"You know, Naruto, I've been looking for you."

"Huh? For me? But why?"

"You are a special boy, Naruto and a special blood flows in your vein, along with a special blessing on your chakra."

"Shaqra? What's that, Pa?"

The man - his father, Naruto reminded himself happily - smiled at the address.

"Chakra is all around us, Naruto." He gestured with his hand in an ample motion. "It makes up the entire world and the sky above."

The boy blinked. "Us too?"

"Yes, Naruto, us too. Chakra makes up everything that exists. It connects us all to the world around us."

"So… I have Chakra?"

The man pondered his answer for a second. "Yes, in a way-"

"But how can it be mine if it's everywhere? I don't get it."

"That is a very clever question, Naruto. I'm going to try and explain it but it is complicated. So don't be down if you don't get everything."

The little blond nodded eagerly. "Go ahead, Pa."

"Chakra…" the man began before he breathed in deeply. "Chakra is like a river. It flows and it changes constantly. But the flow isn't the same everywhere. Sometimes it goes slowly and the change occurs slowly as well but sometimes it is fast. Where it is slowest, the Earth, the Heavens and the Moon exist. Where it goes a bit faster, the trees grow, animals are born and humans live."

"So… I'm kinda fast Chakra?"

"Yes. Chakra made form and substance within the flow, for a time."

The boy looked at himself, perplexed. "I don't understand. What does it have to do with me?"

"The way your Chakra flows is special, Naruto and if you want, I can teach you how to do great things with it."

"Great things?"

"I can teach you to become strong."

"Strong?"

"So you can stop the bad people from taking others where they shouldn't go."

The boy's eyes widened and he gaped at his father. "I can-I can do that?" He nodded pleadingly. "Please, please teach me, Pa! I don't want the bad people to take you!"

"Calm yourself, Naruto. I'm strong too, so the bad men will not take me. For now, I'm the one doing the protecting. Now, this will be my first lesson, so listen well and repeat after me: ignorance, resentment and jealousy kill the heart."

"Ignorance, rezen-resentment and jealousy kill the heart!" The boy repeated eagerly before he frowned. "What does it mean, Pa?"

"When you do not know something, you become afraid of it. When you resent someone, you start to hate them. When you are jealous, you become greedy. They are the three paths to suffering because they all lead to violence."

"The bad men… They are like that?"

"Yes, Naruto. The bad men who took your mother are ignorant. They feared you and they became violent because no one wants to admit they are afraid of something."

The boy's eyes filled with tears. "So, it's my fault Mama was taken?"

"No, it is those people's fault, Naruto. Never say it was you. But do not become like them. When you are afraid of something, look for what you do not know and seek knowledge so that you are not afraid of it anymore."

Naruto nodded with force. "Hn, I'll do that, Papa!"

"Good. I'll teach you some things but you need to know how to read. Books are the keys to all knowledge. Do you know how to read, Naruto?"

"A tiny bit," he muttered, eyes downcast. "Mama was teaching me it."

"Well, let's make her proud and keep learning, okay?"

"You think she'll know?"

"Yes, Naruto. I'm convinced she'll know."

The blond wiped the tears of his cheeks. "Okay then, teach me Pa!"

Naruto took stock of the scene. The next murder had been discovered in the late morning, two days after Naruto's arrival. It had happened in a back alley, after dark, and had been stumbled upon by a citizen in a hurry. Kashika and her team were promptly informed by the police and the white-haired onnanin sent a word for Naruto to join them.

It was an unpleasant thing to see and the confirmation, for him, that zetsu were not involved. The scene was simply too messy, too bloody, with too many ripped guts strewn apart and wasted meat. Zetsu might be vile goblins but at least they were not picky eaters. Kashika was busy interrogating - in vain, Naruto was certain of it - the finder about his macabre discovery. She had noticed, much like the young man, the same marks everywhere on the wall that were present at each scene and had glanced at the corpse but had made no comment. Her three charges were milling about the crime scene, about as useful as headless chickens. Naruto kneeled next to the cadaver, a man in his late thirties, dressed in work clothes. The individual had been sliced open, from his groin up to his diaphragm, in one smooth go. His guts had been thrown apart and his liver taken.

"Not eaten," whispered Naruto pensively. "Cut. With the gallbladder gone as a bonus but the pancreas is intact." He frowned and plunged a hand inside the victim's torso. "Heart has been taken too."

Carefully, he manipulated the victim's head, eyeing it at every angle critically, peering intently at the eyes before he eventually let it go with a slight shake of his head. The heart and liver were both gone, the head was untouched. That was certainly not something an animal would do. Predators had a tendency to just eat what they needed and leave the rest to the scavengers. While bears did happen to bury some of their catch, they did it directly where their prey had fallen and spiders cocooned their entire victim. To waste so much and take only a few specific pieces - so cleanly at that - for later was very human behaviour.

So," he pondered in a mutter. "A crazed cannibal?" He frowned. While a sick mind would have been a perfectly reasonable explanation of the murders, a nagging itch told him otherwise. There was a smell in the air, something that he could not identify yet scratched unpleasantly at the edge of his consciousness. His instinct was raising its hackles.

"You found anything?"

Naruto glanced back up and saw Sasuki giving him a curious look, hovering not two feet away from him. She was aware of her surroundings, as a warrior should, ready to act if it were needed but not specifically focused on Naruto. It was pleasant to be around people who were not constantly on edge because of him, the young man mused silently. That it was rare enough to feel special tore an unconscious sigh from his lips. Suddenly, he yearned for home, for his master and siblings. He shrugged the thoughts away and gestured towards the body, his features a mask of indifferent boredom.

"What do you see?"

"Someone who's been cut open," Sasuki answered dryly.

"It doesn't phase you much."

"I've seen my share of people cut open." She wanted to sound flippant but Naruto could smell the way her chakra tightened for one fraction of a second.

"I see. Well, better than you vomiting all over my feet."

"Don't tempt me. It's still not appetizing. So?"

"So, you tell me. Nothing is amiss to you?"

Sasuki blinked. Naruto noticed Sai and Sakura were listening and even Kashika had her one good eye on them rather than her interlocutor. The girl narrowed her eyes in concentration, scanning the scene intently.

"Well, no," she answered after a few seconds. "It's just a mess, with guts all around. The cut is clean and-"

"Stop. The cut is clean. Say it again, out loud."

Sasuki shot him a dirty look but Naruto gestured at her impatiently.

"The cut is clean… Ha."

"Ha."

"He was cut with a knife."

"Precisely. And because you are so used to cutting things with a blade, you didn't see it. It looked natural to you. But claws tear through flesh differently. They aren't as sharp as steel. All of this," he motioned at the bloody sight, "is merely staging, to make you see something that isn't there."

"And those zetse-"

"Zetsu."

"Whatever. They don't carry knives. Correct?"

"Correct."

"So someone did that. Not something."

"And we have a winner."

Sasuki frowned, though Naruto could not tell if it was at his sarcasm or because the thought that a human being could butcher someone like this was disturbing her.

"That doesn't tell us much," she grumbled eventually.

Naruto blinked before he smirked. "Yes, it does. You have a cannibal on the loose. The very fact that they can escape the nose of a Hatake should tell you all you need to know about what they can do."

Sasuke mulled over what he had just said and suddenly gasped, eyes wide. "They have ninja training!" She scoffed almost immediately. "Great, now we just have to look through the entire town for active and retired ninja."

"No," interceded Sakura, his eyes unfocused and mind already milling. "We could try to see who the most recent arrivals in Tanzaku are. The murders started a month ago, so if we can get a list of everyone who has been renting a place in the city since two months ago, we narrow our suspect."

"That's taking a bet that the killer started his business almost as soon as he arrived," remarked Sai.

"A necessary one if we want to begin somewhere," answered Sakura. "From this list, we suspect every known ninja and stranger."

Kashika clapped enthusiastically. "Well, well, well, that's a plan if I've ever heard one! So, little ducklings, how about you go inform the police chief about it and organize the logistics of it. Mhm."

All three ninja looked at their captain with twitchy eyes; the white-haired woman answered them with a flat gaze that told them in no uncertain fashion that it was time for them to go. Naruto chuckled lightly at their retreating forms.

"Whatever you want to ask me, I'm sure they could have listened in."

"Maybe, maybe not. I'm still their superior officer and they have their leash lose for a bit too long. I try to remind them about silly notions such as the chain of command and obedience to their leader every now and then."

Naruto snickered. "Ah, the freedom of being self-employed."

Kashika shrugged. "We have good health coverage and a decent retirement plan."

"Is that a sales pitch? 'Cause I'm absolutely not interested, thank you."

"So. A crazed cannibal. Or what?"

"You heard me huh?"

Kashika tapped her right ear with a smirk adorning her feature. "Hatake and Inuzuka don't rely just on their sense of smell."

Naruto nodded. "I'll keep it in mind. But honestly, it's nothing."

"Until it isn't."

Naruto sighed and looked at the corpse, scratching the beginning of a prickly stubble growing on his cheek. "A gut feeling. I've absolutely no basis to support it. But the feeling is still here. It's just..." He hummed.

"Just?"

"Heart and liver. Two specific organs. Nothing else. I checked. It's weird."

"Weird enough that you think simple cannibals aren't behind it."

"Yeah. I'm no maneater - contrary to rumours," he added sarcastically - "but that wouldn't be my pick of choice meat."

"So what is it?"

"The ribs," he smirked. "Roasted in honey sauce."

"Interesting pick. Now, spare me your two ryo wits."

Naruto shrugged. "Honestly no idea." The young man rose to his feet, tapping his knees. "I need to read a scroll or two."

"Can I help?"

"Sorry, professional secrets. You can pay for a pot of tea to help me keep my two ryo wits focused, though."

"Deal, put it on my tab. Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to my ducklings."

Naruto chuckled. "Sure."

Kashika threw a look at the policemen keeping watch over the crime scene and gestured towards the corpse. "You can clean it up now, guys, thanks for your patience."

"Oh, by the way, don't forget to check wherever it is that those who can't rent a place go. Under bridges, in the slums… You know."

Kashika nodded. "The homeless flesh-eater, huh? I'll think about it."

"You do that. See ya," waved Naruto before he went his way.

Sasuki, Sakura and Sai parted the crowd in half as they walked towards the police headquarters of Tanzaku. All three were silent and somewhat surly from having been sent away by Kashika. They had faced danger before, tall ordeals that they should not have survived yet had, and their pride was chafing from the idea that their captain did not think them capable enough to handle whatever was coming. From here, however, the three each entertained a line of thoughts that was only their own. Sasuki was itching for a fight, plain and simple. She reasoned that, if this Naruto was so impressive, it was because he needed to be, which meant the monsters he fought were daunting. Sakura was silently mulling over the plan and its practicality, intent on proving to his sensei they could be here. He refused to allow the "extra" to supplant their role in this investigation. It bothered Sai to basically follow the directions of a kaito; they should not have trusted the beast, plain and simple. He would not dare go against his captain's orders, however.

"You were quite friendly," said the dark-haired teen without warning, breaking the pensive silence around the trio. "With the kaito, Sasuki."

The young woman returned him a flat gaze. "Friendly? Damn, I'm not a social butterfly but even I wouldn't call that friendly." She mocked.

"No, you were," insisted Sai with a frown. Couldn't she see, he wondered, how dangerous the kaito was? Had she not heard the words of their sensei? "He is dangerous."

Sasuki shrugged. "So are we."

"Not like that. He is not…"

"Not?"

"He isn't human."

"Big deal."

Sai scoffed. "Well, yes, I think it is. He is not natural, Sasuki." His guardian called them "abominations" but Sai chose not to use the word. "They shouldn't be allowed."

Whether kaito should not have been allowed to roam or to exist at all, Sai left it unsaid, unsure of it himself. He supposed a leash would do: they were useful, after all, but they had to be controlled. A simple pendant to prove their affiliation to a hunting lodge was far from enough. That those so-called monasteries were even allowed to exist as independent entities was appalling. They hoarded money and power, holding their craft over the head of entire countries.

"And yet they are and you don't make the law," retorted Sasuki dismissively. "Look, Sai, frankly, I don't give a shit about what you think about the kaito. And given my clan is supposed to descend from one, I'll ignore what you said, for the sake of our team. He is interesting. You aren't. Period."

Sai looked struck for a second then glared heatedly at Sasuki, actively trying to burn her through his sight alone. Sakura grimaced at the harsh bluntness of his teammate and glanced sideways at Sai, who was now sporting a dark scowl. Sasuki had discouraged early on any notion of romantic interest and none of the two boys entertained such thoughts but still, to be told by your comrade that you were bland ought to sting.

"So, you have a problem with him, Sakura?"

The pink-haired boy blinked at the caustic tone of Sasuki's voice. "What? No!" He crossed his arms against his chest. "He can be useful, I'm not stupid. It took him a glance to see what was going on and we've been floundering for two weeks. He knows his deal, fine! I just don't like that sensei is keeping us away. We aren't babies to be sheltered!"

Sasuki smirked. "We might very well be. I really hope it's not merely someone who went nuts."

"Sasuki, people have died!" Sakura exclaimed.

"And? How does it relate to me wanting a challenge?"

"Well, you shouldn't be enthusiastic about the idea." lectured Sakura scoldingly. "Because if you fail, it means the murders will continue and more innocent people will die. Also, you could die as well. We are here on a mission, Sasuki and I'd rather face something we can deal with."

Sasuki considered the argument for a few seconds before she shrugged. "Why are we ninja if not to endure hardship?"

"Oh nah, fucking no way, Sasuki," said Sakura with a no-nonsense shake of his head. "You won't quote the Nindo on me when all you want is a dumb adrenaline rush."

"Having your life on the line is the only way to fight. It brings our hidden self to light."

Sakura rolled his eyes. "Cite Tobirama Senju all you want, it is still morally reprehensible to wish for disaster just because it gets you going."

"If you weren't so intelligent, you sure would be boring."

"I like being alive. I've very little interest in having my insides freed from my belly, thank you very much."

"Alright, alright. I still don't think it's gonna be a maniac."

"Why?"

"What do you think Kashika is discussing with him?"

Sakura sighed. "I suppose you are right but I still hope you are wrong."

Just as their conversation concluded, the trio arrived in front of the police headquarters. It was a large, imposing building several stories high, entirely designed in straight lines, high ceilings and large glass windows. It was somewhat daring in its simplicity yet an eye-catcher all the same, in part due to the contrast with the buildings surrounding it but also thanks to the clock tower that loomed above the entrance. Two policemen dressed in the white and blue haori of their function, sword tucked in their obi, stood on either side of the monumental door, vigilant. As Sasuki, who was leading in front of the trio, approached, the two men saluted.

The young woman sighed when she passed the door, distractedly answering the salute. "Our disguise sucks."

"You are the daughter of one of the Rokushou," shrugged Sakura as he did the same. "The policemen of Hidaiji ought to know your face. You'd need to be groomed like a nō actress if you didn't want to be recognized." He smirked and wiggled his fingers at Sasuki as he vocalized ghostly noises. "Ooohhh, makeup, ooohhh."

"You wear it better than me, for sure."

Sakura cackled. "Screw you. At least I don't pout like a kid when I have to wear makeup. What was it you were saying about enduring again?"

"In your dreams." mocked Sasuke, ignoring - superbly enduring, she thought - the latter part of Sakura's teasing before she turned to a passing policeman. "The chief is free?"

The man shrugged before recognition shone in his eyes and he snapped to a salute. "I think so, sire."

"Good, thanks," answered the teen with a lazy salute of her own, dismissing the man. "I don't even outrank them, it makes no sense to lick my boots that much."

"Your dad is scary," said Sakura learnedly. "And their boss. No one wants to cross a scary boss. Also, you bro-"

"We are going to fight if you say anything, Sakura." Sasuki threatened.

Having cowed, or so she believed, the pink-haired boy (who was silently laughing), she directed her step towards the chief's office.

Naruto was sitting on the balcony of the Great Owl's inn, at a small table in a remote corner. In front of him, a pot of tea was smoking, freshly made and smelling of delicate touches of jasmine mixed with orange peel and a hint of cinnamon. Quite the fancy drink but as it was Kashika paying, Naruto had decided to go all out. From his saddle, the young man had retrieved one thick book that he now held open on the table. The text was scribbled in tightly packed Vasranese script and seemingly went on and on, page after page. Occasionally, however, a few pictures would break the monotone wall of small, intricate letters: depictions of gruesome rituals, anatomical studies of bizarre creatures or even drawings of useful flowers.

"Heart and liver. Heart and liver," muttered the blond youngster, low enough that he would not attract undue attention from the other patrons. "Why the liver, for Sage's sake?"

Flipping a few pages from his book, Naruto went back and forth for a moment until he found the portion that interested him.

"Kojutsu… Blablabla, insects in a jar, feed it to a rice worm, yeah, yeah, I know that. Nurture the worm with heart flesh and brain tissue. Okay. So that's not Kojutsu." He grimaced. "Kojutsu is so Keikan dynasty, too." He flipped another few pages. "But then what? This has to do with bones. This with hair. Eyes." Naruto pursed his lips sideways; the variety of curses invented through the ages never quite ceased to surprise him but he knew of none that required a heart and a liver. It was strange, he could admit to it, but that was how it was. "I have no idea."

Absentmindedly scooping up his cup, he drank some of his tea, allowing the flavours to excite his taste buds and the ingredients to appease his mind. His eyes slowly drifted away from the massive tome of occult knowledge in front of him to wander over the patrons. His gaze met a few of them but they quickly averted their eyes with a shiver or a scowl. He was even motioned to go fuck himself by a drinker who had had a little much. The occupants of the table closest to his were all huddled together on one side, turning their back on him as best as they could and being quite obviously very uncomfortable as a result of their concerted efforts to be away from him. Naruto fought the urge to roll his eyes and offer a sarcastic quip and continued his idle observation.

The people were dressed finely, much better than he was but then again, he was clothed to travel. They all had some pounds in excess, morbidly so for a few of them. The Great Owl's inn had a standing above what he would usually choose and most of the clients seemed to be prosperous merchants and powerful landowners. They all belonged to the local notability, talked loudly about their blood ties to this or that clan, laughed uproariously at their own jokes and lorded over the crowd of workers they employed from above. Naruto was seized by an urgent desire to chuck the fattiest of all the assembled people off the balcony to see if the man's spilling folds of flesh would somehow make him fly or at least cushion his fall. The young man drank more of his tea and closed his eyes, caressing the paper of his book gently. Slowly, the sensation occulted the surrounding sounds and smells and Naruto was left in a bubble of quiet. His scattered thoughts soon formed a loop, focused on a single idea.

The words of his master puzzled him, Naruto had to admit. He was not one for pondering, far preferring to take the world as it came at him rather than lose himself in "what ifs". This time, however, they weighed on his mind, something which he disliked greatly. He could not see the critical usefulness of his four impromptu companions. He could not imagine what he could gain from them. They were worth their salt as warriors, he did not doubt that, but clearly, they had no clue on how to investigate something as delicate as murder. Now that he was thinking about it, he did not even understand why the policemen of Tanzaku had called for reinforcements in the first place: being trained inspectors and soldiers in their own right, the local officers should have been more than enough to discover and apprehend the culprit. They should have looked beyond the gore and identified the use of a blade as well as noticed the missing organs.

He focused on what he had gleaned from their respective personality. Sai was the usual xenophobe he had dealt with thousands of times, of the "kaito aren't humans and should be kept in chains" sort if his hunch was correct. Sakura seemed cool, just someone with something to prove; probably the less combat-oriented and usual problem-solver of the group, he had taken Naruto's appearance as being one-upped. It was stupid pride but ninja were prideful. Sasuki smelled of contained violence and the urge to let it out. A straightforward girl who apparently wanted a straightforward fight. She probably had something to prove too, or maybe something to compensate for. Kashika did not care but Naruto was not sure the woman cared about anything, truly, save maybe for her three subordinates.

While Kashika had only given Naruto her name, it had not taken him long to confirm the identity of Sasuki from her appearance and the deference the police officers present at the crime scene showed her. Being from the Uchiha clan, she was the prime suspect as to why the situation was so bizarrely complicated when it should have been a routine case of serial murder; her name just spelt trouble. Had the investigation been on hold until Kashika and her team had arrived, he wondered, or was the local police force genuinely incompetent? Naruto had unfortunately too little context to appropriately judge the likeliness of either possibility.

The young man sighed. Rarely had one of his master's visions been so imprecise, so vague that the man had little to no clue what he was sending Naruto into. Yet, never had any of his master's visions felt so decisive. Reading the future in Chakra, however, was far from being an exact science even if his master's eyes were otherworldly sharp. Suddenly, an estranged idea wormed its way amidst his thoughts. Maybe he was not here to bring help but to receive it instead? Naruto dismissed the thought as silly and focused once more on his master's words, mulling them over and over. Could it have been any other team of ninja or were their identities important? Why did they need him and not one of his siblings or any other kaito? The young man groaned; prophecies never made any kind of sense to him.

For a minute, Naruto contemplated simply leaving Tanzaku. Logic dictated that the case was about to be solved and that his presence was not needed anymore but immediately, his instinct protested vehemently, chilling his spine and telling him that he had to stay, that there were more to the murders than simple insanity. Over the course of his hunting career, he had learned to trust his guts. He had learned to recognize the smell of trouble and the affair reeked of it even if he could not identify what kind.

He was bound to stay and see the mission to its end; he had accepted it, it was simply a matter of repute, or so Naruto tried to convince himself. He sighed: the reality was that he had never been able to think quite like his oldest siblings, who saw the hunt as pure business. He owed nothing to the humans of this town yet he could not leave when he knew he would be needed. It simply wasn't the right thing to do.

With a sigh, he gulped down the rest of his tea and flipped another few pages. He scowled at the useless book on his lap; it always seemed to contain every possible knowledge about jujutsu except for the one tidbit of information he required.

As she lounged on a sofa, inside an office of the police headquarters specially cleared for her and her team, Kashika was unknowingly - not that she would have cared - entertaining thoughts similar to the young man's. She genuinely did not understand what her team and she were doing here. They were in no way trained for police work. They could laundry the dirty undergarments of the Rokushou better than anyone but they had no business investigating a murder. Heist, assassination and coercion was the name of their game, even straight-up battle if need be. She tried to dredge up the last conversation she had had with her cousin about the state of affairs in Hidaiji and came up with half-remembered snippets exchanged in a hurry.

There were tensions in the House. A block of representatives argued for a return to what the Konohamei had initially been founded for: collectively defending the frontiers of a vague geographical entity known as Hidaiji. Meanwhile, large, powerful clans manoeuvred tirelessly in the opposite direction in order to reinforce the Konohomei and create a real country with a centralized government; more than a simple alliance, they wanted a federation. The very existence of the House and the Fuki treaty were already steps in that direction but words went around that the Senju and the Uchiha dreamed of a monarchy.

A stronger nation was necessary, the next logical step to preserve their freedom from the encroaching northern hordes, poorer but unified by the iron hand of their khans and ready to strike. The barbarians had already been pushed back twice, doing it thrice would not be a problem and the federal project was a coup, nothing more than a grossly disguised attempt at restricting the rights of the citizenry. The Rokushou system especially was coming under heavy criticism, the hereditary hand-over of the charges seen as a felony by the sovereignists. In the end, it was a rather classic fight over clan interests and a question of whether or not the large wolves would eat the smaller ones.

Kashika tried hard to rationalize where her team could fit in this trite political game but came up with a blank. The Ministry of Security had been headed by an Uchiha since its creation two hundred years ago, along with the expansion of the Konohamei charter, while the Ministry of Justice had been under the influence of the Senju for just as long. The Senju had just been a tad bit cleverer in that they had allowed people who did not bear the surname - but shared their ideology - to occupy the position.

Kashika frowned. The police had put the case on hold, covering it up but not reaching the conclusions that their experience should have allowed them to reach. If the objective had been to embarrass the Uchiha management, then the public should have been informed but it had not been the case. Instead, a team of special operatives had been scrambled, something horribly onerous in peacetime. Their briefing had been short and dry, the officer of the Intelligence Office giving them nothing else but a "go and do." ANBU was an initiative many lords were unhappy about and there was a constant tug of war between the House and the Rokushou over what entity should have control of such a force. Sending ANBU to solve a police case could be an attempt to discredit the organization. Interestingly, the team comprised Sasuki Uchiha, second in line to inherit the lordship of the Uchiha clan but was that by coincidence or not?

"What kind of petty bullshit is going on?" Kashika groaned under her breath, low enough that her soldiers would not hear it, massaging her one good eye. She sighed, her lips pursed in a pout. She did not want to be involved in the silly internal affairs of the second most powerful clan in Hidaiji. She smiled briefly then, thinking about how a strange kaito was likely in the process of upheaving whatever scheme was going on by simply solving it.

The woman pushed her consideration of the kaito's appearance and mulled over the possible Uchiha problem instead. She quickly decided that, given she was already implicated, she would need all the information she could get to stay alive. Suddenly straightening up and hopping on her feet - attracting the attention of her ducklings by doing so - she walked up to the desk Sakura was occupying and took a piece of paper along with a bamboo pen. Dipping the tip of the sculpted piece of wood into ink, Kashika scribbled a few words on the piece of paper, shook it so that it would dry faster before she folded it carefully. Nicking her right thumb with a knife, she weaved a few mudra and called forth her chakra before she slammed her hands on the ground. A cloud of smoke billowed all around her and, once it dissipated, revealed a dog. The animal was cut for mild speed and greater endurance and wore a blue bandana around its neck.

"Hello, Kashika," the dog greeted gruffly. "You smell of blood and foxes."

The white-haired woman blinked. "Is that so? Well, not that it matters any." She presented the slip of paper to the dog. "To Tobi, at speed."

"Very well. Can I get some scratches before I go?"

Kashika rolled her one good eye. "Fine," she relented, proceeding to scratch the dog behind its ears.

A minute later, she stopped and the dog panted happily, satisfied. It then flew out of the open window with a bark.

"Something the matter, taichou?" Sakura asked from behind a scroll, having observed the entire scene curiously.

Kashika gave him a look. "What do you think, Sakura? Is something the matter?"

The boy frowned, not liking it one bit when his sensei started to play deduction games without giving them any idea as to where she wanted them to go.

"Well, you obviously don't trust us to handle this case."

Kashika sighed; this silly boy and his childhood insecurities. "Sakura, what are you? I know you are a ninja but more specifically, what are you?"

"What does that have anything to do with-"

"Just answer the question, please."

Sakura's frown deepened further. "Well, I'm an ANBU, the medic of cell Kuroinu. And your subordinate."

"M'yes. And you don't think it is strange?"

"What is?"

"For an ANBU cell to be dispatched to solve a crime?"

"Our order came from the Hokage," protested Sakura. ANBU completed their missions, no matter what they were and no question asked. It was what ANBU was about.

"We're specialists of asymmetrical warfare. This is a job for the police. Why would he ever send us here?"

Sakura tapped his pen against his cheek, his eyes lost in contemplation. After a minute, he shrugged.

"The Intelligence Office thought something was amiss and mandated us properly," he said slowly, "as per the Konohamei charter. The briefing was rather… empty sure but… Oh." His last word was said in a flat, displeased tone

"What is it?"

"I'm going off a limb here but... I think we are baits."

Kashika frowned and her two other subordinates tensed, abandoning what they were doing and eyeing Sakura intently.

"Why do you say that? And to catch what, exactly?"

Sakura's features fell into a scowl. "You are correct, spec ops aren't needed for a police investigation. ANBU can't be deployed easily during peacetime either and even less for a domestic mission so if the IO sent us here, it means they need muscles. I… I thought, given the victims, that they thought some monster was involved but now… I'm not sure. This Naruto guy told us armed people were responsible. The policemen should have seen that."

"So either Naruto is wrong, which I don't think he is, or the police are hiding something," mused Kashika.

Sakura nodded. "Assuming there's no foul play, they've been ordered to look the other way and the IO is in on it. And in we come."

Kashika growled. "The hell kind of bullshit is happening?"

AN: feel free to leave a review.