Murder, Talk no Jutsu and Other Easy Solutions

Exam Bullshit! What the Fuck, Sakura?!

ROOT Operative 246, now known as Sai, hummed some tune he had heard Shin hum years ago (it was the closest thing to a song he knew), as he cooked some breakfast for Maria-sama (he was so grateful Shin had gifted him a cookbook a few years before his death). They were the only ones in the apartment. There was evidence there had been guests earlier that night, but they had left a bit before Sai moved Maria into her apartment. He knew she likely wouldn't be awake to eat her breakfast fresh, but she had a microwave. She could reheat it later. The thought of her enjoying his cooking made a warm feeling appear in his stomach. Ah, he was smiling. Was this happiness? If so, he really liked it.

Sai had been very productive that morning before starting on breakfast. For starters, he had managed to fake his death.

Maria-sama had been right (like always), Danzo had hunter-nin on his trail mere hours after he left the base with Maria-sama. After dropping his lady off at her apartment and onto her bed, he left the apartment with his ANBU mask on and let the hunters find him. He let them chase him to the edge of the village, onto the Hokage faces. He let them back him into a corner, land a few hits, and once he was at the very edge of the mountain, he fell backwards into the forest below.

They had done a sloppy job, like he had been counting on. They didn't search for his corpse, likely thinking it was too much trouble. He was a nobody, after all. He had no family or friends. He didn't even have a name. No one cared if he died (but that wasn't true anymore. He did have a name. His name was Sai, and Maria-sama would care if he died. Shin would have cared too, if he hadn't... ).

And so ROOT Operative 246 was declared dead, and Sai was born. It was risky to remain in the village, but no one knew Sai's face aside from Danzo. He had always worn his mask on the job, Maria-sama seeing him without it had been a fluke. So long as he never ran into the old Warhawk, he would be fine.

Nodding to himself, Sai put Maria-sama's breakfast in the microwave, wrote a note for her to read once she woke up, and grabbed the Shadow Clone scroll he had transcribed last night, as well as Itachi Uchiha's file.

It was time to make Maria-sama proud.

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Sasuke stared at the ground with a thousand yard stare as he slowly walked to the academy, Naruto walking beside him and rambling about different types of ramen the whole time. They had woken up that morning to find the apartment Maria-less. Naruto had been mildly concerned, but just brushed it off as Maria being proactive and going to the academy early, writing off the fact they themselves had gotten up before the crack of dawn to get ready. But Sasuke knew better.

He remembered what she said; 'I'll get you proof', she had told him. Of what? Of Itachi's innocence? Of the guilt of the person she said was truly responsible for the death of his clan? Her words last night had shaken him to his very core, and the final words she had left him with before he fell asleep felt ominous. He had a feeling Maria was about to do something very brave and very stupid on his behalf, and he was very worried about the danger it would likely drag her into.

'Is this what the 'morning after' feels like? Except instead of waking up in a bed naked and alone you wake up clothed and alone with the feeling of existential dread because you know the lady who took you home is doing something that will probably give you a heart attack?', Sasuke thought to himself, recalling the words he'd heard elder shinobi speak when they didn't know he was there. Naruto kept on talking, not reading Sasuke's mood at all, but Sasuke didn't have the heart to tell him to shut up. He was trying to be nicer, after all.

Then, just as the two of them were about to arrive at the academy, someone shunshin'd in front of them in a puff of smoke. Sasuke closed his eyes to keep the smoke from getting in them, while Naruto did what he was good at by overreacting and jumping back by about five feet. Once the smoke cleared, Sasuke almost thought he was looking at a dead man.