Kisame almost cried when he spotted pink hair and a smile from his perch in one of Konoha's many trees. Her hair was still long and she had actual friends who looked genuine, like they really cared. Then she looked over her shoulder suddenly and stared towards his general area. And when he saw her heart-shaped face and the confused tint to her green eyes, he couldn't stop the few stray tears that dripped down his cheeks.

Sakura turned back to her friends and they lowered their voices a bit more. She'd gotten far better at sensing since the genjutsu incident and he could feel the bubble of pride swelling in his chest. Five years. She shouldn't have had to raise herself all that time.

Tearing his gaze away from his pup, he scrutinized the two (or three, really) in her company. The two red triangles on one of the boys' cheeks was a dead ringer for the Inuzuka Clan, and if that didn't cement the fact, the puppy beside him certainly did. The other boy's face he couldn't see with it shrouded in a high collar and a pair of dark glasses. Kisame lost the name at the moment, but he was sure he was from that one noble clan that controlled insects.

Then the genin sensei arrived. Yuuhi Kurenai—he'd heard about her before from Itachi. Good in genjutsu, speed, and intelligence, and not a bad fit to his pup's capabilities. Or at least what her capabilities used to be. He wouldn't blame her if she changed her style or found a new one; it had been so long and he was excited to see all the new things she learned.

As the four of them walked into the Aquatic Center, he took it as his cue to leave.

He reappeared just outside his pup's apartment.

::

A hand shot up from the water and grasped the edge of the pool, a head following and a torso flopping onto the ridged flooring. Kiba swiped his goggles off and tossed them off to who-knows-where as he gulped for air. "If I die this year, I want to be cremated," he gasped. Akamaru floated by on a paddleboard, soaking wet and already half asleep. "Build a new Aquatic Center in my name and spread my ashes around it. Then don't put any water in the building."

There were a few splashes behind him as another hand emerged to his left and another body set itself on the ledge. Sakura slapped her goggles down in front of her and reached up to pull off her swim cap, braided pink hair dropping back into the water. "Then why," she breathed, "would you want an Aquatic Center to be built?"

"Our of pure spite."

A third pair of hands reached Kiba's right and Shino pulled himself completely out of the pool in one swift movement, but rolled onto the ground shoulder first and flopped onto his back as he drew in air. His swim cap he shucks off and throws to the side but his goggles, though, he keeps on in the absence of his glasses. "I didn't consider the possibility of something being worse than the obstacle course. This is an instance where being proven wrong does not end in an enlightening experience."

Kiba made a face. "You like to be proved wrong?"

"It builds character."

Kurenai walked up to them and crouched down, the whistle around her neck swaying slightly. "If you guys keep this up, maybe I'll reconsider entering you at one of the meets they host here," she joked. She laughed as Kiba let himself sink back into the water. "But honestly, you three have done a fantastic job. Training is done for the day and you can all go home—but if you choose to stay in the pool a bit longer, that's fine too." She reached into the pool and gently plucked Akamaru from the board and set him down gently, giving his head a few pats after she does so. He barked and lolled his tongue out.

"Chlorine sucks," Kiba muttered. He finally hauled himself from the pool and, just as Shino had done, completely flopped onto the ground.

Kurenai lended them a sympathetic smile. "We have two missions tomorrow and the first one doesn't start until eleven so you can all sleep in."

"Yes, sensei," they chorused tiredly. She bid each of them a goodbye and a reminder to eat a good breakfast tomorrow before taking her leave. Left with the sounds of kids splashing in the next few lanes over, Sakura lazily set her chin in her palm. "So," she started. Her legs dangled freely in the water. "We cooking or getting take out?"

The answer was unanimous. "Take out."

Akamaru woofed in agreement.

::

Kisame took in the shabby apartment and was hit with a wave of nostalgia. It's like the first shitty apartment he got for himself in Ame where he met Saki and she gifted him those god-awful white chocolate chip cookies. The traps set up around the unit made him quirk a smile at her caution, but he wondered why the trip wires, sensors, and weapon launchers also extended to her next door neighbor. Were they friends too?

But traps like those weren't enough to keep out someone like him, so he slipped through the kitchen window and surveyed the area. The kitchen was clean, there weren't any dishes in the sink, and the fridge had no magnets or post-it notes. He frowned as he squeezed down the narrow hallway towards the bedroom. There were no stray marks and no pictures, and by the time he pushed open the old wooden door, a thread of sadness wound around the veins on his heart.

White walls were bare and navy sheets were made. There were still no pictures, no dust, but four handwritten scrolls hung on the wall just behind her bed.

"Remember what you witnessed here. This is what happens to fools who think they can change the world."

"Did you understand that, girl? You're their homegrown advantage. How does it feel to be used?"

"Because I'm not a good man."

"You will be an exemplary shinobi or you will be nothing at all."

"Pup..." he sighed. Kisame ran a hand over his face and turned away. He recognized one of those phrases to be his, probably, and deep down he knew that he could've prevented this. If he was there, she wouldn't have to live by those words and he could've raised her not to listen to people like the Akatsuki.

Which was hypocritical on his part, but she didn't have to listen to him anymore. How could she? He'd abandoned her and he wouldn't blame her if she hated him.

That thought alone made his eyes water again and he forced his attention on the small wooden desk right beside the bed.

There were... odd books and scrolls separated into neat piles. Titles like Hiruzen Sarutobi: Twice a Hokage and A Biography of the Fourth Hokage: Namikaze Minato and Rogues LXI: Orochimaru and Sannin from War met his speculating gaze. There were no notes, but as he thumbed through the marked pages he sees tabs by things concerning the Third Hokage's political decisions, his relationship with his students, and his choosing of his successor.

None of it made sense, and it made concern sprout in his blood. What sort of... research was she getting at with something like this? Was it authorized?

(Like he was the paragon of lawful work, but that wasn't the point.)

Kisame glanced down the hallway, back at the desk, then set the book down and worked his fingers through a series of hand seals. Strings of chakra erupted on the desk as a film of water covered a small 6 inch by 6 inch square. A pale catshark popped its head out in greeting with its reddish-white skin and the top half of its 8 inch length. She wasn't the smallest shark he could've summoned, but she was the smallest, non-bio-luminescent species that came off the top of his head.

"Kasumi-san," he greeted. She tipped her head in return and looked around the small bedroom.

"These aren't your quarters, Blue. Did you finally decide to move?"

"You know I can't. Too many memories."

She huffed, bobbed down below the water, and came back up. "You were always a sentimental one. So? Is there something you need? I'm not the one you normally summon."

He did have a penchant for great whites.

"My pup's here—"

"Alive?"

"—she never died. I made sure of it."

"To keep her from Ring-Eyes?"

"You know me," he grinned, though she could tell it was far from a happy one. "But I just came up here to scout for a bit for the Chuunin Exams. There's research here I'm not too sure about and I need you to listen in. If it ain't serious, no need to tell me. If it can kill her, let me know."

Kasumi hummed to herself and did a small flip in the chakra-made puddle. "Of course," she said. "Any particulars I need to be aware of?" 

"One's an Inuzuka tracker and the other's a bug sensor. Er, a sensor that uses bugs to locate chakra," he informed. She chuckled.

"Trying to make it challenging for me, aren't ya, Blue?"

Kisame glanced at the door once more before offering the shark a sharp array of white teeth. "Gotta keep you on your fins, don't I? Let me know if anything's up."

"Summons are always covert, Blue," she reminded him. "I'll make sure Pink's safe and sound, just like you did."

::

Sakura, Kiba, and Shino trailed into the apartment with towels draped across their shoulders and their clothes damp from throwing them over themselves after taking quick showers at the facility. Bags of takeout hung from their hands and they set it on the table as they sat around on the plastic chairs.

The scent of chlorine still overwhelmed them.

Kiba opened his mouth, the mix of exhaustion from swimming and incredulity from Sakura's earlier words left little for him to be reluctant about. "So are we gonna go from the rogue thing to the Naruto thing to the things that's gonna get us murdered?"

A surge of insects evacuated Shino's body and took to position themselves around the kitchen and over the windows, prompting Sakura to lean over and switch on the light. "Sounds about right," he says. "Sakura? You said you knew about Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru?"

She nodded. "Uchiha Itachi. Male. 5'7". Missing-nin. Crimes: High Treason, Mass Slaughter, Murder, Arson, and Espionage, just to generalize a few. Former Affiliation: Konohagakure. Current Affiliation: A—" she faltered. Akatsuki was only a speculation, but now wasn't the time to share it with her team. She didn't know if she was ready for that explanation anytime soon. "—Unknown. Rank: S. Specialties: Genjutsu, Assassination, Intelligence. Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan. Bounty: 200 million ryo. That's the cap for those in the Top Twenty, excluding jinchuriki. They cap at 500 million."

Kiba whistled a low note. That was a shit ton of money.

Shino, though, hummed quietly. Two-hundred million is certainly a ridiculous number, especially considering that was the payout for undergoing two-hundred S-rank missions: a practically inconceivable number since he was sure there wasn't a single person who could complete that amount of S-ranks in their entire shinobi career. "Top Twenty?" he asked. "Is this from some sort of book or documentation on rogues?"

"Any base intel I have on rogues comes from the Bingo Book. It's an international hit list, basically. Next time I scout for an updated version, I'll give you guys copies."

Kiba lightly knocked Shino's shoulder with the back of his hand. "Sakura's got this wicked memory thing goin' on too. Give her anything and she won't forget."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Photographic memory?"

"I guess. Never really looked into it, but if it helps, it helps," she shrugged. Kiba sniffed and scratched the back of his head.

"So about this Orochimaru guy; is he worse than Uchiha Itachi?"

"Orochimaru. Male. 5'6". Missing-nin. Crimes: High Treason, Illegal Experimentation, Kidnapping, Murder, Espionage, Theft. Former Affiliation: Konohagakure. Current Affiliation: Unknown. Rank: S. Specialties: Chakra Absorption, Genjutsu, Intelligence, Ninjutsu. Bounty: 200 million ryo."

"Illegal experimentation?" Kiba repeated.

"He's not... great," Sakura mentioned slowly. She remembered him clearly from her time in the Akatsuki, and even if her father kept her far from him as much as possible, his first impression set the precedent of how much she decided she'd never associate with a psychopath like him. "But he used to be one of the Hokage's students."

A settling silence washed over them as they finally started eating their takeout. Uchiha Itachi and Orochimaru were now committed to mind, but that wasn't what they gathered for. Sakura took a sip of her water. "I was talking to Naruto yesterday when something occurred to me: talking about the Kyuubi is outlawed and Naruto's surname had been changed from his father's to his mother's to try and cover up their relation. Consideration had been put into this and it made me think, why would the Hokage go through such lengths to keep it a secret? Does that mean there are other questionable things he's done where he made an active decision to not act in the public's best interest?"

"The government hides things from us all the time," said Shino.

Kiba's face scrunched up. "But if he's working outside that stuff, doesn't that make it illegal? Even Kages can't be excluded from that."

Gradually, Shino's face dropped into acceptance as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Sakura, what do you have on Hokage-sama so far?"

"Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped down as Hokage despite his village's protest the first time he's given the title. It's right after he signs a treaty with Iwagakure to end the war and no one but one person on his council opposed it, according to Hiruzen Sarutobi: Twice a Hokage. There are three people in the council and the opposition was clearly outnumbered, but why would he decide to listen to that one person? Why was that important?" She'd read six different texts cover to cover prior and was less than content to find them lacking in detail. "I couldn't find anything else on the subject so I started focusing on his earlier biography. He displayed prodigious talent from the beginning that earned him training from the First Hokage. I looked up five of his early teammates and they included: Uchiha Kagami, Akimichi Torifu, Utatane Koharu, Homura Mitokado, and Shimura Danzo."

It didn't escape Shino's noticed that she referred to their leader as 'The Hokage' instead of 'Hokage-sama'.

"All information on the Uchiha has been redacted, Akimichi became a powerful shinobi renowned for his physical strength and lives as counsel for his clan, and Utatane, Mitokado, and Shimura make up the Hokage's council. Moving on from the Hokage, I came across ample information about Orochimaru. In Sannin from War, it details the Second Shinobi World War where he, Jiraiya the Toad Sage, and Tsunade the Slug Princess, were given the moniker after impressing Hanzo, the leader of Amegakure at the time," she explained. Amegakure history came like second nature with how much time her father invested in her childhood education.

Once, she asked why he was so persistent. He replied that no one cared enough when he was her age, so he wanted to make sure the same thing never happened to her.

"In Rogues LXI: Orochimaru and A Coming of Age Story, Orochimaru and His Downfall, he was described as a sort of twisted genius who experimented on humans and even had a mass kidnapping over an estimated sixty children and a handful of his fellow Konoha shinobi. These kidnappings happened immediately after Namikaze Minato becomes Hokage. Was there correlation? Causation? It looked like those two events occurring within spitting distance of each other might have some background to it, especially since Orochimaru's endgame was immortality."

Kiba scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Immortality. Who wants to live forever anyways? It's a kinda stupid reason to become a missing-nin if you ask me."

"The Akimichi is another noble clan," Shino said, tapping the bottom of his lip. "I can speak to Chouji to see if Torifu-san is available to interview for a 'project' I've been given, and I'll be able to receive a first hand account of who Hokage-sama's teammates were."

"I'll try to talk to people again to see what they know," said Kiba. "Akamaru and I are gonna poke around to find what we can. But like, what exactly are we looking for? Evidence of... him not doing his job? I know we're also doing this for Naruto because Hokage-sama allowed that shit to happen to him, but the other stuff...?"

"Whatever you can find like inconsistencies, cover-ups, or others of the same like," Sakura answered. "I'll keep up with the research I've been going with now and we'll meet up... Sunday? Since we have two missions tomorrow. And then we'll find out what we've all learned."

Kiba nodded and held up his fist towards the middle of the group and this time, there was no hesitation when two other fists met his.

From inside one of the cabinets, a small shark silently listened in. 'Oh, Pink,' she thought with a sigh. 'You're a Hoshigaki through and through, alright.'

::

"You tellin' the truth?" Kisame questioned, astounded. Everything his summon relayed to him sounded like it was from one of those detective movies all the way from the suspicion of a higher authority to the research she was putting herself through just to find out the truth. The truth about what, he didn't quite know yet, but it's a truth nonetheless. He didn't have a single clue who she was putting her life on the line for, but if he had to hazard a guess, it would be for the betterment of people like those kidnapped kids she mentioned.

"Would I lie to you?" Kasumi's teasing tone seeped away as something more concerning took its place. "Blue, if she gets caught, she'll be tried for treason. Her and her team."

"Yeah, I'm surprised Pup's got enough charisma to get those other kids to listen to her."

"There's no charisma. Sitting around that table, they're equals. You should be more surprised that she found others that accepted her for who she is and stuck around knowing what she can do."

"I am surprised. And I'm glad," he admitted. "She never had friends her age in Ame and if I could thank those two myself, I would. She's not alone."

Kasumi watched her summoner's face as his eyebrows bunched together in deep thought. "Are you going to try to stop Pink from pursuing this path, knowing there's a chance that she'll be caught and killed?"

He frowned. "No."

"No?"

"It's important to her, isn't it?" he said. At her incredulous stare, he sighed. "You've known me for a long time, Kasumi-san, and you know I left Kiri after I found out information was being leaked out of the village by that Fuguki bastard. I left a traitor when it should've been him instead. If I woulda known someone like Pup was working their ass off for strangers to put guys like Fuguki to justice just 'cause it was the right thing, I woulda been thankful. Hell, I woulda cheered them on. How many other shinobi have a moral compass strong enough to do what they're doing? I definitely don't. And I raised her for seven years."

The sun burned bright, and Kisame exhaled through his nose and visibly sagged. "They're doing a lotta people a world of good down there. Pup's got a smart head on her shoulders, so who am I to stop her? She thinks she's right. I think she's right. I'm sure you do too somewhere. So I'll just hang back and make sure she's okay and help her in any way I can."

Kasumi searched the profile of his face—the profile of a soldier born in blood and raised to kill. "You're a good man, Blue."

He laughed wetly and pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes. "Pup told me that once when she was still learning how to talk," he said. He sniffed once and hoisted himself to his feet. "But good men don't do what I do."

Kisame disappeared from his spot in the shadow of a ventilation box atop a building, leaving her to stare sadly at the spot where he once was. "And bad men don't do what you do, either. So what does that make you?"

::

Danzo smiled, dark and uncomfortable. It never occurred to him that someone would be so curious over a buried hatchet and he wondered—truly—what would three rookie genin figure out on a subject that seemed like it was chosen after being written down as a joke and drawn from a hat at random?

Something like this had never happened before. So, he made a decision he'd never done before.

He waved off his operatives, told them to ignore those genin, sat back, and watched.

::

After undergoing two missions and sitting at her plastic table surrounded by tea and books, Sakura realized that Orochimaru had been caught red-handed just before he defected from Konoha. Nothing was detailed about who caught him or how he got away and she felt as though that particular element was key to a narrative like Orochimaru's. Who let him get away?

Perhaps... they were never mentioned to preserve their identity? No, it still should've been mentioned due to the document-like nature of the texts she was reading. Whoever let him get away couldn't really be blamed anyway considering how he had so much power that his notoriety had immediately been built the minute he decided he no longer wanted to serve the village.

"Unless it was someone high-profile..." she murmured. A shiver ran up her spine and she whipped around her seat towards the kitchen window, kunai in hand and braced in front of her in defense. There was nothing but the color of a sun-dusted day.

Sakura stared at the window for a few seconds longer until changing her seat into one where her back was to the fridge with one side of her facing that window and the other facing the hallway.

No matter what she did, the feeling of being watched didn't go away.

::

"O-Oh, you want to ask Grand-Uncle Torifu about the First War? Sure, he really likes talking about it!" Chouji exclaimed as he shoved some potato chips into his mouth. "Uh, what did you say it was for?"

"I was given a project to learn about the wars that shaped this village. Why? To understand our order of living better," Shino lied smoothly. He'd always been a decent liar especially with those the same age as him, and he knew just by looking at his old classmate's eyes that there was zero suspicion whatsoever. "I asked if there was anyone that starred prominently in the war that still lived to this day and Torifu-san had been suggested. I've heard of his achievement."

"I don't think he's doing anything today—are you okay with seeing him now?" Chouji asked. Shino nodded and allowed himself to be led through the Akimichi Compound. It was a place he'd been to dozens of times for meetings he and Chouji had been forced to sit through due to their status as main house heirs and this particular one always seemed to have a different feel than the other nobles. While the Aburame Compound—painted in all sorts of gray—felt chilling but never quite empty, the Akimichi managed to emit a homey essence and always smelled of the day's meals. 

He was brought to one of the larger houses on the land and lead into the sitting room where someone sat with a tray of tea at his side.

Akimichi Torifu was a large, portly man akin to the rest of his clan with bright red cheeks, wild white hair, and heavy body armor plating the entirety of his torso. There was a particularly jolly sense to him and a world of experience behind his smiling eyes, leading Shino to be acutely aware of the insects shifting around in his body.

"Chouji!" Torifu boomed. "You brought a friend, have you?!"

The room shook with every syllable and it rattled Shino's brain within the confines of his skull.

What did he get himself into?

"This is Aburame Shino and he wants to know about the First War for a project," Chouji introduced. Torifu's stare immediately blazed in excitement, prompting Shino to resist the urge to take a couple steps backwards.

"Wonderful!" he shouted. "Sit, sit! I have many stories to tell!"

The only non-Akimichi member currently in the compound inwardly cringed. He already wanted to leave.

::

Kiba threw another magazine over his shoulder and into the 'trash' pile, a pout clear on his lips and disgruntlement settling nicely in his bones. When he came back from his mission his mom had just been in the process of stepping out of the house for hers; she firmly instructed him to clean out the small closet in the house filled to the brim with magazines from gossip columns to weapon orders before he could do anything else for the rest of the day. If he didn't, she'd know. And he wasn't about to question her scary psychic mom powers.

But he was supposed to be out doing research. Not this.

Akamaru dragged a few magazines into the pile as his partner dug farther into the mess. He emerged with a periodical that must've been at least twelve years old if the cover meant anything. On it was a smiling Namikaze Minato in his Hokage garb partially covered with the header: Exclusive Interview with Our New Hokage!

Kiba sat back and flipped through with interest until he landed on the start of the interview. He scanned through the fluff and boring questions until he reached the last section.

Interviewer: So did you expect to become Hokage, or did it come to a complete surprise?

Minato-sama: Well, the thing about choosing a new Kage is that you need to have trained them for the position months in advance, maybe even years. For me I prepared, uh, four, maybe five months? [laughs slightly]

Interviewer: [in surprise] That seems like a short amount of time.

Minato-sama: To be honest, I don't think I was a prime candidate. I was one of them, but I wasn't the first, or at  least I don't think I was. I always though Sarutobi-sama would pick one of his old students—I'm kind of surprised he didn't.

He blinked and shared a look with Akamaru. "So... he's saying he wasn't supposed to be Hokage?"

Akamaru whined and quickly set aside the magazine to dive back into the other piles. "Right! I'll clean this all out and we'll go out there to get more research!"

::

Torifu had yet to stop talking.

Shino spared a subtle look at the clock and wilted, realizing he'd been in his seat for over an hour now. Snacks he couldn't imagine finishing covered space in front of him and beside him, Chouji leaned forward with stars in his eyes as his Grand-Uncle regaled stories of loss, battle, and triumph.

"Back in my youth, Hiruzen-sama definitely was something else. He's still something else to this day! But in the time of war he and Danzo had always been at each other, Danzo more than Hiruzen-sama. They were close friends, so we never understood that whole one-sided rivalry," Torifu sighed, shaking his head. "But I suppose his hard-headedness got him somewhere in the end. They always said Hiruzen-sama was too soft, and I guess he really did need Danzo to balance him out. The battles we all engaged in though were truly those of the highest honor! We all—"

Shino had already stopped listening and tried to make sense of what he just heard. Shimura Danzo had already been on their Person-of-Interest, but he was making bigger waves in the equation than what they first assumed. 

Yesterday, Sakura said that Hokage-sama first stepped down due to one person in the council disagreeing with his choice in the war.

If Danzo was the person that 'balanced' him out, did that mean he was also the cause of the Third's removal from office in the first place?

::

Kiba stood in front of the Will of Fire statue where all the Kage would eventually be buried, the flame painted a bright red and looming stories above him. Everyone he asked about the Hokage always mentioned that he was a firm believer in that philosophy, that Will of Fire.

He first learned about it from his mother and she always explained to to him like this: Konoha was one big family and the Hokage always stood to be responsible for them like a father or a mother to their children. Their children were made up of civilians and shinobi and in times of need, every shinobi would love, believe, cherish, and fight for their family just as the generations before them had done.

Kiba wondered if he had the Will of Fire in him as well. Then he wondered if he even wanted it.

Could he fight for the people who treated Naruto like he wasn't a person? Could he fight for someone who allowed something like that to happen in the first place and could be guilty of the long string of lies that worked against his people—his family?

And, if they found out the truth, could he still fight for those who didn't deserve to be fought for?

::

Sakura read through the daily newspaper, muttering quietly to herself. Delicate, thoughtful, pacifist. Always butting heads with the council. Too soft. Too empathetic. "Not the qualities of a strong leader. I'd butt heads with him too if I were them."

She folded the paper and set it down on a side table before turning towards the shelves behind her. She'd been plucking through public files in the basement in Konoha's Main Library for some time just trying to look for anything significant to add to her research. There were many small folders on every genin team older than twenty years where she could only figure were there for novelty if anyone was interested enough to poke through. 

And there was where she found the file on Team Hiruzen with a small blurb of each student written by the Third Hokage himself.

But the one about Orochimaru caught her attention.

He's a genius with talent, knowledge, and determination—a prodigy found once in a generation.

I can't wait to see him grow into a proud shinobi.

She committed the note to memory and returned the file to the shelf before gathering her things and heading back. There was a simple plan she was going to follow to pace her research: read the new books, add to the timeline, find more pieces to the puzzle.

Though as she entered her apartment and walked straight into her room, she paused as she spotted a stack of old papers bound in numerous rubber bands sitting on her desk.

Sakura tensed and backed away. She did a quick scan of the rest of the apartment and found that no one was there, none of her traps had been tripped, and anyone who had been in was now long gone having left her a... present. She didn't sense anything wrong with the object initially and after a few more tests, she deemed them safe and held them in her hands like they were as fragile as a thin sheet of glass.

It was correspondence between two people dubbed "Fortitude" and "Absolute Truth".

Years and years of letters on yellowed paper were spread out for her to see. They were of truths, of lies, of all things terrible.

"...signing on the creation of ROOT..."

"...ignoring kidnappings..."

"...allowing abductions..."

"...looking away..."

Those were things "Absolute Truth" had done.

"...working with questionable foreign ops..."

"...abducting children..."

"...dealing with what you don't want to..."

"...actions against Konoha personnel..."

Those were things "Absolute Truth" allowed "Fortitude" to do.

A thump resounded behind her. Sakura knew it was Naruto and she knew he probably tripped over his mess like he'd done a million times before, but in that moment her subconscious took over and she whipped around, launching shuriken at the source and embedding three of them in her wall.

Her heart beat in her ears.

Someone had come in. Someone knew what they were getting into. Someone had locked them in their investigation and they had no choice but to keep moving forward.

That night, Sakura sat in a corner of her room with a kunai in her grip and paranoia in her eyes.

She doesn't sleep.

Far from her and coveted in the darkness he'd been allowed to wallow in, Danzo received a slip of a note with two words that almost made him grin.

Package delivered.

::

"I can only deduce that 'Absolute Truth' is the Hokage. No one else has a comparable power other than him," Sakura said quietly. Morning light spilled through the window of her bedroom and illuminated the darkening bags beneath her eyes as she watched Kiba and Shino look through the missives with horror and revulsion. "He's been turning a blind eye to whatever ROOT is, organization or otherwise. He... There have been a steady stream of children disappearing with no investigations launched because the Hokage has been ignoring it for decades. It's completely separate from the Orochimaru predicament."

Shino's skin had gained an unhealthy pallor.

Kiba howled in anger and shot up to his feet. He paced from wall to wall for some moments before a guttural shout ripped his throat and he stormed down the hall to try and cool himself off only to stop dead in his tracks. "Uh, guys? You-You gotta get over here."

It was a mere few seconds until Shino and Sakura were at either side of his shoulders. He pointed to table where they stilled and stared, Shino with the missives tight in his hands.

There were two files laid out that certainly hadn't been there before. The first was a prompt to investigate missing children after the ascension of the Fourth Hokage, mostly redacted but kept with stacks of profiles of each child gone. The second was an account of Orochimaru's escape stamped with Kage Level Clearance.

For a long while, there was nothing but the sound of unsteady breaths.

"What happens if we stop now and get caught?" Shino asked.

"We get prosecuted for treason," Sakura replied.

"... And if we keep going and get caught?"

"We get prosecuted for treason."

Another heavy silence tided the room. This was completely different information and they knew now that if they took a closer look at those files, it wouldn't be only the Hokage's truth they would have to discover. It would also be Orochimaru's and why he turned out the way he did and ROOT with whatever they'd done and what they would do.

Shino took the file on the kidnapped children, swallowing down the bile in his throat. It was sick and inhumane, even more so since people purposefully did nothing about it. "When we looked into Uzumaki, we did it because we knew it was wrong and we wanted to find out the truth because it deserved to be more than a secret," he said. "This is different. Why? Because people were kidnapped, they suffered, they died, and no one cared." His grip crinkled the paper. "But someone has to."

He takes a seat at the table, his insects crawling out of the room to coat the kitchen.

Kiba's resolve hardened and he took both the second file and a seat to study it in a quiet so unlike him.

Sakura took her right wrist into her left hand, digging nails into skin as she squeezed to get them to stop shaking. She then flipped on the light pulled up a seat beside Shino to comb through the 60+ profiles and attribute the important information to memory, the insects blacking out the windows and entrances.

Just some distance away, Kisame sat in a tree with a chakra puddle on the trunk and Kasumi's head stuck out next to his.

"You didn't hesitate in taking those files," she mused.

"It's not like theft isn't already on my crimes list," he shrugged. "She needed intel, I got what I thought would be important." He smiled slightly. "I just hope she finds whatever she's lookin' for."

It wasn't until later that Kasumi tells him that the "whatever" turns out to be Orochimaru's abandoned lab.

::

On Monday, they combed the outskirts of the North side of the village. Nothing turned up, they all go home, and Sakura had yet to sleep.

Kisame decided to lay low in a tourist village some hours away from Konoha with a silent promise to check up on his pup in a few days.

::

Tuesday, Shino got his eyes checked and was given prescription lenses. When Sakura saw, she gave him two thumbs up. When Kiba saw, he complained that they looked exactly like his usual glasses.

Nothing showed up in the Northeast.

So at night, after searching, they decided that more research couldn't hurt them with how far they'd gotten now. They all took up a part of Sakura's bed with her on the side near the wall, Shino on the side near the desk, and Kiba with his head pillowed on Sakura's shins and Shino's calves resting on his stomach.

Kiba learned nothing more about their 'project' but set aside a book on seals to take home.

::

They didn't know who fell asleep first, but when Sakura woke up, white fur tickled her nose and she found herself in a heap of two other bodies and more than a shelf-full of books.

At training, Kurenai noticed their matching outfits.

She said it was cute.

"I keep lending them my clothes and they keep forgetting to give them back," Sakura said in reply. "I'm not going to have anymore clothes if they keep this up."

Later, they find nothing in the East.

::

After Thursday's practice, Shino and Kiba agreed to meet Sakura at her apartment after she took a quick trip to the library. When she came back, they stood at her door each with an armful of clothes.

"We apologize for taking your clothes," Shino said.

Kiba grinned. "We have some of ours you can wear!"

She stared and wondered why they couldn't just return hers. Then snorted. And then let them in.

But they still haven't found anything after searching the southeast side.

::

Just before entering the Aquatic Center on Friday, Shino sent his insects off saying it was better to have them out when he's submerged every now and again as to not overwhelm them with the amount of time he had to spend in the water.

Kurenai took the explanation in stride. It made sense, considering how much the Aburame cared for and respected their insects.

Kiba and Sakura knew he'd ordered them to look for any sign of a lab.

Kurenai stood at the edge of the pool and waited for her students to dress down and situate themselves in their assigned lane. When they did, she held the whistle up to her lips. "Two-hundred freestyle!" she announced, watching them with a critical eye.

"One-hundred breast!"

"One-hundred-fifty butterfly!"

"One-hundred back!"

"Six intervals of fifty meter kickboard!"

That warm-up ended with them taking an eight minute break, the three of them holding on the ledge for dear life the whole time as they gulped in air and hacked chlorinated water from their lungs. They groaned when they heard the whistle again.

"Four one-fifty sets butterfly, sixteen second break between each set!"

In the middle of the third set, Shino stopped in the middle of the pool, causing Kiba to crash into him. Sakura managed to avoid the collision and stood to lift her goggles to her forehead. 

"What happened?" she asked.

"Yeah, what the hell?!" Kiba sputtered as he resurfaced. But Shino simply looked at them with his brows raised high and a definitive paling to his skin.

"The snake hid in a hole," he breathed, "is what the dynastinae found."

::

I made a seventeen page outline and an eight page research paper about the Third Hokage and Orochimaru just to make this chapter. All information about what the Third, Danzo, and Orochimaru had done is 100% true according to the wiki with cited sources from the manga and the anime, and I can confirm one thing.

Sarutobi Hiruzen is one shitty Hokage.

::

And here is my new profile picture made by WattPearl !