Minato never knew who was sending the letters. They were all stylized with the same letter, "L." Inside of the contents of the letter were case files and details informing of great criminals who got away for petty things. Minato sent genin after the criminals- the prisons were filling up quickly, but continued to marvel at who the "L" was, and wondering how he was sending so many letters at once.

Crimes were reported to the police every single day, but the police were inefficient and slow. They were more specialized in catching criminals, not finding out who they were. When "L" appeared, the crime rates went to an all time low, as most of them were rotting in jail by then. Little did the Namikaze know a seven year old was obtaining all this information and putting it together on his desk. There was a pattern to the cases however: only cases where murder was involved were being solved.

Seven year old Rue was sitting at his desk, studying like a good boy at the time the Hokage was wondering about him. "Rue-chan, you should really stop eating so many sweets. They aren't good for you," his mother could hardly complain, however. His grades in school were excellent and beyond what she could have hoped for. She had no idea how she produced a child so smart but with such a severe case of the sweet tooth. She carried off his trash can that was filled to the brim with candy wrappers.

The Hanarou family had no idea what exactly, their son was. Ever since he cried for candy when he was three, he had never stopped since. Candy was relatively cheap, which was good. But when his mother refused to fill the pantry with any more sweets, the boy would eat plain sugar, which seriously depleted their supply. The boy was incredibly addicted.

Yet curiously enough, he never was fat. He sat in his room in an awful crouched position and ate candy when he wasn't at school. He brought no friends home from school. They had sent him to civilian school because he had asked for it. Again, when it was time for the ninja academy to start up, they asked him if he wanted to go there. He replied with a stoic "no." It wasn't as if it were bad for the family, they were from a long line of business merchants after all, who, coincidentally, sold candy.

"Mother," he repeated for the last time, "they fuel my brain."

"All foods fuel your brain. You could simply go for the healthier option, that's all," she responded, feeling helpless.

Rue sighed, "I'll think about it."

I'll think about it, that's all he ever said when she pounded on his eating habits. For god's sakes, he was eating cake for dinner. The only healthy thing he ever ate was fruit. And he ate that with whipping cream too. The pains of having a genius for a son, she thought. He was an absolute weirdo, but she loved him as any mother would.

"You're going to need to set a healthy example for your sister," she told him.

"My sister is not born yet," he replied, "and how do you know it's not going to be a brother?"

"Just a feeling," she smiled, gently touching her stomach, "I know it'll be a girl."

"That's impossible," Rue turned back to the papers on his desk, "but you've got a fifty percent chance so don't tell me 'I told you so' when she does end up being a girl."

Less than a year later, the kyuubi attacked.

"Be a guiding hand," he could hear a voice echo within his head. Rue woke up suddenly to the sounds of screaming. Shinobi from all over the village were called to tame the beast. He got up out of bed as fast as he could, and pulled on his clothes.

"Don't go outside, it's dangerous!" his mother called after him. He ignored her and ran down the steps and outside. He wanted to see the beast the Hokage's wife had inside of her for a long time. His curiosity could not keep him inside.

There it was, rampaging with all nine tails swinging about. The fox was truly a majestic, beautiful animal. It screamed, and the roar could knock away a thousand men it was so powerful, in breath and sound. "Glorious," was all Rue could barely whisper before his father picked him up by his waist and pulled him back inside.

"Your mother is eight months pregnant, you think that the last thing she'd want to hear is her son got killed by the Kyuubi no Yoko. Have some empathy, Rue, please," his father whispered barely above the sounds of the screaming.

One thing that always bothered him about his father was his naturally pink hair. How was it possible that someone could have naturally pink hair? Rue sighed, "Yes, father. I just wanted to see what it looked like for myself."

His father sighed, "Rue, the whole village is in danger right now. I don't think your life is worth the risk of glimpsing the kyuubi."

Rue was tempted to tell him that regardless whether he was inside or outside, the kyuubi posed a threat either ways. He simply nodded, and dragged himself back up the stairs, and stared out the window, wishing he had a better view.

"Sakura," Rue waited for a response from his neighboring room. He was eleven, and his little sister was four.

"Yes?"

"What's sixteen times thirty eight?" he quizzed. The sandaime Hokage seemed equally as happy with L's mystery solving, but it had gone down considerably after the Nara clan had taken over the police force. He knew for a fact the yondaime had tried implementing such a role, but it had never worked, because the Nara clan was made up of lazy people, not just smart people. The Nara clan had only agreed because of the kyuubi attack, they felt it was necessary to honor the Yellow Flash, since everybody loved him.

There were less cases to solve than ever

"Six hooondred and ate," Sakura answered proudly from the other side of the closet. They sat so close they could hear each other, but they were a wall apart. Rue had never been so bored in his life.

"Good job," Rue replied, the corners of his mouth tilting upwards, "balance this equation-"

"Rue, your mother and I are going out for a bit. Go downstairs to take care of the shop please," he was interrupted by his father.

"Aww, but daaaaaaaaaaaddy," Sakura complained, "Oni-san was about to teach me chemistry."

"Sorry, Sakura, this is an important business trip. You can watch over the shop with him," Rue had started watching over the shop since he was ten years old. It was the most boring job he'd ever done. Sakura made it bearable as he continuously quizzed and tested her.

"Okay..." she sighed. The two got up from their closet walls and walked out to meet each other in the hallway. Sakura giggled as Rue poked her face. The bottom floor was the candy shop, where they ran their family business.

Rue let his mother leave the cashier station and return upstairs, and sat in the where she was, in the same crouching position. Sakura was sitting next to him normally on a tall stool.

The bell ringed as soon as Rue got comfortable with his position. A little boy that was exactly Sakura's age walked in.

"Hi," the boy said nervously to Rue and Sakura.

"Hello," he responded, turning back to Sakura, "calcium hydroxide plus carbon dioxide equals calcium carbonate, plus water."

"What are you learning?" he turned back to the blond boy with unusual birthmarks on his cheeks that mildly resembled whiskers.

"We're doing chemistry today," Rue said, "isn't that right, Sakura?"

The boy brightened, "What's that?"

"It's science," Sakura bragged, "Oni-chan is teaching me the hard stuff. Right?"

Just then, their parents dressed like a concert arrived at the bottom of the stairs. "Alright, we're off," their mother commented. They turned to look at the blonde boy, almost menacingly, but then ignored him and went off on their way. The blonde boy seemed to be visibly shaken when they left. He looked a lot like the deceased Hokage, the fourth one, Rue duly noted.

"You'll go to hell..." a voice whispered in his mind, "if you don't help."

"Hmm," Rue turned to Sakura, "let's include him in our studies, why don't we?"