Purpose and Expectation

Chapter 2: Suspicions

As Hinata drove back to her apartment, she couldn't shake the feeling that something else was off. She turned aimlessly down streets before remembering that Ino had said something about visiting Sakura's old place to pick up a few things. Hinata started to turn in the direction of Sakura's old house when the smell of smoke hit her nostrils, likely coming through the car's vents. She could see some of the roads were blocked off, and... was that emergency services? She counted the houses, and it was clearly from in front of Sakura's old house, though most of the blaze appeared to have been put out. If Sakura's old house was like that, then... was it possible Ino had been injured in the blast?

Putting her car back into drive, Hinata drove to the one other place she was sure would have answers: Detective Uchiha's house. She took side streets until she was around the corner from the home, parking her car and getting out. She pulled her hood up over her head and took a casual stance, walking carefully along the street and keeping her eyes peeled. There were cars outside Detective Uchiha's house as well, but these were different. These were large black SUVs with very well-dressed people in front of them and a large armoured vehicle with several men and women in riot gear standing outside it.

Wait, riot gear? That usually meant a more extensive investigation, which meant... no, no way. Had Detective Uchiha and Dr. Haruno been attacked in some way? Oh, no, that wasn't good, especially after all that Dr. Haruno had been through already. Hinata felt her heart sink at the thought. Dr. Haruno was one of the nicest people she'd ever met, always appearing with a smile and eager to have one of Hinata's cinnamon buns.

She was peeking around the corner when a set of hands grabbed her from behind, one covering her mouth as someone dragged her in the bush. Her cries were muffled by whatever gloves they were wearing, leaving Hinata at their mercy.

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Naruto had taken his leave from the hospital and made his way to the precinct, picking up a few things before he headed to Chief Hatake's house. He hated to have to wake up the chief at this hour, but this was important. If Sai said he was trustworthy, then it would be good. Parking around the corner, he walked toward the house and knocked on the door loudly, making sure to check and double-check his surroundings as he waited. The door cracked open, and a mess of silver hair could be seen, dark eyes peering through the crack.

"Uzumaki?" Kakashi asked, his voice full of surprise as he opened the door fully for the blonde. "Come on in. What is it?" Naruto could tell by Kakashi's tone and demeanour that he knew whatever was happening was severe; Naruto wouldn't dare show up at this hour if it wasn't.

"Akatsuki," he said, coming in the door and closing it behind them. "We have a major problem with the case right now. Someone just blew Sakura's old house to smithereens, and ROOT's shown up and is putting the blame on Sasuke," Naruto explained. He was deeply frustrated by this entire scenario, wishing that it had been easier to handle and wishing that ROOT hadn't been moving so quickly. They were barely staying ahead of the situation, and having to handle all of this under the table felt so wrong to Naruto.

"Uchiha? No, he'd never," Kakashi said, shaking his head. "Especially in that kind of manner. He's been looking after Dr. Haruno since she was attacked." Considering the outburst Sasuke had at the office regarding Itachi, he could only surmise it was related to that. "I'm guessing that Sai's already determined something is fishy about this, am I correct?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, he has. "Don't worry. There's a contingency plan in place already, and Uchiha's safe and gone as far as I know. He's on the run." Kakashi's face looked sad hearing that. Sasuke was one of their best detectives, with some of the best case closure rates in the precinct. Naruto was a close second to him, though his case rates tended to be lower because of the nature of work he covered. Even Naruto would agree that no one could solve a homicide as Sasuke could, and his numbers had only climbed with Sakura as their new medical examiner.