Another chapter out and ready!
In reply to Parichita- Thanks so much for your support and thanks for reading the link I sent you. It's 'cause of friends like you that I get the confidence to do crazy things like publish online stories. So this chapter's for you!
Now on to the chapter! Disclaimer, I do not own Naruto.
21st April, 2032, FBI, San Fransisco division, Time: 06.45 am.
"The forensics reports have come out. I'm giving you each a copy. Have a look." Neji said, while handing the reports to Hinata to hand out.
Sakura took her own copy and skimmed through it. Whoever was responsible for this, they were complete sick maniacs. The complaint had initially gone to the police, when it was a case of children disappearing without a trace in the dead of the night from several orphanages owned by the Sahara group of real estate investment. All of the disappearances were either within the age group of 2-3 or from 12-14. At first the police investigation had drawn up a blank, while meanwhile more and more kids kept on disappearing. Kids disappearing without a trace? That very fact was enough to attract her attention. Her brother was fourteen when he disappeared. Another anomalous disappearance. But a recent development in the case had brought it to Sakura's team as a top priority. One of the first kids- a boy aged fourteen, name Yuan Lan, had reappeared. His body was found with multiple injuries and lacerations, and had been identified two days later. The forensics report, as Sakura now read, involved multiple organs being removed, and some toxic substances being introduced into his bloodstream. The toxins were still being identified, but the initial report was enough to know that they probably had a psychotic murderer on their hands.
She watched Hinata pale in horror as she read her own copy. Poor girl looked as though she were about to faint.
"Ugh...this guy is a sick turd!" Kiba growled, baring his teeth in rage.
"I think I'm gonna throw up all of the pancakes I ate this morning." Choji added.
"We can't let killers like that roam the streets." Hinata added.
Arisa, who stood next to Sakura, dragged her a little out of earshot. "Yesterday we started our investigation at the local police station which found the body. We interrogated the officers who brought the body in. Nothing useful showed up. The other places we tried were all dead ends."
"What about the company itself? Are we going to look into that?"
"Neji mentioned it, but the Sahara group is a respectable corporation. Headquarters in LA. I still don't have a good feeling about this..."
"But the report...you do know that there's another conclusion that we can draw from this."
"I do. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so. This kid may as well have been a product of human experimentation." her expression was almost haunted. The very thought made Sakura feel nauseous as well.
Sakura looked at her friend's troubled expression. Her black hair was for once, tied away from her face in a messy pony tail. She had apparently not been sleeping well. "Neither do I...You've been losing sleep over this?" she asked.
"Sakura, the orphanage that kid lived at was the one where I used to live. Before I met Neji and the Hyuga took me in. Disappearances like this have happened before...but this is the first time any of the bodies were found. We have to find this and stop it soon. " She was evidently very upset about the whole state of affairs. Sakura knew that none of them held any love for the orphanages they had stayed at. And Arisa would likely never want to return to her old orphanage. She felt herself worry about her friend. She hadn't noticed her troubled expression the previous night, and that was concerning, considering that Arisa Ino and Hinata were as good as sisters to her. She pulled Arisa into a briefly comforting hug, and then rejoined their team.
"The kids started disappearing about four months ago...but the orphanage only filed the report one month prior to the discovery of the body. Shouldn't we look into that?" Sakura said, this time to the whole group.
"Well, we all know just how bad orphanage management is over here." Ino said back at her with a small laugh.
"It's still something we should look into. And we should interrogate the orphanage matrons. Kiba and Choji can visit the orphanage. Arisa, Hinata and I will go to the Sahara group headquarters." Neji said.
"And I'll take Ino and we'll check out the branch of said Sahara group which is closest to the site where the body was found." Sakura added.
"Tell Shikamaru to draw up the files for the relevant buildings. And the company records." Arisa said.
"Everyone clear?" Neji asked.
Everyone nodded, and they all dispersed.
21st April, 2032, Sunset District of California.
The Sahara group had 3 branch offices within San Francisco. The main branch office, which Neji, Arisa and Hinata were making an official visit to, was situated in the Financial district. But the one closest to where the body had been found was situated next to the Sunset reservoir. Twenty years ago, the Sunset reservoir was one of the three terminal water reservoirs of the city. Now, it had been expanded and built upon to the point that it consisted of multiple reservoirs completely separated from each other. Should any one reservoir become contaminated, the others would account for any lag in water distribution.
In other words, the Sahara group branch office was next to one of the smaller reservoirs that comprised the Reservoir as a whole.
And that was were Sakura and Ino found themselves forty minutes after they had left HQ. They had traded out their work attire for casual clothing. The plan was to go in as civilians to see what they could dig up.
Upon entering, they were greeted by by a desk secretary who directed them to an office on the ground floor. They were then greeted by a young, unremarkably scrawny man, who politely asked, "How may I help you?"
Ino stepped in to commence her roleplay, "Hi there! You see, my sister and I were hoping to make some investments in several of your projects, and we'd like you to run us through the procedures required, the paperwork, etc." There was a good reason why Ino headed all undercover operations. She was all for deception and disguise.
The man looked at them skeptically. "And by 'investments' how much were you planning on investing?"
So he was doubtful about their ability to invest? Not going to happen.
"It's not a question of how much we can afford to invest." Sakura said, her brows furrowed disdainfully, "It's more of a question of how much can you afford to have us invest."
The man's eyebrows raised in surprise and he said, "I-I'll just go get some files to show you our various projects." he darted out of the room.
Once gone, Ino started laughing, "Good one Sakura! I knew I taught you well!"
Sakura ignored her comment and said, "I'm going to go check this place out. Keep the guy occupied. If anyone asks, I'm in the bathroom." She walked out of the room.
The lock to their main computer interface room was more than easy to pick, and the guards were knocked out without even knowing what hit them, but the mainframe had come up with nothing useful. There was a few suspicious areas, but most of the stuff which might've been relevant was locked away with passwords which Sakura couldn't hack. She did remotely link it with Shikamaru's computer, so he could look at it when he stopped sleeping on the job.
As she left the room, carefully putting the lock back in place, she saw two men walking out of a room two doors away from her. They were walking in the direction away from her, and she wouldn't even have noticed them if she hadn't recognised one of them. He was the second guy who had walked into Mr Uchiha's office the previous day. What was his name again? Oh yeah, that's right. It was Naruto.
What would he be doing here in the first place? That was sure suspicious. Sakura started to follow them, albeit discreetly. The man he was talking to was on one of the files which Shikamaru had given them earlier on. He had grey hair, but was hardly above thirty. But he was supposed to be in the main office. Why was he here?
Sakura followed both men until they walked through a wall.
Not actually, but the wall had some sort of sealed door which opened up once they neared it. She waited a few minutes before going herself. The wall was an automated panel which was clearly motion sensitive. But what was surprising is that the area which followed wasn't even supposed to exist. None of it was in the architectural planning of the building. A short corridor ended in a flight of descending stairs. And judging from the thudding of footsteps against the metallic staircase, that was where the two men had gone. She followed both of them down, carefully taking note of her surroundings so that she could make a quick escape if necessary.
Both men walked through yet another door, which then sealed shut after them, leaving Sakura with no way in.
"Well that's just great!" she muttered, looking around to see if there was any way to enter the room without being noticed. Not likely, seeing as the door wouldn't even budge. But seeing an overhead vent, she had an idea. One which might just be crazy enough to work. On her way down, she had seen a maintenance panel to the ventilation shaft, and that would be quite easy to get into. Especially seeing as there was practically no-one in this part of the building.
Retracing her steps, she found said maintenance panel, and pried it open.
"Well, let's hope this works."
She took out a torch and climbed in.
Sasuke Uchiha could either be an incredibly patient man, or a very impatient one. And it was the misfortune of the man he was talking to, Yakushi Kabuto, that he was now incredibly annoyed. The man was persistently trying his patience, and he was on the verge of shouting.
For starters, he had insisted on shifting locations to a secluded room before even broaching the subject he had come to talk about. And after finally reaching said location, he wasted at least ten minutes talking about useless subjects.
"Get to the topic Kabuto! The kid died!" he said, finally snapping.
"Ah...yes. It was most unfortunate." He said coolly.
"I don't want to hear condolences. I want to know why he died, and why you disposed of the body so inefficiently."
"Now now...you can't blame it all on us. And please don't lose your temper."
"Answer the questions." he said through gritted teeth. "Now."
Kabuto paled slightly and said, "Well, you see...The toxin we injected within the child was non compatible with his body. We realised this only after we had begun experimentation. And we had already removed several of his organs before that...So naturally, we had to stop the operation mid way. And unfortunately, the child died."
"Why were there no donor organs kept in reserve?"
"We're talking about a test subject, there are many more. What's the need to go into such depth over individuals? Surely you don't actually care for their? If that were the case, you wouldn't be condoning the experimentation in the first place..."
Sasuke was quiet for a while. How was he supposed to explain to a heartless idiot that he was trying to retrieve their one successful test subject as fast as possible to discontinue all further experimentation of the sort?
Finally, he stood, saying, "The Uchiha corporation cannot afford to have any association with any organization aiding or abetting criminal activities. We are hereby withdrawing all funding of your projects. "
Mr Yakushi promptly stood up and shouted, "You can't do that!"
Sasuke simply smirked, saying, "Watch me. Remember that if it hadn't been for the Uchiha Corporation's support, you would have gone bankrupt years ago."
The other man snarled, "If you don't return to the Corporation, you can't withdraw your support." He stood up and walked to the door, opening it. "You aren't getting out of here alive, Uchiha. Let's hope your successor acts more wisely than yourself." He walked out and slammed it shut before Sasuke had a chance to react.
Now trapped, Sasuke cursed as he turned towards the other door for leading out of the room. The one that led deeper into the compound. Just as he was about to walk to said door, the ventilation shaft overhead burst open, and out tumbled a mess of black, red, and a familiar hue of pink hair. Before him lay the delicate, soaked figure of Sakura Haruno. Promptly, a long, steady, stream of water began pouring out of the open ventilation shaft, and the same happened to the other vents in the room. For the second time in as many days Sasuke Uchiha was speechless again.