Ch: 20 Interwebbed

Naruto

Just keep walking, Naruto coached himself. Forward. Not backwards.

Naruto told himself he wouldn't go back in the direction he just came from, to the house where Sakura was keeping herself locked in the room. He already made it this far. It wasn't like Sakura wanted him around anyway. He had to force himself to be distracted by something else, for her sake. He had to give her space.

… But was it better to just go back?

GAH! Naruto pulled on his hair. This problem was harder than any exam question he'd ever come across. By now, he'd lost count of which conflicted side of him was winning this tug of war. To go back, to not go back, it was all a muddled cloud of confusion.

Moments ago, he was standing yards away from Sakura's room, prying his own hand off her doorknob. He had to jet out of there because god knew he was ready to bust down her door and inadvertently weave an even bigger mess of the situation.

It was uncharacteristic of Sakura to be so distant, but this wasn't like any other time she'd been hurt. He almost laughed at the irony. They were grown up now, but it was just like old times. Sakura's pain was just as emotional as it was physical.

Naruto could understand.

He had been on the receiving end of Sasuke's blind and murderous rage before. He knew how Itachi's shadow lurked in Sasuke's subconscious, and how the evil and hatred could take over if given the rare chance despite all of Sasuke's willpower to stay in control. In fact, Naruto wouldn't even be alive today if it weren't for Pervy-sage. That was how far Sasuke could go when it came to Itachi.

But Sasuke was under Orochimaru's cursed influence then. What about now? Was he always going to be this brooding asshole of a teammate, for good?

Naruto sighed and looked to the path ahead. If he had to give an honest report to Baa-chan, the review on both his teammates' performances on this mission would be less than stellar. And that wasn't even considering the fact that they'd lost the scroll, which was their only objective to begin with. He just wanted Team 7 to be whole again, but it was falling apart faster than he could manage.

Naruto came to a stop before a staircase—his destination. The bottom step led his eyes up to the main entrance of Yukkao's city registry. This building is where he was promised a valuable source of information on every business in town, including the doctor's office he may-have or may-not-have blown up the previous day. Because one thing was for sure—the doc was no good, and investigating him was the first step for Mrs. Yasumichi to receive closure on her son's disappearance. She was such a nice lady, he had to help her.

And it would keep him busy until Sakura was ready to talk.

This is it, he thought. Naruto put his hand on the heavy door—

"Ow! My toe!" he yelped.

"Excuse me, sir!"

A single tiny slip of paper danced its way over Naruto's head.

A man emerged from behind the door, looking frantic with his eyes fixated in the air, fumbling to catch the dearly departing slip. The man tripped over a step and missed his chance.

Naruto ignored the lingering pain in his phalanges, which had just been stubbed by the violent, swinging entrance, and caught the stray note before it drifted too far. He managed to sneak a swift glance.

It looked like an address.

"Here," Naruto said, as he handed it back to the man.

"Thank you," replied a curt voice. The man didn't even look up to make eye contact as he snatched it and bounded down the steps with the precious note gripped between two hands.

Yeesh, Naruto thought. It was just a piece of paper.

More importantly though, it was an address. This was definitely the place where someone could get a lead on this mysterious 'civilian' 'doctor', who apparently maintained a comfortable side-hustle of human trafficking in an office rigged with explosive tags.

Naruto opened the door, ready to claim victory.

He felt a gust of wind at his back as it closed behind him. The city registry looked much bigger from the inside, the large windows and tall ceilings giving the small square footage lots of extra breathing space. Behind the massive counter facing the entry was a mousy middle-aged woman with greying hair that was twisted into a fluffy bun atop her head.

"Neeeeext!" she yowled, dragging the vowels as she stared straight at Naruto through oversized glasses. "Make haste, I don't got all day."

"E-erm, sorry," he sputtered, pulling himself together as he approached the counter. He soon found the woman was busy with a whole lot of nothing except filing her nails. "I'm looking for the owner of a small business," Naruto said in his most polite tone.

"Name?" the woman asked, not even bothering to look up from her hands.

"It's a doctor's office—well, ya know, was—I'm hoping there might be information about it on file." Naruto eyed the wall of said files behind her. "The name is Jaaku."

The woman paused.

"J-double a-k-u," Naruto offered.

She looked up from her nails to meet his gaze. "Have you got an appointment?"

"Well no, but—"

"No appointment, no service," said the woman, now swiveling side to side in her chair.

Naruto looked around, confused. Was there something that was so difficult about opening one of those files? There was no one in line. And he could even see the files starting with "J" from where he stood. "When's your earliest appointment?" he asked.

"Got nothin' for 3 months."

Naruto almost scoffed. "Three months? Are you kidding? Lady, you didn't even check the—"

"If that's all," she, taking pause to point her nail filer at the door, "I have to make a call."

Feeling his chances slipping away, Naruto tried a softer approach. "Look, I'm sorry. Can you please just—"

"No can do."

"But the other guy—"

"No appointment, no service!" the woman yowled again, filing her nails to smithereens.

"God—fine!" Naruto snapped. "Forget I even asked!" Riled up, he whirled around and kicked the door to make a dramatic exit while muttering curses under his breath. And then, he realized he understood why that man from earlier clutched onto his piece of paper for dear life. It was just impossible to get any service around here.

He spotted a vending machine across the road and huffed his way over to decide on his next steps, because getting an address was not it. He dug in his jacket pockets for some scraps, then shoved a few coins into the machine, pushing random buttons knowing he'd be indiscriminately unsatisfied with whatever it dispensed.

What a hag.

Naruto leaned against the wall to think. He could almost feel how frustrated Mrs. Yasumichi must've felt when Kiya first disappeared, and his heart tore at how difficult it must've been for her to get anyone to listen in this damned city. He was the Yasumichi family's only hope now, and he'd stop at nothing until he succeeded.

Naruto's mouth twitched a smile when he imagined what Sakura would've done if she was in his shoes. Probably nothing short of blowing down the entire building until she got what she wanted. But when he became conscious of his mind drifting dangerously towards the topic of his teammates, he forcibly downed some extra-hot tea to stop himself.

Suddenly, something from across the road moved in the corner of Naruto's eye. It came from behind the door of the city registry, through its small window.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. It wasn't a rat, though it might as well have been. He could recognize that bun anywhere.

The blinds moved again and revealed a pair of nosy little eyes spying on him, probably bothered by the fact that he was still standing outside her building.

"I won't ask for any more of your help, don't worry!" Naruto called sarcastically to the women. "God forbid anyone do their jobs around here!"

Her bun disappeared from view and the blinds closed.

"Hey! You!"

Naruto spotted two men in police uniforms running in his direction, each with an eager hand on their batons. Looked like a police chase. Whatever poor fellow they were after was in for one hell of a ride.

"You there! Blond-y!"

Huh. As far as Naruto could see, the street was pretty much empty and he hadn't seen anyone with blonde hair. It wasn't until he felt a tiny tingling sensation from the base of his spine when he figured out that the cops were after him.

"Shit!" he squawked, throwing his half-empty can in the air. It clattered against the cement until it rolled on its side, spilling the rest of his tea.

"That's littering! You're coming with us!"

"Ah! What the hell—you guys were after me way before that!" Naruto cried, taking off running. He remembered Sasuke's words, telling him to do nothing that would draw attention to himself or confirm that he was shinobi. That meant he had to run in a less-than-graceful manner at a fraction of his normal speed, pumping his arms ridiculously like civilians did when they ran.

"Get back here!"

Naruto threw a look over his shoulder, lungs burning as he dodged trash bins, benches, and railings in the street like they were all a part of an obstacle course. One of the policemen disappeared. Naruto presumed it was so that one of them could go around the back of the building and intercept his path.

"What did I do?! Since when was using a vending machine a crime?!" Naruto hollered, barely missing a collision with a street light. "And why does there have to be two of you!?" He turned a sharp corner and darted into a little crevice of space between two tall buildings, clutching his chest while hunched over with one hand on his knee. He couldn't help but wheeze pathetically, and he was glad no one could see him. Running like this was considerably more exhausting.

Wait. I have a crazy idea, he thought.

His teammates would probably scold him for causing a ruckus, so what was the harm? Naruto looked from side to side only until he was sure no one else was around. Then, he made the hand sign for his favorite jutsu.

"You'll never catch me alive!" he called loudly as he ran back into the street. "Oof!—".

The cop tackled Naruto with a smirk on his face. "Got you."

Just as planned.

"You're coming with us."

Sakura

Sakura guessed it had been at least a day since she heard the Jinchuriki leave.

She felt disgusting, her skin and clothes drenched with crusty dried blood and sweat, her red eyes irritated and swollen. She kept replaying the events in her head, torturing herself with how she'd do things differently if given another chance.

How could she have not felt Sasuke coming when she was speaking with Itachi? God was she an idiot. She was distracted, careless, and stupid.

Itachi might as well have said it when he left—the way he looked at her with such repugnance, reminding her of her incompetence, the way he looked so done with her when he left her dying on the balcony.

How has everything with her mission gone so terribly, terribly wrong?

Sakura thought having her personal space would help her feel better, but the Jinchuriki's absence only enhanced her anxiety about what was coming her way. Or who.

For her failure, surely Akatsuki would deliver grave consequences.

That is, if Sasuke didn't get to her first.

Sakura bundled the bed sheet in her hand and turned to her side. She had been so close to fulfilling her mission. But at the last minute, she failed her team, her parents, and herself. She felt the kind of depression where nothing mattered anymore, like she was indifferent to whether she lived or died.

The clock was ticking.

She just didn't know which Uchiha would come back first.

Naruto

"Ow—don't I have the right to like, radio a friend or something?" Naruto asked.

His skin burned against the coarse industrial rope, his wrists hostage to the wooden chair. His neck and shoulders ached from sitting so long, and so far, it had all been for naught—he hadn't received any information on why he was being held captive in the first place.

The cop checked his hands again, making sure the bounds were tight enough. They were. Then he started checking Naruto's pockets.

A flash of green in his peripheral vision sent a jolt of panic through his blood. "Ah! Froggy!" he yelled. "That's my wallet!"

"Don't mind if I take this," the cop snickered, taking the remaining bills and leaving Froggy looking sadly deflated. "What else do we have here?" he asked, searching Naruto's other pocket. He pulled out a crumpled note.

"Don't touch that!"

"Oh, it's important to you? Who's Sakura?" he asked, reading the note. "Why's she telling you to work hard? What's it for?"

"I said, give it back."

It was the note Sakura gave him when he was training with Jiraiya many years ago. He kept it in his pocket for good luck, and he didn't want anyone messing with it. He would blow his whole cover to get it back if he had to.

"Pipe down," barked one of the cops from the table. "Or I'll give you both something to complain about," he added, while pulling out a deck of cards.

The cop gave Naruto his stuff back and went back to the table to play Go-fish with his partner.

It had been exactly twelve hours and forty-eight minutes since Naruto was captured, the entirety of that time spent blindfolded with two knucklehead cops. He was running out of time.

Naruto scanned the room. They were at some sort of warehouse or loading dock, with messy stacks of luggage boxes and cargo containers scattered around them. He spotted two, maybe three hand tools in his immediate vicinity that he could use as weapons if things got desperate enough.

"This isn't because I didn't wash my hands after using the bathroom, is it?" Naruto cried. "I swear this city doesn't strike me as the type to enforce those hygiene laws!"

"Ugh, gross! I touched your hands!" exclaimed the cop. He then got up from his seat muttering something about finding some soap as he disappeared into the far hallway.

Naruto felt his cheeks get a little warm. "Oh," he muttered. Self-admittance was more embarrassing than constructive. Note taken.

But if that wasn't it, then what did he do?

And there was something else too—assuming that Naruto actually kept an accurate count of the minutes after being blindfolded and stuffed into a carriage, they were located a couple miles outside of Yukkao. Why'd the police take him to an isolated warehouse instead of a regular jail? And why hadn't they read him his rights or given him the option to send a messenger to a friend?

Naruto didn't have to be an expert in civilian law to know that this wasn't normal police procedure.

He addressed the second 'cop', not outwardly showing any indication that he sensed they weren't legitimate. "Will you please tell me where we are and what I did wrong?"

The cop was just about to answer when the sound of a large object being dragged against the concrete floor rumbled in the distance, followed by the unmistakable rattling of heavy metal chains. It sounded like the opening and closing of the warehouse door.

Naruto eyed the hallway. Maybe whatever happened next would actually get him some helpful intel before time ran out—

Footsteps. But they were different. Naruto knew they didn't belong to the cop who left to use the restroom earlier. Someone else had arrived.

"Boss," the 'cop' nodded, though to whom in the hallway was still a mystery.

Naruto thought through the possibilities.

Maybe he was taken hostage by a group of bandits that wanted fast cash? Or what about the people who were tailing Sakura earlier? Maybe they saw them walking together and felt he was the easier target? Or was it the carpet shop owner that caught them snooping around his turf when it was closed to the public?

It wasn't long before a man emerged.

It was clear that it was a man Naruto had never seen before. Right off the bat, he was much more rugged than the first two cops, maybe a bit older, and he had a face tattoo in an indescenerable shape or character in a different language.

His heavy footsteps echoed throughout the warehouse as he took leisurely steps to where Naruto was bound against the chair, his wrinkly eyes unaffected as if he'd been expecting company. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and put it between his lips.

Naruto noticed he wasn't wearing a police uniform. This guy definitely wasn't a cop.

"What do we have here?" the man asked with his mouth full. He didn't break eye contact as he lit his cigarette. "Making inquiries for Dr. Jaaku, now, are we? You got a medical problem?"

Naruto felt a light bulb go off in his head. Duh! That was why the lady at the City Registry was acting so weird. And now it looked like it led him closer to the doctor than he could've hoped. Bingo!

"I'm asking for a friend," Naruto said. Now that he knew he was dealing with a possible lead to Dr. Jaaku, he settled down deliberately, and despite how it went against everything in his nature, he hid his enthusiasm.

The man's cigarette smoke puffed in the air, dragging out the silence.

Naruto used the silence to size the man up. The other two 'cops' referred to him as 'boss', though at first glance, Naruto would've figured the scruffy man to be the muscle. It wasn't until up close when Naruto realized that the man certainly carried an air of intelligence about him—maybe even enough to be the doctor.

"Are you Dr. Jaaku?"

The man sniggered, exhaling smoke into Naruto's face. The smoke smelled burnt, bitter and sour, but expensive at the same time. "Depends. Who's asking?"

Naruto paused for a minute. He couldn't use his real name. "That would be me. My name is Boruto Uzumaki, ya know!" Not bad, Naruto told himself. The name had a nice ring to it, especially something made up on the spot.

The man—who Naruto would now address as Dr. Jaaku until told otherwise—studied him for a minute.

"So tell me, Boruto," Dr. Jaaku continued, as he walked to the nearby table to pick up a wrench, "What a coincidence—just days from an explosion, a stranger pops into town asking questions… and I happen to stumble across you? I have to tell you, that office setup was very hard to procure. I hope you're ready to pay."

These were details he'd only know if he really was Dr. Jaaku.

Naruto watched as the crooked doctor dragged the wrench down Naruto's thigh, stopping to gently tap his kneecap ever so slightly.

"And who do I have to thank for that... a petty thief?" he asked, looking at Naruto expectantly.

"I'm a, uh…" Naruto swallowed as the topic of conversation unexpectedly turned towards his cover story, which he hadn't thought about until now. From the way things were going, it didn't look like Dr. Jaaku or his goons were shinobi. He'd be in much worse shape by now otherwise.

"Throat dry?" Dr. Jaaku asked with insincerity. "Lieutenant," he called over his shoulder, "why don't you go and fetch our guest some water?"

"I got it," droned a voice from the back.

Naruto was alone with Dr. Jaaku now. It would be so easy and so satisfying to break his nose, but shinobi honor protected civilians.

A moment passed, and then Dr. Jaaku shifted the wrench to his other hand. He continued to stare, boring his eyes into Naruto's skull as he breathed in his cigarette smoke.

Naruto almost scoffed. Who'd ever trust a doctor who smoked? He was just about to say something about it, but then remembered he had to act like a scared civilian if he was going to keep them unsuspecting.

"Uhm, please don't hurt me," Naruto began. "I'll tell you anything you want to know," he lied, shifting a little. He eyed the wrench intentionally, doing his best to imitate fear.

Dr. Jaaku took another puff of smoke. "Bullshit. You ain't scared. And I think you know more about the explosion than you're letting on."

Naruto stared. Well that wasn't the answer I expected. He tried not to think that maybe everyone already knew he was the one who snooped into the office and set off the explosive tags. "I wasn't around when that happened."

"Cut the shit. We both know that ain't true."

Crap. Naruto tried not to express a reaction, though a bead of sweat began to form at his temple. If they knew he was behind the explosion and survived, then they knew he was shinobi. If they were still willing to bring him in despite that fact, they could've hired hunter-nin, meaning Sakura and Sasuke were compromised too.

"I'm not up to anyth—"

"Shut up," Dr. Jaaku commanded. "I know exactly what you are. And a regular civilian ain't it."

Okay, this was really bad.

"No seriously," Naruto tried with waning confidence. He eyed the wrench. If he worked fast enough, he could grab it out of the doc's hands and knock him back, and then take him somewhere before the two 'cops' realized they were gone.

Naruto began pooling chakra in his hand, just potent enough to send a burst of air through the rope binding him to the chair. He felt a small swoosh in the palm of his hand and tugged. The rope gave out a little. He just had to—

"Boss!" One of the 'cops' suddenly poked his head around the corner of the hallway. "He's here."

"Hold that thought." Dr. Jaaku stomped on his cigarette and pulled out another before turning away.

Naruto felt he'd better get a move on and force Dr. Jaaku to tell him what happened to Kiya before his time ran out, which he felt was soon.

"That him?" a hushed voice said from beyond the wall.

"...the fryer... " the other voice, who sounded like Dr. Jaaku, replied.

The fryer? No, that couldn't have been it. Even if he could tell the two voices apart, it was no good—they might as well have been speaking gibberish.

Naruto craned his neck harder, scooching his chair towards the hallway so that he could hear more than sentence fragments.

"He someone important?"

"Just a nobody... inquiring traveler …"

It was better, but not perfect. It seemed they were trying to decide his worth. Naruto scooched a little, again. Dammit—

The friction from the legs of the sliding chair caused a screech louder than he would've liked. He flinched, then looked around. No one noticed him, thankfully. But this would have to be as far as he went.

"Get rid of him. Then get rid of the body."

Naruto paused. A killing order. Just like that?

The words were quietly hushed from beyond the wall, but they awakened something within him. These people could plan murder within seconds, devoid of any thought to someone's humanity. They could destroy an entire family if it was convenient for them. Like Kiya.

Naruto felt his anger rise at the thought of how many more there could be. Doctors were supposed to take an oath to treat those who were sick. They were trusted to do no harm. Yet Dr. Jaaku had no problem killing from families who weren't prestigious, powerful, or rich enough to fight back. Dr. Jaaku wouldn't get away with it this time.

A loud static cut the whispers from behind the wall. A radio.

"We're heading out, boss," one of the 'cops' said, packing up his deck of cards. "Station called. We got another complaint from Supply and Hardware. We're gonna check it out."

Things were moving. Whatever those code words meant, Naruto knew he had to act or he'd miss his chance. Should he take down the fake cop and corner Dr. Jaaku into admitting his crimes? Wasn't it a good opportunity, since he had Dr. Jaaku here in the flesh?

"Station's pretty busy these days?" Naruto heard the mysterious voice say from behind the wall.

"Affirmative," replied Dr. Jaaku's voice. "Ever since his office burned down."

Huh? Naruto suddenly felt like something was off about that last sentence. Why was Dr. Jaaku referring to himself in the third person?

"Well, it is what I pay you for. Well, actually, from the citizens' pockets. I'll leave you to it, then."

The heavy metal door slammed shut, and Naruto heard a few locks clicked into place.

What the heck? It seemed like Naruto hadn't read the situation correctly.

The man came back holding a briefcase with an emblem on it, and Naruto recognized it to match the tattoo on his face.

"You're not Dr. Jaaku," Naruto said, eyes narrowed.

Tattoo-face smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Again, Naruto resisted his burning desire to break the man's arm and throw him across the room. "What's Dr. Jaaku paying you to get rid of me?" he asked.

"Dr. Jaaku is not my employer," Tattoo-face replied as he began to roll up his sleeves. "But either way, we do want you taken care of."

He'd just confirmed that he wasn't Dr. Jaaku. And that only led Naruto to more questions. "If he's not paying you, then why are you taking orders from him?" he asked.

"Oh, because it's my job," Tattoo-face said, grinning. "That was the mayor."

"The mayor is tied to this too?" Naruto asked incredulously. "Who are you?" He thought back to all the little clues from earlier as the realization began to dawn that maybe these weren't fake cops after all. "So the lieutenant from earlier… the station—the radio… you're real cops?"

This went way deeper than Naruto could've imagined. Dr. Jaaku had everyone in his pocket. Even the city government.

"We're going to have to cut this short," Tattoo-face said, flicking the bud of his cigarette onto the floor and stepping on it. "I have to give Dr. Jaaku his parting gift, courtesy of the mayor, and let's just say your head's part of the package."

"For Christ's sake—and the mayor's covering up for Dr. Jaaku? For dirty cops?! That's disgusting—how twisted can you get?"

Mental images of his role models flashed in Naruto's eyes—Baa-chan, Pervy-sage, the Third Hokage and those who came before them—they held the highest positions of esteem and never took it for granted. How could someone abuse their authority like this?

"And you're okay with the corruption?!" Naruto shouted. "Don't you care about the people you've sworn to protect? Why did you even go into law enforcement?! How could you betray them and follow this imposter for a leader and—"

"What the mayor does in his own time is his business," Tattoo-face interrupted, stepping closer to Naruto with a pair of tongs. He began to bend down. "Now before you get too riled up, shut up and close your eyes so I can pry them out—"

"I'll kill you if you take one step closer," Naruto growled. But he felt a familiar tingling sensation erupt over his body, letting him know that time was up.

"Aye boss! We need you to come see this!"

Tattoo-face sighed. "What? Don't you fucking move," he warned Naruto. He threw the metal tongs onto the table, where they skidded across until clunking against the wrench from earlier.

"Not like I have a choice, ya know," Naruto whispered. This was the limit to how long tertiary clones could be out. But he'd be back for fucking sure, and next time without limits.

With a puff of smoke, he evaporated into thin air.

X

Naruto caught himself dozing off. He forced himself to readjust his body so that it sat upright against the tree rather than slouched forward, where it would be too dangerously comfortable to nap instead of the stakeout he was tasked to do. "Clones should get labor rights," he muttered to himself.

He could see the carpet store clear as day from where he was perched, but it didn't matter—the most eventful part of the day was when a possum made its way through. Even she had moved onto bigger endeavors since then.

Naruto clutched his stomach, wishing that he'd gone with his original body, Sasuke, and Sakura to have lunch the previous day. Instead, he'd been out here for 24 hours with not a single thing to show for it.

He was just about to call it a day and report back when he saw a young man approach— skinny, blonde, and wearing a hat. He was also sporting cargo pants that looked three sizes too large, which frayed on the ground past his worn sandals.

Naruto crouched to hide himself from view.

The young man peered through the glass before making his way to the door.

A customer, maybe?

The young man pulled out a set of keys from his pocket, and began to try one on the door.

If this was the carpet store owner, Naruto couldn't believe his luck. He had all but given up, and it turned out he was about to quit a second too early. Naruto followed the man inside. "Hey," he called.

The young man had already made his way to the back of the store towards the couches, where the glass coffee table had some empty coasters sitting around. "Ah!" he screamed, shocked to see someone else in the store.

"Ah!" Naruto screamed back, genuinely startled by the first human sound he'd heard all day. He didn't have time to say anything else, because as soon as he opened his mouth, one of the coasters was being hurled towards his head.

The young man beelined straight for the door.

"Hey! Stop!" Naruto tackled him to the ground. Will! You! Just—"

"Let go of me! I-I didn't do it!" his victim shouted, his words pouring out too fast for his mouth to keep up. "I-I just thought I'd crash here for the week, s-since my ma kicked me out. Please don't tell, I swear i-it's only temporary!"

"What?!" Naruto stopped, confusion overtaking him. The young man spoke so fast that Naruto had to concentrate to keep up. He then groaned when realization dawned. "Aw man, don't tell me you don't own this place!"

"No, t-that's my boss," the young man replied with his ear to the ground. "But if you're looking for him, he's not around. We're closed u-until further notice."

Naruto didn't ease his grip. "I need to talk to your boss. And not about carpets or rugs, got it?"

"S-sorry man. I thought my signs were c-clear enough. Appointments are for existing clients only."

"Clear? It looked like you scribbled on some scratch paper, ya know!" Naruto cried, exasperated. He leaned on his victim's wrists, putting uncomfortable pressure on them. "Alright, I don't have time for this. I'm looking for a scroll. It would've arrived in the last two or three days. Have you seen it?"

"I didn't see nothin!" claimed the young man. "Ah—stop! If I knew, I would tell you! I'm j-just the delivery boy, I swear," he insisted. "I don't e-even like my boss that much to be honest, h-he and his business partners scare the h-hell out of me!"

"Listen, pal. This will all be over soon if you just tell the truth." Naruto added extra weight to the young man's back to emphasize his point. "Where'd he go?"

"H-hey man, I don't ask q-questions," he stammered as he allowed Naruto to check his pants pockets. "I have a lifestyle to keep up, y-you know? Dude p-pays me good money to stay out his biz."

"The things people do for money," Naruto grumbled. With one hand still holding the young man's wrists, he checked the young man's jacket and flipped the pockets inside out. A small plastic baggy fell onto the floor, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. Opioids.

"I-I never said I spent it on rent! I live with my ma, remember?"

Naruto sighed. "When will your boss be back? Is it hours? Days? Weeks?"

"I don't know, he didn't say. C-c-can you get off of me dude? I can't feel my arms!"

"Damn it," Naruto cursed, seeing as the conversation was going to be useless. He released his victim and then relaxed backwards, sitting cross-legged on the floor to think about what he would do next.

The young man moaned as he rolled over onto his back next to Naruto, his hat falling off his head. "Fuck, it's been a rough week."

"Bet," Naruto countered. "Couldn't have been worse than mine."

"Yeah? Two days ago, ma kicks m-me out. Yesterday, boss comes in freaking out about some explosion, t-then says he's gonna skip town cuz he thinks shit's gonna get worse before it gets better. S-ays he can't pay up yet cuz he needs protection if his b-business partners come after —load of bullshit! A-and to top it off, the l-last couple tips I got from my deliveries were spotty cuz some stripper bitch ratted our front out to some hired shinobi and the clients weren't happy about it!"

"Uh, yeah, sounds rough," Naruto said, patting his pockets to make sure his Konoha headband wasn't sticking out.

"I already spent m-money I don't have. Stupid fucking strippers! But I can't stay away," he said miserably. "B-boss said he'd chat with that bitch, but I don't know if he did before he left."

"Alright, sheesh, you win," Naruto said, not sure how this turned into a therapy session. He just wanted to get out of there. "That sounds like a rough week. But you know what? You'll turn it around. And, now I gotta go. Bye."

"You think?" the young man asked hopefully.

"Erm. Sure, yeah, of course," Naruto said. "You just gotta get away from fast money, quit doing drugs, that kind of stuff."

"Wow, thanks man, that's r-really good advice!"

What Naruto didn't say was that he thought the young man was throwing himself quite the self-pity party and should've stopped blaming other people for his problems. "By the way, what does your boss look like? Just in case I see him around town or something," he asked casually. He scanned the room for a last good look. They didn't seem to keep inventory.

"He's kind of a pretty boy, know what I mean? He's tan, got w-wavy brown hair, likes to wear it in a ponytail. He wears a lot of rings."

Finally—the most useful thing all day. "Thanks. I'd better get going."

"H-hey man, you got any change on y-you?"

"Get out of here! Go do something with your life for christ's sake," Naruto barked, hurling things at the young man as he scrambled out the door. "Kids these days."

X

Naruto tightened his grip around his pint just as he inherited the knowledge from his two clones.

The government was in Dr. Jaaku's pockets, and somehow the carpet store owner was involved, because otherwise why run after an explosion at the office? He'd have to pay another visit to Tsuta—someone who could maybe help him tie two and two together, and who also probably knew something about any gang affiliations with the emblem from Dr. Jaaku's briefcase earlier.

When he arrived at the club, Naruto was told he wasn't allowed inside. Per policy, he needed someone to vouch for him, and Tsuta wasn't around to do it. When asked about her whereabouts, her coworkers said he just missed her by a couple hours, and that she went home early because she felt sick. It took a whole lot of persuading, but somehow Naruto managed to charm an address out of her coworkers and headed over to Tsuta's immediately.

He arrived at an apartment building, which he was surprised to see was one of the more recently renovated buildings in Yukkao. Just by looking at its solid, engraved stone walls, he knew it was likely something he wouldn't be able to afford with his wages if he lived here.

The light was on in Tsuta's unit on the third floor, which Naruto could spot from down below. With a burst of chakra at his feet, he jumped to her level. Her door was slightly ajar, with peeks of light emitting from inside.

"U-uhm, excuse me? Tsuta?" Naruto knocked and took a cautious step, not exactly sure how he should introduce himself to jog her memory. "It's me, the guy you danced for—er—I'm the friend of the guy you danced for—the chicken-haired one?"

He didn't hear back, but continued moving in.

"I'm the blonde one, ya know? We were with that pink-headed chick? I'm coming in, hope that's okay with you," Naruto gently pushed on the door. "Heh—must've forgotten to close your door!"

He heard a soft thud and his gut did a flip—

It was just the door bumping against a shoe on the inside. It was eerily quiet. A few steps later, he found himself standing on the interior floor mat, looking around a living room torn into all sorts of disarray.

"Are you a 'shoes-on' or 'shoes-off' in-the-house kind of person? I'll just take them off here then," he called. "I was hoping to ask you some questions about some research I've been doing?"

Though he was chuckling and using a light tone of voice, Naruto knew something had gone horribly, horribly wrong. "Hello?"

Naruto's eyes darted left and right, scanning the place for an explanation. Crimson red flashed in his peripheral. He felt a chill, and the room suddenly became much colder. Down the hall was a human body. It was lean, female, and on the head was a face that was unmistakably Tsuta's.

Her leg was twisted to the side, her body contorted nauseatingly so. Her feet were bruised, like she'd been trying to kick someone away. Her nose and head were bashed in, blood smeared across the adjacent wall.

Naruto closed his eyes. He prayed and prayed that this had nothing to do with their visit the other day, when he and Sasuke asked her for intel on the stolen scroll, or when he was taken for questioning earlier today by the police. It seemed like wherever they went, someone was working against them. This felt like taunting; a message saying he couldn't escape. I need to get out of here. And he'd better do it fast before anyone saw him—there was no way that it would end well if someone found him in Tsuta's house with her dead body.

It was past dark by the time Naruto made it back to where Sakura was. There weren't any street lamps to light up the pathways, and it was like every shadow whispered to him, death follows. Although he sought a distraction from the grim events that haunted Team 7 now, it seemed he failed and came back with more. He felt a deep remorse he couldn't describe for the dire state of the world filled with corrupt governments, torn apart families, and broken hearts.

Naruto was just about to head inside to see Sakura but stopped right outside the door.

Something moved by the trees. A shadow. Sasuke.

No words were exchanged; they didn't have to speak. With only a silent nod between them, a mutual understanding manifested. Team 7 was ready to talk.

To be continued...