Like I said below:

I don't write epilogues. ^ v ^

Sequel is up: Reconnaissance

Naotake ran swiftly down the dark hall, adrenaline rushing through his veins like water from a recently shattered dam.

It was a simple mission…for an ANBU mission – reach a village, obtain the target, and gather intelligence in the process. But as usual, the plans screwed up. And there he was with his team, racing through the halls of an empty stone building in the middle of the night and hoping their target was still alive.

The target had important information about a group rumored to be plotting against Konoha. It was imperative to get him under Konoha's wing, or at least under the ANBU's torture chambers.

Naotake heard Ouga scream his lungs out from the end of the hall. Apparently, the target was now sober enough to react to threats on his life.

Itaro Ouga, a drunkard gambler, was involved with trading various things underground – weapons, opium, women, slaves…And in the process of earning tons of dirty money, he stumbled upon the group that was rumored to be cooking something to destroy Konoha.

When Naotake and his team was sent out into the village to get Ouga, they were warned that he would be uncooperative and that they would encounter enemy ninjas on the way.

Ouga indeed was uncooperative, laughing their threats off and caring only for his sake bottles...oh and boasting about how no one, even the Konoha ninjas would be able to locate the hard-earned money he kept under his bed.

After battling a group of hired assassins, Ouga ran away – not that Naotake and his team lost him. They were obviously on the man's tail even now.

But when they caught up with the drunkard after that particular encounter, all the happy-go-lucky sneers on Ouga's face was wiped away. Fear flooded his features and he kept on shouting about someone who was out to get him.

And he seemed to be more afraid of that someone than any ninja or assassin they told him about.

Naotake leaped up into the end of the hall, only to gasp in shock and skid to a stop.

…The hall they had been running on led to a door-sized square on the wall of the building that overlooked the roofs of other abandoned structures. They were on the eight floor of the building and the nearest roof reached only the structure's fourth floor.

"Dead end!" he called behind him, warning his team mates. He then climbed to the side of the building to give the others enough space to stop themselves.

He stood on a protruding iron rod, looking out for any sign of the stinky drunkard he wanted to torture.

He had been quite a pain. The fact that the drunkard had escaped them twice was a huge insult to him, and to Konoha. Though the first one was probably aided by someone who wanted to kidnap him, and the second one most likely was once again out of that someone's attempt to get him away, it was humiliating.

Naotake remembered how Ouga panicked when they got hold of him earlier that night. He was screaming help and talking nonsense – "The devil is coming!" to be specific.

They pressed him for more information, but the drunkard only said that the devil was near – that he could hear the devil's bell calling, and that he caught sight of its flaming eyes in the shadows.

A cloak of darkness fell over them in the middle of the interrogation. It lasted only a few seconds. And when it lifted, Ouga was gone. Only the echo of his screams told them where he had been taken.

There was no sign of Ouga in the nightscape so far. One of Naotake's fellow ANBU ninjas already decided to jump off the nearest roof in search of their target.

Devils with bells and flaming eyes…Well the flaming eyes made sense, but bells..? Why would a devil carry bells?

The wind shifted – something flew swiftly on Naotake's way.

He quickly jumped forward, catching the human-sized mass hurled toward him. He landed on the nearest roof – his teammate quickly running to his aid.

The ANBU ninjas all looked defensively around, ready to attack at any sign of offense against them.

Naotake looked at the heavy mass in his arms and froze.

It was Ouga – unconscious...and wet... stinking with human urine.

He looked up at where it flew from and noticed a shadow at the edge of the ten-storey building several roofs away.

The wind blew a chilling hymn…the high-pitched sound of a jiggling round bell singing in the air.

"Is that-" mumbled the ANBU ninja beside him.

Naotake could make out a black cloak in the shadow dancing in the wind, with locks of his black hair swaying in the chilly breeze. It was a man. The light of the full moon glinted on something dangling from the man's ear…

…The ringing bell?

Then the man turned to face them – his eyes burning in a shade of blood…

"Sharingan," Naotake breathed…his eyes wide with shock.

There was only one clan that had those eyes, and there was only one surviving descendant of the clan…

And he disappeared a year ago.

Note:

I don't write epilogues.

~Advance Happy Holidays! ^ v ^ ~