Chapter 16

Sasuke meticulously instructed Harry on how to cast a lightning style technique. The man had been discovered to be proficient in lighting and water techniques. Within the last few months he had dedicated himself to elemental training and was making good progress. More often than not Sasuke found himself wondering why the bearer was so adamant in learning ninja arts. When he asked, his mother-figure evaded the question like a pro, diverting to all of Sasuke's reasons for fighting instead. "Maybe you can draw your own conclusions." He said evasively. Sasuke's subsequent attempts to ask were ignored instead. So he let it drop.

Naruto had also been acting strangely, disappearing at odd intervals. A few times while they were at home he would be unavailable for a couple of hours, and once while they were on a mission he caught him reading a mysterious letter alone in his tent. It provoked a few questions but he had never had the chance to properly interrogate him.

A small bolt of lightning passed between Hari's hands. Sasuke smiled with pride. "Now you just have to build up its strength and range." He said. Hari wiped a bead of sweat from his face. "Is there any news on the new serial killer?" The man asked out of the blue, to Sasuke at least. He raised an eyebrow in thought. "Not really. The Police Corp are running ragged because of it. Five people murdered, no evidence, seemingly no strong motive. Some of the shinobi, and definitely Shikaku, have pieced together that the victims hold high positions in shinobi matters. The Goto matriarch was stationed in the missions' office overseeing the allocation of the assignments the Hokage couldn't be personally troubled with. Amagiri Midori was Shimura Danzo's personal assistant, as most council members were required to have one. Onikuma Yoshimitsu was part of the panel overseeing the Shinobi Academy. Inuzuka Nami was second in command in the Tracking Corp under ANBU."

Sasuke took a moment to collect his thoughts then shrugged. "Obviously they've gone and pissed off the wrong person and are paying for it." As blasé as the teen was being about the matter, he was deeply troubled. Could it be a coup of some sort? Rumors were running rampant in the village and fingers were wildly being pointed. Someone even had the gall to accuse Shimura Danzo of implementing nefarious plans. As of this moment he was being interrogated in the T and I department.

He was startled to find Hari giving him an intense look when their eyes met. It was gone as soon as he noticed it and Hari snorted. "I'm not surprised. Our line of defense has been somewhat lax in recent years." He turned to Sai who was standing nearby. "Sai-kun, I need to close the shop for the week. I hope you don't have any plans there." Sai nodded with a friendly smile. "Why do you ask, Hari-san? It's not my shop." Hari rolled his eyes and turned to Sasuke after a quick tempus. "Tea?" The Uchiha shook his head. "No, thank you. I have training with Kakashi-sensei and then I have a mission to get ready for." "That's fine. And Naruto-kun? Isn't he supposed to be back from his mission?"

Sasuke grimaced. "Now you've mentioned it…he was supposed to be back yesterday. His teammates are back anyway. I asked the Hokage if he had another related mission. Naruto requested an extension to take care of 'personal matters', and since it wouldn't kick up any trouble it was granted." Hari looked to the side in thought. "What do you think he's doing that he can't share with us?" Sasuke shrugged. Sai spoke up cautiously. "Itachi-san has been equally evasive lately. I believe it may be connected." Sasuke stared at him in surprise. At a sudden realization his eyes widened further. "Naruto-nii is mucking around with Akatsuki?" Sai's shoulders rose in a 'What do I care' fashion. "Naruto-san is not my business."

Sasuke went to say something but a hand on his arm stalled him. Hari was glaring but it wasn't at them. "When Naruto makes an appearance tell him we need to talk.", then he went into the house. Sai followed behind him silently as always.

~Scene Change~

Shikaku ran a hand over his face in frustration. Around him were pictures of the crime scenes. A large board was in front of him linking the different incidents, or trying. So far they were drawing blanks. Ibiki was with him today slaving away at his own desk. "This makes no sense. What could these people have done to piss off our guy?" Ibiki muttered, shuffling some papers. "Whoever said it's one person?" Shikaku asked, playing the devil's advocate. Ibiki raised an eyebrow and asked in turn "What makes you think it's a group?" Shikaku took a sip of sake. "Well, though the murders are almost always brutal there is nothing distinctive about them. There's no signature of any sort, just mutilated corpses. The only unique feature is that so far the victims have died in their homes and not a single person close by who wasn't targeted was alerted to anything suspicious going on. In one case, the brother was up all night in the next room." "That's pretty distinctive." Ibiki noted. "Anyone with the right resources can drug an entire household and the one case could be a coincidence." Shikaku went back to his papers. "I strongly suspect on person."

Ibiki perked up and came closer to inspect the documents his peer was looking through. He whistled in surprise. "Curious indeed, especially because he's a civilian." "A civilian whose 'potions' can perform miracles and who's training under two of our most promising shinobi, an ANBU captain and the late Snape Severus whose skills were Jonin level at the least." He raised his head. "Not to mention his kekkei gengai which seemingly gives him supposedly telepathic abilities. We know very little about his talent and who's to say he isn't hiding much more. Enough for him to murder our citizens without leaving any trace." The chief interrogator pursed his lips. "So why don't we bring him in?" Shikaku laughed. "Hari-san is one of the most important civilians in the village; his innovations have revolutionized the medical field and improved our shinobi's performance in missions. Why on earth would the Hokage muck that up by interrogating him without any solid evidence?" Ibiki grunted. "What do we do then? We have a suspect; we can't just let him go." Shikaku smirked. "He has a perfectly expendable bodyguard."

~Scene Change~

~Warning – Violent Murder – Pedicide~

"Please, don't do this." The man whimpered. He was bound by a seemingly endless rope without knots, since his captor was perfectly capable of letting him wander around the room as the rope elongated and shortened as he saw fit. Hari came into the room, his clothes and face splattered with blood. The sight made him cringe away from him. Two people had already been chased around the house; his granddaughter and his eldest grandson, one a genin and the other an academy student. He had heard their screams of terror and anguish as the bastard played a game of cat and mouse with his children. If only he had listened to his son and let them spend the weekend at his estranged wife's. "I've revealed to you everything you asked of me."

Hari pushed a lock of hair back into a messy bun, but it did little as strands of hair kept on falling into his face. He blew on it angrily then grinned at his captive. He stepped into the man's personal space and placed the bloody knife right under his chin. He stared deep into his eyes without blinking. A moment later he turned away almost contemptuously. He had taken an interest in the mind arts and although his occlumency shields were adequate enough to hold off a master legillimens, his own skill at reading minds was pitiful in Severus' opinion. He could sufficiently read an unprotected mind however… "I see the Hyuuga practice rudimentary mind protections." Hyuuga Ayah's eyes narrowed at the information. "You tried to infiltrate my mind?" Hari gave him a sideways glance as he contemplated what to do next. "Do you have any complaints?" Though the man told him much about some conspiracy he heard to secure his, Hari's, loyalty to the council, he didn't know what the plans were exactly. Only that it involved the use of a poison that could negate a person's ability to merge spiritual and physical energy, and thus the ability to use chakra. It could somewhat explain why Severus couldn't get himself to safety on time. He was hiding some more behind those mental barriers though, and Hari wanted it. It would have been child's play for Severus to get through even the Yamanaka's mental defenses, Hari thought wistfully.

Ayah paled at the cold glare that was sent his way. "What more do you want from me?" Hari considered the old man for a moment then the bindings he placed on him disappeared. He regarded the young man with unveiled suspicion. "Am I to believe you're letting me go?" Despite himself there was a note of hope in his voice. Hari laughed harshly. "So you can tell everyone about me? No way. We're going to play a game." Pale eyes narrowed and he fisted his hands. Of course he wouldn't let him go; he has seen his face and Hari murdered his children. Even if he was let go he would never let him get away with it.

Just as the man was about to speak Ayah sprung forth. The rope had been holding his chakra at bay so he couldn't escape from his binds, but now that he was free of it he could use his chakra as sluggish as it was. This explained the fact that a chakra-powered palm strike to the chest didn't instantly pulverize the killer's heart and lungs. Instead, Hari coughed up a mouthful of blood, his face crumpled in pain. A swipe at his legs brought him flat to the ground. With a furious yell Ayah went to strike at his head with a hopefully fatal blow. Instead, Hari's eyes glowed purple and he was thrown across the room into the wall. He slumped dazedly to the ground, but quickly picked himself up and settled into an offensive Hyuuga kata. His fingertips were glowing with chakra and though it hurt immensely to use it while still affected by whatever the boy did to him he stood steadfast.

Hari staggered to his feet and rubbed his aching chest. The glow of his eyes had turned green once more, his magic having been pulled back under control after a brief moment of rage that probably saved his life. He spat a glob of blood to the side, all the while glaring in contempt at the man across from him. He heard how fatal the Hyuuga's gentle fist was; he was surprised he wasn't dead yet. He settled into his own fighting stance. The only reason he wasn't fleeing was 1. because he would get caught that way and 2. he was bloody pissed off. Magic gathered under his skin ready to be used.

Ayah ran towards him. Hari took a quick steadying breath to get his pounding heart under control and put all of his occlumency training to bear. That way it was much easier to predict and react to the Hyuuga's advances. He tilted his body to the side so the fist sailed past him. He ducked under the elbow sent to his face and jumped back to avoid a kick to his side. The room was just big enough to wander out of the man's attack range. He stomped his foot 'Bombarda.' and his magic reacted. A crack travelled through the ground and the floor exploded outward just in front of the startled Hyuuga. He was sent flying back into the wall. He didn't waste time wondering what kind of jutsu the boy just used. He made a single hand sign and a clone materialized. They ran in different directions, both on route to the wide open door.

Hari's eyes darted between them in confusion and growing consternation. If he intercepted the clone the real one would get away, and in his arrogance he didn't secure the rest of the building enough so a highly capable Jonin couldn't just overpower the walls with a strong earth jutsu or any or the sort. Heck, his most obvious mistake at the moment was leaving the entrance open. He turned around with his hand pointed at the door to snap out an incantation. "Colloportus Maxima!" The door snapped shut just as the Hyuuga and his imitation were about to reach it. It glowed a pale blue before multiple chains sprung out of the frame to secure the door and a large lock clamped shut with finality.

The surprised Hyuuga paused to stare at the door long enough that Peverell's strange jutsu struck his clone and shredded its arm. It promptly puffed out of existence. The next jutsu was easily avoided, which scorched the wall. Before Hari could throw another attack he gathered chakra to his legs and shot forward. Hari's eyes widened at the direct attack and he waved his hand but it was too late. The sole of Ayah's shoe drove into Hari's stomach and the man folded around it before the momentum hurled him to the floor. He threw up half-digested food at the impact and pain. A savage satisfaction coursed through Ayah and he stalked towards the prone man, intent on ending his life for all he did.

Groaning, Hari hefted himself onto his hands and knees. A kick to the stomach made him yelp in pain, slumping back to the ground. A strike to the head jerked his head backward and made his vision swim. "This is what you deserve, scum." Ayah hissed in outrage. He kicked the man around a few more time before he decided to end him. He pulled back his hand with the fingers positioned like an eagle's claws, chakra gathered at the tip. He struck hard and fast into the man's chest to destroy his heart. To his shock and dread, the fingers struck a barrier which rippled at the impact. Hari pointed his hand at him and uttered some of the last words he would hear. "Crucio." And his entire existence was rewritten to one sole concept: Pain. Agony like no other. He felt as if his eyes were being gauged out, like the skin was being ripped from his body, the flesh rendered from his bones. He was on fire, being skewered again and again by kunai.

Hari got to his feet unsteadily, all the while glaring hatefully at the screaming and writhing man. His hair was in a mess and blood was dripping down his face in rivulets. He palmed the bleeding injury only to hiss in pain at the large gash on his head. He glared even harder and the man shrieked louder, his body contorting as if to get away from the pain.

When blood started seeping from the man's nose did he stop the spell, though reluctantly. He continued to babble incoherently, his body wracked by tremors. Hari wrinkled his nose at the scent of piss and excrement. "You disgusting pig!" he roared, kicking the man like he did to him. It had no further effect as the man was still in the aftereffect throes of the curse. He growled angrily, pacing around the man in an effort to calm himself. About a minute later he bent to lean on his knees. He was still dizzy from the previous attacks and raging wasn't doing him any favors.

Once fully calm he knelt in front of the Hyuuga to wrench his eyes open. "Legillimens." He hissed and felt himself tumble into his mind. The psychic damage done by extended exposure to the torture curse made tearing apart his mental defenses easy and soon a rush of information entered his mind. Closing his eyes he leaned back, breathing deeply both at the exertion and satisfaction. "Utatane Koharu. She's the one I'm looking for. Sev, I'm so close." He grinned up at the ceiling. "So, so close."

Then he regarded Ayah with a sneer. This one man almost ruined all his plans. "Thank you for the lesson." He acknowledged. Pulling a dagger from his unnaturally deep pocket he leaned over the man's form, then with immense enjoyment he at stabbed his chest. Over and over and over and over. His arm moved seemingly of its own accord, driving the knife deeper and deeper each time. More blood splatter onto his face, onto the walls. The floor beneath them became drenched in it. The crazed glint in his eyes became more intense, his grin grew larger at the violence. Then he stopped and gasped for breath.

Ayah was now unrecognizable. His torso was a mound of minced meant by now and his facial muscles were barely clinging to his skull. It seems in his mad haze he had stabbed his face too. Hari wipe his face with his sleeve, which did no good because it was also drenched. He grunted in annoyed resignation. Blood was so difficult to remove from fabric. At this extent he would have to burn his clothes. Sitting back tiredly he concentrated as hard as he could. All bodily fluids which belonged to him crawled from their current position to him in sheets. He directed them to one place, shuddered in disgust at the mixture of blood, bile and sweat, and cast the cleaning charm. "Scourgify!" The blood and all vanished but left a dark stain on the plush carpet he was sitting on. In retrospect, he should have gathered the waste onto the wooden floor. He cast the spell again and the dark shade of blood became lighter. Another try left a paler stain. Scowling frustrated, he cast the spell multiple times until the carpet was worn and almost falling apart at that spot but the blood was gone.

Sighing, he dragged himself to his feet and staggered for just a moment. His body hurt like hell and he could just imagine the bruise sprouting on his abdomen. His head injury was worrying too. He cast a minor healing charm to prevent more blood loss. After thinking a bit about it he took off his clothes and cast a few more gentler cleaning charms at his feet. He proceeded to burn the clothes to cinders then, naked, he unlocked the door and went down the hall to the shower. He cleaned himself of the blood and gunk on his body using his victim's shower.

Once clean he transfigured a towel into a simple robe which he tied around his waist. Making sure he thought of everything he needed to hide; he always put a spell on himself so he couldn't leave fingerprints and a potion made sure no hairs fell loose. The potion was a useful innovation from his home world so medical staff or cooks didn't go around leaving hairs to contaminate their patients or for their customers to find. Satisfied, he made his way out of the house with a disillusionment spell on him. He tiptoed his way around a little girl's severed head, gingerly stepped around a pool of blood that surrounded the gutted boy's torso. He had to step over a leg here, an arm there and had to take the route around the kitchen so not to bother crossing the wrecked living room. Finally, he made it to the door and left the house without any more incidents.

~End of Violence~

~Scene Change~

"Is this accurate?" A voice asked from behind the mask. The snake-like man gave him a withering look. "Do you doubt my information?" Obito glanced up from the information. "Forgive me, you're not exactly trustworthy." Orochimaru scoffed. "You already know there is much to gain from this." The Uchiha rose. "Yes, which is why I'm entrusting this job to you. The Akatsuki are not performing as well as they should and I believe Pain is scheming behind my back." He raised his hand to see red chakra gather in his palm. It burned slightly but the skin wasn't damaged. "I have already absorbed three biiju; I will use this power to defeat the rest. It will take some time, but my goal's in sight." He clenched his fist so the chakra disappeared. Orochimaru, who had been staring at the display hungrily, snapped out of it. He smirked. "And all the knowledge in the world will be ripe for picking."

Kabuto watched the exchange with narrowed eyes. His loyalty to Orochimaru was unquestionable, but he was wary of their new ally. He wasn't sure how enslaving all of humanity in a worldwide jutsu would equate to inheriting all the knowledge in the world. They would be caught up in the jutsu after all. Unless the so called Uchiha Madara makes an exception to the two of them it will all be for naught.

Once they left the masked man's lair he relayed his concerned to his master. Orochimaru just smiled mysteriously. "There's nothing to worry about, my trusted servant. I have ensured our safety." And Kabuto believed him. Orochimaru said they were secure, and so they were secure. He worried about it no more.

~Scene Change~

"You pack a punch, un." Deidara groaned, nursing a bruised cheek with an ice pack. Naruto smirked. "You were not bad yourself, though hand-to-hand isn't your strong suit." Hidan laughed across from them. "You're both pussies if you think that was impressive." He said. "Come and give Jashin-sama a show; prove your worth!" Naruto sniffed at the Jashinist. "Say that again after you pull yourself together." Hidan glared at him. "I can tear your ass with all of my limbs unattached." He declared but nonetheless hopped to collect his two missing limbs. As he bent down to pick up his left leg with his right arm, he lost his balance and toppled to the floor with his face grinding painfully into the ground. He broke his nose and almost bit off his lip in the process. Deidara roared with laughter, Naruto turned away to hide his amusement.

Itachi came in, arms folded. "I hope you're done pounding your chests like testosterone filled apes." Naruto got his amusement under control. "Yes, is there something you need?" Itachi took in the states of those in the room. He frowned at Hidan's dismemberment. He went to heal Deidara's bruises, choosing to have Kakuzu piece Hidan together. Good thing the man wasn't on some assignment. "Why yes, you have a meeting with Pein-sama in thirty minutes." Naruto hopped to his feet and stretched himself. The previous spar was brutal but he was a junchuriki; short of broken bones, third degree burns, shredded flesh and chakra exhaustion he could heal in a few minutes. He survived the mock battle without suffering any of those so needed no attention. He watched in amusement when Itachi hefted Hidan onto his shoulder and picked up his limbs. Even if he was attracted to immortality no way was he having it without quick self-regeneration.

~Scene Change~

In hindsight, Sai should have known this wouldn't end well. The betrayed look on Hari's face certainly hinted at nothing good. They were in Hari's shop on a Saturday morning. It was early enough that no one had even thought of entering the shop that day. Sai had little dark bags under his eyes from continued days of fruitless night watch. This morning, after the fourth night of resigned vigilance over the bearer's bed, he had finally decided that to hell with it, he would get his answers.

"Do you think so little of me that you would accuse me of thoughtless murder?" The hurt in his voice was so real that Sai felt like an asshole. He fumbled for a response to this not so entirely unforeseen denial. "Every time someone dies you're inconspicuously absent. Even the others have started to notice." Hari reeled back at the accusation. Sai continued. "You leave convincing illusions of your presence I'll give you that, but you don't fool me. I'm your guard Hari-san, but this…I cannot condone this." His face showed an emotion for the first time since this conversation started, twisting in regret. "I'll have to report you to the Hokage." Hari gasped. "How could you?"

Sai rubbed the bridge of his nose in stress. Making a decision he dropped his hands onto the counter they stood over. His eyes bored into tear-stained, confused ones. "Unless you let me help you. What are you after? Is this about Snape-san?" It was as if the words were a physical punch to the bearer's face. "Is this about revenge? People, Konoha citizens, are dying." Hari drew himself up. "I didn't do it, any of it! I'm affronted you even think I am capable of such. I keep on telling you Sev…his death was a mistake." He took a shaky breath, betrayal thick on his tongue. "You…I can't believe you're accusing me of all this mayhem. What have I done to deserve your hatred? What?" Sai blinked with deliberate slowness, trying to puzzle out this charade. For how long will the man deny his guilt? Will he ever own up to his wrongdoings?

He leaned forward. "You won't convince me otherwise. I am certain you are the serial killer. Now I just need to gather enough evidence to convince everyone else of that fact. Unless you help me help you put an end to this." His eyes went soft at his next words. "If you stop now I can pretend it never happened." Hari sniffled but held his head up and spoke with a tremulous but strong voice. "I am not guilty of anything. Tell everyone you like, I cannot be implicated." Sai's lips drew into a thin line. He stood with resolve that mirrored the stubborn square of Hari's shoulders. "So this is how it'll be." He turned his back on his charge for the first time since he started his assignment. Hari was important to him, but the village was even more important.

~Scene Change~

Hari staggered back as the weight of Sai's accusations hit him anew with the resounding bang of the shut door. Somehow he felt his relationship with the ROOT shinobi was shutting with it. His hands shook with the effort it took not to break down at the anger, confusion and despair. Then he was just angry. With a shriek of rage he cleared the counter of the documents that littered it. Then he shuttered the piece of furniture with a burst of raw magic. He pulled at his hair with another angry shout. "That son of a bitch!" His breath came in harsh pants. "How dare he? How dare he try to stop me? No, no."

He started pacing in a panicked manner, arms folded and fingers grazing over his elbows in a jittery manner. "Calm down, Harry. We can conquer this, them." He took a deep breath. "Yes, they have nothing over us. It's his word against our own. There's no proof." His hand found its way back into his hair. "Everyone already distrusts us, the weird girly man with weird jutsu. This was a mistake." He growled. "There's no proof. We are safe." He spun around and the mess of paper and splintered wood was cleared.

"We need a plan. We're almost there. We just need a good plan." He rubbed a hand over his lips in thought. "Maybe Sai should be taken out of the picture. He's the only one who suspects me." He sat down on a wooden chair. "No! It'll be too suspicious. He said the others are also started to catch on. The Police Corp has formidable intellectuals too. No. We just need to end this quietly." He scoffed. "The trail of bodies you've left in your wake were subtle indeed." Then he waved off the self-critique. "We just need to get a certain Council member." His eyes darkened and he clenched his fists. "After, everything will fall into place. We'll be fine." An unkind smile formed in his lips. "I'll fix everything and you won't have to remember and nag at my methods anymore."

He frowned as a foreboding feeling grew. The doorbell tinkled with the day's first customer. His head drooped forward slightly. The customer drew closer and he raised his head. A welcoming smile automatically spread on his face, overshadowing his growing confusion. "Good morning. How can I help you, sir?" The man made a small show of looking around then focused entirely on him. "Morning. I think my wife is coming down with a flu. She's pregnant though, I hope you can still help." Hari nodded to quell his concerns. "Not to worry sir. If you can just list all her symptoms." And his day started at the shop started in earnest, and he could confidently convince himself Sai had lost interest in the shop in search of other pursuits.