Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If you've read Detective Conan, well, this is where my idea for a murder mystery was from. I didn't copy anything, but made my own. It's not as good as Detective Conan, but it's basic enough. No Gaara just yet, either. But all good things come in time.

"Oi! Why hasn't anyone called the police, yet!?" Shikamaru cried out.

"None of us have phone signals for some reason!" a voice in the crowd cried.

"Damn it," I cursed. "I'll go find the police station!"

"No, I will go," a voice spoke up.

We all turned around and saw Neji standing there. He had just removed his mask to show us it was him, and turned to Hinata.

"Hinata-sama, please make sure no one else touches, or moves her body until I come back with the police."

"Hai," she nodded.

Neji turned and sprinted out the door.

"Something feels strange, doesn't it?" Temari spoke up and looked to Shikamaru.

"Yeah, a bit," he agreed.

"What? What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"Well-"

"Hey, what's going on?" a girl's voice broke through the crowd.

We all turned to see the girl in a red, sparkling dress, wearing a white mask and gloves. She looked upset and made her way through the crowd toward us. She paused in horror as she saw Kyohaku's bloody body.

"W-what happened!?"

"You didn't know?" I asked, still angry at the situation. "This happened just now. Everyone knew about it."

"No! I was outside talking on my cell phone, when suddenly, my signal was lost. I came back in and there was a huge crowd around something, but… but… I didn't think it would be something like this!"

"Are you saying your phone worked before?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yeah?"

"Then why did everyone's signal disappear?" Kairen blinked in worry.

"You heard Kyohaku… It was an evil ghost!" Naruto had the look of fear in his eyes.

"THIS IS NO TIME TO BE JOKING AROUND, BAKA!" Sakura punched him.

In a different situation, I would've made fun of Naruto for being scared of ghosts, but Naruto was right. We had all wondered why Kyohaku had said it was an evil spirit as she died.

"Shikamaru!" Tenten realized something. "Is that why you both said it was strange? If Kyohaku knew who it was, then she would've just said so!"

"Yeah! But instead, she told us it was a demon," Lee added.

"Maybe it was a demon…" Naruto mumbled.

"Baka. Demons don't run away. They disappear on the spot," I spoke up. "But if that's so, then that means Kyohaku couldn't directly tell us who it was."

Everyone, but Naruto, looked in toward the crowds. We all glared suspiciously, making all of them anxious.

"What's everybody looking at?" Naruto looked with them.

"It means the murderer could be among them, Dobe," Sasuke bluntly put it.

A hand raised in the crowd and waved back and forth madly. Someone jumped up and down to be noticed.

"Who's that?" Temari asked.

"That's…"

"Mizu! Mizu!" he waved.

"Tobi?" I blinked.

Tobi ran through the crowd and fell flat on his face as he entered our circle. He stood up immediately and looked at all of us through his orange, one eyed face mask.

"What is it? Why aren't you with Zetsu? You're supposed to be out in the garden," I asked.

"That's because I wanted to tell you something," he answered.

"In case you haven't noticed, Tobi, I don't have time to be playing around. My friend just got killed!"

"No, no! Tobi is a good boy! Zetsu and Tobi saw someone suspicious outside in the garden right after the scream. We came in and we heard someone was killed, so I thought-"

"What? Who was it?" Shikamaru stepped up.

Tobi pointed to the girl who had intruded and seemed upset about her phone.

"M-me?" she stuttered.

"That? She was talking on her phone outside," Naruto corrected Tobi.

"After the scream happened, you say?" Temari's eyes narrows. "Are you sure?"

"Tobi is a good boy."

"There were two others," a calm, feminine voice entered our circle as well.

"Others!?" Kiba exclaimed.

"Yes. They came in after the girl was killed."

"Do you suppose?" Sakura wondered.

"That the murderer ran and came back here, pretending like they didn't do anything?" Ino finished.

"It would make sense as to why Kyohaku wouldn't admit their names out loud," I also thought about the fact.

"Bring them here," Sasuke said.

"Yeah. And everyone else who witnessed the murderer, please leave the room if you don't wish to get involved!" Kairen spoke up.

"Why do people have to leave?" Naruto asked.

"If there are still more people who came in after the murderer, then they are suspects," Shikamaru explained. "Everyone here would know it instantly, too, so if the murderer tried to leave with them, someone will automatically point out that they weren't there during the scene."

"Oh, I see," Naruto nodded.

"No he doesn't…" Sakura mumbled off to the side.

"How about this way, Naruto. People don't want to see a dead body in the middle of the floor. The numbers of a crowd should decrease," I tried to put it a different way.

"OH! I mean… I already knew that, Mizu-chan!"

Mizu-chan… That's what Kyohaku called me, too… I'll find the murderer and beat them up! I clenched my fist.

Tenten put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me with worry.

"It's okay, Mizu. We call want to find the murderer."

"And avenge Kyohaku," Ino raised her fist in the air with determination in her eyes.

The dance floor was cleared away and the people had left into the gym to wait until the murder was solved, or until the police came. Fortunately for us, there were only three other people that stayed behind; three suspects. They all still had their masks on, but there was no point in asking them to take it off since none of them had the same mask as the murderer. The first girl was named Diana and was a track runner at school. The second girl was known as Autumn and she was a basketball player at the school. The third person was a boy named Eric and he was a football player.

"What's going on? I don't even know what's happening and you accuse me of murdering someone?" Autumn wondered, slightly impatient.

"Yeah… It's not everyday you're suspected…" Eric stuttered.

"And why only us three?" Diana added.

"Because you three are the only ones who weren't seen before and while the murder happened. All of you were only seen after, so that could only mean the murderer ran and came back," Temari glared at them. "Now, it's best if you cooperate with us."

"We're not nice people when we're angry," Sasuke crossed his arms.

"Fine, fine," Autumn agreed as did the rest of them.

"Do you guys have any relation with Kyohaku?" Lee asked them.

"Actually, I think I came to her for counseling. She was a volunteered student that day and helped people go through their hard times," Diana answered.

"She paired me up with someone," Autumn looked to the limp body of Kyohaku.

"This girl sometime visited the football field and was pairing our coach with someone," Eric recalled.

"Say what?" I had thought he was lying. He might be the murderer…

"Oh yeah!" Ino exclaimed. "She was always trying to get Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei together."

So it was true… Guess I was wrong. I shook my head. Calm down, Mizu. You have to think rationally if you want to find the murderer.

I looked up and glared at all of them, asking my question.

"Where were you when the murder happened?"

"I was outside on my phone, until my signal gave out. I wandered around the garden just like that orange masked guy said," Diana stated.

"I was in the bathroom the whole time, but I didn't hear any screaming," Autumn shook her head.

"I was in the bathroom, too. When I came out, I saw this girl coming out the same time as me," Eric looked over to Autumn.

"Just what are you implying?" she growled.

"Hey, there. We're not pointing fingers at anyone just yet. For all we know, none of you is the murderer, but we can never be too sure," Shikamaru tried to stop a dispute forming.

"Why can't we just leave this to the police?" Diana wondered.

"All phone lines were down. Someone went to get the police already," Kairen replied.

"You said you two were in the bathroom?" Temari asked Autumn and Eric.

"Yes?"

"Can you prove it?"

That's right. If they can't prove it, then it's a chance for them to be the murderer.

"Yes, I can. Just go find my friend in the gym. She'll tell you that I was there," Autumn nodded.

"I'll go get her, then," Kiba went off.

"What about you?" I looked to the boy.

He nervously stared at me and shut his eyes with a sigh.

"I-I'm sorry… I don't have any proof. But! I did tell my friend that I was heading to the bathroom!"

"That's not enough. You need a witness," Sakura shook her head.

"S-Sorry… I don't have one…"

Again, this boy. If he's the murderer, then he's damn careless. I glared at him from the side.

"Is this your friend?" Kiba came back.

"Yeah, that's Emily," Autumn nodded.

"Autumn can't possibly be accused of being the murderer!" Emily was outraged. "She was in the bathroom the whole time! I should know!"

"How?" Ino blinked.

"I came in to make sure if she was okay because she ate something bad for her stomach-"

"I don't think that information was needed!" Autumn cried out with embarrassment.

"Anyway, when I came in, I knocked on the door to make sure she was doing okay. And she was! I heard her flush the toilet and knock back. Then I heard a scream and ran out."

"Is that so?" Shikamaru curiously wondered.

"Oh! And this boy here, I saw him enter the bathroom the same time I went in to check on Autumn. He couldn't have heard anything because he had his headphones on," Emily looked over to Eric.

"Really? Why didn't you say so before?" Sasuke glared at him.

"I-I thought it was irrelevant…" he rubbed the back of his head.

"Nothing is irrelevant when it comes to murdering," Temari sighed.

"Yeah. Even a mere leaf could be crucial to a murder case," Lee nodded.

"Yeah, yeah!" Naruto nodded as well.

"He doesn't get it, does he…" Kairen sighed.

"No, he doesn't," Sakura twitched.

So… he isn't the murder all over again. Damn. I have to stop jumping to conclusions.

I inwardly punished myself for almost making a stupid mistake of blaming someone immediately. For now, I had thought it was best to sit back and listen, and only ask things when I know for sure it's not jumping to conclusions.

"Ah! There should have been a murder weapon, right?" Tenten snapped her fingers.

"That's right! The weapon wasn't around when we found Kyohaku," Kiba looked at all three of them. "Looks like we're going to have to search your stuff, if you've brought them."

"Our stuff?! Now you're invading our things!?" Diana cried out.

"What did we say about cooperating?" Temari glared.

…I wonder if Gaara and Kankuro are ever afraid of her? Wait, why am I thinking that a time like this? Damn it, pull yourself together!

I watched as all three of them took out their bag or purse. In Eric's bag, he had his headphones that was mentioned by Emily and a CD player. Autumn had nothing but gum wrappers, and some had rolled up gum in it. She also had some broken string and, surprisingly, make-up. There was also crumbled up paper to finish up her little artwork. Diana had her cell phone inside her purse, a few loose change, and some make-up. There was also a flower and a scissor.

A scissor?!

"Oi, Oi! Why do you have scissors, dattebayo!?" Naruto pointed at her accusingly. "You used that to stab Kyohaku, didn't you!?"

"N-no! I swear I didn't!"

"Naruto, don't jump to conclusions just yet," Shikamaru stopped him.

"There are no signs of blood marks on them," Hinata observed carefully when Sakura had handed them to her.

"What if she went to wash it away?" I glared at her

"I don't smell any remains of blood, or soap smell on it," Kiba replied.

"Huh?"

"Kiba has a high sense of smell," Kairen smiled at me.

"It's not possible for her to wash it away so quickly either," Temari added. "Someone would've immediately seen her washing away blood. That Tobi kid said he only saw her talking on her cell phone."

"Why do you have so many trash in your purse?" Lee blinked at Autumn's purse.

"It's a habit. I always use my purse as a trash can. I clean it out at the end of the week," she shrugged.

"And I'm sure I can't stab anyone with a headphone," Eric zipped up her bag.

"So no one has the murder weapon…" Temari thought out loud.

"Maybe it was thrown outside?" Tobi popped in from behind me.

"Tobi!? What are you still doing here!?" I exclaimed.

"Tobi is a good boy. Tobi wants to help," he made a peace sign with his fingers.

"Why do you keep speaking in third person, Tobi?" I sighed.

"Tobi thinks it's fun."

"We don't have time for fun and games right now!" I scolded him.

"Actually, this guy could be getting somewhere," Sasuke looked to him. "We should all search the area outside to see if the murderer dropped anything as they were running."

"Then we should split up," Kairen agreed.

I was the first outside. I was determined to find anything, anything at all that would help me find the murderer. I had no idea what I was looking for, but everything was dark outside, so it made things harder for me to spot something out of the ordinary. Without realizing it, I stumbled upon rocks and nearly fell forward. But I suddenly stopped falling forward as I felt someone grab onto my wrist. I turned around to see that Diana had caught me.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Mizu-chan!" Naruto ran up to me. "You ran out so fast we couldn't catch up!"

"We saw you nearly trip over those rocks," Temari and everyone else also ran up.

"But Diana was so fast! She ran all the way here to catch you on time," Ino smiled thankfully at her.

"She is on the track team," Sakura rolled her eyes.

"When did they have so many rocks near the bathroom window?" Kiba observed.

"I think they were installed two days ago," Tenten thought about it.

"Thanks," I turned over to Diana.

"No problem," she smiled.

"Shikamaru? What's wrong?" Lee had seen how distracted Shikamaru looked.

"No, it's nothing. Naruto," Shikamaru turned over to him.

"Nani, dattebayo?"

"Take these three back inside. If one of them really is a murderer, we shouldn't give them the chance to escape. Also, if none of them is the murderer, then the real one might come back and hurt Hinata since she's alone with Kyohaku."

"Got it," Naruto nodded and led all three of them back inside.

"Everyone! We found something!" Kairen's voice could be heard nearby.

We all ran over to see Sasuke and Kairen bending over something. Sasuke looked up at us and confirmed.

"It's the cloak the murderer was wearing."

"And the mask," Kairen added.

I turned back toward the direction of the entrance and turned my gaze back down to the floor.

"So the murderer ran out the entrance, turned the corner, threw their stuff here, and came back without anyone noticing?" I answered what everyone else was thinking.

"It could be any of them, then!" Ino sighed in frustration.

My mind lit up in realization. Kakuzu had been sitting near the entrance before, so I hoped that he was able to notice anything weird about the murderer at all. I ran back to the entrance and he was still sitting there.

"You realize a murder case had occurred, and you're still sitting here?" I walked slowly toward him to catch my breath.

"Someone has to guard the money, don't they?" he answered. "But I'm sure you didn't come to me just for that answer. What do you want?"

"Sharp, aren't you… I wanted to know if you saw anything strange when the murderer ran by you."

"Nothing."

"Nothing?! What do you mean nothing?!"

"They concealed themselves with no flaw. I neither saw what they were wearing in their cloak or what they looked like beneath their mask."

"Just great!" I kicked the dirt in anger.

"But I can tell you this. They're fast at escaping," he looked at me.

"That still doesn't help us," Temari walked up behind me. "All three of our suspects are in a sport that requires them to run fast. It could be any one of them."

"It's not my problem," Kakuzu closed his eyes.

Everyone went back inside, trying to sort things out. Nothing else was found after the cloak and mask were discovered. The murderer had left nothing else behind.

"This is bull," I cursed. "When we discover who the murderer is, I'm beating them to a bloody pulp. Whatever their problem was with Kyohaku, they don't have the right to take away her life."

"Don't leave me out," Sakura clenched her fist, implying that she also wanted to beat them up.

"And all of us," Lee agreed.

"This is ridiculous!" Diana became upset. "No one has much evidence as to who the murder is, so why can't you just let us go?"

"She's right. None of you are FBI agents or polices or whatever," Autumn nodded.

"Why don't we just let the police handle this?" Eric sighed.

"Speaking of which, Neji sure is taking a long time…" Tenten sounded a bit worried.

"Maybe they were on break?" Naruto blinked.

"All of them at the same time…?" Sakura twitched at his stupidity.

"Shikamaru? You're abnormally quiet now," Temari stated.

"Yeah…" he answered in a daze.

"See, you can't figure out who the murderer is. Just let us go. I don't want to be here anymore," Diana glanced nervously at Kyohaku's dead body.

"I'm telling you! It was a demon!" Naruto stubbornly stated his idea. "Kyohaku said so! Akki, Akki, dattebayo! That means evil spirit!"

"Naruto, for the last time…" my mind suddenly felt as if lightning shot through it.

I looked over to everyone else to see if they had gotten the same feeling as me. Sasuke, Kairen, Sakura, Temari, and Shikamaru had seemed to have realized it, too. But suddenly, they all looked a bit stumped. I had a questioning look on my face at their sudden change of mood, but also realized it myself.

That's right… in every murder case, there has to be evidence of how the murderer did it, but there's not enough evidence right now. There isn't even a murder weapon! I grunted in frustration. Will we ever figure this out and avenge Kyohaku? Damn it!

I suddenly heard movement and turned over to see that Shikamaru had bent down on one knee. He shut his eyes and brought his fingers together, but his thumbs were on top while the rest of his fingers faced the bottom. It was a weird position, and I wondered what he was doing.

"This is-" Ino's eyes widened.

"Shikamaru's stance," Temari finished.

"Shikamaru's stance?" I blinked.

"That's right. You don't know," Sakura turned to me.

"Know what?"

"Shikamaru does this stance whenever he's stuck on something. He recollects and recalculates everything in order to find a conclusion for it," Kairen explained.

"What of it…?" I shrugged.

"Do you know the game of Shogi?"

"Yeah. I know it's pretty hard, too. Why?"

"Whenever Shikamaru does this stance… no one could ever beat him at that game. He has never lost once. He even wins against our teachers!" Naruto nodded.

"W-What?" I stuttered.

"To put it basically," Sasuke looked over to Shikamaru. "his IQ is said to be over two hundred."

"T-TWO WHAT!?" I nearly fell backwards.

"He's opened his eyes!" Kiba exclaimed.

We all turned to Shikamaru and noticed that he had gotten out of his stance. I looked into his eyes and my own widened. He was no longer the lazy boy that found everything troublesome. He was someone who looked as if he had everything figured out and could do anything he wanted about it. I was taken back.

He knows? So he knows? I was eager for him to say something.

Shikamaru walked over to Emily who had sat far away from everyone and whispered something to her. She looked up in thought, then shook her head. Shikamaru smirked. He came back to us and sighed.

"This has been really troublesome."

"So you got it, huh?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru looked up at all of us with confidence. "I know who the murderer is."

i'm going to host a little game. i want to see how many of you can guess the right murderer based on what i gave you. it might not be enough material, so just guess if you want. when i think it's enough, i'll post my next chapter so you can see if you were right or not. you can post your answer on the review or go to my profile and go onto the poll. good luck.