Hi everyone~! I'm glad to hear you have all been enjoying the recent turn of events. I've answered those of you who have PM'd me and left reviews but I'd like to take a second to answer a question from a guest: not all villages have kage. Gestugakure is mentioned in the chunin exams (we see one kid in the manga but no one in the anime) but in one of the movies we get to see Tsukigakure, which has a king. Its kind of loosely accepted that the two are likely the same village as Getsu and Tsuki both mean moon. You get into some serious Japanese language stuff when you go into what the difference is between the two (tsuki=moon on its own, getsu is an idiom made by kanji characters). As there is no 100% established canon on this and so as not to conflict with what all goes on in the movie, I call the village Getsugakure but base its hereditary position inheriting and political structure on Tsukigakure, ergo Getsugakure has a king. Hope that helps! If you have any other questions, thoughts, or comments, let me know!

"I followed protocol, Lady Tsunade," Neji explained. "I was the first man on the scene so I wrote up the report and submitted it to you as soon as we returned to Konoha."

"I reviewed your report, which you claim is a complete account of the incident," Tsunade slapped the paper on her desk. "I'm having a hard time believing you, considering the report's brevity."

Neji kept his gaze politely on the floor in front of Tsunade's desk. "I left nothing out, Lady Hokage."

Tsunade leaned forward. "Are you sure? Some detail slipping your mind, an unsavory memory you're leaving out to protect Miss Tsukimori?"

"No, Lady Hokage. Events transpired exactly as I reported them." Neji explained with a steady tone.

Tsunade stared him down. "Then how about some conjecture," She rose from her chair and walked around the front of her desk, so Neji's gaze was forced to either turn to her face or redirect to the sides of the room.

Neji looked up at Tsunade knowing that's what she expected him to do. "Conjecture? On what, Hokage sama?"

Tsunade tapped her foot. "Oh, I don't know, how about what you think happened? Tsukimori Haruka is found in a cellar, her uncle mutilated with burns, her father's armor fused to the floor with nothing left of him but smoking bits stuck to the bottom, and she's lying there in a pool of charred blood glowing like a damned firefly."

"There was clearly some kind of altercation," Neji offered. "Only Beki can tell us what happened."

"And her uncle, if he pulls through," Tsunade gave a frustrated sigh. "Neji, I know Beki has almost become a part of the Hyuuga clan by this point, but you must recognize she is a foreign power on our soil. Out of respect for her father I allowed her to remain here even though her control over her kekke genkai was dubious at best. She always claimed it had no combat potential but over the years I've come to doubt its harmlessness."

Neji tried to keep his face neutral. It was clear that Tsunade was suspicious of Beki and was looking to peg the blame of this incident on her head. The evidence against Beki was damning but he knew her too well to consider that she had snapped and murdered her father.

"Beki would never hurt Seiichiro," the words ran from his mouth before Neji could stop them. With no other choice, he stepped behind those words with confidence and stared the Hokage down. "She has been in this village for years without causing any major incidents. If she were prone to violent or volatile outbursts, we would have seen them by now." Tsunade folded her arms. Her heavy gaze clued Neji in to her expectation for him to continue speaking. Neji's gaze dropped back to the floor. "I don't know. All I can tell you is that shinobi are trained not to make assumptions based on appearances. There can be more to this than we are being led to believe."

"There's also an old saying that goes something like this: if it looks like a horse, if it sounds like a horse, if it acts like a horse, then it's probably a horse." Tsunade said as she crossed back behind her desk. "She didn't say anything to you when you found her? I'm looking for anything here, Neji."

Neji shook his head. "No. She was unconscious when I found her."

"You're dismissed," Tsunade gestured towards the door. "But if you suddenly remember something, I had better hear about it."

Neji bowed. "Yes, Hokage sama."

After Neji descended the steps and was certain he was out of Tsunade's sight, he allowed his composure to slip. He heaved a desperate sigh and ran his hands through his hair. The weight in his pocket called to him, so he reached in and clutched the remnants of Beki's charred comb. What have you gotten yourself into, Beki?

…

"What are we going to do," Hinata pulled at her hair nervously, running her fingers through the ends and tearing through the knots. "Do you...do you think she did it Neji? I just...I just can't imagine her doing something so horrible!"

Neji shook his head. "I didn't see what happened, so I can't definitively say it isn't a possibility." Hinata's crestfallen face betrayed her sadness and disappointment. "Please don't misunderstand me. I don't believe Beki capable of such a thing, either. Its just we can't say anything for sure until the evidence is all in."

Hinata paced around the kitchen. "The Hokage isn't going to let us be involved is she?"

Neji shook his head. "No, Lady Hinata. We're too close with Beki."

"We're the only ones who can help her, though!" Hinata slammed her hands on the kitchen counter. "There has to be a way!"

Neji sat down at the table and pressed his eyes into his hands. The tension had been building for hours and now he had a full blown migraine. "The Hokage made it clear she's suspicious of me. Tsunade knows I would certainly come and report to you. Who else do we know that would be just as sure of her innocence but it is distant enough from Beki to escape suspicion?"

Hinata's expression brightened and a small smile came to her lips. "Naruto. It's perfect." Neji gave her a confused look, so she explained: "He didn't return from training until Beki had been here for two years."

"Tsunade wouldn't think they were close," Neji nodded. "And if Naruto believes Beki is innocent, he'll go to bat for her for sure."

"I think we've found our champion," Hinata sighed. "Let's just hope Naruto can figure out where they're holding Beki and what exactly is going on."

Neji pressed his face harder into his hands. If anyone could make it happen, it was Naruto. Neji couldn't help but feel frustrated, though, that he had to sit back and behave while the woman he loved was in danger. Just based on what he had seen, Beki was in bad shape physically. He couldn't even imagine the mental distress she must be under. For now, though, their only hope to help her was that Naruto would be able to get to the bottom of things.

…

"You're too kind," Yasahiro smiled weakly as Shizune helped him drink a cup of water. To be honest, the man was hard to look at. His neck and shoulders, although covered with bandages and a hospital gown, were covered in horrid twisting burns. Yasahiro had such a clever, handsome face but now it was pale and pinched in discomfort. Worst of all, he smelled like decay. The dead and dying flesh gave off a pungent odor on top of all the salves they had applied to his wounds. Shizune and Tsunade had spent enough time in the medical world to politely ignore the smell, however it did garner him some extra pity.

"How are you feeling?" Tsunade asked.

Yasahiro shook his head, that strained smile still on his face. "I...I'm alright. The doctors say I'll fully recover. Aside from some scarring, of course."

"We're so sorry to trouble you so recently after you woke up," Shizune offered as she took out a pen and a paper. "We were hoping to get your statement about what happened to you."

Yasahiro sighed. "Its...its my fault, really." He looked up Tsunade. "Seiichiro told me the two of you were friends. Is this going to be an official record, or can I tell you everything in confidence? As his friend?"

Tsunade furrowed her brow. "What are you worried about?"

"The events leading up to my brother's death will certainly call his character into question," Yasahiro sighed. "What he did was for all the right reasons and had it worked would have rooted out traitors and schemers in the capital. It all went so wrong…"

His voice trailed off and Tsunade and Shizune shared a look. Tsunade shook her head and Shizune put the notepad away. "Tell us what happened," Tsunade closed the door. "From the beginning."

Yasahiro nodded and gave her another weak smile. "Thank you. That will make this a lot easier for me." He adjusted his blankets, sending a puff of that noxious smell around the room. "My brother had a stalker. Or rather, it was someone stalking his daughter to get to him. That's why Seiichiro left Beki here in Konoha: to keep her out of harm's way."

"Seiichiro explained it all to me shortly before his disappearance." Tsunade waved her hand. "You can just skip ahead to where all this business began."

"My brother approached me with an idea," Yasahiro shook his head. "An ethically questionable plan: Seiichiro wanted to fake his own disappearance. I'm not proud that I agreed to help but his reasoning seemed sound. If he disappeared we could see who tried to take credit for it or who went after his job in the capital. He thought it would smoke out his stalker."

"And how did that work out?" Tsunade folded her arms. That sounds incredibly desperate. Then again, last I saw him, Seiichiro looked pretty close to the grave.

Yasahiro held up his hands in a gesture of submission. "You saw what happened with Beki. She slowly came unhinged under the pressure of holding her father's spot. The stress of the job, the worry about his safety…" Yasahiro looked out the window. "You know, this is my fault. I...I told Seiichiro we needed to do something to reassure her. He didn't want to, he said that if she knew he was faking his abduction that Beki wouldn't be able to keep the secret. I told him she could."

"So you brought her to him?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes," Yasahiro nodded. "I brought her to the site. At first, the sight of her dad made her really happy. As he explained the situation though, something…"Yasahiro shook his head. "She became incensed at us, that we had put her under so much pressure and hadn't trusted her to be a part of it. We tried to reason with her. She was getting hysterical, so Seiichiro grabbed ahold of her to try to calm her down and then she burst into flames. I can-I can hear my brother screaming still. I tried to pull her off but she shoved me away." He gestured to the burns on his neck and shoulders. "It was the worst pain I have felt in my life."

Tsunade didn't let herself get wrapped up in his story. His story was convincing but the Hokage wasn't about to let herself be ruled by emotion. "There were chains at the site. Care to explain those?"

Yasahiro laughed, which descended into a coughing fit. "Did you see them? They're bicycle chains. Seiichiro would put those on if he heard someone coming. He had to keep up the act, you know. My brother could have escaped those bonds in half a second."

"Why wasn't Beki in on this from the start?" Tsunade folded her arms.

"She doesn't have the seasoning we do," Yasahiro cringed with pain, the coughing setting a cluster of raw nerves firing. "Beki would give it away under pressure."

"Thank you for your time," Tsunade opened the door and Shizune stepped out. They waited until they had left the hospital before either of them spoke.

"What did you think of him Shizune?" Tsunade kept her eyes forward and spoke casually so as not to give away how much the situation was nagging at her.

"Its hard to say," Shizune hugged herself. "He seems like he's telling the truth but I can't help but feel like it doesn't add up."

"We should see if Beki is awake. I'd like to see if their stories match up." Tsunade said as they walked. The two headed to the secure location that Beki was being held at. Until they were sure what she had done and what she was capable of, it was better to keep Beki away from the general populace. Beki had been unconscious for two days. The medics had said that she was stable and that none of her wounds were as bad as they looked. When Tsunade and Shizune arrived, Beki was sitting on the cot in her cell with her legs to her chest. She was dressed in nothing more than a hospital gown with a blanket wrapped around her for warmth. The Getsu ambassador looked dazed and confused. She stared in front of her as if there was some flitting shape in the corner of her cell and intense concentration could make it stand out.

At the sight of the pair Beki's eyes darted to them. "Am I in a basement?"

"You've finally decided to rejoin the living," Tsunade folded her arms.

Beki shrugged. "I'll tell you the same thing I've told the doctors and the guards: I don't remember what happened."

"Surely you remember something," Shizune held out a hand in a friendly gesture. "We're just trying to piece together what happened that night. Anything would help."

Beki sputtered. "Uh, well, let's see: I decided to go meet up with my dad and I ran into my uncle. He said he had some leads on where my dad was. We split up to take the place by both entrances...and then…" Beki ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath. "My dad was in there and I got grabbed by some guys...then a knife...my dad was dead...and then there was this explosion."

"Okay good, go on." Tsunade rolled her wrist.

"That's it," Beki threw up her hands. "That's all I've got." At Tsunade's incredulous look, Beki scoffed. "Look, I'm just as upset I don't remember. My dad died and I was there. I wish I could remember how it happened and who was responsible."

"Tell me about the explosion, Beki." Tsunade's tone did not leave any room for doubt. This was not a friendly conversation, it was an interrogation.

Beki shrugged again. "Sorry. I don't remember."

"Well, let us know when you do." The pair left without another word and Beki heaved a sigh. Tears burned at her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. It felt like in the course of a single night the whole world had turned against her. Seiichiro was dead and she was suspect number one. People who she had thought were her friends had Beki cooped up in a cell without so much as a pair of pants. Beki was a threat and they were just trying to figure out how much damage she could do. Finally alone Beki let the tears flow free because the worst part of it all was Tsunade might be right.

…

"Any luck?" Hinata took Naruto's pack from him and walked it over to the counter as he unstrapped his shoes. It had been nearly a month since Beki had been brought back to the village. Hinata had been listening and town and hadn't heard anything. All she could do was hope Naruto had some better luck.

"No," He shook his head and sighed. "They're keeping her location locked up tight. Some people have had guesses but I don't have anything solid enough to follow up."

Hinata started to wash the dishes lethargically as if the news had drained her of her strength. "Oh."

"Don't give up yet," Naruto crossed the room and stepped behind her. He embraced her and Hinata hugged his arms. "Give me some more time. I'll find her, Hinata."

"I'm worried about her, Naruto," Hinata squeezed his arms. "Her father just died and they have her locked up somewhere like some criminal."

"It'll be okay. This is all just a misunderstanding, I'm sure." Naruto kissed the top of her head. "How about I start dinner?"

"Pancakes?" Hinata smiled, blinking away tears.

"That sounds like an awesome idea." Naruto said as he leaned in for a kiss.

…

It was the third body they had found that week. The Hokage had done a fine job keeping the situation under wraps but dark whispers were already floating around the village. At first it seemed a fluke, that two people should die on opposite sides of town under such strange circumstances. A third corpse proved it wasn't a coincidence; it was an emerging pattern.

Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki were unfortunate enough to have stumbled upon the most recent victim. That meant that their quiet night of guard duty was forfeit and they would be spending the remainder of the evening collecting evidence, providing reports, and filing paperwork.

"Who do you think they'll send for?" Kotetsu looked at the slumped corpse. He tried to guess the time of death just based on appearances. The summer heatwave that kept Konoha locked in its sweaty grasp had done a number on the body already. The man might have only passed a few hours ago but his flesh was already drooping and a wretched stench was hanging around it like a cloud.

Izumo shrugged. "Shiranui found the last one, so they'll probably be dragging him out of bed. I'd hate to be the guy that wakes him up."

"Then they'll probably grab Yamashiro, too," Kotetsu shook his head. "I ran into him right after they let him go. He wasn't allowed to tell me much, but he was really shaken up. Aoba's such an upbeat guy. I haven't seen him so upset in a long time."

The pair of jonin had seen plenty of corpses, not to mention how many they had made with their own two hands. Usually the sight of a body going cold slumped against the wall in an alley wouldn't have phased them. Death had caught this man in a most unusual position, however. He was on his knees, as though he had been pressed up against the wall and his legs had given out beneath him. His arms hung limply at his sides and empty milky eyes stared up at the sky. There was no blood and no visible bruising on his body. The only thing that seemed out of place was his mouth. It was partially open, like a baby bird waiting for food. His lips were a hideous shade of purple.

Kotetsu winced.

"Do you think she did it?" Izumo asked and Kotetsu shot him a confused look. "The Tsukimori girl. Sorry. Seeing corpse eyes like that reminded me of the Ambassador's daughter."

Kotetsu turned his attention back to the body. "I don't know. I just hope she hasn't snapped and is breaking out of jail every night to murder civilians."

"It's doubtful," Izumo said. "Then again, it would make a pretty interesting case."

"Shit."

The pair looked down the end of the alley at Genma Shiranui, who spat in greeting. He jerked his head towards the corpse. "So, who's the dead guy?"

Kotetsu shook his head. "We were told not to touch anything until the rest of the team arrived."

"It smells to high hell, I tell you what," Genma sucked on the senbon in his mouth. "Our killer's a sadist."

"What makes you say that?" Izumo asked.

"This asshole is killing people so we have to stand out here in the heat, sweating like the devil's nutsack." Genma spat.

The clicking of a shutter was the only announcement of the Photographer's arrival. The man was so old that no one was quite sure what his name was; everyone just referred to him by his title or "Gramps." He was a hangover from the days when the Uchiha ran the Konoha police force. He had been the brother in law of someone who had married into the clan, and had therefore been spared the culling that erased the family from the face of the earth. With their elimination, the policing of Konoha's crimes was left to the jounin guards who were directly related to the case and a small team consisting of a doctor, a forensics specialist, and the Photographer.

"What do you think, Gramps?" Genma called out.

The Photographer grunted. "Konoha hasn't seen this many murders since Itachi Uchiha wiped out his whole family," He lowered the camera for a moment, his sharp blue eyes sizing up the scene. "He looks like he froze to death. Or drowned."

"That's what it looks like," Izumo agreed. "But it's the hottest summer on record and he's nowhere near water. Do you think this was staged?"

"We can't get a closer look until Aoba gets here," Kotetsu said. "Just sit there and stew on it."

Aoba was taking his time getting to the crime scene. When he had stumbled across the first body behind the hotel, it had turned his stomach. The body had been mangled, twisted into a grotesque inhuman form by the impact of its fall. The man was completely unidentifiable. Word from the forensic tech was that they were still finding teeth scattered around the site. Overall, it had been a meaty macabre pile of bone, sinew, and blood.

They had called him in on the second body as well. That one wasn't as retch-worthy in that it looked like a standard execution: one jab right in the carotid artery. The forensic tech had done a mockup of what the murder weapon had looked like. It was an improvised shape with no recognizable origin or purpose. The Photographer had called it a "prison shank". The dark alley had glittered like a nightclub floor as the moonlight caught the arc of arterial blood splattered on the bricks. Aoba knew it shouldn't bother him, that none of it should bother him. This wasn't a mission, though. He wasn't in some hamlet in the Land of Grass silencing a target. All these murders happening in familiar locals to people he had probably passed on the street was completely unsettling. He reached the edge of the alleyway and steeled himself for another rude awakening.

As soon as the others saw him, the nodded in recognition and continued their conversations.

"But think about it," Kotetsu protested. "How long do you stalk a target? We can't look at the first murder as day one. The killer has been striking once a week in rapid succession completely undetected."

"Not to mention there's no defensive wounds," Genma had grabbed the man's arm by the sleeve and was examining his fingers. "Not a cut, no bruises, nothing. He was completely blitzed."

"So, either he knew his attacker or we're dealing with a professional killer," The Photographer heaved a sigh. "You all need to find what these victims have in common. Were they killed in muggings gone wrong, are these all cheating husbands, or heirs to some family fortune? You boys have some footwork on your hands."

"So, the cleanup team is on the way?" Izumo asked.

The Photographer nodded. "Keep looking for clues. I'll be taking my smoke break."

Aoba hovered awkwardly to the sides while the other three dove in. It wasn't that he didn't believe himself capable of examining the body, it was just that the others seemed so comfortable with it he didn't want to get in the way. Rigor mortis had set in, so Izumo and Kotetsu were leaning the man forward, balancing him on his knees, while Genma patted down his pockets.

"SHIT!" Genma pulled his hand away as though he had been bitten by a snake. The sudden movement startled Izumo and Kotetsu, whose grips loosened just enough for the body to tip forward and land on the pavement with a crunch. The group looked at each other.

"That didn't sound right," Izumo looked at the body warily.

"What bit you?" Kotetsu leaned over to see Genma's hand.

Genma shook his head and gingerly reached into the dead man's coat. He extracted a blade from the lining, so long and thin it was hair like. He frowned and sniffed the blade, then licked the blood pooling on his finger. "It isn't poisoned, thank God. I've had one or two of these pulled on me before."

"He was an assassin," Aoba said softly. "An expensive one, judging by his suit and the grade of that weapon."

"That or he works for someone with some serious money," Genma smirked. "Things just got a helluva lot more interesting, boys."

"Once we find out what inside him crunched," Kotetsu side eyed the blood trickling out of the corpse's mouth. "Let's report our suspicions to the Hokage."

"I'd hold off on that," wisps of smoke curled around the Photographer like a noir protagonist. "Until you have something definitive to say. That woman doesn't have time for you to be walking through her office like a revolving door."

The heavy footfalls of the medical team in charge of the cleanup prevented any further discussion.

"You two have to go with the body," Genma looked at Kotetsu and Izumo. "I'll cover your patrol."

"What about me?" Aoba offered, hoping he could make up for his lack of enthusiasm for the case by being helpful.

"Go home," Genma chuckled. "You look like hell."

…

"His lungs shattered," The coroner said with a note of surprise. "That was the sound you heard."

"Shattered?" Izumo asked. "How can you shatter lungs?"

"When they're frozen solid," The coroner shook her head. "I've never seen anything like this. Massive cell death all down the larynx, through the windpipe, and in the tissues surrounding the area that once held the lungs."

"How is that possible?" Kotetsu looked at the grotesque pool of slush that was what remained of the victim's lungs and cringed.

The coroner took on a lecturing tone as she explained: "The body can only survive on room temperature air. Your body has systems in place to heat or cool air to meet that safe temperature. This man was exposed to subzero temperatures that were pumped directly into his respiratory system. It overloaded him, freezing the air in his lungs, and killing him instantly."

"That sounds," Izumo's voice trailed off.

"Incredibly painful," The coroner nodded. "It was."

"Would you hate me if I changed the subject to 'what the hell do these murders have in common'?" Kotetsu asked. "Last I checked they all died differently-"

"They range in age from 19 to 35, they ranged physically from slight to medium build, and their heights ranged from 1.69 meters to 1.8 meters tall," The coroner explained. "Their complexions are mostly on the fair side, some scarring, and none of them were found with any identification."

"The murders," She continued as she walked over to a counter with several files lined up neatly. The coroner picked two of them up and opened them, gesturing for Kotetsu and Izumo to follow. "We have a fatal stabbing, a fall, and now, frozen lungs." She looked up at the pair and gave a frustrated sigh. "To be honest, the only guess I can venture is that these men were in the village to do something no one was supposed to find out about. Whoever this person is, they found out, and they've been stopping them."

"For example?" Izumo raised an eyebrow.

"We could have a fugitive amongst us and these men were sent to silence them," The coroner gaze up at the ceiling. "Or this could simply come down to organized crime rings falling out in the streets."

Silence fell between them as they all considered the possibilities. "What I'm hearing is we need more evidence," Kotetsu sighed. "We'd better get to the tech. He probably has some information for us by now."

"I hate to say it, but the only way I can give you boys any more information is if we find another body," The coroner put on a fresh pair of gloves. "And that's not something anyone wants."

…

Genma walked into the guard barracks at the end of the night shift. The bags under his eyes were a dead giveaway that he was running on less than three hours of sleep. The next shift was getting ready to head out and they gave him a nod as they headed out into the dawn.

"Hey," A sultry but obviously drunken voice called out to him from the holding cell. Genma looked over at the source to see a solitary woman wearing hardly anything pressed up against the bars. "Unless I'm getting charged with something, you have to let me out."

Genma narrowed his eyes at the woman and sized her up. She was tall, with a well-toned slender body. Her porcelain flesh was dotted by freckles in a band across her nose and cheeks, as well as in clusters on her shoulders. Her hair was jet black but it was so lustrous it shone even in the muted light of the guard station. Her sizeable chest was packed into what he could only assume was a stage costume. Genma's eyes were tired, so didn't take in many details

"Sayuri," Genma looked at the intake log for the evening. There was no last name listed and he chuffed. The woman was a stripper at best and a prostitute at worst. "Drunk and disorderly conduct."

Sayuri let out a rambunctious laugh. "I clearly wasn't that drunk or disorderly. See? No puke on my shoes. Or your shoes."

"The last shift told you to sleep it off," Genma stared her down. "So get comfortable."

"You don't have to bust my balls, buddy," Sayuri sighed. "A girl has to ask, right?"

Genma said nothing in response. As he filled out his patrol report, he threw her an occasional glance. Sayuri's cheeks were flushed and by the clumsy way she held herself up by the bars, there was no way she was faking how wasted she was. There was a clarity to the woman's eyes, however, that Genma found unsettling. They were the brightest and sharpest blue he had ever seen. In the dim light, they flashed with an electric glow as if they had a current running through them. She was just a drunk stripper, though, and he was exhausted. He decided to pay her no further mind. Without another word Genma closed the logs and headed out into the light of the rising sun.

Great, he thought as the sunshine seared his eyes and set his head throbbing. I've got a migraine.