Author's Note: Okay so I have another story I gotta split focus on so there's a good chance updates might run even slower than usual, granted that's even possible.

A new Naruto character makes an appearance in this chapter, so be on the lookout.

Chapter 6: Kill the Maniac! pt 1

It had been bothering her for quite some time now.

It was nothing serious, in fact some would have considered it whimsical. But Akame just couldn't wrap her head around Night Raid's orange blur Naruto Uzumaki and finally learn why she held that nagging feeling that Akame saw him somewhere – knew him from somewhere. It was ridiculous; she knew him, but he didn't know her. Just thinking about it made Akame cease sharpening her cursed blade, she nearly cut herself.

It had been getting late anyway. In all actuality, Akame should have been resting to save up her energy, but unfortunately for her, she couldn't shake the blond free from her thoughts. After uncharacteristically tossing and turning for a good twenty minutes, the sleepy assassin gave up altogether. It wasn't as though she would need the so called 'beauty rest' Mine practically scrambled for after lights out.

So Akame decided preparing a midnight snack before occupying the training grounds were the best courses of action, she couldn't sit around doing nothing, after all.

Wandering the compound in nothing but her sleepwear, Akame highlighted the path to the kitchen in her mind. When she reached it, she found the oblivious source of her sleeping schedule put all out of whack.

Cooking a steaming pot of ramen over the stove was Naruto Uzumaki, still in his night clothes as well; a t-shirt and orange boxers. He slept in simple clothing apparently.

She noticed the involuntary twitch of his ears as soon as she arrived. Anyone else wouldn't have even noticed such a cue, but as an assassin, Akame trained her crimson orbs to discern and analyze even the most seemingly insignificant of body language. It was all apart of her mental training regimen taught to her during her time within the Elite Seven. While trust in her teammates was stressed very often, the only other thing worth remembering?

Look underneath the underneath.

But the blond only stood there, hovering over his ramen whilst cutting the vegetables. Was he planning on pretending he didn't hear her? It was...definitely interesting, to say the least. How long would Naruto keep it up however? A minute, ten minutes, an hour?

Finally Akame voiced her thoughts, and went over to sneakily help herself to one of the pork slabs on the stove. She'd save the tomato slice for later. "I sincerely hope you weren't planning on just standing there, Naruto." She said, voice neutral as always.

He didn't act surprised. He hated when others did that to him anyway. "I didn't want you to think I was trying to escape or something." Naruto had yet to shift his gaze off the noodles.

"You're still considering it?" Akame inquired.

"Nah." She saw him flash a grin into the pot, "Not anymore, anyway."

"Good." Akame leaned on the counter, elbows resting on the countertop surface, "You wouldn't get far."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Naruto took to stirring the noodles within the boiling liquid. Coincidentally, the blond had been up as well, but for different reasons than his comrade. While the other assassin was coping with minor insomnia, Naruto was merely a night owl in general. Always had been, except the past few days. With all of this assassins for hire slash revolutionary business, there weren't many chances left to catch up on what he was missing, because he'd return so tired, and hungry. Mostly tired. Naruto used to reserve the nighttime for stargazing, and training within the sacred art of the machete. Maybe once in awhile he'd brush up on the fighting style he never bothered to name, let alone develop fully, but other than that, nothing.

Those were the least of his thoughts, however.

He was too busy praying to whatever deity was listening that Akame couldn't see his fiery red cheeks contributing to the pot boiling.

No one could've really blamed him. The onyx-haired assassin's present attire was somewhat revealing, highlighting her slender figure, whilst drawing attention to her ample bosom, and slender legs. Needless to say, it was pretty hard to look her in the face without blushing profusely, and it wasn't as though he could turn and face her...he only had his boxers, after all.

So Naruto stood quiet, more than welcome to let the silence assume it's reign. While he slowly stirred the noodles, Akame took more and more bites of the pork slab until there was nothing left. Before she could grab the tomato, her blond comrade spoke up.

"Can you help me?"

"With what?" She replied, her interest caught.

"My swordsmanship. I know it's not...as good as yours," The blond revealed, scratching the base of his neck using his free hand.

Akame grasped the tomato slice, and spoke with an unbiased tone, completely neutral, "I've been practicing my swordplay since I was a child, Naruto." She said, to which he seemed downcast for a moment, probably thinking to himself, 'how am I supposed to reach a level like that?' "But I'll help you in any way I can." It wasn't as though Akame minded. It gave her the opportunity to get her mind off of things, and c'mon, she clearly wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon anyway.

Naruto's smile grew into a grin, and Akame watched as he quickly set his pot of noodles back into place after his following victory airfist almost knocked it over, "All right!"

"After we eat."

"Huh?"

"We'll train after we eat. I'm hungry." Akame clarified as she moved towards a cabinet closeby to gather respective bowls. "And so are you."

As Akame set the small bowls on the dining table, Naruto prepared his favorite dish. He craned his head to where he put the pork slabs earlier and-

Wait. Where were they?

The blond moved his gaze to and fro, scanning the countertop for the slabs meant to enhance the broth's flavor. 'I mean, they were right there, where the hell could they have gone?', he thought. Then he stopped looking, and it went off like a lightbulb.

"Akame, where's the meat I put here?!"

…

Akame sidestepped a left swipe of Naruto's short sword, ducking below another, before following up with a leaping roundhouse that hit its mark perfectly. The blond was sent reeling, but quickly gained distance.

Beads of sweat peppered his form, and his hair clung to his forehead for dear life. Meanwhile Akame stood a good eight feet away and was barely even breaking a sweat. It was maddening, was he really that low of a threat compared to her–to anyone else on Night Raid? How was he supposed to be the hero when he couldn't even get Akame to pant as much as he was, at least furrow her brows, piss her off, something-anything!

Instead murasame's wielder only stood there, with her apathetic yet judgmental red orbs scrutinizing his form with her hair flowing in sync with the cool midnight breeze. She wore her regular clothes, sans the tie, and armguards.

Naruto shed his thick jacket minutes after they started training, opting to tie it around his waist. The only barrier between him and the elements was a black undershirt.

His grip around the machete tightened, and he surged forward. His rigid strike was met with Akame's temporary practice blade, before she delivered a successful jab to the face. Before Naruto could recoil and further, he charged back in fist reared back in a predictable haymaker. But just as murasame's wielder was well prepared to sway his fist to the side, the blond switched gears completely and went for a roundhouse midair.

It came close. Akame had to roll to the side in the nick of time, instinctively gaining necessary distance with a couple backflips. She could sense Naruto's frustration even from afar.

"How is this supposed to help my swordsmanship?!" Naruto demanded, flailing his arms for added effect. After the two ate their midnight snack in peace following insignificant conversation, they began sparring, trading feints, thrust, and parries. Never in one spot; Akame's swordsmanship was truly spectacular, because the blond had immense trouble keeping up with her, even if she was only using a wooden sword. Especially when she fused swordplay with melee.

Truthfully, their training session mainly consisted of Akame striking Naruto down with a goddamn practice sword while he desperately tried and numerously failed to avoid her bokuden strikes from hell.

"You," She began, easing her stance, "You utilize movements that confound all attempts to predict them, very respectable. But in battle, you need to make better use of your intellect. When you rely on reflex and pure instinct, your shortcomings are highlighted." Akame explained.

Slowly Naruto dropped his stance as well, planting a hand on his hip as he donned a fox-like frown, squinted eyes and all, "Like what?" He asked. It wasn't everyday one complimented his style and somehow watered it down all at once. He wasn't however, prepared for the assassin to surge a beeline in his direction, bokuden drawn with intent of delivering a basic horizontal slash.

The respective blades clashed, both wielders pouring in strength in a battle for leverage. But while Akame used both hands to firmly grip the hilt of her sword, the blond only used one, and was able to go for a left hook. She carefully avoided the blow by maneuvering herself to the left, all while impressively keeping their weapons clashed, before using the momentum to knock over Naruto's equilibrium with a sweeping kick. Once towering over him, Akame placed a firm foot on his chest to keep him in place. Before the blond could struggle, she rooted her bokuden into the earth dangerously close to his face.

Naruto looked up with widened eyes; she-she took him down so fast. Just when the advantage was in spitting distance. At that moment, he would've bet all the ramen in the world Akame would have been able to end his semi-short life even without her sword.

Akame took the opportunity to answer Naruto's question, "I know you aren't very good at dodging attacks." She said, choosing to elaborate her answer, "Because every time I attack you head on, you rarely attempt to dodge it, countering the strike with another instead." And even then, his countering skills were shoddy at best. The way he fought was akin to a flow, in the sense that if one certain approach didn't end up with the desired results, the blond would merely think of another just under the wire.

Naruto took her words in as he was hoisted off the ground and onto his feet, "What else?" He asked, watching as Akame uprooted her bokuden from the ground.

"Your skills with the machete are nowhere near on par with any of ours."

"What?! My skills are awesome!" Naruto defended.

"..." Akame kept her silent unblinking gaze onto the blond. She didn't speak, nor move. Just gave him, that look. It was subtle but Naruto knew it was there. Like she wanted to say, 'they aren't', but was too polite to voice her thoughts out loud.

"They are!"

"..." Murasame's wielder remained wordless. She slowly began the short trek across the wide open sod ridden space, en route to the base and the confines of her private quarters in extension. Once halfway, she stopped within her tracks, before peering behind slightly. "You're very loud." She commented, before resuming her path.

Naruto gawked, "Is that all you have to say?!" The blond growled to himself in stubborn frustration. "What about my training?" Akame was already into the building when Naruto ran across the training field.

…

"So who's the target?" An impatient Naruto asked, hands stuffed into his pockets. The boss had assembled Night Raid into the meeting room, as she usually did every morning.

Najenda payed the blond-haired idiot no mind, she simply eased herself in the throne-like chair she always sat in, and answered the burning question hovering over everyone's minds, "A rumored serial killer active within the streets of Capital. He wanders at night, and decapitates his victims. His body count is still undetermined." Night Raid's official leader concluded.

"Weren't three of them part of the Imperial Guard?" Tatsumi inquired.

"He's gotta be pretty strong to pull something like that off." Naruto mused aloud with a nod of his head in self confirmation.

Very strong if this person has been active long enough for Night raid to receive an anonymous tip that even the Imperial Guard couldn't handle themselves. Usually the wanted fugitives running around the Capital are taken care of by the Empire, quickly too. For this guy to evade capture and actually kill three officers was a pretty big deal, and it also narrowed down the possible subjects. There was the masked man rumored to run around the countryside, well known for his ties to the Empire, and although his body count was certainly high, it wasn't as though they were gruesome. He apparently held an appreciation for the term silent but deadly, just as any assassin should. So if he was out, that only meant… "...Zank the Executioner. No mistaking it."Lubbock said, concluding what two-thirds of Night Raid were already thinking.

Naruto took the opportunity to jab at the target's name, "Zank? What kind of name is that?"

Mine scoffed, not at all in the mood to excuse the blond's hypocrisy, "What kind of name is Naruto? Your name literally means fishcake." She deadpanned.

But hang on...

"Well what kind of name is Mine!?" He defended, his full attention on the pinkette in front of him. Naruto couldn't come up with a snarky comment to back it up but still, the pinkette had a pretty weird name.

"I think we all have strange names, to be honest." Tatsumi hoped to diffuse the impending shouting match between Mine and Naruto, the former narrowing her large pink orbs at the latter's clenched fist and grit teeth. She then allowed a smile to grace her face and direct her full, undivided attention to the boss as she backed down with a "Hmph". She got him all riled up, and on the defensive; In her eyes, Mine had already won,

"So who's Zank?" Tatsumi finally asked with a sigh.

The pinkette settled for a sigh instead of a scoff, then placed her thumb and index finger on the bridge of her nose. God, she couldn't have been the only Night Raid member in touch. "Zank was an executioner at the biggest prison the Empire has to offer." Mine began. As she told the story of Zank the Executioner, at least what the Revolutionary Army knew, the pinkette painted a picture in her mind. She imagined the infamous Zank, in his executioner's uniform towering over an inmate forced onto death row, large ax raised and ignorant to the tearful pleas for the poor man's life. "And because of the Prime Minister, along with the other head adviser, the amount of inmates on death row grew dramatically." She sighed once more, "So after a while, he began to actually enjoy it. And soon enough, executions weren't satisfying, and now he's a serial killer."

Bulat spoke up from his spot leaning against the wall, arms folded, "By the time a detainment force was arranged, he was already gone." Incursio's wielder let out a chuckle void of any mirth, "Who would've thought the Capital was on his radar."

"Actually, that's what brings me to the premise." The boss revealed, gaining six attentive stares in return. "It's easy to speculate he'll be in within the streets, and decapitate whoever's unlucky to cross his path at such a late hour." Najenda kept one bit of information to herself, primarily so Night Raid's newest assassin's wouldn't get themselves killed so soon. She had shared the details with Akame, as Naruto was made her subordinate once again; the two would be searching for Zank together. The girl processed the information fast, and with little repercussions on her psyche, as far as Najenda knew.

"Well...well," Naruto clenched his fists, as steely determination replaced his ever present warm and inviting demeanor. Cerulean irises sparked with righteous fury, amusing the more experienced members of Night Raid, "We gotta find this sonuvabitch! People like that can't just run around wherever they want, especially not if Naruto Uzumaki has anything to say about it!" The orange clad blond let a smirk grace his features, as though he could see his upcoming victory through a looking glass.

Tatsumi shared the blond's mindset, "My thoughts exactly!" He agreed, chocolate orbs containing a fire of their own, just as bright.

Bulat chuckled; it was a bit of a rarity to find assassins so...animated as the newbies, excluding Leone, of course. The boys in front of him were were quick to action, talking big game and never snoozing on the chance to back it up.

It was admittedly a good quality to have any other day, but as assassins, naive attitudes like that were what got people killed. And fast, "Don't get too far ahead of yourselves kiddos. If you end up separated from your partners, your heads just might end up mounted on Zank's wall." They needed to be careful, someone had to remind them.

And hey, who would wanna pass up a chances to freak out the rookies?

Said rookies blinked several times as their eyes widened to comical proportions. Whatever was left of their previous determination must've shriveled up and died at the prospect of having their heads mounted up on a psycho's wall. Even Naruto was rendered to mere mumbles, while Tatsumi was the braver of the two. He spoke first, albeit meekly, "...His wall?"

…

The hit was a group mission. Everybody was to set out into the Capital and search for the killer. Or attract his attention without alerting the Imperial Officers, Naruto wasn't able to pinpoint it exactly. He was never really adept at reading in between the lines.

All throughout, Naruto and Akame kept watch over the Capital streets, ducking behind conveniently placed crates and standing in alleyways barely illuminated by the streetlights only whenever they heard the guards while they were in their late-night patrols.

'The Empire's probably just as freaked as everyone else in the Capital,' The blonde thought; the patrols were more numerous than the last few nights.

While Akame naturally blended in with the shadows through her dark attire, Naruto's loud and comically unfashionable jacket would've had both of their positions compromised in less than what it took for Naruto to imagine his favorite dish. So, he was forced to leave it at the base, clad in the black undershirt he wore with Akame's spare armguards, even though he never wore any form of protection for his forearms. Few stars were out as a result of light pollution, but hey, at least Naruto was able to get a good look at the moon in its crescent phase.

For the most part, the two ambled through the urban landscape, with no smalltalk occupying the space between them. Akame wasn't a very talkative person in nature, and Naruto's inner thoughts more than kept him company. The blond switched between staring into nothingness and looking both ways, irises remaining at the rooftops for any sign of the serial killer rumored to roam these streets just hours before dusk.

Once the coast was confirmed clear, he allowed his mind to roam the numerous clouds above.

Truthfully, Naruto had begun acclimating to the entire ordeal he was practically hurled into. Surprisingly, he didn't mentally recoil when the prospect of an unorthodox and exciting life as an assassin of all things became reality. But then again, Naruto Uzumaki followed just about anything but what was considered orthodox. Even before he was taken in to become, what he dubbed, a "Night Raider", the blond's aspirations were dead set on restoring order to the Capital.

Their circumstances practically mirrored his village's.

But an elaboration was a different story altogether, definitely reserved for another day.

Sighing, he peered his head to his left to get a good look at Akame, who's toneless yet steely glare bore a hole onto the cobblestone path ahead of them. It was strange really, how he somehow managed to translate her neutral gazes despite not having known her for a long time. But maybe it was to be expected; Naruto knew someone similar as a child. It was almost crazy, how little their appearances contrasted; he even remembered telling her over breakfast, hours before.

Appearances aside, what stumped the blond the most about his comrade was how she managed to keep an emotionless expression set twenty-four seven. Surely there had to be something running around in there, right? In fact, such a train of thought led Naruto to sometimes wonder if it was all just a front, like she was wearing a- a mask or something. Figuratively, of course. Her stance maybe was unaligned externally whenever matters of the Capital's liberation weren't in the picture, but there was probably a multitude of thoughts flying around at lightning speed in that pretty head of hers if she didn't even have time to express them aloud.

So naturally, it made the blond curious. What's going on in there, then?, Naruto found himself pondering on more than on occasion. Did Akame regard herself and her comrades as expendable? Or was she secretly all bubbly inside and someone just had to free her from the thick shell confining her true personality?

Now, Naruto would've smirked; he always loved a good challenge, after all. Especially one that could've been considered a redo of sorts.

But by now he was staring, and Akame seemed to catch on, matching his cerulean stare with curious crimson irises. Slowly the blood in his system crept up his neck and finally his cheeks, just as Akame in turn cutely tilted her head to the side, "Do I have something on my face?" She asked.

"W-What, no–no." Naruto stammered, eyes darting to anything but the girl next to him. God, why did he have to stare at her like that?! The hell was he doing?! "I'm just thinking."

Naruto inwardly berated himself at his actions, and decided to keep his mouth shut for the duration of the hit. All he wanted was to find this bastard, kill him, and drown out the rest of his embarrassment in a nice, steaming pot of miso ramen; his favorite dish.

"Oh, all right." Akame thankfully backed down and resumed her staring contest with the road ahead, eyes following Naruto's form as he continued ahead in a faster walking speed, albeit stiffly. She idly wondered if her subordinate had a deficiency with his blood flow and his embarrassment refrained him from revealing it. He was always red whenever she was around.

As he moved stiffly through the street, Akame thought back to the conversation they had over the impromptu breakfast the two shared much earlier. He mentioned someone he knew as a child, making a joke about their similar appearances, and when Akame pressed for more information, the blond successfully dodged every poke and prod with another question of his own, all aimed at Akame.

Apparently they were both curious about the other.

In hindsight, it may have been insignificant conversation, as both parties gained as much info on the other as the amount of Tatsumi's personal funds; which weren't too salvageable, nor nowhere near enough to actually purchase something anyone would actually enjoy. So not much, and especially not enough if Akame held any chance for input.

The girl herself wasn't exactly sure why she was so fascinated by Naruto's inner workings, as everyone on Night Raid, herself included, held their own sets of secrets and charades. Akame placed blame on the blond's possibly inadvertent mysteriousness. She doubted Naruto noticed, but there wasn't anyone on Night Raid that knew more about him than the base knowledge necessary, save for his ramen addiction and appreciation of the friendly color orange.

From what Akame's gathered, Naruto held prior combat experience, if the numerous scars on his body were anything to go by. His regular ramen cravings suggest he lived in poverty at one point in his life, and his top priorities rested in the Capitals's liberation and his village's financial security. Whether or not she asked for more information in the near future, held little significance at the moment.

Under the watch of her red irises, she saw her teammate visibly stiffen, glued to his spot, before she looked ahead and felt her breath hitch in her throat, as she did the same.

"...Sasuke."

But Akame knew it was merely an illusion when Naruto uttered a name that wasn't her sister's.

…

"Aniki, I think I saw him go this way!" Tatsumi panted, the distance he and his comrade had been running just beginning to take a toll on him.

Bulat was holding up just fine. In fact, it didn't even look like he was breaking a sweat, even through the silver armor he donned everyday. The farmboy really wanted to think his superior's Teigu prevented him from giving response to outside stimuli somehow, but even Tatsumi had to admit that more than likely, it was Bulat himself. The guy was stacked, after all.

"Me too. Sure moves fast for someone as heavy as him, but I guess running from the Imperial forces for so long'll do that to anyone, I guess." Bulat replied, sprinting at an even pace with his subordinate.

They had been chasing Zank for over fifteen minutes. They first encountered him fleeing the temporary Hyūga residence provided by the Empire, but against every law of rationality, Zank didn't move to cut both or at least one of their heads off. He simply gave a curt hello, a placid grin on his face, and bolted into the opposite direction. Normally Bulat would've taken it as a trap, but neither of them had the time to consider it.

The former Imperial Captain had already known Zank killed an influential member of the Hyūga clan, whether it was Hiashi Hyūga himself, his brother, his daughter, or his niece.

Because of it, the tension between the Empire and foreign entities were more than likely set to double soon, making outside forces more open to collaborate with the revolutionary army.

A sacrifice ultimately necessary for the revolution.

The numerous twists and turns the two were making in pursuit made Tatsumi remember just how big the Capital was, and glad there were two other search parties looking for Zank as well.

…

The blond blinked once, twice, three times, to ensure he wasn't going senile prematurely. He looked over at Akame, who had stopped - just as rigid as well, to make sure he wasn't the only one seeing things, but it was hard to tell; her crimson orbs were set on neutral, and it was harder than usual to tell what was she was thinking.

Finally, he looked ahead once more, and marveled at the perfect resemblence this person held to his childhood friend. But that should have been impossible.

Sasuke Uchiha was dead. And yet somehow, the prideful, gifted child he once knew was just standing there. Right in front of him.

His height was still a measly three foot-two, and his hair was still in, what Naruto would tease at frequently whenever they saw each other, a duckbutt do. But the onyx eyes weren't wide and didn't convey the curiousness Sasuke often displayed in childhood, instead kept lazily hooded, lips set in a frown. The plain, high collared shirt and shorts remained untouched.

Naruto felt his breath hitch; he hadn't changed…"At all." Not one bit.

Had it been anyone else, the blond probably would've questioned exactly how after seven years his best–only friend hadn't aged a day, and maybe, just maybe, he would've immediately come to the conclusion was a figment of his clearly imperfect mind. But it all seemed so-so real.

He took a step forward, ignoring Akame's questioning glance within his peripheral vision.

But Naruto didn't have enough presence of mind to noticed her hands whip to Murasame's scabbard tied to her hip. She unsheathed her blade in one quick motion, and sprinted past her gaping blond teammate, dead set on the illusion several meters ahead, blade raised.

As she drew closer, Sasuke's form rearranged itself disturbingly. Slowly, it adopted the semblance of a burly man with wavy blond hair not unlike his, but with two large sets of strands shaped into fleeting horns protruding in the spot above his temples. The man wore a headpiece with an eyeball-like mechanism positioned directly over his forehead. The sleeves to his thick jacket creased as he placed both forearms over his face, katar blades protruding from his sleeves just in time to effectively hold back the legendary One Cut Kill blade.

'How did she know?', Zank thought, diminutive eyes widening a fraction or two before a sinister smile quickly wormed it's way into his expression. The executioner quickly gained necessary distance, before titling his head to the side, "This will be quite the interesting match-up, don't you think? Very...FUN!" He said, giggling similarly as a child would before entering a place enjoyed by many, like a carnival. The sick grin plastered onto his face was enough to send the blond shivers straight down his spine.

Author'sNote: So I'm pretty sure some readers are wondering just what the hell Sasuke's doing in here. Bear in mind multiple Naruto characters are set to make several appearances, whether their very existence is mentioned or they simply pop up somewhere in the nick of time. That being said, I do hope people are enjoying the story.

As for the omake, maybe I'll update it next chapter I dunno.