Chapter 3

Revenge is a dish best served cold, and served by messenger hawk

The sun was just beginning to set as Izumo entered the Hokage's office for the fifth time since they began their search. At that point the chunin had no choice but to leave the stack of files on the floor as Tsunade's desk was overflowing with dossiers. As he finished setting the pile down he took a moment to observe the Hokage's so called 'analysis' of the suspects.

She would open up a file, looking it over for no more than a few seconds, and proceed to placing it in one of two piles. The process would repeat itself for every dossier she reviewed, with each one ending up either to the left or right piles; more often than not the files ending up going to the left stack than the right. Izumo assumed the pile on her right was for those who remained relevant in the investigation, and the pile to her left was for those that had been excluded from further inquiries.

Still, there were a couple of things that really started to bother the chunin. In the amount of time she spent looking over each file there was just no way she could have accurately reviewed each suspects profile, meaning she had to have been making her determination through some other methods. What confused Izumo even more was the fact that Tsunade didn't share this method with Kotetsu and himself, surely with the three of them working together their search would be more efficient as opposed to having Tsunade do all the sorting.

As if sensing the gatekeepers gaze on her Tsunade took a break from her sifting to address the chunin. "Something wrong Izumo?"

Izumo recoiled upon hearing the blonde's irritated tone. "I ummm, you see…" The godaime narrowed her eyes, her gaze silently telling him to spit it out. "I was just wondering how you determined who the suspects are, m-maybe if you'd tell us we could help move the investigation along."

The sanin's glare lingered on the chunin, her mind attempting to come up with a reasonable response. It probably wouldn't inspire much confidence in her two assistants if she told them the truth, it was all based on looks. Naturally knowing Shizune for all of her adult life Tsunade felt she had a better idea than most as to what Shizune's tastes in men were. So the Hokage came to the conclusion that whoever the father of Shizune's child is has to be someone the kunoichi had some prior interest in.

In the fashion typical during her reign as Hokage she opted for intimidation rather than giving a straight answer. "I've got a suggestion. How about you stop playing your little game of twenty questions and bring me the rest of the files." Izumo jumped at the hokage's harsh tone and quickly made to exit the office. "Izumo, before you go give me an idea of how many more files I'm going to have to review."

The gate guard turned towards the hokage slowly and with great care, as a cornered animal would do in the presence of a predator. "W-well, I'd estimate you've gone through roughly three hundred shinobi. So far our list has about t-three thousand names… with more being added on to that number."

All at once the blond put down the file she was reviewing and ran a hand through her hair; here she was thinking she had at least put a dent towards her search when she had yet to scratch the surface. But her morale was still high, and if there was one thing she's learned during her time as hokage it's the ability to solve complex and intricate problems. Granted she faced most of her issues by drinking large volumes of sake and having Shizune do most of the grunt work, but she'd manage. For Shizune's sake, and for that of her unborn child.

"Alright change of plans, we've been going about this the wrong way. Go downstairs and bring Kotetsu back up here, we've got a lot of brainstorming to do. And make sure to bring the stash of sake Shizune hid from me; I'm gonna need it to think of something."

Survival instincts told Izumo to just smile and nod, follow his orders like a good little shinobi. But another voice in his head, much smaller than the first begged for him to challenge the hokage's request. After all, she had been the one to make that stipulation. "A-actually Tsunade-sama, y-you implicitly asked not to be served any sake while the villages were finalizing the peace conferences. You even said that no matter how much you begged, how angry you got, under no circumstances were we to serve you any…"

If looks could kill Izumo would have been killed, reanimated, and sealed inside of the Shinigami's stomach to spend the rest of the afterlife in perpetual agony. "Did you just refuse a request of your own hokage?" The chunin became deathly pale as the sanin began releasing her killing intent. "Izumo Kamizuki, I swear if you don't bring me my sake within the next five minutes I'm going to castrate you like a dog. Because only a disobedient little mutt would disobey an order from its master, do I make myself clear?"

Not even two minutes had passed when both gate guards returned to the Godaime's office, with plenty of sake in tow. And in a few moments the blonde had managed to pour more than half the sake into her system. "There it is I can feel myself getting more ingellitent with each glass. –nother bottle, chop, chop." The chunin, while annoyed, did as told while Tsunade gazed deeply into the empty bottle.

He doesn't even know I'm pregnant. I'm not even sure if he remembers being with me; he was so drunk.

The sanin straighten her back as she addressed her assistants. "Q-question, was there some event going on in the village two months ago, something a whole bunch of shinobi participated in, involving lots of alcohol?"

A big grin spread across Kotetsu's face as he responded. "Of course, the Solemn Monkey-that's the new bar that opened up on the other side of the village- was having a big party to celebrate the end of the war. All the shinobi involved in the war got free alcohol the whole night."

"Did you happen to see Shizune there?"

Kotetsu scratched his chin in thought, "Now that you mentioned it, yeah I did. She was hanging out with Anko… that's a weird pair now that I think about it. She didn't seem to comfortable, can't say I blame her, Anko can have that effect on people."

As if all the alcohol had been drained from her system Tsunade got to her feet and made her way towards her assistants. A glint in her eye spoke to how motivated she had gotten with the news. "Great, let's narrow it down to all the shinobi that went into the bar that night, with any luck we'll find our man."

"Aww, come on Kakashi. There's no need to be so mad at us, it was for the greater good. Besides, this is my first time here in Ame, the least you could do is let us spend an extra day here. Give us a chance to mingle, if you know what I mean." Genma pleaded as the Konoha ninja made their way towards the village's entrance.

Yamato was quick to follow the senbon user's lead. "He's got a point senpai, it's not every day Tsunade-sama sends us on a non-life threatening mission. We've got to take advantage of the chance we're being given. Besides, you still owe me for filling in during one of your challenges with Gai."

Kakashi remained silent as he continued reading the message he had received earlier from the messenger hawk.

Kakashi,

I have been conducting an investigation concerning events that occurred roughly two

months prior to today. A list has been made of all shinobi present the night of the Solemn

Monkey's hero appreciation night.

The following names are suspects in said investigation:

Genma Shiranui

Iruka Umino

Captain Yamato AKA Tenzou

You are to gather statements from each aforementioned ninja concerning the events of

that night and make a report for further investigation.

Regards,

Tsunade Senju

The copy ninja couldn't the smirk that formed under his mask as he read the letter for a third time. In other words, the Godaime is looking into what was most likely a night of drunken foolery right in the midst of ongoing peace talks.

Kakashi could make several assumptions based on the message. First, whatever events transpired that evening weren't serious enough to have anbu investigate the matter themselves, and therefore has nothing to do with the village's security. Meaning whatever was going on is more of a personal issue for the hokage. And when you factor in the alcohol, and the fact that all the names are male there's really just one conclusion for the Hatake to make.

"It would appear that someone among the three of you got Shizune pregnant." Without even waiting to see their reactions the copy ninja leapt off into the distance, in what was surely going to be a very interesting trip back home.

A bit shorter than the last chapter, but hey at least it came out faster.

Next chapter will start diving into the suspects' testimonies.