A Lethal Weapon - ALW Saga Book 1 [REWRITE]

Chapter 28

Shisui hurried that morning to the spot he trained with Hanako. He had overslept last night and had almost forgotten he was supposed to train with her. He had expected Hanako to be angry with him when he arrived, but he found himself alone when he reached the clearing. Hanako was nowhere to be seen.

That was strange, he thought. Hanako was normally eager to train and got there early. Why wasn't she there today? Had she overslept as well?

Shisui hurried again, this time heading in the direction of Hanako's house. There, he knocked on the door. Hikari opened it, surprised to see him. "Shisui?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

He was panting, trying hard to catch his breath. "Is Hanako here?"

"I haven't heard her come out of her room, she's probably still asleep. Why—?" Shisui walked inside, past her, numbly taking off his sandals. He rushed up the stairs and threw the door of Hanako's room open. Her bed was done, but creased —as if someone had lied on top of it. Beyond that, the room was empty. Shisui growled inside his mind and left the room, descending the stairs just as fast as he had gone up. "Shisui!" Hikari called at him as he went to the entrance door to put on his sandals. "What's going on?"

"Hanako went missing," he said in a hushed voice. "She's not in the clearing we meet to train, and she's not up in her room sleeping." He looked at Hikari with a worried face. "I don't know where she is."

Hikari sighed, rolling her eyes. Hanako was doing it again. "That girl..." Hikari walked back to the kitchen, Shisui looked at her with confusion. "Let her be," she said. "She does this all the time. Hanako only thinks about herself, she'll come back...eventually."

"But—"

"Let her," Hikari looked at him with stern eyes.  "If you want to look for her, go. I won't stop you." She sighed. "But you won't find her."

Shisui pressed his lips into a thin line. He wanted to look for her, but the way Hikari glared at him made him stop. "You know her better than I do," he said. "When will she be back?"

Hikari shrugged. "Probably the day of the final rounds."

* * *

Isao found himself entertained in a game of cards. He had stayed in the hotel room Konoha had provided for them during the Chuunin Exam. His sensei had left almost half an hour ago to meet other shinobi at the border, to pick up some information the Tsuchikage had sent them. There was only one day left before the final rounds of the exam, and they needed that information, so they could carry their attack on the Leaf Village. Tomoya had been taken back to Iwagakure right after the preliminaries, so he was rather alone in the room, with only some poker cards to keep him company.

Minutes later, the main door opened and closed. "Isao," his teacher called to him. Isao looked at him from over his shoulder, he didn't stand up from his chair as the man approached him with a serious face.

"Do you have what we need?" Isao asked.

"Yes," his sensei nodded. "The Tsuchikage will come tomorrow to watch your fight. Right now he's on his way here." He placed a scroll over the table, in front of Isao.

"What's that?" asked the Genin, his eyes glued to the object.

"Information about Konoha, the Hokage and the elders," said his teacher. There was a malicious grin on his face as he spoke. "And something that might also motivate you for tomorrow's fight." Isao raised both his brows, looking up at his teacher. "I also came to find something interesting about certain Uchiha."

Isao returned to the cards in his hand. "The only thing I need to know about her is her name, her chakra nature and her abilities regarding her Sharingan," he said in a firm tone.

"Are you sure about that?" His sensei pushed. "We found something that might be of interest to you." Isao rolled his eyes as his cards were sprawled on the table in front of him.

"What is it?" He gazed up at his teacher with inquiring eyes.

"According to what Shun left us after his death, Hanako was the one who started the fire that burned down that town and killed your father."

Isao stared at him for a moment, then his lips curled back, and he hunched, erupting into laughter. His sensei observed him silently with a straight face. After a moment, Isao realized he was laughing alone and forced himself to stop. "That's not true," he draw a breath. "She's just a brat. A Jounin started that fire, I'm sure of it."

"Not according to what Shun said—"

"Sometimes the information obtained is false." Isao raised his voice at his teacher. He stood up, carelessly pushing his chair back and dropping it. "I'm not going to discuss what she did or didn't. Tomorrow, I will fight her and I'll make her regret her choice of becoming a shinobi." Isao walked to the door in long strides and went out, slamming it shut behind him.

* * *

That morning Itachi had gone to the Hokage and knocked on his office's door. When he heard the permission being given to him, he walked inside and stopped when he stood right in front of his desk. "What happened, Itachi?" asked the Third, smoking from his pipe, as he looked up at him. Itachi had a serious look on his face.

He had been running through the words in his mind over and over again, but when the time came, and he was standing right in front of the Hokage he couldn't manage himself to speak. "We need to talk," he blurted. The Hokage nodded at him, urging him to continue. Itachi took a deep breath, "It's about Hanako and Iwagakure. I know everything about her mission."

The Hokage pulled the pipe away from his mouth, exhaling smoke as surprise filled him. "I see..."

"Strange things have been occurring in these exams, and I think we've all noticed," Itachi continued. "Besides, Hanako asked me no to tell anyone this, but I think you should know, Lord Hokage..."

"What is it?"

"What really happened in the Forest of Death, and in the preliminaries..." Itachi was serious, which only made the surrounding atmosphere tenser.

"I think I have an idea of what's going on, and I know what you're thinking Itachi, but it's impossible to change the encounters the day before the last round begins," stated the Hokage.

"But—" The Hokage shut Itachi up with an upturn of his hand.

"I said it's impossible." Hiruzen put down his hand. "The matches are selected randomly, not set up." Itachi pressed his lips tightly against one another.

"Can't there be an exception?" He looked at the Hokage with hope filled eyes, but the elder only shook his head.

"No, I'm sorry Itachi." The boy sighed in resignation, before turning away from him.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you, Lord Third."

"Itachi," the Hokage called. Itachi stopped right in front of the door, and looked at the elder from over his shoulder. "Believe in Hanako. I'm sure she will do just fine, after all, she never ceases to amaze us." Itachi smiled lightly.

"Hai..."

After Itachi left, Hiruzen lay back down in his chair and let out a long sigh. "These kids..." he muttered to himself. "One day they'll take me to the grave." He stood and walked out of his office to take a walk.

A silhouette then emerged from the office's floor and neared the desk, looking for some documents.

"I can't believe he didn't notice us." Zetsu chuckled.

"Shut up." A darker figure emerged beside him. "We were just lucky," he replied as he also started to search among all the paperwork. "Oh, here it is." He chuckled when he eyed the paper. "Now...now...Lord Hokage," mocked the black figure. "Maybe you won't change the matches," he chuckled. "But I cannot say the same about myself."