Chapter 18 - Despicable

(The Next Morning)

"Kiyo! Where are you?! Ah, my daughter, please come out!"

This is what the two of them woke up to a screaming mother trying to find her child.

Hikaru and Naruto walks out of the while still in their pajamas. They saw a middle-age woman yelling in the middle of the street with a large banner and in it is a young girl's face drawn in it.

"Kiyo! Please! If anyone has ever seen her, please tell me where she is!" the mother desperately cried for help.

As Naruto saw the poor mother desperately calling out for her daughter, she felt a deep sadness emerging from her heart.

"Hey Hikaru, let's not go to the Academy today, " she said.

Hikaru looks at her and asks, "Why?"

"Because... I want to help her. I don't know what she is feeling right now but I feel that it must have been very painful for her to suddenly lose her child like that."

Hikaru simply smiles at her unconditional kindness for other people and he replied to her, "Fine, if that's what you want. After all, the Academy is just right there."

"Thank you, " she didn't notice it but a tear was dripping down on her face.

Meanwhile, with Hikaru. When he saw that, he knew he would have to report this to the Hokage. Call this stupid, but he felt a gut feeling that something terrible is happening behind the scenes.

(3 Hours Later, At The Council Room)

*Bam!*

A civilian councilman slams his hand on the table and yelled at the Hokage, "Hokage-sama! What that kid did is unforgivable! Sasuke-sama was almost killed by him, you should kick him out of this village, ASAP! He is a danger to everyone around him!"

The civilian council nodded their heads in agreement while the shinobi council shook their head in annoyance.

"Ahem, " Hiruzen cleared his throat first, "First of all, don't yell at me, " he glared at the councilman, "And second, I don't take orders from no one except the Fire Lord. Don't be arrogant civilian, or else..." he left that threat hanging on purpose.

The councilman flinches, he just sat down and stayed quiet.

Hiruzen clears his throat again, and said, "Shikaku, did you investigate what I told you?"

Shikaku has two scars on the right side of his face which were probably his most noticeable feature. Like his son, he has dark hair tied up into a spiky ponytail, dark eyes as well as a goatee. His ears were also pierced.  He wears a meshed shirt underneath his flak jacket, a deerskin coat over that, and handguards.

Shikaku stood up with a grave expression on his face holding a bunch of paper, which seems to be his report, "Hokage-sama, your instincts were right on the spot. The civilian council is indeed doing something terrible behind our backs."

Hiruzen smirks at the civilian council as if he was telling them that he has already won.

"Tell me, " Hiruzen said.

Shikaku looks at the papers before telling them to Hiruzen.

"The first one here is that the funds we have been giving them for the Academy have been pocketed into their own pockets, in short, they have been stealing from the village."

All of the civilian council members stood up while their eyes widened in panic.

"That is not true!"

"Yeah! We have been doing our best to support the village!"

Shikaku glares at them and they flinched a little at his gaze.

"By support, you mean selling some of our civilians into slavery? Or blackmailing young girls to sell themselves for your own profits? Is that what you call support? You filthy despicable human beings!" Shikaku said with disgust deeply engraved in his voice.

The entire civilian council was speechless. They didn't think that someone would be able to figure them out this quick.

"N-no! I-It's not my fault!" one of them started running away but before he could reach the door, you can see that he was one head short from before. His head flew in the middle of the table, scaring all of the civilian council members.

The body fell to the ground and you can see in front of him was a purple-colored hair Anbu wearing a cat mask on her face.

"Ah, Cat. Good to see you, now if you could do this old man a favor, execute all of the civilian council members for their crime of treason!" Hiruzen ordered her.

She knelt down in one knee and said with the utmost respect towards her leader.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

With that, she ordered her fellow Anbus, who was hiding in the shadows, to drag all of the civilian council members away from this room.

They were all dragged away while kicking, screaming, and flailing their arms away to get out of their respective grips but it was futile for the Anbu members were too strong for them.

"Do you know who I am!? I am the head mercha-"

*crack*

"Aaaaaah!!"

Cat broke his arm with a single chop while still dragging him away on that same arm. This time, all he could do is scream and scream away for help.

As Hiruzen looks at the scene happening in front of him, he couldn't help but thank Hikaru internally for this.

(Flashback, Earlier This Day)

In front of the Hokage is Hikaru, kneeling down on one knee as a sign of respect.

"Now, what are you here for, Hikaru-kun?" Hiruzen asked with a grandfatherly smile.

"Hokage-dono, I have noticed a few things around the village. First of all, one of my neighbor's only child suddenly disappeared, and second, the academy seems like it hasn't been fixed as of late, " Hikaru said.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and replied, "So, what do you think is happening?"

"I don't know what to call this Hokage-dono, you may call it a gut feeling, but I think the civilian council had some hands moving around behind the scenes, " he said seriously.

"I'll look at it. For now, take care of Naruto until I tell you what I can find out, " Hiruzen said with his hands clasp together.

"Hai, thank you, Hokage-dono."

(End Of Flashback)