Night in the Underground was no different really from day in the Underground. Time goes by, but without the sun and protection from the elements, it just becomes a number. Rarely did anyone hold down a job or do anymore than commit to staying inebriated so that they didn’t think too hard on how they got into this life in the first place. If it was one thing that people had the hardest time facing, it was themselves, and Uzu knew it better than most. After all, he was responsible for being the first person to create an organized crime syndicate big enough for him to be called “king”.
The assassin walked quietly through the streets in a black hooded cloak. His face was his own tonight, but the mask issued to him covered any flesh. The hood was still drawn tight to hide any other features that might show. No one paid any attention to him, though to be fair, he doubt any of them cared; even if they could hear him. He walked down a street of murders and addicts, unphased and untouched, before reaching the end of the street. It was one of the only streets left that still ended at cave wall, and about thirty steps before the rocky surface, Uzu suddenly turned right and walked through a building.
The killer stepped through the bricks as if they were made of air, and on the other side a couple of AiTs were hard at work maintaining the Genjutsu barrier. Sweat was beading up on one that appeared to be in her mid-teens, and as Toushin walked by, he tapped her shoulder and shared a small portion of his chakra; causing visible relaxation to settled her furrowed brow. The AiT’s eyes shot open the moment she felt the touch, but when she jerked her head towards the sensation, all the girl found was air. Her partner chided the distraction and she returned to focus.
The operative descended down a set of metal stairs that were supposed to creak, but even his metallic foot didn’t make a sound as he reached the last step and took the sharp left into a darkened room, lit up only by a dozen or so display monitors.
“Uzu…long time no see old man,” a cracked voice spoke up from a high-back office chair. It was impossible to tell, but Toushin knew from experience the man was half his age. He used to live a lifestyle that had aged him twice beyond his mortal years; and that was before ANBU finally caught him. Since then, the “Suna Eye”, was placed in areas where heavy surveillance was needed. Unlike the rest of the Corps, though, the old assassin knew what this “Eye” was capable of.
The man speaking didn’t bother to turn around, having worked with the assassin long before he had gone straight, so to speak, the spy knew the man was all about business…but just to be sure, he asked,
“I read your request…and it’s…different, from what most ANBU ask of me. And let me tell yah, when I heard that Uzu himself was coming, I already had it in my head that I was going to help you but…is it a good idea?”
“You know I don’t care for what ideals, just re-”
“-sults, I know. Good. Wanted to make sure they haven’t turned you into a softie. These kids just ain’t got the bite the old gang had. Alright, lets start a party.”
The man in the chair sat up and stretched his fingers out to the sound board mixer that was set up next to three keyboards all wired into multiple machines hidden in the darkness. Flipping a few switches the Eye ejected a recording tape and replaced it with another he had sitting ready. He pressed in a button and began to slowly turn up a dial. A sound began to play. It was low at first, really a hum in the background, but slowly it began to reverb into the air more and more. The disc jockey’s left hand casually stroked a dial and the sound amplified.
It was music. A simple synth wave dancing song, but as the muddled minded raised their heads from their stupor, a strange thing began to happen. While the entire point of living down here was to have enough fun to not think about your problems, random music in the streets tended to catch people off guard normally, but when slamming it against the sense of those strung out on the kami knew what? It was a living hell. By the time the song was half way done, half the Underground was dancing, and the other half was starting to become aggressive. Song one done, and a second started, following it shortly was the first attack. Then another. A brick flew and broke some bar’s window. An explosion. One, full blown riot throughout at least one-third of the Underground. The third song had started, and the Suna Eye was starting to get nervous when Toushin suddenly pointed to one of the monitors and said,
“Camera 5.”
The DJ quickly stretched his fingers across one of the keyboards attached to his console and fireworks began going off on the location of the terrorist organization ANBU had been trying to get a lead on. The rioters on every camera stopped almost simultaneously, and began to drag their chaos over to the fireworks, one-by-one. The guy in the chair spun around to ask Uzu how he knew that would work, but the assassin was already gone; the AiTs only felt his presence leave.
The citizens of the Underground were attacking the building, barely being held back a group of ex-shinobi militia that had been trying to hide in plain sight. The place had been out-right raided by ANBU multiple times, but every time they did, there was never anything there. A couple of family squatters, little else. No secret tunnels, no extra base under the floor boards. Yet intel from The Eye and other sources continued to point a finger right at this building for a base for some of the more serious issues popping up recently - disgruntled ex-militia wishing for better lives. Misplaced souls who fell through the cracks and had poor guidance were starting to pile up. Small gangs of ex-shinobi were starting to form and take control over areas with the lack of the stern hand of a Shadow King. Yet it was their government who continued to ignore the savagery below in hopes that they could contain the chaos of war raging at the gates, and so he could only hope another would rise high enough to take a hold of the reigns; he was starting to hate coming back home.
The assassin dropped from one building roof to the next, hopping like a flea between them, until he was crouching directly above the rioters being violently pushed back from their headquarters. It was more than enough to make a move, but Uzu reached to tap the head-set and open his line up to the ANBU headquarters; screams of rioters echoing behind his message,
“ANBU code name, Edible, Deviant, Grub, Electronic, requesting backup at transmitted location for level 1 riots and permission to execute suppression of ex-militants attacking them. Over.”
“…Edge, you are cleared for Level Red detainment. Dead or Alive. Back up is on the way.”
The assassin wasted no time in placing his hands together to shift chakra through the channels of his Coil and released it back over his body. With but a tale-tell shimmer, Uzu was all but invisible. Bunching the muscles in his calves and thighs he breathed in deep to roll through another set of ninjutsu seals that activated the motor beneath his heart. His body began to heat up, the roof tiles under his feet cracked, and with a quiet sigh, released the breath he had took; behind the militants fighting the rioters.
One heard it, turning to face the sound, only to find his vision turning suddenly sideways as an invisible blade sliced through his neck. Before blood could spray their companions, Toushin kicked the legs out from his next closest opponent, then struck the side of his neck in quick succession. This one he aimed his unblooded arm at and shot two cables from his arms that dug themselves, painfully, into the militant’s sides. His scream followed by the fountain of blood spraying behind the cyborg ninja finally alerted the rest of the gang to Toushin’s presence. His image flickered, into the building, dragging the body of their screaming companion with him.
Chaos dug it’s claws deeper into the streets as large portion of the crowd, upon seeing the sudden extreme violence, screamed and began to hauled ass. Rioters, people just trying to have a good time, and the militants all suddenly turned into a stampede of people trying to get away from whatever the hell just attacked two people. Most of the ex-shinobi were outright confused to what was going on, screaming at each other trying to figure out what the hell just kill Hito, stole Sui before shooting into the building. Then, one by one, they began to suddenly drop beneath the wave of people, all being dragged towards the building their friend was stolen into. With the feet of the crowd stomping on them as Toushin dragged them all inside, not a single one was able to get the cable attached to their ankles loose. Once the last of the militants he had originally counted was caught and dragged in, Uzu slammed shut the door.
There were no lights. Electricity wasn’t normally something that was super common in the Underground as it was, but Toushin had made sure this one didn’t either. The idiots he had dragged inside of the building continued to shout at each other in utter fear, giving the assassin clear targets of where they were. In the old days, he would of quickly dispatched of each and every last one with nothing more than a blade, however he had learned that even with a Level Red clearance the more people he killed the more paperwork he’d have to fill out before he could rest; so he chose pacifism.
The shouting voices were quickly silenced one by one as the assassin slipped next to each and injected them with a dose of tranquilizer from the needle hidden in his wrist. By the time he had taken out six more, and ran out of tranqs, the last three had wised up to keeping silent. Unfortunate for them, Toushin was a fully training shinobi, and could read their tells in the dark. The first was taken with a choke hold, the second came down with a non-fatal case of broken neck, and the last was simply beaten into submission to work off the building aggression of holding back.
The takedown was five minutes. Other ANBU operatives were starting to show up inside of the building while sounds of the chaos outside were finally dying down with the mysterious music having long ago disappeared. The assassin had his quarry tied up with cable in the center, excluding the guy who’s sides he had viciously destroyed. That one he recommended immediate filed treatment before prison escort. The final feather in his hat though, was when the officer in command questioned the old killer about the families that had been inside. Placing his hands together to form the seal for ‘release’, a fake wall he had placed up earlier collapsed revealing the squatter families still huddled together.
“Well, this was clean. Only one death on their side, and only a few minor injuries on the rioters. I’m curious as to why there were riots, but, glad you were quick to somehow use them to draw out these idiots. We’ve been on them for months with no luck.”
“I believe we have a leak, or a mole. Something or someone inside of our system was clearly giving them heads up before our raids, sir.”
“That sounds ridiculous…but, I’ll make sure to say you mentioned it. You’re dismissed Agent Uzu.”
“Sir,” the assassin said lowly before giving the proper bow. Before the assassin made his usual exit, though, he eyed the cell leader. The man seemed a little nervous, somehow able to sense behind that mask the Uzumoreru was looking for something…then with a blink, he was gone. Even the ANBU commander was startled, turning to make sure the assassin wasn’t suddenly behind him, but found only a few confused AiTs instead, waiting for his orders.
[Word Count = 2198]
The assassin walked quietly through the streets in a black hooded cloak. His face was his own tonight, but the mask issued to him covered any flesh. The hood was still drawn tight to hide any other features that might show. No one paid any attention to him, though to be fair, he doubt any of them cared; even if they could hear him. He walked down a street of murders and addicts, unphased and untouched, before reaching the end of the street. It was one of the only streets left that still ended at cave wall, and about thirty steps before the rocky surface, Uzu suddenly turned right and walked through a building.
The killer stepped through the bricks as if they were made of air, and on the other side a couple of AiTs were hard at work maintaining the Genjutsu barrier. Sweat was beading up on one that appeared to be in her mid-teens, and as Toushin walked by, he tapped her shoulder and shared a small portion of his chakra; causing visible relaxation to settled her furrowed brow. The AiT’s eyes shot open the moment she felt the touch, but when she jerked her head towards the sensation, all the girl found was air. Her partner chided the distraction and she returned to focus.
The operative descended down a set of metal stairs that were supposed to creak, but even his metallic foot didn’t make a sound as he reached the last step and took the sharp left into a darkened room, lit up only by a dozen or so display monitors.
“Uzu…long time no see old man,” a cracked voice spoke up from a high-back office chair. It was impossible to tell, but Toushin knew from experience the man was half his age. He used to live a lifestyle that had aged him twice beyond his mortal years; and that was before ANBU finally caught him. Since then, the “Suna Eye”, was placed in areas where heavy surveillance was needed. Unlike the rest of the Corps, though, the old assassin knew what this “Eye” was capable of.
The man speaking didn’t bother to turn around, having worked with the assassin long before he had gone straight, so to speak, the spy knew the man was all about business…but just to be sure, he asked,
“I read your request…and it’s…different, from what most ANBU ask of me. And let me tell yah, when I heard that Uzu himself was coming, I already had it in my head that I was going to help you but…is it a good idea?”
“You know I don’t care for what ideals, just re-”
“-sults, I know. Good. Wanted to make sure they haven’t turned you into a softie. These kids just ain’t got the bite the old gang had. Alright, lets start a party.”
The man in the chair sat up and stretched his fingers out to the sound board mixer that was set up next to three keyboards all wired into multiple machines hidden in the darkness. Flipping a few switches the Eye ejected a recording tape and replaced it with another he had sitting ready. He pressed in a button and began to slowly turn up a dial. A sound began to play. It was low at first, really a hum in the background, but slowly it began to reverb into the air more and more. The disc jockey’s left hand casually stroked a dial and the sound amplified.
It was music. A simple synth wave dancing song, but as the muddled minded raised their heads from their stupor, a strange thing began to happen. While the entire point of living down here was to have enough fun to not think about your problems, random music in the streets tended to catch people off guard normally, but when slamming it against the sense of those strung out on the kami knew what? It was a living hell. By the time the song was half way done, half the Underground was dancing, and the other half was starting to become aggressive. Song one done, and a second started, following it shortly was the first attack. Then another. A brick flew and broke some bar’s window. An explosion. One, full blown riot throughout at least one-third of the Underground. The third song had started, and the Suna Eye was starting to get nervous when Toushin suddenly pointed to one of the monitors and said,
“Camera 5.”
The DJ quickly stretched his fingers across one of the keyboards attached to his console and fireworks began going off on the location of the terrorist organization ANBU had been trying to get a lead on. The rioters on every camera stopped almost simultaneously, and began to drag their chaos over to the fireworks, one-by-one. The guy in the chair spun around to ask Uzu how he knew that would work, but the assassin was already gone; the AiTs only felt his presence leave.
The citizens of the Underground were attacking the building, barely being held back a group of ex-shinobi militia that had been trying to hide in plain sight. The place had been out-right raided by ANBU multiple times, but every time they did, there was never anything there. A couple of family squatters, little else. No secret tunnels, no extra base under the floor boards. Yet intel from The Eye and other sources continued to point a finger right at this building for a base for some of the more serious issues popping up recently - disgruntled ex-militia wishing for better lives. Misplaced souls who fell through the cracks and had poor guidance were starting to pile up. Small gangs of ex-shinobi were starting to form and take control over areas with the lack of the stern hand of a Shadow King. Yet it was their government who continued to ignore the savagery below in hopes that they could contain the chaos of war raging at the gates, and so he could only hope another would rise high enough to take a hold of the reigns; he was starting to hate coming back home.
The assassin dropped from one building roof to the next, hopping like a flea between them, until he was crouching directly above the rioters being violently pushed back from their headquarters. It was more than enough to make a move, but Uzu reached to tap the head-set and open his line up to the ANBU headquarters; screams of rioters echoing behind his message,
“ANBU code name, Edible, Deviant, Grub, Electronic, requesting backup at transmitted location for level 1 riots and permission to execute suppression of ex-militants attacking them. Over.”
“…Edge, you are cleared for Level Red detainment. Dead or Alive. Back up is on the way.”
The assassin wasted no time in placing his hands together to shift chakra through the channels of his Coil and released it back over his body. With but a tale-tell shimmer, Uzu was all but invisible. Bunching the muscles in his calves and thighs he breathed in deep to roll through another set of ninjutsu seals that activated the motor beneath his heart. His body began to heat up, the roof tiles under his feet cracked, and with a quiet sigh, released the breath he had took; behind the militants fighting the rioters.
One heard it, turning to face the sound, only to find his vision turning suddenly sideways as an invisible blade sliced through his neck. Before blood could spray their companions, Toushin kicked the legs out from his next closest opponent, then struck the side of his neck in quick succession. This one he aimed his unblooded arm at and shot two cables from his arms that dug themselves, painfully, into the militant’s sides. His scream followed by the fountain of blood spraying behind the cyborg ninja finally alerted the rest of the gang to Toushin’s presence. His image flickered, into the building, dragging the body of their screaming companion with him.
Chaos dug it’s claws deeper into the streets as large portion of the crowd, upon seeing the sudden extreme violence, screamed and began to hauled ass. Rioters, people just trying to have a good time, and the militants all suddenly turned into a stampede of people trying to get away from whatever the hell just attacked two people. Most of the ex-shinobi were outright confused to what was going on, screaming at each other trying to figure out what the hell just kill Hito, stole Sui before shooting into the building. Then, one by one, they began to suddenly drop beneath the wave of people, all being dragged towards the building their friend was stolen into. With the feet of the crowd stomping on them as Toushin dragged them all inside, not a single one was able to get the cable attached to their ankles loose. Once the last of the militants he had originally counted was caught and dragged in, Uzu slammed shut the door.
There were no lights. Electricity wasn’t normally something that was super common in the Underground as it was, but Toushin had made sure this one didn’t either. The idiots he had dragged inside of the building continued to shout at each other in utter fear, giving the assassin clear targets of where they were. In the old days, he would of quickly dispatched of each and every last one with nothing more than a blade, however he had learned that even with a Level Red clearance the more people he killed the more paperwork he’d have to fill out before he could rest; so he chose pacifism.
The shouting voices were quickly silenced one by one as the assassin slipped next to each and injected them with a dose of tranquilizer from the needle hidden in his wrist. By the time he had taken out six more, and ran out of tranqs, the last three had wised up to keeping silent. Unfortunate for them, Toushin was a fully training shinobi, and could read their tells in the dark. The first was taken with a choke hold, the second came down with a non-fatal case of broken neck, and the last was simply beaten into submission to work off the building aggression of holding back.
The takedown was five minutes. Other ANBU operatives were starting to show up inside of the building while sounds of the chaos outside were finally dying down with the mysterious music having long ago disappeared. The assassin had his quarry tied up with cable in the center, excluding the guy who’s sides he had viciously destroyed. That one he recommended immediate filed treatment before prison escort. The final feather in his hat though, was when the officer in command questioned the old killer about the families that had been inside. Placing his hands together to form the seal for ‘release’, a fake wall he had placed up earlier collapsed revealing the squatter families still huddled together.
“Well, this was clean. Only one death on their side, and only a few minor injuries on the rioters. I’m curious as to why there were riots, but, glad you were quick to somehow use them to draw out these idiots. We’ve been on them for months with no luck.”
“I believe we have a leak, or a mole. Something or someone inside of our system was clearly giving them heads up before our raids, sir.”
“That sounds ridiculous…but, I’ll make sure to say you mentioned it. You’re dismissed Agent Uzu.”
“Sir,” the assassin said lowly before giving the proper bow. Before the assassin made his usual exit, though, he eyed the cell leader. The man seemed a little nervous, somehow able to sense behind that mask the Uzumoreru was looking for something…then with a blink, he was gone. Even the ANBU commander was startled, turning to make sure the assassin wasn’t suddenly behind him, but found only a few confused AiTs instead, waiting for his orders.
[Word Count = 2198]