Assassin's Creed Guardian

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The man drove somberly through the light rain, watching as the wall in the far distance steadily grew closer and larger. Thunder rumbled through the air as storm clouds blocked out the night sky. The man listened passively to the rain pattering against the windshield, finding that rather calming in the otherwise silent car. For where the man was heading, he knew he'd soon be envious of this moment of peace.

As he drove up to the guard at the gate he rolled down his window, concentrating on appearing a normal person. It was only a little harder than he thought it would be. "Evening, officer!" The man said in fake cheer, though the tired officer couldn't tell. "Don't tell me the weather is always like this here."

"No," the officer gave a light chuckle as he shined a flashlight at the man, "Though we are entering a bit of a storm season. May I see your ID card please?"

The man gave it to the officer, playing the air-headed tourist. "Of course. God I'm so tired. You wouldn't believe how long it took to get here from Ame!"

"Oh, I'd believe it. I used to live there," the guard wrote down some information on a clipboard before handing the driver back his identification. "Reason for visit?"

"Business, unfortunately," the man's face darkened for a moment, but with any luck the officer would think it was just the dislike of a normal job. "I doubt I'll get to see much of your city while I'm here, which sucks because I've heard only good things about it."

"Yeah, we do have it pretty good here," the officer laughed as he finished jotting down notes, "Alright, you're free to go. Oh, and welcome to Konoha, Mr. Uzumaki!"

Naruto stuck his hand out of the window in farewell as he drove off, glad that entering the city had been that easy. He was wanted for murder here, after all.

/$&73%#/

Naruto got dressed slowly, admiring the black and orange hoodie that his friend Aiko had made for him. It was a zip-up that was more black than orange, though the orange dominated the loose sleeves. The hood was black on the outside and was "beaked" as Aiko had cheerfully dubbed it. While Naruto had thought that the "beak" was a little odd, he couldn't help but admire the work that was put into it. Despite being made by an amateur, it looked better than something off of a factory line.

Along with his new favorite hoodie, he also wore loose black jeans and a white undershirt that gave him the appearance of just another young adult trying to look cool. Which was exactly what he wanted them to think. After all, what sort of Assassin tries to look out of place in their surroundings?

As Naruto laced up his Feiyues he still couldn't believe that he now called himself an Assassin, even though he had worked towards that goal since he left Konoha little over a decade ago. He had fled Konoha after killing his beloved godfather's killer, and had soon after learned about the dead Assassin brotherhood and their enemies, the Templar Order. He had spent the last decade in Ame learning as much as he could from Jiraiya's notes about the Assassins, working hard to understand the philosophy that his godfather, the former last Assassin, had died for. As Naruto trained his mind he also trained his body, though he admittedly excelled much better at the latter. Now, he understood just what he wanted to fight for and had a vague target that he knew next to nothing about: the Templars.

Despite not knowing who they were, however, he knew that they operated in the city-state of Konoha. And if they were secretive and in Konoha, then there was one person that Naruto knew would know something about them.

/$%58&#/

Naruto walked into the bookstore an hour after leaving his hotel room, having had a hard time of remembering the directions from over ten years ago. It was a rather small bookstore, which would've been surprising to anyone who hadn't known the owner of the store. As Naruto had once heard the owner say, "Big stores are too troublesome to maintain." Still, Nara Books had at least one shop in every city and almost every town, raking in a pretty sizeable amount of money- and information.

Naruto went up to the register where the owner appeared to be asleep. "You know, it'd be pretty easy to steal any books that I wanted, what with you being asleep and all."

"Try it, see what that gets you," came the tired reply as the man opened one eye to look at Naruto. "Hello again, Naruto."

"What, that's it? You're not even surprised to see me?" Naruto had been hoping for more of a reaction from the first person he revealed himself to.

"Surprise is too troublesome. Now, what are you doing here, Naruto? You do realize you're still wanted for murder, right?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "So you heard about that, eh?"

"We all did, idiot. Answer the question."

"Geez, no need to be rude Shikamaru," Naruto's rather cheerful expression disappeared and he became suddenly serious, something that Shikamaru was unaccustomed to. "What do you know about the Knights Templar?"

Shikamaru eyed his former blonde friend, before deciding to go with the safer answer. "I've heard that they were a religious group in the past, before they were all hunted down. Supposedly, they-"

"Cut the crap," Naruto interrupted, placing both hands on the counter and leering at the lazy man on the other side, "You know I'm not talking about the dead order. You're the smartest person I know; if anyone would know of the Templars operating in Konoha, it'd be you."

Shikamaru gave up pretending ignorance. The blonde was right, after all. "What makes you sure I'm not one of them?"

"You don't have the work ethic to be a Templar," Naruto smirked, breaking the tension a little.

"Good point. Alright, from what I've heard, only a few Uchiha members are knowing Templars, but all of the Uchiha work for the Templars. Hokage Danzo is rumored to be a Templar, and it wouldn't surprise me if that turned out true. Also, all of the Hyuuga clan are Templars. Few of them know a lot about the cause they serve, but Hyuuga are always loyal to their clan, and in turn the Templar Order." Shikamaru finished up as though he had just read off a grocery list and wasn't surprised to see Naruto's eyebrows high above his face.

"You know that much already? Holy crap man!" Naruto tried to rein his surprise in, though it took him a few seconds. "How do you know so much?"

"The head of the Hyuuga clan attempted to turn my father into a Templar," Shikamaru shrugged, "I listened in. Luckily, my father has as much of a lazy streak as I do amd refused."

"Nice."

"Now, Naruto, why do you care so much about the Templars?"

Naruto gave a wolfish smile, one that sent a chill down the store owner's spine. "What do you know about the Assassin Brotherhood?"

That got more of a reaction from the pineapple-haired man than the sudden reappearance of a wanted criminal in his shop. "You're joking," Shikamaru choked out, face going pale, "You can't possibly be that suicidal."

"Jiraiya was the last Assassin, before me," Naruto told his old friend calmly, folding his arms across his chest, "I've been training and learning about the Templars in Ame, but I hadn't been able to find out just who the Templars were that ordered my godfather's death. Thanks to you though, I have a pretty good idea where to start."

"You're insane," Shikamaru whispered, his eyes staring dead at the wooden counter.

"Maybe," Naruto shrugged, "But I think my chances of success would be a lot higher if I had someone smart helping me coordinate my attacks."

The Nara man shot up out of his chair, looking at Naruto as if the blonde had grown three more heads. "You want me to help you Kill people?"

Naruto's eyes never wavered from his friend's, and his answer was calm and full of conviction. "Yes."

"Dammit Naruto," the Nara sank back down onto his chair, lighting a cigarette to calm himself.

"Look, Shikamaru, all I need you to do is give me info on where the Templars will be and when they'll be isolated. I'll handle the rest. Your hands will be clean."

"Like hell."

"Shikamaru-"

"Hinata's one of them, did you know that?" That shut Naruto up faster than anything else Shikamaru could have said. "I'm willing to bet Sasuke is too, along with Neji, Kiba, Shino, and maybe even Sakura."

When the blonde Assassin next spoke, it was cold and raspy. "So be it."

"Naruto, that's messed up. There's no love lost between me and the Templars, and I think I might be able to help you with some of them, but I won't help you kill our friends."

"Hopefully it won't come to that. Maybe I can convince them to change sides," even as Naruto said it he doubted it, and he knew Shikamaru did as well. If his friends had betrayed him and become active Templars, and he couldn't make them see their folly, then he'd be forced to do his job.

Shikamaru saw the hard look on Naruto's face and sighed, getting out a pen and paper and jotting something down. When he was finished he handed the paper to Naruto, making sure he had the blonde's full attention. "This man is a part-time contractor for some of the higher ranking Templars. If anyone would know your ideal targets, it'd be him. Although, I doubt that he'd willingly give that kind of information away for free."

Naruto nodded his thanks as he began to leave the store. "Thanks Shika. This guy shouldn't be a problem. See ya around!"

With that the blonde Assassin was gone, leaving Shikamaru wondering if he had made the right decision and in dire need of a drink. Unfortunately, the best bar in town was about to get way too troublesome.

/ #&93%/

Naruto waited for nightfall before heading to the bar Shikamaru had written down on the paper. He hadn't known of a bar called The Slacker but then again, he hadn't been here since he was ten years old. Apparently it had made a good reputation for itself, being extremely popular by those who couldn't be bothered by the flashy lights and intense scenes of a night club. That list was surprisingly long, so if Naruto wanted to get in he was going to have to pull some strings. Or sneak in.

He didn't bother with a cab, instead climbing up to the roof of the hotel and travelling from roof to roof towards the bar. Admittedly, he would've saved a lot of time and energy by driving there or taking a cab, but there was a sort of freedom in free-running that just couldn't be replicated by driving a car through traffic. It took him less than twenty minutes to get to the bar, which surprised Naruto. Konoha really had grown since he'd left.

When he finally got to the bar he was disappointed to find that the windows up top were open to vent some hot air outside. It was no fun when infiltrating a place was easy. Regardless, Naruto jumped from his current roof to one of the open windows, pulling himself up to look into the bar room. He couldn't make out just why this bar was so popular; it looked like every other bar he'd gone to in Ame. It was bigger than most and the place felt friendly, but that was where the differences ended. Deciding that maybe he wasn't an accurate judge of popular things, Naruto jumped ten feet down to the bar floor, earning himself a few drunk stares that didn't last too long.

The blonde walked slowly towards the bar, taking stock of the room and its occupants, most of whom were just barely standing. There weren't too many women, though he had a feeling that those that were were there strictly on business. 'Maybe that's why this place is so popular,' Naruto mused to himself as he sat down at the bar stand, waving the bartender.

The bartender was a bald man in a black business suit with a red tie that stuck out like a sour thumb. 'I'll never get fashion,' Naruto grimaced to himself before smiling at the bartender.

"What can I get you?" The bartender asked, pulling out a frosted mug and holding at the ready near the beer tap.

"Plain ol' Coors, please. None of that Lite crap."

"Gotcha," the bartender replied before setting the brew in front of Naruto. "Anything else I can get you?"

Naruto stopped sipping his beer to look up cheerfully at the bartender. "Actually, yeah. I've got some business with a guy named Joshuro Hagame. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

The bartender gave a quick look around to make sure no one else was paying attention before nodding to a corner of the bar where a big man sat nursing a beer. Naruto nodded his thanks to the barkeep as he stepped away from the bar and strode leisurely to the man, enjoying the music that filled the air. Joshuro Hagame was taller than Naruto, and much wider too. It was easy to see why he was a Templar hitman.

Joshuro Hagame looked up as the blonde Assassin reached him, before dismissing him with a wave.

"Is this how you deal with all of your customers?"

Joshuro's ears perked at that and he reevaluated the blonde in the dark hoodie. "You're a customer?"

"Well that depends," the blonde said cheerfully, sliding into the booth across from Joshuro. When the blonde didn't finish his sentence the hitman began to get angry.

"Depends on what, Blondie?" He spat out, glaring at the young man across from him. Something about the boy seemed off to Joshuro.

"It depends on if you're loyal to the Templars," Joshuro's eyes widened , but the blonde continued before the big man could interupt, "Because, you see, I don't much like the Templars. And you do regular jobs for them, so I figure you might have some information on them that I'd really like to have."

To Naruto's surprise, the mercenary began to laugh loudly at that. Joshuro took a swig of his beer before grinning at the blonde. "There ain't no way in hell I'm going to betray the Templars, kid. I like living; it's very much me."

"We both know that hired muscle is only useful for so long for the Templars," Naruto told the mercenary, and saw that Joshuro knew exactly what he was talking about. "How long until the Templars don't need you anymore, until all you are is a loose end?"

Silence came from the other end of the table, but Joshuro's glare was answer enough. Naruto sighed, "Look, Joshuro, I've got nothing against you. All I want is the Templars. I pay you, you give me some information about where I can find them. No one will ever know."

The large man across from Naruto gulped down the rest of his beer before writing something down on a napkin and sliding it across the table to Naruto. "Send five thousand to this account, and gie me your email. I'll let you know something as soon as I have the money."

Naruto grinned and wrote down his email on the napkin and tearing it in half. "Nice to do business with you, Joshuro."

"Yeah yeah, kid," the man sighed, still glaring at Naruto, "Now get lost before I change my mind."

"Aye aye captain," the blonde joked as he slid out of the booth and made his way for the door. He couldn't help but grin as he left the club, constantly looking down at the half of a napkin as he made his way back to his hotel. "Watch out oppressors, murderers, and Templars. I'm coming for you."

/%&38$#/

Hello all, and welcome to the very first modern Naruto/Assassin's Creed crossover!... to my knowledge. Seriously though, was looking for a modern day thing, but couldn't find anything. So I decided to write one myself. I hope it isn't too bad, and that at least some of you enjoyed it.

Just a warning, chakra is not a very major thing here. I'm not a fan of a god-like Assassin that can create hundreds of copies that can each kill a person. That takes the fun out of being an Assassin.

Anyway, please review and I hope you guys stick around for chapter 2.

Foxtrot Agent 21, signing out.