***Chapter 5: Silent Kill***

Urk! Sometimes I hate myself! Okay so remember how the last chapter ended? Sure you do. Well, I had the outfit planned in my head, but when I drew it, it looked WAY too modern and totally UN-Naruto, so I had to try and fit it into the era. Not as naughty as the original IMO, but it will have to do. Let me know what you think, in any case. If you want me to, I can create a one-shot with the original outfit, but then you would have to review or PM me and let me know. Shout out to Len, MissMeep and Psuedobeast, as well as the guests for reviewing! Also whoever favorited or is following me.. THANK YOU! You're brightness to my totally stressed out life atm! As you already know, this story is AU. Well, without further ado…

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke would be nonexistent, or at least not so damn annoying…but I don't, so such is life…

-Prologue-

Flashback is written in italics.

'Thoughts in italics and enclosed in quotes'

Normal writing is in normal text.

"Dialogue is in normal text enclosed in open and closed quotations."

'Black Zetsu and Kyuubi speak in bold italics enclosed in quotations.'

Bold text shows time frames and places.

Previously on Left to the Elements:

Kisame and Itachi looked up as she stepped out of the bathroom. Kisame looked disgruntled to see her in the Akatsuki cloak, and Itachi simply raised a brow.

"You can't wear that in there," Itachi said. "It will attract too much attention." Yachiru rolled her eyes and opened the Akatsuki cloak, revealing the outfit underneath.

"And this won't, right?" she asked in a sarcastic tone, letting the cloak fall to the ground and giving a little turn to show off the outfit.

Itachi's face reddened only slightly and Kisame whistled a bit in wonder and masculine appreciation. He sounded suspiciously like Hidan when he spoke.

"Damn, bitch. If you don't kill him, that will."

oooOooo

Kisame blinked at the newest member to the Akatsuki. Her attire still resembled that of a kunoichi in some way, but was so much better than the norm. Maybe if he was persistent enough, he could convince her to wear it all the time, even under her Akatsuki cloak.

Yachiru was wearing an extremely form-fitting corseted top that squeezed her perfect-sized breasts up at the top. With tiny round metal hook-and-button clasps that made a tiny trail down the centre, the corset had one red Akatsuki cloud embroidery pattern which wrapped around her left side. The back of the corset dipped low in a 'V' exposing the creamy, unmarred skin of her back. Low on her hips, Yachiru wore a pair of short net shorts underneath a miniscule black skirt. The black skirt was slit open both sides so the central flap at the front slid between her legs to reveal most of her upper thighs, and an inch of her skin showed between the corset and the top of the skirt. Her slim, toned legs were bare and she was wearing a pair of shiny black pumps that perfectly accentuated her slim ankles and the now curved dorsal surface of her foot which was ever so lightly veined. She was also wearing mesh armbands over her elbows. When she spun around, her silky curtain of straight white hair swirled in the air behind her. Black liner on her lids made her long, pale lashes stand out even more than normal and the pendant of her chain, a red Akatsuki cloud, rested in the 'V' between her breasts.

"Whose idea was this?" Yachiru asked while glaring directly at Kisame. An innocent expression came over the blue Akatsuki's face.

"Don't look at me! I had no idea Itachi's tastes ran that…" Itachi got up in the middle of Kisame's sentence and stalked over to the door. He paused at the door and looked back at Yachiru, an odd expression on his face.

"Hn-…" Itachi said, turning his face back to the door and pushing it open. He took a sharp little breath and walked out of the room. Behind him, Yachiru's eyes were as wide as saucers. She looked to Kisame.

"You mean to tell me that he- … That Itachi… ?" Kisame blinked and nodded mutely. Then he seemingly recovered and spoke.

"Will you please wear that all the time?"

Itachi pushed out of the room, locked the door behind him, and leaned against the wall. He took a deep breath. Truth be told, when he had first seen the choices of designs, that one in particular had made him think of Yachiru. For that very reason, he had almost decided not to go with it, but the design had stuck in his head and was the best looking choice, so he had picked it. Still, nothing could have prepared Itachi for seeing the design on the actual woman. It had fit her perfectly. Itachi shook his head, trying to get the image of her pale chest heaving with every breath from his mind. It didn't work. He told himself that he never wanted to see her in that sort of outfit again, but he had sense enough to know that he was lying to himself. Still, at this point, such a thought was in preservation of some modicum of control and he would hang on to it for dear life.

Itachi had a sinking feeling that the image of Yachiru in that outfit, her hair swirling behind her, would stick in his mind and appear at the most inappropriate times. Like when he was asleep and defenseless. The Uchiha took a deep breath and pushed the image as far out of his mind as possible; at least for now, for he knew that he would be sitting with nothing doing until Yachiru finished the mission. The mission. Itachi frowned. The thought of some other man seeing Yachiru or being entertained by her while she was wearing that outfit did not sit well with him at all.

"Hn," he mumbled. What was going on?

oooOooo

Roughly half an hour later, Yachiru was stepping away from Kisame and Itachi, willing herself to cast away all nervousness. She pulled an ankle length brown cloak over herself, feeling the gentle breeze as it settled around her. Before her loomed the impressive casino she was supposed to infiltrate, and even though she was facing the back entrance, the building was no less imposing. The forest behind her lent a dark cast to the area, even though it was just nearing sunset. The plan was to stay in the casino for an hour or an hour and a half, get the guests used to seeing her, then gain access to Miramori Oori's office and quietly kill him. The point of Yachiru's plan was to be untraceable; but that was before she had seen the outfit Itachi had chosen for her. Now, all she could do was to try and make the actual killing untraceable, and escape using the cover of the night.

Yachiru opened the back door and slipped inside the casino. She found herself in the back room of what appeared to be a kitchen. Itachi had told her that the casino also had a dining area for its patrons. Knowing she would stand out too much in the outfit she was wearing when she caught a glimpse of the casino staff, Yachiru decided she needed to come up with a backup plan.

Kisame grinned when Yachiru stepped back outside. She hadn't even been gone two minutes.

"What, you scared, or you done already?" he asked, chuckling a bit to himself. Predictably, she rolled her eyes.

"I need to formulate another plan. Itachi's grand costume kind of wrecked my cover of blending in until it got dark enough for me to escape." She looked pointedly at Itachi, who was conveniently staring into the trees.

"Hn," was all that came from her apathetic teammate. Yachiru rolled her eyes again, still uncertain how it came to be that Itachi of all people had chosen the outfit for her. Yachiru tugged her cloak tighter around her and walked back to the back door.

"Come up with something already?" Kisame asked, an amused expression on his face. Yachiru turned back and faced him with a confident grin.

"Yes," she answered in her usual direct fashion. "Be out in a moment." Then she was gone, and the back door slammed behind her. Kisame turned to Itachi.

"Oi, Uchiha… If I didn't know better, I'd say you had the hots for Yachiru," he said to his partner. Itachi didn't respond, and even though it might be viewed as Itachi's most expected reaction, Kisame knew his partner, and he would have said something if the comment hadn't hit close to home. Kisame tried again. "What was up with that outfit, Itachi? I mean, I'm all for it, but…" Kisame's voice trailed off when Itachi leveled him with a hard stare. Oh. So that meant that Itachi wasn't exactly pleased with himself. Kisame smiled at the implications. This was going to be a fun couple of months, alright, or as long as Yachiru was with them. Truth be told, if Yachiru hadn't stuck him in the friend zone, he probably would have tried something, but then he might end up in the same place as Itachi: sulking and excluded from all the fun activities.

Inside the casino, Yachiru stalked confidently around the kitchen, overlooking all that went on, and sampling the dishes, complimenting the cooks or expressing her distaste/appreciation. At first, the cooks looked at her in alarm, but her confident air while directing them had them think she must be some sort of critic, even though critics usually sat in the dining area and waited to be served. After about half an hour, Yachiru stalked up to the head-chef, who seemed none too pleased by her presence.

"Show me Miramori-sama's order for tonight," she demanded, narrowing her eyes. The head-chef looked as if he was going to protest her attitude when Yachiru flicked her hair over her shoulder and glared. "Don't you dare back-answer me. I can make your life living hell if you do. And I know your opinion of Miramori-sama, so I have to check his meals first to make sure it is safe." Her bluff and flashing eyes had the desired effect. The head-chef's eyes widened and he blinked furiously and stepped back. He led her to a seemingly private burner to the back of the kitchen.

"This is what he ordered. Banana Flambée," he said, pointing to a pan of bananas on the stove. "It's supposed to be aflame when it's presented to him, for the decorative edge, so we will do those last," he elaborated. "Then that is sake-barbecued pork slivers," he continued, gesturing towards the thinly sliced pork that was currently being barbequed over open flame on a grill. A pot of bubbling, deep-red sauce was on the burner next to it. Moving on to the oven, the head-chef opened it and showed Yachiru a small bubbling dish inside. Yachiru flinched only slightly at the sudden burst of heat from the stove. "Those are potatoes, scalloped," he added. Yachiru noticed that apart from the pork on the grill, these dishes were un-traditional. In fact, she had never heard of them before. It suddenly hit her that there might be many things she had heard of before but wouldn't remember. The chef wasn't done. He walked over to a counter with an array of vegetables and fruits clustered on it. "This is Miramori-sama's favorite salad. We named it the Oora Salad after him," the chef continued, his tone suggesting that it was not him that had come up with the idea. He began to describe the names of all the dishes.

Pretending to show her approval, Yachiru continued to oversee the other more familiar dishes that the other cooks were attending, biding her time until Miramori's dinner was completed.

Twenty minutes later saw Yachiru stalking confidently behind a trolley to Miramori's office. Three shinobi, complete in flak jackets and slashed hitai-ate were standing guard at the office door, and Yachiru could 'see' more of them hiding in the walls. Their figures were blurry because of the shoes she had to be wearing. The guards eyed her and the steaming pan of Banana Flambée dubiously, stepping protectively in front of the office door. Two of them moved to the back, kunai drawn and raised, and the other one stepped forward, a wary look on his face.

"Good evening," Yachiru said politely, smiling. She was still wearing her brown cloak.

"Stop. We have to search you and the trolley," he said, his voice low and husky. Yachiru stopped obediently, knowing they would find no weapons on her. The shinobi guard opened her cloak, and his eyes widened imperceptibly. A light red flush brushed his cheeks. He gave her a once over before patting her down. Finding no weapons on her, he called forth one of the guards in back with a wave of his hand. The other guard came forward with silent steps, and proceeded to check out the trolley of food. Apparently finding it safe, he stepped out of the way and stood against the wall. Yachiru smiled again and pushed the trolley up to the door which the last guard was holding open.

Outside, the waiting was killing Itachi. It had been about an hour now, but there was no sign of any change. The images of Yachiru in that outfit doing unacceptable things with the target that kept popping up in his mind's eye were driving him insane and he couldn't seem to just sit there in silence in the cover of the trees. He was about to walk around to the front when Kisame's hard hand clamped down firmly on his shoulder.

"We have to stay outside, Itachi," his partner reminded him in a low tone. Itachi clenched his teeth and stepped back into the spot he had previously been standing in. Beside him, Kisame was looking at him with something akin to disbelief. He had never seen the Uchiha this antsy before. Still, even though he knew his partner very well, Kisame couldn't claim to know everything his partner was thinking. Sometimes the Uchiha thought along lines no one else really would. Maybe this was one of those times and the Uchiha had other motives for wanting to enter the casino, but Kisame couldn't be sure, and he couldn't risk the mission by allowing him to go inside since the reward was so high and he did not want to fight Kakuzu.

Inside, Yachiru was having a hard time keeping her shock at Miramori's appearance to herself. She had imagined him as a fat, unappealing man approaching or past middle age, who lived a rich, opulent life. She had expected him to have heavily ringed fingers and a balding head and to be totally disgusting to someone her age and mind. What she found instead was a tastefully dressed young man, about the same age as Deidara, with shoulder-length red hair that was neatly combed, and a strong, handsome face. He was also well built and healthy, obviously one that did not partake of his stock. At the moment, Miramori was writing on a scroll, his penmanship neat and strong.

Around him, the office was simple, but tastefully decorated. A large room, Miramori's office was painted a deep grey with burgundy trimmings at the top and bottom of the walls. The majority of the items in the room were silver, and some bronze. A large scroll rack adorned the wall on one corner, and it was locked by a glass door that was crystal clear and shined to perfection. Miramori's desk was large and was set in the center of the room on a deep burgundy rug. The desk was devoid of items apart from the writing apparatus and scroll as well as a teardrop-shaped paperweight.

"You can leave the trolley, Sato-san. I'll eat as soon as I'm done this," Miramori said absently. He frowned a little when he realized 'Sato-san' was not leaving, and looked up. His eyes widened as he took in the beautiful white haired female standing in his office, a large brown cloak over her shoulders. She smiled softly and established the fact that even though Miramori was not usually one to partake of the assets of his staff, he might make an exception for this one. "I haven't seen you before," the drug-dealer said, resting his brush in the inkwell and leaning back in his chair. Yachiru only smiled. "You must be new," Miramori continued.

"Oh, but I don't work here, Miramori-sama," Yachiru replied in her 'soft-tone'. "You see," she murmered, gliding up to Miramori's desk, "One of your … clients was so pleased with the … results… that he sent me here to express his gratitude. Miramori's eyelids lowered as he gazed at the beautiful woman in his office. Her cloak fell to the ground and his eyes widened.

oooOooo

"C'mon, tell us, Yachiru, how'd you do it?" Kisame tried again. Hidan was next to him, facing her across the Akatsuki dining table. Miramori Oora was very much dead, but Yachiru was refusing to give up the secret method. Hidan wasn't speaking, for once, but was rather staring at Yachiru distractedly. When she had returned the night before, he had seen her in the outfit she had worn on the mission and had been strangely quiet since. He did not even seem interested in how Yachiru had taken out the target. Kisame however, had been doggedly questioning her about what she had done. There had been no fuss at all, even though it was obvious to the contact and to the Akatsuki that Miramori had indeed taken his last breaths last night.

"Wouldn't you like to know!" Yachiru retorted.

"Give us a hint at least, un," Deidara's voice came from the doorway. He walked over, bouncing his latest clay bomb in his palm.

"And you call yourself Akatsuki. Find out on your own," Yachiru scoffed, getting up from the table and walking to the door, brushing past Deidara on the way. At the door, however, she paused. "You were right, Kisame. The outfit helped a lot." She giggled and left the dining area, and her Akatsuki friends to mull over her words in silence.

They weren't the only ones mulling over her method of choice. In his quarters, Itachi was also pondering the way she had taken out the target. Whatever she had done, it had been perfect, for there was no fuss, no struggles, no confusion. Miramori was the only one that had died, and Yachiru had not even been required to run out of the casino. Instead, she had walked out at a leisurely pace, a slightly pensive expression on her face. He remembered the scene clearly.

Kisame and Itachi looked up when the casino's grey metal back door creaked open, and Yachiru stepped calmly outside. Her white curtain of hair, which she tossed over her shoulder with a flick of the head, was only slightly mussed, but her clothes and makeup were all intact. Her eyes were downcast in thought, white lashes fanning out over her cheeks, but her movements were slow and easy. She blinked slowly and looked up at their expectant faces, a small smile gracing her lips.

"Yes, I'm done. The target was taken out," she said softly, slightly amused at the fact that there was some doubt in their minds that she would be unable to carry out the task.

"Hn," Itachi grunted, meaning 'How did you do it?', but Yachiru only gave him another small smile and walked past him, her footsteps crunching on the dirt. Kisame looked to him, one eyebrow raised. Neither of the two men knew how she had taken out someone as influential as Miramori without disturbance, but at the moment they didn't have much choice but to follow her. The sun was disappearing on the horizon, casting a pinkish-orange glow in the sky, and the colour was reflected on Yachiru's hair. They walked behind her, deep in thought, until they were back at the bed and breakfast. Itachi got their key from the clerk at the desk and they headed to the rooms to get Yachiru's stuff before they headed back to base. The men shifted wordlessly, waiting on her to volunteer information about how she had taken out Miramori, but she appeared deep in thought. She attached her gourd to her back and handed a sealing scroll and her folded clothes to Kisame.

"Seal those, would you?" she asked in her usual tone. Kisame took the scroll, a questioning expression on his face.

"How did you do it?" Itachi asked, breaking the silence that followed her question. She looked up to him. She blinked.

He stared.

She blinked.

He stared.

Kisame looked back and forth between them. Waiting.

"Time will tell," Yachiru answered after a moment, turning and heading towards the door. Kisame and Itachi watched as she walked from the room. When she was gone, Kisame turned to Itachi.

"Can't you use your Sharingan or something to make her tell? I don't like waiting," Kisame whispered to Itachi. Itachi leveled him with a blank stare.

"Hn," he replied, before turning and walking out after Yachiru. Kisame looked up at the wooden ceiling of the room and groaned in frustration. He rolled his eyes, a trait he noticed Yachiru doing a lot, and followed his two teammates outside.

Itachi wondered why he was hesitant to take positive action to get the method out of Yachiru. He had his suspicions, but was in no mood to explore them. He sighed and turned his mind to other things.

Konohagakure

Morning…

Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, looked over the team she had assembled upon receiving one of the day's first requests. This one had jumped the line due to its sensitive status. One of Konoha's most used informants, Miramori Oora, was found dead early in the morning, and his caretaker had sent word to her, asking for an investigation. She glanced down at the mission request one more time.

Godaime Hogake-sama,

It has come to my attention that my charge, Miramori Oora, passed away some time last night, or this morning. Due to his status and importance to both Konoha and I, I find it hard to believe that such a healthy, virile, and self-sufficient young man of such means and importance would die of natural causes at his peak age, while being so well guarded. I request an extremely quiet investigation, preferably with the exclusion of the ANBU (whom I find hard to trust), into the matter. The office of my charge was left exactly as it was found, with Miramori exactly where he was found. This investigation needs to be carried out as soon as possible. I am willing to offer one and a half million r yo to each person you put on the team, and a summation of this amount to Konohagakure itself as this mission can be classified as A-rank, due to its sensitivity.

Uzuro Utake.

Tsunade pressed her fingertips to her forehead and sent healing chakra to her fingers in an effort to stave off her oncoming headache. The shinobi in front her shuffled a bit, anxious to know why she had summoned them at such an early hour. In fact, the sky was just now lighting up.

"Kakashi, Shikamaru, Sakura, Shino," she paused as she looked them over. "I know this is not your usual team, but I hope you can work together as this mission is extremely important." The recently-made jounin looked from one to another, apart from Kakashi who was reading the latest Icha Icha book regardless of the time or place. "Kakashi!" the Godaime Hokage yelled, her fists clenched. The Copy-nin's eye looked up to Tsunade, widened, then rolled. "Yes, this mission is an A-rank mission, and it requires a bit of stealth and a lot of concentration," Tsunade continued.

"What are we supposed to do, Hokage-sama?" Shino asked quietly, adjusting his dark glasses with an index finger.

"I was getting to that," Tsunade bit out. "One of our informants died either early this morning, or last night. We need to find out everything we can about his death. Who did it, and why? The client has left the office and corpse of our late informant, Miramori, exactly as it was found early this morning. The office is in the back room of a casino in Shinringakure, and will take you approximately half a day running to get there, so you have to leave ASAP." Tsunade handed the mission file she had drawn up from the request to Kakashi, while the group nodded. "Sakura," Tsunade continued, "I need you to check his body. If you can't find anything on the spot, bring the body back to our labs. Shino, see if there is any residual chakra signatures around the place and do a report of your findings. Shikamaru, try to come up with a method of killing, if it is that his death was indeed not a suicide or of natural causes. Kakashi… watch over them," Tsunade instructed. The shinobi and kunochi in her office nodded shortly and turned to leave. "Shikamaru," Tsunade called as he turned to follow his new teammates. "You stay. I need to discuss an issue with you before you leave."

Shikamaru stopped walking and turned back around, waiting for the other three to leave the office.

"I haven't heard much on the Akatsuki for a while and it is bothering me," Tsunade said bluntly, rubbing her forehead with her fingers. Shikamaru stuck one hand in his pocket and scratched his head with the other.

"I know. It's so troublesome," he sighed. "I think they're planning something." Tsunade scowled.

"D'you think it has anything to do with Naruto?" she asked. "I expect it does." Shikamaru looked to the ceiling, frowning a little.

"It is possible, but it's hard to tell. They haven't caught the shichibi or the hachibi yet, and Naruto is the kyuubi, so I'm not quite sure. However, we have to take into consideration that they have shown evidence of planning ahead in several cases," Shikamaru replied. Tsunade fumbled in her desk drawer for her flask of sake.

"I am still uneasy. I haven't heard anything from the scouts, but check them and the informants and the pickup points along the way to Shinringakure and see if you can find anything. I don't like that I have no idea what they are doing." Shikamaru nodded.

"I'll also keep an eye out for anything relating to them when we get to the site. We need to see if there is anything there that links them to the death," Shikamaru said.

"I was just about to say so myself," Tsunade said. "In any case, it's best you hurry up and go see before any more evidence goes to waste."

"Hai, Hokage-same," Shikamaru said, before teleporting out of Tsunade's office. Tsunade took a swig of her sake, looking out as the morning sun spread its golden rays over the slowly awakening village. She sighed, deep in thought. She would not stand there and let the Akatsuki do what they would to Naruto. After all, they had already killed Gaara when they removed Shukaku, and even though Chiyo had sacrificed her life to bring back Gaara, Tsunade did not want the situation to reach that far in Naruto's case. This lack of action, or rather, noticeable action from the Akatsuki was a concern. Tsunade made a mental note to reinforce the Konohagakure military forces.

Sakura, Shino and Shikamaru kept up their fast pace behind Kakashi, jumping from tree to tree. Shino's bugs were blazing the trail, helping them avoid any unnecessary holdups with other shinobi and their chakra was cloaked to avoid detection. Shikamaru was deep in thought when Shino suddenly spoke.

"A group of ninja are heading towards us, and their chakra is not friendly. Do we fight or avoid?"

"How far, and how many?" Kakashi asked. Altering his pace only slightly. It didn't even take Shino a second to reply.

"100 feet to the northwest," he responded in his characteristic tone. "… and there are six of them. Based on their chakra signatures and detectable control, they are at least chuunin level." Kakashi grunted.

"Maybe it's best we avoid," Shikamaru responded. "It's too time consuming and troublesome to have them to fight right now when evidence is steadily being lost." The rest of the team grunted their agreement.

"Alright then, formation 6," Kakashi said, referring to one of the formations he had briefed them on at the start of their journey. Formation 6 required the shinobi in a group to split apart in two groups of two, and pass the threat to be avoided on both sides, then meet back up together again behind the threat. The formation also required complete cloaking of the chakra to lessen the probability of detection. Sakura and Shikamaru split to the left side as previously decided, since they could fight well together should they be apprehended. They had come up with a theoretically powerful combination that would utilize Shikamaru's clan shadow techniques and Sakura's monstrous strength. Kakashi and Shino went to the right.

The two teams went far enough to either side so that the ninja they were avoiding would have to go out of their way to meet up with them. A safe distance behind the ninja, the two duos of Konoha shinobi met back up and continued on their way. The rest of the journey to Shinringakure passed without result, and they made it there in three-quarters of the estimated time.

The shinobi entered through the back door of the casino, passed through the kitchen, and went down the hall to the office of Miramori. The jounin-level shinobi guards at the door let them through when they realized who they were.

Upon entering the office, they found the body of Miramori slumped on the floor behind his desk, sitting with his back to the wall. The shinobi team immediately got to work. Shikamaru moved to one corner of the large office, bent his knees in a squat and pressed the tips of his fingers and thumbs together. Shino sent a stream of bugs into the room and frowned as he concentrated on gathering information. Sakura headed to the corpse, opening her med kit as she walked. Kneeling before the corpse, Sakura began her preliminary investigation, jotting down results on a pad of paper. Kakashi moved to the back of the room and surveyed it with his Sharingan. As Sakura worked, she became increasingly confused. Still, it was harder to tell what the cause of death was in cases like this where it wasn't the most obvious, such as decapitation, piercing of the vital organs etc. The body was still in rigor mortis, which meant that Miramori had died within 24 hours, based on the timeline the mission file had, and the level of rigor mortis attested to a maximum of 18 hours since Miramori's death. This was held by his liver temperature, which put the time of death between 6:30 and 7:00 pm the evening/night before. Shino's bugs, which he had taught to pick up and communicate residual chakra, told him that no residual chakra apart from that of Miramori was in the room.

Two hours after the commencement of their examination, Kakashi pulled them together to pool their findings.

"Seems to be natural causes so far."

"This feels like murder." Sakura and Shikamaru spoke at the same time. Sakura thought it was natural, and Shikamaru thought it was murder. Kakashi stepped in.

"Well, let's review the findings one by one and at the end we can decide. If we still can't agree on something, we can take the body back to Konoha and look it over," Kakashi said. "Shino, you go first." Shino nodded and started.

"My bugs are telling me that there was no other person in the room apart from the victim, for the past 24 hours. The faintness of the residual chakra that does not belong to the victim is such that it informs me that any other person in this room left from about 3:00 pm yesterday. We can't sense any other residual chakra at all." Shikamaru frowned at this, but stayed silent. Kakashi glanced at Sakura, urging her to continue.

"From the preliminary check, his body is in peak condition, pre-death, of course. His liver temperature reading puts time of death at approximately 6:30 to 7:00 pm last night. There are no traces of foreign chakra, poisons or anything like that in his body that I can pick up at the moment, and I took small samples of the food after I took photos of it, and the food seems poison-free, even though it did not seem to be touched in any way after cooking. With my check on the body, I couldn't find any traceable damage to the organs or muscles, which is backing up my theory that the death was natural," Sakura said. Kakashi nodded and turned to Shikamaru.

"This is all so troublesome," the lazy genius moaned. "Looking at his body placement, I can't think of a reason he would be like that, unless the contact moved his body. The mission file, however, states that the office and the body were left as discovered. The victim's writing material supports this, because the kanji the victim was writing is completed without splotching, or blotting. Also, there is no sign of a struggle, as everything seems to be neatly positioned, and from his writing style and room décor, he seems to be the type of person that needs everything done neatly. Also, the food cart there next to the desk is in good condition, because the food looks neat; like he had not even started eating yet." Shikamaru was still frowning as he spoke. "However, what Sakura and Shino said pose a problem for me. If no one was in here since 3:00pm yesterday evening, and he died between 6:30 and 7:00 pm last night, and there is no poisons or alien chakra in his body that can be found, I fail to see how he would have been murdered. There is no blood on his face at all, which would signify a fatal genjutsu, so I would have to think it over. It could go either way, even though it still feels distinctly like murder." Kakashi frowned at Shikamaru's statement and reasoning. He had to agree with Shikamaru.

"Well, based on what you have all said, it is best we take the body back to Konoha to perform a proper autopsy, and then we can go from there," Kakashi said, taking a scroll from his pack. Opening the scroll and laying it on the ground, he did the necessary hand seals and released a camera from it. This he used to take pictures of everything in the room from different angles and positions. Shikamaru and Sakura gently wrapped the body and sealed it in another scroll with a blood seal, which would ensure that only one of the two of them could open the scroll. This they handed to Kakashi, who was the strongest of the four of them. Sakura packed up her medical apparatus and the four of them strode from the room.

Akatsuki Hideout

Kisame realized after a while that Yachiru was not going to reveal how she killed Miramori. Not even guessing for the right answer would stimulate her into spilling the beans. He then decided to drop the subject, after forcing her to promise to tell them when the timing was right. They were sitting in the general area … well Kisame, Hidan and Yachiru were, and the others were elsewhere.

"Yare yare… it's fucking boring in this place," Hidan moaned, dropping his head onto Yachiru's shoulder. "What other crap can we pull on the others?" he asked. Kisame and Yachiru grinned.

Itachi looked over the book in the library that looked the least dusty; ergo the most recently read one. The book also looked familiar, and Itachi had recognized it as one he had seen Yachiru reading two days before.

Itachi pushed open the door to Yachiru's room to see her lying in her bed, reading a blue cloth-bound book, a glass of water on the ground next to her bed. She didn't even look up as he entered; a fact that annoyed him for some reason.

"Yachiru-san, you will prepare the meal for us today," he said. Yachiru looked up then, rolling her eyes at him. She continued reading. "Yachiru-san," he said again, allowing killing intent to flow from his body. Her finger paused on the page she was reading and she looked up at him balefully. Then she rolled her eyes again and swung her feet to the floor, the book still open in her hands.

"You wish," she said. It took Itachi a moment to realize what she was saying, and his eyes narrowed. He took a step forward only to have a wall of earth shoot up before him. He growled in annoyance. Without further ado, he sent a hard punch into the wall followed by a kick to the same spot and the wall crumbled. He stepped over the rubble and approached her.

"Yachiru-san," he said again, allowing tension to seep into his voice. "You will do the meal tonight." Yachiru rolled over to face him. She had put her feet back on the bed. Itachi frowned.

"I never knew you were so… desperate, Itachi-chan, that you would kill a girl over a meal," she taunted, smirking. She had been spending too much time with Hidan. Itachi felt annoyance at the inappropriate honorific she had attached to his name. He glared at her, and she had the good graces to look even a little intimidated. "Yare yare, Itachi-kun~! Okay let's make a deal. Since I am the one that has to do the actual killing on our mission, how about you do the meal tonight or find someone else to, and I will cook the night after we get back, ne?" she said quickly. Itachi mulled it over then grunted his approval. Kisame would do the meal tonight instead. He walked over to Yachiru to look at what she was reading, but she slammed the book shut and turned it upside down so he couldn't see the cover, the spine or the contents.

"Hn," Itachi said, meaning 'I will see the contents of that book later', and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Now, Itachi looked over the book. The spine read The Human Anatomy Vol 3: Respiration. One of Itachi's eyebrows rose, and he sat down on the library sofa and began to read.

Kisame and Hidan had followed Yachiru into the kitchen where she began to cook.

"So, what crap are you gonna give us to eat? You don't look like a chick that knows how to do anything in the kitchen, and I've been absent every other time you cooked anything," Hidan said, earning a glare from Yachiru.

"Just for that… I will NOT tell you, AND I will tell Kisame," Yachiru shot back obstinately, grabbing Kisame by the jaw with a flour covered hand and pulling his head to her. She proceeded to whisper in Kisame's ear, missing the lecherous expression on the shark-man's face. Hidan glared at the two of them.

"For Jashin's sake, woman! You tell that half-baked fish and not me?" he yelled. Yachiru stopped whispering, then crossed her arms and leveled a flat stare at Hidan.

"Serves you right, you masochistic pervert. And you can forget about the punches, kicks, pinches and all out battering I had planned for you since I missed you yesterday, since Itachi was so boring!" At this threat, Hidan's mouth opened and closed in horrified shock. Yachiru had shown true potential as a Jashinist with her constant battering of him – which he loved. Her type of battering was the best, even though he was never able to draw blood from her with his scythe, so he hadn't gotten the opportunity to have the pleasure of sharing the pain with her.

"Is that really necessary, Yachiru-chan~" he moaned. She raised one eyebrow.

"Yes it is, Hidan-chwan~" she said, applying a feminine honorific to his name, which horrified him immensely. "That'll teach you to insult my cooking." She turned around and began to cook, speaking to Kisame in tones too low to hear, and ignoring him if and when he spoke.

Konoha

Approximately eight hours of running and four quickly consumed protein bars after leaving Shinringakure, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Sakura and Shino finally arrived in Konoha. They continued running along the road that led from the front gate to the Hokage Tower, stopping only at the front of the hospital where they gave Sakura the scroll containing the food samples and the corpse of Miramori and parted ways; Sakura heading into the hospital, and Kakashi, Shikamaru and Shino heading back to the Hokage Tower to debrief. They would be summoned again when Sakura completed the autopsy and made her report.

Sakura walked quickly through the hospital, taking the elevator to the basement floors where the classified operations took place. She quickly wrote up the file before entering the chilly room. Placing the scroll on the metal table, did the necessary hand seals, bit her thumb and slapped her palm onto the scroll, releasing Miramori's body. She quickly got to work, slicing the body open in the standard 'Y' cut after checking the exterior of the body for irregularities. Everything seemed standard at first, but then things got interesting.

Akatsuki Hideout

The Akatsuki present at the hideout, namely Yachiru, Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu and Itachi, sat down to dinner, which smelled absolutely delicious. The food was served on shiny metal plates and looked appetizing. Home-made noodles and beef barbecue with servings of seasoned rice and three choices of pickles. The food was pre-served, that is, already dished out for each member and placed in identical servings around the table. Dishes with extras were placed down the centre of the table for those that might want more. The Akatsuki members sat at the table and clasped their hands together.

"Itadakimasu," they all said, with voices ranging in pitch. Then they began to eat. Itachi was halfway through his serving, which was delicious when the taste began to change somewhat. There was a bitter taste that was getting more and more prominent. He looked to his plate and realized that the food was darker than it had been before. Some was burnt? Using his chopsticks, Itachi pushed the food to the side, his eyes widening at the utterly black food underneath. He glanced sharply to the others, but they had continued eating and chattering. In fact, Kisame had already finished his portion and was reaching forward to share more from the dishes of extras. Hidan grabbed the dish before he was done, scraping some into his plate, while Kakuzu glared at them and at the rapidly diminishing food on his plate.

"Yachiru-san, why is my food burnt?" Itachi asked in a quiet but menacing tone. All eyes swiveled to him.

Konoha

Kakashi, Shino and Shikamaru had left some three hours previously. Tsunade was reading and rereading the mission report when a carrier hawk tapped on her window. She looked up from the mission report and the pictures and let the bird inside, taking the message from its leg and reading it.

Got something interesting. Call the others. Sakura. The message read. Tsunade frowned a little, and called Shizune. Her aide entered the room, her eyebrows raised.

"Yes, Tsunade-same?" Shizune said, stepping into the office.

"Call Shino, Shikamaru and Kakashi now," Tsunade ordered, reaching for her flask of sake. Hopefully Sakura's findings would make the case less baffling than it already was. Tsunade began to pace. In a matter of minutes, Kakashi, Shikamaru and Shino appeared in her office, obviously having used teleportation jutsus to get there. Sakura had not yet arrived.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru said, his eyes holding interest for once.

"Sakura said she found something interesting, to do with the autopsy, I presume," Tsunade said. Kakashi looked around.

"Shikashi… where is she?" Tsunade glowered.

"She isn't here yet. I figure she expected you to take longer to get here," Tsunade growled irritably, flashing a blonde ponytail over her shoulder. No sooner had she said this than there was a knock on the door, and Sakura peered inside, a sheaf of papers in her hands.

"Oh, you're all already here," she said, stepping into the room.

"Get to it then, Sakura," Tsunade said to her apprentice, her tone softening. Sakura stepped further into the room and her expression got more serious.

"Well, when I did the preliminary, I couldn't find anything wrong with the body, but upon doing the autopsy in the lab, I found something interesting." She paused, and the occupants of the room leaned forward in interest. "I can't say definitively whether or not Miramori-san's death was self-inflicted, or murder, but I did find the cause of death." She paused again, looking again at her findings for confirmation.

"Well?" Tsunade demanded. Sakura looked up sharply, her hair swinging in a swift flash of pink as she made eye contact with Tsunade.

"Miramori Oora was drowned, Tsunade-same," Sakura said. There was a collective gasp from the other four occupants of the room. Drowned?

A/N:- AAaaahh! It's finally done! I know I took much longer to update this time, but school is back full swing and I had a severe case of real life stress + writer's block… (bad combination, I know). However, I feel a lot better! Sorry to leave you with another cliffie, but such is life…(^_^). As per usual, please review! Reviews make my fingers type faster!