Chapter 14

-Sinister

As the three men squad approaches the billowing black smoke, it becomes larger and larger. Shrieking citizens pierce the cold afternoon air with their screams of horror. Hundreds and hundreds begin evacuating away from the devastating fire, trying to escape any harm that might possibly come to them. Shizake, Hinata, Kiba and Akamaru stop at a ledge, observing the amassing chaos below them.

"Hinata, Byakugan on the building!" Shizake directs.

The girl focuses chakra to her eyes, veins bulging out around them. She scans the building, trying to look past the smoke for chakra signatures.

"Rgh...there's too much smoke! I can't see anything!" She hopelessly says.

"Then we'll just have to go in! Lets move!"

They leap down into the streets, many citizens brushing by them still escaping the scene. Shizake focuses the Sharingan into his eyes, looking around for any alarming movement. Harsh fumes and heavy smoke flow throughout the street like a black cloud of death, dismally crawling its way through every crack and crevice.

Due to the smog, Kiba and Akarmaru are unable to use their keen sense of smell since noxious fumes are the only things filling their nostrils. Shizake notices something dash out of the bank, barely noticing if it hadn't been for his Sharingan. The Uchiha takes off like a bolt of lightning, turning his head back to Kiba and Hinata.

"Back me up!" He yells.

Shizake runs forward, quickly gaining on the shadowed figure and stepping in front of them. He uses the momentum and twists his hips, delivering a swift kick to the person's gut. The boy stops centimeters away from the person - having seen whom it was at the last minute.

"I-I had to make sure no one else was in there!" A stressed out bald man with a heavy black beard says.

"Sorry. Please, get to safety!" Shizake says, stepping aside to let the man run off. By now most of the smoke has cleared the street, along with the people too. Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru come to a sliding halt before the Uchiha, looking around for anyone else.

Shizake clenches his fist, "They got away," He says.

"Damn it!" Kiba curses, "They used bombs that would produce harsh fumes blocking any sort of tracker ninja from sniffing them out as well as to cover their escape!"

"We were compromised... either that or the information was wrong. There could have been a change of plans at the last moment to hit that bank instead...I'm not sure."

"W-well maybe they're still in the area! We shouldn't just be standing here," Hinata worriedly says, still looking around with her Byakugan activated.

"You're right, split up for now, search the surrounding area, Call out if you find anything." Shizake says, jumping to a rooftop as he begins looking around the village on his own. Hinata and Kiba nod at one another, splitting up for the time being.

The three of them thoroughly scout the village, looking for any persons of interest. As well as looking them selves, they also question random citizens, asking if they saw anyone run by after the explosion. Shizake lands next to a dark red chimney spewing out clouds of smog into the air. Delicious scents rise into the boy's nostrils, small pangs of hunger rattling in his stomach. He shakes it off, still intently scanning the buildings all around him.

"Where are you...?" He mumbles to himself.

*

"Sasuke, where are you?!" A young boy cries out into the dead forest, "You can't run like this, not after how far we've come!"

Ghastly silence is the only thing returned to him. Bushes and leaves rustle as they sway with the wind, dancing around as if the breeze was the music. Naruto must be about thirty minutes behind. I can't sense Neji, Shikamaru, or even Choji...they must have gotten caught up with those sound ninja...

A whirring noise interrupts the Uchiha's thoughts, three glints appearing in the tree line. He jumps to the left, narrowly dodging the lethal shuriken.

"I'll go where I need to, cousin. To the darkness, to the edge of the world, I'll go wherever I need to so that I can eliminate Itachi," The cold voice calls out from out of nowhere.

Shizake looks around, trying to directly pinpoint the source of the voice, but to no avail. His heart frantically races, knowing that the curse mark is eating away at his cousin for every minute – every second that goes by.

"This is how you want to avenge our clan?! By submerging yourself in evil?!" Shizake yells.

A figure blinks next to him, Shizake's eyes going wide at the sheer speed of his cousin. He throws his arms up in an X at the last moment, Sasuke unleashing a crushing blow with his leg. Shizake is launched off the tree branch, his back smashing into the trunk of another tree as he slides down and comes to rest on a branch. Sasuke once again flickers over to his cousin, picking him up by the collar of his shirt.

"No – I only want to tread in the darkness because it's the only way! I'll cut off all ties, all bonds, so that I may do as I please without anyone getting in my way. Shizake... you can join me, for we share the same darkness, the same agony, the same void that resides in my heart every waking moment!" Sasuke says.

Shizake hangs his head, a soul crushing decision being weighed on his conscience. What if he's right...? What if the only way to kill Itachi is to sink into the dark? But what about the village? What about Naruto and the others? What do I do? Shizake curses under his breath, a small amount of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth due to the impact earlier. He looks up with dead soul-less coal eyes, every second of his life swirling around in his mind like a chaotic tornado.

"I... cannot do that, cousin," Shizake answers, his breathe escaping him for every word spoken.

Sasuke looks down at the ground, seeing it's about a thirty-foot drop from this branch to the ground.

"Then I hereby cut my bond with you, foolish cousin," Sasuke says, twisting his hips to deliver a kick to the side of Shizake's head.

The Uchiha immediately blacks out due to the force of the blow, freefalling through the air headfirst as the ground slowly approaches. Sasuke...

"Shizake!" A voice from the forest calls out.

Five feet from the forest floor, a blonde boy in an orange jumpsuit leaps off of a tree branch, tackling his comrade and catching him. Both of them hit the forest floor, Naruto taking most of the impact as they tumble through the grass. Shizake's seemingly lifeless body thrashes around like a ragdoll, skidding on the ground before coming to a rest just before a tree. Naruto shakes off the throbbing pain, running over to his friend.

"Hey, buddy, you okay?" Naruto asks, poking Shizake with a stick.

Shizake slowly opens his eyes, looking around the treetops and the sky with hazy vision as he lies on his back. He turns his head to the left; a fuzzy blonde headed figure crouched next to him. The Uchiha blinks a few times, quickly sitting up while ignoring the pain coursing throughout his body.

"Wh-where's Sasuke...?" Shizake groggily asks.

"He was here?! Rgh... he must have gotten away!" Naruto says in a panic.

"We can still catch him... he was only here a minute ago."

"But your injuries!"

Shizake clenches his fist, "He hasn't knocked the fight out of me just yet, Naruto. We have to get him back. Where are the others?"

"Grr...they got caught up battling those sound ninja...I sure hope they're okay," Naruto worries aloud.

"Lady Tsunade assembled the strongest of us... I'm sure they can hold their own. Come on, let's keep moving," Shizake says, pushing himself up and on to his feet.

"Right!" Naruto answers enthusiastically, the both of them charging forward to catch up to the fleeing Uchiha.

*

"Ahhhh!" A high pitched scream yells out.

Shizake is snapped away from his thoughts, looking around for the nearby scream. That sounded like Hinata! The Uchiha senses a chakra signature not too far from him, leaping across the rooftops in a panic. As he comes closer and closer, he stops at the edge of an alley. He looks down to see a burly looking man, slicked up blonde hair with sideburns running down to his chin. Large hands meet both of his hairy arms, wrapped around Hinata's wrists to disable her movements.

"L-let go!" She yells, squirming as she struggles to escape his grip.

The man leans in, smelling the girl's hair, "Mmmm, you would make a nice treat for the boss. He likes exotic girls from different clans."

Shizake hears the sound of feet pattering against the rooftop adjacent to him, seeing Kiba and Akamaru approach the alley as well. The Uchiha lifts his index finger to his lips, signaling to Kiba and Akamaru to remain quiet. The Inuzuka places his hand on Akamaru's side, the dog lightening its footsteps and crouching down in a stalking position. Both the dog and Kiba creep their way over to Shizake, keeping eyes on the man holding Hinata.

"What do we do?" Kiba asks.

"Take this slow, he looks troublesome," Shizake says, looking around the alley.

He spots a burlap sack tied up but filled with something sitting next to the man. He could be one of the robbers.

Shizake sends chakra to his eyes, the Sharingan spinning into place as they replace his once normal eyes, "We'll need to catch him off guard. Non-lethal take down, we can take him in for interrogation if he is one of the robbers. On my signal."

"So you noticed the bag too eh? Alright, just let me know when," Kiba says.

Hopefully Hinata catches on, Shizake thinks to himself.

"Hey!" The Uchiha yells down, his voice echoing off the alley walls.

The husky man looks up, confused as to where the voice is coming from. Hinata quickly notices the man's guard drop, lifting up her knee and smashing it into his stomach. The man's grip is instantly released, the girl bringing up both palms and smashing them flat into his chest. He stumbles back, feeling his chakra system go haywire due to the chakra disrupting palm attack. Suddenly, two figures appear next to him, both of them the same brown haired boy with red face paint running down his face. The two of them slash the man up into the sky with razor sharp nails. The large muscular man lifts into the sky, hanging there for a moment before he begins his descent back down to earth. The Uchiha swiftly jumps in between Kiba and Akamaru, electricity flickering into the palm of his hand. He lifts it directly into the sky just as the man slams against Shizake's open palm of lightning.

The man convulses for a moment before lying lifeless, still on Shizake's hand. The Uchiha pushes his arm to the side, the man slumping off of it and onto the ground. He bounces on the ground, rolling over on his back, eyes closed. Akamaru releases his man beast clone jutsu, returning back to dog form. Kiba pets the hound before jogging over to Hinata.

"You okay?" He asks her offering his hand.

The girl grabs his hand, using it to stand up before the both of the run over to where Shizake is who inspecting the unconscious body.

"Nice combo, if I do say so myself," Kiba cockily jokes, looking at the bruised up man.

"I would be lying if I didn't agree..." Shizake trails off, crouching down to continue looking at the body.

Without warning, the body jerks, a massive hand gripping Shizake's entire head.

"Shizake!" Kiba and Hinata simultaneously scream, their eyes stricken with shock.

Akamaru begins growling, flaring his teeth at the sudden movement. The man swiftly gets up, smashing the Uchiha into a nearby pile of cinderblocks. A poof of smoke appears, the man's hand wrapped around a tree log instead. A figure flickers behind the man, a fist shooting through the smoke. Lightning flickers and lights up around the fist, connecting directly to the back of the man's skull. Upon impact, he's sent into the pile of cinderblocks instead, shards of concrete flying in all directions. Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru all shield their selves from the shrapnel, coughing from all the smoke and dust. As everything clears, they see Shizake standing there, glaring at the man.

"What the hell dude? You okay?" Kiba asks, observing the destruction.

"I'm fine..." Shizake says, the lightning dissipating from around his fist, "He sure can take a hit," The Uchiha dryly jokes, sure that the man is down this time.

"I-I found this," Hinata says, holding the sack in her hands. She peers inside to see a massive amount of Ryo, most likely stolen from the bank.

"What do we do with him? He's too big to lug back to the Hokage and if we tried he would probably wake up again causing a panic in the village," Kiba says.

"Hm. You're right, we're going to need to bring in the ninja police to take him in. I'll go, you two stay and watch. Hinata, if he wakes up, disable his chakra points as best as you can. I'll be back soon." Shizake replies, sprinting off to find the nearest police station.