Investigation
The Hokage sat in this office and studied the reports. Another ninja had been murdered, in the dead of the night without witnesses. But the victim, chunin Takato Shinaro had been stabbed with a kunai in his heart the same way Isamu had died. This had method and meant a severe problem with the village security. If two ninjas could be murdered this easily inside of Konoha, they had to act immediately.
He needed to put a specialist team on the case, but the problem was he was short on options. While the number of ninjas in Konoha had stabilized after the Kyubi attack, they just reached numbers which allowed to maintain village security and enable them to do the incoming missions. Normally putting some on this case would be possible but they had a highly delicate political marriage coming up. They couldn't take away the guards involved in that event or they could face war.
He took out the list of active ninja he had in the village and their current missions.
"I think I have to give this case to him. He has the experience and is not involved in the marriage security detail. But who to fill the team with? I can't spare any other jonins or chunins. Then my only options are genins or academy students of the last class. They will graduate in twelve days. That will not be a problem if I take out those who are guaranteed to pass."
He looked at the class list and the standing.
"From this list I would take those two and him, even if he is at the bottom of the class." The Hokage decided.
He looked over the genin list and frowned.
"Not really a good selection. Most of them don't have the necessary abilities for this investigation. I don't need combat ninjas but information gatherers. I should really push for more practical parts in this area at the academy. That is not good for the village. Besides the Aburames, the Yamanakas and some Hyugas we don't have good spies. We should do something there."
He pressed the button to call his secretary. Moments later the woman stood in the door.
"Yes, Hokage Sama?" She asked.
"I need Kakashi Hatake in my office in fifteen minutes. Tell him it is urgent and lateness not an option. A rank. Then I need Neji Hyuga, Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame and Shikamaru Nara here in thirty minutes."
"I will send the calls out, Hokage Sama." She said and went to call the requested persons.
Fifteen minutes later Kakashi stood in front of the Hokage.
"Kakashi, you probably know about the two murders that have taken place. One was witnessed by Naruto and a few others, but our main source of information is Naruto. The other didn't have any witnesses and so we can only make guesses what happened there. You are to investigate the case with a team I am assigning you. Sadly with the upcoming marriage of Yumemi Hyuga and a noble from the land of Waterfall we don't have the resources of ninja I would normally assign to this sort of mission.
"So you get the best of the genin and academy students we have. I have already called them in. Here is the list."
The Sandaime gave Kakashi the list. He read it and wasn't pleased with the names.
"You don't seem to agree with my selection?" The Hokage asked.
"My apology, Hokage Sama, but I know two of them have massive problems to work in a team and for this kind of mission it is vital that they can work together to get the whole picture. While I fully agree to take Shino Aburame and Shikamaru Nara I can't see Neji Hyuga and especially Sasuke Uchiha being an asset to this investigation."
"Care to further explain this, Kakashi? From the academy reports I would have thought you would say something like this about Shino or doubt Shikamaru's qualification."
"I know for a fact that every Aburame is reserved and needs time to integrate in a team but then they are really valuable in information gathering and strategy planning with their logical minds and hive mentality. Shikamaru is highly intelligent but like his father Shikaku lazy as hell. If properly motivated his brains are invaluable to solve a criminal case. He can see connections others might overlook.
"Short of having Shikaku himself on the team his son is the best choice you could have made. Neji is too fixated on his own problems. He thinks the Hyuga are better than anybody else and has an unhealthy fixation with fate. He could probably put that aside and work in a team, but he is more of a combat specialist. I would keep him only for his ability to use the byakugan to find hidden clues.
"Sasuke Uchiha is an absolutely spoiled brat, which is the fault of the villagers and the council. He never had to work for anything he wanted; he just gets it. While his standing in the class is top student overall and the boy is talented in the ninja arts, his mentality is a security risk. His only goal is getting stronger to kill Itachi. Why nobody has taken him out of the program until now is a mystery to me. We are not at war and an unstable ninja is a risk to his comrades. And a ninja who doesn't care for his comrades is lower than trash."
The Hokage was surprised. He had thought that Kakashi of all people would have a higher opinion of the last Uchiha. This didn't look well. He had intended to make the jonin the sensei for Sasuke Uchiha's genin team after graduation but with an opinion this strongly against the boy he asked himself if it would be a good choice.
"You will try to work with this team, Kakashi. If you feel that they are unable to get the investigation done, you have permission to throw those who are endangering the success of this mission out. But we have limited ninjas who can help you. Until after the wedding we can't give you more manpower."
"I understand. Am I allowed to ask others to help with this investigation if I am sure of their abilities and I can get them to work on this?"
"As long as they don't pose a security risk you may. I trust your decisions there."
"Thank you, Hokage Sama. When will I meet them?"
"They should be here in five minutes."
The Hokage looked interested at Kakashi. He didn't think that the masked jonin had so much information on the graduation class of the academy and some genin. Perhaps Gai had told him about Neji in one of his crazy challenges. But the academy students? Who could have told him about them? Because most adults praised the last Uchiha. And he hadn't seen any mental evaluation reports that showed the Uchiha as mentally unstable.
Before the Hokage could question Kakashi about it, it knocked at the door.
"Yes." The Hokage called.
The secretary was back.
"Hokage Sama, the other four you have called for are here." She announced.
"Thank you, Kasumi, send them in please." He said.
The four boys came into the office and stood there at attention.
"Thank you for coming this fast. We have a problem in the village and at the moment we don't have the resources to put chunin or jonin on this team. So you will have to do your best to fulfill this mission. As some of you have probably heard, there have been two murders in the village. Jonin Isamu Nakasawa and chunin Takato Shinaro. For the first murder we have a detailed report of eyewitness Naruto Uzumaki. For the second one we don't have a report other than that of the department of securing of evidence of the ANBU. Your job is to find the culprit. This is a matter of village security. As soon as we have more ninjas available after the wedding of Yumemi Hyuga, we will send you backup.
"Don't treat this mission lightly it is B ranked. The leader of the group is jonin Kakashi Hatake. You will obey his command. If he gives an order you follow. Anybody disturbing the investigation will face disciplinary measures. Understood?"
He looked at the boys. Shino looked stoic, like every Aburame, Shikamaru listened and seemed irritated but nonetheless he understood. Neji was equally stoic like Shino but Sasuke looked smug. Like he deserved this special mission. Perhaps Kakashi was right. Well, he had the power to dismiss any of the others if they didn't do their job.
"Good. In this case we need your intelligence. Use your brains to find the hidden connections between the victims if there are any. Find every little clue you can. Shikamaru, Shino and Sasuke you have been cleared from the academy for the duration of the investigation as your graduation is secured from what we know of your abilities. Neji, Gai has been informed about your new mission and will do missions with your other two teammates. Don't disappoint my trust in you."
"Yes, Hokage Sama" The four answered.
"Dismissed." The Hokage said and Kakashi lead them out of the room to an empty office in the tower.
"Alright, I don't like this situation but we have to work together to solve this case. Everybody will get part of the information that has already been collected by the ANBU teams. We have witness reports, the personal files of the victims, the report of the searching for evidence of both crime scenes, reports of the gate guards of the last years, practically everything potentially useful in this case.
"Each of you will take a file and start reading. I want first theories or clues in two hours. I know about you from talks with others. Neji you are last year's Rookie of the Year and a capable combat specialist from what I read in our file. A prodigy of the Hyuga clan. But your behavior towards others sucks. In an investigation teamwork is vital so see to it that you behave professionally.
"Shikamaru, you are lazy as hell and if you could you would spend the whole day cloud watching, much to the dismay of your mother. But you also are a genius and probably as smart as your father and can come up with amazing stuff if you are motivated. Make sure you are motivated in this investigation or I will make sure your mother will seem to you like a considerate and gentle woman."
Everybody knowing Yoshino Nara and her fiery temperament understood the underlying threat. Shikamaru just nodded.
"Shino, I don't know that much about you personally but I have heard that you display the best characteristics of the Aburame clan and are already somewhat trained at information gathering. Use your abilities for this case and we don't have any problems. Last, Sasuke."
How he wished he could wipe that arrogant smirk form the boy's face.
"Top student of your class. But like Neji you lack proper behavior towards your comrades and have a bad case of superiority complex. Just because you are an Uchiha, you don't stand above anybody as you haven't accomplished anything mentionable in your life yet. The only reason somebody is accepted in the ninja world is if he can prove his worth. Next problem is your avenger complex to kill your brother who killed your clan. Forget it. When the time is right you will be able to face Itachi but now you are not even a ninja so stop thinking the village owes you something or you will be out of this mission faster as you can say sharingan." Kakashi stated.
"You can't do that the council…" Sasuke said smirking.
"The council can do nothing in this case. This is a ninja mission and I have absolute authority over this team. My word is law. Hokage Sama put me in charge and you will obey or I will report that you are not suited to be a ninja in the first place. Ninjas obey their leader. Ninjas are soldiers for their village and it doesn't matter what personal agenda you have. The duty to the village comes first. If your goals happen to be accomplished while doing your duty all the better."
"I will kill my brother and nobody will stop me." Sasuke declared.
"Shut up! This is a mission and this is a chance for all of you. Use it. I will be back in two hours. I have one more member I want on this team and will give him the data we have. His brilliant mind will be a huge advantage to have."
"Who is he, captain?" Neji asked.
"He prefers to stay in the shadows. I can't say more at the moment. You don't have the security clearance."
Kakashi took one of the files with all the data and took of hoping he could get rid of the Uchiha soon.
Kakashi arrived in front of the gated of the Namikaze estate. He put his blood on a new blood seal Naruto had installed to grant him entrance at all times. The gates opened and Kakashi went over to the training field he heard Naruto's voice from. He saw hundreds of Naruto's clones training to separate water from a towel and further hundreds trying to produce streams in the lake. Jiraiya stood next to this observing the boy.
"Yo." Kakashi greeted.
"Oh hello, Kakashi." Jiraiya returned.
"Hey, big brother!" Naruto shouted and came over leaving his clones to proceed with the training.
"Hello, little brother, it seems your training in your second element is going well. Last time I checked you were still on the first step to water manipulation."
"Yes, Jiraiya sensei thought I was good enough to start the second step of producing streams of water in the lake but wants me to fine tune the water separation technique."
"How far do you think he is, Jiraiya Sama?" Kakashi asked.
"Fairly far. I think four more hours with his clones and he will have the second step down. Why do you ask?"
"I have got a new mission from Hokage Sama today. I have to investigate the murders of Isamu Nakasawa and Takato Shinaro. Problem is because of the wedding we don't have any spare chunin or jonin for the case so I am forced to take a genin and three academy students to work with."
"And now you want the brat to assist you with the case, I see. You know I normally don't let my students skip training even if in the brat's case his clones still do it." Jiraiya said.
"Yes, I know, but if you had seen my team you would understand me immediately."
"Let me guess, the council in its unmatched wisdom has decided to blow the bastards ego up some more and put him on the case while he is the worst possible candidate for an information gathering and strategic mission with his temper." Naruto said palming his face.
"I don't know if it was the council, Hokage Sama put the team together but considering that the council is influencing the academy to mark Sasuke very favorably, they could as well have put him on the team themselves. The others are Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame and Neji Hyuga."
"I'm very sorry for you, Kakashi. Only one of them is ready for the job without any problems and that is Shino. If you manage to motivate Shikamaru he will perform well as well. I don't know how Neji will work as he has foot long stick up his ass. He is one of the worst Hyuga we have in the village. And you have the spoiled bastard himself. You can only hope that Neji is professional enough due to him being a genin for almost a year already. If not, teamwork will be neigh impossible." Naruto explained.
"I can understand your dislike for Sasuke but how do you know Neji?" Jiraiya asked interested.
"Through Hinata." Naruto answered. "Neji is her cousin and he holds her responsible for the death of his father and belittles her for being weak and a failure. The treatment he gets from the majority of the main house family doesn't help his attitude either. The prick needs a good kick in the ass to get from his fate's bitch trip." Naruto stated.
"I see, but why didn't you tell me you had a little girlfriend?" Jiraiya teased.
Naruto blushed and his head dropped down.
"As if I would be allowed to court her or even be friends with her with my reputation. Remember, I am the village pariah. The Hyugas may not believe that I am the fox but none of them would allow that their heiress associates with someone who is ostracized by the whole village. I really like Hinata, she is the only girl in my class who isn't head over heels into the bastard and she was always nice to me. But she would be shunned if it was known that we were friends or even more. I invented my crush on the pink banshee as part of my mask to protect Hinata. She knows this and isn't upset about it. For the moment it has to suffice that we are friends in secret outside the classroom.
"I will be able to shed my mask at the graduation exams and then my reputation should start to get better. I will tell her my feeling after everything has calmed down."
Naruto's voice was full of grief. He regretted the necessity more than anything. At least he and Hinata had found ways to keep their friendship a secret. They often met after school at the compound and trained together. But Hinata didn't know about him being the Yondaime's son. That he kept a secret from her.
"I understand." Jiraiya said.
"Well, Naruto, would you help me?" Kakashi asked.
"Sure, bro. Do you have the details of the case for me?"
"Of course, everything is in this file. I told the others that you prefer to remain in the shadows. So you don't have to interact with them and can keep your secret."
"Thanks. I will tell you as soon as I have a first theory." Naruto took the file from Kakashi and went to a nice place under a tree. He made some more shadow clones and split the material and began to read.
In the main house of the Hyuga clan Hiashi Hyuga looked over the preparations that were made for the wedding. Everything went well so far. The Hokage had ordered as many ninjas as possible to protect the guests. It would go well. Now to his problematic older daughter. She was disappointing. She lacked determination and talent in the art of juuken. Even her younger sister could beat her. The clan elders were becoming impatient and demanded him to decide which daughter should be the clan heiress.
If Hinata just didn't inherit the personality of her mother. As heiress of the most prestigious clan in Konoha she couldn't be timid and shy. He tried to force her out of her shell but since her mother's death shortly after Hanabi's birth Hinata became even more afraid. Afraid to fail, afraid to stand proud like every Hyuga. But he really didn't want to mark any of his daughters with the caged bird seal.
No, he didn't want to repeat history and the hatred his own twin had developed towards the main house. A hatred his son Neji had inherited after Hizashi had been sacrificed to appease Kumo. No, the seal was destroying the clan. If Hinata would just have more backbone, she could probably unite the houses. She was the only member of the main house the branch house didn't outright hate. With the exception of his stubborn, thickheaded nephew Neji of course.
Kakashi returned to his research team and found Neji and Sasuke exchanging subtle jabs against each other, Shino reading the last page of a report and Shikamaru sleeping on the table.
'I'm going to regret having to work with them.' Kakashi thought.
"Report." He said loudly.
Everybody's eyes turned towards him. Shino kicked Shikamaru to wake him up. Shikamaru blinked.
"Troublesome." He said.
"Well?" Kakashi asked impatiently.
"We think there is a connection between the murders of Nakasawa and Shinaro." Shikamaru began. "Well, Shino and I believe this; those two just argued with each other after Sasuke started making not so subtle insults to Neji's clan. Before that Neji tried for professionalism."
Kakashi glared at the two.
"One more time and you will be kicked out of this mission. And I don't care for your social standing in the slightest." Kakashi threatened.
"You don't have the authority to do this. After all the Hokage put me on this team and the council will have you demoted of you don't do what I say." Sasuke said smugly.
"Is that so? If you really think so you can go now. I have told you I have the authority. And the Hokage is backing me in this. Go and don't come back. We in Konoha don't need selfish ninjas. And this will be considered as a black mark in your future career. I am one of the elite jonins of this village. I was trained by the fourth Hokage himself. I am one of the most feared ninjas out in this world. And you have just destroyed any chance to be trained in the use of your precious sharingan if it will ever awaken."
"Oh and why is that?" Sasuke asked slightly worried.
"Because I am the only remaining Shinobi in Konoha who has a sharingan. You are woefully bad informed, Sasuke Uchiha. My nickname out there is Copycat ninja. Why do you think that would be the case? Because an Uchiha, the best I ever knew, gifted me with his eye when he knew he was dying to help me protect our teammate in the third war."
Sasuke stayed but Kakashi's glare made him leave mumbling about the council.
"I want to apologize, Captain Kakashi. I know I should have kept my calm better when he insulted my clan." Neji said bowing.
"Accepted, Neji. Just do your job in the future."
"Understood."
"Good, now I have some good news. The one I wanted to have on the case has agreed to help us and is studying the material right now. I will get his opinion this evening so I want to know what you have found out until now."
"Yes." Shikamaru said "The two victims were members of a team tasked with the investigation of the death of a medic nin, Shuichi Rikoma. He was found in his apartment with a cut jugular. Everything looked like suicide. As we are ninja the investigation also followed the suspicion of murder but it turned out negative. The third member of this team was special jonin Anko Mitarashi under the leadership of jonin Kosuke Shikono. Shikono died during the last part of the investigation due to a sneaking poisoning he got on a mission ad none of the medics discovered on time.
"When Shikono suddenly felt the effects of the poison he ordered the other three to continue while he would go to the hospital. But he broke down on the way and when Mitarashi found him and stopped the investigation to take him to the hospital it was too late to rescue him."
"His son Shinji Shikono accused the rest of the team to be at fault for the death of his father. The case was closed and went into the archives as suicide. But now two members of the team were murdered and the probability that Anko will be the next victim is high." Neji said while Shino just nodded.
"Very good, I will find out what mission Anko is tasked with and contact her to get her protected. Even if I don't think she will be very cooperative." Kakashi sighed.
Naruto in the meantime had come to the same conclusion as Kakashi's team at the tower about the probable next victim. But his thoughts already trailed on to another part of the riddle. Why had Shuichi Rikoma been murdered? The new murders eliminated the possibility of his death being suicide. But why would somebody want him dead? And why risk bringing attention to this fact by murdering two ninjas inside of Konoha? Murders inside the village walls were automatically followed by thorough investigations.
If somebody had taken the steps to make the murder of Rikoma look like suicide why did he murder the investigation team? Where was the motive for this? He had to gain more than he lost by his actions.
Rikoma's files had been normal. He had been an average medic nin who fulfilled his duties at the hospital normally. No known enemies, he was only of chunin rank and medics didn't tend to get really famous for their abilities with enemy countries; Tsunade of the sannin being the exception.
He had had some problems with alcoholics but that happened when you worked as a ninja and it hadn't interfered with his duties so nobody really cared about that flaw.
Naruto left the compound under a transformation jutsu and began questioning some of the medics at the hospital about their dead colleague. He wasn't well liked but also wasn't hated. A passing by character. You knew his name, worked in some shifts together but that was it. Naruto got suspicious. Somebody like that could very well be a spy, which would explain why somebody would murder him.
He would have to investigate more on this thought to be sure. And Kakashi had to get him more information on the hospital staff and frequently incoming persons. If he really had been a spy he must have had a contact to get information outside. The ANBU would have spotted birds or the likes that didn't belong to the village. After all there was an impressive barrier around the village.
