2

Naruto awoke to find he was not in bed, but he couldn't recognize who's bed it was. His memory came flooding back to him. "Ah yes! Ino's house" That was the name of the girl he bedded last night, the girl from the bistro. She was still asleep when he awoke. Naruto expertly left her bed without disturbing her and found his way down the stairs with his clothing gathered in his hands. The suit was wrinkled but usable, however, this was not Naruto's style to be seen in anything that wasn't in excellent condition or brand new looking. He looked around until he saw the laundry room. He entered and looking for men's clothing. He only knew to look for men's clothing because of the many pictures of her and some man in military fatigues on. "Her husband" he reasoned "Must be deployed?" Naruto knew he'd find men's clothing in the laundry room because he was observant. You can't steal people's identity for a living and not be observant.

He found what he was looking for a clean men's suit. He quickly switched one suit for another and then made his way over to her purse. He inspected its position and the look of things in it before he rummaged through it. He preferred to leave things as they were when he robbed people. It was a way of being polite in his mind. He took cash, two of her three credit cards, and a photo of a kid hugging a dog. He flipped the wallet-sized photo over to see "Nephew Daki, hugging dog Siddo" he smiled at the cute image and pocketed that. It would come in handy. Just as was about to leave, he canvased the lower floor one more time before he heard her speak. Gently, he opened the front door and left not even bothering to say goodbye. This was the life Naruto had chosen.

Sasuke spent the rest of yesterday searching for any and all instances of fraudulent charges with men matching Naruto's description. Surprisingly, there were about three men in the city limits that met that description. Two of them in jail. So Sasuke's search went rather quickly when he passed that hump. He tracked down all of "Naruto's" suspected fraud cases. He saw purchases from various individuals all in a three-mile radius. The only way he knew they were fraudulent was they actual owners of their credits cards reported them as fraudulent and they were expensive. Really expensive. Apparently, Naruto had good taste.

He'd purchase from Gucci, Calvin Klien, Rolex, Fendi and more. Sasuke also took note of cash withdrawals. He noted that with every purchase Naruto requested cash back of varying amounts. Sasuke surmised Naruto had a pretty impressive stack of cash hidden somewhere as most fraud artists do. Based on the amount withdrawn, Sasuke estimated about 22k at least in cash is hidden somewhere. He also saw that the cards stolen were not used any longer than four days in a row then another person would file for fraud. He was smart. He was smarter than Sasuke gave him credit for.

Before this train of thought continued, his phone vibrated, he got a text from his fiancé, Sakura. She was texting to say she was working late tonight and not to wait up. He smiled at the text. She was his everything. They had made an agreement not to discuss their work with each other as both required anonymity to avoid spewing information that could identify whom they were discussing.

He clicked reply and wrote "I completely understand, I am working late too. We'll meet up tomorrow for dinner." And sent it. He needed to get to the bottom of this, but he was nowhere near breaking the surface.

The next day came with Sasuke hearing a loud smack of papers on a desk next to him. "My brother, Itachi, the one and only." Sasuke sat up slowly looking at Itachi then narrowing his eyes to glare intensely at the man. Itachi was a man of few words, he communicates more with his eyes than anything else.

"Good morning to you too, brother." Sasuke said groggily. He fell asleep at work again. He looked around to see only himself and Itachi were the only ones in the office at the moment.

He looked back over to see Itachi giving him a look of inquiry. Sasuke knew what he meant with this look.

"Did you find anything from staying the night here?"

"No." Sasuke replied out loud answering Itachi's question.

Itachi chuckled and continued to talk with his eyes raising one eyebrow "Hope you told Sakura" his eyes said

"Yes, I told her. She was working late too."

Finally opening his mouth, Itachi spoke. "We have a briefing again today. Go get cleaned up."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to talk with his eyes. "Ugh, again? We just had one literally yesterday."

"Yeah, I know" replied Itachi out loud, "but I'm sure it has to be important for one to be called so soon."

Reluctantly, Sasuke followed his older brother's command and dispatched himself to the locker room for a shower and a shave. It was going to be a hell of a day.

After cleaning himself up, he returned to see everyone in the briefing room awaiting his arrival. He walked in, took his seat, pulled out his files and looked up to see everyone looking at him.

"Good morning, I apologize for my tardiness. Won't happen again." Sasuke said flatly. Everyone except Itachi nodded. Itachi instead gave him another look to communicate "Silly little brother."

The meeting began with Madara saying "There has been another report of fraud. It came in only 40 minutes ago." This piqued Sasuke's interest. He threw up an eyebrow.

"The suspect's description matches that of one Naruto Uzumaki." Madara added. All eyes fell on Sasuke as this was his case. "To add to that he stole a very nice car too. A black Mercedes-Benz S-Class. It is very distinctive and equally expensive."

Clearing his throat, Sasuke spoke. "I'm still investing, as I only received this assignment yesterday, but I will add haste in my plans to apprehend him."

"Good. I expect results soon." Fugaku chimed in.

"Next" Madara continued "Hinata and Neji Hyuuga have stepped up their game. You can now add armed robbery to their list of charges."

Obito and Shisui exchanged a glance. These were their suspects that they were responsible for catching.

"The husband and wife duo is now becoming more like Bonnie & Clyde. They robbed a bank in south Konoha at gunpoint about one hour ago. The word on the street from one of my confidential informants is that they're gearing up to make a big move." Madara added annoyed. "I want them found before they create any more mess it this town. Luckily, they didn't kill anyone, but six people were injured in the crime."

Sasuke exchanged a look with Itachi. Itachi, who isn't much of a talker spoke: "Would you like me to assist with the case, Captain?"

"Yes, Temari has been apprehended so you will move to Shisui and Obito's investigations. But I also want you to avail yourself to our junior detective should he need help any further. The lieutenant and I will make a statement to the press about our progress tonight around 7 pm so have thorough progress reports completed and on my desk by five." Fugaku only nodded to agree with Madara.

Sasuke looked at his wristwatch. It was7:24 am, he had less than twelve hours to find something meaningful. Dinner with Sakura may not happen tonight after all.

Sakura smiled at the text she got from her husband to be. He was always so understanding to her. She couldn't imagine a day without him. He was her everything. She laid down in the employee lounge room looking at the ceiling. She was on call and wasn't needed at the moment so she told the nurses she'd be taking a nap in the meanwhile.

At 7:30 am she was awoken with a call from Naruto. She groaned and tried her best to sound awake.

"This is ."

"What's up doc? You wanna grab breakfast? Promise I'll be there and I'll treat." He said casually.

"Naruto, it's not even 9 am yet, why are you calling me so early?"

"Cause you told me to three days ago If you didn't call me."

Sakura sat up and looked at the date. "Crap!" she cried, "I was supposed to go get Sasuke's birthday gift this morning! I need to go."

"Wait wait wait! Slow down there. I'll go with you we can get food after we get the gift. I'm about ten minutes away from the hospital. Ok? You just get ready now." He calmly said.

She let out a breath of relief. "Thanks, Naruto but how did you know I was at the hospital?"

"You always answer the phone as ' ' when you're at the hospital." He said while laughing.

"Ugh, you suck! Ok, I'll get ready." She hung up the phone and went to get ready.

Before long, she was leaving the hospital and getting into Naruto's car. It was a black Mercedes S-Class S63 AMG.

"He got ANOTHER car," she thought "Damn, he gets paid way better than I or Sasuke do!" after a moment she voiced her thoughts as he drove off

"You got another car Naruto? You might as well get rid of your apartment and live in these expensive ass cars you keep getting!" She said laughing.

For a millisecond Naruto tensed up before he spoke: "You're crazy, I've always had this car, I just never drive it."

Sakura thought to herself "I'm not the best with cars, but I'm not dumb. Being observant is a part of my job. It's a critical component. Does he really think he's fooling-. No, no Sakura. He had no reason to lie. Just keep it moving, girl." She shrugged it off.

Sakura gave him directions to the jewelry store where she was going to buy Sasuke a new wristwatch. He collected them and since his birthday was in three days she wanted to do this ahead of time before her schedule got too hectic.

"Hello ." She said. He smiled and replied to her

"Hello to you my dear doctor." He came out from behind the counter and hugged her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto eyeing something. She didn't pay it any mind.

"What can I do for you honey bunch? Ah!" The older man said, "That slick watch for Sasuke, right?"

"Yes sir, that's why I'm here."

"You sure I cannot talk you into getting a pair of matching cuff links too?" He tried

"No, no, you cannot." She replied playfully.

"Well ok," He said shrugging "And I said to call me Hiruzen, sounds like I'm 70. I'm only 68!" he said loudly as he laughed. Sakura too joined in on that laugh.

She noticed only she and Hiruzen were the only ones talking when she looked over to see Naruto looking at the TV. The sound was off, but she was reading the captions wondering why Naruto was so enthralled in the news. Personally, she always turns it off and so does he. It's usually heavily biased for one reason or another, but this was different. He was watching those captions as if his life depended on it.

Naruto watched intensely as he read about the increase in fraud in Konoha. The captions told him that there was going to be a press conference, later on, tonight to discuss all of these things. He was reading the list of suspect's names when he saw the first park of his first name appear on the screen. "Nar-" was written, but before could be displayed, he smoothly changed the channel to ESPN to see the Sports Center.

"Damn." Was the only thought going through the blonde man's head. He couldn't be on the list of suspects already, could he? The police in this town are extremely fast then. In the last town, he got away with this same scheme for YEARS before anyone even knew his real name. He felt a little panicked. He knew that his name was probably going to be said at this press conference and then he'd be exposed. If they knew his name, there was a good chance they knew his face too.

Naruto's internal panic level was rising exponentially until a certain pink haired woman put her hand on his shoulder from behind.

"Naruto?" She said

He quickly spun around to see Sakura and Hiruzen staring at him. "Yeah" he said as evenly as he could.

"The young lady was calling your name, but you didn't respond" Hiruzen filled in.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sakura." He laughed and began rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand "I was so lost in thought I guess the world, just faded away."

Sakura looked him over. His skin looked a little pale, his pupils were dilated, and he was sweating and shaking a little. Sakura's inner medical profession analyzing him. She rationalized then signs and symptoms in her head and concluded he was nearing a panic attack from stress.

"Are you sure you're ok?" She asked leadingly.

"Oh Sakura" Naruto began feeling more like himself. He needed to salvage the situation as best as possible. "You worry too much," He said walking away from her.

For the first time since Sakura has known Naruto, she didn't believe him. What was on that TV that pulled him in so much? Why did he turn? Is there something I should know? The questions were piling up none had accompanying answers. She was perplexed but didn't want to show it. Maybe she needed to do a little investigating of her own, or better yet, talk to Sasuke.