http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUHwc0HAA0w
The fastest way to kill the target in Climbing the Ranks memory sequence 13 Florence. You need the hidden gun for this. Equip it either before you start the scene of before you can control Ezio (there is a short scene before you control him, even when you restart the memory from the last checkpoint). Start by climbing the scaffold to the right. When you reach the top lock onto the target and use the hidden gun. If you're wondering why I didn't use throwing knives it's because I'm currently in open conflict, and Ezio will automatically throw them at his attackers. There is a chance an archer could get you and mess up the blitz (like what almost happened in the video), but nothings perfect. One thing to note is you can't lock onto the target until he starts running away.
Nice. It's really fast.
Nevertheless I think I wouldn't have used this in my speedrun because it's quite a risky method ^^