Three days of searching and nothing in their hands would make anyone mad; Sukuna was no different.
Even after having a deep insight on the matter, he couldn't do anything. If he had proof with him that it was Itachi who attacked Kiyomi and killed Izumi, he might have saved himself from this entire madness.
Technically, he didn't know who did it, but come on, who else had that level of Genjutsu ability. Obito was one, but he's dead, and Itachi was the only other one out there.
Since they weren't a tracking team, they weren't mentally ready to do this boring job either. Under just two days, they started to lose all motivation regarding this mission.
"This is pointless, they are not here. We are wasting our time," Sasuke finally couldn't take it anymore and shouted.
"I know they are not here, however, this is the only place we might get a clue about them, Sasuke," Kakashi sighed, unsure how to continue this mission.
Even his Ninja Dogs had not come up with any particular lead regarding the person who killed Izumi or attacked Kiyomi with the Genjutsu.
'It's almost like the Hokage wasn't expecting us to complete this mission.' Kakashi knew that was quite possible, sending them here only to show others that he cared, especially if his guess was right and once again the relationship of the village with the remaining members of the Uchiha clan had soured.
On the surface, this case looked like a simple hostile attack from a rogue ninja, or an action from a rival village.
But internally, the Uchiha clan had just lost an excellent kunoichi who, after a long time of pressure from both the clan and the village, was promoted to the Jonin position.
No wonder the situation was tense between the village and the Uchiha. Some might even wonder if it was an internal job.
Sukuna, who was playing the guest player, whose only job was to be there, couldn't take it anymore and decided to take matters into his own hands.
The team was stalling until now because they didn't have enough intel to go around. However, he had intel.
"Kakashi-sensei… we'll just be wasting time if we go around asking everyone in a group. Let's split up. That way we'll cover more ground faster," he said.
Kakashi hesitated. Letting Genin roam around alone where possible enemies could be lingering, he was unwilling.
But once he looked into the boy's ruby red eyes with a single ring pattern, he knew Sukuna wasn't going to hear no to this. He could tell since the boy took out his favorite glasses, which he never did. Not until he was getting serious.
"Okay… let's split into two groups. Sakura and Naruto, you're coming with me. Sasuke, you're going with Sukuna." Kakashi's logic was to keep the more troublesome brat with him, so at least Sukuna wouldn't have much to carry.
He completely overlooked the fact how troublesome Sasuke could be when he wished to be.
He'll know in a few years. Sukuna couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Come on now, let's get going…
"Oh, by the way, Kakashi-sensei. Do you happen to have an updated Bingo Book with you?" he asked.
Kakashi blinked, uncertain why the boy suddenly asked for it. "I do. Do you have any need of it?"
"Yes… would you mind if I borrow it for a while. I promise I'll hand it over to you later," Sukuna grinned.
Kakashi contemplated and, after seeing no issue with it, just handed over the book.
"Okay, bye. Let's meet exactly here by evening." Sukuna grabbed the brooding and very annoyed Sasuke by the shoulder and dragged him away. Kakashi had an inexplicable feeling inside seeing them go.
'They wouldn't go looking for some trouble, would they?'
Dragging Sasuke halfway across the street, Sukuna let him go and quickly flipped open his Bingo Book, looking for a particular entry.
"You know something, don't you," Sasuke rolled his shoulder blades, finding them stiff from him just tugging on them… 'this monster…' he couldn't help but curse inside his mind.
"Oh, what gives you that feeling?" Sukuna knocked his brow up, asking with an amused face.
"Tsk, you're so annoying. Just tell me already. If you didn't know something, then you wouldn't bother splitting up," Sasuke said with a smirk, like he had him all figured out.
"Tsk… Uchiha and their above-average IQ…" Sukuna snorted, and upon finally finding the page he was looking for, he turned it toward Sasuke.
Sasuke's blood pressure seemed to rise just by looking at the image in front of him.
"Itachi… why are you showing me this," his voice came out threateningly.
"Why else? Think about it. Why would anyone attack a Uchiha out in the open and even dare to take away eyes from one of them.
You already know what kind of attack put your sister in a coma… it's Genjutsu. If you have any decency to say you're going to kill this man, then you should at least know this much: Itachi was a foremost prodigy in Genjutsu.
Tell me, Sasuke, how many Genjutsu users do you think there would be who can deceive a Sharingan to the level of putting one into a coma by Genjutsu alone." The more Sukuna spoke, the higher Sasuke's blood pressure continued to rise.
In his heart, Sasuke somehow knew this matter was connected to Itachi. However, without any proof, he couldn't just ask to go after that traitor. There was also the fact that it was his hatred for that man speaking.
But upon hearing the more rational analysis from Sukuna, his earlier doubt cleared out.
If Sukuna thought the same, then… Sasuke's own doubt seemed to clear out at this.
"I'm not saying he has to be the one. We don't have any proof. However, if not him, then who is the real question we need to ask, right?
And even before we go around asking that, we have to make sure it wasn't really Itachi.
We have been here for three days, THREE… and found nothing. Look, I'm not a seasoned tracker or anything, but even those would be stumped if they had no lead to go through, let alone us.
Rather than just asking people around whether they found anything strange around here, where ninja used to walk every day, don't you think asking them whether they have seen this man with Itachi's picture in hand would yield more results?" Sukuna shrugged.
And Sasuke…
Sasuke was stunned, wondering why he didn't think of that.
"You should have said that earlier," he growled, but still gave an appreciative nod before hurriedly moving on, this time him dragging the red-haired boy.
And thus started their more active approach toward this case. Sukuna, who wasn't planning to act before, happened to move by the sheer power of boredom alone.
-x-
While Team 7 finally had this breakthrough thanks to Sukuna's presence there, Team 8 happened to find themselves in a rather tense atmosphere.
"I don't know what made you think I'll help you, Raikage, but let me make this clear. I'm not at all interested in helping Kumo of all places," Tsunade said with narrowed eyes, her own chakra bursting out in response to the Raikage's forceful demand.
"And I'm not leaving here before you cure my subordinate. As a Raikage, I will not allow my subordinate to die in front of me just like that," the Raikage was stubborn as usual.
"Then we have a problem here, don't we, Raikage." Tsunade, a bit drunk, wasn't backing off, and neither was the desperate Raikage.
Their chakra was making the ground crack up by assertion alone.
Karin standing beside them gulped, mouth dry and back sweaty from the sheer chakra output in front of her.
She had only felt like this one time, when Sukuna released his cursed energy while fighting her kidnappers. She felt like coming here on this mission was a mistake.
Kiba, Hinata, and Shino weren't far behind.
Finally, not being able to stand the two titans releasing their chakra and potentially bringing down the entire place on their heads, both Kurenai and Shizune tacitly looked at each other. Both friends from old days knew what the other was thinking with just a glance and moved.
Standing in front of both Tsunade and the Raikage, they tried to block their view.
"Please calm down, you two. Perhaps we can come to an agreement here."
"Yes, let's not bring down the pub on our heads. We already have enough debt as it is," Shizune spoke.
Tsunade glared at Shizune and then just snorted. "Tsk…"
The Raikage happened to hear the word debt, and now he might have known what could make Tsunade help him.
"Ha… so you're broke. Never thought the princess of the Senju clan would be drowning in debt one day," the Raikage smirked, making a tick mark appear on Tsunade's forehead.
"If it's only money, then it's easy enough. Tell me how much you wish. Cure my subordinate, and it's yours," the Raikage said like a rich man flaunting his wealth.
You neve do that, especially in front of Tsunade Senju...
xXx
A/N : Ah... poor poor Raikage. He gonna get scam.
But there is few things which wouldn't scam you. Like this fic... and to read more of it, you just have to give me those sexy stones you have.
Come on. I know you have them... throw them over...
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