Hot 'N' Dangerous

Chapter 58: The Taboo Name

"Two hundred and fifty, two hundred and fifty-one..." I looked over at Liz's stump to see how well she was doing.

"Two hundred and fifty, two hundred and fifty-one, two..." we both turned our attention to Sasuke.

"Five hundred and ninety-two, five hundred and ninety-three, five hundred and ninety-four," he growled each number as he struck it with a clean kick.

"Uh, maybe we should move onto punches Sasuke, you're legs look like they've just met an angry porcupine," Liz clucked her tongue.

"Damn it!" Sasuke slammed his fists on the stump.

I guess the incident with Itachi was on our minds for a while, not the center of attention, but always there, looming out of the darkness at unexpected times.

"Hey, Sasuke, we know how you feel... the three of us are walking a similar path," I put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It's not just you, we all want revenge... we thought we were alone until we met each other but we had already spent five years 'alone', I want to make him suffer," Liz's eyes turned cold.

Sasuke looked at us, icily at first but then his gaze softened a bit, "Then let's make a pact, we will hunt down and kill Itachi Uchiha even if it's the last thing we do," he put his abused fist in front of us.

Liz and I nodded and put our fists in too.

"My, my, what do we have here?" Kakashi's lethargic voice cut in.

We all turned around to see him standing there with his hands in his pockets, appraising us with his eyebrows raised.

"Just training," Liz said quickly.

"I see..." Kakashi narrowed his one visible eye, "Well, we have a mission. Just the four of us. Get your stuff, we have to go," he ushered us along.

"We have all of our ninja tools, we're ready," Sasuke looked at us.

"What's the mission?" Liz asked.

"We are to investigate some criminals on the National Wanted List that have entered the Land of Fire. Our objective is to watch their movements and figure out their motives," Kakashi explained, "Clear enough?"

"Yeah, let's go," the four of us shot off towards the Konoha entrance.

"This should be it," Kakashi whispered as we ducked down behind a rock outside of the criminal hideout.

"You cold, Sasuke? Need your blanky?" Liz cooed as Sasuke hugged his arms, shivering.

Sasuke shot her a mean glare, "Shut up."

"Oh, scary," Liz said as she yawned.

I figured that annoying Sasuke was one of her most favourite past times.

"Something wrong, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, concerned.

"Nothing much, I just felt a shiver down my spine," he answered, dropping his arms.

"Our mission is to track the movement of wanted criminals, don't let your guard down, guys," Kakashi warned.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Liz huffed, looking over the rock.

"Ready, everyone?" Kakashi readied himself.

I pulled my gloves on and quietly unsheathed my blade, "Ready."

The hideout erupted into chaos as we sliced down on our enemies. I left bad injuries behind but not enough to kill them. At the very most, blood loss would take them out for a few days. I only took down two or three and there were no more.