Behind Innocent Eyes

Homicidal Home

Last Time:

"Oh! Sissy, are you ok? You don't look so good!" Hanabi squealed and snickered as her sister, who was glaring at her, was instantly swarmed by medics and their father ...

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Hiruzen paled as a small red packet of paperwork was slipped under the door and into his office where he was waiting with his grandson. "Oh no."

"What is it, grandpa? Does the civilian council want a new grant or something?" Konohamaru said, trying to brighten up the situation with a joke, but it didn't work. "Grandpa, what's wrong?" He grew more and more concerned as he watched his grandpa open the packet and skim the report.

A few tense moments passed in complete silence before the old hokage glanced up looking very troubled, "The civilians think Naruto was involved with the tainted patients who escaped and attacked a pair of women before Kurama intervened ... they want blood. The guard who is keeping an eye on Kakashi managed to overhear a secret meeting to ..."

"To what? ... grandpa, please, tell me." Konohamaru pleaded, feeling panic seep into his blood.

The old hokage sighed, "The civilians are going to try and murder Nar-"

"They're insane!" Konohamaru exclaimed in horror. "Naruto hasn't even been in the village for about a week! Why blame him? It makes no sense!"

"It never did." Hiruzen said with only sadness and disappointment for his village. "The only other information is that Kakashi mentioned a bet, but this is more important than investigating Team 8 and Kakashi's plot. I have to find a good mission to keep him out of the village until the madness calms down." He quickly went over to a large stack of papers that were apparently all missions waiting to be picked.

Konohamaru's eyes narrowed in determination, "Let me help. We need something far away, right?" As much as he wanted to see Naruto again he wanted to keep his crush alive.

"It can't be too long. Something that'll only take less than a couple months. Any longer and Naruto will miss the Chunin Exams." Hiruzen said and a slight tremor reminded him he wasn't the only one struggling to pin down a solution right now, but he knew he had it easier than Danzo's team ...

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"Fu, hurry up!" Danzo ordered as he and his ROOT ninjas managed to throw the demonized human off balance with several exploding tags under its feet. With the earth crumbling under its feet and Kurama knocking the creature deeper in the trap was set.

Fu made a hand sign and fell to the ground in a limp heap. A split second later the demon seemed to relax and it remained calm long enough for several earth jutsus to be used to entomb him. The second before the tomb was sealed and reinforced with chakra, Fu seemed to regain consciousness and went over to Danzo. Unlike most of the time though words weren't used. There was something about the subtle hand signals that piqued Kurama's curiosity. Not what they might mean per say, but why they were used at all.

"Something wrong?" Kurama asked the ROOT leader.

Danzo dismissed his men with a silent signal and they left with the demonized human in tow, "It's nothing I wasn't expecting for a while now ... we need to get back to watching the civilians especially after today."

"Yes." Kurama said knowing that the two civilians who were attacked could be starting something right now and it could lead to trouble for Naruto. "I'll go see Hiruzen and see if there has been any news yet. Do you need me to help restrain them before I go?" He asked, of course, talking about the three demonized humans.

"No, We won't need to worry about them now." Danzo said simply before leaping through the trees after his men.

Something about those words made the demon's stomach sink, but he pushed the foreboding feeling away to focus on Naruto. "I wonder if Hiruzen will try to extend the mission Naruto is already on." He pondered as he swiftly raced to the hokage tower.