Inspection
If there was a man Haruka liked, it would be Morino Ibiki. The man, cladded mostly in black attire, was the commanding officer of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force. He was also one of the only people who knew about her true heritage. Of course, he had been placed under a seal in order to not spill such information to enemies.
Now they were looking at the corpse of a victim of this murder series. A white cloth was over the corpse hiding it from anyone. Only long blond hair could be seen from under the cloth. Haruka walked towards the corpse pushing part of the cloth away and revealing the head. The eyes were closed and the skin was pale white.
The kunoichi had seen many corpses before and that was why she didn't react like anyone else. Instead of showing shock, she simply stared at the corpse with indifferent eyes. She looked over her shoulder towards the officer of T&I asking him silently for some information.
"Her name is Nakamura Misaki, age: 18." Ibiki answered. "Occupation: waitress in…"
He stopped shortly in order to check the restaurant.
"Miru-Soshite-Taberu." he finished.
"Funny name." she remarked dryly.
She saw how the officer rolled his eyes. She simply stared at him. Part of her already know what he wanted her to do. Still, without being given the orders, she wouldn't do a thing.
"Do your thing." Ibiki ordered.
A small spike of anger coursed through her. She hated taking orders from others who weren't her higher ups.
"Alright." she confirmed.
Haruka put her fingers onto the lid's corpse pushing them upwards. At the same time, she activated her Mangekyou Sharingan, before looking into the eyes of the dead woman. Normally memories from dead people or rather corpses couldn't be read… However, thanks to her developed Sharingan, she could. It was her special ability seeing into the memories of dead people. She didn't know why she had this ability or how it was possible… but quite frankly, she also didn't care. She was actually tasked with solving of this murder series because of her Mangekyou Sharingan. And using one of the Mangekyou Sharingan's special jutsus…
The kunoichi casted Tsukuyomi on her victim wanting to know about her last day of living.
The day went pretty normal for her. Getting up and dressed, walking towards the restaurant Miru-Soshite-Taberu and helping preparing dinners. After a while, Misaki switched to her actual job in serving the customers with taking their orders. Eventually she came across two familiar faces. At least from the perspective of the corpse familiar faces.
Haruka stopped the genjutsu in order to look who exactly Misaki's friends were. Soon she found out that they were called Shimura Mei and Sarutobi Akira. The first was a woman, the latter a man but both were around the age of Misaki.
Despite being friends with the murdered woman, the kunoichi was suspicious of them. This was because of her training. This was because she was taught of being suspicious to everyone. Even the ones she knew for a very long time.
Haruka took a deep breath and let the genjutsu continue. Misaki's friend, Mei, hugged her causing the waitress to giggle in delight. Akira mumbled something under his breath before sitting down. Mei followed him causing Misaki to take their orders. Then she returned to the kitchen.
The day continued with serving food. Eventually, however, Misaki's eyes caught a man with brown hair and black glasses. Haruka instantly recognized this man as it was Kai. The waitress walked towards him smiling. Because she practically lived through the events, she also felt the emotions of Misaki. And because of this she felt that Misaki was smitten by Kai… causing her to start flirting with him.
A spike of anger and jealousy washed over Haruka. She didn't even know why this was the case. But she didn't want that Misaki flirted with him. She gritted her teeth as she watched the event unfold. How dared she to make beautiful eyes to him? How dared she to flirt with him? He should deny her.
…
Which he thankfully did. Haruka breathed a sigh in relief. Kai wasn't interested in Misaki. The waitress retreated leaving him alone. Misaki didn't feel much at Kai's denial. Instead she just shrugged her shoulders and muttered under her breath stupid man.
The waitress looked at the clock by coincidence and paled. Haruka heard her cursing that she missed almost one hour of her break. Misaki sighed in expiration and decided to walk to the back alley of the restaurant in order to take some fresh air. Just shortly because her break would be soon over.
As soon as she entered the alley, she felt dread creeping up her spine. Haruka knew that this was there the waitress met her murderers. And truth to be told, she was confronted by them two seconds later. However, Misaki recognized them calling out to them by their names… Mei and Akira.
She had the information she wanted. Haruka ended the genjutsu. Almost instantly her environment swam and she was forced to close her eyes. They also throbbed and spasmed uncomfortably. At the same time, it felt like her eyes were burning. It had never been this bad before.
The kunoichi placed one hand on a nearby shelve in order to keep herself upright. She gritted her teeth while turning her Mangekyou Sharingan off. One last throb and spasm accompanied this action. Then it stopped.
"You okay?" Ibiki asked, although she assumed it was just out of formality and not because he was concerned.
"Yes." she answered shortly.
"Good. What did you see?"
"I saw her murderers." she replied. "Shimura Mei and Sarutobi Akira. They were her friends."
"Hm… Why would her friends want to murder her?"
"No idea. However… I want to talk to them."
One hour later Haruka found herself in an interrogation chamber. Mei and Akira were both chained to chairs… They looked scared. No wonder because they had never been in such a room before. In the room itself were several torture devices. From whips to clamps… And some other devices those two did not seem to know their functions. But they looked really painful.
In the room were, next to her, also Ibiki who had crossed his arms over his broad chest. He had a cruel grin on his face.
"So, you two. Why did you murder Nakamura Misaki?" the officer asked.
"What? Misaki-chan was murdered?" Akira immediately exclaimed shocked. "And you think that we are the murderers?"
"Yes." Ibiki answered. "You two met Nakamura-san two times that day."
"We only met her once on this day!" Mei yelled frantically. "Why would we murder her?! We grew up together! We were in the same class at the Ninja Academy! We were even in the same genin team! Did she retire, yes! But that was because her mother died because she had a heart attack!"
Haruka narrowed her eyes. Either they were lying really good or… they truly believed that they haven't murdered their friend. Both of those assumptions didn't sit well in her.
"Let's see if you were truly telling-" Ibiki started.
"Ibiki, I think I know a better way of getting them to talk." the kunoichi interrupted him activating her Sharingan. "Please look into my eyes. Don't worry. I won't hurt you."
"W-what?!" both Mei and Akira exclaimed shocked.
She immediately invaded their minds probing them for the necessary information. What she found, left her unsatisfied. Those two… they weren't lying. But then what was this? All three of their memories were telling the truth… And the Sharingan could easily see through lies. What was the meaning of this? Maybe it was because…
"They are telling the truth." Haruka stated. "As to why they tell the truth… Their memories were erased from the incident."
"Meaning either a Yamanaka, someone from the T&I or someone from the Ne were doing the job." the officer mused.
"If that's the case then why can't I decipher it? I should have seen at least traces of a mind erasing jutsu. Unless the one must be familiar with how the Sharingan works…"
Ibiki shrugged his shoulders before nodding his heads towards Mei and Akira. Haruka got the implication and walked towards the latter. She grabbed his chin and casted a genjutsu on him. He tensed shortly before he closed his eyes and slackened in her grip. She then moved to Mei and repeated the action. She tensed longer and even fought back… but eventually she succumbed to her genjutsu as well.
Then she was done, she turned around. She didn't even nod her head towards him. Instead she left the room. She had done everything she could. There was now a somewhat new lead. The memories of the murderers were erased of the incident. But who had the knowledge to do so?
An Uchiha could erase memories easily… However, if an Uchiha did that then she would have noticed it! A Yamanaka would always leave trails behind… Meaning it could only have been one of the former Ne. But who? They were at least 200 living former members of the Ne. Finding the right one might be too difficult. Also, most of the Ne were working as ANBUs… causing them to actually work outside of Konoha. And since she just couldn't ask the Hokage for who of the Ne were working abroad…
Haruka sighed and closed her eyes. Her environment swam again. Great… The side-effects of using the Mangekyou Sharingan were taking place again. She would have wanted to ask a doctor but… that would mean telling another person about her heritage. Something she actually wanted to hide. It wasn't because of who she was or that she was afraid…
It was more like that the great tree of Konoha could be in danger. Others might want to attack Konoha in order to kidnap the remaining Uchihas or steal their eyes. And such things always led to a war.
But she shouldn't waste any thoughts now. She was getting hungry. That's why Haruka left the building stepping into the evening sun. She shielded her eyes from them using her left hand. Her vision was slightly blurred. She truly shouldn't use her Mangekyou Sharingan anymore. Like Yuma said, she could go blind. Something she wanted to prevent.
Suddenly an ANBU appeared nearby her. Haruka drew out her short sword anticipating an attack. However, the ANBU simply stood there and gave some letters. It was a code the ANBU used in order to tell others that they weren't enemies.
The kunoichi relaxed closing her eyes in the process. She already knew why the ANBU was here… She had been called by the elders of Konoha. Great… Her evening was now ruined. She had wanted to spent some time alone before going to bed. Now that was ruined.
Author's note:
Miru-Soshite-Taberu: see and eat (stupid name, I know).
Yes, I am aware that there is a character in Boruto who has a similar power. However, Haruka's MS power is, as seen here, very draining. Besides, I don't care about Boruto. It can rot in hell. Who had the fabulous idea about an alien invasion, ninjutsu being weaker versions of literally god powers, terrible villains, terrible protagonists, awful power scaling and literally no world building/destroying the world building? Boruto kills Naruto (the anime and the manga) with literally destroying everything Naruto stood for. What's next in Boruto? All the Uchihas and Senju are reincarnated as Otsutsukis, sent to the past and their god is Itachi? (With how the manga develops, maybe.)
