Live and Let Die
Chapter Three
The uniforms were uncomfortable. They itched in odd places and even inside with the air conditioning blasting, Hashirama could feel the fabric soaking with sweat and sticking to him. Both uniforms featured a unique style of top which covered the deltoid muscles on their outer arms, presumably to hide that they both lacked the swirling tattoo that characterized the true members of the organization. The long cloak provided no armholes, draping over their shoulders to around knee length. The thick fabric and draping style were perfectly designed such that it would be fairly easy to conceal even larger weapons among its billowing shape.
After so long in one position, even Tobirama was ready to get out for some fresh air. And so, for the first time in years, the brothers walked side by side down the packed dirt roads of Konohagakure, although this time, a somber note was carried in the air by the weariness of the shinobi, and the manner by which civilians clambered over large slabs of concrete. The day was indeed scorching. Despite the weight of the cloaks, Hashirama was glad to have his, as it at least provided some shelter from the sun on the back of his neck.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Hashirama turned to his brother. If he could see Tobirama's face, he imagined it would be stuck in that same neutral expression it always was.
"What do you make of the whole incident?" Tobirama replied. "I think it's quite odd. There are too many mysteries for an event so enormous. It is easy enough to assume the masked man simply wanted chaos in which to accomplish something else, but what could that goal be?"
"I'm not sure. One thing stands out to me. That being Senju Ise's involvement. She's mentioned to have been there, but the only thing that stands out about why she might have been special is that she was there at all. We received very little information on her at all. Perhaps we should find our way to the hospital? To see if we can get information from her autopsy." Tobirama nodded, pulling out his map. The map had been altered by a red marker, with crossed out buildings and circles around certain areas.
"I suspect that these markings are of the damage caused during the attack." He turned the map to its index, scrolling down with his thumb until he found what he was looking for, "It would seem the hospital survived with minimal damage. Let's go."
They leapt off across the rooftops, the breeze refreshing them along the way. Unfortunately, the journey was quite short. The doors into the hospital slid open to their respective sides as they approached. At this, Tobirama muttered, "Interesting innovations," more to himself than anyone else.
Hashirama approached the reception desk, pulling his hood back as he did so. "Hello!" He quipped, "If possible, might we be allowed to visit the morgue?"
"Who are you here to see?"
"Senju Ise."
"Ah... I'll see what I can do." The receptionist picked up a black landline phone and dialed in an extension. "Yes, hello, I have two ANBU here wishing to examine Senju… uh-huh… yeah… I'll send them down." He hung up, reached into a drawer, and pulled out two tags that read "visitor." Handing them over, he pointed to the main elevator, explaining, "Take that elevator to the basement level. When you get down there, stay in the main hallway by exam room 2 until someone comes to see you."
"Thank you!" Hashirama went for his standard enthusiastic appreciation, but the receptionist had already moved on to take a call.
Every surface in the basement was paved with concrete. The fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling hurt Hashirama's eyes, and several windows provided a view into the exam rooms. As soon as they stepped from the elevator, they were greeted by someone standing there, already waiting for them, although they had come straight to the basement from the hospital's front desk. Hashirama couldn't be sure if they were civilian or shinobi based on their clothing, which consisted of a plain white cloth coverall garment. Blue latex gloves were pulled up to their wrists and he handed them each a document form his clipboard as he greeted them, and held open the door to exam room 2 for them.
Inside the room was a metal table, on which was a body covered in a white sheet. The room was square, the walls lined with miscellaneous medical and scientific equipment. The technician flicked on a switch, and a hanging light illuminated the medical table. "I'm glad someone has stopped by regarding this one," he began, setting his clipboard on a side table. He pulled back the sheet and there was the dark haired Senju. Her skin was unmistakably pale and clean, her hair slicked back and laid neatly by her head. She had been dressed in simple light blue pants and a shirt, just as clinical in appearance as everything in the hospital.
Tobirama and Hashirama approached the table from the opposite side, standing such that her head lay to their right hand side. "Female shinobi of Senju descent, age 17. Senju Ise. Time and date of death; estimated October 12, 0430." He glanced up at them, seemly expecting specific questions about the details of her death. Tobirama was jotting down his words in one of the black journals they had been given.
"Go ahead, continue. Just give us the run of it."
"Very well. She's different than many of the other deaths associated with the Kyuubi attack two days ago, both in the nature of her death and the timing of it. Most of the injured and dead present with injuries consistent with large scale unsurvivable blunt force trauma and severe burns. Her cause of death was internal bleeding in the chest cavity and in the brain, which the added injuries to her skull suggest that at least some component of her death was blunt force trauma. However, she sustained numerous injuries on top of those, including chakra burns, and a stab wound clear through her abdomen." He pulled up her shirt to expose her abdomen, on which was a partially healed round hole. "Whatever fight she was in was quite taxing to her chakra, as she was unable to heal from such injuries as she normally would. The ANBU that dropped her off at the hospital registered her as another casualty of the Kyuubi attack, but if you ask me, she was killed in a fight with another person. No tailed beast is responsible for this."
But we already know that. Hashirama thought. Although, he recalled, the official statement by Konoha's leadership was that the Kyuubi attack was a natural disaster. Tobirama seemed to be thinking the same. They had to be careful. This man now has proof that something strange was going on that night, as it wouldn't be easy to sell that she was simply on a mission that day given her involvement in the crisis, and if there's suspicion that the Konoha leadership is hiding something about the Kyuubi attack, it can cause the people to distrust the Hokage, which is the last thing Konoha needs at a time such as this.
He seemed to be looking for some kind of answer to his discoveries, studying them as if new information could be learned from their expressionless masks.
Tobirama scribbled something down in the journal, then looked up to watch as the sheet was pulled back up over the body. "Thank you for taking the time to give us a briefing. We will report back to the Hokage, and in light of your discoveries, send for the body to be transferred to ANBU facilities." Hashirama realized he had been holding his breath, waiting for the response, but the man simply nodded, seemingly buying Tobirama's response.
Back out on the streets of Konoha, no words were exchanged, but Tobirama handed over his journal for Hashirama to read. Notes on the autopsy, save a circled phrase at the bottom of the page reading, "Get personnel file from Hokage ASAP."
"Was there something wrong?" Hashirama whispered, "Aside from the suspicion cast on the Hokage?"
"Everything about her death doesn't line up. Why she was so involved in the first place, why she died, why she was absent for such a great portion of the battle." Tobirama pulled him into an alley, "If the orchestrator of the attack had some specific goal in mind, it was either to target a specific part of Konoha using the Kyuubi as a distraction, or to kill Ise. If he had any other goal, he would be the one to carry it out as there are not signs of a second human attacker, but he wouldn't be able to do that if he spent the whole time engaged in battle with a single shinobi. Someone who's skilled enough to pull off this whole thing would be difficult to monopolize a battle with. If there's something specific about Ise that got her killed, we need to find out what that is. It's possible that killing her wasn't his initial plan, but once they learned she was involved in the incident, the original plan of attack could have been abandoned. The only other option remaining for motive would be any collection of reasons that someone would want to possess the power of a tailed beast, but again, why abandon the Kyuubi and go off to do something else. Ultimately, the Kyuubi started and ended the battle in Konoha's possession, so if the objective was to take it, that would mean that they failed because they spent the whole night occupied fighting with Ise." Tobirama released him. The difficulty of the situation weighed heavily on him. Never before had someone managed to attack Konoha and leave so little evidence about their motive or identity.
Hashirama nodded, "I see what you mean. We should get back to discuss this with the Fourth before it gets too late." The sun had begun to set, illuminating the western half of the village in a rich orange light. They leapt up to the rooftops and set off towards the Hokage Tower, racing the sun as the sky paled into dusk.
Their arrival at the Hokage Tower was met with an assortment of law enforcement. They were allowed to make it through the guards with relatively minimal effort, although one of the Konoha Police, an Uchiha, made a point of glaring suspiciously and shouting after them, "You had better not cause any trouble!"
One of the rooms in the great building was marked off with crime scene tape. Whatever had happened must have already been dealt with, as a body was already laid out on a stretcher in a black plastic zip up bag, what remained were a few civilians who work in the building giving reports about what had happened. The Fourth appeared beside them silently. Tobirama took out his journal once more and began to fiddle with it.
Hashirama turned to Minato. "What happened?"
Minato stood with a slouch, but was holding a bundle of blankets delicately to his chest, not wanting to wake his son. He looked just as he had looked earlier in the day, as if he hadn't slept since the attack. Hashirama reasoned that that was probably true. He lost his wife in such a horrible way, but was still expected to get up and do his job the next morning, even with a newborn son to care for. He spoke in a whisper, "One of the Elders has been assassinated. We don't know who did it, and no alarms were tripped by the assassin. Because just what this village needs now is another mystery." He sounded bitter and upset. "As I understand it, Koharu and Danzo were meeting to discuss matters relating to the investigation, when the assassin breaks through the window, slices through Koharu's throat, and tries to do the same to Danzo, who managed to fight him off, but sustained minor injuries in the process."
"Is there any conflicting account?" Tobirama asked. He sighed, it seemed that the world was determined to pick off his students one by one. If that were true, then Danzo is lucky he only escaped with minor injuries, this time.
"No, thankfully. Everyone seems to concur about the events. It's quite unfortunate. We'll track down the assassin as best as we can. I've put you two up in a hotel in downtown for the night. Here are the room keys."
"Thank you, Fourth." Tobirama whispered, taking the envelope that Minato pulled from his pocket. As he grasped the envelope, he traded its place in Minato's hand for a folded slip of paper, it was best not to have a full conversation about the issue tonight, although he wanted the Hokage to be at least aware of their discoveries as soon as possible. "Try and get some sleep tonight, you look like death. If you ever need a babysitter, you know where to find us."
Hashirama nodded, "We'll be happy to."
As they turned to leave, Tobirama noticed that Minato was shaking slightly, taking deep breaths, and had closed his hand into a tight fist. He really was not doing well.
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