"It was only a light superficial wound. I'll be fine."
Few people other than Haruto Uzumaki would term second degree burns as being light and superficial. But then again, few people had a demon of almost unlimited power sealed within them to accelerate their healing.
"Perhaps. Regardless, I strongly recommend that you ease up. You should have seen that fire attack from a mile away. You were careless."
Haruto winced, and not only from the stinging residue of his wound. Tenzou was, of course correct, but he was not too concerned about his student's injury. Haruto was a tough kid and better trained than anyone in his age group.
"You completed the last four A-rank team missions back to back. If you keep this up, people will eventually come snooping." Tenzou was far more worried about keeping his student's identity a secret. He was experienced enough to read the tides of popular political opinion within Konoha, and those opinions most certainly did not take a favorable view towards the demon container. The problem was that the young blond was a natural magnet for excitement and trouble. Rumors were already circulating amongst the shinobi ranks about the recent ANBU recruit.
"Right, Captain. Will that be all?"
"The Hokage authorized a background check over the Academy staff. We found nothing out of the ordinary." Even as Haruto stood stoically before him, Tenzou knew he was not pleased.
"But perhaps you'd have better luck." The ANBU captain handed his subordinate a scroll with the Sandaime Hokage's official seal. "That'll give you access to the restricted personnel files. Good luck, Genji. Dismissed."
Haruto knew exactly what this was. It was another discrete mission. Clearly, either the captain or the Hokage found some indication of a leak but could not find enough evidence to take anyone to Ibiki. The blond smirked. So it was up to him again. Well, he would get the job done; he always did.
"Can I help you, ANBU-san?"
Haruto wordlessly showed the man the scroll. The chuunin gave it a cursory glance to check for authenticity.
"Very well, please follow me." Another guard quickly led Haruto through a series of stairways and hallways and left him in a damp, dark cellar.
"I'll be outside if you need anything, sir."
The Special ANBU nodded as the guard shut the door. The chuunin administrators had given Haruto a wide berth, even as he had not spoken a word. Such was the power and prestige of being an elite shinobi in ANBU. The disguised blond would spend the next two hours combing the classified personnel files.
There really is nothing out of the ordinary. All staff members of the academy check out, Haruto sighed. Anyone else would have given up, conceding that he had been wrong, but the blond knew he was not wrong. Maybe he needed to step back and approach this from a different angle.
If there was a spy, then he must be spying for someone. So, who would be interested in the information obtainable by Konoha's academy staff? Someone interested in a student at said academy. Haruto felt his back tingle; he was getting closer. If that was the case, then which students would be worthy of such interest? Definitely a bloodline "genius" but there were far too many such candidates at the academy.
At this point, the young investigator went back to his starting suspects. Haruto felt bad putting Iruka and Mizuki, two competent teachers, under the microscope. He felt particularly bad about Iruka, who had been nothing but kind to him and even bought him ramen, but he had to persevere.
So, how many bloodline students had Iruka and Mizuki as their instructors? An easy question to answer as Haruto was in their class. Two names topped the short list: Hinata Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha, the next generation wielders of the Byakugan and Sharingan respectively. The part time ANBU agent let the implication sink in. It made sense provided that his initial assessment of a spy at the academy was true.
Still, he needed a motive, and a good one too. Certainly, everyone and their grandma would like to have either one of Konoha's revered bloodline limits. But who would be desperate and cunning (not to mention stupid enough) to try it? Kumo had failed quite spectacularly with regard to the Byakugan and lost a great deal of credibility and respect to boot. Haruto approached one of the cabinets and began flipping through the documents.
"Ah-ha!" With a cry of triumph, he dumped the bingo book onto the desk before him. Haruto began flipping through the oft talked about record book, expecting a long haul. He didn't expect to find someone of interest so quickly.
Orochimaru: Previously one of the Legendary Sannin, he fled Konoha and became an S-rank missing nin.
Haruto paused at this. Never had a ninja of Konoha risen so high into the skies before plummeting so low into the abyss. The blond shivered as he recalled what he had read on the psychopath and his abominable experiments. In terms of pathological insanity, Haruto pegged the snake as coming second only to the fox demon; but then again the latter was not human.
Bah, what an idiot. To think that one day, he was the top candidate for becoming the Fourth Hokage and the next, he was running from indictment for having committed countless murders and atrocities. Haruto glanced at the snake's genin records. What a waste, betraying the teachings of his sensei, who had been the Professor himself. The blond had seen firsthand the Sandaime Hokage's vast library. He knew that the old man's reputation was well deserved.
Liked snakes and serpents; disliked Jiraiya and other loud obnoxious perverts; desired to learn all the techniques in the world. Haruto almost laughed at the imagery. Orochimaru's genin record reminded him of his instructors' former captain, Kakashi Hatake. The man supposedly became jounin at age thirteen, knew over a thousand techniques, and was constantly parading his orange literary erotica around.
Ha, too bad for he didn't have a Sharingan to help him learn all those jut— Haruto's blood froze as he was hit by a sudden sense of clarity. The enemy was Orochimaru and he was after the Sharingan. But who was his spy? The blond knew that without figuring out the spy, everything else was still speculation. After all, there were other Uchiha clan members alive, though none were as potentially useful as the young Sasuke.
Haruto attacked the piles of scrolls and documents with renewed vigor. This conspiracy's final key was in there somewhere and he was determined to find it. One hour later, however, his determination was slowly turning into frustration. Either he was chasing a red herring or someone had done a very thorough cleanup job. The child ANBU was willing to bet all his ramen funding on the latter.
There must be something that connected Orochimaru to one of the academy instructors. He was too old to be a teammate to any of them, but maybe as a teacher or–
Jounin-sensei.
Eureka! Haruto's hands flew to the dossier containing the historic genin teams. His excitement turned to disappointment when he realized that certain relevant entries were missing crucial information. For example, the records for Iruka and Mizuki's teams did not list their jounin-sensei, but they did list their teammates.
Armed with these four new names, Haruto nearly turned the room upside down in his hunt until he found something; an official medical note of one of the genin suffering from acute poisoning. The boy had been an orphan, so his sensei had had to sign him in. He later died under mysterious circumstances. The sensei was Orochimaru. The boy was a teammate of Mizuki.
Mizuki was Orochimaru's student. Orochimaru had at least one agent inside Konoha and he was after the Sharingan, specifically Sasuke Uchiha's Sharingan. Haruto needed to tell the old man ASAP.