Bab 15: Mouse

' I know that crow is watching me, and I have a feeling it has been watching me for some time. '

Continuing down my path I approached a nice little park, with then sun now fully down the rest of the kid's have left, leaving me with it all to myself. Looking around once again I made eye contact with the crow, and it flew away. A scattering of leaves flew around before a lone figure with a weasel mask made its appearance in front of me.

" Hello there. So you're who has been keeping an eye on me? "

" Under the order's of Lord Third. "

" Kakashi is with me most of the time, why does he have a second spy keeping an eye on me? "

" Kakashi seems to be withholding information in his reports. Lord Third is very invested in the development of Naruto. "

" So why are you here then, and not watching our apartment? "

" You have our eyes. How? "

" To be perfectly honest, I don't know. I've always had them. "

" Then you must be a Uchiha. "

" I don't know about all that. I'm an orphan with no parents to speak of. "

" You don't look like a Uchiha, but to have our eye's means you've experienced something tragic in your life. "

I shrugged. " Who knows? "

" You don't consider yourself to be a Uchiha then? "

" No, I am Haruko. No last name. "

" You don't wish for a family? "

" No need, I've got enough good people around me. "

" Captain Kakashi is a good person. I'm glad you think so too. Farewell. "

' Gone in a flurry of crows I was truly left alone at this point. I didn't come out here expecting a meeting with the infamous Uchiha, but fate does funny things. Regardless, his behavior kind of threw me off. I know he loves his little brother, but I could have sworn he hated the rest of his family. So why ask me if I wanted a family? Was it an invitation, or merely curiosity? I'll probably never know as in a few years he will be gone. Fuck wait a second. If he thinks I'm part of his clan, is he going to kill me in a few years? Surely not right? Fuck maybe? I don't know… '

Sitting on the roof of the playground Haruko looked to the stars for answers he wouldn't find.

' Maybe I am being too passive in this world. What can I really do though? I can't just kill somebody for fun. I know I'll need to kill in the future, but that's still too far away. Maybe Naruto, and Kakashi were right, I just need to keep on keepin on until I get the opportunity to advance naturally. '

Elsewhere Inside a dark office lit only by candles.

' I want this obstacle cleared now. If I can single out the ninetails container then I can put him in root. Hiruzen be damned I will lead this nation into prosperity, and it starts with having the nine tails under my thumb. '

" Mouse. Eliminate the pest hovering around the ninetails. "

' If I cause enough emotional distress to the container, then he will lash out, and once he proves to be out of control I'll be able to convince Hiruzen it would be better under my control. '

" Yes Lord Danzo. "

With a woosh the boy with a mouse mask disappeared.

' Though young, mouse has proved useful for assassinations in the past due to his ability to behave as a small child. Once the blonde child has been eliminated I can continue my plans. '

Haruko was enjoying his night under the stars, laying upon the roof of the playset he was on he continued to look to the sky. In this world there was practically no pollution, and thus the night sky was perfectly clear.

' The stars are quite pretty here. In spite of how awful the people are who inhabit this world, the world itself is quite beautiful. The forest's, the rivers, and waterfalls. My favorite is the night sky. When I was younger my dad, and I used to sit out on the roof of our trailer, just looking at the sky. He would point out the constellation's, and tell me their stories. I was only twenty years old when that truck hit me. I never got to say goodbye to him, or any of my friends. It's times like these that I miss him the most. He raised me by himself, he never had anybody to help out, but he managed. He was always there for me, and even when I was difficult he was patient, and helped me navigate my way through life. Hell I had been working as a mechanic just so I could follow in his footsteps. He would always make fun of me when I wanted anime. Always called them cartoons, and then would end up sitting next to me, and getting lost in it right along with me. '

Lost in his thoughts he paid little attention to his surroundings. A young boy with a mouse mask had been watching him from a distance for some time. Noting his behavior, and waiting patiently for the child to either fall asleep here, or head home to sleep. While he could easily kill him in direct combat, it would create more noise than if he simply slit his throat while he was sleeping.

Deciding he had enough recollecting Haruko got up from his perch upon the playground, and moved on. After stretching a bit a sudden shiver made its way down his spine.

' What the hell, I could have sworn Itachi had left a long time ago '

Taking a look around Haruko found nothing out of the ordinary. Deciding to be through, His eyes turned crimson, and he took another look around. Something there didn't look right.

' Wait a fucking second here. Now I know seeing through a transformation where they are hiding as another person is next to impossible without a ton of training. But why does that fucking rock have chakra? '

Staring hard at the rock, and debating what to do, Haruko slowly backed away.

' It doesn't have anywhere near my own chakra pool, but it's flowing well, and not wasting any of it in its technique. That has to be a trained individual, there's no way this is some random stalking me. Itatchi was sent by Hiruzen to watch Naruto, so is this my handler, or is this another village's Ninja? That wouldn't make sense. Danzo? Maybe, but why would he be interested in me? Does he want my eyes? Will my eyes just regrow if they are plucked out? Tangent back on track. What should I do? By now they must know I know that they are there. '

Moving further away Haruko turned, and began to sprint as fast as he could. Focusing all his chakra in his legs, extra muscles started to form, and compact themselves back into dense stands. His speed increased further as Haruko made a break for it.

Having been discovered, Mouse released his rock transformation, and gave chase. The sharingan was a surprise, but it hardly mattered. Flash stepping mouse had been right on Haruko's back before Haruko shot off in an explosion of speed from his compact muscles. Seeing his target change pace, Mouse also adjusted, and moved in front of the boy tossing out a few shuriken sure to do the job.

Haruko noticed the incoming projectiles, and kicked hard against the ground diving down to the right. Mouse tossed a few more, keeping Haruko on his toes.

' Despite the accuracy this mouse mask is showing the projectiles are moving in slow motion, which makes evading them a breeze '

Haruko after his latest dodge picked up one of the embedded ninja stars, and tossed it back with all his might. It flew through the air, and went wide by more than a few feet. In all their training up to this point they had not gone over shuriken, or kunai tossing.

Mouse laughed seeing the pathetic toss. Knowing from what Haruko has shown thus far he knew speed was the only dangerous thing about the kid. As long as he was cautious, and kept up his guard this would be an easy kill.

Giving up on projectiles, Mouse pulled out his wakizashi, and charged directly in for a melee battle.

' FUCK FUCK FUCK my life is in serious danger what the hell is with this guy? '

The blade swung towards Haruko's mid section, and in a panic Haruko dropped to the ground while dodging backwards, Using Kakashi's rising kick it made contact with the bottom of the wakizashi, sending it a few feet into the air, but before Haruko could react, Mouse grabbed his ankle, and kicked off the ground, flipped through the air grabbing the blade in his other hand, and pulled himself down atop Haruko, and with a wet shlick stabbed the blade through Haruko's stomach.

Blood spurted from the wound, Mouse's hand covered Haruko's mouth, preventing the scream from coming out. Haruko held onto the hand which held the blade trying to prevent it from being moved, or ripped from his stomach. Mouse was surprised with the strength Haruko held his arm with, but pressed his knee into the small boy's stomach to force the blade to cleave even more of his flesh.

Haruko was now drowning in his own blood, his defense hadn't saved him, his healing factor was not fast enough, and his small body wasn't built enough to properly react in time. He saw everything happen in near slow motion, but could not will his body to prevent this blade from skewering him. Pain prevented coherent thought from forming. Instinct took over as his free arm raced towards Mouse's chest.

Mouse could see the fist coming, and brought his free knee forward to meet it. Doing so caused his weight to shift, and the blade to bite deeper into Haruko, but also blocked his vision of the fist. Black tendrils tore apart Haruko's arm as a blade extended towards the approaching knee. Mouse couldn't have reacted in time as the blade tore through his entire upper thigh, through his hip, and out the other side of his back as it pierced through his chest. Black tendrils burst through Haruko's body, and into Mouse. The tendrill's tore apart the young man's body.

The tendril's disappeared after merging back into an unconscious Haruko covered in a splattering of blood.