After polling the votes, this one won.
Disclaimer : Don't Own Naruto
Beta: Shatteredstar21
Enjoy :3
The Fourth Great Shinobi War was supposed to be the end of the violence between the nations.
Everyone knew there would still problems in the world, even with this newfound peace.
But for once shinobi of different Nations wouldn't be constantly at each other's throats.
The threats of Madara, Obito and the Akatsuki were long gone.
The Nations allowed themselves to relax.
Perhaps, they grew too complacent.
It started off slowly.
Shinobi started to not return from missions.
This was no unusual occurrence, and it had been so sporadic that at first there was concern but no true worry.
Until they couldn't find the bodies.
The Kages sent messages to each other, each of them denying knowing what was going on, citing their own losses as proof.
The disappearances started to pick up pace.
And they finally started to find bodies... if they could be called bodies in their horribly mutilated state.
The slain were always unrecognizable except through blood testing. In fact, the only thing left untouched on all of them were their Hitai-ate.
Shinobi from all Five Great Nations and the smaller ones were present amongst the bloody scenes.
People demanded an explanation.
Hunter-nin were sent out.
None returned.
The bodies were only found months later.
Tensions started to rise between the Nations.
Even the close ties between Suna and Konoha were growing strained.
Since they could not identify the threat, the Kages were starting to turn on each other.
War was starting to brew.
And there seemed to be no way to stop it.
The Nara of Konoha was not a clan used to having puzzles that evaded them.
Present a Nara with a problem and though it will often be declared 'troublesome' or 'a drag' with enough prodding it would get solved.
Their intelligence was famed amongst the Five Nations.
So, it was no surprise that this typically laid back clan was antsy and displeased at having something they could not figure out.
Especially when it was something so dire as this situation.
But this puzzle seemed impossible for them.
Impossible even for their Clan head Shikamaru who's brilliant strategic mind was the most famous of them all.
Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage, had restricted missions until the threat was found and dealt with.
The shinobi of Konoha were growing restless.
This only put further pressure on the Nara to solve the troublesome problem.
Because if they didn't Konoha would most likely implode on itself.
Or worse, the anger and resentment of being confined would turn the shinobi in favor of starting the Fifth Shinobi War.
"Troublesome." Came a mutter from one of the Nara as she paced, getting dirt on her standard Konoha Jounin uniform for her efforts.
She was a typical Nara, black hair in a low ponytail that tended to spike here and there despite her best efforts to get it straight and brown eyes fixed on the ground she'd worn from her pacing.
"Losing our edge. Such a drag." Nara Akane sighed.
It was a sad day that both the main branch Nara and side branch Nara like herself couldn't solve something.
Unlike most clans, the Nara were more relaxed about the difference between main and Side branches.
On the rare occasion one of them had difficulty with a puzzle, they were not too proud to ask one another for help. What good was being surrounded by genius if you didn't use it?
This lead to how she was involved in the first place.
Akane had thought hell itself had frozen over when the Shikamaru had failed to solve this problem. And admitted it. His brilliance was famous, even amongst a clan of geniuses after all.
Then he'd asked for help and things had gone from there.
Oh he hadn't asked for her help specifically.
Shikamaru was her distant cousin and while they knew each other and were civil acquaintances they weren't really friends.
She remembered admiring her three-years-older cousin when she was a student, and she still did in a sense that she recognized his cunning. This was as close as they'd ever really gotten.
So, it was no surprise or insult that Shikamaru hadn't asked for her help specifically.
He'd asked his father, who'd asked his mother; who'd asked her sister.
And so on and so forth until every single Nara old enough to strategize was fixated on this problem.
Not one of them had come up with a solution.
How to catch someone that tended to kill whoever went after them?
Kagemane was typically how a Nara caught someone, but that had a limited range.
Getting so close to an unknown threat without getting killed was obviously troublesome.
Akane snagged a stick, making a crude map in the dirt as she thought.
Shinobi from all the nations, Great or small.
Found here, here, here, here, here... no seeming coordination in the slaughter sites.
No one claiming the kills either.
What a drag.
At least the Akatsuki had been bold enough to claim the chaos they'd caused.
On a whim, the kunoichi put a dot on where she remembered the former enemy to be from.
The plant Zetsu hadn't been from anywhere. Deceased, defeated by the Allied Nations during the Fourth War.
Taki. Kakuzu. Akatsuki treasurer with five hearts. Deceased. Defeated by Team Asuma, and Team Kakashi.
Iwa. Deidara. A bomber. Deceased. Defeated by Uchiha Sasuke.
Ame. Konan and Pein or Nagato. God and Angel. Both deceased. Konan defeated by Obito. Nagato by Naruto.
Suna. Akasuna no Sasori. Puppet master. Deceased, defeated by Haruno Sakura and Chiyo of Suna.
Konoha. Uchiha Itachi. Genjutsu master. Deceased. Not a true traitor. Defeated by Uchiha Sasuke.
Uchiha Obito also from Konoha. Warped by Madara. Deceased. Turned against Madara in the end and paid for seeing the light with his life.
Kiri. Hoshigaki Kisame. Tailless Tailed Beast. Deceased. Committed suicide to prevent information leaking.
And finally Yugakure. Hidan. Defeated by Shikamaru himself. Trapped in a deep hole in the Nara forest, but presumed alive since he was immortal.
Nara Akane blinked, her mind starting to form one of those ideas that made her clan famous.
Immortal.
Unable to die.
This could be the chance they needed!
How better to get close to someone that killed than with someone that couldn't die?
She just had to figure out how to get him out of that hole.
And convince him to help.
How troublesome.
Nothing like bloody murders to bring people together.
For those that were hoping for Frayed, it will still happen. I may attempt multitasking and starting that one up as well and alternating the update days.