Chapter 4: Fallen Blossoms
10:47am

DOWNED BODY REPRTED

Raising the alarm that Sakura had been taken out by an unnamed assailant, the other shinobi halt their tasks and immediately convene at the meeting spot.

"Akamaru and I saw Sakura's body lying in an alley within the heart of the city!" Kiba proclaims to everyone.

"That's very concerning indeed. Shall we give our reports of our whereabouts prior to her discovery?" Neji says to the other shinobi.

"Screw that! I'm naming Rock Lee as the one guilty this time around!" Choji blurts out immediately.

"Come now, certainly I was not the one to commit such an act, I would never hurt anyone for no reason!" Rock Lee immediately responds, defending himself from the blatant accusation.

"So you're saying you had a reason to take her out then?" Choji grills Rock Lee some more.

"Okay, I'm getting more and more suspicious with your behavior, Choji!" Naruto exclaims. "All you have been doing is steamrolling over everyone trying to cover yourself. I bet you're the one secretly pulling the strings around here. I'm becoming more convinced you're the imposter!"

"Oh, is that so, Naruto? Then prove it!" Choji challenges the orange-haired shinobi. "Where were you this whole time?"

"Naruto was with me the whole time at the infirmary, so you can drop that claim," Temari responds to Choji, arms crossed and glaring at him.

"Gaara and I were at the playground during this timeframe," Neji responds.

"So that leaves the rest of us as potential candidates for the imposter," Rock Lee states. "I ran into Choji in the commerce sector, but that was only in passing. Kiba, weren't you close to where Sakura's body was found within the city?" Rock Lee asks.

"Well, yeah, Akamaru and I were removing graffiti from the city walls, but that doesn't mean I was the one who did it! I don't even know where Sakura was even at before we discovered her!" Kiba says in defense. "Besides, our task is complete, we wouldn't have had time to assault Sakura, hide her body, and get back to work."

"Perhaps, but you and Akamaru are working as a team, you two could have easily coordinated something between you two, but I digress," Temari states.

"Then that leaves Hinata and Shikamaru then…I didn't see them at all within the past half-hour," Gaara contemplates. "Hinata, what do you say in your defense?"

Hinata shuffled a bit where she stood, embarrassed on being put on the spot suddenly.

"I was…with Sakura very briefly within the city. We passed each other.. a-and I stopped to talk to her shortly before meeting up with Shikamaru back at the Hokage's office," Hinata explains.

"So you had last contact with Sakura then. Why were you with Shikamaru afterwards? Didn't you still have tasks to complete?" Choji grills her.

"N-no, I didn't! Remember when Shikamaru says he did all of his tasks already? He failed to mention that he also finished most mine as well throughout the morning. I-if you recall, I was with various other people around the village, but that's because I had no tasks to do at the time, so that's why I went to get some more at HQ," Hinata explains in detail, her voice a bit more confident as she spoke.

"Hmm…that sounds very pleasurable," Neji responds, rubbing his chin after hearing Hinata's story.

"Huh? How are you so easily fooled in believing she's not suspicious?" Choji questions.

"Because she's my cousin, I know her very well," Neji shoots back at Choji.

"Oh yeah? That doesn't matter in this situation. Any one of us could be tasked as the imposter, so previous affiliations and mannerisms are out the window!" Choji counters.

"For once I agree with Choji," Gaara responds. "We really can't rely on our individual quirks to distinguish who's guilty and who's innocent."

"Man, this is getting really complicated. We're never going to figure out who gets taken out at this rate. Too many good liars around us," Naruto says with a loud sigh.

At that moment, Shikamaru returns to the group and stops before everyone, holding a new task list in his hand, much thicker than before where it would be harder for him to complete in a swift manner.

"Yo, what's going on here? Did something happen while I was gone?" Shikamaru asks.

Everyone looked at one another, then back at Shikamaru.

"Sakura was unfortunately taken out by a dirty imposter, but we've yet to come to a conclusion on who did it," Rock Lee responds.

"That's a drag…well, I'm off to do more tasks. Is this meeting over then?" Shikamaru responds without much of a reaction.

"Yeah, I guess so. Good luck everyone," Kiba says to everyone, adjourning the meeting.

No One Was Ejected From The Village.

No one could figure out who took out poor Sakura. Is there anyone's story from this chapter that seems out of place? Leave a review of your thoughts and stay tuned for the next chapter! Don't forget to fave and follow!