The Evidence

Old Genzou was not a shinobi, had never been one, had never wanted to be one. Sweat was pouring from his fat bald pate from taking the stairs to the roof. Huffing and puffing, he was not pleased. Raidou came up from behind him carrying his expensive equipment.

"You owe me one for this Sandaime," Genzou muttered crossly as he saw the bloody body. He hated being called for crime scene investigations. It called for a lot more detailed work, a lot more documentation and care, in addition to a cast iron stomach.

Hiashi greet him warmly, that is warmly for Hiashi, after all this subordinate's work was of utmost importance. "Welcome sir, would you do me the great favor of documenting this crime scene before it's compromised. Please allow me the honor of helping you set up your equipment…"

'Father sure knows how to turn on the charm when he wants to,' Hanabi thought wryly.

"I would like to suggest a blue filter when photographing the blood. The complementary color will accentuate…"

"Yes, I know about filters. I've done this before you know," growled Genzou. "Just stand back and don't get in my way."

"Of course," Hiashi said politely, inclining his head slightly in deference. But his ears turned bright red.

Genzou directed Raidou to position the battery powered lamps. It was a clear sunny day so he didn't really need any color balancing as he would if he were working indoors, but he needed light directed at certain areas to dispel the shadows. He also liked forcing people do unnecessary work to make it all look more technical and complicated. That made him look good. But instead of using his heavy duty portrait camera, he just used his regular camera with a telephoto lens from 28mm to 200mm zoom. His old gnarled hands were still rock steady enough not to require a tripod. Only if they requested extreme close-ups to be blown up larger than 8x10, would he really need to use his portrait camera with its 120mm negatives. He had two cameras around his neck, one loaded with black and white film, and the other with color film. Genzou circled the body at a distance, clicking away with one camera then the other. After a full rotation, he moved in a few feet closer and repeated his routine.

Meanwhile Hiashi sent an Anbu to retrieve the shinobi medics. Sandaime then announced, "You'll have to excuse us Hiashi. We need to call a staff meeting immediately to discuss the possible ramifications."

"Sandaime, I would now like to hear your thoughts on this situation," Hiashi requested respectfully.

"Well, as you know, Orochimaru has established the Hidden Village of Sound and has threatened Konoha. For some reason he wants Uchiha Sasuke and has marked him with a cursed seal. Kakashi found out yesterday in Sasuke's hospital room that Yakushi Kabuto, one of the Leaf genin taking the chuunin exams, is actually a Sound spy. We sent a few of the jounin to follow him and other possible suspects. Hayate was supposed to find and follow Kabuto."

Hiashi nodded thought fully. "Well, from the latent prints I observed with my byakugan, I was able to discern that Hayate was the one running away from his opponent…"

"Hayate was no coward!" the Anbu girl protested.

"If you'd let me finish…" Hiashi glared at the Anbu girl. "He was either inadvertently discovered by one powerful opponent, or possibly multiple opponents, so that he had to flee. Or perhaps he had important information to relay but was discovered and pursued."

Sandaime nodded, "I see, he might have discovered something important. Please see me later when you have more definitive answers." The old Hokage and Raidou then left in two puffs of dust.

The shionobi medics arrived just as Genzou was finishing up. Genzou directed two Anbu to pack up his equipment. As he readied to go he told Hiashi, "I'll send the photos over to the Hokage's in about four hours."

"Four hours! That's too long. Can't you expedite this?"

"Do you want a professional job or not? It's not like I can speed it up with ninjutsu you know. I could use one of those horrible automated machines…"

Hiashi relented. "Thank you for your assistance and professionalism Genzou-san," he said with a slight inclination of his head.

Gekkou just turned around, without bowing, and trudged down the stairs followed by the two Anbu burdened with his equipment.

"Excuse me," Hiashi said to the medics who were about to take the body away on a stretcher. He bent down to remove Hayate's shoes and stuffed them into a surprised Hanabi's arms. Then he addressed Iashi, "Please perform your standard autopsy but pay extra attention to the wounds here, Hiashi pointed to the various lacerations. I want a full description of the type of cut and a full trace metal analysis performed on the skin around the cut." He then handed Iashi the small packets of evidence he had collected. "Also run a full analysis on these samples," he added. "The tests necessary are noted on each packet."

Iashi, who was used to Hiashi's commanding demeanor from previous cases, nodded and bowed respectfully. "Yes, Hyuuga-sama," he said before carrying the body away.

Hiashi then returned his attention to the Anbu girl and her two companions. "How well did you know Hayate? Did Hayate have any enemies? What kind of person was he?" the Hyuuga head asked in a lower, calmer tone.

'Looks like the old man finally calmed down,' Hanabi thought. She was disappointed. She wanted to see fireworks, maybe even have a fight break out. 'That would have been exciting, see if dear old dad is everything he's cracked up to be. I wish the Hokage would lose his patience and take father down a few notches. Hah! I'd love to see that. I bet none of those other bozos would stand a chance against him.'

The sole female member of the Anbu platoon replied steadily, looking into Hiashi's white eyes, "I've known him for years, as well as anyone else. He didn't have any enemies. He was a good person."

"Are you sure? People have a tendency to hide secrets, especially from their loved ones."

"What are you implying?"

"That perhaps you didn't know him as well as you think."

"Impossible! He was killed because of his mission."

"It's always best to leave no stone unturned. It doesn't appear to be a crime of passion. Otherwise there should be post mortem injuries, and he would not have run away from someone he was involved with…" Hiashi muttered, almost to himself. But now satisfied that he was on the right path to find the killer, he ignored the other Anbu and turned to Hanabi, who just managed to stifle a yawn.

"We're pretty much done here," Hiashi announced.

"Father, can we have breakfast now?" asked Hanabi hopefully as her stomach growled and retracted for lack of nourishment.

"Food? At a time like this? We must hurry to find the killer before the trail goes cold. It's already been 8 hours. Time is of the essence. No pain no gain. A stitch in time saves nine…"

"What about food to fuel the brain or haste makes waste?" grumbled poor starving Hanabi.

Hiashi peered down at her, disapprovingly. "You can eat later. This is good training for you. There could be times on missions when you have no food or water for days, maybe even weeks." His tone left no room for discussion.

Hanabi sighed. If she protested anymore, it would just mean more training and more practice without food to toughen her up.

"Come Hanabi, we must search the area for more clues. Turn on your byakugan."

"Yes, father. What are we looking for?"

"Sandal prints, or rather the latent prints of size 8.5 sandals, worn at the lower left part of the left heel and the lower right part of the right heel. Look at those in your hand. Also look for traces of sand, not soil or dirt. Just pure quartz sand."

"Sand? Do you think a Sand-nin did this?"

"It's best not to jump to any conclusions right now. But based on the color of the fibers and the method of death, it could very well be a Sand-nin. The cuts were very clean, and based on the angle, inflicted at the same time, unlikely to be from a physical weapon. It was from ninjutsu, probably a wind attack. Fire, lightning, earth, and water leave obvious signs and sound does not cut like that. And I found a few grains of sand that I'm sure is not indigenous to Konoha. No matter how hard you try to be rid of it, sand gets into everything."

"But the Sand is our ally!" protested Hanabi.

"So were the Cloud when they tried to kidnap your sister. I should have let them have her if I had known my brother was to be sacrificed."

'It wasn't Hinata's fault. Such an unfair burden to place on her. Is that why father resents her so much? Because he sees her as the cause of his brother's death? And only if she excelled would his sacrifice be justified? So glad I was born second!' Hanabi thought.

"…Of course I could be wrong and he was killed by a jilted lover or something. Wouldn't surprise me, the shinobi these days…"

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