The next day.
Devan woke up peacefully on a soft bed; to be honest, he had bought one of the best mattresses last night to finally sleep well for the first time in a long while.
"Hehehehe" A natural smile formed on his face, he let out a light chuckle as he felt as if he had been reborn after sleeping ten hours.
"Well, the curse spell doesn't increase the Fractured Mind counter, it's really a pity..." he closed his eyes, ready to sleep for another half hour, however, he noticed something different about the Fractured Mind Counter.
Normally, the Fractured Mind Counter was just some numbers and a few words above it, but this time there was a slightly glowing border surrounding it, the border had a red color, and not only that, the Fractured Mind Counter had now increased, reflecting the astonishing number of 988.
"988!!!" Devan smiled brightly, quickly stood up ready to celebrate, however, he stopped halfway, "Why did it go up so much? Last night when I used Curse on five people nothing happened..." he narrowed his eyes with suspicion.
"Is the Counter broken or something? Well..." he brought a hand to his chin, it's not like he knew exactly how the Fractured Mind Counter worked, he simply had some vague assumptions.
Devan let out a sigh and simply left the small apartment to go to Naruto's.
He would have to wake the boy up, feed him something, and take him to train; after all, he would soon be entering the Ninja Academy. Devan was about to knock on Naruto's door when he saw a small newspaper on the floor.
"Oh, that's right, the daily newspaper is courtesy of the house..." he smiled, also noticing that under his door there was a newspaper too, only his had been blown away because he opened his door too abruptly.
He quickly went to the newspaper that should have been his and picked it up to take a quick look.
"Lord Hokage announces that registrations for the Ninja Academy may begin next month, the trends of Konoha's villagers reflect..." Devan continued reading news after news of no importance until he reached an Official Death Notice.
He focused a little more on the article that had no illustration and was framed in a darker tone in the newspaper.
"Official Death Notice: Miss Kurenai Yui, who in life was a companion, neighbor, and a reconnaissance ninja, as well as a ninjutsu strategist, was found lifeless in her apartment at six in the morning today, a possible murder is suspected, although evidence is insufficient, it is still... under investigation."
Devan stayed there without saying a single word for a moment, stunned and to a certain point completely astonished by the news, "Kurenai..." he moved his lips and the next moment quickly turned pages but didn't find any other news related to the woman's death.
"Why?!!" he couldn't help but ask himself, "This makes no sense, there hasn't been a murder in Konoha for a year, and Kurenai is not weak, no one couldn't have killed her so easily, I..." he paused, narrowing his eyes and remembering the last time he saw Kurenai.
He frowned while breathing more slowly, "What does this mean?" he asked himself while his attention once again turned to the Fractured Mind Counter in his mind, "Do you have something to do with this?... hmph, I don't think so, you're only in my mind, you don't talk, I don't know what you are, surely just an illusion," he shook his head.
He let out a light sigh before calming down and thinking about the situation for a few moments.
However, the more he thought about it, it seemed that he almost always arrived at the same result, Kurenai Yui was dead, and the Fractured Mind Counter suddenly rose to 899, "Yesterday it went up a lot when I refused to spend time with her, and now this... coincidence? No, impossible," he nodded to himself.
A small smile formed on his face as he looked at the ceiling, "Fractured Mind seems to imply something about a broken mind, maybe that's it, Does the Counter want me to mentally torture other people?" he thought, but he didn't get an answer.
"This shit should have an introduction or something, it can't just leave me guessing about everything, right?" Devan thought, put the newspaper in one of his pockets, he was about to knock on Naruto's door when a ninja with a mask entered through a hallway window.
"Devan!!! Lord Hokage wants to see you," the Anbu ninja said, making a sign with his head for him to follow, however, Devan was displeased, What does the old man want now?
"I was ordered to..."
"Now!!!"
The Anbu cut off Devan's words halfway, his voice full of rectitude and even some anger.
The necromancer let out a light snort, almost instinctively cast a Curse spell on the Anbu, but held back, nodded his head and with that, followed the ninja to the Hokage's tower.
In the Hokage's office:
"Hiruzen!!!" Danzo, a man who had protected the Leaf Village with his life, raised his voice. "Devan is strange, he should be dead, but he survived, the mercenary never makes a mistake, and now this," Danzo took a step forward.
"Kurenai spoke with Devan that afternoon, I know this from my Root ninjas, he said something to her that destabilized her, and at the end of the day her behavior was erratic, it's impossible for that to be normal, we need to know what this guy is hiding," Danzo insisted, truly curious and eager to have the necromancer in his hands.
After all, Danzo had heard the Root report, Devan rejected Kurenai sentimentally, that wouldn't have been strange if not for the woman's reaction.
The shrewd old man knew Kurenai Yui's profile well, that ninja expert in illusions would never reach the point where her mind destabilized because of a man, she was too mentally strong, but Devan did it.
According to the reports of a Root Captain, Kurenai Yui was found this morning at six o'clock in her room.
She hadn't been murdered, instead, her body was found hanging, her neck wrapped in a rope that hung from a beam in the ceiling, hanged, there were no signs of struggle on her body, not even signs of resistance.
Then, a conclusion was quickly reached, Suicide, but, Why?
"A ninja like Kurenai would never simply commit suicide over a romantic disappointment, that is a woman of Konoha, a..." before Danzo could finish speaking, Kakashi, who was also in the office, interrupted him by taking a firm step forward.
"With all due respect, Lord Danzo, you know nothing about Kurenai, you can't speak of her as if you knew her, and even less now that she is no longer alive," Kakashi's single visible eye narrowed, still with his hands in his pockets he looked into Danzo's eyes and the latter returned the gaze.
The shrewd old man clenched his teeth with rage, "Insolent!!!" he shouted, also taking another strong step forward, "A ninja who does not respect his superiors is unworthy of the village!!" he let out with fury, about to attack Kakashi.
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