Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
Only Sasuke is privy the fact that the man before them is a Shadow Clone. Everyone else treats him as the real Hokage, and Sasuke lets him take charge.
"Sarada, now take your time and carefully look over each one, okay?" the blond leader encourages.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," she says before rising to attention and mentally preparing herself for the task at hand.
"Do you recognize any of these people?" Naruto asks as he steps back and lets her study the photos lain out on the table before them.
A vague sense of recognition passes with a few faces, but nothing stands out until..."Him!" she exclaims. All eyes jet to the photo she is pointing to. "He's the one I saw chasing away Boruto when I was locked in the portal."
"Are you sure?" Sasuke asks, barely containing the feelings storming just under the surface.
"Yes," she answers looking him in the eye. "Papa, I know it's him. The Sharingan never lies."
Naruto pauses a moment, keeping his disappointment to himself. This is what he expected and he supposed what they all suspected. Everyone except maybe Sasuke who's been out of the loop. When he glances back at his long time friend though, Naruto senses his anger roiling beneath his calm exterior, and he quickly speaks up.
"Easy Teme, he's not our man," Naruto assures. "Shikamaru and Ino confirmed he's the one who accepted all deliveries of the chemicals but only did so under the guise they were used for healing the orphans who had nowhere else to turn."
"Are you sure about that?" Sasuke asks tersely.
"Yes," Naruto answers firmly. "In fact, as we speak, this particular monk is still having a hard time accepting what he did. He's been beating himself up for all the harm that came to the Clones because he was stupidly naive. Unfortunately it was easy to dupe him and use him as the fall guy. To make things worse, he easily fell under the radar of all the nations while he continued to help the Clones after he saw what good the chemicals were doing for their injuries."
Sasuke huffs with frustration, and tries to calm himself. There's no reason to doubt Naruto especially if Shikamaru and Ino cleared the guy, but news of this is aggravating. This puts them back at square one again, and they're running out of time.
"Hokage-sama," Sarada interrupts. "I recognize this one too," she points out.
All eyes shoot back to the photo of interest.
"Him?" Naruto questions, a bit surprised and now scrutinizing a new monk's face no one had interest in until now."
"No, Hokage-sama," she corrects. "Him," she says pointing to the figure next to the one Naruto indicated and whose face is turned away.
"Wait. I don't understand. How do you know you've seen him before? You can't even make out his face in his picture, Sarada," Naruto states.
"See the shiny container with a number on his belt?" Sarada questions. "I'd recognize that bottle anywhere," she says, and both Naruto and Sasuke suddenly come to a realization with her observation.
After Sarada is sent off to summon Mitsuki, Sasuke and Naruto meet briefly in a side room cloaked with a silencing jutsu for privacy.
"It never occurred to me that we may not have to identify them by face," Naruto begins. "Sarada's right, the solution is what they seek. All those guilty would have to have handled the containers at some point and time. I imagine not everyone will have a container on them, but at least if they have one, we can link them to the foreign Zetsu."
"Actually," Sasuke cuts in. "Sakura mentioned the injured Clones would need to continually use the solution on the wounds if they didn't seek proper help. The liquid only serves as a temporary fix and needs to be reapplied regularly. Those injured would definitely need to carry the containers with them all the time and at some point, restock. If the foreign Zetsu were expecting the Clones to get hurt when they jumped through the portal, it's likely they would plan ahead and supply them with the bottles of solution," Sasuke shares.
Naruto thinks on this for a minute. "You're right," he agrees. "We caused the group to scatter for now, but... I'll ask Hinata to do surveillance on their hideout until I can bring a team out and see where else they can get their hands on the solution and the equipment to make it."
The Uchiha nods.
"Hey, you know what?" Naruto suddenly brightens. "I just remembered something. Back home we discovered these canisters are readily available on the market, but as Sarada's Sharingan pointed out, the ones used by the foreign Zetsu are unique in that all have an engraved number marked on each bottle. Shikamaru told me he believed it was a numeric system used to identify each individual Clone. Records from the recording White Zetsu at the hideout seem to corroborate this too. Four hundred six bodies were counted in their morgue. I'll have to go back and ask what the highest number on the bottle found was, and maybe we can estimate how many are here that way."
At long last, the tides are turning. This is a start, one they can build on for sure.
"Were any other monks thought to be involved?" Sasuke inquires.
"Possibly two others," Naruto says. "They helped the contact monk deliver the goods. We don't know names but knowing this new information about the bottles may help narrow down our search. At this point, I say, we search them out."
Sasuke grunts his assent.
Naruto pauses then hints, "the Sharingan may help things go faster. If items in the rooms can be memorized, we may be able to uncover the culprits and use them to collect intel without them knowing."
Sasuke mulls this over. He knows exactly what Naruto is thinking and hoping. And it involves Sarada.
"Well?" It says a lot that Naruto is still asking and not ordering it, and Sasuke appreciates this.
"Agreed," Sasuke says, and then he shoots his longtime friend a look.
"Don't worry," Naruto says, putting his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "I promise I'll take care of her. You have my word."
"Fine," Sasuke says gruffly but Naruto knows there's a little pride behind the brush off. The Uchiha just received confirmation from the Hokage that his daughter has acquired some useful skills and is in fact developing into a wonderful kunoichi. Who wouldn't be pleased?
"Once you speak with Hinata, start your search down that hall. I'll get the kids and let them know what we're up to. Mitsuki can stay with me and I'll have Sarada meet up with you."
"Agreed," Naruto says. "Now let's get started," he announces as he rushes out the door.
Monks are interviewed as they make their way down the halls, and a cursory search is done in each room while the talking commences. Sarada is thrilled to work with the Seventh Hokage and does her best to memorize all she sees in the rooms they enter, all the while looking out for the silver bottles. "Boruto,' aka henged Mitsuki, is with Sasuke and equally excited about the whole thing. For his first time doing reconnaissance work, Mitsuki is doing fairly well at keeping the monks they interview distracted and busy answering questions, that is until, they come upon their fifth room. As soon as the monk opens the door, Sasuke notes a flash of silver at his waistline as the monk's robe brushes back when he opens the door further. Additionally he notes a chakra cloak surrounding him, but before Sasuke can begin his interrogation, Mitsuki begins to sway.
Stepping next to him and holding him upright he asks, "are you okay?"
It's subtle but Mitsuki's henge starts to fade and in a panic Sasuke stands at his full height and blocks the monk's view of him. He quickly excuses them, so as to not lose Boruto's cover. "It seems Boruto isn't feeling well," he announces. "Let me take him to the infirmary first then I'll be back."
Confused, the monk agrees and heads back into his room.
As soon as they reach the infirmary, Mitsuki is already feeling fine again.
"What happened?" Sasuke demands.
"I..I'm not sure," Mitsuki admits. "I was feeling fine one moment then suddenly I felt faint. I know it's weird but I feel fine now. Really."
Sasuke's eyebrows crease. "Is this what happened when you fainted in the monastery hall?" He asks with seriousness.
"Come to think of it...yes," Mitsuki agrees. "And..." Mitsuki suddenly looks perplexed. "The same thing happened when that monk helped me recover from my illness when we were out in the garden."
"He's the same one? Are you sure?" Sasuke presses.
"Yes, I'm certain, Uchiha-san." Mitsuki pauses for a moment then asks, "What's going on? Could it be...? Could it be I'm allergic to him?"
Allergic to him? No. But maybe...
"Stay here. I'll be back," Sasuke orders.
"Now sit down," Sasuke instructs and motions Naruto over.
"How are you feeling right now?" The Seventh asks of Mitsuki.
"Fine," he replies then suddenly begins to feel a little self-conscious with the two sannin intensely looking down at him. He knows it's a bit crazy, but he feels completely normal now. The fainting spell earlier was real though. He rushes to explain. "I know it seems like I was faking it, and I'm not even sure what... "
But before he can finish, the dizziness returns and he holds his head. Sasuke's eyes flick to Naruto who uncapped the silver bottle in his hands.
"And now?" Naruto asks.
"Not so good," Mitsuki admits. Mitsuki's henge bobbles for a moment, but as soon as the bottle is re-capped, his henge of Boruto returns easily.
Naruto looks worriedly at Sasuke and his face becomes serious as he turns to the young Genin. "Lean back and relax," he offers, but Mitsuki gently refuses.
"I apologize Hokage-sama. I'm not quite sure what just happened, but I'm fine now. Really. I don't need to rest," Mitsuki claims.
I hate to do this, but I have to be sure," Naruto says.
"Be sure of what?" Mitsuki wonders aloud.
"Tell me when you feel good again," Naruto instructs.
"Like I said before, I'm fine," Mitsuki reassures.
"Okay. Now when you're ready, very gently, breathe in," Naruto instructs as he opens the bottle and brings it closer to him so Mitsuki can get a whiff.
"Hokage-sama, I don't understand..." Mitsuki begins as he leans in to comply. Eyeing the two nin before him, he cautiously takes a breath in, and in that split second, Naruto grabs a hold of him just before he faints.
Author's note:
With a decline in reviews, I was wondering if interest in the story is diminishing or if it's something else. If the story took a tumble in quality, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Anyways, this update is for my 3 reviewers to the last chapter and to the new follower too. Thank you for your support!
At this point, I decided to ask a small favor to the audience. If you're out there still reading, please consider dropping some feedback my way on your favorite and maybe your least favorite chapter. Your input will help to give me something concrete to go by in regards of interest and where to go from here. Thanks everyone!