Sarada... Ryoma, it's been a long time," he said to the young Hanimura.

Ryoma smiled awkwardly. "Salutations..."

"Hana...What did I tell you before?" Sarada asked while marching over to the bushes.

"Sarada, there's actually a really good reason for-"

"Save it. I hoped you've had all the fun you could with those feet because I'm going to-"

The sound of heavy grunt, followed by dangling chains echoed from behind Sarada. She looked back and saw that Ryoma was unconscious in some unknown man's grasp. Except, he was not so unknown. Sarada recalled his face from a week ago.

"...you're that guy I fought on the roof!" Sarada exclaimed.

"Good memory, monster girl. It's good to finally meet somebody who wears glasses and isn't a complete dumbass," the man said.

Hana stared blankly. "Mister Onbara..."

Bolt looked at Hana. "You know that guy?"

Before Hana could process an answer, or even what was going on, two figures flickered out in front of Onbara.

"Unhand, Lady Ryoma you heathen!" one of Ryoma's bodyguards barked.

Onbara snorted. "And why would I do that?"

"Because otherwise..." The pair pulled out their weapons. "You'll face the wrath of the Hanimura clan..."

Onbara cupped his chin. "Hmm... Yeah, that sounds like it would suck. Alright. Here."

Onbara casually lobbed Ryoma into the grasp of one of the Hanimuras. He was baffled that Onbara given up so easily. Then he noticed that Ryoma's arms had been slipped out her jacket's sleeves.

Too late did the bodyguards notice the wire tied around Ryoma. Onbara yanked the wire, and Ryoma flew out of the bodyguard's grasp. The jacket remained in his hands, however. A jacket that the second bodyguard noticed had had its inside decorated with miniature explosive tags.

Onbara put up two fingers. "Boom."

An explosion, large enough to make Sarada's dark hair flutter, occurred in the middle of the park. Two charred, smoking bodies laid a few feet away from the point of impact.

"Well, that was easier than I thought it be," Onbara said while reeling Ryoma closer to him. "The Hanimura, the Oza, all of the yakuza clan heads; they all let their guard down way too-"

It was ironic how much of inch Sarada's foot missed Onbara. He backed off a step, and Sarada advanced two. On the second step she jumped up and spun to give her knee some extra "oomph" when she slammed it into Onbara's face, but he blocked it.

He tried reaching for her, but she bounced back quickly. "...you've got one chance to let Ryoma go. If you don't take it... I will destroy you."

Onbara saw the eyes behind her glasses. They were saying "Try me." He chuckled nervously. 'Kids are so scary these days...'

"Sorry, little girl, but I've got orders from the head to fetch your friend and bring her back with me. So I guess you've got no choice but to destroy me," Onbara said with a lax look on his face.

Sarada scowled. She lunged at Onbara with everything she had. The yakuza cockily held out his hand, ready to tag Sarada as soon as she came into his peripheral, but her initial move turned out to be a feint. Sarada jumped onto one of the bars of the swing set, and bounced off it to attack Onbara from an angle.

Once again, he just smirked. He put one foot under the unconscious Ryoma, and kicked her up between him and Sarada. The latter made a face and faltered. It was less than second, but less than a second while all the time Onbara needed. From behind Ryoma, he kicked at Sarada's temple, breaking one of the temples off her glasses in the process, and flinging her toward the other kids before she hit the ground.

"Sarada!" Hana shouted while running up to her.

Bolt and Himawari stood behind the bushes, still in shock.. Hana held Sarada up in his arms. She was unconscious, her glasses had flown off somewhere, and a terrible bruise was on her forehead. Hana glared holes into Onbara who was picking Ryoma up once again.

"Onbara!" he shouted from across the park.

"Hmm? Oh! Look who is~" Onbara sung. "Its been a while, kiddo. How's life treating you?"

Hana gripped Sarada's arm. "...how could you do this? If Miss Beniko knew that you-"

"Don't try to play that card with me, kiddo. Roba does that shit enough, already. I'm a criminal. This is the type of life I live, and the type of work I do. Sorry, but this ain't dinner at the Imperial Majesty."

Hana bit his lip. Then he heard rustling from the bushes, and saw Bolt walk in front of him.

"You bastard... You just think you can do whatever you want..." Bolt growled. "You attack kids and kill people just cause some dumb SOB told you so? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Onbara shrugged. "I just like watching things go 'boom.'"

Bolt snapped. He held out his right hand and weaved his left over it. Chakra began to spiral and eventually took shape. Hana's eyes widened in astonishment. Onbara's widened in shock. When Bolt started charging at him, he instinctively back away.

"You're not getting away! You better believe that!" Bolt pushed the sphere towards Onbara. "Rasen-"

The sphere spiraled out just before impact, shocking Bolt and Hana both. Onbara stopped and exhaled.

"Seriously, what's up with kids these days? All of you are popping out these weird techniques and jutsu like it's nobody's business," he said while massaging his neck. "Aw well..."

He put up two fingers. Bolt knew immediately what that meant, but also knew Onbara hadn't touched him yet. Then he looked down and saw what he was standing on – an explosive tag. Not a miniature either, but a full-sized one that Onbara had slipped onto the ground without Bolt noticing.

"Bolt! Move!" Hana shouted.

Bolt tried to move, but it was too late.

"Boom."

Bolt clamped his eyes shut, and prepared for the end. Then he felt a pair of soft hands shove him. He glanced back in time to see Himawari's desperate face before the explosive ignited underneath her. Bolt was flung forward by the explosion's blast. In Hana's opinion, he was lucky. Being flung forward meant that he didn't have see Himawari rag doll into the air then crumple back down like a sack of bricks. Her eyes were dim and half-closed, and blood leaked from her mouth and nose.

Hana stared at Himawari, his eyes quivering and mouth open. When Bolt finally pushed himself off the ground, he did the same. He crawled over to her side and started shaking her.

"Hima...? Hima... Hima, come on... Wake up, already. If you don't..." Bolt trembled. "W-who's gonna make sure I go to Aunt Hanabi in time? Hima... Hima..."

He kept uttering his sister's name like it was a magic word that would make her stand up again, but her lame expression didn't change. Even when her brother's tears hit her face, her expression didn't change. Onbara watched the scene, and scratched behind his ear.

"Geez... Even I'm starting to feel guilty now... I should hurry up and get out of here."

Suddenly, a sound started to shriek throughout the park. It was like thousand birds chirping together in vehement harmony. Both Bolt and Onbara looked and saw the source of the noise – Hana. In his hand was a volley of crying lightning.

"Mister Onbara... only on one other occasion have I used this technique," Hana hissed. "I used it against a man who I have sworn one day to kill... You are the only other person who I've wanted to kill badly enough to use this..."

Onbara saw the look in Hana's eyes, and he shuddered. Even Sarada's glare wasn't that dark. '...are you telling me there are kids with eyes like that?'

Hana sprinted at Onbara at a break-neck pace. He was so fast that Onbara knew he wouldn't be able to tag him. So he reflexively dove toward the swings to avoid Hana's technique, but the young Fujikaze wasn't going to let him go.

"Windmill Style: Windmill Step!"

Hana disappeared then reappeared behind Onbara on the other side of the swing set.

Onbara cringed. 'Shit!'

Hana thrust his cackling hand. "Chidori!"

Lightning danced, bouncing off the swing set's metal bars and making the chains jitter. Bolt put up his hand to shield his eyes. When the lightning died down, he looked toward the swing set again and his eyes shook in disbelief.

Hana had missed. Steam rose from the metal bar he had struck instead of Onbara's back. The dark haired boy couldn't even look up. He was too ashamed. Onbara turned around and looked at him, a empathetic look on his face. Then he sighed.

He socked Hana's chin up with his knee, then kicked him away. "...too bad, kiddo. And that was a perfect shot too." Onbara showed Hana his back again. "...if you think not killing was the 'right thing to do,' then you're fooling yourself. I'm not gonna turn around and become a decent guy, Hana. …this ain't that type of story."

As Onbara took a step forward, three of the village's chunin flickered into the park. "Stop right there, you! Put down that girl!"

Onbara threw Ryoma over his shoulder and put up two fingers. "Sorry, but I'm already late enough as it is."

In a puff of smoke, he teleported out of the park, taking Ryoma with him. One of the chunin was a sensor type who tried following his trail, while the other two tended to the wounded kids in the park.

"I'm fine," Hana said without moving from the ground. "Go make sure the girls are okay. They're the ones who are really hurt."

The second chunin was a bit dumbfounded by Hana's response, but nonetheless went to check on Sarada. Bolt stood over his sister while the third chunin started healing her the best she could.

The blonde clenched his fist almost to the point that his fingers went numb. "...how did you miss? You had him. ...I saw it! You had him!" Bolt glared at Hana, tears still running down his face. "How the hell did you miss?!"

The chunin were unnerved by Bolt's outburst, but continued working. Hana simply laid on his back, and gazed the cloudless sky.

He sighed heavily. 'Dammit...'

When Onbara arrived at the abandoned casino, he found Roba waiting for him. He was pulling the arm of slot machine down, trying to get Straight Sevens. Since the casino was abandoned, Roba could play as much as he wanted with zero penalty. Of course, for the same reason, playing held no reward either. A flurry of useless coins were sprinkled at the bottom of Roba's stool.

"Roba, I'm back."

"You're also late. It really took you that long to capture one little gir-"

Onbara planted his elbow in the back of Roba's head. "It was more complicated than that, dumbass. New distractions kept popping up. It was way tougher than your piss-easy job."

"Piss-easy? Have you forgotten what my job was?"

"You mean fighting with a member of the Kurotsurugi on your side? That's like having a tag-team fight with the Hokage as your partner."

Onbara strolled over to a blackjack table and set Ryoma down on top of it. "So... how was she?"

"You mean Sawako?"

"No, I mean the Fifth Hokage. Of course I mean Sawako!" Onbara shook his head while retrieving a cable from underneath the table.

Roba pulled the lever. "She's every nasty rumor you've ever heard about the Kurotsurugi and more. There are probably only a handful of jonin in this village that capable of matching her."

Onbara looked back in the middle of tying Ryoma up. "Are you serious? She's thatgood?"

The machine's slots all landed on sevens. Coins showered from the machine so much, they bounced off Roba's knees.

"...I'm probably going to have nightmares for a couple days," Roba said while staring at his earnings.

Onbara finished tying Ryoma up, then slapped his hands at a job well done.

"So where's Sawako now?" he asked.

"She's gone to finish the last part of her job, and the last part of the boss's plan."

Onbara sighed. "So this is it, huh?"

"Yep. After today, the Yamabe clan will rule the yakuza." Roba stood and pushed up his glasses. "All we need now is for Yusano Hanimura to die."