Assisting the investigation

Creak!

Just then, the window gave a few sharp creaks, and a dark figure darted in from outside.

The newcomer had short purple hair, delicate features, and a valiant bearing. A red Anbu insignia marked her right shoulder. She was Uzuki Yugao, renowned as the flower of the Anbu.

Yugao narrowed her eyes and surveyed the room.

The bedding and sheets had fallen to the floor, and handprints covered the floor-to-ceiling windows... The room was a mess, as though thieves had ransacked it.

Douyang looked at Uzuki Yugao and frowned. "Why didn't you use the door?"

"Force of habit."

Yugao said it without a hint of apology.

Then she sat on the sofa, propped her long legs, clad in tight black trousers, on the table, and toyed with a rusty shuriken in her slender fingers.

This shuriken was a gift Uchiha Douyang had given her during their days at the Ninja Academy.

Supposedly, a ninja from some small village had thrown it from very far away, and Douyang's grandfather had later picked it up.

The rusty shuriken spun through various tricks in Yugao's hand. She handled it with impressive skill; one could imagine that her handwork was probably quite good.

Douyang got up and poured Yugao a glass of water, asking casually, "Not out on a mission?"

The two had been close buddies for over a decade, the kind who shared everything.

During their years at the Ninja Academy, Uchiha Douyang had pestered Yugao to practice swordsmanship with him all day to improve himself, and over time, they had forged a deep brotherly bond.

"Uchiha Itachi is dead," Yugao said then.

Douyang froze for a moment, then his eyes abruptly widened. He staggered back onto the sofa, looking as though he had just received terrible news and could not believe it.

He buried his face in his hands, his body trembling slightly.

Clear concern showed on Yugao's face, and she could not help sighing inwardly at the sight of him.

To her, Itachi's death had dealt Douyang a heavy blow.

After all, no one valued their comrades more than the Uchiha.

After a long while, Douyang reached for the cup in Yugao's hand and drained the tea inside.

Yugao's gaze suddenly fell on Douyang's scarlet pupils, and surprise flickered in her eyes.

Had intense emotional shock awakened his Sharingan?

Awakening the Sharingan at seventeen.

That practically put him at the bottom of the Uchiha Clan.

Fortunately, Uchiha Douyang didn't make his living off the Sharingan.

In Medical Ninjutsu, Uchiha Douyang was indisputably second only to Tsunade.

At present, Tsunade was traveling the Shinobi World, her whereabouts unknown.

Uchiha Douyang was irreplaceable.

Douyang ignored Yugao's gaze and asked in a low voice, "Have they found the killer?"

Yugao shook her head and reached out to gently pinch Douyang's cheek.

"Douyang, Lord Hokage has ordered Kakashi Hatake and Shisui Uchiha to investigate the truth behind Uchiha Itachi's death.

"Itachi's death has far-reaching implications. Kakashi asked the two of us to help him investigate. What do you think?"

"Investigate. Of course we should."

With a dull thud, Douyang set the cup heavily on the table and spoke solemnly.

"Itachi was my dearest friend and family, my brother. I can't stand by and do nothing. Whoever the killer is, we have to bring him to justice."

When Uchiha Douyang and Uzuki Yugao arrived at the site of Uchiha Itachi's death, Kakashi and Shisui had already been waiting for quite some time.

"Douyang, you're here!"

Seeing Uchiha Douyang, Shisui let out a long breath of relief and hurried over to greet him.

He had been very afraid that Uchiha Douyang, like the other Uchiha, would lose all reason and blame the village for Itachi's death.

If that happened, even uncovering the truth behind Itachi's death would be meaningless.

Fortunately, Douyang was a levelheaded Uchiha who put the bigger picture first.

Uchiha Itachi's death could not possibly have been ordered by the Third.

If the Third had ordered Uchiha Itachi's murder, they could simply have waited until Uchiha Itachi left the Land of Fire before acting. Then there would have been ample grounds to pin the blame on wandering ninja or another village.

The Uchiha's reaction would not have been so intense either.

The killer behind this had acted near the village, clearly to inflame tensions between the village and the Uchiha.

Uchiha Douyang had clearly considered this as well when he came to help them investigate.

Uchiha Douyang nodded to Shisui and Kakashi. After greeting them, he asked with a rather grim expression, "What have you found?"

Kakashi pointed at the cordoned-off area. "The scene has been secured. We haven't started investigating yet. We were waiting for you two."

Then Shisui said, "Kakashi and I have already checked the travel records of every jonin over the past three days. We found that all the jonin capable of killing Uchiha Itachi had alibis.

"Of course, alibis can be fabricated, so all we can do now is hope to find some clues at the scene of Itachi's death."

Douyang took the investigation report Kakashi had compiled and read it carefully.

It was just as he had expected.

Uchiha Itachi's headless body had been discovered by a patrol team the following morning.

After a Hyuga ninja on the patrol identified the dead man as Uchiha Itachi from the identification he carried, the ninja realized the gravity of the situation, did not dare act rashly, and immediately sealed off the scene.

Uzuki Yugao folded her arms across her chest and said rather pessimistically, "Even the Hyuga ninja on the patrol couldn't find any clues. Where do we start?"

"The Byakugan can see through things, but when it comes to detection, animals are far more reliable than people."

As he spoke, Kakashi Hatake bit his finger, smeared blood across his palm, and gave a low shout.

"Summoning Technique!"

Poof!

With a burst of white smoke, a mongrel dog appeared in front of the three.

Pakkun glanced at Kakashi. "Kakashi, you called?"

"Pakkun, a comrade was attacked and killed while on a mission."

Kakashi pointed to the cordoned-off area. "See if you can find anything."

"Leave it to me. Do you have any of his personal belongings?"

Shisui then took a short sword wrapped in a plastic bag from his ninja tool pouch. "This is a short sword Uchiha Itachi used."

"There's residual body tissue on it. That's enough."

Pakkun sniffed the short sword, brimming with confidence.

The dog and the four of them stepped into the cordoned-off area.

Pakkun took two steps, then suddenly stopped.

"I smell it. Aside from Uchiha Itachi, there's a strange scent here. I suspect the enemy who killed Uchiha Itachi applied a special substance to his body to mask his own scent."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows and asked, "Only one enemy?"

"Judging by the scent, only one."

Douyang said, "The enemy used a special substance to mask his scent, but we can also track his movements through the scent of that substance."

Pakkun nodded. "That's right."

Kakashi immediately said to Yugao, "Yugao, follow the scent with Pakkun. Leave this place to us for now."

"All right."

After Yugao had run off with Pakkun, Shisui looked at Uchiha Itachi's headless body and frowned. "Are we waiting until they come back to investigate?"

"Shisui, have you forgotten about me?"

A faint smile touched Uchiha Douyang's lips as he said confidently, "I'm a medical ninja. I'm much better at examining corpses than Pakkun."