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Chapter Five: It is a Mystery

A/N: Hey there! First note, sorry this chapter is a few hours late, school stuff and work stuff and life stuff got in the way of timely updating. Second note, I know my OC is practically useless this chapter, but that's only because I didn't want her importance to be on par with the canon characters' during their main introduction into the story. I wanted to ease her into the plot, get everyone used to her, before I crank up the awesome in installment six. Third note, Sakura still plays an integral role in this plotline, and the reason why she is absent will be clarified in chapter seven. Final note: I noticed a couple of fandomsecrets on LiveJournal about this story appearing in the past few weeks. If the people who posted those are reading right now, allow me to thank you and just say you're friggin' awesome for taking the time to make those. TOTES MADE MY DAY. I love you! Really!

Remember, I take the time to address every review through PM, in accordance with the site's ban on responses to reviews in the author's notes. If a single question is asked twice or more in the reviews, though, I will address the concern 'generally' in the author's notes of the next chapter. On with the show!

I--I

He had always been fascinated by how the world could function when the majority of its population was experiencing such a state of inanity and aimlessness, not unlike lab rats searching for cheese located at the end of a maze. The purpose of his existence was known ever since he could remember, an awareness he knew most spent a lifetime trying to attain. Was he lucky to have been able to set a goal from the start and devote the remainder of his reality striving to achieve it? Was he unfortunate to have missed out on the process of enlightenment all must face, the very journey to discovering why one is?

Sasuke heard the front door of the class slam open, not bothering to pay attention to the head of the room until the rest of it subsequently fell silent. His orange-clad deskmate wasn't ashamed to make his presence known, though Sasuke couldn't say this was too far of a stretch compared to his normal behaviour.

"Yeah, I know what you're all thinkin'!" he shouted as he walked to their table. "'What the heck is that guy doing here? He's making a mistake! Isn't this seminar for Genin only?' Well, I PASSED the Genin examination, you know! So you can all stop staring at me like the oggling freaks you are and finally get it through your thick heads that I'm just as good as the rest of you!"

Naruto dropped into his seat while Sasuke decided to stop staring. It was a wonder he made it this far, the latter thought to himself. Neither positive nor negative, simply a neutral surprise.

A few moments later, Iruka, looking anxious and fatigued, rushed through the already-open door with a small scroll in his hands. "Settle down for a moment, class.

"Thank you all for coming today, and I congradulate you on becoming full-fledged Genin. You might have made it this far, but be sure you will have a long and difficult road ahead of you, if you wish to progress any further in your careers. Unfortunately, some important business has come up this morning, which prevents me from staying as long as I would have liked for this orientation. Because of this, I will be brief.

"Squad compositions have been determined on a statistical basis, calculated while considering individual skills and weaknesses. The teams posted on this scroll are final. I've reworked this chart a hundred times. No exceptions will be made." Iruka unravels the thin scroll, taping either end of it to the front of the chalkboard. "This paper lists every squad, the members that squad is composed of, and the place where you will be meeting your Jounin instructor twenty minutes from now."

Sasuke observed Iruka as he turned around to take in the expectant faces of his students one last time, recognizing the familiar traces of hopelessness and worry that must have been plauging most of their eyes, now that reality had settled in. 'Is this the end?' 'You're leaving us just like that?' 'What do we do now?'

All he could do was nod and bare a reassuring smile.

"Good luck. I have faith in you."

Iruka made a brief hand seal and was gone.

Slowly, the students stood from their seats one-by-one, moving with extreme caution to the front of the classroom. A vast range of expressions scattered across their faces, from excitement and disappointment, to satisfaction and envy, to happiness and insurmountable fear. Being the last one still seated, Sasuke turned back to the window, taking a moment to rest his eyes. He figured he would go ahead and see if it was possible to let them do all the work, to figure out who his teammates were without having to actually get up. The first boy to glance askance in his direction. The first girl to approach him blushing. He imagined this scenario over and over, many times.

"UNBELIEVABLE!" screamed the undomesticated common loud-mouth. "OUT OF EVERYONE IN THIS CLASS, WHY SASUKE?!"

The Uchiha opened an eye. This was not part of his scenario.

"Oh, shut up, Naruto!" he heard another screeching voice proclaim. Female. He watched her run a careful hand through her platinum-blonde ponytail, flipping her hair impatiently. "You should be grateful to have made it on Sasuke-kun's team! You'd probably be dead any other way, in both senses of the word."

"NO WAY!" retorted Naruto, now crossing his forearms into the shape of an 'x'. "I never did anything to deserve this kind of punishment! I've improved a whole lot since our last exam, you know! Why would Iruka-sensei team me with Sasuke?! I'm better than that! And I've never even heard of this 'Yuni' girl, either! Why does Iruka-sensei have it out for me?! This isn't fair!"

Sasuke's eyes shifted to the dark-haired girl fighting against Kiba to see the team listings first. Yuni was using brute strength to shove him out of her way, while he took full advantage of the easy, pain-inflicting access granted by long hair. Akamaru also seemed to be gnawing on her wrist. It was quite comical.

Ino slapped her forehead. "Wow!" She laughed. "I guess Sasuke-kun and I have something else in common, seeing as we're both stuck with failures as teammates. At least our squads are lucky enough to have Shinobi as powerful as we are to pull around all the dead weight." Her tone turned high-pitched as she smiled sweetly and waved in his direction. "Right, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke ignored her, instead noticing Kiba examine the sheet as he pushed the top of Yuni's head an arm's length away from himself, causing her to swing punches mercilessly at thin air. This was the same girl who trained with Naruto two nights ago, both Shinobi-to-be risking trouble and punishment for breaking the Academy Student curfew. This was the same girl who could barely perform Chakra flow control without injuring herself, or whoever or whatever was unfortunate enough to be within a five-feet radius.

Yuni delivered a sweeping kick; she tripped Kiba and spun around, nearly forcing her nose flat against the paper on the wall.

"Uzumaki-san!" she cheered, running up to Naruto and holding her right hand up for a high-five. "We're teammates!"

Gaping in disbelief, Naruto stumbled backwards, shaking his arm as he pointed at her. "H--henjin?!"

"Yeah!" Her smile wavered, and she lowered her palm. "Are you disappointed?"

"N--no! I just wasn't expecting you to be...you know..." He slouched over and pointed at her again, calmer than last time. "Why's your hair red all of a sudden?"

"Oh yeah!" She touched her chin and looked up, thoughtfully. "I remembered what you said the other day about me looking depressing. I'm not depressed at all, and I thought looking like it would be unfair to people who really were depressed and wanted to look it, so I dyed the stripes in my hair last night with a color that wasn't silver or grey or black, like you told me to."

"Wha...what did you use for--"

"Uzumaki-san, do you have any idea why Sasuke isn't coming over here?" She giggled, pressing her hand timidly against the side of her face. "You don't think he's embarassed of us, do you?"

Naruto folded his arms. "Who cares? Not me, you know. I--hey, where are you going?!"

Sasuke eyed the kunoichi as she approached his table; in spite of his detailed expectations, she didn't seem to be blushing.

She stopped in front of the desk and bowed. "Uchiha-san," she addressed, extending a hand, "I'm Ookamiza Yuni. We're teammates."

Because they had the tendency to idealize him as some kind of demi-god rather than a human being, the irrational behaviour of his female peers was always directly proportional to their distance from him. She was different, to say the least. The fleeting, angered glowers from kunoichi around the classroom didn't seem to bother her; her small smile, completely non-threatening. They were meeting face-to-face and it was almost as if she held no special interest in him at all. The thought was mildly engaging, much to his own disdain.

"We should leave," he said, rising to his feet. "We wouldn't want to keep the Jounin waiting."

Yuni blinked and retracted her arm, staring oddly down at her right palm. 'This hand is cursed...'

"Tch!" Naruto scoffed. "I don't have to listen to you, you know! Who died and made you boss, anyway?"

"You have a better idea?"

"Er..."

Sasuke glided down the stairs past his new comerades. "Where we headed?"

"Outside the weaponry shop," said Yuni, running to catch up with him as he walked out the classroom door. "The big one, in the southeast."

The instant he realized what was happening, Naruto's demands not to be left behind soon followed.

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Dear Genin of Squad Seven,

I will be unable to make our appointment this morning. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please return about your business until further instruction is provided.

Sincerely,

Your Sensei

It was a short note, and a considerably small one, to boot, requiring those who desired to read the miniature text to lean in very closely. Sasuke hadn't objected when Naruto volunteered himself to read it aloud first, just in case the 'close distance' factor was part of some kind of sick trap.

Alas, to Sasuke's slight disappointment, it wasn't.

Yuni scratched at her neck. "Should we...just go home, then?"

"NO!" Naruto yelled, stomping his foot against the ground. "Today was supposed to be my very first day as a Genin, my very first day of training! I'm not going to let this guy get away that easily, you know!"

Burying his hands within his pockets, Sasuke turned to leave.

"Oi! Where do you think you're going?!"

"On with my life." he said flatly. "I suggest you do the same."

"I don't freakin' think so! I'm not going to leave just because some piece of paper tells me I should, you know! I'll just have to track him down myself and make him train me like he was supposed to!"

"The instructions say to leave," Sasuke said sharply. "Why would I waste my time disobeying my first order?"

"Stop acting like you're go great, you jerk! It's not like I need you to come along, anyway!"

Yuni stuck up an index finger. "Uchiha-san, we're teammates, so it wouldn't be right for us to let Naruto search alone. If Sensei saw Naruto searching by himself, he wouldn't think very highly of either of us for abandoning Naruto's efforts."

Sasuke took Yuni's proposal into consideration, looking even further past her suggestion. What if that note was not only a test of character, but a test of ability? To measure their tracking skills? To be able to pick up on subtle cues the Jounin may have left behind? To see if they would give up so easily?

"...even if I did stay, where would we start looking?"

The blonde opened his mouth to spit out an answer, but nothing came out. After ten agonizginly long seconds of quiet, it was more than obvious he was drawing a blank.

"I think what Uzumaki-san is trying to say," started Yuni, "is that because our Sensei is the leader of a team, our best bet would be to consult the Mission Assignment Panel at the Hokage Tower. Right, Uzumaki-san?"

"What she said!" He immediately pointed off into the distance. "To the Hokage Tower!"

"The Hokage Tower's that way, Uzumaki-san..."

"I KNEW THAT!"

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Organized groups of uniformed Shinobi were rushing around the tower grounds in an absolute scramble upon the Genin's arrival; upon closer evaluation, it would be noted that there didn't appear to be anyone lower than Chuunin rank present within the area. Attempts to stop someone for questioning seemed futile. If the Genin hadn't stayed together as a group, they would have run the risk of getting lost within the shuffle themselves.

The three took a few steps past the gigantic red entrance doors, evading head-on collisions with speeding Tokubetsu Jounin to the best of their ability.

"Can I help you?"

The unexpected greeting gave Naruto a start.

The Chuunin standing behind them was a younger man with spiky black hair, donning Konoha's official Chuunin uniform, complete with distinctive green vest. He glared down at the Genin with dark, narrow eyes, sniffling regularly beneath the bandages wrapped over his nose: thin, stark white coverings which spanned over the length of his face.

"We were supposed to meet our Jounin here for an assignment," Sasuke lied. "Do you know where we would be able to find him?"

"I'm afraid all D-Rank missions have been put on hold for the time being, seeing as the Hokage isn't available to assign them."

"Why?" questioned Naruto. "What's going on around here; why's everyone freaking out?"

"It is a matter of public record that the Hokage's grandson went missing this morning," the man said. "Konoha civilians have been notified to keep an eye and ear out for the boy, while all available Jounin and Chuunin begin a village-wide search."

"Konohamaru..." Naruto whispered to himself.

Sasuke raised his voice. "Is there anything missing from the Hokage Tower?"

The Chuunin appeared stunned for a moment. "That information is confidential," he replied piercingly, regaining composure as he raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"In that case, I'm going to have to ask you to vacate the premesis. Under the current conditions, your Jounin will understand if you've decided to go home."

A curt 'thank you' was all it took before Sasuke backtracked and sped his way out the door, forcing Naruto and Yuni to nearly jog in an effort to keep up with him.

"Sasuke-teme, slow down why don't you?" Naruto groaned after the first two blocks. "What's the big hurry?"

"Naruto."

"Eh?"

Sasuke stopped in his tracks, much to the relief of his teammates. "Back there, you said the name 'Konohamaru'. Did you know the Hokage's grandson?"

"Sure I did!" he said proudly. "I'm his mentor, you know! Before he met me, he used to be the kind of kid who wouldn't give up until he took the position of Hokage by defeating his granddad, but I made sure to set him straight! Everyone's getting all high-strung for nothing. He won't be all that hard to find, you know. He's not that great of a ninja, he's not that great at hiding, and he's got a pretty big mouth..."

Sasuke coughed discreetly.

"Our Sensei is probably out with the rest of the Jounin, looking for the Hokage's grandson," said Yuni.

"That's no excuse! I don't see any other Genin walking around not doing anything, you know! If the other Jounin made it today, ours should have made it too!"

"The way that Chuunin responded when I asked was too abrupt not to be a dead giveaway..." Sasuke muttered, ignoring the argument beside him. "The Hokage wouldn't send out a full legion of Chuunin and Jounin if it wasn't a more serious issue. Something was stolen from the Hokage's Tower, and they suspect Konohamaru's disappearance was a kidnapping."

"Woah, really?! That's intense! If we found out what was stolen and bring both that and Konohamaru back, we'd be heroes, you know! Then our Sensei'll have no choice but to start training us!"

"The entire village is looking for that kid, including Shinobi more experienced and trained than we are. What makes you think we'll fare any better?"

"Well, maybe they just aren't lookin' in the right places!" he defended. "They all think like adults when they're trying to find a little kid! Everyone knows in order to find a little kid, you need to think like a little kid!"

"And we all know you're the master of that..."

"Why you--"

"Uzumaki-san, what are you suggesting?" asked Yuni. "That there are places in the village not even Jounin know about?"

"It depends on where he was going, you know! When I last saw him, he was with his Sensei, this really weird closet perv with glasses," he said, making circles around his eyes with his fingers. "If I can find out what they were doing during their training..."

"But if this man is Konohamaru's teacher, then chances are he's looking for Konohamaru as well. Where would we even find him?"

Naruto and Yuni gave an exasparated sigh in unison.

"...it's standard protocol in a missing persons case for the last-associated party to comb through the areas where said person was last seen. The Chuunin at the Missions Panel said he went missing this morning. Academy Students had class this morning. That means..."

Yuni hit the palm of her hand with the bottom of her fist. "Konohamaru's Sensei would be searching the children's training grounds right now! Brilliant, Uchiha-san!"

Once again, Naruto pointed into the distance; this time in the right direction. "To the Academy Training Grounds!"

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"KONOHAMARUUUUU?!"

The Genin followed the loud echoes from the edge of the training grounds to the opposite side of the clearing, where a tall man dressed in navy blue from head to toe was frantically searching every corner for the missing boy.

"Sensei?"

Ebisu whipped around, standing up straight from his lean over a bush. "What are you three doing here? Newly-promoted Genin are assembled on the other side of Konoha with their Squad Leaders!"

"AHA, I KNEW IT!" shouted Naruto. "I KNEW THE OTHER JOUNIN DIDN'T BACK OUT!"

Sasuke stepped forward. "Can we ask you a question?"

"No, absolutely not, not right now, I'm searching for the Honorable Grandson!" he said in a panic. "In case you haven't heard, he's gone missing! Sarutobi Konohamaru! My student! And I cannot and will not fail as a teacher by failing to find him!" He proceeded to tear out the leaves and branches from all nearby shrubs, as if Konohamaru was buried within the tangle of sticks.

"We were wondering if there was anything we could do to help you with your search?" asked Yuni.

"A word of advice, young Genin," he enunciated firmly, "stop concerning yourselves with things that do not concern you. You are neither Konoha cilivians, nor are you Chuunin or Jounin; this means you are to mind your own assignments unless told otherwise!"

"This is our assignment," said Sasuke.

"What are you--" Naruto was interrupted with a hard elbowing to the arm; before he was able to shout in opposition, Yuni gave him a concerned, warning look and put a finger to her mouth, signaling him to keep quiet.

"Our Joinin Squad Leader assigned us to help find the Hokage's missing grandson to see if we're skilled enough to be of assistance," said Sasuke. "Because of your close relationship with Konohamaru, we decided you would be the first person we should come to for advice. Do you remember anything he said or did before he left that might've tipped you off to where he was going?"

"As I've told the search party repeatedly..." the Jounin nearly growled, adjusting the bridge of his glasses with a single finger, "Konohamaru mentioned taking a shortcut to the Hokage before he ran off. I believed him to be skipping out on training to hide at home as he usually does before I retreive him, but when I arrived at the Tower, he, along with the Fuuin no Sho, was already gone. Now, if you'll excuse me!"

He delved deeper into the forest brush, calling his student's name until his voice cracked from the desperation.

"Fuuin no Sho..." echoed Yuni. "Someone stole Shodai Hokage's Sacred Scroll of Sealing? That, in combination with Konohamaru-san's disappearance..."

"Are you okay?"

Confused by the concern, Yuni turned around to see who Sasuke was addressing. Their teammate had turned a ghostly shade of white, his expression blank, yet disturbed, as if he'd suddenly stumbled upon something inconceivably surreal.

A sweatdrop slid down the side of his cheek as the pieces of the puzzle fell together, forming a picture only he could see. Naruto dug his nails into the palms of his hands, squeezing his fists so tightly his arms began to shake.

"...I know where Konohamaru is."

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