Shimada Estate, Republic of Fire

8:45 A.M.

11/23/16

~Ana Shimada~


Today started rather uneventful. The forest outside the Shimada Estate was rather foggy, though that was normal. Ana didn't mind the heavy fog. In fact, it was rather useful in getting up close and personal with her prey. Not that it mattered when she could see them through her infrared scope, but it did help.

Hmm. Not a deer, rabbit or even any wolves in sight. I guess it's just going to be one of those days. And more and more days were often like this. Little to no animals spotted, let alone any hunted. Ana didn't know why it was like this, but it didn't really matter to her. Hunting the deer, the elk, the rabbits, and shooting down the occasional hawk or falcon was starting to get boring. Especially when she could take them down with a single shot. It wasn't a challenge. It wasn't fun. Since when was it ever fun anyways?

After 2 hours of sitting up in one of the birch trees, Ana dropped down and began to make the half hour journey back to Shimada Manor. It was the oldest manor in the entire Republic, aside from the ancestral homes of the Uchiha, Senju and the Hyuga. Even from far off in the distance and through heavy fog, Ana could see the 5 towers of the manor looking like fingers reaching up into the sky.

Shimada Manor brought back bad memories. Of her father killing her mother in a drunken haze before killing himself after realizing what he'd done. Of her maid Suzuya hanging herself in the living room. And especially of that night…Ana shook her head. This was no time to be lost in reverie.

Most of Shimada Manor was covered in overgrown vines and sidewalks overrun with grass. Nature had claimed most of the outer Manor, with trees and plants reclaiming the outer walls, but the inner manor looked like it didn't even know the meaning of nature. Sleek, stark white and futuristic walls, with minimalistic décor and design. There was only a single Sakura tree in the center of the courtyard, and even then, the tree itself was pretty small.

Far off in the distance were the gold mines from which the Shimada clan made their fortune. Ana didn't know and didn't care much for it either. As far as Ana was considered, it was all dirty money to her.

The manor was empty when she arrived. As usual. Grandfather must be out in the mines. Ana rarely saw the Green Death that was her grandfather as he spent most of his time supervising the mining. And Ana preferred it that way. While she loved her grandfather dearly, and while everything she had learned, she learned from him, Shinji Shimada could be rather overbearing at times. And more often than not, his expectations were beyond what anyone was capable of.

Perhaps that was why Ana was his favourite.

Setting her M24 sniper rifle down by her bedside table, Ana quickly changed into a black shirt and black leggings. Her bedroom was massive, and you could tell that it was made for two people. Ana kept all of her things on the right side of the room, and almost never crossed over to the left side. She had requested to change rooms on more than one occasion, but her grandfather forbade her, saying that it was unseemly for a Shimada to sleep in a small room.

Seeing that the morning fog had finally gone away, Ana slipped a windbreaker on and prepared for the 2 hour drive to Konoha. Perhaps something interesting will happen. Maybe I'll run into Yuuji again. But what would she say to someone that she hadn't seen in over 4 years and was never even that close to in the first place? She certainly couldn't talk to him about the incident that drove both him and her away in the first place. Ana to the Konoha Special Forces and Yuuji to who knows where.

Special Forces. Hah. Ana could have outshot them with her eyes blindfolded. While they certainly weren't that bad, but…well that was lie. Her squad members were as incompetent as they came, and she was pretty sure that her drill sergeant hated her. Maybe it was because she was woman? No, that wasn't it. They treated her just like they did everyone else. Like shit. So perhaps the drill sergeant just liked yelling at her.

"Better call grandfather then…" Ana muttered to herself as she dialed his number. "Grandfather? Yeah, it's Ana. I'm going to be out in Konoha for a while, just a heads up." She frowned. "Oh. You're going to gone for a while? How long? A year? How come? I see. You're setting up a new mine somewhere? I see. Well, good luck. I love you grandfather. Bye."

Ana rolled her neck, and pulled out her M82A1's weapon case and slid it into her duffel bag. She never really felt comfortable without a gun. For as long as Ana remembered, she had always been into guns. Even back during her childhood.

The drive to Konoha was quite uneventful, and aside from the usual traffic, Ana arrived in Konoha in approximately two hours. The traffic in Konoha was notorious around the world. And while it had certainly gotten better over the years, it was still bad. Ana was surprised that no one had died during her drive to Konoha. Though there were a fair amount of close calls.

Right as she parked her car alongside a café, her phone buzzed. Hmm. What's this? Someone had messaged her. An unknown number. "What the hell?"

HELLO ANA SHIMADA

Looking around, Ana sat down in one of the booths by the window, all the while keeping a hand on the Glock in her chest holster. It wouldn't be the first time that I've gotten an anonymous message. Last one didn't end too well.

WE WOULD LIKE TO TALK WITH YOU

"Talk with me eh?" Ana knew something was up. She chugged down her coffee, quickly paid for it and sat in the back of her car and began to assemble her M82A1. "The Dragon free you, whoever you are." Her phone buzzed again.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MEET UP, COME TO TOBIRAMA'S FOUNTAIN IN HASHIRAMA PARK DOWNTOWN. I"LL BE WAITING.

As soon as Ana finished assembling her sniper rifle she threw everything else in the duffel bag aside and stuffed the rifle within. "Now then. Time to go pay someone a visit." Hashirama Park was only a short 10 minute drive from the café. But that wasn't where she was going. No, if Ana remembered correctly, there was skyscraper near the park that had a perfect view of the Fountain. A slight smirk formed on Ana's face.

Oh you're going to be in for a rude awakening.


Tobirama Fountain, Hashirama Park, Konoha

10:21 A.M.

11/23/16

~Sasuke Uchiha~


Ana Shimada was interesting to Sasuke. She was by far the best sniper the Republic had ever seen, and yet she nothing like her grandfather. From what his own father had told him, Shinji Shimada was humble, and had worked hard to make the Shimada Clan the richest in the country. His granddaughter on the other hand, according to testimonies from her drill sergeants, and fellow teammates, was arrogant and often thought of herself as superior to everyone else and saw the people around her as nothing more than nuisances.

"Sounds like someone we know right?" Satoru had said while sharing a look with a smirking Sakura. To an extent that was true. But not anymore. Itachi had seen to that. From what Sasuke understood of her file, Ana was a person who respected you on your actions and of your merit. Not someone who respected you because of your name. That he could understand.

And so he had devised a very simple plan to gain Ana Shimada's respect. It was simple really. Sasuke knew that there was no way in hell that Ana was going to meet up with them. Especially since it would not be the first time that someone made an attempt on her life using this tactic. No, Sasuke knew just the place she would go to, where a sniper would go to.

Tobirama Fountain was in the center of Hashirama Memorial Park, and was in plain view of the one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city. The Academy Tower. A couple of years ago the Academy Tower used to be the HQ of the ASE. From what Sasuke remembered before he went rogue, there were already plans in place to demolish the tower and expand the nearby indoor amusement park.

"Sasuke-kun, it seems that you were right." Kurama's voice came of the earpiece. "According to the Academy Tower's security cameras, Ana Shimada is on her way up to the…65th floor. If you want, I could hack into her phone and leave another message."

"That won't be necessary Kurama. For now, everything is going according to plan. Keep me updated on Ana's status." To say that Kurama and her brother weren't miracle workers, would be a definite understatement. Without them, they would never have found Ana Shimada in the first place. For someone who was a member of one of the highest profile families, Ana had very little online presence. No Facebook profile, no Twitter, nothing. It was by pure luck that Naruto had managed to intercept one of her texts to her missing brother Yuuji.

It was only a simple matter of waiting for the day that Ana would come to Konoha.

Sasuke fiddled around with the special weapon jammer that Satoru had designed in his pocket, it was still in its prototype stage, and Satoru had warned him that there was a slim chance that it might not work. "Don't worry. I'll have a backup plan just in case the jammer doesn't work. She's called Sakura Haruno." Sasuke knew that he was relying on Sakura just a little too much on this mission, but if there was anyone that could stop Ana from blowing his head to smithereens it was the Pink Flower.

"This is Sakura, the target is in sight."

"Good. Kurama, send the next message, Naruto get ready to cut the power as soon as Sakura sends the signal." Everyone responded in unison and off in the distance parked underneath the shadow of the Sakura trees of Hashirama Memorial Park, was the black mustang. Sitting inside, and looking at his phone with a bored expression permanently fixated on his face was Deidara. "Stay Deidara, get off your phone and keep your foot on the pedal."

The small ding that came from his pocket was the signal. Sasuke smiled and pulled out his phone. "Hello Ana." With that, Sasuke walked out from underneath the shade of the Sakura trees and out into the open and stood right in front of the giant fountain, staring right at the sniper glint that anyone with an above average eyesight would be looking at. Just as I expected. 64th floor, right in the middle. For some reason, maybe for demolition reasons, the tower was mostly empty. Not that Sasuke was complaining about the stupidity of it. It was rather convenient.

"Who are you?" Ana's voice was like smooth silk. "I'm not keen on strangers stalking me. Especially one as dangerous as you Sasuke Uchiha."

"Why would you ask who I was if you already knew?"

"Just a simple precaution. Now, why are you after me?" Sasuke could help but chuckle. He tilted his head as the sound of Ana chambering a round could be heard through the phone. Hmm. That sounds like a M82. But which version? The A1 or A2? Regardless of which version it was, that just made things more dangerous. The M82 was chambered for fifty caliber rounds. Something that Sasuke doubted he could live getting shot in the head with. "Answer me. Or else you're getting a fifty in your skull. And just so you know, I don't miss. Not at this range. And especially not when you're standing still out in the open."

"Even if there are…let's see…at least a couple dozen people here to see me get shot in the head? Are you going to risk that? And how do you won't…I don't know, miss?" Ana practically growled at the notion. "Sore topic? Listen, everyone misses every once and while. We are only human after all."

"Shut up." Sasuke smirked as there was a slight hesitation before she answered. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing, trying to get into my head. You wouldn't be the first person to try and make me miss by doing that. My drill sergeant tried and failed. So what makes you think you can?"

"Because I'm not doing this alone." With a growl Ana fired. Sasuke felt the corners of his mouth curl up into a smirk as the bullet whizzed by his head and embedded itself into the ground with a small explosion.

"You-you…You made me…miss. YOU MADE ME MISS!" Ana roared and fired one shot after another, each one missing, with one sailing over Sasuke's head by at least a meter. "Wha-what!? How…How did I miss!?"

Chuckling, Sasuke hung up on Ana whilst the shock was settling in. "Cut the power now." And Naruto did. Slipping his phone into his pocket, Sasuke got into the mustang. "Alright, time to head to the Nest. And Satoru? Didn't even have to use the jammer."

"What? Seriously? I mean I wouldn't be surprised, but…Seriously? What did you say to her?"

"Nothing much. But regardless the job is done. Isn't that right Sakura?" The only kind of reply that he got was the sound of grunting and someone being dragged. "That's what I thought. Hey Kurama, you think you could manipulate the traffic lights in our favour?"

"Got it boss."

"Now, Sakura, are you going to be able to get back to the nest without getting caught? I mean, you are going to be lugging around a 21 year old woman on your motorcycle right? If you want, Deidara could take the bus and we'll just stuff Ana in the backseat?"

Deidara raised his hand in objection. "OR, we could just pick them up and put her in the backseat. Insane right? 4 people in one car? Unthinkable. Ludicrous even!" At Sasuke's glare, he shut up. "But you get what I mean right?"

"Of course I do. It's just that there are people everywhere. If the public even so much as sees Sakura carrying the body, we are screwed. Even if Kurama and Naruto were to hack all of the security camera's in the city and wipe out all evidence that would still leave the testimonies of a lot of people to deal with."

"Well, I suppose that's true." Deidara grumbled as every light in front of them lit up green. "So you want me to go and pick up Sakura still?"

"We'll wait. Satoru, any suggestions? I'm listening."

For a while the line was silent. "Okay, I've got something. So you remember how there's a large parkade right across from the tower?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I've been thinking, why not zip line down to the top floor? Sure if anyone looks up we'll be screwed, but it's a better idea than anything I've had so far. The rope I gave to Sakura-chan should be long enough to reach the parkade and it should be strong enough to handle both Sakura-chan and Ana's combined weight."

Then Kurama spoke up. "How about this? We manipulate the traffic lights in a certain way so that a certain section is empty, without any witnesses. It might take a while to do though, but it's the thought that counts right?"

"That could work yeah, but it would take a long time just as you said sis." Naruto said. "If this were at night we could simply just cause a citywide blackout and smuggle the girl right out of there."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Naruto, you're a genius. Deidara drop me off at this address." Sasuke punched the address into the GPS. "Sakura, stay put. I know you're not patient, but Naruto's idea might just be the best idea we have. If I come up with some miracle of idea, I'll tell you, but for now, stay put."

"Roger that. Just don't make me wait too long. It's unsightly to keep a woman waiting. Especially two." Everyone shared a laugh before Sasuke took the earpiece out.

"So where is this 247 Flamebird Street? Ah never mind, it's on the GPS. Anyways, why do you want me to drop you off?"

Rolling his neck, Sasuke set his Glock aside and took the dagger hidden in his coat out. "You read the files on the other potential member's right? Tenten Suzuki and Rock Lee? Yeah, that's where they live. Or at least I'm pretty sure it is. It's been over 3 years since I last met up with them. It's weird. They live together, but there was never really any indication that there was anything going on between the two of them."

Deidara raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So Tenten Suzuki is single? Nice…I mean what a shame. Such a beautiful and independent woman such as herself." Sasuke chuckled. "What? I have a chance right? Right?"

"I guess so. Just try not to drive her off with your weirdness alright?"

"I promise boss. And besides I'm not that weird am I?" At Sasuke's pointed look, Deidara sighed. "Well, I guess I am. I mean, I am obsessed with explosions and call them my art, but that's not weird right? At least I'm not some dude who calls puppet making art."

"Well, it is a form of art. Just different. Just as yours is different from what people normally think of art. Sculpting, instead of pen on paper."

"I wouldn't say that the sculpting is my true art, but it certainly helped scrape in some extra dough. No, I consider my explosions my true art. Art to me, is meant to be fleeting. Art lasts in a moment, not in an eternity. It is meant to be admired for only in a moment." Deidara said as he turned onto a bridge crossing the Senju River. "But you are entitled to your wrong opinion about art, yeah."

"I'm not much of artist. Unless you could call my talents artistic." Sasuke replied. He then tapped Deidara on the shoulder and removed his seatbelt. "Alright, drop me off here, it isn't too far a walk. Afterwards I want you to go back to the Nest and get the Truck. It should have a zip line Satoru should understand what my plan is."

"Alright Sasuke my man. Try and put in a good word for me if you could, yeah." Sasuke shook his head, chuckling.

"Yeah, sure. Don't get your hopes up though, but I'll try." He wouldn't. It simply wasn't time and besides, Sasuke had a feeling that Deidara was only joking anyways.

If Sasuke remembered correctly, then their house should have been right at the corner of the street. There it is. 247. Doesn't seem like it changed much since the last time I was here. The house was a fairly large, red and gold two story house. The lawn was decorated with gnomes and the occasional flamingo. Sasuke could make out the faint outline of the salmon ladder in the backyard as well as parts of the training course that Lee had been building three years ago. Seems that he's finished it. Well, he has had three years to finish.

Before Sasuke could even step on their porch, the door opened. Leaning against the doorframe was a woman, slightly shorter than Sasuke was. Her messy brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a black formfitting tank top and steel blue leggings. For a while the two of them stared at each other, not moving.

She broke the silence. "What brings a dead man to my humble abode?" A smirk gracing her lips. "Come on in. We have three years to catch up on. Mostly you though. You've missed a lot." Tenten spun around and made her way over to the couch just a few meters away.

The interior of her house was red with light touches of gold, and the living room floor was covered in scarlet carpeting. Jutting from one of the walls was a wall-mounted T.V with what Sasuke had to say was shoddily secured at best. There were 3 couches arranged in the living room, two parallel to each other and other just slightly behind both of them placed against the wall. Numerous weapons decorated the wall, from ancient swords, to modern rifles.

Tenten patted the seat next to her. "So again, why are you here Sasuke? I don't suppose you had anything to do with the car chase a couple of days ago? Because the only person I know who is crazy enough, and skilled enough to start and survive a car chase like that is you. I only hope that you coming to visit doesn't end with an explosion blowing our house up. I worked hard for this baby you know."

"I'll try my best. But you of all people should know that being associated with me doesn't end well. But, here I am, in your home."

"Yeah, you are. So tell, how are you alive? Last I checked you were supposed to be getting lethally injected. And yet here you are, looking as good as ever." A somber look crossed her face for a split second. "But you did…You committed a lot of crimes. Murder. Kidnapping. Destruction of property. I mean that bridge was quite literally the only thing that Wave had going for it. And you blew it the fuck up."

Sasuke shrugged. "There was no on it. I made sure of that." Tenten raised an eyebrow. The sound of a tea kettle going off filled the room. "Tea?"

"Of course. Would you like some?" Sasuke nodded wordlessly. "Wait here." She walked over out of view to the kitchen. "But anyways…You kidnapped the granddaughter of the Tsuchikage. Who, is remember correctly was 6 at the time. How the hell did that help you track down Itachi?"

"It didn't. But before you start screaming at me like the time I left you at Neji's house on your 18th birthday, I had a good reason. Have you ever heard of the Brave Company?"

"That mercenary group made up of serial rapists, murderers, and paedophiles? Yeah. There isn't anyone in law enforcement that doesn't know who the Brave Company is. Everyone has nightmares about their leader. I forgot his name, and I don't think I want to know. But I do know that he raped little children, killed their parents in front of them and did a bunch of other really, really messed up shit."

"Well, when I heard that someone was hiring them to kidnap the Tsuchikage's very young granddaughter…I had to step in. I personally kidnapped the girl and I locked her in a hidden room where no one, aside from myself would have been able to find her. All the while her servants and maids were being raped and tortured."

Tenten returned with two mugs. She shivered. "God the screams must have been horrible. How the hell did you last without killing any of them?"

"Well, I killed at least 10 of them. They were asking for the granddaughter. They thought I was raping her and keeping her to myself." Sasuke said with a disgusted tone seeping into his voice. "Not many people know it, but I killed most of the Brave Company. Though too bad their leader wasn't there. I would have enjoyed killing him. But regardless, I spent the whole night "protecting" Kurotsuchi Takishima."

With a raised eyebrow, Tenten lifted her mug. "Well then, cheers to our noble hero Sasuke Uchiha, protector of little girls from horrible rapists." The two old friends shared a laugh. "But you still haven't answered my question. Why are you here?"

Sasuke sighed. "Perhaps we should wait for Takuma to get here."

"And why should we wait for me?" A youthful voice said from the entrance. Standing there was man just a little bit taller than Sasuke, with black, bowl cut hair and bushy eyebrows. A grin was plastered on his face. "And for the last time Sasuke, call me Lee. It feels so weird to be called Takuma. But I digress. Anyways, it's good to see you alive and well Sasuke. I had thought something was up with the execution."

"They allowed you guys to see me executed?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he set his tea down on the coaster. "Why would they allow two ex-members who kind of betrayed them, to see their rogue, traitor friend get assassinated?"

"Oh no, they didn't do that. They broadcasted it on live T.V" Tenten said to him. "I didn't mention it to you because I thought you had already seen it, and because I didn't believe once that it was actually you."

Lee stepped into the room, setting his single strap backpack on top of the desk in the corner of the room. "Yeah, the guy they were executing looked a little too tan, and his complexion was completely different plus his hair was wrong. I think they didn't care, because most of the public didn't even know what you looked like aside from having black hair." He sat down on the couch across from Sasuke and Tenten. "So why are you here Sasuke? I can't imagine you're here just for a visit. If you are though, why the hell are you here instead of fleeing the country so you can enjoy the glories of youth?" Well, at least that hasn't changed.

Tenten chimed in as well. "Yeah you still haven't answered my question, why are you here Sasuke? Why are alive to more exact? You've been a thorn in the side of the ASE, ANBU and LEAF for over three years now, and I doubt they would allow a man as dangerous as you get away when they had you."

Again, Sasuke sighed. "Okay. Listen, the day I of my trial, Danzo Shimura gave me an offer. In exchange for my freedom, I would have create a team of the very best, and only the best. And with that team, I am to eliminate every major crime syndicate in the world. Or at least try to. And I have a feeling I'm on the radar of the biggest one in the Land of Fire. The Rising Sun."

"So you're here to recruit us, is that it?" Tenten said. "If so, then count us in."

"I want you guys to at least consider…Wait…What? But I even prepared a whole speech about why this is the right thing to do and this a once in a lifetime chance! And you just…accept. Just like that?"

"Listen Sasuke. For the past week or so, there have been elite Rising Sun troops patrolling our neighbourhood. I have a feeling they're not just sightseeing. After all, one of the reasons you came to us was because we helped take down the first iteration of the Rising Sun." Tenten said, titling her head. "In fact, there at least 20 to 30 soldiers outside right now."

Looking out the window, Lee had rolled up his arms and cracked his knuckles. "I suspected something. Weird. Only one of them is armed. Looks like…Tenten come and take a look, I'm not good with guns." She strode over. "You see that guy leaning against Raidou's car?"

"That my friend is an Adaptive Combat Rifle. Better known as the ACR. How the hell a gang like the Rising Sun managed to get highly advanced military weaponry like that is mindboggling." She glanced over at Sasuke. "How are we going to do this? We're going to have to take him out first. And before you ask, I don't have any ammo for any of the weapons I have mounted on the walls. They're just there for décor."

Sasuke sighed. "And I left most of my weapons back in the mustang. Shit." Tenten raised an eyebrow at him.

"Most?"

A slight smirk formed on Sasuke's face. "Yeah." He said reaching down into a hidden ankle holster and pulled out a Glock pistol. "First time I've had to use this." He then shot Tenten a look. "But you do have a weapon with ammo here right?"

She scoffed. "What kind of intelligence agent do I think I am Sasuke Uchiha? Of course I do." Lifting up one of the gun frames, underneath it was a button. "Cliché I know, but no ever expects the hidden button." Whirring sounds, and the sound of gears turning filled the room and after 5 seconds, Sasuke could see the faint outline of an AUG A3 with a holographic reflex sight on it. "Alright boys, some good news and bad news." Tenten called out as she slipped on a dark purple track jacket and a pair of sneakers. "Good news, we got a rifle. Bad news, I only two magazines."

"That'll have to do. Alright how are going to this?" Lee asked as he stood beside the door, waiting for the Rising Sun soldiers to charge in without a care like the criminals they were.

"Easy." Sasuke replied, chambering a round. "We kill all of them and book it." He slowly raised the gun towards eye level. Across from him, Tenten stuffed the second magazine into her jacket pocket. "Unless you guys have anything you'd like to bring along with you?"

"Nah. Only clothes really. But those can be easily replaced. These guns however? Well, I guess we could come back for them when the dust figuratively clears, but I'd hate to leave them behind." Tenten said, looking at the G36 and TAR-21 across the room sadly.

Lee narrowed his eyes. "But didn't you like add in an electrical system that shocks anyone who touches your guns with permission? And I remember correctly, you did it using my money too!" His best friend only shrugged.

"Enough. We're wasting time as it is. Tenten, I call the 6 guys on the right side and Lee you'll probably want to stick to the guys up close." The two of them nodded and inched closer to the door.

Without any warning the door burst open and the first goon that entered got a knee to the gut. Lee then turned him around and used him as a human shield. Sasuke dove out from behind him and fired at two men who were near the telephone pole. Both of them went down with bullet holes between their eyes.

Tenten strode out and fired a burst towards the three guys over to the left trying to hide behind a hedge. They didn't stand a chance, if the spray of blood was any indication. To Sasuke's left, Lee lunged forward towards the closest soldier and struck her in the gut before twisting her neck 360 degrees. Without skipping a beat Lee glided over to the next one and the next.

Meanwhile the lone Rising Sun soldier with a gun hid behind the car he had been leaning against and was taking pot shots at the three of them. Thank god he can't hit jack shit. Sasuke thought as he rolled forward and shot another soldier in neck.

With a battle cry, Lee ducked underneath a sloppily thrown punch and thrust his elbow upwards with enough force to break the jaw. He then twirled around, grabbed the nearest soldier by the neck and quickly snapped it. Another soldier attempted to come in from behind, but got shot in the back of the head by Tenten who quickly fired a shot towards the gun-toting soldier.

Several men turned the corner and got rewarded with a bullet in their heads, courtesy of Sasuke. He took a mag and took a short look before sliding it back in. "Hey! I've only got a few bullets left! We need to hurry because it looks like they've got reinforcements coming in." pointing at an oncoming convoy of cars.

Tenten strode over to the downed gunman and picked up his rifle and swung the man's bandolier over her shoulder. She then shouldered her rifle and shot the driver of the first car in the head, sending it careening to a halt. "Let's go boys!" She shouted sliding over the hood of the car and sprinting back into her house. Sasuke took some time to shoot at the convoy before closing the door.

"Well this is useless now." Sasuke said, discarding the pistol. "And why are you grinning like that? Seriously, it's kind of weird." Across from him, leaning against the wall with a vulpine grin on her face, Tenten shrugged.

"It's just been so long since I've seen action! That's partially why I accepted your offer Sasuke. It's been so fucking boring ever since Lee and I have resigned. Literally just three years of doing absolutely jack fucking shit!" She let out a breath. "Anyways, we should get going, the car should be in the back. "

Sasuke slid into the passenger's seat, but otherwise didn't buckle up. Tenten tossed him the ACR and the bandolier which she nabbed off of the soldier. "Hope you put that to good use Sasuke. I can't take them all out." Tenten chuckled. "Only you would be a part of 2 car chases in the span of only two weeks."

"Yeah I guess." Sasuke said pulling back the charging handle of the ACR. "But I'd rather not have this kind of attention on me so early in my career as a Crime Syndicate Annihilator." Lee came running into the garage and slid over top of the car and swung himself into the open driver's seat.

"Okay! Where are we heading off to my youthful friends?" He proclaimed quickly accelerating out of the garage and out onto the open road. Behind them, Sasuke counted at least 14 cars. Each of them full.

"That's a lot of guys." Sasuke whispered as he rolled down the windows and stuck himself out. It's raining. Hm. "I'd prefer we not attract any unwanted attention. Lee do you still remember the way back to my place? And I don't mean the apartment on the outskirts of town."

Lee furrowed his brow. "You mean the Uchiha mansion? I thought you didn't want to go there? I mean, doesn't your father still live there with Satoru?"

"Nah, my father moved out. He's one of the few people in the government who actually knows I'm still alive, so he left me the mansion to use as headquarters."

"Let me guess." Tenten started, a deadpan look on her face. "You called it something bird related. Probably like the Bird Cage or the Bird House, or maybe even the Nest. Something stupid like that. Why everything has to be bird related I don't know."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I'll have you know that it isn't just bird related, it is hawk related. But regardless, you are right, in that HQ is called the Nest. Now get it out of your system." Sasuke waited for the convoy to start firing at him, but they never did, instead, the completely went the wrong the direction as Lee made a sharp right turn. "What the fuck? Are they blind or something?"

"I don't think they know what our car actually looks like." Tenten said, relieved as she set her AUG A3 down beside her and buckled up her seatbelt. "Woo! That's more action than I've seen in three fucking years combined! Hooey! That was fun! In a really messed up way."

With a chuckle Sasuke had to agree with her. After three years of being on the run and being hunted down by the people he had considered comrades, a good firefight with two of his friends was the most fun he'd had in a long time.

Perhaps taking up this offer wasn't such a bad idea after all.


The Nest, Konoha

5:55 P.M.

11/23/16

~Satoru Uchiha ~


After Deidara left with the car modifications, Satoru returned to control room. It was medium sized, with enough space to fit a giant 150 inch TV screen as well as his giant holographic table. Boy did both of those cost a fortune. The two, triple monitor setup that Kurama and Naruto were using were nothing compared to how expensive those two were.

With a sigh Satoru leaned against the desk brought up the blueprints to the Academy Tower. He had already thoroughly looked over it at least 5 times and still hadn't found any other way to get Sakura and Ana out of there. It was a good thing that he had a pill on hand that put the victim to sleep from 24 up to 36 hours, unless intentionally woken up. "Where did you get this?" Sasuke had asked. To be honest, Satoru didn't remember. He just found the pills on one of the shelves that morning. It was better not to ask. Though he did see Sakura looking a little embarrassed from his periphery.

"Anything interesting happen while I was gone guys?" He asked Naruto since his sister had hear headset on and was playing some game called over something or whatever. It looked cool from what he had seen though and Kurama was good. Then again so was Naruto.

Naruto turned around. "Nope. Not unless you want to call the Windy Nation Elections interesting. I mean it is and god do I get a laugh out of the right wing party's representative. Dude's gonna ruin that country, but boy is he fun to watch." He then turned around and brought up the city's traffic grid system. "Anyways wanna mess up the city's traffic? It's fun! I guess. In a really nerdy way."

"Uh, no. I don't to be the cause of a 20 car pileup."

"You really think I'd let something like that happen? How low of you to think that of me." Naruto said lightheartedly. "But seriously, I'd like something to do. I would play some League, I'd rather not drown in salt today. I could go on Village of Concord, it's nice to troll people and all, but sometimes the people you play with are so fucking stupid. Ugh! Why is this so boring!?"

Satoru shrugged. "I don't know really. Anyways you should be starting to get a move on in hacking into the power system. It's just about dark enough that no one is going to see anything when all the lights are off."

He looked over at Kurama who was zoned out. Satoru had to admit that she was pretty. Long scarlet hair that reached all the way to just above an average sized butt. Bright blue eyes that shone like blue stars. She wore a white and magenta long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbow. It was fairly formfitting and actually showed off quite a bit of Kurama's curves. Quite frankly Kurama Uzumaki was like no other girl that Satoru had ever seen. I guess being the daughter of the woman who was once called the most beautiful alive helps as well. Then again the only other female that Satoru could even compare Kurama to was Sakura. And that was because they were the only females that he actually knew. For most of his childhood Satoru spent it in his room tinkering with electronic gadgets and trying to figure out how to make them work instead of outside. Well that's two things we have in common now.

"Could you stop ogling my sister fucking pervert." Naruto said. "I mean she turns 18 in like a month. If you start dating her wouldn't that make her a paedophile or something? Ah whatever." The blonde hacker turned his attention back to his own three monitors. "And just so you know, hacking into the power grid is easier than you think. I mean it wouldn't be the first time she and I have had to hack into the power grid. If I remember correctly, the last time we did was…Ah yes, last month. I don't remember why though."

It was then that Satoru's phone beeped. Satoru, I sent Tenten and Rock Lee ahead. They should arrive at the Nest in 20 minutes or so. Currently I'm on my way to the top floor of the parkade across from the Academy Tower. Now, tell Naruto to start the blackout as soon as it turns 6. "Alright, Naruto as soon as it turns 6 Sasuke wants you to start the blackout. Can you do that?"

"Yup. Now gotta wait. And wait…And wait. Truth or dare Satoru?"

"No. I'm not a child." At Naruto's pouty look, Satoru sighed. "Alright fine. Truth." The blonde smirked deviously as he rubbed his hands. "Just get on with it. And it's just this one question alright? I'm answering anything else."

"Alright, is it true that you think my sister is hot?"

"Hell yeah I do." Naruto scoffed. "What it's true!"

"Well, I'll be sure to tell her that. Don't worry, she'll probably think I'm lying or something stupid like that. Anyways, it's time to black this shit out!" After a dramatic pause, Naruto pressed a key on his computer and everything, quite literally went black. "Okay, wait that wasn't supposed to happen."

Kurama growled and took her headphones off. "Idiot! You forgot to keep the power on in the Nest! That's what you did wrong!" She slid over to his computer and began to rapidly type away as the auxiliary power turned on and their systems booted up. "Don't worry. This shouldn't take…too long…Okay, this might take a while."

Everyone groaned.


Academy Tower 64th floor, Konoha

6:01 P.M.

11/23/16

~Sakura Haruno~


Hefting the body over her shoulder under the cover of darkness wasn't the problem. It was the fact that if Sakura made even the slightest mistake, then Ana would fall 64 floors down to her death. And while Sakura would have preferred to just drag the body over to the parkade, Sasuke had wanted to do it dramatically of course. That's just like him. With a sigh, Sakura carefully secured the harness around herself and double checked that the harness was securely attached to the zip line.

"This is Sakura ready to zip line. Over." She whispered into her earpiece.

"Alright, just remember, hold tightly." Sasuke called back. "And go slowly. Also, just in case you do fall, I have rapidly inflating airbag that I can throw down to the ground. But I'd rather not have to use it. Over."

Taking in a deep breath, Sakura took a couple of steps back and then ran forward, leaping from the broken window, holding onto Ana as tightly as she could. How she could sleep through this, pill or no pill, is beyond me. As the pavement of the parkade began to appear, Sakura clicked a button on the side of harness and with a loud snap, the zip line split unevenly into two. Landing softy on her feet, Sakura handed Ana over to Sasuke who put her into the backseat of the mustang.

"Your bike is somewhere around here right?" Sasuke asked, closing the door. In response Sakura pulled out her keychain and clicked on the motorcycle keys with a loud beep. Seconds later, her Kawasaki Ninja 300 rolled up the ramp. "Oh yeah. I forgot Satoru added that feature in. Well, regardless, we should probably go different routes to wave off any possible pursuers."

Sakura chambered a round in her M9. "We could always kill them."

"Killing isn't always the answer Sakura. But if push comes to shove, you are free to kill them. Just try not to cause any unnecessary damage will you?" Sasuke sighed, buckling up and leaning back in his seat. "By the way, could you turn the A/C on Deidara? It's getting pretty hot in here."

"Eh!? Why don't you do it yourself! Lazy bastard."

Sasuke noticed Sakura's gaze on him. "Yes Sakura?"

"How did you get her to miss? Especially when you were literally a sitting duck. Someone with aim as good as Ana should never miss a shot like that. And yet you got her to miss every single one."

The smile on Sasuke's face told her everything she needed to know. "Words, have a lot of power Sakura. I only made Ana Shimada miss one shot. And then she lost her concentration and rushed her shots which in turn caused her to miss. As to how I got her to miss in the first place?" He shrugged. "Even I don't know. But, Sakura is why killing isn't always the answer."

Sakura rolled her eyes and began to drive away before Sasuke called out to her one last time. "Oh and by the way, could you stop by the Tobirama fountain again? I have another meeting scheduled there, but I'm afraid I can't go. Don't worry, he knows you're coming."

This time it was Sakura who sighed, before snapping her head over her shoulder, "You set up a meeting with Shino Aburame without telling us? Figures." And without further ado, Sakura drove away. The Academy Tower was only a two minute drive away from the fountain and with the traffic at a standstill, it was an even shorter drive. By now all of the power was returning, if the buildings lighting up one by one was any indication.

Waiting for her, leaning against a tree near the fountain was Shino Aburame. He wore an olive green, knee length trench coat over a slate grey hooded windbreaker. To top it all off, he even wore a pair of shades. At night. Still hasn't changed a bit. Without saying a word, she leaned against the tree opposite Shino.

For a while the two of them just stood there analyzing the other. Shino was the best tracker and infiltrator that Sakura had ever seen. He was able to sneak into the most secure prison in the Republic, the Blood Prison. Though it was no Iron Rock Fortress or Sky Cell, it was still a nightmare to get into, let alone doing it unseen. He also had for escaping from seemingly impossible traps, if Sakura remembered correctly. Sakura could recall the time that Shino had been locked into extreme isolation room with a straightjacket and a single bobby pin to find in the pitch black darkness of night. It only took Shino 10 minutes to escape. Sakura wouldn't have been surprised if Shino could sneak into the Iron Vault and escape without anyone every even knowing he was even there.

Sakura knew that he had resigned from the ASE after getting caught once. From what she knew, Shino was thrown into a cell and was never seen again. Almost. Exactly 2 months later, he was sighted sneaking into the Military state of Rain.

Finally, when the silence was starting to become unbearable, Shino spoke up. "You have a proposal for me. How do I know this? Sasuke told me. It is something about forming a team of the best of the best to eliminate the big three crime syndicate is it not? I deduced when I noticed that Deidara Kurosawa had suddenly vanished and was last sighted with Sasuke Uchiha. And when the genius hacker the Fox suddenly stopped hacking, my suspicions only deepened."

Right. I forgot he talked like this. "You got us. Do you want a prize?" He only stared at her blankly behind his shades. Sakura chuckled. "Okay, you figured it out, which should be expected. So what's your answer? Are you going to join us? Our team would be so much more effective if you decide to join. There are very few people out there with your type of skillset."

"Are there really? What about Yugito Nii? Or Kakashi Hatake, Zabuza Momochi or even Kankuro Sabaku. Why them you ask? They are all extremely talented infiltrators and escape artists. And Kakashi Hatake is the best tracker in the world and he was formerly your mentor was he not? He is more likely to know your style and know how to work with your skillset."

Kakashi Hatake. Now that was a name that she hadn't heard in a long time. "I don't know if you know, but Kakashi hasn't been seen in over 5 years. And besides, he isn't nearly as good as an escape artist as you are. So what do you say Shino?"

Shino remained silent, before making his way towards her bike. Sakura felt her lips curl into a small smile. "I guess that's a yes then."

Mission complete.


So Overwatch came out. Gonna be playing that for a while. And yes, I did base the Shimada clan of this fic on the Shimada brothers Hanzo and Genji. And if you don't know what Overwatch is, look it up.

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress BTW? Like Attack on Titan. But better. And that ending theme? Ear-gasms all around.