He found it a challenge to open his eyes. Sleep had been amazing, something he needed badly. After that warm shower, Hinata convinced him to relax for the rest of the day. He felt uneasy at first but quickly he forgot about the events that transpired. Her eyes were like magic, as if she put him under a perfect genjutsu.

But that was yesterday. Today he needed to gather himself and resolve this mess. He stared at the ceiling for a while, then looked over at his sleeping beauty. She looked like a goddess, even while sleeping. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and got himself up.

He put on his favorite orange outfit and proceeded to put his pants on when he noticed Konohamaru standing at the door, staring at him with disappointment in his eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here Konohamaru?"

"I never left. I've been scrubbing this house inside out. I'm like a sexier Mr. Clean."

"More like a shorter Mario. Why are you just staring at me?"

Konohamaru shook his head in disapproval. "You and the misses were about to do it. You had her sweet succulent breasts on your face and what do you do? You fall asleep. Jiraiya-sama would be ashamed."

"You were watching us? You sick little bitch!"

He threw his pillow at the young shinobi. Konohamaru caught it and laid it on a nearby desk. "I'm gonna go watch Kakashi-sensi eat out Anko. Now there's a real man."

Naruto watched his apprentice leave, wondering if the rest of the day would be this strange. Weird is better than depressing though. He finished getting dressed and nearly left the residence when Hanabi called him.

"Brother Naruto! Come eat with us."

Huh. I knew I was forgetting something. He joined her and her father Hiashi in the dining room. There was plenty of food, no doubt for Hinata and the other Hyuga. But right now it was just Hanabi and her father. And a half finished plate next to an empty chair. Perhaps a clan member.

There was a wide selection of food. Bacon, eggs, sausage, waffles. He took a bit of everything and smothered it in Tabasco. Hanabi found it quite revolting. Tabasco on waffles? Everyone knows you're supposed to use mayonnaise.

He was about halfway done with his meal when Shikamaru came in. "Oh you're up I see." He took a seat at the spot with the half eaten plate, then proceeded eating from it.

"Wait that's your food? Why're you even here?"

Shikamaru was enjoying his Italian sausage. "Got here 20 mins ago. Had to take a piss. Anyways," he swallowed. "We need to discuss somethings. Lets head straight to the office after this."

"Sure. I just need to stop and pick up some lunch first."

Shikamaru, Hanabi and Hiashi all stopped eating and nervously glanced at one another.

Naruto didn't notice, he just continued eating. "I was thinking something different today."

They all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ichiraku Ramen now has instant Cup Ramen. Apparently it's worshiped by college kids everywhere."

Shikamaru swallowed his fork. "GAAAHHH!"

Naruto acted quick and performed the Heimlich. Within seconds the fork launched out of his mouth and into Hiashi's left eye. "AHHH FUCK YOU SHIKAMARU!"

Hanabi rushed over to her dad. "Wait Hanabi don't pul -" Too late. She pulled it out in one swift motion and blood squirted everywhere.

"Hanabi you idiot!" Hiashi looked out his good eye and saw the blood covered food. "We could've eaten that!"

Hanabi was in disbelief. "You've been stabbed with a fork and you're worried about food?!"

"Oh shut up! Your sister would've thought things through." Hiashi started wobbling to the door.

Shikamaru stared at him, unable to process what just happened. "Umm, I'm really sorry sir."

"Don't worry, I'm sure I deserve it." They heard him screaming and swearing as he walked away. Hanabi snapped out of confusion and ran after him.

"Well," Naruto sat down and picked up his fork. "That was weird."

Shikamaru watched him take a bite out of his waffle. "How the hell do you still have an appetite?"

"What? I'm not wasting food. Besides, I'm only eating the bits that aren't stained with blood."

Shikamaru sighed and sat beside him. "Listen, we don't have time to get lunch now. I'll have someone pick up something for you."

Naruto considered the option. For some reason he didn't fully trust anyone with the simple task of picking up food. However, there was plenty of work to be done so he agreed.

It took about 20 minutes to arrive at the Hokage office. There were a few jounin and other officials waiting outside the door, no doubt wanting answers. Shikamaru shooed them away and took his boss inside.

Naruto took a seat behind his desk and was handed a slim folder by Shikamaru. "Here are the assholes that attacked my clan."

There were about a dozen black and white pages, each containing a face, body description and criminal record.

Naruto shifted through each page. "Looks like we got everything from murder all the way to...Grand Theft Auto. What the hell is Grand Theft Auto?"

"A game that people claim causes children to become violent. An idiot claim really, just like your stance on weed."

Naruto gave his assistant a look, then went back to the pages. "They're all A-Rank and below. It doesn't appear that they have anything in common though. So why are they working together? You think somebody's paying them?"

Shikamaru sat down across him. "That must mean their employer is rich as hell. Aside from Feudal Lords, I can't think of anyone with enough money to hire so many notorious goons."

Naruto rubbed his chin, appearing to be in deep thought. Damn. This would be better if I had a beard.

Shikamaru broke the silence. "I did some research. Three weeks ago in Amegakure, about a half dozen local ninja were slaughtered near Pain's Tower."

Naruto was just hearing about this for the first time. "You mean the tower Pain used to reside in? Why am I just now hearing about this?"

"Because the village didn't think anything of it. They assumed it was just another group of bandits trying to rob their largest bank, located inside the tower. But here's the kicker." Shikamaru put his feet on the desk. "They fled the scene before village reinforcements could arrive. Only their blood remained."

Naruto was putting two and two together. "So let me guess. The blood was analyzed and their identities were revealed. Rouge ninjas. Working together. But that doesn't directly relate to our incident."

Shikamaru gave his boss a hard look. "They never stepped into Pain's Tower, and after our incident here, I don't think that was ever their goal. They had something else in mind, something else located near the tower."

Naruto wasn't sure what he was getting at. What else was there? True, he hadn't visited the village in a few years. He really should though, after all it's the home and resting place of..."MOTHERFUCKERS!" Naruto pounded his fists on the desk, startling the people waiting outside. He had been worried all this time, but now his worry was replaced by rage.

Shikamaru tried calming his boss. "Nagato's powers have been nullified and as far as we know, nobody alive knows the Reanimation Jutsu. It wouldn't do them any good to steal his body."

Naruto relaxed a little. "Do you think they were after something else then? Maybe some secret rests in the shrine?"

"I'm not sure. I did place a call to Amegakure though, telling them to up their defenses. I even took the liberty of sending out our own shinobi, give them a helping hand."

Naruto smiled at his assistant. He knew there was a reason he kept him around. "Hey, anything on the patients or the rodents?"

"Sakura says the patients are in stable condition. They're keeping a watch. The results for the overgrown pests haven't come in yet. There is something interesting though." Shikamaru took a photo out of his pocket. "A drone captured this yesterday."

It was a photo of a cave entrance taken from about 200 feet away. It seemed normal at first. Then he glanced at the ground near the entrance. In the dirt there were footprints. And more than one pair.

"Could just be villagers or tourists."

"Not possible. That cave is in a restricted area. Remember the scuffle we had with the ninja from the water village after we drained half their reservoir?"

"Oh yeah. Not our fault our village is swarming with thirsty prostitutes. But yeah, there are a bunch of trip wires and other un-activated traps over there. So these footprints might belong to our attackers..."

He leaned back and pondered his next move when suddenly the door blew open.

"You culdn't bee mur wrong!" Konohamaru said with his mouth full, a giant meat kabob in his hand.

Hanabi stormed in behind him, no food of her own. "Oh you're calling me a liar? Hyuga never lie."

Konohamaru swallowed his food. "Neither do Sarutobi!"

The two exchanged harsh stares and Naruto intervened before anything else happened. "Whoa whoa whoa! What the hell is going on?"

Shikamaru seemed more annoyed than anything. "And why the hell does it have to happen here?"

"Brother Naruto!" Hanabi pointed at Konohamaru. "This perv tried to watch me use the bathroom!"

Konohamaru got very defensive. "For the last time I was fixing the pipes in the shower and had headphones on! I didn't even hear you come in."

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Seriously Kono? First you spy on me and Hinata and now you're watching girls pee?"

Hanabi was shocked. "So you weren't just peeping on me?"

"Oh don't flatter yourself. The only person I peeped on is your sister because she actually has tits!"

Hanabi's face turned a bright red. Naruto couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or from pure rage, but he knew this couldn't go on any further.

"Listen up!" He was loud and demanding, yet wasn't completely shouting. He caught everyone's attention. "There are things happening that we don't understand, things that may cause incredible harm to our village. If you two don't want to be a part of the solution, that's fine. Just don't get in my way."

Konohamaru gulped nervously. It was rare for his master to become so serious. He dared not even breathe. As for Hanabi, this was the first time she felt frightened by her brother in law. The fact that he was a goofball 24/7 made it hard for her to take him seriously. Sometimes she even questioned if he was worthy of his position. She wasn't questioning now.

They both bowed their heads and apologized. Shikamaru laughed. Naruto smiled and calmed his voice. "Great, now I feel hungry. Where did you get that kabob Kono?"

"This?" He held up his half finished kabob. "Well, I wanted Ramen but with Ichiraku destroyed I figured I'd have middle eastern."

Hanabi and Shikamaru's jaws nearly hit the floor. Naruto's heart stopped momentarily before he decided he must have heard wrong.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"

"It's a new restaurant next to Ichiraku, or at least where Ichiraku used to be." He took another bite of his food. Unfortunately it all came back out when Hanabi smacked him upside the head. "OW! What the hell was that for?"

Naruto looked over at his assistant, expression grim like Yamato's. "Shikamaru, what the hell's he talking about?"

Shikamaru looked around nervously, failing to think of a good lie. Hanabi started smacking Konohamaru some more.

Naruto shouted max volume. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ICHIRAKU?"

Everyone froze. The people outside his door froze. They were told Naruto must be kept in the dark about what happened to Ichiraku. Sounds like that plan failed.

Konohamaru spoke, voice shaking. "It...It was destroyed. When those two servers came crashing down...it was destroyed."

Servers? Computers haven't been discovered yet.

Shikamaru could feel his boss about to blow so he decided to spill the beans. "Look Naruto, last night four servers got into a fight with a hotel guest. It was at the top floor of a new luxury hotel, right beside Ichiraku. Two of them came crashing out the window, falling through the shop. They're in critical condition, as are Teuchi and Ayame. The other two are missing, along with the hotel guest."

Those words made no sense to him. Ichiraku destroyed? By a fight in a hotel? He kept repeating those words over and over in his head, but it didn't make sense. No, it did make sense. He was choosing to deny them. Out of all the evils that befell the village, there was always one solid, steady entity that bought him comfort. An unwavering beacon of hope that had always been there for him. And for the first time, it was gone. Destroyed. No more ramen. No more...Ichiraku.

He snapped. "ARRRRGGGGHHHH!" A yellow aura engulfed him. So much energy spewed out that Shikamaru fell out of his chair and Hanabi and Konohamaru were slammed against the door.

His scream only lasted a few seconds before he turned around and sprung out the window. It happened so fast, Shikamaru thought he used instant transmission. He got himself up and realized Naruto was flying in the direction of the cave. "Shit! That idiot is going to slaughter all of them before we get any answers."

He looked over at Hanabi and Konohamaru. Both were lying on the floor, breathing heavily. "Okay." Konohamaru said. "I will never peek on your sister again."

Shikamaru thought for a second, then grew a stupid grin on his face. "Hey you two. Wanna go treasure hunting?"