Secret mission in Kirigakure

2 years passed in the blink of an eye.

Kakashi was reporting to the Hokage's office after a long mission with Ryuu in Kirigakure.

"Kakashi, Where's Ryuu?"

"Running errands."

"So he's off with Mangetsu and the others."

"Possibly."

'I made a promise to say as little as possible, sorry dad.' Kakashi thought to himself.

"Alright, you're dismissed."

Kakashi left the office.

Sakumo put both feet on the empty table and crossed them.

He put his hands on the back of his head as he looked up.

'That kid is turning into Jiraiya and his father the more he ages.

All this random, foolish behavior from him.'

"Achoo!" Ryuu sneezed, almost dropping the drinks.

He was carrying two giant bottles of wine and whisky.

'That was close, if I spilled these drinks, even these wasted clowns would've known they aren't real.

Someone must be talking about me, though.

Not the right time to be talking about me.'

"Come on! What's taking you so long?!"

Kisame said as he and Mangetsu finished their glasses.

"Here, I said I'd pay for this round, so here it is."

Ryuu put the drinks on their table.

"You know back then I didn't think this would happen," Mangetsu said while mixing the alcohol.

"What, you didn't think I could out-drink you both without destroying the spot?"

"Exactly…

You almost destroyed my entire house last time."

"Mangetsu, I'll be fine, don't worry about me, you know." Ryuu frowned after trying to drink, but only a drop came out.

Kisame stood up, and Ryuu glanced at him.

"What? Done already?"

"I'm through doing this…

My head feels like it's going to explode."

Ryuu grabbed Kisame's collar.

"Come on! I'm barely drunk. We have to go on, Kisame."

Ryuu let go of Kisame sensing a disturbing glare.

"He's right, Kisame, stay a little more.

If it's about the payment, Ryuu's got us covered."

"It's not about the damn payment! I just…

Have something to do early."

"So what? You'll do it later, we're almost heading out, anyway.

Right, Ryuu?" Mangetsu turned to Ryuu.

"He's gone?"

Ryuu's seat was empty, but he left a few Ryō.

Ryuu walked back to his hotel.

It rained that night.

"Ryuu-sama, Mangetsu-sama says you'd like the gift he has for you."

The receptionist said to him.

"Alright, thanks." Ryuu climbed the stairs back to his room.

'Once I got back to my room, I found crates of expensive wines and other beverages.'

"Man, I'm tired of this."

Ryuu sealed the drinks and walked to his balcony.

There was a messenger hawk on the rail.

Ryuu removed a paper from the hawk's foot and read it.

"Update?"

Ryuu removed a small piece of paper from his pocket.

"Tracking him as we speak."

Ryuu folded and put his note on the hawk's foot.

'Time for a stakeout.'

Ryuu removed his clothes and changed into his Anbu gear.

He wore his mask and activated his Sharingan.

Ryuu switched off the lights in his room and got out through the balcony.

He jumped through the rooftops while trying to get to his location.

Ryuu covered his tracks when he ran through the wet rooftops.

He ran for nearly an hour; he left the village and was in a small town outside; it had few buildings, and most buildings were unoccupied or held a gambling den.

Finally, Ryuu got to a dark alley where his target was.

'Using the transparent escape jutsu was a good idea, but I still can't get too close.'

Ryuu made some hand signs, and a wooden clone grew from his body.

"Wood clone jutsu!"

After getting out of Ryuu's body, the clone sunk into the ground and moved closer to the target, hiding inside the ground.

'Here's to hoping you aren't getting into trouble.

Kisame.'

Kisame walked into the alley and met with someone in hooded clothing.

"Why were you late?" He asked.

"What? A guy can't have fun?" Kisame responded sarcastically.

"Were you followed?"

"Just give me the money, you know the answer to that."

"Hmph, if it was up to me, you wouldn't be working for us. You're too rash and carefree."

"Listen, do I look like the type of guy who likes to listen to all your problems?!

Why don't you give me the damn payment and fuck off."

"Yeah, it's all here." Another man came from inside a building and removed a briefcase.

'I don't need to know this guy's name. I'll just look for his boss before Kisame returns to Fuguki.'

Ryuu called back to his clone.

Once the clone came back, Ryuu touched him and absorbed him back.

Whoosh!

Kisame flickered away.

Ryuu jumped down and made a small splash, alerting the hooded figure.

"Who's there? Come on out and stop hiding!" Ryuu slowly walked towards him, he didn't care about his footprints being seen or his footsteps being heard.

Ryuu removed the transparency jutsu and revealed himself.

He looked at the hooded man up and down.

"I'm looking for whoever you're working for.

Don't make this difficult, I'm not in a good mood."

"Anbu from the hidden leaf?

You aren't welcome here, not even with the alliance still active."

"Look, I'm not in a good mood right now, so make this short and tell me who you work for."

"Get him!"

Naturally, multiple people surrounded Ryuu.

'20 in the alley 10 above.'

Whoosh! Multiple kunai came from all directions.

Cling! They all collided with a ribcage surrounding Ryuu's body.

"What is that?" One of them asked.

Ryuu's Susanoo faded away.

'I'm not looking to make a scene, this is a recon mission, so I'll keep this short and silent.'

"Get lost, we have superior numbers, you can't defeat us."

"Numbers are useless when fighting someone with superior skills."

Ryuu unsheathed his Katana and swung it, adding chakra and Ash.

"Impure Reaper slash!"

Whoosh!

A wave of darkness appeared like a flash and cut down the enemies behind him.

Just as Ryuu sheathed his Katana, the bodies touched by this powerful strike fell in half.

The rest stared blankly at the corpses; they were frozen seeing their comrades die so easily…

Ryuu threw a kunai toward one side and teleported into the middle.

"Wind Style: Wind sword!"

Ryuu spun around and bodies started falling as he released small blades of wind.

"Run!"

On the other side, more men started running away.

Ryuu used his Mangekyou to teleport above them.

"Chidori stream!"

As he landed, a surge of lightning shocked everyone around him.

Ryuu teleported above the buildings and threw one of his kunai.

Fwoosh!

Ryuu teleported above two people running.

"Rasengan!"

With a single hand, Ryuu slit someone's throat while hitting the other one with a Rasengan, sending them flying off the rooftop.

Three more were running away.

Ryuu made a hand seal.

"Wood-style jutsu!"

Multiple vines grew from underground and pulled them down.

Ryuu jumped down, he had pinned the hooded figure down using hardened ash.

"I've run out of patience." Ryuu grabbed his neck and held him up against the wall.

"Wait! I-"

Ryuu put him in a genjutsu, and Nobu searched his memories.

He became unconscious because of the genjutsu, Ryuu took advantage and removed his hood.

'What?' Ryuu's eyes widened.

'I recognize this guy.

He's one of the assistants in the Mizukage's office.'

"Get Yagura."

"Got it."

Nobu connected himself with Yagura.

"Yagura, we have a problem."

"Ryuu? What is it?"

"One member of your council was secretly working for a criminal organization. We're not sure why, but I'm about to find out."

"Alright, update me as soon as you can."

"Just so we're clear, I may kill as long as I'm on this mission, right?"

"Do what's needed to be done, just don't harm my shinobi and innocents."

"Got it, I left 30 corpses in this alley.

I'm not that far outside the village, it's a small town with few buildings.

There might be more, but don't worry about innocent bloodshed."

Ryuu disconnected.

"Alright! Time to look for Kisame."

Fwoosh!

Ryuu teleported to one of his markers.