Ripples

Chapter 24

                          Conspiracy

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Sasuke strode into the Hokage's office, Sai and Kakashi a few steps behind him. Tsunade was scanning a piece of paper, looking grim, while Naruto was sitting sullenly in a chair, his shoulders hunched, his whole body tense. Yamato was leaning against a wall, his arms crossed defensively, his eyes narrowed.

Kakashi shut the door behind them with a snap. "I've brought him – what do we know so far?"

"That Danzo issued a warrant for Sakura's arrest on suspicion of conspiracy against the council," Tsunade began, ignoring the way Sasuke's lip curled at the information, like a vicious dog preparing to attack. "That warrant was carried out, probably by Root members, and Sakura was taken to the interrogation building."

At least, that's where the scent trail had ended. Interrogation could only be entered via a permit, and neither Kiba nor Naruto possessed one. The Inuzuka – before Tsunade had ordered him to leave and tell the others (she wasn't trusting this to a message) – had jokingly demanded extra pay for managing to hold Naruto back from storming the building.

"The guard on the cells when she was arrested lied about the arrest, and he's a suspected Root member. We have no hard evidence, but we're certain this is a set-up," the Hokage continued. "Danzo signed this warrant – he claims that he's received intelligence that indicates Sakura was conspiring against the council with you, Sasuke."

"Which says set-up," Kakashi said. "If he received information that she's conspiring with you, why didn't he have you charged as well?"

"But he's already on trial, isn't he?" Naruto asked.

"He is," Kakashi agreed. "On the charge of deserting the village. He can still be charged with conspiracy against Konoha, but it hasn't been done. He hasn't even been dragged to interrogation on suspicion of it."

"Therefore, it's Sakura they want," Tsunade said tersely.

She let that soak in for a moment, before she went on, her tone much more pensive, voicing conclusions that were still half-forming in her mind. "The guard lied. That was unnecessary – if they wanted Sakura arrested, there was no need to hide it. In fact, hiding it makes it seem underhanded, sordid...suspicious. So the guard would only have been instructed to lie if-"

"If they had no intention of letting news of the arrest get out." Yamato completed her sentence, his voice low and deadly, his mind connecting the dots. "They don't want Sakura arrested – they want her dead. If we hadn't found out about the arrest, they'd have interrogated her, killed her, probably incinerated the body and dumped the ashes in the river. They might have been planning to put out a story about her turning missing-nin or something. The arrest was a contingency plan – a way of legitimizing it if it was discovered."

"But...why would they interrogate her in the first place?" Naruto asked, his voice subdued. "I mean, if they're planning to...to..." he swallowed hard, then went on, "...to kill her, then they must know that the stuff about conspiring against Konoha is fake, right?"

"One would think so," Tsunade sighed. "Perhaps they believe she may have useful information on the Akatsuki that they want to extract from her before..."

She faltered. She and the others had been trying to look at this objectively, to think of this as just another mission, another problem to solve...