Chapter 25:

Sayo led Kiba through the zoo, taking passages not open to the public. She knew her way around the whole zoo, including private rooms and corridors.

Seeing how well she knew the place, Kiba was positive she had something to do with the outbreak. It would be easy for someone like her. With her skills and knowledge of the zoo and its animals, how could she not be involved?

Kiba held the door open for her as she dragged a cooler of meat out of a private room. She placed it on a small cart and wheeled it down one of the paths. She went past all of the animal enclosures until she came upon one with a thick metal guard rail around it. She stopped the cart and opened the cooler.

Akamaru's nose twitched when he smelled the raw meat.

Using a pair of gloves, Sayo grabbed the meat and tossed it over the railing. The meat hit the dirt on the other side of the railing and a few moments later, a pair of hungry hyena leaped upon it. Sayo tossed a second helping over the railing and they went after that one next. Sayo removed the gloves and tossed them into the empty cooler, watching the animals devour the meat.

"I see," said Kiba, trying to make small talk. "You use the gloves so the animals don't pick up the scent of humans. Is that right?"

Sayo nodded. "Also because you shouldn't touch raw meat. If you do and then stick your hands in your mouth or something, it can make you sick. Plus, it's not good to have that scent on you."

"You sure know a lot about this stuff."

Sayo puffed out her chest proudly. "Yup. Zumi's been training me. He's the zookeeper. He runs the place. Did I tell you?"

"No, but tell me about the hyena here. Which one is Spotty?"

Sayo pointed. "That one. And that one's Lulu, the female."

"I see." Kiba folded his arms. "I thought there'd be more. That way Spotty would get to be more of a leader, being male."

"Actually, female hyenas are more aggressive than males," Sayo corrected. "They tend to dominate more. Hyenas can be pretty rough. Apparently, they haze other Hyenas. Snap at each other and all that."

Kiba thought this was odd. According to Shikamaru, the chart in the zoo said that Sayo had been at the lab and was doing something with the male hyena, Spotty. It seemed to Shikamaru that the people were behaving violently because they had been injected with some sort of animal serum. The people were clearly meant to be violent. If that was the whole point, why use the male hyena instead of the female if she was more violent? It didn't make sense.

If Sayo knew this and wasn't lying to him, then maybe she wasn't involved after all.

Even if she wasn't, she was a wealth of information. She could help him find out who was involved.

"Do you keep all the predator animals together?" he asked her.

"No," answered Sayo. "The displays are organized by habitat, not eating habits. Animals from the jungle are in one area and animals from desert environments are another. From there, the animals are organized by species. Usually the smaller animals and reptiles are near the front and the predators are at the end since they're usually the big attraction. Of course, the carnivores are kept away from the herbivores and other animals. Otherwise, they'd be nervous. I mean, wouldn't you if a lion was staring at you and you were a rabbit?"

"Yeah, even with the cage around both of us, I can see the animals being nervous." Kiba looked at Sayo. "So… what's your favorite animal?"

Sayo leaned on the railing. "Hmm." She seemed to be giving it a lot of thought. "I don't know. I like a lot of them. I don't know if I have a favorite. I like elephants and leopards and peacocks and alligators and wolves. I like a lot of animals."

She looked down at the pit between the railing and the area where the hyenas roamed. The pit was there to keep the animals from getting too close to the people or escaping without need for a high fence. From the look on Sayo's face, it seemed she wanted to get closer to the animals. This pit was keeping her from them.

"I like them because they don't judge," she said after a long pause. "I can get close to the animals and they don't act scared of me. I can feed them and they don't recoil. I can look into the eyes of a wolf and they won't return it with fear. Unlike people."

"Really?" Kiba put his hands on his hips and leaned back to look at the sky. "I thought you guys relished that."

Sayo shook her head. "No. I'm sick of how the villagers look at me. I don't like how they're scared. None of them want to be my friend, even when I act nice to them. They're too scared. The animals here will at least give you a chance."

Keeping his back bent, Kiba looked at her. He felt a little sorry for her.

"So no friends?"

"Nope."

"Not even one?"

Sayo shook her head. "Any kids who would talk to me were only doing it because they were worried what would happen if they didn't. It was all pretend. Even when I was nice to them, they were still scared." Sayo sighed. "I know my family is to blame. If we weren't so scary to the villagers, they wouldn't be so worried what my family would do to them if they ever upset me."

Kiba slumped forward with a groan. "Why don't you tell your mother to get the stick out of her butt? I'm pretty sure she's the problem."

"Mother doesn't easily change her ways. She thinks raising us to be this way will make us strong. No one will mess with us."

"No one will be your friend either."

"Exactly." Then she grinned. "Well... one person said he'd be my friend. But he wasn't from my village. He's from yours."

"Let me guess. Naruto, right?"

She nodded with a smile on her face. "Uh-huh. The only one to ever treat me like a real person."

Sayo didn't seem like such a bad person. A bit unorthodox, but she wasn't bad. Maybe the noble family wasn't involved. Maybe they were the target. If everyone was afraid of them, it made sense.

"Tell me about this Zumi guy. What's he like?"

"The zookeeper?" Sayo stood up straight, but kept her hands on the railing. "He's nice. He's the one who let me come here and help him out. I know it's because I'm a member of the noble family. He would never let anyone else do this kind of stuff."

"He lets you feed the animals and come here whenever you please?"

"Pretty much."

"Does he ever let you do anything else?"

Sayo nodded. "If the animals need something other than food, he lets me help. Like, if they need their shots or something like that. He lets me come into the cages with him as his assistant."

"That's cool. When you're not there, who helps him?"

Sayo shrugged. "Usually he does things alone because he knows the animals well. But he has helpers. He's not the only one in the zoo. There are other staff members and people like that. Why?"

"Just curious."

Akamaru gave Kiba a look. Kiba nodded his head. They were both on the same page.

The argument continued between the current head of the noble family and the next generation. The only difference was that now her second son had joined in. Now all three of them were arguing with each other, begging for the other side to see reason. Well, one side was begging, the other was demanding it.

With no end in sight, Shikamaru and the others stepped back to let the family battle it out amongst themselves.

Shikamaru kept hold of the rope binding Shino, but he wasn't sure how necessary it was anymore. Unable to do anything other than make a lot of noise, Shino had grown listless and remained where he was, looking around slowly. He had lost interest in attacking anyone. Shikamaru wasn't sure if this was a good sign or not.

He sat on the ground and watched the family yell at each other. He drummed his fingers on his knee, growing more bored by the minute. This wasn't helping anyone. Unable to convince either side, they were at a stalemate.

They couldn't afford to keep the situation paused any longer. While they sat here doing nothing, the people in the warehouse were still trying to get out and the culprit was still on the loose.

Having dealt with angry women before, usually his own mother and Ino, Shikamaru knew it was best to stay as quiet as possible and try to look sorry. Either she would shorten her rampage or she would forget he was there and move on. It was nice not being on the receiving end of a mother's wrath for a change, but it was time to end it.

He knew better than to get in the way, but after giving it some thought, he knew it was the only way to move things along; even if it did make him the next target.

"Mother, please! The longer we wait, the worse it gets. Why can't you make an acceptation just this once? Why can't you let the ninja help us?"

"Because she's afraid," said Shikamaru, standing up.

The looks Kado and Ran gave him indicated that he had just insulted their mother, suggesting that she was afraid of anything.

Fed up with how long this was taking, Shikamaru did not pause and he didn't look apologetic. Enough was enough.

"Look, I don't care if I'm out of line for saying this, but it needs to be said," Shikamaru went on. "I'll admit, I haven't been in this village very long and I know little about your family, but based on what I've seen and heard, I think I understand why you are so unwilling to accept help from others and it isn't just because of tradition. It's because of how you came into power and how you're keeping the position."

Sakura gave him a puzzled look. "Shikamaru, what does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything once you consider the fact that they were appointed to power because of their strength. That's how the first noble came to power, isn't it? Rather than a bloodline, the position of nobility goes to whomever is strongest in the village. There's no security in a position like that."

Shikamaru handed Sakura the rope and walked closer to Sukiyumi. Shino didn't fuss when the rope changed hands. He just stood quietly and watched.

"If you are not strong enough, the position goes to someone else, correct?" Shikamaru asked Sukiyumi, but he did not expect her to answer. He already knew. "The rule is that if someone challenges you to a match and you lose, the one who defeated you becomes the new noble. That is why you lack trust. If your position can be taken away so easily, I could understand your paranoia. Anyone who knocks on your door is a potential threat."

What Shikamaru said made sense. That was why they reacted so harshly to anyone who did anything in their home. Why she refused help.

"Your method of driving away anyone who would threaten you is to put up an intimidating front so no one will want to challenge you. You want to scare them away in order to keep your position safe. You don't want to be challenged."

Sukiyumi narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's a good method, but you could be doing the opposite. If you're too threatening to others, then the villagers might want to take away your power and give it to someone else. Someone less scary. You're driving the wrong people away."

"That's right," said Sakura. "If that is how you maintain power, then it might be encouraging people to challenge you. It's not a question of if you can do the job or not, it's if they feel comfortable having you in power."

"And I understand why you would be so threatened by something like that. I'm sure you have the village's best interest at heart, but you are also worried about yourselves. You've been in this position all your lives. You don't know anything else. If the power were suddenly taken away from you, what would you do? Would the villagers accept you living among them? Or would they come after you now that you have no real power? You're afraid."

Sukiyumi's silence said it all. Shikamaru was correct. She would never admit it out loud, but he was right. Every word of it.

"If we are too lenient, it will only encourage people to challenge us because they will see us as weak," she told him. "I will not have my family seen as an easy target."

"If they're content with you, no one will want to challenge you. They'll want you to stay in power. They'll trust you with their lives. They'll support you."

"I totally understand why you would be worried about someone taking your power," added Sakura. "Aside from being lost without your position, you're worried about what the next person will do. Will they lead the village to ruin or will they help? What if they aren't a good fit? I get that. Our village has faced the same thing, but the Hokage everyone likes is still in power and she doesn't rule through fear. She's admired and respected by all. You can rule like that, too."

Shikamaru cracked a smile, trying to ease the tension. "I have to say, your system is pretty lousy. The power goes to whoever can beat you in a fight. That sucks."

"I always thought it was to keep those in a bloodline who aren't worthy from attaining power," said Ran. "Like if a noble is lazy and can't do his job. Why would he be in power?"

"Yeah, but with your method, there's no security. You think everyone who knocks on your door is a threat. It shouldn't be that way."

Sukiyumi still wouldn't say anything but she wouldn't take her eyes off Shikamaru. Shikamaru returned her stare. She may have been too proud to accept help or maybe she was afraid of having her power taken from her, or both. Maybe she wouldn't be convinced, but they couldn't keep arguing like this. They had a job to do.

"You care about your villagers, correct?" he asked her. "If you do, then you'll be willing to do anything to save them. Even if it means going against your traditions."

Sukiyumi still wouldn't answer him.

"We are here because our friends are in danger and need help. If your children were in our village and in danger, wouldn't you be there to help them? You wouldn't leave because our Hokage told you to. They're your kids," Shikamaru reasoned. "I'm sure you can understand our reasons for being here. We're not leaving until our friends are safe. At least let us stay here for that. If we find a cure together, that's great. But there's no reason to kick us out. We're not here to take power from anyone. We're just here to help our friends. You want to help your villagers, too. We have a common goal. It makes sense for us to work together. If you still can't do that, then step aside and let us do our thing while you do yours. Can you at least accept that?"

Sukiyumi kept her eyes narrowed.

"Mother," said Kado, "I will be the next head of the noble family. Let me show you what I can do. Please, let me show you how I will handle things when I take charge of the village. Please, Mother."

She gave a short sigh and shook her head. "I suppose I won't be able to stop you once you take power, Kado. Do as you please and prove me wrong."

Kado gave his mother a wide smile and bowed his head. "Thank you, Mother!"

"Though I am not certain you can," she added curtly. "All these generations, and nothing like this has ever happened before."

Ran boldly snapped back, "That's true. Only while you are in power has this taken place. Perhaps our current methods are wrong. This never happened with Grandfather in charge or our great-grandfather or his."

She shot her son a look.

"Now's not the time to keep this going!" Sakura snapped at Ran. "We finally stopped the agreement. Don't start it up again!"

Ran looked at Sakura in surprise. She was scolding him in the same way she did Naruto. Up until now, knowing how the noble family could be, Sakura never raised her voice to them in such a way.

Being told off like this was different, to say the least. Being yelled at by someone other than his mother was actually kind of nice.

"Let's focus," Shikamaru said, gaining their attention. "Regrouping, we know that this infection was man-made and the culprit is someone in this village. If it's not someone in the noble family and it can't be someone who is already infected, who could it be? Who would have access to this kind of material? Who would have the means to do all this? And why?"

"If the majority of the village is afraid of us, it could be anyone. Even with it narrowed down like this."

"But as we've said, it must be someone who not only fears you but hates you as well. Who could that be?"

"We don't know the villagers by name. To be honest, we don't know them that well at all. It still could be anyone."

"What about a scientist?" asked Sakura. "It must be someone who knows how to mix chemicals together. Someone in a lab."

"The doctor tried to cure the illness but he came up with nothing. He even let us use his lab when his attempts failed." Kado thought a little harder. "Could a nurse have the skills?"

"I thought a couple of nurses were already infect," said Ran. "Or am I thinking of the staff members at the zoo?"

"They have a lab at the zoo. Could someone..?"

Hinata gave a loud gasp. "Everyone! The warehouse!"

Using her Byakugan, she saw the doors of the warehouse bending, the metal sheets scraping across the dirt. The people inside were about to escape.

"Hurry!"

Everyone rushed to the warehouse as quickly as possible. Shino became agitated as soon as they got close to the building. He growled and snapped at the air. He pulled against the rope Sakura was still holding.

Ran and Kado threw themselves against the doors, pushing as hard as they could. Shikamaru wasn't sure if he had the strength to use his shadow again, but he would try when the opportunity presented itself. If he only had one shot, he wasn't going to waste it. Hinata stood behind the boys, ready to grab anyone crawling through the gaps. Sakura quickly tied Shino to a door knob and rushed to help the others keep the door shut.

Shino sniffed the air and turned his head the other way, sensing something. He gave a low moan and hunched over.

Naruto thumped his fingers on his leg. There must have been something he could do to help.

If he couldn't use Shadow Clones and he couldn't leave Sai alone, what could he do?

Maybe he could solve the mystery by himself.

He played over all the clues in his head, hoping to crack the code. If he figured something out, he could tell the others and they could start working on the cure. All they needed was the culprit and his serum. Once they had that, a cure could be made.

But out of all the villagers and noble family members, who could it be?

To pacify Sai who had started wandering around again, Naruto tossed pieces of jerky from his pocket into the air. Knowing Naruto had food, Sai didn't wander too far.

"Let me think…" Naruto tossed another piece into the air and Sai caught it in his mouth. "Hmm…"

Sai looked towards the village and Naruto tossed another piece at him. Sensing its approach, Sai turned his head the other way and opened his mouth to accept it. He chewed noisily and sat in the grass, losing interest in the village once again.

"If it's not someone in the noble family, then who could it be?" Naruto wondered aloud. "It could be anybody who isn't in that warehouse. I can't go knocking on doors, can I? No, that's stupid. No one's leaving their house anyway. But someone did. Otherwise Shino wouldn't have been infected. Let's see. What was Shino doing just before getting infected? Investigating, right? Yeah, he was using his bugs to scope out the noble family's house."

Naruto sighed, leaning back on his hands. Everything kept pointing to the noble family. He was certain of Sayo's innocence but he wasn't sure about the rest of the family. It must have been one of them. If Shino was investigating their house, then that put him in the line of fire. Since he was infected while examining the family, one of them had to be responsible. It made perfect sense. He wasn't infected any other time.

Sai was stabbed by a member of the family and became infected. Shino was investigating the family when he got infected. It had to be someone in the Arashi clan. Everyone seemed to get infected when they were around.

No matter how Naruto looked at it, it seemed the clan was behind everything. It all pointed to them.

If Shino had been anywhere else…

Naruto's eyed widened.

"Wait a minute. Shino was using his bugs. Shino…"

The one who always stayed in the shadows. The one Naruto hardly noticed even when he was right next to him.

"Even if Shino was investigating the noble's household, that doesn't necessarily mean that he was near the building itself. Shino can spread his bugs over a wide area and do things without him having to be there."

Shino could have been somewhere else when he was infected. The noble family might not have been responsible for what happened to him even if he was investigating them.

"Exactly," Naruto said, getting to his feet. "Shino doesn't stand out in the open. He's usually at a distance when he uses his bugs. Which means he was probably somewhere else when he got infected. The fact that he was investigating the noble family when he was infected is irrelevant."

Naruto looked towards the village. If he could figure out where Shino was standing when he got infected, he might be able to figure out who the culprit was. He wasn't sure how to do it, but he was going to give it a try.

"If I knew where Kiba was, I could ask him and Akamaru to track Shino's scent. He must have been standing around that area for a while so that would mean his scent's stronger there, right?"

He looked at Sai who was looking up at him from his position on the ground.

"Maybe…"

Naruto was going to take a chance and try it. If he solved the mystery, he was certain his friends would forgive him for letting Sai wander around the village after telling him not to let that happen.

"Come on, Sai. Let's go into the village and see what we can find. Will you help me out?"

Sai gave a short growl and stood up.

Naruto and Sai when into the village quietly, staying close together. Naruto wasn't sure where Shino had been standing, but he knew it wasn't near the noble family's property. He could have been across the street or two blocks away or even on the other side of the village altogether. It didn't narrow things down much, but at least he knew where not to look.

"Sai, can you track Shino's scent for me?"

Sai didn't respond.

Naruto stopped moving and Sai did the same. "Can you track Shino's scent?" he asked again.

Sai cocked his head to the side.

"Can you understand a word I'm saying?"

Sai growled sharply at him. Naruto wasn't sure what to make of that.

"Ok, maybe this was a bad idea. I figured if you're acting like an animal, you might be able to do animal things. I should have planned this better." Naruto scratched his head. "Thoughts, Sai?"

Sai stared at him.

He tried to think. "Well, if he wasn't near the noble family's house, then he must have been… somewhere else."

Sai snarled.

"I know, I know. That's obvious. No kidding." Naruto gave it another go. "Ok. At the time, we were in different areas, right? Shino must have been alone. What were we doing at that time just before we discovered him like that? The infected people had gotten out, right? We had already been at the zoo, so we know Shino couldn't have been there. Ok, so if we were all doing our things at the time, then Shino was wherever we weren't. So…"

This was a big village. It still didn't narrow things down because he didn't know where everyone was at the time. Shino probably wouldn't be running around. He was stationary. Hinata had been watching the warehouse. Shino was with her for part of the time. When the infected people got out, everyone had spread out, but someone was still near the warehouse in order to keep track of what the noble family was doing.

"But Hinata wasn't there anymore, was she? She had gone to help us. So Shino must have been near the warehouse, right?" Naruto hoped he was right on this. "Does this mean we need to go back to the warehouse? No, but we were all there at some point. And Hinata had been there alone, too. Maybe it's not the warehouse. Or maybe it was and the guy didn't infect anyone because there were too many of us. He waited until Shino was alone. But Hinata was also alone there at some point. Why not infect her?"

Maybe there was no reason to. There must have been additional factors which prompted the attacker to strike when they did.

Being near the noble family's home did implicate them, but as Naruto discovered, Shino wasn't necessarily in that area when he was infected. The culprit might not have known about Shino's abilities either, so they didn't know what Shino had been doing at the time. Taking the noble family out of the equation altogether, that narrowed it down to where Shino was standing, not what he was doing. Since they had all been near the warehouse at some point, some alone and some with a group of two or more. The attacker had the opportunity to infect someone when they were alone but didn't, which meant the warehouse wasn't a factor either.

Those were the only locations that had any significance to them. There was a vital piece missing.

That piece was wherever Shino had been standing moments before becoming infected.

This told Naruto that Shino was deliberately infected because he was about to uncover something important. Either he saw the person responsible or he was close to wherever the person was hiding. Or Shino was about to learn where the infection was made. Any of those things would have prompted the person to attack him so Shino wouldn't be able to tell anyone.

"Shino might have been near the guy's hideout. Maybe he found the stash." Naruto nodded his head. "I think I got it. Never mind the warehouse or the noble family. We need to look in areas where a man-made infection could be created. Like in a laboratory. Shino had already looked at the doctor's office and the two brothers were using it to make their own cure, so that's out of the way. The zoo had a lab, but Shino wasn't near the zoo. The person that did this might have their own lab in their house."

Naruto stood between two buildings and looked in every direction.

"Shino was coming from this direction when he attacked Kiba." Naruto pointed to his left. "If Shino traveled in a straight line, he must have come from that area up there. Let's head that way and see if we notice anything."

Sai followed him obediently. They walked slowly, making sure they didn't miss anything. Naruto had no idea what he was looking for, but if there was a sign above a door reading 'laboratory' that would have been helpful.

Sai started to grow agitated and started to wander away. Naruto called him back. Sai listened the first two times, but he wasn't listening anymore. Naruto pulled on his arm and Sai pulled free, moving to the right. He was heading towards the warehouse.

Thinking Sai would be discovered, Naruto pulled on him again. Sai growled and shrugged him off. Naruto fished around in his pocket for the jerky and held out a large piece for him. Sai no longer looked at him when he called, so Naruto had to wave the jerky in front of his face to get his attention. Sai halted and stared at the jerky. Naruto moved his hand away and Sai followed it, turning away from the warehouse. Eyes on the jerky, Sai followed Naruto between buildings. Sai lunched forwards and chomped down on the dried meat, ripping off a piece.

"This way, Sai," Naruto called softly and Sai followed. This was his last piece of jerky so Naruto hoped Sai wouldn't wander too much.

Sai seemed to be listening to him again, putting Naruto's fears to rest. Until they heard shouting and Sai looked back in the direction of the warehouse. Sai growled, eyes staring straight ahead.

Naruto could hear his friends' voices shouting orders. He wanted to help, but he also heard the voices of the noble family members and knew he had to keep Sai hidden.

Unaware of the situation between his friends and the noble family, Naruto had no idea if they were working together or not. He also wasn't aware of what they would do if they saw Sai wandering around freely.

Whatever they were doing, Naruto had faith that his friends could handle it.

"Come on, Sai. Let's go."

Sai kept growling, staring straight ahead.

"Now, Sai. I mean it." Naruto pulled on the back of his shirt. "Sai, come on!"

Sai protested, unwilling to do as he was told. It took some prodding, but Naruto finally got through to him and Sai came reluctantly.

"Please, don't resist like that, Sai. What if you had been caught? You know I'm trying to help you, right?"

Sai stopped, staring at something else. His nostrils flared and he took a step forward.

"What is it, Sai?"

Sai sprinted forward, knowing Naruto would chase after him. Sai stopped, staring at a building.

"Sai, what are you doing?" Naruto asked him.

Sai looked from Naruto to the building. He wanted Naruto to see something. Naruto stepped back to get a good look at the building. It was some sort of pharmacy. Naruto tried to pull Sai away from the building, but Sai gave him a gentle bite on his hand.

"Ow! What?"

Sai huffed and looked at the building again.

Rubbing his sore hand, Naruto looked at the building. Then, curious, Naruto turned around. The doctor's office was on the same street. Directly behind them was the warehouse, two streets over.

Naruto looked back at the pharmacy. It was in a good location. A pharmacy would probably have a lab in it.

Thinking Sai was on to something, Naruto tried the door. As he suspected, it was locked. Should he risk breaking it down? The noise could draw unwanted attention.

"Maybe I can pick the lock or…"

Sai used an overhand swing to bash the knob off the door with his fist. His strength had the dented knob hanging from two loose screws. Sai pushed the door open with his knuckles. The door swung inward with a creak and thumped lightly against the potted plant just inside. Sai turned to Naruto with an expectant expression.

His lips twitched, indicating that he was trying to do something but couldn't. Naruto suspected he was trying to smile but was for some reason unable to use his facial muscles to do so. Naruto nodded his head in thanks and stepped inside. Sai followed after.

The inside was dark. Naruto didn't brother to find the light switch, worried it would alert anyone hiding inside. The noise made by Sai breaking the doorknob might have already tipped off anyone who was lurking inside. Just in case, Naruto didn't want to take more risks than needed.

There were rows of bandages and over the counter medicines for minor illnesses. There was a section of first-aid kits and special soaps and anti-bacterial ointments. Naruto walked through that section to get to the back wall which had a large window with a closed sign tapped to the glass. Beside the window was a door marked 'employs only' in big red letters.

Naruto motioned for Sai to follow him. When he tried this door, he was surprised to discover it was unlocked. Considering the fact that the main door was already locked, it was possible that whoever locked it didn't see a reason to lock this one since no one would be able to get in anyway. The other possibility was that the person who had locked the main door was behind this one which was why it wasn't locked.

If someone was inside, they had to be extremely careful. Keeping his hand on the handle, Naruto lowered himself to the ground. He slowly pushed the door open and very slowly took his hand off the handle so the latch wouldn't make a loud sound. He crawled on his hands and knees and Sai did the same. He closed the door behind them and started his own investigation.

He crawled to the nearest gap between what he thought were bookcases. As he got closer, he realized they were actually storage bins labeled alphabetically. He slid open one of the drawers with his hand and looked at the contents: drugs with patient names on the bottles. These were prescription drugs. Naruto closed the drawer and went to the next one where he discovered the same thing.

If these were all prescriptions, where did they come from?

The finished product was here on the first level. The drugs must have been created somewhere else. Somewhere nearby.

Naruto crawled around, looking for a door. He didn't know much about medicine, but he knew pills didn't just show up. They had to come from somewhere.

Behind a tower of boxes, Naruto found a door leading to another part of the building. It was unlocked. He called Sai over and they went through the door together.

A short hallway with two doors. Naruto looked at the first one. He pressed his face against the glass window above the knob and saw rows of lab equipment. There was a lab here after all. Naruto looked at the sign next to the door which read: Human Pharmaceuticals.

Naruto looked at the second door to his right at the end of the hall. The sign beside that door read: Veterinary Pharmacy.

"They make the drugs in the same place?" Naruto whispered to himself. "Well, I guess that makes sense. Drugs are drugs. Why have two different buildings if they do the same thing? At least the doors are labeled differently so they can keep track and make sure humans don't get drugs intended for animals."

He had two doors to choose from. The answer could have been behind either one of them. Since the people were acting like animals, Naruto decided to go with the second door. If he couldn't find what he needed, he would go behind the first one and poke around the human lab.

He opened the second door and looked down. There were stairs leading below the building. The animal lab was underground. He motioned for Sai to follow which he did. They stepped inside and Naruto closed the door. As soon as he did, lights flickered on without him having to do anything. They must have been motion activated.

Sai was already at the top of the staircase, waiting for him. He crouched over the top step, looking down. Naruto walked the four steps it took for him to reach the staircase and looked down as well. Down one flight of steps, a small platform, then down a second flight. The staircase curved so he couldn't see where it led. There was only one way to find out.

"Let's go, Sai."

Naruto led the way down the stairs. Once he reached the bottom of the first set, he turned to the right and started down the second. Halfway down, he saw another door. He approached and looked through the small window. It was dark inside. He couldn't see where it led.

Feeling Sai brush against him, Naruto looked at him. Sai looked from him to the door, never making a sound. Naruto couldn't tell what he wanted. Sai made no indication that he wanted Naruto to do anything specific. He didn't seem agitated, but he also didn't seem calm.

He had two options, just as with the doors. Naruto could either go inside and satisfy his curiosity, or he could take Sai with him and find Sakura. He could tell her and the others what he found and have them take a look for themselves. Sakura would probably be able to tell what these items were better than he could. She would know what to look for. He didn't.

This wasn't about uncovering the truth and being the hero. This wasn't about him getting glory or attention. He just wanted to finish what he started. He saw arriving at a mysterious door and walking away before he opened it as giving up halfway through a mission. This was about seeing it through. Nothing more.

He was curious. He wanted to know what was in this room.

He gently pushed Sai aside and opened the door.

The lights flickered on, illuminating the white walls of the underground lab. It looked no different from the one upstairs. Beakers, test tubes, jars of herbs and powders, scales and other measuring devices. Tables and chairs and stoles, filing cabinets and files left out in the open, as if the lab technicians had suddenly been called away. There was a coatrack on the wall just inside the door and it looked like most of the lab coats were accounted for. There were only two empty hooks.

Sai sniffed a microscope and looked at Naruto, as if offering him a question.

It was a pretty big lab. It would take them a while to explore it all, let alone identify the ingredients used to make the drugs. Naruto walked slowly, taking it all in. He moved past the tables and over to the open space in the middle of the large room. He stood there, looking at the walls. Closets containing secrets, shelves lined with jars of various sizes and colors, barrels housing unknown effects. Naruto wasn't sure where to start.

Sai walked closer to him, brushing his shoulder against Naruto's. Naruto looked at him, stroked Sai's head and started to look around again.

He stopped, spotting something. There was a sign on one of the cabinet doors which read 'danger' in big letters. That in itself wasn't striking to Naruto but it helped him recall something that might have been.

Aside from people referring to the Arashi clan as dangerous, Naruto could only recall one other person using such a description but not towards the clan.

"The zookeeper," Naruto mumbled quietly.

He had told Naruto that he wanted people to realize how dangerous some of the animals were since many approached without fear. That was easy considering the animals were all in cages, but Sayo approached the animals without fear whether they were caged or not. The zookeeper said he wanted Sayo and so many others to realize how dangerous wild animals could be.

The people were acting like animals, Sayo's family hadn't been infected, and Shino was most likely standing near this very building when he got infected. All the pieces were finally coming together.

Zumitsu had the knowledge to do all this. He even told them he often went into the cages alone to treat the animals or to feed them. He knew them well. He knew how to handle them. Getting their DNA would be an easy task for someone like him. He could even do it in absolute secrecy since he spent time alone with the animals. There were a couple coats missing from the hooks and Zumitsu was wearing a white lab coat when they first met him. That may not have been vital information, but everything else was pretty condemning.

"It was the zookeeper all along." Naruto grit his teeth. "I can't believe it. But it all fits. He had the means and the knowhow to do it all. That bastard."

He should have known. They were at the zoo and didn't find him. They hadn't been looking either, but still. The fact that he wasn't around was also pretty suspicious.

But to do all this? Just to show people how dangerous animals were? This seemed pretty harsh. Either that or he was so fed up with Sayo's free-spiritedness that he decided to come up with this scheme to frighten her. That didn't seem quite right, though.

Naruto couldn't figure out the zookeeper's exact motive, but he could ask him his reasons when he found Zumitsu and beat him for what he had done to all these people.

"Come on, Sai. We need more answers. The infection must be here somewhere, but now we know who's responsible. Let's finish up here quick and go tell Sakura what we found. If we can't find the source ourselves, we can have her do it."

Sai looked the other way and growled. Naruto followed his gaze and saw something move to the side. He saw the tail of a white lab coat duck behind a filing cabinet.

Naruto clenched his fists. "Alright, come on out," he called to the far corner of the room. "We know you're there. Don't make me come back there and beat the crap out of you."

He was going to throttle this person no matter what. He just wanted to get some answers. If they pointed out the source of the infection, it would save them a lot of time searching for it themselves.

He saw the lab coat. It must have been the zookeeper, Zumitsu. If it was, he would probably have something at the ready for when Naruto got close. Most likely the infection. Naruto had to keep his distance for now. If he got infected here when no one knew where he was, it was all over.

"Come on out!" Naruto called again. "Show yourself, you jerk!"

So who is it?

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