Disclaimer: I do not own Thing-Thing, nor do I own Naruto! They belong to Diseased Productions and Masashi Kishimoto respectively.

Naruto: The Ninja Gunman

Speech Legend:

Bold Text: Demon speaking/REALLY angry yelling/etc.

Italic Text: Thinking/written messages/etc.

Chapter 5: The Mission in Wave Country! Part 1

After a long day of traveling, the group has arrived in Wave Country, and boy, was it in such bad shape. People are living in shambles, and there are thugs going around, patrolling the place, and there's an incomplete bridge, most likely the handiwork of the bridge builder Team 7 was assigned to protect.

Angry at these injustices, Zero remarks, "This scumbag's no better than the Systems Corp. CEO, but then again, Systems Corp. wasn't known for any drug smuggling. But, I wouldn't be surprised at any illegal business practices, though." The others (except for Naruto), didn't know who Zero was talking about, but nodded in agreement, as they went through the shantytown made possible by the greed of a single man, in which case is Gato, a wealthy businessman who uses his shipping company as a front for illegal activities.

He had also taken control of the shipping lanes, and the economy of the country, and started bleeding it dry. He also has an army of hired henchmen to make certain that no one tries to stand up to the avaricious crime boss. Tazuna intended to build the bridge to open a trade route that would take business away from Gato's company, therefore prompting the greedy coward to hire rogue ninjas to prevent the bridge's completion.

Zero looked around left and right, in case that any of Gato's subordinates get any ideas to try something, with his hand on the hilt of his sword. In addition, during the training trip, the bio-weapon had also learned some useful kenjutsu techniques from the ANBU that came with him and Naruto. They then found Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, surrounded by a few sword-wielding thugs, and it looks like they intend to kidnap her under Gato's orders to make her father surrender. The ninjas were about to intervene, when Zero holds his hand up, and says to them, "No. Let me handle those bastards," as he pulled out his sword.

He comes up to the thugs, and coldly says to them, "Let the girl go, shitheads, or else," as he gets into a stance. One of the minions chuckled arrogantly, "Look guys, another hero-wannabe! Let's show him what happens when you try to f*** with us," as he and his comrades charged him with their swords. Scoffing, the bio-weapon himself, with little to no effort, parried their blows and dismembered the ruffians with deadly efficiency. Tsunami, who was crouched in fear from her near-kidnapping, got up and smiled, "Thank you, that was appreciated," before turning to Team 8. "You must be the team that those other ninjas called in for backup," she remarks, before offering, "Come, and let me lead you to our house. Your fellow ninjas are waiting for you there."

[Meanwhile, in another area of Wave Country…]

We see an individual with a red duster jacket, black jeans, steel-toed leather boots, and black fingerless gloves with spiked forehand areas. He also has a scar across his left eye, in addition to crimson hair in the hairstyle known as The Middle Part. This man is working on something large, concealed under a tarp, and that something is also hooked up to a laptop computer via eSATA cable. That being, is Gamma-Class Bio-Weapon Project #153, who had survived his last battle with Zero by escaping from his helicopter without the latter's notice.

However, he didn't make it out unscathed. Some of the shrapnel from the exploding vehicle had cut him in a few places, and one fragment had cut him across his left eye. He recovered from the battle, and after figuring that Systems Corp. would deem him useless and not worth sending out to kill the renegade super-soldier, he decided to do it on his own, without any help or interference from his creators. He had come into the Elemental Nations after stumbling upon a strange dimensional anomaly. After gathering the necessary supplies (and stealing certain ones from Systems Corp. along the way), he went through it and found himself in Wave Country. He had set up a temporary base somewhere in the forest, where he now works on his top secret project; a weapon that he is certain powerful enough to defeat Zero, even kill him.

"When I finish this thing," he thinks, "I'll finally take down Project 154 once and for all, and show that I am the superior bio-weapon, but I'll have to find him first. Hmmm…It seems I have some unwelcome guests. Might as well," before putting his tools down, and pulling out a handgun, loading a clip into it, and cocking the weapon. It is a powerful IMI Desert Eagle Mark XIX using .50 caliber Action Express rounds. Little did his assailants know is that Project 153 was developed as a mobile armor pilot capable of operating complex vehicles, with senses so highly enhanced that he has complete awareness of his surroundings.

He is also well-versed in strategy, and knows to think a step or two ahead, depending on the nature of a given situation. The reason for his would-be assailants; about a week after his arrival in the Elemental Countries, he had run afoul of a few ninjas from the Hidden Mist Village, who had apparently gotten interested in 153's weapons. In the name of the Mizukage, Yagura, they demanded for him to hand them over for reverse-engineering, so that they could be used to kill off the ninja clans that have advanced bloodline abilities. He outright refused, and shot one of the arrogant shinobi to with the Zeus Rifle (which he stole from Systems Corp.'s vault prior to his arrival in the Elemental Countries) for emphasis. 153 also threatened, no PROMISED, that if the ninjas ever tried to pull anything, they'll be dead meat like their comrade.

Now, before you get to read the thing where 153 tear apart his assailants, here is the information of his loadout below;

Handgun: IMI Desert Eagle Mark XIX .50 Action Express

Shotgun: Daewoo Precision Industries USAS-12 (Why not give the guy a select-fire South Korean shotgun?)

SMG: Dual Heckler & Koch VP-70M (The VP-70M is the military model of the VP-70 that's capable of 3-round bursts)

Full-Auto Shoulder Fired Weapon: Heckler & Koch HK121 (H&K's latest full-auto weapon)

Other(s): Zeus Rifle (Why not? Zeus got blown to bits when you beat him in Thing-Thing 2), M35 Launcher (the new rocket launcher weapon from Thing-Thing Arena Pro and Thing-Thing Arena Classic)

Melee Weapon: Ten-Thousand Cold Nights (a Muramasa sword.)

Now back to the story!

153 tightened his grip on the Israeli handgun, waiting for his Hidden Mist opponents to make the first move. He hears a bush rustle nearby, and in only one second, he turns and fires the Desert Eagle, killing his first target as he died screaming.

One of his comrades thought, "Damn it! We've got one down! Come to think of it, how did this bastard even know we're here? Could he have some sort of sensory-based bloodline ability? Nonetheless, let's kill this freak and take his weapons!" The ninja then signals to his teammates, as they then emerged and charged towards 153, with the intent to kill. He himself scoffed, and shot two more with the Desert Eagle, before quickly switching to a pair of Heckler & Koch VP-70M machine pistols, and blasted four additional Hidden Mist ninjas with a few three-round bursts from the 9x19mm Parabellum-chambered polymer handguns. At that point, there was one Mist shinobi remaining, as he drew out a sword.

Grinning with malicious intent, 153 pulled out an intimidating odachi with a blackish-colored blade, and got into a swordsman's stance. The ninja could feel an oppressing, ice-cold feeling coming from the blade, as he steeled himself for the duel to come. 153 makes a "Your move, scumbag!" gesture with his hand, at which the ninja charged, in a potentially futile attempt to decapitate the bio-weapon…

[Back with Team 8 and Zero…]

We see them having arrived at Tazuna's house, and meeting with Team 7. Kurenai snarled at Kakashi with a none-too-pleased look on her face, "Kakashi, what the Hell were you thinking, continuing a dangerous C-Rank mission turned A-Rank with barely-experienced genin!?" The Cyclops himself was about to answer when he noticed Zero, and paled in fear. He thought fearfully, "Oh no! It's HIM! That's the man from six years ago who busted my elbows and knees with that weapon!" before he then turned to Kurenai, and asks her, "What is HE doing here?" Zero, suddenly grabs the Copy Ninja by the neck with a cold harshness.

The bio-weapon growls, "Listen, asshole, I'm here because I requested to the Hokage that I go with the backup team. Do you know how much trouble you're in right now with the Hokage, because of your f***ing arrogance?! What makes a half-assed idiot like you think, that you and your team could succeed in this mission on your own because of that runt?!" Kakashi stammered, "The Council needs me to train Sasuke on how to use the Sharingan for when he activates it for the very first time."

Zero narrowed his eyes before slamming Kakashi down on the floor, as he snarled, "You mean those godforsaken Civilians and Elders, don't you? You would follow orders from those ingrates, instead of the Hokage, all so pay back the life debt of some deceased teammate of yours that is also an Uchiha?" At this, the silver-haired pervert nodded with a fearful gulp. "I should tear out that little Uchiha monkey-eye you're so damned proud of, right here and now, but I can't. For one thing, you're not worth it. Two, the Hokage needs you alive for your reprimand from him," Zero finishes, looking down balefully at the jonin.

Nearby, Sakura, Sasuke, and Sai were watching on as this man told off their sensei while insulting the 'Last Uchiha' before slamming him on the floor. Sakura thought, "Hey, it's that man that Naruto-baka's Shadow Clone transformed into at the genin exam, and he just told off Kakashi-sensei and insulted Sasuke-kun! This guy's got some nerve coming here!" Caught up in her delusions of grandeur, she attempted to punch Zero with an obnoxious war cry, only for the bio-weapon to catch her fist in a vice-like grip.

He growls to her in a voice that would make even the most hardcore death metal bands proud, "And you, you spoiled pink-haired brat with a screech like a banshee, what kind of stupid point do you think you're trying to prove here?!" Terrified at the deep, snarling, and unforgiving tone, the banshee herself fainted, with her body making a loud thud on the floor. Kurenai smiled, "I like the way you think, Zero-san. I could get some new genjutsu ideas out of this," before adding, "Sakura was always a fan-girl that has no idea on how harsh the reality of being a ninja is, anyways. It doesn't help that her social-climbing mother is on the Civilian Council, who intended for her daughter to be in love with Sasuke, so that when she marries him, she and the other council members would gain more political power," as she crossed her arms.

It is then that Sasuke came over to Naruto with the arrogance commonly seen in his family. "What do you want, Uchiha?" asks Naruto, as he cockily replies, "I want those firearms, commoner. Only an Uchiha deserves that kind of weaponry." At this, Kiba retorts, "No way, man! Naruto's not gonna give you his awesome weapons, you duck-assed punk," as Akamaru barked and growled in agreement.

Before the self-proclaimed avenger could try something stupid, he suddenly finds himself held at gunpoint with the Podbyrin 9.2mm by the blonde, who said to him, "And don't even think about going to the Civilian Council and the Elders about it, either! If you do, you'll be sorry, with a capital S!" He then noticed Sai giving him a brief glance before going back to his sketch pad, making the demon container even more suspicious of the emotionless one. "I wouldn't be surprised if this guy is one of Danzo's goons from that ROOT faction he's been continuing behind the Old Man's back," Naruto thought before setting Sasuke down hard on his rear end.

The Uchiha massacre survivor got up with an indignant groan as he rubbed the sore spot, while Sai thought, "A warrior like him could prove useful for Danzo-sama, if I can just convince him to join ROOT. He is also the container of the Nine-tailed Fox, as well. Uzumaki is also wielding an arsenal of powerful weapons that can fire metal projectiles at such high velocities. Plus, the man who trained Naruto is also here, too. Perhaps I could convince him to join ROOT, as well." Before he could do anything else, Sai noticed Zero giving him a look of suspicion with a cold glint in his narrowed eyes.

Normally, the ROOT operative never showed any emotions as a general rule, but seeing the sub-zero coldness in the super-soldier's eyes had awakened something in him-Fear. He shivered lightly, as he tried to keep his fear in check. Zero then turned to Kakashi, and smirked, "Not so smug now, are you? I also know that your old sensei is Minato Namikaze, the Forth Hokage. He and your teammates Obito and Rin would be ashamed of your pathetic inability to let go of the past," before giving him a harsh kick to the silver-haired jonin in the crotch, "And that's what you get for reading something as meaningless as pornography that's written by a perverted knucklehead who's a former student of the Old Man."

Part 1 End

EDIT (2/16/2014): Decided to add a little more to this chapter.

EDIT (5/9/2014): Changed 153's Beretta M93Rs to a pair of Heckler & Koch VP-70Ms

EDIT (5/14/2014): I decided to make Chapter 5 a more-than-two-parter, meaning that it'll have more than two parts.

EDIT (6/9/2014): Changed the Colt Delta Elite to the Podbyrin 9.2mm