Author's Note:Hello everyone!
I'm super excited to finally share this fic with you, me and char_lotteral teamed up for the NHArtxFic event and picked up the original concept I had for the fic, creating an even more amazing story! Hope you guys enjoy it!
Be sure to check the beautiful art char has made on her Tumblr page moncharry | char-lotteral
Summary: Menma Namikaze is the newcomer who finds himself caught up in the middle of an investigation relating to the mysterious death of Neji Hyuga. Not only that, but a certain bluenette catches his eye and trouble seems to follow wherever she goes.
A euphoria-esque type of fic. We take a look at the life of a group of high school students as they each deal with their own issues, mainly through Menma's point of view.
1. beyond the night
"Watch where you're going, asshole." A tall white-haired senior growled as Menma made his way through his new school. His day was already off to a bad start and the last thing he needed was one of these conceited pricks annoying him.
Pushing open the double doors, he was met with the typical bustling activity of a high school building. People flocked into different groups, most seemed to already be on their way to the first period even though they still had twenty minutes till the bell rang.
In stereotypical high school fashion, eyes were directed his way. Menma spotted more than a few people following his every move whispering to their counterparts their opinions on the 'new guy'. Although one could consider the school they were at as a fairly small one in comparison to others in the area, the odds of Menma being the only new person entering their elite community were fairly small.
But with the glances thrown his way, Menma, someone who couldn't care less about others and their opinions, found himself doubting if coming by himself had been such a great idea. He wasn't an idiot, he knew his looks attracted the attention of others, but he disliked whenever people stared for too long.
Menma was an expert in walking in the shadows which in turn allowed him to be a great observer.
Unfortunately, whenever he was introduced into a new space, people loved asking nonsensical questions. And if there was one thing he hated the most was people who wasted his time.
Given the situation he was now in, he had no choice but to put up with it all and continue his way down the hall with a specific target in mind.
Sasuke Uchiha.
The irredeemable flirt.
As it was to be expected, his best friend was leaning against some girl's locker, red rose in hand as he tried to give it to said girl accompanied by a date proposal. But surprisingly enough she paid him no mind.
Finding the scene surprisingly funny, he leaned against some other lockers, a few feet away from the pair. In all his seventeen, soon to be eighteen, years of life, never had Menma witness a person of the opposite sex leaving Sasuke Uchiha high and dry.
"I said no ." The girl slammed the door, clearly irritated, and turned to glare at Sasuke. "How many times do I need to repeat myself?"
"Oh c'mon Sakura… you and I both know-"
"Shut it. I have zero patience to deal with you this early." Pushing a grinning Sasuke back against the blue-colored lockers, she was joined by a group of students who followed after her like lost puppies.
He didn't even know the girl but he found himself already liking her. Chuckling, Menma Namikaze continued to watch as his best friend eyed his next prey.
A shy platinum blonde girl that hid behind two other guys who Menma vaguely remembered from his childhood.
If he recalled correctly, the taller one was named Shikamaru Nara and the 'chubby' one Choji Akimichi. They seemed to be arguing about something football-related. Choji was frowning and shaking his head whilst Shikamaru explained passionately that he was now finally ready to get off the bench and play on the field next to Choji, waving his hands around their small group to further his point.
No longer interested in watching Sasuke's failed attempts, he pulled out his phone and checked his schedule. Just as he was about to change the song he listened on his headphones; he felt a series of taps on his shoulder.
Not even bothering to turn around, he glanced sideways and saw an impatient blue-haired girl staring back at him. "Need something?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow up as he eyed her fully, moving his body slightly to get a better view.
If looks could kill he would probably be nothing but dust. What made it funny to him was how someone so small could showcase such an amount of anger at this time in the morning already.
"Get. Lost." She said, arranging the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "You have seconds to get away from my locker before I make you regret making me losing my time." Her clothes showed off her curves, looking as if they had been tailored to fit perfectly, and with her perfectly arranged hair, it already told him that the girl came from money if the limited edition channel bag on her shoulder and the expensive gold earrings didn't already make it painfully obvious.
Smirking, he purposely leaned down to stare into her pale lavender eyes. "You're annoying." Perfectly shaped eyebrows scrunched together, and she crossed her arms, emphasizing the size of her chest even more as he looks her up and down and grasps her chin. " Hot, but annoying."
"Who are you?" An incredulous look took over her features as she gave him a once over, not particularly impressed.
Menma continued to stare her down before she huffed and threw her long blue hair behind her shoulder. "You know what? Don't really care. Now please move."
Before Menma could either respond or move as she had asked, he was shoved aside and momentarily lost his balance, causing him to slam his hand against a locker and making enough noise to catch Sasuke's attention.
"Oi! You little shit." Menma glared furiously at the blue-haired girl as she proceeded to ignore him and shove a few books inside the blue locker. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" He yelled out and closed the door the moment her hands were back on her bag.
It was the girl's turn to look him up and down slowly, before looking at him as if he were a mere nuisance. As she prepared to answer with a snarky comment, someone else interrupted.
"Hinata-chan! You look absolutely gorgeous this morning! Did you do something new with your hair?" Sasuke came drawling up to the pair, dropping his arm around Menma's shoulders, as Hinata ran a hand through her hair unconsciously. "Heard you and Toneri broke up. Again. "
At the mention of that guy's name, Menma watched her face contort into pure anger. Although it was supposed to give off a scary vibe, he couldn't help but find it comical. Both he and Sasuke were at least two heads taller than her and she still managed to look down her nose at them.
"Just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you …" The Uchiha had a hand on top of his heart, giving her a puppy-eyed look.
Eyes narrowing, Hinata pulled the strap of her bag a bit up to rest more comfortably on her shoulder and answered, "You're friends with the Uchiha. Now it's explained. Stupidity only attracts more stupidity..."
With that, she left and walked down the hall as if she owned the damn place. Menma could only watch as everyone's heads turned to watch the blue-haired girl and the blonde who had just joined her side link arms, the same girl Sasuke had been trying to charm minutes ago.
"Man. I tell you. One of these days Imma score with Hinata." Like most males in that corridor, Sasuke maintained his hungry gaze on the Hyuga until she disappeared around a corner. "I'm this close to makin' it…"
"Dude. I just watched you try and fail with at least three different girls already and none of them look interested." Menma shrugged Sasuke off and adjusted his backpack. "You should probably start looking somewhere else."
"Ahh. But those three are like untouchable. Ino is too scared to even maintain a proper conversation with anyone of the opposite sex, hell she can't even talk to a person outside her small group of friends... Hinata is in an on-and-off relationship with Toneri, so for your health's sake do not approach that one while Toneri is in the room…" Sasuke used his fingers to tally off the names he mentioned, leading the way to the classroom.
Menma rolled his eyes and upped the volume on his headphones as he followed his friend to their first class of the semester.
"And then you have Sakura. Beautiful. Smart as fuck. Utterly perfect. And hasn't dated anyone in quite some time. I've gone out with her a couple of times. Well, not really out out. We were in a group… But, it still counts!"
Menma stopped to grip Sasuke's shoulders, trying to make his friend see he didn't care about the school gossip with a knowing look. "Dude. I don't give two fucks about that. Can you just shut up and show me the way to calc?"
Defeated, Sasuke slumped a bit and nodded.
"Just saying man," Sasuke continued as they walked inside a classroom full of other seniors. "it's your first day here and yet you've managed a one on one with Hinata, one of the hottest girls in this school," he opened his arms to emphasize his point as Menma sat on the back of the room, near a window. "for more than five minutes without having Toneri and the rest of the football team interrupting you. And that is a fucking miracle."
Sasuke sat in front of him and kept rambling about shit Menma tuned out. He was busy scanning the room and analyzing his new classmates.
In his previous school, they used to have a certain fear of him due, not only because of his father, the high mighty senator Minato Namikaze but also his short-fused temper and the overall reputation of not to be messed with. There had been times where he hung out with the wrong crowds which got him into fights he would always win granting him the social status of a lone wolf.
But here, no one knew him.
Or remembered him, for that matter.
He had left Konoha with his family when he was eight and had only maintained contact with Sasuke these last nine years. But that was only due to their parents' friendship and the summers spent vacationing together. Sasuke was probably his only friend here at the new school.
And he intended to keep it that way.
Menma and his family had moved around the past years at least four times due to his dad's job. With the possibility of Minato becoming the new Hokage, they moved back to Konoha and Menma couldn't have thanked his dad more.
No, it wasn't because he wanted to finally settle down in one fucking place for more than two years. And no it wasn't because he wanted to form 'real bonds' with people and have more than Sasuke as a friend.
None of that mattered to Menma.
School wasn't even that big of a problem. He had an eidetic memory so maintaining good grades was the easiest shit in his life.
The real reason was his godfather, Jiraiya. Ever since Menma turned fourteen he helped him catch bounties. Jiraiya, a private detective who does some work for government intelligence, tended to get some of the weirdest and sometimes most dangerous cases he had ever seen.
And more often than not Menma had expressed interest in knowing more about what he did for a living, how that bounty hunting business worked.
So, at fourteen Menma stole a few case files and used his knowledge from all the detective movies and books he had gotten his hands on, to catch some of those criminals, surprising the older man to the point where he agreed to let him help here and there.
At first, his parents had been furious, but Jiraiya had been impressed by his skills to the point where he convinced them to allow Menma to keep helping him if he kept his grades up and out of danger, whilst his godfather did the arresting job.
It was the only thing that brought any excitement to his overall boring life.
After he was done for the day here in Konoha High he would be driving to Jiraiya's office to see if there were any new jobs for him. His parents didn't know that the old man had allowed him to catch the bounties alone for the past year and a half and he intended to keep it that way. As far as they knew he was spending time with his 'friends'.
Soon the bell rang, indicating that he had to go down to the chemistry labs. Sasuke apparently had the same class, so he followed, giving him more unnecessary 'intel' on everyone who Sasuke deemed was worth knowing about.
Menma who was already tired of hearing the yammering about all the girls Sasuke had scored and the ones still on his list, was about to tell him to shut up but as he entered the lab he saw not only the pinkette named Sakura but the girl from earlier as well, Hinata.
Sasuke practically skipped ahead, sitting behind the two girls who barely paid him any mind as they talked about the professor that would be teaching this class.
Not wanting to be paired with someone he didn't know and who, no doubt, would try and strike a conversation with him, sat next to Sasuke. The Uchiha now had his eyes glued to his phone, a frown marring his features as he furiously texted back. The blond didn't think much of it, already guessing it had to do with his father since Fugaku Uchiha was probably the only person on this earth that could cause that 360 on Sasuke.
"Alright, class. Today we'll be introducing some new aspects of bioorganic chemistry as well as forming the groups for the activities you'll be doing." The fifty-year-old man addressed the class and immediately turned back onto the board to write down his name and the first lesson he'd be teaching them.
Through his peripheral vision, he saw how Sasuke quickly snapped out of that particular mood and went back to his flirty persona, having already tapped the shoulders of the girls sitting in front of them.
Menma stared straight ahead, listening to the man explain the fundamentals of bioorganic chemistry drawing on the board complex structures. The bluenette chose to ignore Sasuke as well, having taken her notebook out to take detailed notes.
The pinkette, however, turned back with a sarcastic smile. "Yes, Sasuke-kun?"
"How about, you, me, and Hinata all form a group to work together?" Sasuke tried to charm the girl with his most seductive voice, making Hinata snort and the other girl frown.
"What makes you think I would ever agree to that?"
"Well, for starters we'd be the best looking group out of all the class and-"
"You're abandoning your friend like that Sasuke? How loyal of you." Hinata interrupted, having stopped taking her notes to pick up a different colored pen from her case. The Hyuga side glanced at both Sasuke and Menma, the former now smirking at her.
"No need to worry about Menma here. He and his photographic memory will do just fine on his own." Normally, the blond would have felt slightly offended by his friend's remark, not liking when he gained unnecessary attention from other people, but he chose to overlook it, silently agreeing with Sasuke.
Sakura's focus turned to Menma with a weird glint in her eyes. "You really have an eidetic memory?"
Menma nodded, noticing how even Hinata seemed curious about it as she momentarily turned and gave him a once over with an otherwise unreadable expression. Sakura, however, her entire body language shifted, adopting a flirtatious posture when directed towards Menma instead of the purely disinterested one previously given to Sasuke.
"Yeah. Yeah. He's a genius. But enough about him ." Sasuke moved back onto the pinkette's line of sight, causing her to drop the smile that had bloomed on her cherry pink lips. "Let's get back onto the matter of us. What do you say, ladies?"
"I'd rather work with Shikamaru than work with either of you idiots." Hinata quipped, abandoning her notes to fix both Sasuke and Menma with a glare. The latter hadn't even been mentioned in the package deal the Uchiha had offered and was still on the receiving end.
"You heard Hinata. We're not interested in working with you Sasuke." Sakura then shared a look with her friend and the two focused back on the teacher. Menma had his doubts about the pinkette's statement but refocused on the lesson, taking his own notes on both Sakura and Hinata.
Sasuke proceeded to mope till the end of the class, choosing to play a random game on his phone instead of paying attention. Menma found himself talking to Sasuke here and there about the basketball team and their ranking, lifting his friend's mood almost instantly.
"And of course, we're way better than the football team. We're now tied and if we beat their ranking then we'll get a special reward from the cheerleaders, right Hinata-chan ?" Sasuke drawled, causing her to snort and mutter a "You wish" and Sakura to roll her eyes.
"You always say that, but the football team always beats you." The pinkette jammed with a knowing smirk on her lips. "Ever since Itachi-kun graduated, your precious basketball team has been unable to beat their scores."
"Tsk." Sasuke crossed his arms, teeth grinding together as he muttered. "You give Itachi way too much credit. He isn't even that good."
"Wasn't he the one who received a proposal from that famous American team?" Sakura delightedly pulled on Sasuke's nerves, causing him to grit his teeth harder and answer rashly.
"Shut up. You don't know what the fuck you're talking about."
"Sure, Sasuke… At least I'm not the one living under my brother's shadow."
Menma had to place a hand on the Uchiha's shoulder before he did something that would get him in trouble. What he didn't expect was for the bluenette to flinch as well and receive a small apology from Sakura.
The bell rang, and everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get the hell out.
"Okay class, before we leave, I took the liberty to form the new groups by myself," the man moved towards his computer, clicking a few buttons before continuing, "I sent you all an email with the list and the first protocol. I suggest the groups get together sometime this week to discuss it and answer the pre-activity questions to deliver before we start next Monday."
The moment the man said 'email' all students grabbed their phones to check who they'd been partnered with.
Sasuke was one of the first people to open said list, yelling out his approval, his previous mood now forgotten, possibly thrown out the window. Both girls in front of them grunted and Sakura even thumped her head against the counter after she read the list.
"Me, you and Sakura-chan on the same group!" Sasuke's arm dropped around Menma's shoulders, shaking him a bit. "Thank you Lord, for partnering me with my best friend and my eternal love."
"Good luck with the idiots." Hinata patted her friend's head as she bent down to pick up her bag. "See you later." With a wave of her hand, the bluenette left but even she didn't seem all that excited for who she'd been stuck with.
Sasuke then took it as an opportunity to sit next to the pinkette and try and flirt some more but the poor guy was shoved off the stool falling back on his ass.
"We'll meet on Wednesday after school in the library. I don't want any delays." Grabbing her bag, Sakura stepped over the Uchiha and leaned over the table to take a closer look at Menma and bat her eyelashes. "See you there, Menma Namikaze. "
With a kiss blown his way, Menma couldn't help but smile as Sasuke let out an annoyed grunt before getting up.
"That's two already. If you get Ino as well I swear I'll revoke your best friend status."
"Sure buddy." With that they both left the lab, heading towards the cafeteria for lunch. Menma didn't even get the chance to point out that Hinata wasn't in the least interested in him but Sasuke preferred to ignore that and ramble about nonsensical stuff per usual.
"Alright, everyone! For those of you who are new here, my name is Maito Gai and you might call me Gai or Gai-sensei, however you prefer," the man was dressed in a ridiculous green outfit, eyes shining bright as he spoke excitedly. "So! Here's my plan for what we'll be doing during this semester."
Menma was trying his hardest to focus on what the man with the bowl cut was trying to say, but it was hard especially when one of his chemistry partners seemed to be glued to his side.
And no, it wasn't Sasuke.
Sasuke was busy flirting with the girls that had begun doing some stretches, a certain bluenette ignoring every question thrown her way by the Uchiha while Sakura drowsed him with her own set of questions about whether or not he was liking the new school, how he was adapting, and other bullshit.
Menma had his eyes focused on a random point on the wall in front of him, questioning why the school had had the brilliant idea to not only have a gym class on a Monday but right after lunch as well.
"And of course, Miss Hyuga 's favorite," upon hearing her name, Hinata turned around from her argument with the Uchiha to her gym teacher and everyone else in said girl's direction. " swimming. We're the lucky ones this semester having the pool all to ourselves. So, just a heads up for those of you who will no doubt try and escape those classes, if you don't show up to at least five of them you will be failing. So I suggest you guys have lunch on the lighter side every other week. Don't want any of my youthful students getting sick!"
Once again, everyone turned their heads to stare at Hinata, whose cheeks were flushed a light pink and was already glaring at those who had been staring the hardest.
That being Menma himself, who was mildly amused watching her having to control that temper of hers and failing miserably.
"For today, I'll let you guys do what you want after we are done with our warm-ups!" Gai enthusiastically jumped up and down and then pointed towards the track. "Thirty laps and then a quick relay game and you're free to go!"
Menma couldn't help but snort. Everyone else grunted and muttered that thirty laps were an abuse and that Gai-sensei must be insane for pushing them that far.
When the whistle blew all the students began doing their laps. Menma stayed in the middle, a certain pinkette by his side for the first five laps before Sasuke decided to join them.
"Those shorts look good on you Sak!" Trying his luck for the umpteenth time, the Uchiha actually achieved some success when her cheeks darkened a bit. "How about you let me help you take those off after this?"
"Dude." Menma looked at him sideways, he was clearly overdoing it and Sakura was flustered, and not in a good way.
"What?" Sasuke mouthed but almost immediately got a slap on his face. "What was that for?"
"You're a pig. Even Menma-kun agrees. Now scatter, we were having a nice conversation before you came along and rudely interrupted." A one-sided conversation, but whatever.
"C'mon Sak, you know I only want you to give us a chance." Sasuke kept rubbing his face in the spot where a red handprint was still burning. "We'd be perfect together."
"You're a manwhore Sasuke. Never in a million years you and I will have a relationship." With that, the pinkette grabbed Menma's hand and dragged him along to the front, where Hinata was. Even as he tried to get her to let go, the girl had an iron grip on his hand, forcing him to follow.
Eventually, the two caught up with the bluenette, but Sasuke was right behind, hogging all the pinkette's attention for himself. Leaving Menma to deal with a struggling Hinata, who was in need of a break. "Your face is red. You should maybe stop for a moment before you fall down."
"I'm fine." She said, pushing herself a bit further. "You should get to your friend. Sakura's about to lose it and it won't be pretty."
Shrugging, Menma kept on running beside a much more calm Hinata, whose lack of temper could be attributed to tiredness. "If he's messing with her then he knows what he's getting himself into."
Nodding, the girl was progressively getting redder and her pace was slowing. Weighing his options, Menma considered warning her again but upon receiving a 'fuck off' and watching her sprint ahead, he had no choice but to just run past her.
When he was within her earshot, Menma got close enough to whisper to her ear and point towards a random couple. "Hey, isn't that Toneri Otsutsuki's tongue all the way down that other girl's throat? You know, the one he was having lunch with?"
"What?" Hinata's entire focus was now on said unsuspecting couple and ended up tripping on her feet which caused her to almost dive into the ground face-first if it weren't for Menma who was there to catch her at the perfect moment.
"You're so clumsy Hyuga… So prim and proper for some things and a disgrace in others." After steadying her on her own two feet, Menma pushed her off of him a bit, cracking his knuckles as he laughed at her startled and flustered expression. "Now you should definitely go freshen up a bit, you look quite the mess. Don't want your boyfriend and his new girlfriend to see you like that, now would you?"
With that, he left, and even as he got further and further away, Menma could still hear Hinata hiss and yell people to get off as she stomped off in the direction of the locker rooms, dragging Sakura along.
"Did you do something to Hinata?" Sasuke asked as he finally managed to catch up to him. "She's fuming, bro."
Menma feigned innocence as he muttered, "Don't know what you're talking about."
"Yeah, right… just letting you know you're playing with fire." It was Sasuke's turn to point at the couple on the other side of the gym.
Frosty blue eyes met his own with a death glare.
"As if someone like him would scare me."
Sasuke shrugged and laughed it off with Menma, changing the subject altogether.
Menma was happy he got to have a little bit of payback from that morning's locker scene, but he had a feeling he wasn't done with Hinata Hyuga.
Not by any chance.
"Okay kiddo, here's your stuff." His godfather handed him three case files before walking towards the coffee machine. "Try and get those done quickly, 'kay?" The old man opened a few cabinets, searching for his prized coffee can and a packet of sugar. The window above the small sink was open, letting in a small breeze that allowed the moldy smell to disperse.
Jiraiya's content expression made Menma frown as he opened said folders finding the same old boring cases he had been fed ever since he got in the bounty business. "Don't you have something more challenging? These are boring as fuck." He threw them back onto the desk, crossing his arms as he watched Jiraiya stir his drink with a disposable spoon.
"Hey, hey, hey! Watch your language!" Jiraiya blew on his hot coffee, sitting back at his desk. If you could call it that. It was filled with paperwork, an old monitor sitting way too close to the edge, at least three different coffee mugs sat in between the clutter, and of course, empty takeout packages littered the place.
The blond had to repress a gag upon entering the small office space his godfather used as a base. Besides the messy desk, all the dust covering the surfaces was making him wish he had brought a mask along. Why Jiraiya had insisted on operating from such a place was a mystery not even Menma could figure out.
Jiraiya is a busy man and more often than not, he forgot to take care of himself and his surroundings, but it didn't stop him from being one of the best in his field. Menma knew that at least once a week a cleaning lady stopped by, but he wondered when was the last time said lady made an appearance.
"Look kiddo, I'm kinda busy right now, I was handed three different cases that require my absolute focus. I'll probably have to leave town for a few weeks… Hell, just email me your findings." Jiraiya seemed oblivious to his surroundings, moving around as if the place wasn't a whole mess. "Today was your first day of school, right?"
Shrugging, Menma found an empty chair by the small window and sat down, shoving the case files inside his bag before he leaned back to assess all the information Jiraiya had pinned on his whiteboard. "Yeah. Already got one hell of a headache because of it. What's that?"
The old man turned towards the pictures of his latest target. "An ongoing investigation on Momoshiki Otsutsuki. This guy came around three years ago as a nobody and now he's one of the biggest players in town. Fugaku and I have been trying to get solid evidence on him for quite some time but the guy is a ghost."
Menma got up to inspect the links Jiraiya had made so far.
The one that stood out the most was his connection to Danzo Shimura, one of the most influential politicians, and of course Otsutsuki corp., run by Toneri Otsutsuki's father. Other people on the board included the Hyugas, the Uchihas, and a few other powerful families, some of whom were known for running elaborate schemes with connections to the Yakuza.
Menma's eyes followed every trail until his eyes rested upon a black case file hidden underneath blue and red folders that Jiraiya would often use to classify his extremely important and confidential cases. "Any chance those are related to him?" Nodding towards the folders he had had his eyes on, Menma's blue eyes found his godfather's.
"Fugaku says they're unrelated, close cases that were ruled as accidents, but if you ask me they all can be traced back onto him. "
In that particular picture, Momoshiki appeared as a regular citizen who was enjoying a simple outing with his wife, but even Menma could tell the whole scene seemed staged. The way his eyes were staring directly at the camera, the hand he had on his wife's back who looked way too tense for it to be normal. But what struck Menma the most was that cold unfeeling look in his eyes. Very similar to his cousin's.
Any other person would have shivered upon the sight, but Menma was used to seeing that look on criminal's faces, the ones who considered themselves untouchable and managed to escape every conviction thrown their way. But eventually, they were all caught and put behind bars.
"That's for me to worry. You have something to distract yourself already, so you can go on your way." Fiddling with his red tie, Jiraiya grabbed his grey coat, preparing himself to leave. "I'm going down to the basement to pick up some things. Tell your mother I'll be coming by on Thursday for that dinner your parents have been promising me." With a knowing grin, he gave a few taps on the young Namikaze's shoulder and left through a door hidden between cabinets filled with old solved case files.
After making sure Jiraiya was out of sight, Menma let his curiosity get the best of him by opening the hidden dark file. On it, information about a nineteen-year-old Neji Hyuga sat, highlighting the fact that he had been one of the most promising students in one of the best universities in the entire country. Menma lifted his picture to try and understand why Jiraiya had an entire file on the guy until he saw it.
Accidental overdose.
"Another rich kid with a drug addiction." That was the first thought he voiced out loud until he read a bit more of the coroner's report.
There were three different reports, two of which ruled it as accidental and another deemed inconclusive. Some of the scars on his body were a clear sign that this Neji person had been an addict, but they seemed to be from a long time ago. That same report had it detailed that there was a timeframe of at least five months since the last time he had consumed till the point where he had ingested the deathly concoction of drugs.
Neji Hyuga had died over a year ago, but his godfather had requested this specific file six months after his death. So what was it that made Jiraiya think that Neji Hyuga's overdose had something to do with Momoshiki?
Could Otsutsuki have been the one giving Hyuga the drugs? Unclear, but very much likely.
The whiteboard containing the information about Otsutsuki showed no direct connections to the late Hyuga. But Menma's eyes narrowed onto a particular name, circled several times in black marker.
Hinata Hyuga.
Aka the blue-haired harpy with whom he had a chance encounter that morning. Hinata was Toneri's girlfriend, so could she be the link between them?
Menma gritted his teeth already knowing he would have to do some digging to get to the bottom of the question.
This case was definitely the most interesting he had ever gotten his hands on and if he managed to crack this, who knew what kind of reward he might get?
Would it be enough for Fugaku Uchiha to write him a recommendation letter? Definitely.
Already having his mind set on solving this before Jiraiya could, Menma snapped quick shots of both Neji's file and the whiteboard before making a quick exit from the dump Jiraiya insisted on calling an office.
Guess his intuition proved him right when it told him that he and Hinata weren't anywhere near done.