Chapter 9: Interrogation; Surprise

Looking at the two men who were tightly holding the wound on their shoulder, glaring at me, I chuckled. Man, I loved this part. It's so easy to seduce these idiots. They think cause they have some muscle and are in a gang that they're hot shit, and that they deserve all the women in the world. Show them some cleavage, show a modicum of interest, and they think that the next moment they'll be railing you in bed, making you scream.

Taking the senbon I gathered from around the room, I wiped them clear of the poison. Most of it, anyways. Using my chakra, I bound them to their chairs, before slowly inserting the senbon into places that, while not deadly, hurt a whole lot. Like underneath their fingernails, slowly inserting it as far as I could into their fingers. They were screaming, offering me all their worldly possessions. Staring at them, I watched as they trembled in agony. Seeing my smirk, they started cursing me. Chuckling, I pulled out another senbon, making them flinch.

"So, have you guys heard of a Missing-nin in these parts?"

One of them started nodding profusely, sputtering out "Ye-Yeah! A-A big guy, with a big sword! He took over the Southside! Please, believe me!"

I pursed my lips, thinking. That is the description of Juzo. His Bingo Book entry marked him at over six feet, lots of muscle. Glaring at the thug, I started moving the senbon towards his finger again, making him flinch before he started speaking again.

"He-He has these... these weird markings! Yeah, these weird marking on his face. They... They are red! And his Hitai-Ate is four squiggles, the symbol of Kiri! Redface is what we call him! He butchered the South Sharks for trying to mug him! Blood, everywhere! None of the bodies were intact!"

Seeing him speaking, and giving the correct information; Juzo Biwa had weird ass face marks, was brutal, and has a big sword. You can't make that up off the top of your head.

"What did the marking look like?"

If he can answer that correctly...

"Uhh... it... it looks like a wide circle with lines going straight down! Red circle, red lines! Believe me, please! I... I talked! Let me live!"

Hearing his pleading, I removed the senbon before stabbing my chokuto through his heart. Doing the same to the other guy, I walked into the room with the three unconscious thugs. Grabbing one, I repeated the process, inserting senbon into places that hurt, before asking him the same questions. Receiving the same answers, I killed him and his friends.

This... is worrying. No S rank shinobi just... let's his position be known. Rogue Jonin, rogue ANBU? Yeah, they make mistakes like that, thinking they still have the authority and can swing their balls around like that. But S ranks? They tend to be quieter, moving to new places very often, never letting people know who or what they are. So why...

As I was working this problem, I grabbed all the bills on the table, before giving some more to the prostitutes, telling them to leave. Following them outside, I climbed onto my building, emitting a small burst of chakra. Moments later, Kakashi appeared next to me, a man in his grasp.

"Anything?"

"Apparently he was Southside, and killed an entire gang. I don't like this... too easy. Too obvious."

"Same here. Never a good sign that an S Rank is making it easy to find him. Well, what can we do? Let's make our way south."

Saying so, Kakashi rushed south, jumping from building to building. Following him, I continued observing our surroundings, noting the change from hastily thrown together shacks to proper houses. The smell slowly changed from trash and unwashed musk to salt, seafood, and the cloying scents of perfumes from the brothels.

As we traveled, I noticed Kakashi pulled out the tag he gave to each of us, tearing it. Moments later, Kurenai and Anko appeared.

"What's up? I was about to exto- I mean make a deal with that merchant!"

Sighing, Kakashi stopped, explaining the situation. Kurenai and Anko both frowned, obviously understanding that this had to be a trap.

Kakashi asked both of them if they had found anything, both of which shook their heads, saying they had heard the South Sharks were gone, but assumed it was because they were getting to greedy, touching what they shouldn't have. As we stood there, exchanging information, we felt a large flare of chakra outside the town. Turning towards it, I noticed Kakashi stiffened, his eye going wide.

"What's wrong?"

"That... that chakra... why would HE be here?"

Anko frowned, and Kurenai narrowed her eyes, looking towards the forest the chakra came from, saying "That did feel... familiar. Who is it?"

Kakashi sighed, before saying "Itachi Uchiha, the once 'Prodigy of the Leaf'."

My jaw fell, realizing that this mission just got more complicated, more dangerous, and much more confusing. Lauded as a genius, Itachi became a chunin at 10, joined the ANBU at 11, and became an ANBU Captain a short time later. He had amazing variety in Ninjutsu, had the Sharingan, and was a master with kunai and shuriken. The man was on his way to eventually become this generations Madara, that's how skilled he was.

Then he massacred his clan, leaving just him, his younger brother Sasuke, and Kakashi as the only known possessors of a Sharingan, with Sasuke more than likely awakening his own. After all, even if he is just a tenth as talented as Itachi, he would be a lauded chunin AT LEAST.

After that, Itachi became a rogue ninja, and no one knew where he went. Until he decided to apparently show up in the forest in front of us.

"Why would he be here? Is he here for Juzo? Or for the blade?"

Kakashi shook his head. Feeling his chakra pulse out, and seeing him lift his Hitai-Ate, revealing his Sharingan, I did the same, using my chakra to search for another large chakra signature in the area. Itachi helped us, somewhat. Now Juzo has to make a move. After all, you can't hide from a true Sharingan wielder. So Juzo is either going to run, or he is going to join Itachi.

Sweeping my chakra around the area, I noticed many weaker signatures close to the port, most likely coming from ninja hired to protect the merchants. I narrowed my eyes, not feeling anything. Looking towards Kakashi, I noticed him quickly snapping towards a direction, before rushing towards the east side. Anko and Kurenai followed, while I quickly retracted my chakra and drew my summoning scrolls, gripping my bow tightly while slinging my quiver over my shoulder, rushing after them.

Reaching the east side, I could feel a large chakra signature rushing towards the forest where the other chakra flared from. Guess that means Juzo and Itachi knew each other. Following Kakashi, I climbed to the tallest building, nocking an area while trying to locate Juzo. Wrapping a chakra string around the arrow, I waited, eyes narrowed as I waited to see the large man.

Moment passed, and eventually I saw him, rushing across the small plains towards the forest. Leading my arrow, I let it loose, letting it fly towards him. From the corner of my eye, I could see Kakashi, Kurenai, and Anko rushing after him, slowly gaining on him. Kunai flew towards him, only to be intercepted by shuriken coming from the forest. Turning my attention entirely on the arrow, I nudged it out of the way of the incoming shuriken, noticing it was just feet away from Juzo. Letting my chakra enter the tag, I nudged the arrow to the left, just out of the way of another shuriken. Thankfully, as I saw the shuriken turn back, my tag went off, knocking Juzo slightly off balance.

Due to that, Kakashi was on the man quickly, drawing his Ninjato and running lightning chakra down the blade, slashing it towards the staggered Juzo. However, before he could cut the man, a cluster of crows appeared, and stepping out from the cluster was a tall man in a long black robe, with small red clouds covering it. In his hand was a kunai, which had just parried Kakashi's ninjato. Jumping back, Kakashi took a low stance, drawing a kunai in his free hand. Anko had a kunai in either hand, while Kurenai stood behind them, senbon in-between each finger. The two groups came to a standstill, as Itachi just stood there, and Juzo turned, drawing his blade and readying it.

Nocking another arrow, I drew it before waiting, waiting for one side to make a move. As I stood ready, Itachi looked in my direction, his eyes flaring red.