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"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Dark Character Speech"Technique

'Dark Character thought'

Killing for Who?

It was your average day in the Capital…

"Would you fuck off already! Go bother someone else! "

Voices could be heard rushing through the crowd as people spread out not wanting to be caught up in whatever was going on now.

Two figures could be seen running through the streets with the first being a man with ripped up clothing holding a knife in one hand and a small bag of gold in the other trying not to loose either as he pushed people down trying to stop or slow down the second man behind him.

Turning around he scowls in annoyance as he sees his pursuer still hot on his heels as they both made their way through the crowd. Trying to throw him off a bit he slashes a rope holding back several large barrels.

But to his unfortunate luck the second man in a feat of impressive agility ran along part of the wall next to him and continued to chase him as he cleared the barrels.

"You really don't know when to quit do you!?" The thief yells back as he takes another sharp turn into a large crowd of people.

Not getting a response the man just continues to run further and further into the crowd until he eventually slowed into a dead stop in the center of it and began to scan his surroundings.

Not seeing any sign of his pursuer he smirks and begins to make his way out of the thick crowd, but not before grabbing hold of a hanging coat to disguise himself.

And for a while he thought he was in the clear, until he saw a few members of the crowd look up and gasp.

He turned to look at whatever they saw, and when he looked he almost immediately locked eyes with the very man who had been chasing him dropping from the building next to him.

Thinking on his feet the man throws his newly stolen coat upward giving himself a small amount of visual cover as he begins to go on the run once again.

Landing in a crouch the second man sighs and cracks his neck, "Why do I always get the runners?" He says to himself before using his crouched position as a bit of a starting platform to jump into a sprint.

The chase though he knew was already coming to an end. The target had been running for sometime and he was growing increasingly desperate, he knew it was only a matter of time before someone else got caught up in all of this, but then again if this ever came to that, well he had plenty of tools and experience dealing with that.

And seeing as they were headed for the docks the man knew it was only a matter of time till his thoughts became reality. So he picked up the pace a little bit in order to close the gap or flank the thief.

The thief was quickly running on empty, he wasn't expecting this much trouble for a simple merchant's bag, but he should've known some thing like this was bound to happen.

When too many 'important' people die and they have to call in reinforcements from outside the Capital to keep the peace. It was only a matter of time people started riots so of course Imperial guards were becoming more plentiful. And increasingly vigilant, to his and every other criminal's dismay.

'Why didn't I think of shit like this sooner!?' He thought to himself as he leapt onto a docked cargo boat.

And as he was about to jump again to the next dock he has his legs kicked out from under him. Not being able to break his fall properly the thief drops the bag and chips a few teeth with his landing.

Getting up in anger and spitting out a bit of blood he looks to his current pain in the ass.

The man appeared to be mid twenties at most, standing about 5'11, with tan skin, short and slightly spiky dark brown hair, and steel grey eyes. His attire was that of the Imperial guard being a full suit of steel armor with slightly smaller shoulder pads then usual and what looked to be leather rather than metal at the fingers along with slightly bigger gaps in the armor to allow more movement around the joints with a long sleeve black combat skin underneath the armor and black combat boots.

However what the thief was more concerned about were the four pistols he saw on the person. Two at his thighs and two under his arms, all of them fully loaded and ready to be used if necessary.

The Imperial sighs and looks at the man, "Look, you know how this ends right? Just put the knife down and you don't get your ass kicked. Simple as that, because believe me I don't feel like filling out a longer report. So please comply will you? My partner took me out drinking last night and my head still hurts since she drank me under the table.

The thief snarls at him, "You just cost me a lot of money."

The other man rubs his tired eyes a bit, "Please don't. I just want to end this peacefully."

"Peacefully? The more you open that hole you call a mouth the more I think you're all talk. Now do the smart thing an let me go, I may have lost my money, but you can leave with your life. Now do the smart thing and leave or else I'll be adding you to my list of crimes."

"First of all its, you just admitted that you are in fact committing a crime to a member of the Imperial Police. So either way you go to jail. And secondly you do realize I could just shoot you and then just radio this in right?" The second one deadpans making the thief sweat a bit as he completely forgot about the guns for a moment while trying to talk big.

"You're really not that smart."

The two then just stood there for a moment one extremely nervous and the other just bored. "Soooo you done now? Because my partner is waiting for me." The thief looks across from him behind the guard and into the crowd.

'Oh boy.' The guard thought following his eyes. But nonetheless started walking towards him with a calm and collected expression still on his face as he already knew what to do if it went south.

He then found himself standing no less than a yard from the thief and already knew he was going to try something. "Drop the knife, turn around, and get on your knees."

But the thief only stared and in the blink of an eye lashed out in a blind stab trying to go for the guard's unprotected neck.

But the guard was faster than he thought and snatched his wrist with his left arm before turning around and snapping his arm at the elbow over his shoulder in a rapid and fluid movement.

He then flipped the now screaming criminal over his shoulder and onto the dock and shut him up with a quick jab to the temple.

"Ah son of bitch. Now I've got to carry him."

Just your average day in the Capital….

Meanwhile

Up above at the top of the city as far away from all the crime of the Capital as possible a small meeting had been called in the privacy of the quarters of the Prime Minister.

Said Minister sat at his personal table with a chessboard in front of him waiting for a certain someone to appear.

And on cue a knock was heard at his door, "Come in." He says.

He smiles as he sees the blond haired Director of Imperial Intelligence, "Ah Director, so glad you could see me on such short notice."

Himitsu walked into the room in his usual suit and tie with a look that rang out a mixture of pure annoyance and distain for the man who sat at the table in front of him. "Ah shit, and here I was hoping your bastard of a son was the one who called me. That moron is much easier to deal with." He say before casually walking over to the minister's personal collection of wine and grabbing himself a glass.

Honest for his part felt a twitch in his brow at the crass words of the Cyclopes-like intelligence officer, "Well I'm sorry to disappoint you then Director. I'll be sure to keep this quick in that case. Please sit."

Shrugging the Director walked over to the adjacent chair that Honest had placed for him and the two for a few moments only stared at one another.

"So, what has the ever so busy Prime Minister clamoring to have an audience with little ole me? Last I heard you were just talking to our resident conqueror now that she's back in the Capital." The intelligence officer pries a bit.

The larger of the two grins at him, "Well I felt it would be proper of me to show Esdeath my gratitude for all of her efforts in the war up north, you can't tell me that she hasn't earned some kind some kind of gratitude right?" Honest asks glancing down at the untouched chessboard before moving a pawn.

Himitsu shrugs before moving a knight, "I never said that, Esdeath is called our greatest general for a very good reason after all. But you didn't answer my question."

Honest smirked, "Straight to the point as usual." He moves another piece forward. Himitsu scoffs as he moved another piece, "Very well then. Call it curiosity, but I have to ask you have the rumors right? About this new group that has emerged, tell me what do you know about them?"

The shorter and skinnier of the two men looked up from the board and stroked the small amount of stubble on his chin, "Well if I'm comparing them to say Night Raid, they seem to openly operate at all times of the day. They're not ones for natural cover, but then again that doesn't seem to have any affect on their effectiveness in their 'work' or so it seems. Another thing is that we are unsure as to how many members they have among their ranks."

That took Honest back, "You don't know how many they have? Could we be dealing with a splinter of the Revolution? Or perhaps a separate group of deserters from our own ranks?" He asks with a small amount of concern.

The one eyed blond shakes his head though, "I highly, highly doubt that the entire group is made of former Imperials we would know if soldiers like these ones were in our ranks. But perhaps a member or two could be, I'm having my people check records at the moment to see if I can rule that out. As for Revolution, that's another no. We've yet to find any trace of Revolutionary deserters. My operatives in the Revolution have confirmed that this new nameless group is independent. But it seems as if this independence of theirs hasn't really affected them in their efforts or hindered their methods."

"Anything else?"

The director throws back the rest of his drink and sighs, "They're good, very good in fact at what they do. Some of the confirmed attacks show that they have some kind of marksman with almost supernatural accuracy with a rifle from the looks of the wounds."

Honest leans in a bit, "Could it be one of the lost Teigu?"

Himitsu just shrugs, "Maybe? Impossible to tell for sure, but I don't recall any kind of Teigu that lets you see through walls. Because some of the shots clipped people through their heads through two walls or they seem to predict movement behind corners its like they just knew where they were. Never seen anything like it."

Honest shakes his head and finally beings moving one of his bishops, "That is troubling news for sure. I just have one more question, do we have any more news about their supposed leader?"

Himitsu shakes his head, "Not really. I've had my other contacts inform me of everything they know, and while it isn't much this 'Pain' character is serious news to be sure. All we have is an alias and a few bodies that he's impaled with these strange metal rods. And apparently the word is it that he is the one that killed a certain colonel a while back, so that makes a very dangerous person indeed."

"I see well, it's not much but thank you Director for informing me of all of this." He says with a small cheesy looking grin with an undertone of ego added into his voice.

It was quite in the room for a bit with only the sound of chess pieces being moved about until Himitsu openly started to chuckle at nothing.

Honest raises a brow at that, "And pray tell what is so funny Director?"

The director looks him in the eyes with his lone one and smirks, "You're absolutely hopeless. You know that right?"

The fatter of the two glares at him and clenches his hand at being insulted. "Well that was rude of you. And most would say it is unwise to insult me. You would do well to remember that Himitsu." He says threateningly to the other man.

Only for the laughter to grow in volume as the two look to one another. "Don't me that shit Honest. You have nothing on me, and you never will. I could call you the fattest pig the Empire's ever produced and you wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it. Would you like to know why?"

Honest glared holes through the Director's skull and held back a snarl as best he could, "Enlighten me then."

The director moves a rook on the board and smirks, "Checkmate."

Honest scoffs, "I think the time for games is passed Director."

But the blond shakes his head, "And that's why you lost Honest, and that's why you're going to loose in the long run. First of all you know absolutely nothing about a relatively new but very, very prevalent and active threat in the Capital. And the fact that you'd be willing to actually call me in here just tells me that you're more afraid of them than you want to give credit. And even better is that everything I just told you is just the tip of the ice burg, everything you'll find out from your own agents in the Imperial guard, the nobles, and even the Revolution in the coming weeks and months are all going to be considered dated information to me and my own operatives by the time you finally hear it. And even then how do you know that what I just told you is in fact the truth."

Honest continues to glare and his knuckles were turning white to a small degree. But the intelligence officer continued, "And by the way this little chess game you just lost, is a bit closer to home than you might realize if you look and compare."

He points to the kings.

"These Honest are us, we are the kings in this little contest. We hold positions of great importance, but we are incapable to truly doing anything ourselves as it would be putting ourselves and the game as a whole at great risk of loosing everything, so usually we like to keep ourselves protected with a number of other pieces."

He points to the queens.

"And these two are our greatest pieces, our most important assets. For you that is the young Emperor himself. You have his ear and you constantly whisper in it. He protects you from everyone else in the palace because he is the, well he's the fucking emperor. And because of that people don't move against you, plus you do have your more 'off the books' resources, just in case that's not enough. And in my corner I have the illustrious Supreme General Budo. The general is a personal friend of mine since I severed under him for a few years before joining the IDI (Imperial Division of Intelligence) and even after that we have a rather nice agreement of you scratch my back I scratch yours. So I help him whenever he's behind a bit of red tape and he keeps you and the Emperor off my back in return. So if you want it in basic terms the Emperor protects you in the fact that both Budo and I are still very loyal to the Empire and wishing any harm against whoever the hell is on the throne is treason. And Budo protects me in the fact that if by some out there chance that you do kill me, Budo would pound you into a fine fatty paste before tearing your entire corrupt force to the ground a piece at a time."

Honest smirks a bit, "My oh my Himitsu that almost sounds as if you're threatening me and our dear Emperor, should we be considered for his personal well being?"

The blond just grinned at him, "What? You scared of little ole me? No he's a good kid, has the potential to grow into probably one of the better rulers in our country's history, as long as we just have to unclog all the bullshit you've been putting into his mind and then we can go from there."

"Now back to the board. I'm going to keep some of that to myself since I wouldn't want to spoil most of the other pieces because to be honest I want to see you wander around in circles for a bit trying to guess what I do and don't know. But I have to say this, the game was a little bit more in my favor thanks to one little gift that I have."

Honest raises to his feet, "And that would be?"

Himitsu does the same, and it was just then that Honest noticed the refilled glass of wine that he downed in one large drink. "I can multitask like a motherfucker."

He then leaves the room to see a duo of his agents standing patiently in the hall waiting for him, "Well then I need another drink, figures he'd have shit taste in wine."

He then waves on the two men beside him, "Well if you'll excuse me after that drink I'm going to need a shower. Just being in his office made me a bit sick." The two agents shrug their shoulders and just follow loosely behind him.

Honest on the other hand smirked once the Director had left and looked to a corner of the room where a dark coated figure sat there freely letting his leg hang freely from the side of the couch.

"Will you be taking care of this?" He asks the figure that got up and cracked his neck.

"Nope."

Honest glared at him and was about to belittle him until he saw a metallic gleam shine from the shadows. He then swallows a lump that seemed to have formed in his throat and opens his mouth again, "May I ask why?"

The figure says nothing but suddenly just walks away into shadows, "I've heard some pretty interesting shit circling the city. And I want to do a bit of digging, so please don't go getting your fatass killed while I'm gone. This new group has me interested, especially Pain."

Honest sighs before sitting back down in his chair, "And what makes you think that you can find anything of use?"

The figure laughed a low almost fanatical laugh, "I didn't this position like you fatass, I didn't plan with some political bullshit to get here. I got here by pure fucking body count. So don't you worry about me, I'm a big boy so just let me do my big boy things without you sticking your nose in my fucking business. "

And without another word it was as if they disappeared into the dark leaving a slightly sweating Honest alone in his office.

"God I hate both of them."

Under the Imperial Streets

Rinnegan eyes watched on as two members of Nagato's new group of subordinates train themselves into the dirt.

With two of the new resident Teigu users currently facing off against a clone of Nagato as the original sat to the side, studying them from two points of view.

The clone leaps over Akula as she swung her hook Teigu from a fairly long distance, but the clone was able to avoid the swing fast enough and keep running in order to get out of her range which made the dark skinned woman tighten up and pull back on the chain she had wrapped around her arm trying to recover from the missed attack.

The clone scans to its left and made eye contact with an armored Ieyasu charging at him full speed. Not even blinking in the face of the Teigu wielding foe the clone slips under his attempt at a close line and spun on his hands to land a solid kick to the back of the teen's back sending him skidding forward on his face before the teen smashed his hands into the stone floor and flipped himself upright.

Ieyasu breaths trying to recover from the kick his spine had just taken and looks to Akula who did nothing but spit up a small mix of blood and snot as the two nod to each other. She then charges in and loosens up on her hook and brings it down in a large vertical arch trying to crush the clone in one shot. But since she was very well aware that he would just dodge she whipped her wrist and made the chain and hook spin in a semi circle in an attempt to both kick up some dust and try to secure her hook firmly into any of the clone's limbs.

Ieyasu comes in quickly after that swatting aside three chakra receivers that came from the dust cloud in front of them readies himself as the two younger fighters watch as Nagato's clone came at them from above two receives in each hand.

The clone then launched all four receivers towards Ieyasu who quickly rolled to the side and charged back in with Akula coming in from the other side for a pincer maneuver before the clone pulled off any more tricks.

The clone merely raises his hands and smirked at their over eagerness, "Banshō Ten'in."

Immediately after that an invisible force seemed to manifest behind the two Teigu wielders and before they ever had a chance to react they found themselves off their feet and being pulled towards Nagato.

The clone smirked, and while he knew that he could end this little spar here and there he decided to give them one last attempt and decided to show a bit of mercy.

Tensing his arms and clone catches both fighters by the head and begins to spin them around before eventually throwing them off into the far stonewalls of the room leaving spider web cracks from where their bodes impacted.

Struggling to get up the two of them wince in pain and Akula swore she could feel a tooth coming loose.

"Even when holding back it's like fighting a human hurricane. Ieyasu you good?" The woman asks tightening the grip on her Teigu as the armored teen stands and pops a finger back into place.

"Yeah I'm good nothing a little food and rest can't heal. On the other hand we haven't been able to land a single shot on him. And I'm starting to get pissed off, got any ideas?" He asks hoping the girl would have a clue as to what to do against the clone.

"Well I got one…."

Ieyasu winces at the tone she said it in like she wasn't really sure as to what to do with her own idea. "Do I even want to know?"

Akula spins her hook and smirks, "It involves you getting hit once or twice, so it isn't anything you can't handle."

Ieyasu sighs under his armor, "Oh joy."

The clone sees the two of them talking to one another and smirks as they turn to him and charge once again, 'I hoped they've learned something from our last spar.' He thinks before leaning forward and vanishing in a burst of speed.

Appearing in between the two of them the clone jabs Akula in the side twice before ducking under her counter and back kicking Ieyasu in the leg and flipping over his shoulder without letting go and thus bringing him with him and slamming him into the floor beneath him.

He then goes to engage Akula again but looks in surprise as connected to Ieyasu's back was Akula's Teigu.

Before the clone could react Ieyasu's body was pulled from the ground under him towards Akula a smirking Akula who whips her armored partner and sends him flying back at Nagato faster than the clone was prepared for and Ieyasu watched in satisfying slow motion as his fist neared the clone's eye.

But unfortunately for them their time was up.

"Shinra Tensei."

And with the force of a rampaging danger beast Ieyasu was sent bouncing across the floor and with all the pain of the spar catching up to the teen Ieyasu's Teigu deactivated itself leaving a tired and bruised Ieyasu struggling to breath. Akula seeing that her partner was down for the count just raised her hands in surrender.

The clone nodded and dispelled in a puff of smoke while the real Nagato made his way over to them and helped the tired and beaten Ieyasu to his feet.

"You two are making progress faster than I predicted. You may actually beat my clones one day." He says in a joking tone with a small smirk on his face as the two subordinates just grumbled under their breaths at that.

"Very funny boss. If we're done here I'd like to go soak in a bath before I pass out." Akula says setting her Teigu at its place on her hip and helping Ieyasu get his footing before walking off and rolling her shoulders, getting a loud and satisfying pop.

Nagato sighs before helping the tired and battered male to the next room over where he laid him down across a stone bench.

"So how did we do?" Ieyasu asks his redheaded fried.

Nagato gives a small shrug of his shoulders, "As I said you have improved more than I thought in such a small timeframe, but unfortunately both you and Akula now have your own problems to overcome in your fighting styles. You for example have no offense capability outside of your hands and feet, and while that could do for a while you will need to improve and widen your range if anyone stronger turns their attention towards us."

The brown haired teen nodded and knew that he would here something similar, "Yeah, I guess you're right, but whenever I try to do anything with it the closest I can get is a few spikes from my knuckles. I remember what the colonel could do and it's almost like he's mocking me somehow."

Nagato raises a brow at that, "Really how so?"

Ieyasu pushes himself up and crosses his legs under him; "I met you and watched you absolutely dominate a man who had this things full potential at his beck and call. And now you've got an ally that can't even begin to scratch the surface of what this thing can do. This just feels like a step forward and then two back when I look at it from your position. And that just seems to make me more pissed at myself whenever I think about the fact that I'm just holding you and everyone else back."

Nagato nodded and sat down next to him, "You know, you're not the first to think that."

His friend turned to him and looked confused at what he had just heard. Seeing this Nagato went on, "Back in my home there were others who looked up to me similar to the way you do. But then again back where I was from things….now that I think of it they aren't too different from the Capital. But that's beside the point, it just seems that I find myself in the same position once again. Once again I'm a leader, and once again I find myself a soldier, but now I also find myself surrounded by comrades that I would be glad to fight for."

Ieyasu looks to Nagato who for a moment had a far away look on his face as he seemed to be remembering something happy if the small smile was anything to go by. "Just be careful not to push yourself too hard Ieyasu, there will always be another fight and there will always be another day."

Ieyasu tilts his head, as while Nagato answered one question he just seemed raise even more questions as to what the man did before coming to the Empire.

But before he could attempt to question Nagato further the man gets up from the bench and walks off to another part of their base leaving the brown haired teen to get up and wince as he made his way to his own room to recover from the sparring session.

Nagato made his way through his new base and couldn't help but let a feeling of familiarity fall over him as he seemed to be getting used to the feeling of him against the world, but then again it's all he's known and he seems to be pretty good at beating the odds.

As he continued to walk he found himself in another open area of the base and looked out to see Karla standing alone looking somewhat bored with her sword resting over her shoulder as she looked down at the other figure who was kneeling before her trying to catch whatever breath they could.

Karla seeing Nagato enter nodded to him, "Sir. Already done with the other two?" She asks the redhead who merely nodded as he looked to the downed figure in front of the two of them.

"For now, so how did he do?" He asks the bluenet as she sheathed her sword and rolled her shoulders.

"For a child he shows a bit of promise, as he is now I wouldn't trust him with a shiv much less actual weapons. He may have potential as a spy though." Nagato looks to the mop of black hair and sighs.

'What are we going to do with you?'

Flashback

It has been a little over a week since Nagato had his new group returned to the Capital and ever since then they have been rather busy with both exploring their new base and the surrounding sewers that worked as escape routes and entrances.

And the one question everyone had on their minds was just how Nagato had managed to get this for them?

Nagato though just smirked and told them that he had picked up a few tricks in his time as a warrior. What they didn't know was that it was a combination of earth styled ninjutsu and both the Deva and Asura path that allowed him to simply carve out a few extra rooms and place a few moving doors into the Capital's well structured sewer system. After all he did the same thing back in the Elemental Nations, one more base isn't too hard with clones working.

But that was for him to know only, and if the rest of them were honest they really didn't care as long as they had a place to rest and recover after missions.

And speaking of missions Nagato had wasted no time in his mission to rid the people of their tormentors whether they were the Empire or in some cases the Revolution. And with that kind of flexibility the rather small, but well trained group began to make a name for themselves among some of the city's inner circles, as their motto at the moment was something Nagato remembered a certain money maniac telling him.

"Greed is good when you're small. No job too big, or too small. Everything helps in the long run." As Kakuzu would always say.

And while Nagato himself never cared for money, it was good to have something to bargain with or something to use as either bait or leverage.

But things changed for the group a bit when Cecchino came up to Nagato after returning from a job.

"Hey boss you may want to see this…." The sniper calls over to him as he stood there looking through a concealed peephole in the door.

Nagato looked over and was surprised by what he saw. Sitting in front of the door was a small boy.

He looked to be no older than ten at the most, but from his physical state he seemed to be either on death's door or he was approaching fast.

His skin was ghostly pale even more so than Nagato's own, but unlike Nagato's his seemed to be the result of malnourishment rather than just natural tone. His hair was inky black with signs of grime and a few pieces of debris in the child's hair, and while his eyes were a rather interesting shade of pink they also had deep bags underneath them as he looked like he hadn't been able to sleep in a few days.

And the only things they could see on him was the slightly too small and patch worked grey cloak and a single shoe on his right foot.

But what concerned Nagato the most were what appeared to be burns on his hands, feet, neck, and even a small patch near his jaw. And if he was honest Nagato felt as he the boy knew they were there from the other side of the wall and pipes since he seemed to just be staring at the wall with an unreadable expression on his face.

"How long has he been here?" Nagato asks the sniper.
Cecchino shrugged his shoulders, "If I had to guess I'd say about an hour at least, and no before you ask he didn't follow me. I know how to throw people off my trail. So your guess is as good as mine."

They both then walk away from the wall, but Nagato had a rather strange feeling in his gut that this wouldn't be the last they see of the boy.

And so like usual the group would train together with one member, usually Karla patrolling the city keeping their ears to the ground listening for potential jobs.

But once again Nagato found himself looking at the same patch of brick and pipeline that served as a secret entrance to the base.

And sure enough the boy was still there, though he had chose to sit down rather then stand up, but still all he did was stare at the wall and seemed to perk up when Nagato looked at him.

The boy then gets up out of the grime and filth and approaches the wall and lean his ear against it. "My Lord? I know you're there."

Nagato widened his eyes and immediately willed the Deva path to move the wall away revealing the boy now had a smile that seemed very out of place on his lips.

"Who are you? And how did you get here?" Nagato asks wary of any kind of trap that might be out there.

The boy then dropped to one knee and bowed his head, "My name is Seizon my Lord and I foresaw this place and you in my dreams."
Nagato raised a brow at hearing that, 'Foresaw me?'

"Please my Lord if you would, let me serve you and your noble cause? I will serve with no hesitation and no complaints."

Nagato was a bit taken back at the seriousness the child's voice held, but a part of him was reminiscing from when he and the other Ame orphans begged to be taught by Jiraiya. However that still left the questions as to why he would seek out Nagato, and just how had theses dreams of his led him here. Maybe he had some kind of Teigu perhaps?

"Why do you want to serve me?" Nagato asks seriously to the boy not at all that comfortable with the idea of using a child in his organization. But at the same time realizing that this kid if he was anything like he was when he was younger, then he wouldn't simply just go away.

"Because you are the one I'm looking for."

Nagato felt a bit lost and motioned for him to continue. "I once lived in the city of New Inizio, but now my home is gone. Burned to ashes by the very Empire that helped us build it. I was the son of a noble family on the outskirts of the city. My family was loyal to the Emperor and the Capital. But things began to change one day when I overheard them talking about ramblings they'd heard from the governor about the possibility of the Empire's possible defeat, and what that would mean for our city if they were destroyed. But apparently the Empire had heard something akin to high treason, because not even a week after they started talking about it the Empire attacked with their full might. I was out in the garden when they attacked. The burns you see are from an Imperial firebomb being tossed into the garden hedge maze, I'm lucky to be alive."

Nagato's eyes close as he sighs seeing another product of the Empire's sinister nature, but he still hasn't answered the question.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but how did you know that I would be here?" Nagato asks once again.

The boy nodded again and rolled up his sleeve to show a small tattoo that looked much like a mirror with a ripple pattern in the center of it. "This is how I knew, New Inizio was to the west of the Empire and was quickly built from the remnants of the western tribes that had been allied or conquered years prior, as a way of establishing a foothold before moving further out west. But even with a lot of Imperial influence our culture still holds a lot of meaning in forces like witchcraft and more unnatural ways of seeking answers when we get desperate. This is the result of me going to an old medicine man on the edge of the western plain, I paid him all the gold I had for the chance to see a glance of what would bring down the Empire. And from there I dreamed, of a man capable of turning cities into nothing but ruble and dust, a man who will break apart anything in his way, a man who shares a vision with many, but only needs a few. You my Lord, I dreamt of you and saw what power you posses and knew that you were my answer. And when the ritual was over I saw the pattern of your eye permanently etched into my skin, it was then that I began to feel a pull looking for anything that resembled the pattern that been depicted on my tattoo. And after some time I found myself here, in front of you now. So if you would, please allow me to serve under you to see my enemies destroyed so that my family may rest?"

Nagato wasn't really expecting that kind of answer from the boy and for a moment actually stood there dumbfounded at what the boy had said, some kind of ritual could be used to track him that was the first thing he took out of the story. So the boy was a liability to begin with. But his reasons were the same as almost all the others he had with him aside from Ieyasu, revenge to a certain degree.

Cecchino wanted to find his mother's killers and lay her to rest.

Akula wanted to find her father's killer.

Karla…well Karla had a very well written and very long list of people she needed to kill.

And this boy well he wanted to see the entirety of the Capital burned to the ground, for the deaths of his family and maybe his city.

Nagato deadpanned on the inside when he thought about why everyone was with him.

But the boy, Nagato was actually amazed that he had managed to survive this long. He had to make his way to the Capital from the Western front get into the sewers and navigate his way to the secret entrance to the base, either he had luck akin to Naruto or something was missing here.

Nagato lowed himself to the boy's height and looked him in the eye, "You'll have to understand if I'm a bit skeptical of you boy."

The boy then lowers his head to the ground, "Then let me prove myself! I will do anything to appease you! Please just tell me what I'm to do!"

Nagato looks at him for a moment and then shakes his head, "Get up,"

The boy rose to his feet with hope in his eyes and looked Nagato in his own rippled pair as he moved out of the way letting the boy into the base, "For now you will train until I deem you ready. Until then you are to remain here under the supervision of one of the other members. Am I understood?"

The boy nods and they move as the wall closes behind them.

Flashback End

Nagato looks to the downed and slow rising form of Seizo and sighed, he'd assigned Karla to train him when she isn't out on patrol since she was the most likely to train him into the ground and keep the boy occupied so he wouldn't be able to pester him when he was trying to run the group and gather information and potential jobs around the Capital and surrounding country.

"Karla after you're done with Seizo come to the meeting room and we'll discuss the next job. And I need all of you there for this one, we finally have a challenge in the works."

And with that blue haired woman nods and picks the boy up by his shirt and carried him away.

He then looks to see his resident sniper twirling his revolver on his trigger finger, "I still don't like him being here. He just screams spy." The black haired sharpshooter thinks out loud.

"That's why we're keeping him here for now so he doesn't have the opportunity to prove you right. Now then we have to move quickly, time essential for this assignment. Are you ready for another mission?"

The sniper just smirks and cracks his knuckles, "Yeah I got one or two more in me before I run out of juice. Let's just hope it goes smooth."

Later

A little under an hour later the rest of the group found themselves standing in a small with a map of the Capital on the table in front of them.

"So what are we looking at boss?" Akula says having recovered from the sparring session that she'd had with Nagato not too long ago.

Nagato points to three locations on the map all marked with red dots, "These are all locations that within the past ninety-six hours have all been attacked by Night Raid imposters. And we have reason to suspect that they are now preparing for a fourth attack. Here at the docks." He says pointing to a marked location on the map rolled out on the table.

Karla tilts her head at seeing the locations and looks to Nagato, "These are all noble families right?" He nods, "Tell me were they allied with the Empire, or were they openly supporters of the Revolution?"

Nagato looks her in the eyes and shakes his head, "If they supported one side then they weren't making that very clear as they all seemed to be the definition of neutral in this war."

Ieyasu somewhat picked on where he was going with this, "Is that why we suspect them to be Night Raid impersonators? After all this isn't their usual style from what we've seen."

Cecchino nodded to him, "The Tin Can is right, one of these attacks was a little bit past dawn from what I've heard, I mean they're called Night Raid for a reason. And besides with the amount of propaganda surrounding these kinds of killings, it's not exactly painting the Revolution in a good light."

Karla spoke up again, "So what's the mission sir, and may I ask how we found out about this whole situation?"

Nagato smirks while thinking to himself, 'Kage Bunshin and Human Path.'

"I have my ways, but if you really want to know an informant of mine was able to track down an aid and former soldier for none other than General Esdeath herself. And after some 'convincing' the aid was able to tell my informant that the general has in the past week unleashed her Three Beasts."

Cecchino and Karla look to one another and scuff as they realized that this job might be a bit more difficult than anyone first thought.

"Who are the three beasts?" Ieyasu asks.

Karla sighs and looks the Teigu wielding teen in the eye, "They are the personal guards and assassins to none other then general Esdeath."

Ieyasu still just stares at her confused.

Karla rolls her eyes and mumbles something along the line of 'country idiot' before actually talking to him again, "General Esdeath is the strongest and most ruthless general in all the Empire. Trust me kid wherever she goes hell follows close behind. And if Night Raid is causing enough problems that she is here in person then a lot more people are going to die."

Nagato clears his throat getting their attention again, "Hopefully we can stop this here. The mission is to intercept and eliminate the Three Beasts. However I believe that the Beasts are using this location as a way to set a trap. They seem to have been calling out Night Raid for a past few days and if they respond then consider them secondary targets, if you get the chance eliminate them. They'll still a threat and a very valuable asset to the Revolution." Nagato says going into total seriousness for a moment.

"So the Three Beasts are setting a trap for Night Raid? Killing two birds with one stone is what this looks like to me." Ieyasu says a bit more casually then he would've liked to admit.

"So let me get this straight, there is a very high chance that in this job we might not only be dealing with Night Raid, that's bad enough by itself considering their reputation and their skills. But we also have to deal with the Three Beasts. Who, may I remind you are all personally selected and trained by general Cold Cunt herself because of how brutal they are in their work. So for the record let me ask this as just a personal question why aren't we just letting them killing each other?" Cecchino asks leaning over the map trying to look for vantage points in the surrounding area.

"I never said we would intervene." He says in a calm but at the same time slightly amused voice to the dark haired sniper.

Cecchino nods at him, "Fair enough."

Nagato shakes his head at the sniper and looks back down to the map, "Akula you and Cecchino will be the ones for this mission. If all goes well then it will simply be a clean up operation with either side being too weak to really be able to handle the two of you, especially if Cecchino continues to perform as well as he's usually done." The leader compliments his subordinate.

"Are you sure that we're ready to take on people like this though?" Karla says with a large level of concern and apprehension in her voice. And for what it was worth she had a right to be worried for them.

While they haven't together for too long they all seemed to get along and cooperate rather effectively. If she was adding the math up right in her head then with their current roster then they have been living, training, and doing missions for almost two months now.

And while it really isn't much in terms of time spent out of her life, it was however plenty of time to grow a bit in strength and in terms of fighting skill, especially with Nagato's disturbing version of a hospital always present was a good way to keep them going non-stop on certain days.

But at the same time Night Raid was the Revolution's trump card when it came down to it. And anything Esdeath had her hand in was destined to be dangerous.

So were they really ready to take on anyone of this kind of caliber?

Akula looks to the shorter woman and grins at her while wrapping an arm around Cecchino and pulling him closer to her. "Hey don't worry about us, little man and I have been through the wringer a few times, we know how to handle ourselves. Besides this almost like scavenging if it goes well, we won't even be fighting both since they're defiantly going to do most of the work for us."

Cecchino for his part rolls his eyes at being squished against Akula's chest and tried to pull himself away. "Look, I'm not exactly the up close and personal type. So don't worry about me I'll be too far for them to even have a clue where I'm at and by the time more of them show up we'll be long gone."

He then looks up to meet Akula's eyes and smirks, "Besides this is one bad bitch. It'll take a lot to bring her down. Hell anything short of an artillery strike is probably just going to piss her off."

The dark skinned Teigu user tilted her head and smirked down at him, "Aw, so you do care! Love you too little man." She says jokingly before pulling him further into her chest, causing the sniper to go into panic mode as he began to suffocate.

Karla just sighs and shakes her head at the two.

Nagato smiles and then turns to the two of them and looks to Akula for a moment. "Akula, how long can you hold your breath?"

Meanwhile

Back in the Capital a certain Imperial Guard had just been called into an office.

'Well shit, I knew taking that guy down wasn't my cleanest, or quietest arrest, but seriously no one got hurt in all this! So me being called my the Captain is a little extreme.' He thinks as he marches his way into the office of his superior.

But the voice that he was greeted to was most certainly not the voice of his captain, "Good you're here close the door."

Sitting in his Captain's chair was none other than general Esdeath herself in full uniform with a smirk on her face seeing the slight recoil in shock the guard gave her.

"So then, do you have any idea as to why I called you in here?" She asks pulling out a large stack of papers from the draw beside her.

The brown haired guard shrugs his shoulders, "To be completely honest I thought I was coming in here to get chewed out. But this is a surprise to be sure, so what can I do for you ma'am?" He asks standing at attention in front of the general.

She calmly opens the file on the desk in front of her and locks eyes with him, "Originally I came here to ask if you a few questions about your partner as a reference of sorts. But after looking over both hers and your record I have to say that perhaps a better use of your time would be to personally invite you like all other potential Jägers. So let me ask you this Sergeant Argo, what would you say to joining a specialized unit of mine?" She asks with total seriousness in her voice to the guard.

"What kind of unit is Jäger?" He asks her.

The general smirks and pushes a paper from the stack in front of her towards Argo and motions for him to grab it. "We will be a specialized unit comprised primarily of Teigu users, but we will make an exception for people of exceptional skill in order to eliminate Night Raid and any other Revolutionary threat that may arise. And as you can see both you and your partner have not only the qualifications I'm looking for, but also the drive of a soldier that knows how to get things done, and how to do them well."

"What kind of ops are we expected to perform?"

The general didn't miss a beat, "Anything that the Emperor wants us to do. This is one of the perks of being a Jäger you will have, on all missions you will answer to me and his majesty exclusively in order to have our mission maintain a level of secrecy and professionalism. So that leaves me asking you a few questions about both you and your partner."

Argo nods, "Ask away."

"Before becoming a Imperial Guard you were a member of the Scouting Legion correct?"

He nods.

"Would you tell me why you chose to leave the Legion? From what I've read you were on the fast track to a promotion, so what made you leave the Legion and come here?" She asks with a stern voice.

"Do you believe the Capital is corrupt ma'am?" He asks with a solemn voice making the woman raise a brow at the question. She sighs and rubs her temple, "Off the record, yes I do believe that some things need to be changed around here. But I think we can deal with those kinds of things after the Revolution is dealt with. Why the personal question?"

Argo sighs a bit, "Just wanted to know where you stood ma'am the last superior I had was Ogre and I'm sure you know how that ended." She nods, "Then you understand me being a bit hesitant with this new task force being misused or manipulated by…."

He stopped talking then and there was a wave of chills worked down his spine as Esdeath glared at him a bit. "No one will ever 'use' me or my men. I take good care of those under my command Sergeant if you have a problem with someone higher up tell me and you have my word that they will not bother you again. Now then answer my first question, why leave the Scouting Legion?"

The looks down to the ground for a moment, "My last mission with the Legion was Operation Whirlwind."

Esdeath widened her eyes a bit, "I see that explains some things in your file. I also understand that you served under Brigadier Bine while she was the one to lead the operation." I nod, "For what it's worth I'm sorry to hear about what happened to her. Well then on to your partner."

She brings up another paper and looks over it, "How long have you and Sergeant Ubiquitous known one another?"

Argo actually grins to himself a bit, "She and I have been friends for as long as I can remember. Both our fathers served in the same unit so we grew up together and we both joined the Imperial military as soon as we could and I became a scout while she became a IP."

Esdeath looks back to the paper, "So you weren't aware of when she received her Teigu?"

He shakes his head, "No ma'am I was given no details."

He actually sees the general frown for a moment; "So then let me ask you this, psychologically did she seem different from before you left for the Legion compared to when you two reunited as guards?"

Argo nods, "Yes I did notice a few things different compared to when I last saw her, but at the same time I wasn't the same after my time in the Legion."

Esdeath folds her hands together, "Now Sergeant what if I told you that she has already been interviewed and told us that she would only be interested in joining Jäger if you would join along with her."

He smirks, "That seems like something she'd say, I made her a promise a while back and so far she's been adamant about sticking near me to make sure I keep it. So I guess this won't be any different now."

Esdeath just smiles at the comradery the two share and nods her head to the man it with an approval, as she herself was always one to encourage it between her own men.

"Well then, what is your decision Sergeant? Because you're deciding for not just yourself, your little friend is going to be following you around no matter what you say."

He thinks for a moment and then looks the general in the eye and nods his head after weighting his thoughts, "When do we begin ma'am?" He asks with a good level of resolve in his voice.

The general rises from her chair and begins to walk towards him; "You and Sergeant Ubiquitous are to report to the Imperial palace at 13:30 tomorrow afternoon. When you get there show the guards this marker and they should be able to lead to where all the other Jägers are to meet." She tells him before handing him two specialized badges with her symbol on them.

She stops at the door and turns back to him, "Until then Jäger Argo have a good night, I look forward to seeing if her words of praise for you are deserved."

The steel-eyed guard just stares back at his new commander, "I won't let you down ma'am." He says with a crisp salute as she walked out the door.

And when she was gone he finally released a breath he didn't know that he was holding.

And Done!

Well this was a fun one to write, but in the process of writing this I somehow wrote a bit of another chapter for a different story, oh well guess I'll finish that next. And as always Nagato's roster.

1. Nagato Uzumaki (Leader)

2. Ieyasu (Heavy Assault)

3. Cecchino Bine (Sniper)

4. Akula (Cook)

5. Karla von Gerchtigkeit (Swordswoman)

6. Seizo (Trainee)

7. ?

8. ?

9. ?

10. ?

11. ?

Anyway please Read and Review as it always helps.

Stay Cool