Stinking Shurikens
Disclaimer: All characters, songs and scenes belong to their respective owners...
Chapter 4: Dial K for Vendetta
At Sasuke's apartment, Sasuke sat on his couch, and then he called out to Sakura. "Well, are you coming in or not?!"
Sakura entered the apartment. "You sure live the lonely life."
"Well, my girlfriend's..."
"Invisible?" asked Sakura.
"Actually, she's a reporter who hasn't spoken to me in 5 f-ing years and writes bad things about me and my co-workers on the Konoha News," corrected Sasuke.
"Well, your co-workers razed my home to the ground, so I guess we're even," Sakura rebutted.
"My co-workers?!
"Who do you think tried to set me up?" Sakura sees a photo of herself and Sasuke. "I thought you burned all of these?"
"Well...I," Sasuke tried to explain.
"Remember our system? 234 moves?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke smiled and nods. "Yep, 9 for each letter of the alphabet."
"Alright, Y1," Sakura ordered.
Sasuke suddenly takes out a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards in one hand, ready for a duel.
"Next, P3!"
Sasuke quickly takes out a Pikachu stuffed toy and prepared to use it as a shield.
"E9!"
Sasuke instantly put away the Cards and stuffed toy the same way they appeared, mysteriously out of nowhere.
"C4."
Sasuke groaned. "Not C4."
Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm and flipped him onto a couch.
"I only liked C4 if we were on the bed."
"T6."
Sasuke looked up at Sakura. "Would that be a Katana on one side?"
"Two katanas on each side," Sakura corrected.
"Yeah. And what about Z9?" Sasuke asked with a cheeky grin on his face.
"I believe that in your book, it would be one Shinobi putting his tongue into the other Shinobi's mouth".
"Well, I suppose I could let Neji wouldn't like that."
"You didn't tell him about our system?!"
"Just kidding," Sasuke said as he walked into the kitchen, "So, what was on that disk?"
"Remember the time Zabuza got whacked?" Sasuke nods. "You see, I've checked into his finances. It appears that he has been making 29 rather large payments."
"To who?" Sasuke asked.
"Codenames. Used by members from ANBU ZERO."
"Why Asuma?"
"Because Asuma was the only one I could trust," Sakura explained, "Then again, I should have sent it to you so that you would have filed this under 'this is not really happening'."
"Well, Asuma died because of that disk."
"Then, help me, Sasuke. Help me close this case."
Sasuke looked away. "Without the disk, we don't even have a case."
Sakura stood up. "You're so weak, Sasuke," Sakura said and she left the room...
ANBU ZERO HQ
Kiba and Shino were sent into Iruka's office.
"You let her go?!" Shino asked.
"What the f-k were you two doing?" said Iruka.
"What do you mean?" Kiba asked.
"Didn't you try putting the photographs into the envelope?" asked Iruka.
"She's mixed up in this somehow," Shino said.
"Listen, you two. There will be a full investigation. Both of you are suspended."
"But, her fingerprints was on one of the envelopes, sir!" protested Shino.
"Yes, in an envelope she claims that contains a computer disk," Iruka said, "What was on that disk, Shino?"
Suddenly, three Shurikens hit Shino in the face and body, killing him instantly. Iruka turns around to see Kiba pulled out a kunai throws it at Iruka...
Meanwhile, the other ANBU members outside at their desks were oblivious to what was going on in Iruka's office.
Kiba quickly took the Kunai from Shino's weapon's holster and Kiba braced himself as he stabs his own arm...
At that instant, Choji heard a noise from the office.
"What's going on?"
Choji tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Does anyone have a key?"
Choji opened the door, only to see two dead bodies and an injured Kiba who appeared to have used his weapon in self-defence.
"He just went berserk," Kiba explained, "I tried to stop him, but he killed Iruka!"
Sasuke was watching the news.
Newscaster: The machines are the work of Konoha Arcade boss, Jiraiya, to allow for interruption-free Arcade gaming.
Jiraiya was on the news.
Jiraiya: The customer, or "VIP" as we like to say, inserts his or her credit card into the Arcade machine, and they're all set for the evening.
"You got to be joking," Sasuke said to himself as he picked up the phone and called Neji. "Neji, check out the news."
Newscaster: The Mayor was quick to respond.
Mayor Naruto was at a press conference.
Naruto: Well, I think its taking advantage of people's fun. This is not something that a 'family-friendly' mayor could ever condone.
Reporter: Is this a new low for Konoha?
Naruto: A new low for the town that is in a 'hole'
Naruto had a small laugh, and then composed himself.
Naruto: No. Absolutely not.
Suddenly the news changed to a report on Iruka...
"Hey Neji, its Iruka on the news."
Newscaster: Now, onto the latest on the ANBU ZERO killings. It is confirmed that one of the dead was the acting commander of the controversial ANBU ZERO unit, Iruka...
Sasuke watched the news with a shocked look on his face.
Sasuke and Neji entered the office to pay their condolences and sees Choji standing near the entrance.
"Where's Kiba?" asked Sasuke.
"He's at the hospital," replied Choji.
Neji placed a hand on Choji's shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry to hear about Iruka," said Neji.
"Yep, I smell f-kwits," a voice said. Both Sasuke and Neji saw Orochimaru was standing outside his office, who has been released from hospital after his plastic surgery.
"Orochimaru, you're back from the hospital," said Sasuke. "You look pretty well. Don't you agree, Neji?"
Neji looked at Orochimaru. "Well, I can't really endorse 'pretty', but I can say that he looks 'well'."
"Do you know what are the good things about hospitals?" asked Orochimaru.
"Erm...they only show good shows on TV?" was Sasuke's answer, "or maybe not."
Orochimaru picks up the newspaper with the 'Funeral Outrage' news article. "Close, but I was thinking of saying that it's a great opportunity to catch up on my reading."
"Those three disasters were completely taken out of context!" Neji protested.
"I'll let the stairs decide on that." Orochimaru pointed at two barrels next to him.
"Oh get f..." Before Neji could finish cursing Orochimaru...
"Owww! Owww! Oww! Oww! Oww!"
Two barrels were rolling down 8 flights of stairs. Each barrel contains a Shinobi stuffed inside by Orochimaru's orders before being pushed off the stairs.
Sasuke was lying on his couch with an ice pack on his torso when he received a phone call from Neji. Sasuke answers the phone call.
"Don't mention stairs or barrels, Neji."
Neji (on the other end of the phone): What the f-k just happened, Sasuke?
"What's your side of the story?" Sasuke asked.
Neji (on the phone): My guess is that Shino tried to frame Sakura, Iruka found out, and Shino went on a rampage by killing Iruka.
"You know what? I'll have a talk with Kiba." Sasuke said as he got up from his couch.
Neji (on phone): Hey, on the bright side, at least Tenten's taking advantage of my vulnerable position and placed me on a very carnal work-out. Unfortunately, I didn't do too well in my current condition, so, instead of playing Twister, she's making soup for me."
Sasuke sighed and hangs up.
"It's an open-and-shut case, Sasuke," said Kakashi, "I can't see what you are looking for?"
In the evidence room, Sasuke was the kunai that killed Iruka. "But why didn't Shino leave behind any fingerprints on the weapon? If he would have gone berserk, he would have used his bugs to do the job."
"Yeah, that does seem out of the ordinary," said Kakashi as he starts to understand what Sasuke was deducing.
At Konoha Hospital...
Kiba was on the hospital bed, telling his part of the incident to Sasuke.
"He was on a vendetta."
"Dial Kunai for vendetta?" asked Sasuke.
"He was on to Sakura so much that when Iruka found out, he just went crazy," said Kiba.
"Did Iruka ever mention of a computer disk?" Sasuke asked.
Kiba shakes his head.
"Ok."
Back in the Evidence Room, Sasuke was looking at Sakura's envelope.
"Why was this in Asuma's car?" asked Kakashi.
Sasuke looked at the envelope and said, "Because it contained a computer disk." Then, Sasuke asked, "Who was first on the scene?"
Kakashi gave Sasuke the evidence report. "Kiba signed the report."
Sasuke looked at the report number. "Why would the first page of the report be numbered 5301? Shouldn't it be 5300?"
Kakashi looked at the report number. "You're right. Who would tear off the first page?"
Sasuke takes a blank piece of paper and a pencil and Sasuke started to do a bit of shading on the paper. After a few seconds, he sees the evidence that was supposed to be on the first page, which is missing in the second, "one computer disc."
Neji was on his bed reading the pencil shading of the list that had included the computer disk. "It looks like Kiba wrote the disk off the report knowing what was on it."
"Gotta catch em all," said Sasuke.
"What do you think, Tenten?" asked Neji.
Tenten was at the bedroom door. "I think we should call the proper authorities."
"It appears that the 'proper authorities' are the ones behind this are with Kiba," said Neji.
"Around 29, maybe more," adds Sasuke.
"So, who can we trust?" asked Neji.