Heeey, sorry for the long absence! Please enjoy this chapter!^^

Sakura sighed, racing after Naruto. After Sai had revealed to them that Sasuke had had a brother, Naruto began bombarding him with questions about the elder Uchiha. Unfortunately, Sai hadn't discovered anything more than that, but Naruto was firmly convinced that Sasuke was no longer guilty of the murder of his mother.

"Sakura-chan," he'd told her. "I'm telling you, Sasuke isn't the one in the tape. Admit it. They're alike...but different."

"Naruto," she'd replied, exasperated. "Until Sai can actually recover a photo of Itachi Uchiha, we can't compare them. For right now, at least, Sasuke is still guilty."

He hadn't listened, though. Naruto was absolutely sure he was correct, and he wouldn't back down unless he was presented with solid evidence.

Sakura followed Naruto down to the computer room. When she finally caught up, he was already seated at a desk and was busily clicking through files.

"What are you looking for?" Sakura asked, sitting beside him.

"Anything on Itachi Uchiha." Naruto muttered, tapping the keyboard. "There has to be some information out there."

They sat together for a while, closely examining every bit of data, but nothing bore fruit.

Sakura rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Naruto, it's really late. Let's pick up again tomorrow."

"You go ahead, Sakura-chan," Naruto told her, staring at the monitor. "I'm gonna stay up a while longer. All it takes is some coffee." He sipped at the cup by his side. "I'll let you know if I find anything."

Sakura stood up, pushing her chair in. "Alright. Don't stay up too late." She could tell that Naruto didn't have any plans of turning in early, though.

"Right," Naruto mumbled. "I won't..."

***********************************

Orochimaru had left the police force building the second his hidden alarm had gone off. It could only mean one thing; someone had entered his hideout.

He'd immediately rushed home, where he had the monitors for the hidden cameras set up, and quickly rewound them to catch the intruders.

When he saw who it was, an irritated frown crossed his face. "Uchiha?"

He watched as the boy picked up the jar containing his deceased brother's eyes. His companions seemed to chastise him, telling him to return them. Apparently, they were attempting to turn Orochimaru over to the authorities.

"Hah," Orochimaru smirked. "I'd love to see you try. As if they'd trust the words of three criminals."

Suddenly, he squinted at the monitor. Something was happening with the Uchiha's eyes. Zooming in, he saw that the original form had changed. The three black commas had slowly morphed into a red six pointed star.

As he observed, the girl who was with them suddenly collapsed, shrieking in pain as Uchiha's eyes met hers. The three left shortly after, carrying the girl out.

Orochimaru slammed his hands down on the table, barely containing his excitement. Ah, this was perfect! The boy's Sharingan had evolved, beyond even those of his brother's! What a rare find! What an amazing specimen!

"Kabuto!" He screeched, feeling an enormous desire seeping through his veins. "Come! I've got to get my hands on those eyes, by any means necessary!"

***********************************

Sasuke, Kaidi, and Kei fled back to one of Kaidi's many hideouts after returning underground. Kaidi was still unconscious, moaning under her breath. Kei studied her face, looking agitated. "This isn't right. Why isn't she waking up?"

Sasuke shrugged, tired and angry. His eyes were unpredictable, they had no plan whatsoever on how they would leak the information of Orochimaru's private activities to the police, and Kei was mad at him.

The brown haired arsonist stayed by Kaidi's side the entire night, placing cool cloths on her forehead and poking her face now and then to see if he could elicit a reaction. So far, nothing.

"Kei," Sasuke said, in careful, measured tones. "What do you think we should do? About Orochimaru, I mean."

Kei glanced at him, and it struck Sasuke to see how exhausted he was. Dark bags underlined his blue eyes, and the gauntness in his cheeks seemed more prominent, like he hadn't been eating properly. "Huh? Nah...not yet." He turned back to the sleeping girl, wetting another cloth. "I'll come up with something."

But one look at Kei's deadened stare told Sasuke that he would likely be the only one doing the planning. "Okay. I'll grab you something to eat then in the meantime. You have to keep your strength up."

Sasuke wandered to the small kitchen, riffling through the cabinets in search of something edible. His mind turned to Itachi and Orochimaru. For the millionth time, he began to question himself.

Was revenge really so important? His brother was already dead, whereas Kei and Kaidi were still alive. Of the two, which was more important? He needed to look after their well-being more, to ensure their survival. It was his obligation, since he'd tossed out the whole 'don't get close to anyone' rule.

So should he just drop the entire thing with Orochimaru...? No. That would be unwise. Orochimaru was committing acts of unparalleled evil, treating human life as if it were mere trash. He'd killed an innumerable amount of innocent civilians, and would continue to do so unless he was forced to stop.

So no, he could not just let Orochimaru do as he pleased.

What was needed was for him to approach the situation differently. More regard should be placed towards Kei and Kaidi's lives, though he still needed to cease Orochimaru's experiments. He would just have to proceed with even more caution than before.

Grabbing a can of soup, Sasuke hacked the lid off with his knife and carried it to Kei. "Here. Eat."

Kei accepted it warily. "Thanks."

Sasuke nodded. "No problem."

They say in silence, watching Kaidi who was beginning to sleep less fitfully at this point.

Sasuke glanced at Kei. "Hey. I thought of a plan."

Kei's eyebrows shot up. "Does it involve near death situations?"

Sasuke shook his head. "In this plan, you and Kaidi will be out of the danger zone. That's where I'll be."

Kei frowned. "Care to elaborate?"

So Sasuke described the plan to him, laying out each piece as clearly as he could. By the time he finished, Kei had an odd expression on his face.

"What?" Sasuke demanded.

Kei shook his head slowly. "Sasuke. That's too much of a risk for you. You'd be caught and executed."

"No I won't." Sasuke waved him off. "Once I polish up the edges, everything will go smoothly." At least, that's what he tried to reassure himself of. In all honesty, this strategy carried such high risks, it would be nearly impossible to carry it out without some sort of hitch.

Kei twisted his hands, staring down at his lap. "Sasuke. I know what you're trying to do."

"What are you taking about?" Sasuke asked, feeling the slightest bit annoyed. "I'm not trying to do anything."

Kei just stared at him, unconvinced. "You feel guilty, don't you? Because your eye powers are out of control and you hurt Kaidi. So you're trying to atone for that by throwing yourself headlong into danger and leaving us on the sidelines."

Sasuke shrugged. "It's nothing I can't handle. And don't be stupid, I wouldn't recklessly endanger my life."

Kei was still frowning. "Sasuke, I'm sorry. I know you didn't mean what you did to Kaidi, and I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. So don't go nuts trying to make up for it. You've saved my sorry behind more times than I can count. I've got no reason to doubt you or your morals."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, smacking Kei upside his head. "Shut up. I'm the boss around here, got it? That's the plan we're sticking to."

Kei sighed. "You might die."

"...I know."

***********************************

Naruto stared at his computer, a frown creasing his brow. This information was odd. "Sakura-chan! Come here!"

Sakura yawned, holding her cup of coffee in one unsteady hand. The hot liquid sloshed precariously against the rim as she stumbled towards him. "I just woke up. What is it? And have you been here all night?"

Naruto ignored her last question. "So, Sakura. I was doing some research on any events that occurred around the time of Itachi Uchiha's death, and I dug up something strange."

Sakura pulled up a chair. "Hm?" The monitor displayed a list of people's names and profiles. Her eyes skimmed the list. All deceased. The cause of death? Unknown, since the bodies were never found.

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "What's this?"

"Well, I was checking the records, and quite a few people around that time four years ago went missing. There had been similar incidents in the past, but right after his death, the numbers began to experience an incline. I began to gather the names of those who had vanished and compiled them in this list to see if I could uncover any similarities."

"And?" Sakura asked. "What did you find?"

"All of these people were in good to excellent physical condition," Naruto said. "Not one carried a trace of disease, and they all lived relatively healthy lifestyles. It seems almost as if those with superior genes were selected. As if they'd been culled for something."

Sakura frowned. "That's disturbing."

"Yes," Naruto went on. "But what's more is that they all went missing within a three mile radius of Kawasaki, the city in the Kanagawa prefecture. That's less than a couple miles from the police station, and the disappearances never spread beyond that radius."

Sakura looked at him. "Go on."

"Then, an incident occurred here about four years ago. I believe you're aware of which one I'm talking about."

"The case with Orochimaru," Sakura said, interlocking her fingers. "And the body that turned up in the freshly dug grave. Unreported death."

"Yes," Naruto said, getting a bit excited, like he was placing the pieces of a puzzle together. "There was a reported murder in the city of Kawasaki, on a night where Orochimaru hadn't turned up to work. Chief officer Tsunade went herself to investigate the case, and the perpetrator was caught. The victim was found near a rarely used park, and when the crime scene was further investigated, to the shock of the police, another body was discovered to have been freshly buried nearby.

"Eyewitnesses reported that they'd seen a man hanging around the area hours before the new murder had occurred, and it wasn't the criminal whom they'd just caught. Upon further probing, the man was discovered to be Kabuto, Orochimaru's right hand man. He denied doing anything wrong, claiming that Orochimaru had been taking care of business nearby and had sent him outside. The police were unable to discover any incriminating evidence, so he was cleared.

"However, after the buried body was brought back to our autopsy director, there were signs of experimentation on the eyes. After running a DNA test, the person was confirmed to match that of one who had gone missing, a man named Ichiro Furihata. However, the fact that he'd been experimented on was far more important. When Chief Tsunade heard about that, she immediately suspected Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru had a history with animal experimentation, and his methods were somewhat depraved. He'd been hinting at human experimentation on deceased bodies, but Tsunade refused him, deeming it inhumane. The tests he wanted to conduct would mutilate the body far beyond the normal amount.

"The corpse we pulled up didn't have too much damage, but the eyes had some interesting features. It seems some of the tissues and nerves had been replaced with those of another, and now that I compare the data with the DNA of Sasuke that we collected, they're very similar. In fact, there's over a 90 percent chance that they belong to his brother, Itachi Uchiha.

"Also, do you remember those strange red eyes that Sasuke possessed? After examining the photos of the body and comparing them to the appearance of Sasuke's eyes, they seemed to be alike. This is purely a speculation, but perhaps someone is trying to recreate those eyes with Itachi's. Since those two are brothers, they likely share whatever trait gave Sasuke his eyes. They must have some special quality to make someone else want to reproduce them, and my guess is that whoever experimented on that body was trying to implant parts of Itachi's eyes into others.

"And one more thing. Orochimaru had gone missing from police headquarters the night of Itachi Uchiha's death."

Sakura had sat quietly throughout Naruto's speech, but as his words sank in, she began to come to a conclusion. "So...what you're saying is that Orochimaru is possibly behind Itachi's death and human experimentation? I can see where your thoughts are coming from...but we need more evidence than that."

Naruto sighed. "I figured you'd say that. But how would we manage to obtain any?"

"It would have to be from an outside source," Sakura mused. "An eyewitness or spectator who managed to catch him in the act. We shouldn't call him in for questioning just yet. The last thing we need to do is cause him to be suspicious and raise his guard."

Naruto nodded. "We'll just have to pay extra attention from now on. Because I'm more than ready to put an end to this case."

Eeesh, so am I, Naruto xD

I apologize for the slow updates, but I had an idea for another story and started working on that for a bit.

But I've decided that all other stories besides my AOT One shot book will be postponed until this one is completed.