Chapter 7: Detective Kakashi

In which Kakashi makes a startling discovery...

The blistering noon sun hung in the clear blue sky, pounding the humid village with its' rays of heat. Many had often made comments about Ino's choice of clothing, but days like this she couldn't help but laugh at the irony. Everyone else wore thick pants and long sleeved shirts and sweated relentless from nearly every pore on their body, she on the other hand felt fine and unlike most people, she enjoyed hot days such as this.

With a slight skip in her steps and humming a small tune slightly off key, she strolled through the streets toward Naruto's apartment.

"Ah, Ino-san, a mighty fine day." She heard Might Guy call out to her right. Sure enough, there he was walking out of a store with a bag of groceries.

"Guy-sensei!" Ino waved energetically, "How are you doing?"

"Wonderful." He replied as Ino took notice of various bread and celery sticking out of the bag.

"You cook?" She queried, tilting her head slightly like a confused puppy.

A prideful twinkle shone in his eyes as he cast his infamous sunset jutsu, "Cook?" He stuck his chest out and held his head high with his free hand firmly held on his waist, one of his many infamous poses he was so known to strike, "I'll have you know they call me Konoha's Green Beast of Chefery!"

"Is that even a word?" Ino deadpanned.

"Of course it is!" Guy said defensively before giving a definitive humph, "Shouldn't you be out training with your team? It's a good day to not waste doing nothing."

"Actually, I wanted to spend my day with Naruto." Ino spoke truthfully. Silently she was thankful that guy didn't read into what she had said.

"Oh. Well, if you're heading to his apartment you won't find him. He and Lee went to the lake."

Ino's ears perked at the word lake. "Hmm even better than being at his apartment" She thought as a mental image of ambushing a shirtless Naruto. "'kay!" She chirped merrily, "I'll see you later Guy-sensei, and thanks."

Guy watched as the girl turned in her tracks and went the other way, skipping with an even more noticeable bounce in her steps, "Odd girl."

XX

Kakashi sat at his favorite booth at the local Ichiraku Tsukemen Bar, eyeing an old, thick book with countless records from the previous decade neatly arranged. On the other side of the bar was Ayame, with an elbow on the counter and chin resting in her palm. Her eyes were on the jonin as he studied the thick book like a detective in one of those mystery movies she saw, just scanning every detail and thumbing through the pages with a near total silence.

"Kakashi-kun, what are you looking for?" She questioned.

While their age difference, that of nine years, had worried Kakashi a bit (along with it being one of the many reasons why he refused Ayame's advances in the first place), the two had eventually became an item. Teuchi played a role in getting them together, constantly dropping hints that he supported the idea of them being together, even going as far as inviting him over to their house so he could talk with Ayame. Though, truthfully, Naruto was the biggest reason why he had taken to Ayame's advances in the first place.

The genin had changed him in more ways than he ever cared to admit. He taught him that if wanted to honor the memories of those he loved, then he would have to live his life to the fullest, a life they were denied of. Taught him to open up again, to value peace, to value his own life, and more importantly, to value the family he had gained when Team 7 had formed.

The bond with Naruto was indeed that: family. That bond sparked the notion that perhaps it was time he did move on in life, and perhaps settle down. That was when Naruto had set him up on a blind date, who had turned out to be Ayame. It was after that, and a few dates later, that they had finally agreed to start seeing each other.

Things were still going slow between them, mostly due to his insecurities from his pain filled past, but he had never been more happy in his life. They were polar opposites in many aspects, yet at the same time, they held a common ground toward many things. However, one thing that shone out above all else that set them apart was her curiosity. The girl would prod him about anything and everything until he spilled whatever secret he was keeping from her.

"Oh, nothing dear." He replied casually as he flipped to another page, unaware that another set of eyes were on the page and reading everything he was reading.

"Those are the bank records." He heard Ayame. He looked up to see the top of her head as she had her eyes glued to the pages in his book.

"You mind?" He asked dully. He went back to the book and picked up where he left off, finally coming to the name he had been searching for. Taking a yellow highlighter, he marked the name and the list of numbers beside it, each representing a month and year and account balance.

"Uzumaki Kushina…" He heard Ayame read out loud, "Wow, she's loaded."

"Do you mind?" Kakashi repeated once again, slightly annoyed.

"Aw, but c'mon Kakashi-kun." Ayame pouted, "Besides, what's so important about her anyways? According to this record she's been dead for nearly eighteen years."

A light bulb flicked on in Ayame's head as she put two and two together. There had only been two Uzumaki's in Konoha's history, so it would only be natural for anyone with common sense to come to such a conclusion. Kakashi sighed as he saw the look in the woman's eyes and looked around to make sure the coast was clear.

"She's Naruto's mother, isn't she?" The way Ayame presented the question reminded Kakashi of a school girl finding a note in her locker. Excited and unable to control her emotions with the occasional loud shriek that guaranteed deafness to any poor soul within a ten yard range. Begrudgingly he gave a small nod, causing the girl to give the high pitch squeal of joy he was dreading.

"What's this about Naruto's mother?" Came Teuchi's voice from the back.

Kakashi let out a sigh as the older man stepped into the front with a towel on his shoulder and a chef's knife in hand, "I'd rather if you two kept this down. There are some things about Naruto that's still considered classified."

"I'm just glad that there are some records on the boy after all." Teuchi said proudly.

Ayame nodded in agreement as both, she and Teuchi saw Naruto as a member of their family. To find out anything about the blonde genin's past would be considered major news in Konoha. It was one of Konoha's biggest mysteries after all.

"So, if she's dead then why are you snooping into her bank records?" Ayame questioned.

"No one is sure if she's dead." Kakashi explained, receiving a pair of "huh?"s. "She disappeared without a trace shortly after Naruto was born."

"And you're looking for her?" Teuchi concluded. "Come to think of it, I do remember a Uzumaki Kushina. Vibrant young girl, with pretty eyes and dark red hair. Quite the tomboy I'll say. She used to hang out with the Fourth Hokage all the time. So much in fact that many people suspected that the two were having some sort of affair. Mind you, nothing was ever proven."

The suspicious look Ayame shot Kakashi sent a chills of fear down the one eyed jonin's spine. She had seen pictures of Minato, and with the revelation from Teuchi, she was beginning to finally understand the hidden secret behind Naruto. "What's Naruto's real last name?" She narrowed her eyes in a threatening manner, arms folded across her breasts with a spatula in hand and foot impatiently tapping a dent into the tiled floor.

"Well, look at the time." Kakashi said hurriedly while looking at his left wrist.

"You're not wearing a watch." Ayame pointed out sharply, sending out a strong killer intent toward the legendary jonin.

"Places to go, people to talk to. I'll stop by your house later tonight." Kakashi quickly shot from his stool and bolted from the restaurant.

"Get back here!" Ayame shouted as she began to wave the spatula wildly in the air, "We still have some things we need to discuss! Hatake Kakashi you coward!"

XX

Ino crept quietly through the brush as she neared the lake. Knees bent, hands gliding across the trunk of a tree as she stealthily passed by. She wanted to catch Naruto alone, and Lee were there, it would only bring suspicion to her motives and run the risk of starting a rumor in the village that could ruin her self imposed mission before it even began.

She came to the last tree and poked her head around to get a clear view. The area was wide open, encircled by rows and rows of massive trees leaving less than twenty yards of space between the pristine blue lake and the forest. Not too far off, lying in the grass was a set of bodies and one large cat she recognized.

"Shit, is that Gaara? Not good." She panicked when she caught sight of the red haired jinchūriki. Naruto may have been dense about many things, particularly when it came to people and his surroundings whenever he was relaxed, but Gaara was a different story. He may have the personality of a stump, as Chouji put it once, but he was extremely sharp when it came to his senses and was on constant alert. Whether it was out of paranoia or he was just that good of a shinobi, she hadn't a clue, but either way he could easily detect her if she made even the slightest of mistakes. Luckily, the conversation they were having wasn't exactly hushed so she wouldn't have to do much to over hear what they were saying.

"Yosh, I want to become the greatest taijutsu master in Konoha! No, the world! I want to prove to people that anyone can be anything if they work hard enough at it." Lee said enthusiastically a little louder than he needed.

"A nice dream." Gaara said with his usual monotone, his gaze focused on the slow drifting clouds up above.

Lee turned to Naruto, "You've been quiet the entire time, Naruto-kun."

Slowly, Naruto closed his eyes and inhaled the crisp clean air deeply, "Sorry, been thinking."

"About?" Lee asked the obvious question.

"Naw, it's stupid." Naruto replied in a dejecting manner.

Lee shook his head, "To not say what's on your mind is stupid. There's nothing more youthful than being honest."

"He has a point." He heard Gaara's monotone voice from his side.

"Two against one, so unfair." Naruto playfully pouted. His blue orbs revealed themselves, and gazed into the sky with a hand reaching up, "I was thinking about the Kage Summit, and about the possibilities that could happen. If things go right, maybe, just maybe we'll no longer be seen as weapons. Maybe people will start to recognize us as humans. It excites me to think about such an event happening, but at the same time, it fills me with fear. What if talks fail? I could continue to live as the world sees me, but what if because of the summit, things go for worse and we're forced to live as the weapons people believe us to be?"

Ino was struck by his words, the honesty Naruto was speaking toward his fellow jinchūriki made her a bit jealous, as she secretly wanted him to talk to her in such a way as well. But his words had also caused a wave of sadness to flow over her heart. She had learned that his secret plagued him, that he secretly feared what people thought about him and his curse, but even now, hearing it again still made her want to wrap her arms around him and protect him from the vicious world. A sudden strange and random thought struck her, one she should've realized from the moment she saw him, "What the hell? Lee knows about it too? Am I the only one that didn't know about his secret this entire time?"

A small grunt escaped from Gaara's lips, a subtle hint that loudly alerted the others of his disapproval, "If talks fail and we are still considered weapons, than so be it. The world has long since been ignorant toward our kind, but even so we'll prevail. We always have. But, even still, after this even they will acknowledge our humanity."

Naruto silently agreed and closed his hand as if he were grasping a cloud, "To live as a human. It almost seems so surreal…"

"I don't quite understand it all, but if it makes you two feel better, I think you're both human." Lee blurted out. "What you are doesn't determine if your human, it's what you do and how you act toward others. At least, that's what I believe."

"Thanks… Lee." Naruto said in relief, while Gaara remained silent. Though, Naruto could tell just by looking at him that he had felt the same as he did toward Lee's words.

"Now that that is off your chest," Gaara spoke up, "Don't you think it would be polite to invite that Yamanaka girl over?"

"Eh?" Ino froze from her position behind the tree while her heart raced what seemed like a thousand beats per minute. If any doctor was present, they'd swear the poor girl was suffering a heart attack. Beads of sweat dripped down her forehead as her breath slowed on reaction due to her shinobi training, praying that she hadn't been caught and Gaara had only mentioned her in the passing.

"Oi, what do you say Ino? You gunna come over?" A familiar, raspy voice from behind startled the girl.

"Ah!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and shot straight up in a spin with her fist flying out from instinctual reaction. Pow!

"Ow!" Naruto yelled in as the right hook sent him barreling backwards and into a bush.

XX

Tsunade eyed the passage Kakashi had highlighted, "What exactly am I looking for?"

"Check the year after Kushina was announced dead." Kakashi pointed to the book. "There were two substantial withdrawals from her account. The first one was made by the third to create an account for Naruto to be used when he was old enough to leave the orphanage."

"And the second one?" Tsunade asked, puzzled as to what was being shown to her.

"I'm not sure. But it's at the maximum limit that can be withdrawn without being flagged."

Tsunade thought for a few minutes at the facts that had just surfaced. Her eyes drifted onto the name once again, "Only Kushina and the hokage have the authority to approve such transactions. And we've already determined that the Third had set aside part of her money for Naruto's use."

Her eyes drifted further down the page, noticing something seemed rather odd, "Hmm…"

"Is there something wrong?"

"There are two accounts under Naruto's name, except one was made when he was only six years old. Judging from the history on the newer, second account; I would say its' the one Naruto's using." Tsunade assessed as Kakashi walked around the desk to get a better look, "See this amount?"

Tsunade pointed to a small, four figured digit in the second account's fifth month of activation, "Its' the allowance the government gives to anyone in the orphanage program and under the age of 16 and not a registered ninja. See here?"

She pointed at another, much larger number seven rows down. "It's his account balance at the end of his first year as a genin. This number at the end represents his total amount of money he's deposited over the year. The number to its side is the total amount he's withdrawn over the year. Beside that is his total balance. The fourth number is any extra withholdings from the government such as taxes and finally, this number here represents the final balance of the year."

"I will admit that this is rather fishy, but how does this connect to Kushina's account?" Kakashi watched as her finger glided to the first account and stopped on the second to last number, which was the withholdings.

"Honestly I'm not sure, but what I am sure is that someone is stealing from both of Naruto's accounts with false withdrawals. The original account, which according to his record, is labeled as active and being regularly withdrawn from with tri-semester property taxes. From the look at the numbers, one would assume he was living in a manor or clan compound."

"Naruto lives in an apartment." Kakashi informed, piecing together the pieces of the puzzle Tsunade handing him.

"Yes, however, they can't do the same to the second account as Konoha already taxes Naruto for his apartment."

Kakashi stroked his chin, "I see."

"Furthermore, on the second account each deposit Naruto makes it takes a hit under the guise of a mission tax of seventy percent." Tsunade held her finger under one of the numbers indicating the amount of the tax hit with a symbol beside it to show which taxation it represented.

"Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but Konoha collects the tax as a deductible when they sign over the mission payment, and it is to never exceed more than fifteen percent of the total payout." Things were beginning to finally add up to him. The reason why Naruto had always been so poor wasn't because of poor management skills, but because someone had been stealing from him the entire time. Someone who obviously had a grudge against him.

"Right. Now here's another shocker. Technically such actions wouldn't fall under my jurisdiction since the Fire Country's banking system falls under the Daimyo and his administration…" Tsunade drifted her index finger to the largest tax hit placed on the original account, one that even surpassed the tri-semester false property tax.

"Is that a clan tax?" He asked, only to receive a "Yes" from Tsunade, "But a clan tax is unique only to the hidden villages."

"Yes, and because of it, we no longer have to file a report to the Daimyo's banking administration, which would've taken up to a month before they finally start an investigation, and instead run our own investigation." Tsunade leaned back in her chair with a smirk, obviously proud of her detective skills.

"Falsifying government taxes, stealing from a shinobi, falsifying one's nobility status as a clan and tampering with government documents, those are some serious charges." Kakashi listed the major offenses he had recognized, "Ones that could land someone in jail until their hair turns gray."

Kakashi rubbed his chin through his mask, "Do you think it's possible that whoever removed that money from Kushina's account is the same person who locked Naruto out of his original account and is stealing from him all this time?" He watched as she bobbed her head up and down in confirmation.

"Any idea who runs the bank?" Kakashi asked. He never bothered much with the bank. Everything he did was direct deposit so he was an irregular there. It wasn't that he was lazy, but because every time he step foot in there they made him remove his mask. But with this, he was more than willing to make an exception.

"The Hyuga's run the bank." Tsunade informed.

"Hiashi is a grade A ass, but he's no criminal." Kakashi said in the man's defense.

"Agreed. But I'm willing to bet someone working for him has no trouble breaking the law. They've been doing it for nearly twelve years and we're just now finding out about it?!" Tsunade slammed her fist into the desk, splintering the area of impact. "I want the bastard who's doing this chained and in my office ASAP under federal charges. If he resists, you have my authority to use lethal force."

"I'll stop by the Hyuga Compound and talk to Hiashi. For some reason, my gut feeling tells me there's more to this than what we're seeing."

"Things would probably go quicker if I make a personal appearance at the bank, but if I start throwing my hokage powers around carelessly, people will start to get suspicious and run the risk of exposing the connection between Kushina and Naruto. Having Kakashi investigate this matter with Hiashi should make everything appear as if it were ordered by the Daimyo himself. Only problem is Kakashi, as he's not as experienced with the political side of matters as Hiashi is." Tsunade thought as she felt a warm, autumn breeze gently wrap itself around her. She turned to see Kakashi gone and a window nearby wide open.

She smirked as a thought crossed her mind, "Then again, Kakashi is one of the best for a reason, and if the matter involves Naruto, he's been known to get quite passionate. If he explain things to Hiashi, I'm sure the two of them will pull through while keeping everything under wraps. I almost feel sorry for the poor bastard whenever Kakashi and Hiashi finds them."

XX

Clouds of smoke blanketed the sky, choking the life from anyone and anything that breathed its suffocating fumes. Blood and charred flesh filled the nostrils of the black clad ninjas that scoured the burning village with their bloody ninja-tos poised to attack. A woman screamed in the village as one of the black clad ninjas plunged his blade deep into her chest, and with a twist, violently ripped it out to let the dying body slump to the crimson stained grass.

"You find'em?" One of the ninja's spoke to a much large, heavier set ninja. Unlike the others, the heavier set ninja wasn't carrying a ninja-to, but a massive clever like blade with a broken tip.

"No." The heavy set ninja responded with his gruff voice.

"Perhaps they've already moved'em?" The smaller of the two ninja's thought out loud.

"Hey! You two! Pay attention! Two of them are escaping!" Another ninja, their leader, called out as he removed his blade from a farmer's throat. With a flick of his wrist, he swung the blade to the side to remove the excess blood off of it. He then lifted his blade and pointed toward the forest as both ninja's followed the blade to the target it was aimed at.

In the distance, running on an often used visible path was a young, bloody woman with a small child in her arms. "Well? If you two weren't too busy yapping she wouldn't have gotten away!" The ninja scolded as another villager charged him with a pitchfork. With relative ease, he ducked the triple pronged tip and grabbed the shaft with his free hand to bring the villager toward him with added momentum and plunged his blade deep into his abdomen.

"Sorry boss." Both ninja's said in unison before taking off toward the two escapees.

As he dropped the lifeless villager to the ground, he gazed over the burning village with a sinister smile hidden beneath his black mask. "Keep up the work boys!" He called out to his men, "We will not rest until we have those bijus in our grasp!"

The screams of women, men and children filled the air as he let out a sinister laugh, "Ha ha ha soon my men, very soon. When we have completed this mission, and he will turn us into jinchūrikis, into gods!" The door to the house on his right burst open with an elderly lady fleeing the fires of her house in panic. With a slash of his blade, a crimson blast erupted from the elderly lady and splattered all over his garb, "Gods who will rule over the shinobi world!"

A/N: Well, I'm sure some of you have been itching for some action. Next chapter will contain plenty of action as the first real villain of the fic will be introduced. And for some reason, I have no idea why, but I can totally picture Kakashi snooping around a dark alley in a trench coat with a pipe trying to find clues to some mystery. So if Kakashi could be Naruto's version of Sherlock Holmes, would that make Yamato, Watson?

On another note, I agree with you haretikers, a fic about Tsunade and Neji going on a gambling trip does sound fun. If anyone feels up to writing such a comedy fic, feel free, just try and keep it in character as much as possible, as Neji's jackassery makes him hilarious in such a serious way. Send me a message or leave a note in the reviews if anyone plans on writing one so I can read it and can leave a A/N for people to read your story.

Whether you want to set it in the Eavesdropper universe or your own is up to you, either way I'm sure everyone will love it. Oh, and a friend of mine, Azeeza, alerted to me on AIM this morning that she had drew my FFXI character in a... um... a very questionable gettup that any sane warrior should not be wearing. I'll post the link on my profile if anyone is curious and feels like pointing and laughing at the pain my warrior must go through. Seriously, I'm beginning to think I should just reroll Red Mage so I can get the pimp hat and become immune to my LS mates' desires to draw crack pictures of my character. Then again... I've seen my warrior drawn by another LS mate that was in an even more questionable picture...