"An SOS from Tokyo? But the only agents in Tokyo are me and the Akatsuki….wait a sec…Akatsuki?! And the signal is close to where the Mangekyou`s main headquarters is located…SHIT SHIT!"
Sakura took exactly 3 minutes to take her agent clothes and be ready. If Akatsuki encountered troubles in Tokyo it was probably not ordinary killers or mafia. And not ordinary meant Lorane and she knew what Lorane was after.
She was out of the house in a second, already dialing Orochimaru`s private number.
That was bad.
CHAPTER 8
11 a.m Japan, Tokyo
"Neji, are you able to locate the bastards?"
"Yes, you have three of them in the red tall building that is the closest to you and Ten Ten. It is the Shiseido Ginza building. The other two are heading north."
That morning Neji, Ten Ten and Naruto got an emergency call from Itachi, telling them that they have some information about a possible murder attempt in Tokyo, but they were not able to discover the identity of the killers, nor if they truly belonged to Lorane. According to Itachi, the Akatsuki were able to catch a Stealth aircraft on their special designed infra-red search and track system, that has landed near Tokyo the day before and it was not a military plane.
There were five men that got off the plane, all wearing black assassin outfits and masks, which made them impossible to be identified in the Criminal Records Information System.
Also, a quick look told Itachi that they didn't seem to belong to Lorane, but then again, they were really good in concealing their identities. The said suspects got in a big black van and drove to Shinjuku, the major commercial and administrative centre, located in Tokyo Metropolis, where they managed to jam Akatsuki`s 5.115 MHz. M-Code GPS signal.
And if a group of five killers in Shinjuku, where the busiest train station in the world was, as well as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, was not already bad enough, the fact that Uchiha`s Mangekyou headquarters was also located there made it a high level danger alert. So as soon as Itachi has given the signal to his agents, Naruto, Ten Ten and Neji had spent the entire night trying in vain to locate the said van in Tokyo. Only in the morning they got a satellite printed copy of a back van that had a fake car plate number, somewhere near Shiseido building, from the Sound (Itachi was sure that was going to piss off Tobirama really bad). That was the reason why Ten Ten and Naruto were waiting in their own armored bulletproof Infiniti QX56 SUV, for Neji to confirm the position of the suspects and give them the signal.
"North? Fuck they are heading to the Teme`s corporation."
"We do not know for sure, remember we aren't able to tell if they are Lorane or not. There are three more buildings till they reach the Mangekyou`s HQ."
"Neji, keep an eye on the other two and if they try something funny stop them. Naruto and I will take care of the other three."
In the meantime, Neji was on a nearby roof top of a high building, that provided him with a better view on the said buildings and also he was able to keep a better eye on Naruto and Ten Ten. He was spying them using his high tech spyglass that had the same principle as a Catadioptric telescope, consisting in a specific combination of shaped mirrors and lenses to form an image with an overall greater degree of error correction than their all lens or mirror counterparts, with a consequently wider aberration free field of view. The short focal length system provided a greater optical power, enabling Neji to have a better view.
"Ok, try not to kill them, we need at least one alive for interrogation. And Ten Ten, you and Naruto both take care. They are probably armed."
"Leave them to us. You make sure the others do not get close to Mangekyou."
"Understood. I'm hanging up."
"I am counting on you, Neji…Naruto move your ass and let's go and get the motherfuckers. Neji said they are somewhere in between the fifth and the sixth floor."
"Just a sec Tennie, I will access the other network and see if I can get a closer satellite view…damn there are so many interferences around here"
"Hm…probably because of the many radio aerials and paraboloids. I will download the building's plan into our phones and see what floors are the ones that Neji mentioned…ok, I have it! Naruto are you ready"
"Almost there, 20 more seconds… I see them on the GPS, they are on the sixth floor, believe it!"
"Finally, get your in-ear nano receiver and c'mon, we cannot afford to waste anymore time."
"Yeah, do not let Neji wait too much, man is he impatient."
"Heh…tell me about it."
Using the satellite connection, Naruto was able to fully locate the assassins on the sixth floor of Shiseido Ginza. Fully dressed in their own agent suits, Ten Ten and Naruto searched for a back entrance in the building. It was not like they could go and parade on the main entrance, successfully attracting everyone's attention.
That was an emergency and they had to be as discreet as possible. Not to mention it was morning, when all the people would see them, making the assassins tracking even more difficult.
They managed to find a back door that according to the map, was leading straight to the basement. "Seems that this is the only way in, without announcing everyone we got in and prepare the red carpet for us." Ten Ten was keeping an eye on the GPS and from what she could see, their targets were stuck on the sixth floor.
Meanwhile, Naruto tried the little green door's lock and he was not surprised to find out it was locked. Go figure. "Damn this shit is locked. I cannot force this lock with a senbon without breaking it, is too small. I need to blow it up."
"Are you nuts Naruto? You cannot blow up an iron door, in broad daylight in Tokyo nonetheless. It is like announcing everyone we are here. Back off, I will handle it." If there was someone that was a specialist in weapons it was Ten Ten. She had a proper device for every situation and not only that, but she was also good in predicting what was the best equipment required during a mission.
Not to mention her partners, usually men, were too loud and always managed to attract unwanted attention on them. They didn't seem to know the meaning of being subtle and discreet. So Ten Ten took a red encrusted Chinese hair stick from one of her famous buns, with a retractable small sharp needle at the end and tried the lock, successfully breaking it in no time.
"After you little man."
"PUH….show off." Naruto was really pissed when people didn't let him handle the situation as he wanted. He was loud and straightforward and jumped right in the middle of the fray, without thinking beforehand. The silent approach was cramping his style.
After pushing the door open, the two Akatsuki members found a spiral staircase that led to the basement. It was difficult to see because the whole basement was only lighted by a small bulb hanging on the wall.
So they used their flashlights instead. The basement was pretty big but surprisingly dirty for such a famous and luxurious building. The painting on the walls was peeling, it smelled like sewer and there was some water leaking from above. And web spiders and some rats were decorating the already depressing looking place.
"AUCH what the hell…get this thing of my nose!"
"Naruto what are you doing, stop screaming in my ears for God's sake."
Naruto was following Ten Ten`s leading through the basement's only corridor. It was pretty narrow and poorly lighted and Naruto stuck his face in a large spider web. Everyone knew Naruto was only playing the strong man role, but he was a scaredy cat and he was avoiding spiders like plague, since a really angry Giant Crab Spider bit him two years ago during a mission in Africa.
The poor man had an incurable arachnophobia since then, the Akatsuki were always mocking him, they even bought him a spider shaped birthday cake, but when he promptly fainted they forced him into therapy.
"Oh what the…Naruto don't you dare fainting on me right now or I swear I am going to throttle you when you wake up…come here." Ten Ten took the offending poor creature from a now white as a ghost Naruto`s nose and took the lead once again. Damn the corridor was pretty long.
"Well I am sorry I am not a fan of those monsters. I don't even understand their mission on this planet. Damn annoying creatures."
"Stop complaining already and look for a small door. According to the map, there must be a food elevator that runs from the basement to the last floor."
"A food elevator, really Tennie? At leas you are not making me walk in the ventilation passage. I still have the marks on my but."
Ten Ten was claustrophobic and they idea of riding six floors in a food elevator was scaring her shitless. But she couldn't start complaining now, could she? She was tempted to send Naruto and take the emergency stairs instead…yeah, that seemed like a good idea. "Shut up, you know I am claustrophobic so don't make it any more difficult that this."
"…you know Ten Ten, you could take the emergency stairs and meet me on the sixth floor." Now the blonde idiot was playing the good caring friend. Ten Ten knew Naruto was more than capable of handling three men with mid difficulty, but this was no time to risk.
"You talk too much, as usual. And where is that damn elevator anyways, it should have been in here, near the third fire extinguisher. Naruto are you able to see a green button somewhere on your left?"
"Just hold a sec, is difficult to see anything in this darkness, damn such rich people cannot afford to put a stronger light bulb…Tennie on your shoulder level I spot a green squared button, check it out."
"Ok, this is it, lets hope it works." Ten Ten pressed the said button and almost immediately a muffled sound was heard, followed by twang. Something was coming down. A small door opened on their right, revealing a questionable looking food elevator.
"That doesn't look too good…should we try the emergency stairs instead?"
"No Naruto we don't have time for this and…OMG the GPS signal is not properly functioning on here, the signal is weak. C'mon, we don't know how much time they are going to stay in there. Neji can you hear me?"
"Yes Ten Ten, I am following the other two suspects on the main street. They are not doing anything suspicious yet, but they seem to be expecting something, because they are walking in circles."
"Naruto and I are inside Shiseido Ginza, but we are on the basement and lost the GPS signal. Can you check them for us and tell if they are on the move?"
"I have already done that and I can see all of you on the satellite. Hurry up, one of them is coming down, he is using the emergency exit. If you take the food elevator that is near to you, it will take you right in front of him."
"Thanks a bunch Neji, I am hanging up now."
The suspects were separating ways and that was no good. They were outnumbered if you counted Neji, who was chasing the other two, out. But they had no time to waste, it was only Ten Ten and Naruto and somehow they had to do everything to take on the three men alone.
"What did Neji tell you Tennie?"
"This is not good Naruto, the other two are still on the sixth floor, but one of them is heading downstairs, using the emergency exit. According to the map, if we take the stairs we could cross paths with him."
"Then you take the stairs and I will take the elevator to the sixth floor and take care of the other two."
"No, that would not be good, I don't want to come face to face to him, we don't know what kind of weapons they have and what their purpose is. And I am almost certain they have their eyes on us as well, considering the fact that they were able to jam our GPS system once. They are not ones to be taken lightly. I want to have the element of surprise."
"But Ten…"
"No buts Naruto do as I say and go already, do not let them exit this building." Ten Ten was already in the said mini elevator before Naruto had a chance to oppose. She knew that between the two of them, it was Naruto who had a better chance of taking down two killers.
She pressed the inside button and the small door closed. She was already starting to sweat. It was too narrow for her taste and it was riding too fast. She felt like promptly throwing up.
Meanwhile Naruto stood ten more seconds to make sure the elevator worked fine and then run to the emergency stairs that, according to the map, were situated at the end of the corridor. He was able to spot them in no time and started to climb them with caution. They were small, slippery and old, he didn't want to risk them fall under his weight.
Damn he was getting tired and it was only the first floor. Naruto truly hoped that in a building full of people, no one was going to take this stairs or run the food elevator. They would have a really hard time in explaining what where they doing there, armed and dressed like they were cosplaying.
Now if the Sound were more traditional weapons oriented, the Akatsuki used modern weapons, mostly firearms. Naruto had a Colt M1991A1 Compact ORM pistol with slide locked back, hidden in the orange and black green vest pocket. Another Tenring Custom Colt was hidden in his boots.
He also had a United Cutlery 2671 Marine Force Night Stalker Bowie Combat Knife, made of a Massive AUS-6 12" stainless steel blade and non-reflective black coating on razor-sharp blade.
The hell with swords, stars and senbon, Naruto didn't really understand how in the world were the Sound so successful in their missions, using mostly (they had firearms as well, but refrained to use them so often) that shit. Naruto viewed them as ancient useless toys.
"Tennie, can you hear me? Where are you?"
"I am on the third floor Naruto and according to the GPS system, the son of a bitch stopped on the fourth floor, for a reason I don't know yet. I am almost there; I will contact you as soon as I get him incapacitated. Be careful."
"Ok you too, be careful Tennie and contact me if you need backup, I will be there in no time, believe it."
"Stop the ego boost and better not screw it up this time, or else I won't survive another Tobirama ranting. Take care."
As soon as Ten Ten made sure she was on the fourth floor she pushed the little red button above her head (it was more like pressing on her head, damn was that elevator small) hard. A loud CLICK!
And the said elevator stopped, the small door successfully opening. Ten Ten promptly jumped outside, thanking all the Gods up there she didn't faint this time. She was slightly dizzy and she didn't have the pills with her. She was always forgetting them home.
She quickly gained her senses and took in her surroundings. Apparently she wasn't exactly on the normal fourth floor, where, according to the GPS, the offices of the CEO and his Vice were located, but on a small storage room that had many boxes and shelves, all wearing the Shiseido logo.
Apparently this was a room where all the cosmetics were stocked. Oh the irony, she was in a room, surrounded by branded cosmetics and she had a killer to chase nonetheless.
"What is he doing here anyways, trying to be the first to test the new red Lipstick?"
But the GPS wasn't lying. Someone was here, most likely her suspect. Ten Ten didn't have her flashlight turned on, God forbids, she wasn't an idiot like Naruto, but she was barely able to see two meters in front of her, because of the small pale neon light that was hanging in a faraway corner.
She was on guard in no time, one of her arms was already resting on her own pistol and the other was touching a nearby wall, one that didn't have any shelves, only some smaller boxes, for support. She would avoid using the fire gun though, because she didn't want to attract attention from the other people in the building. That would be too risky, so she would use traditional methods instead. She took small steps, trying to be as silent as possible. She couldn't see well though and someone probably already knew she was in there and was watching her from the shadows.
And to add to the already tight up situation, she didn't know what kinds of guns he used. If they were firearms, she was already in his target which was bad enough and if he was indeed a henchmen working for the Freemasonry, then he used traditional weapons, probably swords, which was just as bad, because although Ten Ten had training with many different weapons, she wasn't exactly an expert in night combat. Damn it.
She sharpened her hearing as much as she could, turned down the tracking device and GPS (she didn't want her to scream "I am here, please shoot me") and took more careful steps. She could feel her pulse rising, her heartbeat loud and clear in her ears. She was tensed as well.
But her train of thoughts was interrupted as a punch coming from nowhere landed on her face, forcing her to take two steps backwards and almost making her lose balance. She was lucky she had a hand on the wall.
Another punch was about to come, but this time Ten Ten was ready and avoided it just in time with an upper block and just as fast, she successfully punched the unknown man in his abdomen with a powerful front snap kick, making him stumble three steps back.
Ten Ten wasn't about to give him time to recover, so she attempted to kick him again with a three punch combination, but only two were successful, because the masked dude managed to block her last one inside outward with his forearm, successfully getting a hold of Ten Ten`s arm and performed a back-fist strike on her chin, then a jumping front kick on her stomach, successfully throwing her on a box full of powder boxes.
"Damn that hurt like a bitch…" Now Ten Ten was not new to pain or kicks, but the man was strong indeed, she needed to focus more if she wanted to beat him to a pulp, or else she was in serious trouble. She managed to rise up with mid difficulty, a slight pain throbbing in her chin and a more painful pain in her lower abdomen already starting to form.
And she had a barely there nosebleed from the first punch. She looked at the man, he was already coming her way and from what she could see, he didn't seem to have fire guns or any other weapons to fight her. So he used hand on hand combat.
Ten Ten knew that if she was to have a chance against him, the man was at least two heads taller than her and much stronger, she had to lure him to the other side of the room, that was more lighted.
She wasn't like Neji who seemed to have a 360 degrees vision and night view and could fight in any sort of environments, from extremely lighted to total blackout, with no problems (no one knew exactly how he did it, the man had x-rays instead of eyes). She needed to see him if she wanted to aim to his vulnerable pressure points and kill him. Just incapacitating him didn't seem like an option on the moment.
As subtle as she could, she slightly pushed one poisoned senbon needle, from her sleeve. She was going to attempt and insert the needle in a deadly point on his neck, preferably under the Adam's apple.
But she had to be extremely careful when getting close to him and succeed on the first strike. She couldn't risk stabbing herself instead, that would be a disaster.
As soon as Ten Ten made sure she had the needle prepared, the said masked man came straight forward, attempting a fore-fist straight punch on her solar plexus, but she predicted his move on time and dodged with a forearm block stepping in and tried a fist-hammer strike, but the man used a reverse wedge block, successfully catching both of her arms in between his own.
Ten Ten took the opportunity to front leg thrust him in his groin, only the said man saw it coming and used a leg hooking block, successfully blocking both her hands and one leg.
"See if you can manage another kick with only one leg left babe." The said man was now mocking her and calling her names. Oh that pissed Ten Ten off really bad.
"See if you can talk with a broken rib you perverted gorilla."
Ten Ten promptly focused her energy in her right leg that was the only one left available and used a jumping side kick, successfully punching the said man with her knee on his ribcage, breaking his fifth and sixth true ribs, making him let go of her arms and left leg and collapsing on the ground, holding his now damaged ribcage.
"You bitch…you are going to pay for this stunt!"
The masked killer was up in no time and attempted to catch Ten Ten out of guard. How was he able to move with two broken ribs was a mystery to her, but she already confirmed he was strong and well built.
So Ten Ten run to the other side of the room, with only on thought in mind: luring him to the light and shove the damn needle in his throat. He was not showing it but he was already in pain and the kicks he managed on her were less severe. Ten Ten had a slightly advantage in the fight.
She run as fast as she could, considering the lacking of the light and started to throw cosmetic smaller boxes behind her, in a fake attempt to slow him down, but in reality she wanted to appear scared of him and make him chase her. Good. He was following her right behind, slightly wincing in pain.
"The motherfucker took the bait. Gosh, hope Naruto is doing better…"
Meanwhile, Naruto successfully arrived to the sixth floor, where the GPS signal indicated the other two unknown men's positions. But something was fishy there and Naruto wasn't sure if he should go straight forward or take another route.
The signal indicated the said men where there all right, but it also shown that they haven't moved for a while. Where they posing as furniture or something?
Without making a sound, he climbed the last stairs that led to a long golden painted hall, which according to the map was the only hall that connected all the sides of the building. To access the other offices and rooms, one needed to either climb the side stairs or take the elevator.
But right after the corner from the end of the wall, what he saw almost made Naruto`s bile rise in his throat: a middle aged woman and a young man laying dead on the floor, blood spread all over them and the wall behind, their mouths and eyes agape, probably they wanted to scream for help but they weren't fast enough and what was even more frightening was their clothes, that were ripped on the middle of their chests where a deep cut, probably made by a very sharp sword, was made in the sign of a pair of compasses, pointing to their hearts.
And then Naruto realized just how bad the situation truly was. There was only one organization in the world that was using this method of killing and that was none other than Lorane. When their Master Masons killed somebody they left such a mark on their chest to symbolize their logo: the pair of compasses erect at 30 degree and the square.
Almost unconsciously Naruto took his pager and pressed "SOS" to alert every Tokyo agent, as well as the Akatsuki. Whatever backup was there, it would be more than welcomed.
A powerful smoke smell hit him full force suddenly, followed by something that sounded like an electric panel humming, on his left side. He was too absorbed and disgusted by the murder in front of him to notice the now broken electric panel board. Almost all the cables were cut and just as sudden, the whole hall and probably the whole building were thrown in a blackout.
"Oh…give me a break man…"
Naruto watched the completely destroyed panel. There was no chance to stick the cables together and repair the electric panel. That was a mess. Naruto wasn't fan of facing Lorane in a night combat. And they didn't even take their panoramic night vision goggles that allowed them to see in darkness. Who thought they needed that during mornings…
"…why is it so dark in here anyways, where are the windows or the electricity generator? Damn it…Neji, Ten Ten can you hear me?"
Naruto was starting to panic, there was a small buzz coming from their in-ear communication devices, but no sign of Neji and Ten Ten had her own device shut down.
"C'mon guys…"
BAM!
"…What the…"
Naruto was just in time to avoid a sword's kick aiming at his head coming from behind him, by turning around and jump on his right side. But just as sudden, another sword aimed at his shoulder and almost caught Naruto out of guard. He managed to dodge it somehow and the damage was not so great because he was partly hit in his bulletproof vest, but it made a cut nonetheless.
"Heh…so you finally decided to stop hiding and show yourselves." Naruto knew that he was in great disadvantage. First of all, it was completely dark and he couldn't see a thing, so he had to rely on the other senses, mostly hearing, speed and reflexes.
He was fast there was no doubt about that, but when it came to reflexes, this was something Naruto wasn't so great at and he unsuccessfully tried to improve himself during his training sessions.
Second, this people if they were truly working for Lorane, were swords masters and he had absolutely zero sword fighting skills. Usually when Naruto encountered traditional fighters, he, either fought them using hand to hand combat, or pulled out his fire arm and shooted them.
But using his gun was out of question now because it was dark and he couldn't see a thing, moreover if he missed them, not only will he run out of ammunition, but the assassins would use their swords and quickly impale him.
It would have been better if Ten Ten was the one fighting them and not him…and there were two of them and both using swords. He truly wished for a particular Tokyo agent, with exceptional traditional martial arts fighting skills, to come and provide help.
"Heh…no time to complain…"
Naruto pulled out his own knife. He knew he couldn't do so much damage against the two opponents using that, but at least he could block their attacks somehow, until he figured something out.
He had to lure them from the darkness to a window or any opening that would provide any source of light, in order to be able to see them and shoot them. But a window was out of question in the hall they were in, so his only option was to try on one of the many doors and see if any of them were opened.
"Easier said than done with two professional sword killers on my back…"
Another attack came, aiming to his neck with the edge of the blade, but Naruto moved diagonally forward and stepped across, rotated his body 180 degrees by crossing the front foot across the back foot, successfully turning into place and dodged the sword, by using his own knife, the sound of metal clash piercing his ears.
Naruto managed to avoid a deadly hit, but the blade of the sword was longer and made another cut on his knuckles, thin rivulets of red liquid now leaking down his hands.
Naruto didn't waste the opportunity of being close to the man and even though he couldn't see him, he was quick to perform a front leg thrust in the man's sternum, attempting to break it in two down the middle.
A load cry was heard from the said man as he took a step backwards, but Naruto was sure the kick wasn't strong enough, for he didn't have the time to rotate his hip and increase the force and speed, but it was good enough to create an opening and throw another fore-fist in what he hoped was his chin, forcing the masked man to take two more steps backwards, but still managed not to fall from the impact.
That surprised Naruto a bit, he knew he was strong but this man was clearly not weak either.
He knew that there were two masked man with swords, but Naruto was now sure that they didn't have night vision devices either, because they didn't attack him simultaneously, meaning they didn't see him well either and didn't want to risk hurting each another instead.
He could use this piece of newfound information to his advantage. He could not deal with both attackers on the same time, but he would survive taking them on turns.
Another frontal attack was aimed at him, but Naruto successfully performed a low-leveled roundhouse kick, by swinging his right leg around in a circular motion, using his foot to strike the thigh, just above the knee joint to limit the killer's movements.
Although, before falling on his knee, the said man performed a fleche, bringing his rear leg in front of the now injured leg and sprinted past Naruto, delivering a vertical cut on his hip, right below his bulletproof vest.
Naruto quickly jumped backwards, a hand on his injured hip. He wasn't able to see, but he felt blood starting to pour from the cut. It was pretty deep and he was unlucky it hit him in an unprotected body part. He felt a big throbbing pain starting to rise and he knew that was going to slow him down a bit.
"Kuso…"
Naruto was too absorbed in the fight to take a notice of the small electrical buzz coming from the broken electrical panel. He turned his head in the noise direction, on his right. So he could not see the two of them and they were using swords made of metals.
He was no Einstein and had almost zero physics knowledge, but even he knew that metals were good electrical conductors, so it implied that a human body holding a sword made of a high quality metal was an even better electrical conductor.
Now if Naruto could make good use of the broken electric charged wires and give the mother fuckers an electric shock…at least he could try and kill one of them like that. Two were utterly annoying.
So, he took a lower level combative posture, concentrated on the air vibrations around him to catch any sounds from his attackers and as soon as he sensed an attack coming, he bent his body to avoid a stab performed by the enemy by stepping and lunching towards him, in a fast patinando, followed by a snap kick with foot edge aimed under his chin, which Naruto avoided with an X-block, but the said swordsman brought his sword down and delivered a sideway horizontal cut with the short edge of the blade on Naruto` s thigh, barely avoiding the femoral artery.
"Awww damn…."
"HAHAHAHA and here I was told you people were better than this. This is child's play!"
But the now almost wincing in pain Naruto, as subtle as he could, slightly turned his head and took a quick look over his shoulder, making sure the electric panel was behind him, and as soon as the said masked man lunged forward to stab him in the chest and finish the job, without taking in his surroundings, Naruto used his uninjured leg and with his last remaining energy, managed to jump on his side, landing on the ground, on his shoulder.
In an instant, a powerful electric buzz pierced through the darkness, followed by an explosion of what looked like fireworks, which lightened the surrounding area, giving Naruto a clear view of the horrifying scene in front of him.
The swordsman stabbed the panel right on the middle, causing him to be electrocuted by the powerful electric flow from the cables, electricity piercing his body in a rotating motion, making the man scream in agony. When his body was not able to take in more electrical charge, he was thrown backwards with such a great force that he hit the wall behind him with a loud thud.
A strong pungent smell filled the air, making Naruto sick, the decaying scent of burned flesh hit the back of his throat, like a powerful delivered punch. The man was dead, but his muscles were still violently convulsing, making him look like a zombie ready to rise.
Out of nowhere, a loud high pitched voltage sound was followed by a pale blue-ish light coming from the neon lights. Apparently the electric generator found a very good moment to start working, successfully illuminating the area.
"About the damn time…"
Naruto was able to take in the surroundings and saw the other masked man standing about 6 meters away from him, he too puzzled by his the tragically death of his partner. Now that he was able to see, Naruto promptly felt like throwing up.
He killed many people, but the way that man looked like was abominable. His head was bent in a weird position over his shoulder and the flesh started to peel of, revealing the bones that had a black-purple color. Ironically enough, the now dead assassin was close enough to the two innocent people he killed, not to much time ago.
"You! You will pay dearly for this you asshole!"
Naruto turned his head on the now enraged screaming man and studied him. His attire was similar to his own, he wore a completely black leather outfit, a pair of white gloves on his hands, black combat boots with spikes, his face fully concealed under an equally black leather mask, except for eyes and nose.
Naruto would have laughed out loud at the situation if he wasn't in a deadly situation: he looked exactly like a ninja from a manga he was reading. Only this one character was not that cute.
"Heh…so you guys are familiar with the term amity? If you miss your friend, don't worry, you are going to join him soon believe it!"
"Hmpf, such arrogance…make it happen then!"
Naruto attempted to stand up, pull out his pistol and shoot the bastard right in the head, like he did with the human targets he used to practice on. It was his only chance to kill him now that he could see him, missing the target being out of question.
He didn't even need both hands to steady the gun and have more accuracy, he only needed to hold his weapon in the firing-ready position using his dominant right hand, align the front sight with the rear sight, click the safety off, move his finger onto the trigger and jerk it. And he could do it in three seconds max, with a perfect head shoot.
So this is exactly what he did, while the ninja-looking-killer sensed the danger approaching and lunged forward, holding the sword (damn was it long, sharp and thick and no…no innuendo crossed Jirayia`s beloved student's mind right then) with both his hands over his shoulder, attempting to hit him full force.
Naruto got a hold of the gun with his right hand, the other one resting on the deep cut on his hip that was bleeding and hurt like it was burning him, made sure it was loaded, fixed the gun on the killer's foreheadand clicked the safety off. The man was three steps away but Naruto had more than enough time.
Just as he was about to move his finger onto the trigger and shoot the bastard, Naruto was hit by a wave of strong dizziness, the world around him starting to spin, successfully making him loose balance and drop the gun.
Also he felt a stabbing intermittent pain in the right upper and lower abdomen and he knew that that one was not caused by the cut, it was way more violent, as well as a nausea followed by a violent need to vomit. He gave out a long agonizing scream.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH…."
Naruto couldn't figure out why in the world was he feeling like that, but he felt like he was going to die right there and then. Also, that would not be a problem because, even in his dizziness he knew the sword kick was about to come any moment from the said killer. He closed his eyes whining in pain, a hand on his abdomen, the other was supporting his head.
He was lying on his knees on the ground, the pain growing more and more violent, the symptoms even worse. He was shaking violently, too tired to even scream, tears forming in his tight closed eyes. He knew he was going to die, but he didn't want to, not like that.
Only the expected sword's kick never came.
He couldn't raise his head anymore to see what was happening, but he heard a loud clatter, followed by a scream, then another series of clangours, like the blade of the sword was hit by something, also followed by other several short noises like two hard surfaces collided together and a whack from someone that was hit full force, proceeded by a bone cracking sound and a piercing scream that sounded like the masked man's, but Naruto was now starting to slightly hallucinate, so he couldn't be so sure. Then complete silence. He could only hear his ragged breath and his own muffled crying.
He felt a gentle but firm grip on his shoulder pulling him backwards in an attempt to lay him flat on his back, but that only made the pain grow tenfold. He let out another loud scream. Also in his almost unconscious state, he didn't realize what was happening or who the mystery person was. It was only him and the killer there so go figure…
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH…"
"I know it hurts, but please hold on still, it will be over soon…."
A soft feminine voice spoke to him in an attempt to calm him down, assurance present in her tone. Naruto really thought he died and went to Heaven and angels came to take away his soul and lead it to the After Life.
He felt a hand palpating the median cubital vein from his upper left arm, then a gently cool wiping followed by a strong scent of alcohol and a small pinch when a needle was inserted, followed by a cold liquid flowing through his vein. Naruto cracked an eye open and followed the hand that was pressing something soft and cold on his newly punctured vein, but the image was too blurry.
He was now promptly hallucinating, the violent abdominal pain thrown on the back of his dizzy mind.
And the last clear thing he managed to see was pink.
SHOOT!
A gun shoot was heard from the top roof of a really tall building. People were panicking and screaming, trying to hide from whatever danger there was, hiding in their cars or nearby shops. Another shoot filled the crowded area, causing traffic to stop and block the streets. More panic, more screaming, older people trying to hide, the younger ones following the noises with their curious eyes.
"Naruto, Ten Ten can you hear me?"
Neji was currently caught in a cross fire, with one of the two assassins he was following. How in the world did he manage to lose one of them was a mystery to Neji.
They were walking aimlessly along the street, like walking zombies, in what looked like a Brownian motion, coming right in between the Mangekyou and the Shinjuku Granbell Hotel that was near the said company, but never getting closer to the Mangekyou than this, which was really suspicious to Neji, who was trying to figure out just what their plan was.
They were dressed entirely in black outfits, with their faces uncovered, parading on the streets like two extremely dangerous unknown killers in their assassin outfits were spotted on Tokyo on daily basis. Maybe they were blending with the anime looking teenagers that were parading on the streets. Neji thought this generation was screwed up.
And they were also pretty young, no more than 26 years old if Neji was correct (of course he was, he was a Hyuga, they were always correct even if they were mistaken, because the mistake didn't have the courage to tell them they got it wrong).
But nonetheless, they were armed and Neji couldn't spot any traditional weapon, so either they had them concealed, or most likely they had fire guns, which was really bad, because they were on broad daylight on a rush hour, with so many people around, making it even more dangerous.
Not only Akatsuki would blow up their cover, but also innocent people would be involved in a tight situation. He didn't need any hostage scenario, Neji loathed that kind of missions. They were always ending with people being killed.
And suddenly, just as they were supposed to come from behind the hotel, only one of them came to the light, the other vanishing in the air, successfully jamming the GPS signal and managing to escape Neji`s vigilance. And what was even more frightening was the fact that Neji caught his track just in time to see he was already on his way to the stairs that connected the last floor with the rooftop.
So when the small red rooftop door opened, Neji was already hiding behind the rooftop air conditioning unit, a firm grip on his gun, waiting for him to show up and shoot, being aware of the fact that the said five men knew exactly the Akatsuki were going to be there, so Neji already lost the element of surprise.
Without any further delay, as soon as the door opened and he was able to see the killer's shadow, Neji lunged forward, the safety already clicked off, his finger on the trigger, the target in his sight.
But apparently the said mysterious killer had the same idea as Neji, because he also had a fire gun in his hands and as soon as he spotted him, he also pulled the trigger, in the same time as Neji did, at the same time lowering his body to the ground. And it resulted in both of them trigging in the same time.
Neji missed him because he aimed the head and when the said man dropped to the ground, it shoot in an parabolic antenna, that was situated on the other building's roof top. The suspect successfully shoot Neji in his chest, because he too aimed the head, but Neji jumped on his side, on his left shoulder, hiding behind the air conditioner. He was lucky it hit his bulletproof vest, either way he would have been dead.
"Ten Ten, Naruto, are you guys in there? Damn it…"
Neji knew three things right then, neither of them good: one, his friends were both not answering his call, not only that but he lost their GPS signal (apparently it was jammed, again…) and he heard a buzz coming from the speakers, followed by muffled unidentified sounds, two, he was caught in a cross fire, with an assassin, in broad daylight, in a public place and he was sure that created commotion on the streets, which meant the police was going to be there as well, which was just as bad and three, there was another killer out there and he was free to roam wherever he wanted, with no one to stop him. Who knew what their plan was? Those people had fire guns and they had no problem in doing their business with civilians around.
"Fuck this is bad, Tobirama will skin us alive…"
But the most frightening thing was the fact that someone had used the SOS pager signal to alert all the available Tokyo CIA agents and Neji knew the chances for either Ten Ten or Naruto to have done so were at least 90%.
He was frustrated he couldn't track them anymore, because there were powerful electromagnetic interferences in the area, probably coming from the said killers. It was like they already knew Akatsuki were going to be there and prepared a surprise party for them.
He attempted to pull out his phone and send Itachi an emergency call to ask for whatever back up he could provide, but another shoot in his direction made Neji change his mind, pull out his pistol and aim in the direction where the bullet came from, but that was unsuccessfully as well.
Neji`s mind worked fast as he formulated his plan. He needed to kill this man fast and get out of there, before the police came. He too knew the killers would do the same, they probably didn't want to attract anymore attention as well.
With that thought in mind, Neji unzipped his vest, as well as his bulletproof vest (the bullet stopped in the last layer of the vest, slightly making a bruise on his left pec), took a poisoned senbon needle from his combat black boots and prepared his gun.
Thanks God he had a semi-automatic firearm, he didn't want a series of roars filling the space, causing more havoc between people in range.
He then took the senbon in his left, closed his eyes and focused. Neji`s martial arts were unique in the Akatsuki, because he knew how to properly balance his inner strength, by rotating his energy and make it flow through any part of his body.
He successfully managed to do so after countless years of yoga and advanced meditation, which increased his accuracy and speed. His reflexes were also superior.
After he felt an electrical discharge of energy in his left hand, Neji took his vests in his right arm and threw them on his right side, successfully catching the said killer's attention, who thought it was Neji trying a counterattack and shoot them instead. Neji waited until the said man continuously fired a round of ten bullets, "Heh, the bastard has an automatic firearm…just great."
And when the loud bangs stopped, Neji didn't waste anymore time and lunged on his side, throwing the needle in the assassin's direction, that was trying his best to load the gun, successfully hitting a pressure point on his wrist, making him drop the gun and shoot him right on his forehead, killing him in an instant, blood spurting in every direction. The now collapsing dead assassin looked like a fountain in Vegas.
"Naruto, Ten Ten, do you guys hear me?" Neji was desperate to make sure his friends were safe and alive and get them out of the building. They had to get out of there and fast, their covers now questionable.
He took a peek from the roof top and watched on the streets. It was as bad as he thought it was, there were people screaming, running and pointing to the building and a multiple vehicle collision was blocking the boulevard.
He heard the sound of Ambulances, but it was difficult for them to pass thorough the crashed cars and help the injured. In other words, it was a complete mess.
Neji packed his devices and attempted to locate the last remaining suspect and contact his members once again. He knew the situation was really bad and it would only become worse when the police would arrive there.
He saw commotion from the Shiseido building as well, but for some unknown reason, it looked like no one was able to leave the building, probably because of the locked doors.
"Naruto, Ten Ten if you hear me please ans…"
"Hyuga…You have to come here…ASAP…I found Uzumaki and he is…"
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
He didn't hear the end of the sentence, coming from the unknown person that was talking in Naruto`s in-ear receiver, and neither the said person had a chance to carry on the message.
They both heard it loud and clear. It was a series of three powerful gun shoots, coming neither from where Neji was standing, nor from the Shiseido Ginza.
And Neji turned his head in the direction of the sound, coming at an angle to the right of his face, eyes wide as plates, mouth slightly agape, heart pounding in his chest, watching in horror.
"Oh God…"
It was coming from the Mangekyou`s HQ way.
…..
Author's Note: I truly apologize for all the mistakes, I go through what I wrote, but there are things I do not notice.
Also, to clear any confusion, no, Sasuke has no connection to Akatsuki and he is not part of the CIA, even if he was asked to join at some point.
As for the part of him roaming through Sakura`s stuff…I cannot answer that at this point, you will have to be patient.
I do not own Naruto. All the credit goes to the rightful owner.