Chapter 11: Corruption

It was ten in the morning when Itachi met with he Chief of Police, Daiki Kim. "Itachi, it is good to see you," the older man smiled, though by the look on the other man's face told him this was not a social call. "Or maybe not."

"Unfortunately for you and your officers, this will not be a nice meeting," he replied. "Let's go into your office," he directed before following him into a nearby office. The office was nice, plagues of Daiki's achievements decorating the walls.

"Please, sit," he said as he sat behind his desk. "What is going on?" he asked.

Itachi sat across from him, "This won't be long. I just come with a warning."

"A warning?" he asked nervously. A warning from an Uchiha was never a good sign. The family had a long history with higher ups in the government. It was no secret that they had connections far above his head.

Itachi nodded as he crossed his legs, "How much do you know about my brother's case?"

Something told him that how little he knew was going to be a problem. "Honestly? I'm trusting my guys to do their jobs," he admitted, shifting in his seat. It was difficult to make him nervous, but if anyone could make him feel uncomfortable, it was Itachi Uchiha.

"That was a mistake on your part," he responded coldly. "They are not doing their jobs and I believe they are corrupt. It's simple, they have until the end of the week to follow any and all leads and if they don't, then they will be reassigned and investigated," he demanded. He stood up, not needing to say anything further.

"Understood," the Police Chief responded.

"Don't make me go above your head. You seem like a good guy, I would hate for you to lose your job because you fail to handle your men properly," he told him as he placed a paper down on his desk, "This is a list of suitable detectives for my brother's case." As he walked out of the room he stopped at the door and looked back at him, "Don't forget, this is your job on the line too."

Chief Kim watched as Itachi left, not missing the way he looked at the two detectives that seemed to be waiting for the meeting to be over. "Detective Sato, Detective Watanabe, my office, now," he demanded loudly.

The two detectives walked into his office, shutting the door behind them before sitting across from the man. "Whatever Itachi told you is a lie," Detective Sato claimed.

Chief Kim put his hand up to stop him, "Don't start, just listen. I am not going to take the fall for you two, do you hear me?" The two men nodded. "If you are not following leads, I will be forced to reassign you and if it is found you are working with Orochimaru, I will take your badge and you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

"But sir," Detective Watanabe interrupted, only to be cut off by the other man.

"Detective Watanabe, I'm not done. You two will follow every lead and at the end of the day you will report to me what you have found and every lead you followed. If you come up empty handed, I will reassign you before Itachi has a chance to make this a bigger problem," he warned. "I can't save you if you go up against him."

"Understood, sir," Detective Sato said. He realized he had underestimated Itachi. Based on the look on the Chief's face, it truly was out of his hands. If Itachi chose to act on his word, then it was the end for all of their careers. If he didn't end up in jail, he'd be on desk duty or fired.

"Good, this case should be your only focus," he told them. "You're dismissed."

The two detectives walked out of the office, straight outside. "I told you this was a bad idea," Detective Watanabe told him, pacing. "What are we going to do? I can't lose this job and I certainly can't go to jail. I know you're loyal to Orochimaru, but what's more important, him or you? If we don't solve this we're both going down. They'll transfer it to someone else and we'll be found out through a federal investigation."

Detective Sato sighed, knowing it was true. He tried to remain calm, knowing what they'd have to do, "When we find him, there's no taking Orochimaru alive. Kabuto has to go too or we're dead." He didn't know where Orochimaru was hiding, but he knew they had to find out fast. They had to get there before anyone else and eliminate him. If he were captured he'd either sell them out or hire to kill. "You understand?"

The other detective nodded, "Of course."

"You know he'll do something to justify us shooting him, whether he attacks us or Sasuke, we'll be able to survive killing him. We might even be seen as heroes for doing it," he told him. "Now, let's go talk to this worker they told us about."

The police went back into the station, grabbing the screenshot Naruto had provided before heading to the coffee shop. They had expected to have to track him down, but to their surprise he was behind the counter. Detective Sato looked at his name tag, "Kazz, we need to talk." he flashed his badge.

"Is there a problem officer?" he asked nervously, not understanding why they were there.

"That's what we're here to find out," he told him. "We just have a few questions."

The man nodded before calling his co-worker up to take his spot at the register. "What's going on officers?" he asked as they sat at one of the tables.

"What's your full name?" the detective asked, not answering his question.

"Kazz Yamada," he answered. "Am I in trouble?"

Detective Watanabe looked at him. He didn't seem like the type to work with Orochimaru. He was clearly nervous and seemed clueless as to why they wanted to talk to him. "We're investigating the disappearance of Sasuke Uchiha. We have you on video driving around the parking lot of where he went missing on the night of his disappearance," he informed him.

The man's eyes widened, "I didn't take the guy! I didn't even know what they were doing. This older guy just came in one day offering me a lot of money to let them know how busy the parking lot was. It was a lot of money so I didn't ask any questions."

"What did he look like?" Detective Sato asked.

"He was pale, long black hair," he told him. "I distinctly remember is gold eyes because it creeped me out. They were just so intense," he described Orochimaru. "There was this light haired guy always with him. I didn't get a really good look at him, but he had glasses and seemed to do whatever he said. He came in a lot without the other guy and talked to this doctor that's a regular here."

"What's this doctor's name?" he asked.

"Asahi Kim," he told him. "At least he said his name was Asahi whenever I asked for a name on the order and he often answered the phone saying it's Dr. Kim," he explained. "That's all I know. There's a hospital down the street, I'm guessing he works there, but we never really talked. Am I in trouble?"

The detectives looked at each other. Technically, they could charge him, but with all he'd given them, didn't feel the need to. "If what you told us is true, then no, you aren't in trouble," Detective Sato answered.

The man sighed in relief, "Thank God."

"However," Detective Sato interrupted. "If you're lying and you have more to do with this, then you'll have some problems. For now, we would like to bring you to the station and set up some protection for you a a precautionary measure."

"Precaution? Why?" he asked, wondering what he had gotten himself into.

"We've already found one person who helped him dead, we believe he will be tying up all loose strings," he told him, knowing that Itachi would be mad if they didn't protect someone that could testify against Orochimaru and Kabuto. He couldn't say that they didn't plan to take them alive, so they had to follow protocol.

"Am I going to die?" the man panicked.

"Not if we can help it," Detective Watanabe assured him. "We'll talk to your boss, but we'd like you to come with us if you don't mind." The man just nodded, worried about what might happen if he didn't agree.

It was fairly easy to find the doctor. They couldn't confront him directly, but were able to get a warrant to set us surveillance on the man. "This was done rather sloppy for Orochimaru," Detective Sato commented as they sat outside of the doctor's home.

The other detective nodded, "He's slipping."

"It's almost too easy," he commented, concerned as to why Orochimaru would make the men so easy to find.

"Do you think it's a set up?" he asked, wondering if there was more to the man at the coffee shop than they expected.

"That or he's desperate," Detective Sato responded, not sure which one was true. When Orochimaru had come to them he had certainly seemed desperate. He didn't seem to care about the consequences, he just wanted Sasuke in his possession. The money was good, so they agreed, to thinking that they'd be caught. They made sure to be the ones in the area when the call came in, knowing that they'd send whichever detective was closest. When they'd gotten the call that day, they did what they had to in order to ensure they'd be assigned the case.

"He's leaving," Detective Watanabe said when the doctor walked out of his house. They followed him, making sure to keep the appropriate distance so he wouldn't notice them. They were undercover in a very nondescript vehicle. It was difficult to remain discrete when the man started going to a more rural area. He stopped the car when they got to the outskirts of town.

"What are you doing?" Detective Sato asked.

"If we go any further he'll notice, we're following him and stop what he's doing," Detective Watanabe explained. "We need a warrant to track his phone," he explained. I doubt he doesn't at least leave it in his car when he goes to Orochimaru. This man isn't a mastermind criminal and if Orochimaru really is slipping, then he didn't properly brief him on what not to bring to the scene."

"Let's go get that warrant," Detective Sato agreed. "If nothing else, he's probably in this area. I'm guessing a cabin of some sort in the surrounding woods. He wouldn't want to wait that long for the doctor to be able to get to his location."

NS

Kurama sat across from Itachi in the other man's office, he could tell how stressed the man was, "You need to relax." He knew it was easier said than done, but Itachi needed something to get his mind off of his missing brother.

"Relax? I'm pretty sure that's impossible," Itachi scoffed. He wouldn't be able to relax until they found his brother and he knew that he was okay. He didn't know what he'd do if he wasn't okay. "I'll relax when Orochimaru is in custody and my brother is home."

"You know that, that might not happen, right? He may not be alive," he responded cautiously. Between Itachi and Naruto, he didn't know what to say to help the other men. He didn't want to hurt them, but they had to keep in mind the possibility that Sasuke wouldn't be brought home alive.

"What are you doing here Kurama?" Itachi asked. "Shouldn't you be home with Shukaku, not here telling me what I already know? Because trust me, I know that he might not be alive, but your brother's right, we can't think that way. We need to have some hope he's okay and will come back to us," he sighed.

"I broke up with him," Kurama blurted out awkwardly. After the almost kiss, their relationship hadn't exactly been the same. It had been awkward and Itachi seemed to avoid him at all costs. Instead, Kurama decided to show up unannounced at his office so he couldn't avoid him any longer.

"And?" Itachi asked.

"Let me take you on a date, get your mind off things even if it's just for a night," Kurama answered nervously. He knew that Itachi was having a hard time, so he wanted to help him get his mind off of everything. "We don't even have to go out, we can stay in. You just need to get out of this office, I know it's a reminder of what happened."

Itachi frowned, "I'm in no mood for a date and there is no way I can get this off my mind. Go comfort your brother."

"Fine, it doesn't need to be a date, just get out of this office," he practically begged. He couldn't watch Itachi and Naruto destroying themselves over what happened. "Kiba is with Naruto right now, so I'm here for you if you'll let me be."

Itachi looked at him, not sure what to say. He was in no state of mind to get into a new relationship, especially with someone who also just got out of a relationship. "Fine, I'll leave the office," he agreed, knowing that the man was probably right. It wasn't good for his mental health to be in the place his brother went missing.

"Thank you," he tried to give him a small smile, though it wasn't returned. "Do you want to come to my place?" he asked.

"Let's just go for dinner," he told him, not quite ready to be completely alone with the other man. His mind kept going back to their drunken night. He didn't know what to think of their relationship, so instead he chose to avoid it at all costs until they found his brother.