A/N: I'm back. This chapter is a little short, and I'm not so sure on the quality of parts of it, but I've looked at it so much that I can't see it anymore. Anyway, thanks again to my reviewers (takes deep breath) WhyMustIWrite, beyondthecrystalsea, InARealPickle, I am a Fun-nin, Kaka Fan, Veve, Swiss Army Knife, xXreviewerXx and iNsAnE nO bAkA.
And I'm just borrowing Naruto.
Iruka walked slowly through the streets, expression closed even as his shoulders slumped, body language all but screaming 'something is wrong'. He dragged up a half smile for the various people who greeted him, but brushed off the concerned questions that they asked.
He hesitated for a moment at one street corner, but then turned and walked towards the business district. 'I'll pick up supper tonight' he thought ruefully. 'Even if I can function with this arm, I'd really rather not cook. Like Sensei used to say, "shinobi are tolerant of pain, not immune to it".
Ducking into a small empty diner, he waved to the young man behind the counter with his good arm. Iruka hesitated, noting with a little concern that the teenager was highly upset. The sixteen year old's jaw was tightly clenched, his motions sharp as he cleaned the counter around the grills. Iruka stepped up, lightly tapping on the countertop to attract the boy's attention. "Hey, Yasui-kun. Are you okay? You seem a little tense today."
The young man looked up, his eyes widening as he noticed the bandage wrapped around the teacher's arm. "Iruka-san, never mind me. What happened to you?! How'd you get hurt? And why are you here instead of at home?"
Iruka chuckled briefly, waving away the teen's concern. "It's nothing, Yasui-kun. Just a little accident in the classroom. And I'm here because I thought I'd pick up some good food, instead of trying to make something edible." Iruka genuinely smiled as the teenager laughed, casually making note of the way that the younger one's body lost the tenseness that had first caught Iruka's attention. "Now," the teacher stated, leaning towards the young man. "Enough about me, what's got you so upset?"
The young man hesitated, clearly debating whether or not to 'bother' Iruka, but he finally leaned against the counter. "Well, it's just… It's stupid, but… it just makes me so mad…"
-
He stopped, pausing in his approach and waiting for a moment, watching the two men interact. His mind quickly placed the scarred Chunin as one of the investigators on the case. 'Strange as that still seems…' The shinobi slipped farther away, back into the streets, carefully avoiding attracting the attention of either of the pair as he closely watched his potential target. Both of them.
-
Sachiko worked methodically, her eyes distant as her hands rhythmically chopped vegetables for the night's supper. Her mind was obviously far away – specifically, eleven blocks away inside of a large brick building. She focused for a moment when Tomi came in, smiling when he kissed her cheek and swatting away the hand trying to steal a piece of carrot, but her attention soon drifted again. Her husband wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on top of her head as he spoke. "Okay, Sachi. What's wrong? You're not still worried about Takeshi, are you?"
She hummed, leaning back into his warmth as she tried to banish her anxiety. "I know I shouldn't, Tomi, it's just… Takeshi's a good boy, and I'm proud of him, but he's still only a boy. And he has such a temper, I can't help but wor-" Sachiko never got to finish that sentence, interrupted by the front door slamming open.
She and her husband traded startled glances as they caught the sounds of sobbing, running footsteps, and saw a flash of blond hair passing by the kitchen door. Both adults instantly dropped what they were doing as they hurried to their son's room, only to find the boy curled up on his bed, sobbing as if his heart was broken. Hesitating in the doorway, Sachiko put one hand gently on her husband's arm. When Tomi looked at her, she shook her head, silently gesturing for him to let her handle this.
Once he nodded and stepped back, Sachiko stepped into the room. She settled on the bed, reaching out to pull her baby into her arms. Rocking him gently, she ran her fingers lightly through soft blond hair. "Oh, sweetie. What happened?"
-
Kiemon looked up as a young shinobi rapped lightly on the door. With a gesture, the little Genin stepped in, bowing his respect as was appropriate. The youngling dropped off an envelope – nothing special, just plain white paper – addressed in a smooth cursive script. Kiemon opened the envelope, glancing briefly at the contents of the letter. …and paused. Looked carefully back over the letter. Activated the jutsu to seal the room from eyes, ears and entry. Closed his eyes and ran his fingers lightly over the lines.
He opened his eyes, flipped over the sheet of paper, grabbed a spare paper and began carefully transcribing the points where the writer of the letter had pressed the pen just a little harder against the paper. Once every inch of the paper had been gone over – three times – the spare paper had a neat series of sentences written in modified Braille.
A vicious smile lit up the Rock Jounin's face as he began to decode the message. He was going to helping Konoha fall.
-
Anyone looking into the room at that point in time would have wondered where someone had gotten such a variety of odd individuals. The behavior of the dozen or so assorted Jounin varied. The easy going patience of Asuma almost made up for the barely restrained energy of Heika. Genma's uniform provided visual relief from Ruriko's bright purple coat. Hyuuga Hiashi's ramrod posture and razor focus contrasted sharply with Sharingan Kakashi's slouched seat and apparent drowsiness. All together, they were a very odd sight. But they all sat just a little straighter, paid just a little more attention as their Hokage strode into the meeting room.
When Tsunade activated the jutsu to prevent sound from escaping the room, Kakashi even sat up. The blonde woman looked out over the most trusted – and discrete – of Konoha's Jounin, waiting the few seconds that it took for the group to silence itself. "All right." She called. "I'm sure that most, if not all of you have noticed that ANBU have been on the streets more than usual lately. It's time you know why…"
-
They gathered at the store that one of them helped mind, entering in twos and threes, with a few individuals slipping in by themselves. The store's employee was off now, only remaining because he had no particular place to go. Besides, the back stockroom made for a good meeting place. They chatted together, those who had been coming longer introducing newcomers to the group.
Finally they were all together, and it was time to get started. They broke off into smaller groups, mixing newcomers with those who had been there longer in order to help the new ones become familiar with the preparations. They slowly quieted, idle chatter fading away as they all focused on the work at hand. After all, they had to have it just right. They would only get one chance.
-
Eri ran a finger distractedly along the rim of his glass, a rare thoughtful expression on his young face. He sat quietly, using the moment to soak in the feel of the crowd before the new batch of patrons noticed him. Green eyes flitted from person to person, watching as they spoke, laughed, grumbled and clapped shoulders or pulled away from each other. A faint frown tugged at the young man's lips as he noticed just how many of the men coming in were upset, grumbling and glaring. He closed his eyes, taking a deep but subtle breath as he centered himself. A moment later, he stepped out of his booth, a little grin on his lips as he teasingly asked the nearest man if he needed to borrow a bed. "Seems like you need to get up on the other side, eh?"
-
The room was utterly silent. Heika sat still, his normally animated face almost expressionless. Asuma had long since put out his cigar, and Genma had spit his senbon into the wall in an earlier flash of temper. Kurenai had her fists clenched lightly in her lap, and Hiashi leaned forward, radiating the coiled grace of a predator. Shikaku had stepped over to the nearest map and was now running rough fingers along it, murmuring nonsense that would probably turn into genius under his breath.
The Jounin gathered in the meeting room were no longer the odd collection of eccentrics that they had been an hour ago. Whereas before, an observer would have seen many potential psych patients, now that same observer would shiver. There was no doubt now that these were highly trained, very dangerous warriors.
Finally the silence was broken. Kakashi leaned in, his one visible eye narrowed as he spoke in a dark, smooth tone. "So, Hokage-sama, who else is investigating this? …I'd hate to waste time following someone who is only watching others because he is searching for our prey."
Tsunade nodded once, calling in the few ANBU captains that would be working with the Jounins. And the silence turned into a chorus of low murmurs as the Jounin and ANBU agents gathered into small groups to discuss details of the investigation.