The Hokage's Missive

Gon and Killua had been assigned a roomy, moderately furnished apartment and an allowance for the duration of their stay in Konoha. Ironically, the remodeled apartment was unwanted due to its close proximity to Naruto's apartment. It was by no means a terrible location—just feared. The smarter of Konoha's citizens, namely shinobi, were able to get cheap housing to make up for the pay of the average chunin.

Gon yawned loudly as he opened the door to pick up the newspaper. He never read it, but Killua liked to keep up with the events of this world. Killua was the strategist outside of battle, so he left a good portion of it up to Killua's planning. Killua would simplify for Gon, and Gon would help decide whether or not to go ahead with the strategy. In the long run, Gon just didn't understand the intense political relationships between countries.

He picked up the newspaper and took a step back. His foot hit a Manila envelope sealed with the Third Hokage's official stamp and seal. He picked it up and stared at the object in his hands. It had not been there seconds ago. He may be half asleep, but there was no way he let his guard down. He turned it over, carefully weighing it in his hands.

If this is a trap, Killua would be better at disarming it. There was thump and a couple of black books slipped through the mail slot in the door. A slip of white paper with a handwritten note came shortly after. Gon plucked it from its resting spot and read it aloud:

The Hokage has deemed your skill sets above that of requisite genin level; you will be graduating from the academy by the end of the week. The packet contains information and a mission at the behest of the Hokage, and the books are bingo books given to all shinobi in the village above genin rank. Burn the mission instructions when you have them memorized.

Gon turned over the note and found nothing on the back. It must be a letter from the ANBU, the strange people in masks, he had seen when they first landed here. He palmed through the book taking note of all the faces in it. It said the book was given to all those above genin rank, so the hokage overruled what Kakashi decided.

"Gon," Killua tapped him on the shoulder, "What is that?"

"This?" Gon held out the envelope and second bingo book to Killua. "The note said it's a mission from the hokage. We're being promoted above genin rank."

"A note? You didn't open it yet did you? It could be a trap."

Gon shook his head. "No. I thought the same thing. It's weird. Do you know why they wouldn't speak of the mission?"

"Hm. The hokage didn't want to attract attention by summoning two academy students to his office. It would be better to send a trusted officer with a sealed letter containing pertinent information." Killua ripped open the envelope with his claws. There was a fizzling noise. "And it is probably rigged to identify a user's unique signature. If anyone besides us had opened it, we would be in for something nasty."

"Hey Killua, this guy looks like Sasuke." Gon pointed to the picture on the top of the page. "Itachi…Uchiha? Does this mean that Sasuke has relatives? I've never seen him with any family members, so I assumed he was an orphan."

"He is called the last Uchiha but it seems that's not entirely true. Gon, try to find this guy in your bingo book." Killua continued to swipe through the papers. Gon flicked the pages until he arrived at the U's.

"Let's see…found him." Gon and Killua bent over the page. "He's an S-rank missing-nin wanted for the massacre of the Uchiha clan."

"He killed off his entire family? He would fit right in with the Zoldycks."

"Not everyone. There's still Sasuke." Killua gasped as it hit him. The papers wanted them to hunt down Itachi Uchiha, which in itself was suspicious, but why would he leave only his younger brother alive? He wouldn't be a threat currently, but it wasn't hard to tell he would be in the future. The hokage wanted them to search for something. There was a missing variable in the entire equation.

"What else does it say?"

"He killed of the clan at the age of thirteen in the dead of night. He is the youngest ANBU captain in Konoha's history—a prodigy. He has the ability to use the Mangekyo sharingan. There's a notice stating for anyone below ANBU to flee on sight. A statement gathered from Sasuke claims he did it all to test his abilities."

"So he's insanely strong and power hungry."

"Yeah, but it seems strange that he assassinated even little kids. His personality sounds like Hisoka but then it doesn't seem right." Gon was right. It seemed outrageous. All the people who desired power or had power wouldn't bother killing off babies. There wasn't any challenge in that. Sasuke would have been more of a challenge than babies, yet he was left alive.

Killua decided that perhaps the letter from the Hokage would give more clues. The papers were a little more in depth about the statements of that night, but altogether said more or less the same thing. "Here's the letter from the hokage."

Due to recent events, such as the reappearance of hunters in recent years, I have determined it best if we investigate the strange happenings in the village. There is reason to believe that someone is manipulating the people of this village. That being said, Hunters have always been the best equipped and reliable people for completing covert missions.

I want you to investigate Itachi Uchiha. Recent observations had led to me to the possibility of a third party intertwining itself with the affairs of our village. I will be placing a genin team under the command of Kakashi Hatake, but I want you to supervise missions outside of the village and training. Kakashi has never been a good judge of personalities and potential, as you have experienced for yourself, and his students are important figures in the village. In one week, you will be moved up to your original position of special jounin. You will be treated as ANBU, so you will be known as genin outside of field work.

I understand that my reasoning may be complicated, but it will make sense in the future.

Burn this letter when you are done.

"Gon, it seems the massacre is kept locked up. This means that whatever the reason, there is more to it. What do you think we should do?"

"It could be a trap, but I think it'll be interesting. He mentioned the hunters have started reappearing so maybe we will find the missing expedition if they came up with the same conclusion."

Killua was surprised. Gon usually didn't think so deeply, but he supposed the Chimera Ant incident had altered his tactical thinking. Gon wasn't as reckless as he used to be. "Alright, I guess we should tell the hokage we accept the mission once we graduate." Killua turned on the gas stove and held the letter above the blue flame. The letter blackened and crumbled. No one would find out the hokage's suspicions.

A/N: This chapter was hard to set up and write. I kept trying to think of ways to start off this subplot, and I kept coming up with difficulties. Hopefully it doesn't sound too ridiculous. I figured it was more reliable than Sasuke just randomly blabbing about a tragic event. Sasuke hardly spoke about it to Naruto. I doubt he would tell his life's story to Gon or Killua.