Chapter Twenty-Six

Shikamaru sat with Temari, Ino, Sasuke, and Itachi on one side of the conference table. On the opposite side was a bespectacled young man, one of the few that Shikamaru considered an equal in terms of raw intelligence. Hopefully he can see something I can't! Shikamaru turned an eye to his wife beside him. As usual, she was impassive as Sasuke when deposing a witness. Play strip blackjack all you want when this is over; use your other head, dammit!

He pressed the record button the tape recorder, "Please state your name for the record."

"Shino Aburame," The other man sitting opposite the group replied in his normally stoic tone.

Shikamaru explained, "Shino, this is what is called an evidentiary deposition; we will ask you to give testimony based on your professional qualifications. Please state only what you know as fact unless asked for an opinion. Is that understood?"

"Understood."

"For the purposes of the court, this conversation is being tape-recorded; do you consent to being recorded?"

"I do." Straight and to the point as always.

"Shino, raise your right hand," Itachi interjected. Shino did as requested. "Do you swear the testimony you will be giving to the court is a full and accurate representation of facts as understood, that your professional opinions are your own, and that you understand this testimony is being given under the penalty of perjury?"

"I so swear," Shino stated, unmoved.

"Shino, can you please state your qualifications as they relate to the study of entomology," Shikamaru resumed.

"I hold both basic and advanced university-level degrees on the subject."

"Would you please tell the court what entomology is," Shikamaru remained calm and steady.

"It is the subset of zoology that deals with insect life."

"Have you ever authored or co-authored any published writing on the subject?"

"I am one of several co-authors in the Konoha Shinobi Manual, specifically in the chapter on survival in the wilderness."

"What specific material were you asked to contribute?" Shikamaru asked.

"Namely, insects that could helpful or harmful to a shinobi."

"Define helpful?"

"Insects that are edible or have other medicinal properties in the field."

"Define harmful?"

"Insects that are hazardous to either consume or encounter in the field."

"Does that include insects that are venomous, poisonous, or otherwise toxic?" Temari broke in.

"Yes," Shino answered, turning to Temari.

Temari extracted the vial. The moment of truth. What had you so confident, troublesome woman? "Shino, can you identify the specimen in this vial."

"Yes," the other man answered. Shikamaru's heart began pumping rapidly.

"Would you please identify it for the record."

"It is the remains of a Sunan Red Wasp, sometimes known as a Sunan Desert Wasp."

Sunan?! Shikamaru wondered how that helped. "Shino, do you know the native range of the wasp?"

"The Sunan desert," he replied.

"Would it be found in Konoha under any circumstance?"

"No," he replied without the slightest of hesitation.

"How are you so sure?" Shikamaru finally interrupted.

Shino held up the vial, "The Sunan Red Wasp, while hardy to harsh desert heat is extremely intolerant to even temperate conditions. They nest underground during the relative cold nights of the Sunan winter. Whole colonies have been found wiped out by sudden cold snaps."

"What about during the warm Konoha summers?" Shikamaru asked. "Surely it could survive then."

"Not long term," Shino shook his head, "The wasp is particularly vulnerable to a fungal infection common in any climate that is not arid. It would likely die enroute to Konoha."

"So, you're saying this is not something that naturally would be found here?" Shikamaru asked.

"That is what I am saying," Shino nodded.

"What about accidental introduction?" Sasuke asked, "Could someone inadvertently brought it with them?"

"Unlikely, unless kept climate controlled, very specific climate control, it would likely die on the trip here, even in summer."

"What about in spring?" Temari asked, "Say around March?"

"I wouldn't expect it to survive longer than a few hours outside of strictly controlled conditions," Shino repeated.

"What kind of conditions?" Sasuke asked.

"High temperature, extremely low humidity."

"Would a greenhouse work?" Shikamaru asked.

"A greenhouse or solarium would have to be specifically calibrated to a desert-like environment."

"Shino," Temari resumed, "is the wasp still dangerous if dead?" Dangerous? Temari grinned at the corner of her mouth, signaling that she'd already won the bet before making it.

"Yes, most certainly," Shino answered.

"Please state why the wasp would be dangerous, even if dead," she beckoned.

"The Sunan Red Wasp, aside from being particularly aggressive, has stingers that are always protruding; there are multiple examples of people being stung while improperly handling a dead wasp."

Temari's grin widened. Damn, I'm really in for it now! "Please," she continued, "can you comment about the wasp's venom?"

"Yes," Shino replied, "the venom is particularly potent compared to other wasp stings."

Shikamaru exchanged looks with Temari; she was smug as ever. "How potent?" he asked.

Shino held the dead specimen to his spectacled eye, "I would be leery of handling this specimen without forceps and gloves; the venom does not lose potency with age." He set the vial down on the table, "The wasp's venom is toxic local to the sting site – swelling, inflammation – it is known to trigger serious allergic reactions in individuals who are not allergic. And the venom also contains a systemic neurotoxin."

"Neurotoxin?!" Shikamaru balked. "How strong?"

"A single sting has been known to cause global weakness, eventual paralysis, and depression of respiration." Shino stared grimly, "Subjects tend to die of asphyxia, even without an anaphylactic reaction."

"You're saying, it could cause both anaphylaxis and lethal paralysis without being allergic to the wasp?" Shikamaru asked with the desperation of a man that had victory within his fingers.

"Yes," Shino spoke without affect.

"And this could be done with a dead wasp and not a living one?" Temari added.

"Yes," he again replied, not understanding the gravity of what he was saying.

"I think, that will be all our questions; thank you for your time." Shikamaru stopped the recorder and stood. "Shino, you've been most helpful."

"I am glad to be of service," he bowed and left.

After Shino left the conference room, Shikamaru turned to the group. Temari continued to stare smug while everyone else simply smiled. "So, did I win?" She asked. Goddammit, she would ask that now of all times!

"Yes," he huffed, deflating.

"Shikamaru," Ino smirked with a tinge of pink in her cheeks, "I'm curious…" she bit her limp, mischievous. Dear god, please don't ask! "What exactly did Temari bet you?"

"Nothing!" he protested, "Nothing at all!" Temari continued to smirk like a wicked witch.

The worst sound Shikamaru imagined came next – Sai decided to speak, "Isn't it obvious, they bet some kind of sexual favor!" The other man spoke with a faux smile, oblivious as to how inappropriate the statement was, "I'm guessing he has to…"

Thankfully, Ino put a hand over his mouth, "Sai, dear," she giggled, turning bright pink, herself, "This is one of those moments where you need to use your filter!"

Itachi snickered, and Sasuke remained largely stoic, only the faint curl of his lips indicating that he found the subject funny. Temari and he, on the other hand, were glowing pink. Dammit, last time I bet anything with her, much less that!

"Everyone, we certainly can prove homicide," Itachi thankfully changed the subject. "However, our case against Hattori is still strictly circumstantial."

Shikamaru nodded, "It would be helpful with we could link Hattori to Suna somehow," he stared at Temari. "Particularly if he visited around the time of the murder; I imagine there can't be too many people who trade in toxic, exotic wasps."

"On it," Temari said.

Itachi nodded, "Sasuke, I want you to follow up with Hiashi; he called earlier about having some kind of new lead relevant to the case."

"Got it," his brother nodded.

"I'll start digging through the Hyūga archives," Shikamaru spoke, "I remember seeing a bunch of travel and expense logs; there might be some record of Hattori going to Suna around the time of the murder."

"What do you want us to do?" Ino asked for herself and Sai.

"I want you and Sai to go over the timeline of events the day of the murder, interview anyone still alive that was there," Itachi spoke, "Right now, we only have enough to prove homicide and suspect he killed Ichika; we need to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he actually had the opportunity to commit the murder."


The cold, damp air and spray of the sea chilled Naruto to his core as the group paddled the inflatable raft. Never a creature of water, Naruto's skin crawled as the buffeting of waves and thick misting of chilled water took him back to the various times water had nearly killed him. Naruto was eleven, standing at the top of the high dive for his water survival final exam. Kakashi had made his group go last, slowly chilling the water to near-freezing to up the challenge. He was twelve, having gone over a cliff to save Hinata, nearly drowning and later almost dying of hypothermia when his attempt to break their fall ended in failure. Naruto was fourteen at Mount Myoboku, having lost his footing as he ran along the base of a waterfall, nearly drowning until Grandpa Jiraiya came to his rescue.

A jerking of the boat and the roar of a sizable whirlpool shook him, letting him know he was letting the raft drift toward the swirling maelstrom's grasp. Naruto jerked his paddle about, centering the raft back into the narrow channel of calm that existed between the otherwise fatal pitfalls. As Naruto stared into the whirlpool, he was again on the raft to Blood Prison – seasick, food poisoned, scared, and going to a hellish prison for a crime he hadn't committed. The memory of how close a call that mission had been unsettled his gut, and Naruto leaned over the edge of the raft. BWAHHHA!

Mild dizziness assaulted Naruto as he upchucked into the watery hellscape, Hinata called over from her side, "Naruto, are you all right?" She, too, was green around the gills.

"I will be," he spat the residual foulness out. Naruto scanned through the mist with his Byakugan. There were only about a hundred meters from shore, but the fog and mist would have left anyone with conventional vision lost and directionless in the cruel sea. "We're close."

"Is there anyone along the shore?" Mom asked.

Naruto scanned outward, "There is a party on the beach, seven…" Naruto let his words hang as he saw that several of the men were wearing heavy-looking goggles, staring out into the surf. "… and I think they can see us. Whether or not they know it's us or their buddies, I'm not sure."

"How can they see us?" Akemi asked, "You'd need Byakugan to see through this soup!"

"Several of them are wearing some kind of fancy goggles, looks like the same tech we saw in the last group.

A grim silence came over the boat as the group paused paddling, but the waves remained buffeting the boat. "All right," Mom spoke, "We stick to the plan, kill everyone quickly and silently as possible, strip them for intel, and discard the corpses in the surf."

Each of them nodded in silence. "At least two of the guys with goggles are carrying those wrist weapons," Hinata warned.

Naruto clenched his teeth and focused on the group of men – they were all men. The men didn't move like shinobi, at least not with the level of efficiency or discipline Naruto associated with Shinobi. At least one of the guys with goggles had a Hidden Sound tattoo on his forearm, one of the others had a Hidden Grass headband with the symbol scratch through. "Well, we can't hide from them," he propped himself forward in the boat as they neared shore. "Let's say, 'hello.'"

Before anyone else could protest, Naruto flew from his seat, across the last hundred meters of surf, and rammed his fist right in between the eye pieces of the goggles of the closest man, causing bits of metal, plastic, and glass to fragment into the man's face.

As the man crumbled to the ground, Naruto shot across the sand, drew a kunai, and plunged it into the wind gate at the back of the next man's neck. Not missing a beat, Naruto marked his next target; the first two men hadn't even hit the sand.

Naruto brought a knife-hand chop into the next man's neck, and bone crumbled and joints separated as his target's neck broke. By now, the other four men had noticed two of their comrades dead on the ground.

Let's go Kyuubi! Naruto kicked into overdrive, channeling his chakra to fine points at the tips of his fingers like Hinata and Neji had been teaching him. "HIYAHHH!" Naruto assaulted the next target, striking the point at the base of the throat in one, paralyzing his heart and lungs. The next man took a hit to the baby-maker before Naruto reversed into a roundhouse kick across the man's face – teeth and blood went flying as Naruto caved in the right side of the man's face.

The last two men had half a brain cell between the two of them; they took off running in sheer terror. Bad choice, wild animals chase fleeing prey! Two flaming chains sprouted from Naruto's back and ensnared the men's necks like fiery tentacles. Naruo gave a solid tug, and both men fell lifeless to the sand as their necks broke.

"I would ask 'what happened to the stealth approach'?" Mom chided as the rest of the group pulled the raft in from the surf.

Naruto looked at what he'd done as he recalled his chains. By far, he was not proud of having just brutally killed six men. A scan of his Byakugan, however, did tell him that they were not further detected. "Sorry, but we'd lost the element of surprise," he knelt beside the closest corpse, "And I wasn't eager for one of these sons of bitches to get off an attack with one of these," he unhooked the scientific tool gauntlet from his fallen enemy and added it to the collection in his pack. He turned back to his mom, "I did leave one alive for us to potentially interrogate."

"I don't dispute your effectiveness," Mom stared at the wreckage that used to be human. "You've been practicing chains," Mom observed.

"And Gentle Fist," Sakura examined the limp form of the still surviving bad guy. "You'd swear something had you on edge, Naruto."

No sense in hiding from it. "Sakura, if the Otsutsuki have temporal awareness and are planning an attack, they could undo everything Hima did. We need to be ready for that level of threat."

"It gets worse," Hinata took off a set of the goggles the men had been wearing until now and handed them to Akemi. "Care to see what I see when my normal Byakugan is active?"

"Oh, wow!" Akemi scanned the group, "Someone was able to replicate the effect?"

"Not perfectly," Hinata shook her head, "true Byakugan can see all around except a small blind spot. The goggles at best give the user an enhanced tunnel vision – no peripheral view.

More scientific ninja tools but I never heard of a damn thing about anything like these! Naruto contemplated if weapons like this were widespread in the twenty-odd years into the future Hima had come back from. She certainly didn't show off any advanced tech the few times we saw her.

"Son, are you all right?" Akemi asked, but suddenly paused as she stared at Naruto, "Ah… oh crap!" her cheeks, already reddened by cold sea spray were now beet-red as she frantically pulled away the goggles.

"Yeah," he shook his head, "Aunt Akemi, what's wrong?"

"Oh god!" she squirmed in embarrassment, "Hinata, he looks like that!"

Naruto's own cheeks flushed. Byakugan can see through pretty much anything; your mother-in-law just saw you bare-ass naked! "I'm fine!" he hastily changed subject, "Why would I be anything but all right?!"

"For one, you did just eliminate six people," Sakura spoke up. While she clearly understood what just happened, she was unmoved.

"Trust me" he brought his hands up in protest, "I would rather have left them alive, but if they've been robbing stuff from here somehow, that makes them dangerous." Naruto walked up to the former Hidden Grass shinobi, extracting his wallet and headband. "Not all of them are shinobi," he extracted a registration card matching the man's identity and showed it to everyone before they added it to their stack of collectable intel.

"That might be our strong point," Sakura spoke, "if most of them are simply relying on tech over skill."

Naruto activated his Byakugan, staring inland. "That cosmic signature is strong up ahead," he turned to his mother, "Where is this temple supposed to be?"

"About six clicks up ahead," Mom grimaced. "Maybe the White Kitsune and our clan were hiding something these bozos found."

Naruto closed his eyes, reopening with enhanced Sage Mode. Near the same sight, Naruto sensed foreboding, pure malevolence. "Maybe it wasn't so well hidden. These guys might be bozos, but someone very strong is with them." Her nodded, staring at the group, "If it's all the same; I'll take point."


The Hyūga Compound stood imposing over Sasuke as he stood at the gate, the guard scrutinizing his ID before admitting him. Unlike Naruto, who practically grew up here, he was an outsider, and the Hyūga were not afraid to remind him. At least they aren't your relatives. For as neglectful as his own father could be, at least he had not been physically abusive the way old man Hattori had been to several generations. Plus, he probably was a serial rapist. He walked to what looked like Hiashi's office and found Hiashi seated with Hanabi. "Sasuke, please, take seat," Hiashi pointed to a nearby chair across from the desk where the father and daughter sat.

"Lord Hyūga," Sasuke bowed, "My brother told me you needed to speak to the investigation team." He remained standing, still not comfortable with being familiar with the former clan leader.

Hiashi stood, returned the bow, and again gestured to the chair, "Please, sit." This time, Sasuke did sit, albeit rigidly at attention. "Sasuke, what we're about to tell you might be a bit tricky."

Sasuke turned his head a notch to the left, "Define tricky."

"Sasuke," Hanabi spoke up, "there might be a surviving victim in this case."

He became impossibly more rigid. "Explain."

Hiashi stared at his daughter, "Hanabi, tell him what you told me."

"S-Sasuke…" Hanabi, normally flamboyant, took on the much meeker characteristics of her sister, including the tapping of her index fingers and her nervous stammer.

While Sasuke recognized the signs of PTSD, he wasn't sure if it was due to recent events on the Moon or past events within her family. "Hanabi," he said firm but without judgement, "Anything, please." He hoped she'd see he was grateful for any information, "If you can shed new light onto this case, I need to know."

"G-grandpa," she stammered, but she composed herself, "When he was training me to fight Hinata, he said something; I didn't make sense of it at the time." She stared with wide, pale, Byakugan eyes.

Sasuke remembered well the stories Hinata and Naruto shared about old man Hattori and his abusive nature. Sasuke had even been present during a brutal exhibition duel he'd staged between the sisters. She was a victim, just like you. "Hanabi, take your time, tell it clearly."

"H-he said, 'If your sister wins this match, she'll come for you, and you won't escape the way that little crow did!" Hanabi did her best deepening of her voice to imitate her grandfather.

"Little crow?" Sasuke tilted his head, heart skipping a beat. Hearing it said in a crude amalgamation of Hattori's voice made the voice even more unnerving.

"Given what we know about my father," Hiashi added, "It's not unreasonable to assume one of the maids got away."

"How? He was pretty good at killing anyone who crossed him."

"Maybe it was after his prime," Hiashi offered. "He lived a long time with a bad heart."

A flash of something crossed Sasuke's brain, "Naruto mentioned a conversation Akemi had with your sister-in-law just before her death – something about him going back to his old ways with his sick heart."

"It's a very real possibility he raped or seduced one of the maids or nurses attending him at that time." Hiashi stared grim as ever, "And surely the reference isn't lost on you."

Indeed, it wasn't; little crow was a derisive term used for young members of the Uchiha Clan. "Why would he have hired a member of my clan?" Sasuke cocked up an eyebrow.

"I don't know, but that might mean there is a survivor out there." A survivor that might be part of my clan.

"Might…" Sasuke replied, his mind wandering back to the other victims and what he'd read of the scant police reports. "Two drowned, one overdosed, and one was poisoned… no three were poisoned," Sasuke muttered. Cold began crawling up his back.

"What are you talking about?" Hanabi asked.

"Two of the maids were drowned, another was found dead at home of a barbiturate overdose, Yukio was poisoned in this house, and so was Ichika." Sasuke bit his lip in contemplation. What connects them?

"What are you thinking?" Hiashi asked.

"Did your mom keep a diary, a journal, anything?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm not sure," Hiashi hesitated. "Father had most of her things discarded or put into storage. At the very least, I never found it."

"Did your father?" Sasuke demanded.

Hiashi shrugged, "I don't know, I was keen on putting his things in storage and getting them out of the house when he died – many bad memories there."

"If either had one, we need to find it," Sasuke said. His mind turned back to the victims, "Two died one way, all three after that died another way," he shook his head, "maybe he changed his preferred method of clean up because he got caught!"

"Caught?" Father and daughter both stared in shock.

"Drowning someone is a physical act, and you usually have to be present for it. Poisoning is much more indirect… and…"

"And what?!" Hiashi stood, demanding.

"The third maid died of an apparent sleeping pill overdose!"

"How does that help?" Hanabi asked.

Sasuke's mind flickered as he lined up the details from the brief medical examiner's report. "Her medical records showed no record of medication use." The inconsistency with the medical examiner's report sparked another line of thought, "Did your mother or father?!"

"Oh god!" Hiashi's purple eyes bulged wide.

"Father?!" Hanabi stared at her now shivering father.

"I remember, mother was worried that Hizashi or I took them! We never found them!" He locked eyes with Sasuke, "That was a week before the last maid died."

"And the maid died a week after Ichika," Sasuke said. "He kills his wife with a venomous wasp sting, he then uses her sleeping pills to dispose of the other maid."

"How would he get her to take the pills?" Hanabi asked.

"Crushed and dissolved in any number of liquids," Sasuke shook his head. "The maid's stomach contents contained partially undigested ramen."

Sasuke grabbed his cellphone and dialed Shikamaru, "Hello?"

"Shikamaru, are you still in the archives?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"I'm coming down, and I'm bringing Hiashi and Hanabi. You got to hear this! We might have a survivor, maybe a witness!"

"Get down here, right now, and we'll compare notes!" Shikamaru hung up.

Sasuke put his phone away, and turned back to Hiashi and Hanabi, "Would you two please join me in the archives?"


Author's notes: Hi everyone. You'll notice I'm a bit early and this is relatively short. I've had a crazy last two weeks to put it mildly. Given everything going on, I knew I wasn't going to be able to add anything else without breaking the story flow. Fear not, nothing got cut, just moved to the next chapter.

On a side note, thank you all to those who voted in the poll at last chapter. You'll find the results soon. Until next chapter, stay healthy, stay safe!