Chapter 5: The Sudden Assault
A week later, Kouga is walking to school as usual and wonders what is gotten into Ruki. Before going to school, Ruki tells him that she will be staying at home. Kouga asked why and she said that she has a bad feeling and to them that feeling usual is correct.
When he reaches the front gate, he sees Tsuna talking to Hibari. Kouga decides to walk up to them trying to listen to their conversation and suddenly, the skylark swings his tonfa at something, who turn out to be Doctor Shamal. The girl near there screams and runs away from the perverted doctor.
Ite-te-te-te, what did you do that for?" He asks the discipline leader.
"I felt an evil intent." He replies. "It must have been my imagination."
"Nope." He turns around to look at Kouga who has walked up to them. "There is an evil intent of a pervert."
"Omnivore…" He calls. He has started calling him an Omnivore instead of Herbivore probably after Kouga managed to catch his tonfa. "Hm." Hibari keeps his tonfas and walks away.
"Morning, Tsuna."
"K-Kouga-san?"
"But that's no reason to just attack someone." Shamal comments. "What a fearsome fellow."
"What are you doing here?" Tsuna asks the doctor.
"I heard a scary rumor." He replies. "I thought I should be protecting the girls here."
"No one asked you to do to that." Kouga dead-panned.
"Midori tanabiku namimori no…" A song starts to play, which happens to be the school's anthem. "Eh? That's our school song. Where is it coming from?"
They turn around and see Hibari answers his phone.
"Hibari/-san's ringtone?!" The two teens thought.
"Yeah, that's right." He turns around and looks at them. "Isn't Sasagawa Ryohei one of your friends? They got him."
"Eh?!" Tsuna is shocked.
"Huh? What is he…?" Kouga asks.
"Over the past few week Namimori discipline members were attacked one by one." Reborn explains.
"What?!"
They all go to the Namimori central hospital and runs towards the room that says 'Sasagawa Ryohei'. They slide the door open to reveal the teen bandaged up and lying on the bed.
"Onii-san! Are you all right?" The brunette asks the older teen.
"Oh, Sawada! Kouga!" He greets. "It's a little pathetic, but he got me too.
"HIE! Why did this happen to you?!" Tsuna shrieks.
"How are you two doing?" Reborn asks him.
"I've got a few broken bones." Ryohei replies. "Even though I had my guard darn, he was a fearsome man."
"Eh? You say the culprit?!" Tsuna asks.
"Yeah. The uniforms are from Kokuyo Middle, from the next town over."
"What?! They are middle-schoolers?"
"Yeah. You be careful too, Sawada. And Kouga too." Ryohei warns him.
"What?" Kouga says.
"But damn… I wanted that guy's punch in my club!" The boxing captain shouts.
"Boxing at a time like this?" The other members sweat-dropped.
"Is this yours?" Reborn asks as he shows a pocket watch.
"No, I heard it was on my chest when they found us."
Reborn opens the two watches as it shows that it's stuck at five o'clock.
"Changing the subject, I haven't honestly told Kyoko about this yet." The boxing captain tells the brunette. "She worried a lot. Please don't let this get out."
"Huh?"
The door slides open and the younger Sasagawa runs in to her brother's sight. "Onii-chan! Why did you climb a bathhouse's chimney?!"
"What kind of story did you tell her?!" Tsuna and Kouga sweat-drop.
"Onii-chan, is that really just a sprain?"
"Yeah." Ryohei replies.
"That's too unbelievable."
"I don't believe it! Do they make you stay at the hospital for a sprain?!"
"It's a really bad sprain."
"He plans on keeping this going…"
"But I'm so glad…" Kyoko wipes off the tears. "…that you're still alive."
"Kyoko-chan."
"I told you not to cry!"
"Un!" Kyoko turns her head at the two other teens. "Tsuna-kun, Kouga-kun, Reborn-kun, you came to see him too! Thank you."
"Y-Yeah."
Once they are outside, Tsuna begins to panic over why Ryohei is attacked.
"Why did Onii-san get attacked! What in the world is going on?!" He thought.
"Calm down, Tsuna." Kouga tells him.
"But…"
"You aren't the only one who are panicking, Tsuna."
"Eh?" They look around and manage to spot some of their school's students in the hospital. "The hospital is full with students from our school."
"This is weird…" Kouga mumbles.
Tsuna then looks the room next to them
"Eh? Mochida-senpai?!"
"You know him?" Kouga asks.
"Ah, Dame-Tsuna." A random student walks up to them.
"What happened to Mochida-senpai?" He asks him. "Was he-"
"Yeah, he was attacked by those guys."
"Mochida-senpai too?!"
Is he strong, this Mochida?" Kouga asks.
"Yeah, he is the captain of the kendo team." The student replies. "Not just that. As of last night, three seniors, four second-years and two freshmen have been attacked, none of them from the Discipline Committee."
"Not from the Discipline Committee?!"
"Namimori Middle students are being targeted!"
"I can't believe it!" Tsuna shouts. "Why is something so terrible happening?!"
"Something doesn't add up." Kouga mumbles.
They turn around when they hear footsteps and see two older students in black gakuen uniform and the same red armband on their arms. One of them has a twig in his mouth.
"It's the vice chairman of the Discipline Committee, Kusakabe-san."
Everyone bows except for Kouga as they walk past.
"So you haven't seen the chairman?" He asks the committee member next to him.
"Yeah, I'm certain he's found a clue about the enemy, so it's a matter of time until the culprits are destroyed." He replies.
"I see."
Everyone stands up straight. "Did you hear that?"
"Hibari-san went to beat up them up!" Tsuna says to the student.
"Hibari-san is invincible!" The student replies. "We can relax now!"
"I'm so glad we're the same school as Hibari-san! We're leaving the rest up to you, Kami-sama! Hibari-sama!"
"This is strange. Everyone who is admitted to the hospital have fighting prowess." Kouga thought. "Mochida a captain of the Kendo club, Ryohei another captain of the boxing club and the rest are Discipline Committee. Were they trying to lure out Hibari-san? But if they try to, they would have target him instead of the other students and just beating the Discipline Committee…"
"ARG! It still doesn't make any sense!" Kouga yells, ruffling his head in frustration causing Tsuna to look up at him confused.
"Eh?" Tsuna says and they hear something dropped making to look at the detached tail. "What's that?!"
Reborn picks up the detached green tail. "Leon's tail was cut."
"Do chameleons lose their tails?" Tsuna sweat-drops.
"This occurrence… is ominous."
"Ominous? What do you mean?" Kouga asks.
Reborn didn't say anything and shortly after, Leon suddenly transforms into an octopus.
"Is he all right?" Tsuna asks as the octopus becomes totem pole. "Leon keeps transforming into different things." The totem pole becomes a large tennis racket.
"With the loss of his tail, he can't control his shape."
"What was that?!"
"Out of the way! Another Namimori student was attacked!"
"They look up as a doctor and nurse bring in a heavily injured Kusakabe on the bed.
"That's the vice chairman of the Discipline Committee, Kusakabe-san!"
"They say that he was attacked as soon as he left the hospital."
"Sonna. I thought Hibari-san left to take care of the bad guys." Tsuna thought in shock. "Was Hibari-san…?"
"That's impossible. Hibari-san would never lose."
"But at the state that Kusakabe-san is in, it could be…" Kouga trails off.
"Take care of Leon." Reborn throws Leon as osonae mochi into Tsuna's hand.
"Oi, Reborn!"
The baby runs towards and jumps onto the injured vice-chairman. He takes out of a golden pocket watch from inside his jacket and opens it with it stopped at four o'clock. He jumps off and his face takes a serious look as Tsuna walks towards him.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"There's no mistake. "Reborn says to them. "They're trying to pick a fight with you, Tsuna."
"Eh?"
"Is it true, Reborn?" Kouga asks the hitman.
"Picking a fight with me? What do you mean?" Tsuna asks him.
"It is this." Reborn shows the pocket watch he got from Kusakabe.
"What's the deal with this watch? It's stopped. Is it broken?"
"This watch was found on the recently attacked Kusakabe." He replies as he takes out another watch. "This is the one that Sasagawa Ryohei had. I hear the other ones had watches too. One was stuck on six o'clock."
"Six, five, four…" Tsuna counts.
"Wait, could it be that-?!" Kouga realizes.
"That's right." Reborn answers. "This is a countdown."
"What?"
"That's when it came to me." Reborn takes out a piece of paper. "Take a look at this." Tsuna takes it and gives back Leon-fish.
"Namimori Middle Fighting Prowess Ranking?" Tsuna reads aloud. "So what?"
"You're as dull as ever."
"Kouga looks at the paper. "Ranking?" He reads down. "Fifth, Sasagawa Ryohei. Eh?"
"That's right, Kouga. The order in which people were attacked and the order of the ranking are the same."
"Eh? You're right." Tsuna glances down. "Wait, this ranking is…"
"That's Fuuta's ranking."
"Eh?"
"We mafia have a vow of silence called 'Omerta', a rule to never leak the organization's secrets to outsiders." Reborn says as he holds up Leon in the form of a mini Fuuta. "Fuuta's ranking are a secret for the entire mafia organization. There's no way an outsider could know. Meaning, the only ones who can obtain this ranking are…"
"Sugo! I'm tied first with Hibari-san!" Kouga exclaims.
"Now is not the time for that, Kouga-san!" Tsuna yells and then he realizes a dreadful discovery. "Wait, that means if number 4 Kusakabe-san was attacked, then number 3 will be attacked next!"
He reads the paper, trying to pin point number 3 as Kouga follows suit.
"This is not good, Tsuna." Kouga says.
"What is it- I don't believe it!" Tsuna shouts out. "What should we do, Reborn?!"
"This is becoming dangerous…" Reborn says. "You should go. I have to look up on something."
"Then there's no time to waste, Let's hurry, Tsuna!" Kouga yells as they run out of the hospital.
"R-Right!" They run along the street, unknown to them that a bazooka fires at them. They stop when they heard the sound and look up to notice that a large net is falling above them and they both get entangled in the net.
"I'm gonna get killed!" Tsuna panics.
"We did it!"
"We did it!"
"*In Chinese* Success."
"You guys!" Tsuna shouts as they look up to find Harun with Lambo and I-Pin.
"We caught Tsuna-san!"
"What are you doing? What is this?!"
"I heard that your school was being targeted and is very dangerous." Haru replies. "So I thought that if we attacked you before you get attacked, then the bad guys will leave you alone!"
"That doesn't make any sense!" Tsuna yells.
"Tsuna-san! Onii-sama!" A voice calls out and with a few slices, the ropes are suddenly cut, and they see Ruki had cut the rope with her sword.
"Thanks, Ruki." Kouga says and turns to Haru. "And Haru, that thinking of yours is crazy! It'll only have the opposite effect!"
"But Haru is-"
"It doesn't matter! We need to hurry, Tsuna!" Kouga says as he and Ruki help the brunette to his feet.
"M-Mm!" Tsuna nods and they run off with Ruki following them.
"Gokudera/-kun, you are number 3!"
Meanwhile
After leaving the school, Gokudera wonders around the shopping district to find something to eat, but founds out that he has little money left. Then a Kokuyo student confronts him.
"Who the hell are you?" Gokudera asks him.
"Kokuyo Middle freshman, Kakimoto Chikusa." He introduces himself. "I came to break you."
"Ah… Why am I always being bothered by guys from other schools?" Gokudera complains. "I try to live modestly… All right, come at me! It is my style to finish fights that are started."
"Oh, a fight?" Two random passersby comment. "Looks like fun."
"This isn't a show." The beanie boy swings his hands and needles are stuck on their shoulders. They both fall backward to the concrete floor as blood comes out of their wounds.
"What did you do?!" Gokudera shouts at him.
"It'd be a pain if someone interfered, so let's pick up the pace." He swings his hand again; a cut appears on the bomber's cheek as he dodges it. He then runs backwards into an alley and the student follows him. As soon he steps out of the alley, dynamites rain down on him. He takes out two red yo-yos on each hand and swings them like crazy, defusing the falling dynamites.
"Yo-yos?" Gokudera mumbles as he looks over from his hiding spot. The red yo-yo spin passes him and fires many needles in the area. The silverrette manages to jump out of the area in time to avoid a heavy hit.
"This guy isn't just an ordinary middle-schooler." He thought. "That trick earlier, the way he fights… He's a professional hitman."
Where Tsuna's group are
Tsuna is trying to call Gokudera on the public phone but only receives the operator instead. He puts down the phone and shouts, "I can't call Gokudera-kun's phone at a time like this?!"
"He might be in a fight right now." Kouga hypothesizes.
"Uso!"
"What should we do?" Ruki asks.
"Ah, look! A Nami-Middle student!" One of the students walking pass them says. "Ignore him; we shouldn't get too close."
"We don't want to get dragged into anything."
Both Namimori students dead-panned at their comments.
"Is that how people think of us?!" Tsuna questions.
"I saw one in the shopping district too."
"A Nami-Middle student was fighting a Kokuyo student, right?"
"Eh? Could that be…?" Tsuna says.
"Let's go, Tsuna, Ruki! We need to help Gokudera quickly!" Kouga yells as he runs in the direction of the shopping district.
"H-Hai!" The brunette quickly runs after him with Ruki.
At the shopping district
"What Family are you from?!" Gokudera yells at Chikusa.
"Finally, a 'hit'." He says.
"Huh?"
"I'll make you tell me your family's organization, who your boss is, everything."
"Nani?"
He swings the yo-yo at the silverrette who dodges it. "So you're after Juudaime!"
Tsuna, Kouga, and Ruki hurriedly run on the road as Tsuna thought, "Gokudera-kun."
"Let's pick up the pace!" Kouga shouts.
"Hai!" Tsuna replies.