Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Ice Picks and Hand Grenades ❯ Drifting as a Cloud ( Chapter 13 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: Serious side effects include blood clotting, indigestion, and cardiac arrest. However, these cases are rare. If mild irritation occurs, simply kick author in face.

A/N: Did you know stories don't magically transfer themselves from your notebooks to your computer? Mendokuse.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Drifting As A Cloud

Nothing is simple. It's always a pain in the ass and, I dunno, I think I'm starting to get used to it. Its been a measly fifteen minutes since we sent out our information to the Hokage, and as luck would have it, a cute little slug summon pops out of nowhere with a scroll in its mouth. Not only does that mean we have to deal with a slimy scroll, but it also means there's been an extension on our mission. An order for a search and infiltrate. Basically get the info out of the building before ANBU shows up and busts the place up beyond recognition. I sure hope we're getting paid overtime for this. Yeah. Right.

The building was easy enough to find, despite the fact that it looked like every other building in the Wave city. Clear and unciphered instructions are a relief, not to mention a rarity in this sort of business.

I look up at the sky hazily. It's just about dawn. Thank the gods for soldier pills. An all night run followed immediately by a stealth based raid? It's inhuman. Torturous. I think Ibiki must have tied up the Hokage, thrown her in a closet, and sent out a bunch of ridiculous mission extensions, all the while cackling evilly and sporting a fang toothed grin.

Ee-eeh... why do I always get such silly imagery stuck in my head?

Slipping on my wireless communication device I flash Lee a quick hand gesture and disappear into the recesses of the stone structure. Sudoko did the same only moments ago, and as far as I'm aware, Taro should have moved around back and secured the premises.

"Good luck!" Lee whispers, exuberantly... however that's possible.

.0.0.0.0.0.0.

"I've just about cleared the ground floor." Sudoko whispers through the com. "Haven't seen hide nor hair of anybody... shinobi, bandits, fuckin' dust bunnies... it's pretty fuckin' eerie."

I tap my hand to my ear, touching the device purely out of habit. "I just got in, but there's no one here, either. That just means that either we've been caught red handed or there's a pretty high concentration of men in the basement levels. From the looks of things, though, I'd suppose the latter."

A short and very hesitant pause is followed by static and a single voice. Lee. "...are you sure you don't want Taro and I to back you guys up?" Lee's worried...

"We don't need to take any unneccesary risks." Sudoko replies.

I quietly sneak around the corner when my companions stop speaking, concealing myself in the shadows with substantial help from my jutsu. "The documents should be hidden somewhere in the fourth basement floor." Lee continues, a little half heartedly. Not that I can blame him. It does seem rather unfair that the action man of the group is made to sit back on transmitter duty with the medic while the strategist goes out on the field, but, you know, Lee and espionage don't exactly go hand in hand. Hell, its like a contradiction in terms. On the other hand, sneaking around and silent maneuver is probably one of the only things my jutsus are good for.

"Reached second floor." Sudoko says in a deep but hushed tone. "Oh yeah, there's guys on this floor all right. I've got five civilian types in room B5. Taking evasive measures, following hallway C. Copy?"

Looks like I'm not that far behind. I reach the stairs in only moments, stepping down as quietly and carefully as I can. I should make a strict point not to follow in Sudoko's footsteps, however. That would be completely pointless. So if she's taking hallway C, I suppose I'll take the alternate hallway and make a beeline for the third basement floor. Sudoko covers ground fast enough.

The door to the stairwell is unguarded when I reach it, which means they aren't expecting intruders. Well, that's a good sign. Lax defenses mean less chance that we'll be obstructed in our mission. I listen carefully for a moment. Yeah, I hear voices from the other side of the door down the stairs, but they're rather distant and impossible for me to make out from here... but it sounds like they're going to end up right in my way. Forty two meters, one corner. The resonating echo won't let me determine much more than that. There could be two, could be ten, I can't tell. I can't even tell if any of them have chakra signatures, yet. The logical route is just caution.

Sneaking by turns out to be a lot easier than I'd expected. The four men continue to chat despite me, not even noticing the occasional flare of chakra released from my hands and feet as I carefully crawl across the narrow hallway cieling... but as it turns out, only one of the men in the group has a chakra signature, anyway, and it's a weak one at that. But much to my surprise I find that behind this scant group is another door, maybe not to another stairwell. No. This one is just a door, but a barricade I have to pass through nonetheless. Too bad the thing is closed and in clear view of the enemy. And I don't even know any teleportation jutsus.... ergh. Did I say pain in the ass? I sigh internally. Oh well. Guess I'll have to improvise a little.

I silently send out my shadow, moving very slowly as to not draw attention, and slide my shadow hands very tactfully up the backs of each man, stopping right at the crown of the skull. Unless they have eyes on the backs of their heads...in one very swift and simultaneous motion I move the jutsu up over until their eyes are covered. The momentary confusion should allow me enough time to slip through the door unnoticed.

As anticipated, the four men start shuffling around uneasily, two of them jumping in surprise at the sudden darkness. The shock quickly subsides into curses and scapegoating, as seems to be human nature.

The door is not locked and slides easily from the jamb when I push it in with my free hand. But as soon as I slip through the door I circle into the nearest alcove. I need the time to regather myself, but more importantly, I don't need anyone happening upon me just now.

"Floor two almost cleared. Shikamaru, where are you?" The radio goes silent with Sudoko's voice.

"Floor three, down the straight and narrow. Be careful if you're looking to head down. There's four enemy units by a doorway directly east and a short turn north of the stairwell. I don't know if any of them are mobilizing. They're pretty confused right now, but handle the situation with extreme caution, okay?"

"Okay, sounds good." She pauses, the static clears, and she continues. "Lee, Taro, you copy?"

"Got it!" Lee says, automatically. "I've marked the location of the encounter on the map." There's a foreboding silence on the other line. "Taro?"

"Fuck." I hit the reciever a little hard, making my ear ring just a little. "Lee, find Taro. This feels bad. Find him and if he's still alive, stick to him like glue, you got that?"

"Roger!"

I can't be too distracted by this... I still have my own mission to worry about. Lee can handle the situation. I just have to trust him. He's the best shinobi on this team. I slip around another corner, momentarily forgetting my direction.

"So you're the leader, huh?" A deep voice is echoing from behind me.... shit this is... "A little scrawnier than I'd imagined, but that doesn't really matter." I stop dead in my tracks. Dammit. If he can see me, that means I must have lapsed for a moment. I turn abruptly to catch a bone rattling slam from both directions. I'm locked in, it looks like. That sound was two iron doors dropping on either side. No escape from either direction... what a primitive trap. But effective I suppose. It's manually activated, too. No chakra, no wires. I didn't see this coming by a long shot. I must have been too distracted to notice the metal slabs above the doors or the weak hooks and slides that were holding them up.

My captor starts laughing haughtily, his massive figure rising and falling rather dramatically with each syllable. I don't know what to make of this guy. Height wise he towers above me, and even if he didn't his bulk would have made up for it. I'm completely outsized here. Not that those things matter when ninjutsu is involved, but I still wouldn't want to slip up and take a hit from a guy like this. I've taken those kind of hits before. You know, the type where you lose feeling in your whole arm, even with bracing and chakra softening the blow. It's unfortunate that in a space no larger than ten meters square there's no real ranged combat opportunity.

"What? Not much of a talker?" The question is followed by a toothy, lopsided grin... and I don't mean that like the one Kiba gives. I mean this in the worst way possible. Let's just say this is less in the WAY he's smilng and more in the mouth itself. And then there's that eye, widened to its limit while the other stays half closed.

"Mm, I have my moments."

Much to my dismay his disturbingly wide eye shifts alongside his smile. "Not afraid of me, eh, kid?"

"Should I be?"

A throaty chuckle. "Your friend wasn't afraid of me either.... let's just say it was the biggest mistake of his life." The goliath moves his hand suspiciously toward the back of his belt and unhooks a rather unsightly sack. Thrusting it out front of himself, the man slowly reaches in and when his hand withdraws it...oh gods. Sh-shit. Retain yourself. Taro...shit... "Nice clean cut, don't ya think? Now all his future's got is a nice plaque on my bedroom wall." I can't help but scowl, curling my nose without my mental consent. "Yours could join him, if you like."

"No thanks, I think it looks just fine where it is."

He chuckles again. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to take it without your permission!" He drops Taro's decapitated head on the ground, carelessly, and I catch myself staring fixedly as it slumps to the side and the jaw falls open. Gods... to do that... he couldn't have done this more than five or ten minutes ago... dammit... how could I lose someone on my team... just like that? No... concentrate Shikamaru. This guy is a beast, you can take him if you really want to. You could do it in ten moves. No more, no less. Concentrate. What do you see?

Flicking my eyes side to side reveals a perfectly square room with metal walls. Probably steel. The only mar in the walls is the lines from the doors. Those are also metal, and undoubtedly too heavy to lift mid combat. Fortunately for me, the room is lit evenly by a single lightbulb located dead center on the ceiling, so shadow play is still an option. The ground is relatively clean and free of debris, and like it or not, I have absolutely no place to hide. Now isn't this lovely?

A flare of chakra fills the room, very nearly knocking me off my feet. I brace myself. "Before I mount your head, I'll crush your body!" With those words the man releases a loud shout and a rather large flail materializes between his outstreached hands. Every part of it is as oversized as the man weilding it, from the thick anchor type chain to the ball, which is twice the size of my head and covered in spikes that could very well impale me if I were dumb enough to step in front of them. Overall, though, the thing is only about six feet long. I smirk for a moment at the simplicity and barbaric nature of the weapon, which is so fitting for such a tactless oaf as this one and form the seal for my Kage Mane no Jutsu. The first swing blatantly misses me, sailing over my head and slamming into the far wall, but instinctually I roll away several feet to the right. For all exstensive purposes, I suppose that served as a warning shot. Great. So, as far as this room is concerned, he has unlimited range. I would have had to be an idiot not to notice the thing elongating, apparently to his will. I reform my seal and attempt to lengthen my shadow. Good thing he's not too bright. Keeping a close watch on his eyes, I was able to stretch my shadow a good meter without him noticing.

He swings again, and this time I counter with a single kunai aimed right for his center. He reacts quickly, strafing to the left, though his own strike does not stray as I had hoped it would... shit! I can't completely dodge it, now! One of the spikes is going to hit me! I pull away as far as I can, but sure enough, the last of the spikes tears through the thick part of my shoulder like it was nothing. It fuckin' hurts, but at least its not that bad. Just a good gash, didn't touch the bone. I slap a hand over the wound, momentarily. Okay, it's pretty bad. It's bleeding like a bitch. I can't let this go on too long...

"Hah! And I haven't even gotten serious, yet!" He swings his weapon like a lasso over his head, changing his stance to a ready position, knees bent, feet apart, free arm braced defensively in front of his chest. I dash across the room, throwing a perfectly aimed shiruken, which blocks the beginning of another strike and then deflects into the cieling, just barely far enough past the center so that the lightbulb isn't smashed. He's distracted! Now's my chance! I stop just before hitting the wall, planting my foot and forming a seal just as he steps back into my shadow. I can feel the sudden pulse that means I've caught him. I turn slowly. "What the-" The man gratingly starts to turn his head. "I get it."

"What's that?" I pull his arms apart slowly by simply spreading my own.

"You're from the Nara clan."

Once again I smirk. "Hmm. So you know a thing or two about Konoha ninja. I suppose that's interesting."

"Oh yeah? Well I grew up in that boring ass fleck of a town. Fire country rule number one, no one advances in that damn place without brownnosing their way through the ranks."

"I don't know about that. I didn't even want this damn vest when I got it."

"You're still trash like the rest of them! All my years there and I only learned one damn thing!" His eyes close, suddenly. What's he doing now, I wonder? He can't make any type of seal the way I have him now. What's this? Interesting. Before my eyes his skin starts to glow, a very bright golden color, flickering as though his skin is sparking, and almost aflame. I've never seen this jutsu before, never really anything similar. And he learned this in Konoha? The glow brightens substantially and- his arm moved? I didn't feel any strain at all! I look down at my feet. Dammit. I knew it could only mean one thing. That light destroyed my shadow almost completely.

"That's a good trick." I keep a glow of confidence radiating on my person.

"Did you know that a chakra flare purposely worn across the body can actually radiate as a light source?" Seems like a generally useless jutsu to me. It would be too dangerous to use on a normal basis, not to mention the absurd chakra drain something like that must encompass. Boy, did he luck out fighting someone like me. Lee or Sudoko would have done him in in half a heartbeat.

"But how long can you keep that up? Not long, I'd imagine." I shift my weight, physically slackening my stance for but a moment.

He readies his weapon, widening his good eye. "You'd be surprised, Konoha trash."

"You know your reasons for calling me that are really quite bad."

"You act like I need a reason at all!"

"Point taken." I take a few steps forward and immediately sling two shuriken at my opponent, he easily dodges both, but I'm fortunate enough to gain a better position in the room through this action. But damn, this! His retaliation is unreasonably fierce, not allowing me to get a thing in edgewise as he swings at me wildly, each swing obviously with the force of a fatal blow. I feel the wall coming up behind me, but I hit it anyway, driving a kunai with an explosive tag into the wall beside me. I'm not known for my strength, but at least I can manage that. I'm able to roll away when the flail head strikes the wall, punching another good sized dent into the metal and forcing the tag to blow, though all the damage it does is leave a big black mark on the wall.

But that just barely missed me... I wonder how much longer I can keep dodging like this, especially losing blood like I am... I thought I'd have an advantage in speed here, and yeah, he may not be so fast, but he sure is quick with that weapon. I'd be dead before I could get close to him.

I let two more kunai sail, and though one flies right over his left shoulder, the other sticks him deep. He gropes to remove the weapon by instinct, but when he notices the explosive tag his efforts become fervent. There's not enough time. I saw to that. The explosion is a good one, taking out a chunk of the man's arm, and severely damaging a good deal of his right hand and his side. Before he can recover from the blast I stick another kunai into the wall behind me and make a run for the adjacent wall. The brute recovers as quickly as I guessed he would, and within seconds he's staring me down, obviously still a little shaken from my less than gentle tactic with the explosive tag. But he's exactly where I want him. Good thing he hasn't really strayed much from the center of the room.

But I can't hesitate now. Only two moves left, and any variable would mean a failure.

I rush straight toward the man, and when he leans in to strike I cannonball leap over him, parrying his chain with a kunai and landing soundly behind him. I lift my arms to about chest level, crossed in front of me. "You know what this is, don't you?" He looks side to side, brushing away the invisible strands to either side of him, not bothering to look back at me. Well I suppose it's his loss.

Checkmate.

Too bad. I guess even if he did know what garotte wire is, or what it could do to his body, it wouldn't make a difference. Not at this point. I sigh, shaking my head. All the kunai are perfectly in position in each wall, the shiruken in the cieling positioned close enough over his head to properly adjust the wires. Even if he could run... I thrust my arms apart and close my eyes to fend against the blood spray.

I don't like looking at things like that. I really don't. I shudder once internally and start skimming the ground. My teammates decapitated head is still where it was dropped, miraculously undisturbed throughout the fight. I scavenge a large scrap of cloth from the scene, seeing as the sack it was carried in earlier is nowhere to be found, and carefully use it to wrap the dismembered article and tuck it under my arm.

"Lee, you there?"

A moment passes before I hear a word. "Shikamaru? Thank god... are you okay?"

I glance around the bloodspattered room and pull a length of gauze from my scroll pouch, cutting it with a kunai when my wound is sufficiently wrapped. "Yeah, for the most part. I had a run-in. My injury's not serious, but the other guy's dead. I sure hope Anbu gets here before the rest of the bandits find him. He's not in the greatest of shape... or much of a shape at all, really."

A strange sound echoes through the reciever. "I found Taro." Lee says, without his usual vigor. "Well, I found part of him."

Ugh. "Yeah, well I found the rest."

"We'll put him to rest when we meet up with Anbu." Sudoko says, her voice coming from nowhere.

"Good idea. Sudoko, do you know how to put up seals?" I sure hope she can. The smell is starting to nausiate me.

"Yeah, simple ones. Seals were really Taro's thing." Her voice flattens.

"I have his head with me." I say, softly. "I can't carry it around like this without drawing attention. Could you seal it for me?"

"Sure." She sighs flatly. "Leave it by the door, I'll take care of it. I'm sure... I'll be able to find it."

"Sudoko?" Lee's voice barely comes through. "You two were close, weren't you?"

She pauses for a moment. "We... we're just... we were on the same genin team when we were little and... well, now I'm the only one left."

Lee almost chokes. "Sudoko... I'm so sorry."

"Nah. Let's just keep going. I want to get the fuck out of here." No one says anything, but the consent is definitely felt. I move toware the door, which is still very much closed and make a quick inspection. I should be able to lift it enough to get through, even with my injury, but there's a good chance the noise brought about some less than savory company and while I'm raising the door I'll be an open target. Okay. There's a simple solution to this. I just won't open the door myself. I quickly form a seal and make a couple of clones. One to open the door, another to launch an assault in my place. Fortunately the last battle didn't eat up all my chakra, so this should be easy as a walk in the park. But first things first. Hiding. I slip against the wall, but there's nary a shadow to be found and the smell in here is driving me nuts. I pull the neck of my shirt up over the bottom half of my face and simply stick to the ceiling with my hands and feet.

The first clone gets to work on the door, lifting the heavy slab of metal by the designated handle at the bottom before grudgingly raising it up enough to prop it up on his hands. Instantly the clone is met with a barrage of shuriken and disappears in a puff of smoke. The backup clone does exactly as planned and and asfixiates the fourteen men with Kage mane just long enough for me to turn them all into pincussions with my complete supply of senbon. I only have half a dozen shuriken left, so I'll have to be careful from here on out.

The door slams almost immediately after my senbon fly past. At least I can open the door without getting myself killed this time. But just in case of the off chance I missed a couple I have the clone open the door as before, despite the fact there's not backup this time. Fortunately the path is clear. Well, I obviously mean that in a figurative sort of way.

"I'm down in corridor A3." The com buzzes.

"You're leaving a trail, Captain. You should be careful about that." Sudoko says, accusingly.

"I had no choice." I say mid sigh. "Anbu will be here to save our asses any minute now, anyway."

I make it only halfway down the hall before a gasp enters my earpiece, throwing off my concentration for a moment. "Anbu's here!" Lee proclaims. "Hurry up! You have less than five minutes to find those files before the place is ripped to shreds!"

"Shit..." I say in a tone that suggests a shout, but a volume that almost suggests a mumble.

"It's okay." Sudoko replies. "I'm pretty sure I'm close." A pause. "Yeah, there's file cabinets lining this room, all I have to do is find their clientel info, right?"

"And any references to future plans." Lee corrects.

What a relief. "I'm getting out, then." This mission was turning into a real pain, anyway.

"Actually, Shikamaru-kun..." Lee begins, ruining my mood. "I gave the Anbu captain the map, you should meet him halfway."

I sigh irritably. "Couldn't you have just handled it?"

"I don't have the details, you do."

I shake my head. "Whatever." What a bother. I'm not meant for stuff like this, ya know.

0.0.0.0.0.0.

When Anbu arrives I give them what I know, despite the fact that it's not much. They ask various questions like 'what rank was the ninja you fought?' Hell, I don't know if he's even classified as a ninja. 'What time was Taro killed?' Before... I fought the big guy? All kinds of nonsense I don't really know the answers to. I know the answers I gave aren't really satisfying the Anbu guys, but there's not much I can do about that. I'm not a psychic, for one. But through my hypotheses and a rather in depth physical description they're able to name off the brute nin I met up with in that cell of a room downstairs. His name was Sanji, a missing nin for eight years now, defected right around the time of Sandaime's death. That doesn't surprise me. Despite the situation, a lot of shinobi turned traitor during that time, some simply out of fear, and others enticed by Orochimaru's offer of power, like our very own Uchiha Sasuke.

Many of the missing nins returned a few years later and redeemed themselves, but there were others like this man, too. Men so far from grace that no other ending was possible. Fox quickly slashes his name from their list and the others begin disposal.

"I've never known a Nara to be so brutal." Ferret pipes, turning her head for a moment.

"Sometimes." I shrug. "Don't always have a choice, ya know?"

She sighs. "Guess I can't say I haven't done worse, myself. I just figured a strategist would be a little... cleaner."

"Not always." Fox interjects. "Especially not in an enclosed room where there's nowhere to hide. You have to make sure they don't get up the first time." Fox stands up, jotting down a few notes. "And if you saw the scene, you'd realize the strategy was plenty clean. There was just a lot of blood."

Ferret follows suit, standing beside her superior. "You're weird, Fox."

"The others should be done cleaning out the premises." I shift my weight, but say nothing as the two continue. "You can probably-" A shudder erupts through the room, hard enough to throw each of us off balance, and nearly send us to the floor. "What the?!"

The two Anbu look about in invisible shock, hands on their swords, their porcelain masks the only thing saving thir flawless demeanor. Naturally, I move away from the wall. It's bad enough small pieces of dust and debris were just falling from the cieling, if the walls start to cave, I'd be screwed. The shock erupts again, this time shortly followed by two more. There's a crash behind me, and a small yelp from Ferret. I whip my head around and-shit. The cieling is caving in. Several heavy chunks of metal and rock lay scattered about our feet, and more look ready to fall.

"Shikamaru! Watch out!" Ferret screeches. I look up just in time to strafe out of the way of a piece of cieling half my size.... Wait a second... Ferret, she sounded like... shut up Shikamaru! It's no time for thoughts like that! "We have to get out of here before whatever's making those earthquakes takes down the whole building!"

There's a sound outside...wind pressure? Shit! Something's coming right for us! "Come on!" Fox shouts, heading toward the open door. We follow for only a second before an even stronger shock knocks Fox against the wall and the other two of us to the floor... but what in the hell could it be? A summon? It's monstrous, whatever it is!

The far wall explodes into fragments and I only catch a glimpse of one giant paw before the room around us caves in.

kxsxkxsxkxsxkxsxkxsxkxs

A/N: Oh, nothing to do with the story, but I've gotta spill this! A while ago I was at the NDK and you'll never believe this... but I met TWO count it TWO actual Kibamaru couples. I mean cosplaying the pairing, not just as friends! How cool is that? The only other pairing I saw from Naruto was LeeXSaku. Granted I could only go for one day. One of the Kibas was really overprotective and wouldn't let his boyfriend take fanservice pictures with a Temari I met up with. Hah. I laughed on the inside. It's okay, happy ending, I happened to be dressed as Shika too, so I did some pics with her. Much fun. However, there was also a guy dressed as Asuma and at the time I thought it was awesome, but if I saw him now I'd probably just start crying...

NEXT TIME:

Rising and falling like the beat of a drum. Calm and soothing as a mother's heartbeat. A hero's breath wavers and he grows weak in the knees. There is no logic to this. A gentle rocking with the waves of the ocean. Calling like a Siren's song. "What a beautiful creature you are." He says. "To think someday I may die at your hand."