Chapter 7: Chaos in the library

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This fanfiction is written purely for fun.

Haruno Sakura gazed upon the corpse of Ueda Keiichi. The young man's eyes were filled with horror as they gazed up at the place where the murderer must have been.

Sakura felt all the pressures of her position. So many medical ninja had failed before at trying to unravel this grisly puzzle. An entire village was counting upon her. Although, she thought still unable to remove her gaze from Keiichi, perhaps one of them might have figured something out… and look what happened to him.

The pink-haired kunoichi turned to the tray of medical instruments provided for her. The weight of the rest of the ninja's eyes resting upon her, Sakura checked for poison, heart attack, stroke, disease or any trace of physical attack. After a long and grueling search she was still none the wiser as to how the murderer had killed. It was like the young victim before her had passed away in his sleep.

Sakura reached for the chakra scanner. She checked Keiichi's head first, paying special attention to his brain. It seemed perfectly normal. She scanned down, looking at all of the vital organs, especially the heart and lungs. The circulatory, digestive and respiratory systems seemed perfectly normal. The chakra system was a bit stretched, but that was the sort of thing you would often find with a ninja.

Sakura finally turned to face the other ninja. She could find no indication of how the victim had died, but…

" Please show me the other bodies", she told Gaara. " And I'd like this one brought along".

… She was not ready to give up.

The killer watches the young pink-haired medic from Konoha. So far it seems that she has unearthed no clues, but if she does find something… he will have to take care of her.

The Konoha ninja retired for the night tired and discouraged. Sakura had, like the sand ninja, come up with no clues as to how so many people had been killed. The young kunoichi tried not to show how discouraged she felt, but she was upset. She quietly went out to the balcony of her room.

She had failed. Once again, she had failed. She had let the team down. The entire journey here had been for nothing.

A tear trickled down her cheek.

She felt a hand rest gently on her shoulder and Sakura looked up to see Kakashi-sensei come sit beside her.

" Don't cry Sakura", he told her, a gently smile on (what she could see of) his face. " If an entire team of medics more advanced than you with more training were unable to solve a problem you shouldn't expect yourself to be able to find the solution".

The tears she had been struggling to slow now streamed down her face.

" I'm Tsunade-sama's apprentice Kakashi-sensei", she sobbed. " I should be able to do-something! What was all my training for? I'm still nothing but a hindrance!"

Kakashi sighed. " Sakura, you are far from that. You are smart and hard working and you need to give yourself a chance. Even if you can't resolve this it doesn't make you a failure".

Sakura looked up at him finally.

" Thank you sensei", she whispered. " You've made up my mind".

" How so?" asked Kakashi, the same encouraging look on his face.

" I have decided", Sakura told him softly but with determination, " that I will not leave this village until I have stopped this murderer".

Kakashi paused, a strange expression showing in his eyes.

" I'm very proud of you Sakura", he told her quietly, and then he left.

That night Sakura did not sleep. She stayed up late writing notes, trying to recall any situation similar to the one she was faced with and recording details from the bodies she had viewed.

The next morning the Konoha ninja woke early and went to breakfast together. Kakashi and Sakura were the last out of their rooms to meet with the rest of the group. To everyone's surprise, Anko did not go over to Kakashi and begin talking to him. Instead, she turned to Yamato.

" Did you sleep well Yamato-kun?" she asked, a sweet smile on her face. She edged a bit closer to him than usual.

Yamato took a step back, looking slightly alarmed.

" Um, yes thanks", he replied.

Anko's smile widened.

" Oh good", she told him. " I was hoping you and I could do some research into this case today".

" Uh", began Yamato, his alarmed look increasing in intensity.

Anko did not let him finish. She hooked her arm through his and began to set off towards the cafeteria.

" Wonderful, I've been wanting to spend more time with you", she told him, still smiling in a slightly demented manner.

Yamato threw a glance over his shoulder at Kakashi, looking rather guilty and extremely confused. The copy ninja's face was turned away, and his fists were clenched. Nonetheless, he turned to the younger three members of the group, an obviously forced smile upon his face.

" They've provided us with lovely rooms, haven't they?" he remarked in an overly cheerful manner.

The tense look was still upon his face.

After a rather uncomfortable breakfast, Sakura went to the library while the rest of the group hovered around and tried to help her but mostly got in the way. She pulled book after book from the shelves, a look of concentration on her face.

This was one time, she told herself, that Haruno Sakura would prove her skill and competence once and for all!

Anko gave Yamato her most alluring smile as she leaned forwards from her seat on a library table and pretended to be listening to him stutter about some random subject. She glanced sideways at where she had last seen Kakashi. Was he watching her? Was he writhing with envy?

The kunoichi slid closer to Yamato.

Kakashi gave Naruto his most calm, relaxed smile as he flipped through various medical books and pretended to read what they said. He glanced sideways at where he knew Anko was busily flirting with Yamato. Was she watching him? Was she seeing how much pain he was in?

The jounin slid farther from the youngest three ninja.

Anko rose gracefully to her feet and circled around Yamato, acting like she was focused on him when in reality all of her attention was centered on the dashing man watching them from between the stacks of books. He had moved towards them. She glided closer and closer to Yamato. His breath tickled her skin as she placed her arms around his neck-

Kakashi paced gracefully through the library and through rows of books, acting like he was focused on discovering an elusive tome when in reality all of his attention was centered on the charming woman by the library table. She had moved towards Yamato. He glided closer and closer to them. His breath caught in his throat as he saw their faces move closer-

Anko was almost kissing him but she hesitated, torn between anger and guilt, when the world exploded into chaos. Books flew everywhere and the shelf they had rested upon toppled towards her and Yamato. She threw herself away just in time to avoid being hurt, and from the corner of her eye she saw a silver-haired shadow flitting away…

Kakashi was almost angry enough to pull out a kunai and slit the younger man's throat but he hesitated, torn between anger and guilt, then he concentrated chakra into his palms and knocked over the bookshelf in front of him. Books flew everywhere and the shelf nearly squished the two ninja, but both escaped just in time. He quickly slipped away and from the corner of his eye he was a purple-haired angel leaping through the air…

A.N.: Hi everyone, I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner! We've got some company at my place at the moment so I'm afraid that I won't be able to update as regularly as before for a few more days. Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, please keep those reviews coming! Thank you for reading!