Outplayed

Kawata Genji's eyes stared wide and unseeing. Kurenai Yuhi's pupils contracted, and her heart sank as she clenched her hands.

She had just checked Toji and every ingredient. Toji had not been controlled by Genjutsu, and the food had not been poisoned. Yet Kawata Genji had died of poisoning. With the three of them keeping watch outside, no stranger could have entered. The old cook was the only one who had a chance to administer poison.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thorough enough."

Kurenai's voice trembled, and her face turned pale. Her teammates had entrusted her with the inspection, but her oversight had brought their entire plan to nothing. Guilt swept over her.

"My search was too cursory... I think Toji must have slipped poison into the food while he was cooking."

Asuma's body tensed. "He was the only one who cooked in this compound. Kawata Genji died of poisoning, so Toji must have done it. We can't let him get away."

The two exchanged a glance and reached an immediate understanding. They turned to head for the break room and restrain Toji.

Tsukimi remained where he was. The nagging sense that something was wrong had only grown stronger, making him frown.

"Something still doesn't add up. Let's check the break room first!"

Tsukimi still had doubts, but he did not hesitate. Toji was the cook here. Whatever had happened, they needed to find him.

The three hurried out of the bedroom and rushed toward the break room beside the kitchen.

The wooden door stood ajar. Tsukimi gave it a light push, and it swung open. The room was cramped and dim.

Toji, the old cook, reclined quietly in a chair with his eyes closed, relaxed as though taking a nap.

But when the three stepped closer, they froze.

Toji's face also had a bluish cast. His limbs hung limp, and he had stopped breathing.

There were no signs of a struggle in the room. Just like in the upstairs bedroom, he had died without warning.

Kurenai stood stunned. Her guilt gave way to bewilderment.

Kawata Genji was dead, and so was the cook. If Toji was the killer, why had he been poisoned too? If he was innocent, where had the deadly poison come from?

"So Toji wasn't the killer after all. He didn't know we were watching from the shadows. If he'd poisoned the food, he would have fled immediately, not settled down for a rest."

Tsukimi's words brought the other two back to their senses, but raised an even bigger question.

Kurenai turned to him. "If it wasn't Toji, how did they administer the poison?"

Asuma followed with an anxious question of his own. "Both people in the compound are dead. Every lead has gone cold. What do we do?"

Standing beside the body, Tsukimi raced back through every detail: last night, this morning, the cleaning, lunch, and the enemy who had vanished... The pieces began to fall into place.

"I've got it!"

Tsukimi's gaze sharpened as he grasped the crucial point. He turned and hurried straight to the kitchen, with the other two close behind.

Around the corner in the kitchen, the bowls and chopsticks used at lunch had been washed by Toji and stacked neatly in a cupboard. Their surfaces gleamed without a speck of grime.

They looked like perfectly ordinary tableware.

Tsukimi took out every bowl and plate. "No trace of Genjutsu. The cook didn't do it, and the ingredients weren't the problem. That leaves the tableware!"

At Tsukimi's signal, Kurenai immediately understood. She took out the Toxin Reagent she carried and dripped it onto each piece of tableware.

Produced by the Konoha Medical Department, the reagent was designed to detect concealed toxins.

The three held their breath and watched. The moment the reagent touched the spotless surfaces, a faint blue-green glimmer flashed and vanished. They would have missed it if they had blinked.

"There really is poison on them!" Asuma exclaimed.

Now he understood too. Kurenai had checked only the people and the ingredients. All of them had overlooked the washed tableware. They had been looking in the wrong place.

"Unfortunately, there's too little residue." Kurenai shook her head helplessly. "We can confirm there's an unknown toxin on the tableware, but we can't identify it or determine how it takes effect."

"The only thing we can be sure of is that plain water can't remove it completely. Otherwise, Kawata and Toji wouldn't have died."

Asuma said gravely, "When they came for the medicinal powder last night, they must have erased every trace and lead, smeared poison on the tableware, and then left for good."

"Since water couldn't remove it, both men were poisoned even though Toji washed the tableware before the meal."

The enemy had never once shown themselves. Tsukimi had tried to set a trap, only for the enemy to take the bait and slip away.

"None of us knows enough about poison," Tsukimi said decisively. "We need someone to examine it."

He raised a finger. Two dark figures emerged from the shadows and brought in the bodies of Kawata and Toji. At the same time, the Shadowkhan scattered throughout Bluestone Town set out and found Orochimaru.

A short while later, a white-clad figure dropped from the roof and walked into the kitchen.

"Lord Orochimaru, could you take a look and tell us what kind of poison this is?"

At the sight before him, Orochimaru wore a faint smile, as though he had expected it. He crouched and examined the two bodies in turn, then picked up the poisoned tableware. He used Chakra to probe the lingering traces and even wiped a finger across the surface and tasted it.

Ugh!

The sight sent a shiver through all three of them.

A few minutes later, Orochimaru set down the tableware and looked at the three with his narrow golden eyes. He gave his verdict with certainty.

"It's a very obscure poison. The bodies and the residue on the tableware aren't enough for a definite conclusion. We'll have to collect samples and analyze them with precision instruments."

"Understood. We'll take everything back."

With a clear answer at last, Tsukimi took a Sealing Scroll from his Ninja Tool Pouch and channeled his Chakra into it. He sealed away the bodies of Kawata Genji and Toji, along with every piece of tableware bearing traces of the toxin.

After putting away the scroll, Tsukimi looked at Kurenai and Asuma's grim faces. His tone lightened.

"Come on, you two. Stop looking so miserable. We completed our escort mission. This investigation was extra, so there's no need to get discouraged if it didn't work out."

"Besides, we didn't come away empty-handed. Thanks to this mission, Asuma finally grew a brain."

Asuma's grave expression vanished. His face darkened, and he rolled his eyes.

"You bastard, Tsukimi. I was never stupid, all right? Who do you think I am, Obito?"

"Aren't you?" Tsukimi looked at Asuma in apparent surprise.

The second and fourth idiots had earned their reputations.

Asuma clenched his fists, his face full of indignation. Kurenai could not help laughing, and the tense atmosphere eased a little.

"All right." Tsukimi dropped the joking tone. "We've sealed the evidence left here, and there's nothing more to do. Let's get ready to head back to the village."