Rubble
A tremendous roar had echoed through the forest of Konohagakure and disturbed the peace.
While Konoha was normally known for its stunning greenery, a different form of vibrancy had seeped into its purview. Red, puddles and piles of gore that stretched far beyond the peripheries of the village now dyed most homes palette.
All elements of the land were tainted with a putrid terror.
For the poor soul who had to investigate the origin of the event, the gruesome scene only compounded against the mystery of the entire event.
This responsibility was, unfortunately, the task that fell on the shoulders of Shikaku Nara.
He had been hand selected by Hiruzen for this task. This unfortunate honor had been bestowed through rubble and ruin, and through rubble Shikaku began his inquiry.
He had prowled the entire city and had investigated the whole picture before settling into the pile of cinder and bricks that was once his office.
It was funny, the smell of dust and debris was far more potent than anything he could have ever imagined.
He looked at the motley arrangement of notes he had taken from across Konohagakure and began assembling the scene.
He had quickly learned that very few writing supplies had survived the Kyuubi. Paper, as it turned out, was very flammable. Shikaku had, instead, turned to whatever would work.
First, his hand shot to a brief description inscribed on a small piece of cardboard he had found. It was the scene of the first casualty.
Biwako Sarutobi, for all her strength as a shinobi, was one of the many deceased. The autopsy had yet to be performed, but something about her death seemed unusual.
Her corpse was charred and mutilated like many of those who fell victim to the Kyuubi, yet was completely different.
She had clearly been stabbed before being burned.
An accident, a slip of an old nurse on her own knife. Or perhaps something more sinister?
Killing the only other witness of the Kyuubi's awakening.
The Nara scratched the flakes of facial hair on his chin and set the writing down. There was no proof of anything yet, but he would ponder that question more later.
Shikaku turned his attention next to his old friend.
He reached to the messy cursive written in between the lines on the front page of a magazine.
Ironically, the magazine was describing the detailing of Minato's face onto Hokage Rock. Minato had also been the last person to be directly killed by the Kyuubi and the one who ended it's reign of terror.
Witnesses noted that Minato had clearly used some form of Jutsu to stop the Kyuubi, that much was apparent. The nature of the Jutsu used was a complete mystery to Shikaku.
Some kind of strange seal.
Shikaku grabbed the pen he always kept in his pocket and quickly jotted down a reminder to seek out the only sealing expert Konoha had left.
Without Jiraiya's feedback, it wasn't possible for Shikaku to determine much involving Minato's piece in the events.
That left the last anomaly for Shikaku to analyze.
He picked up a single sheet of paper, completely blank except for a single name across the top.
Kushina Uzumaki had been the prior container of the Kyuubi.
Hiruzen had him briefed on her condition, and what tied her to the tailed beast. A Jinchuriki died when the seal keeping the tailed beast inside was severed.
For all intents and purposes, Shikaku should have had to work under the assumption that she was dead. This was, however, logically unsound, for one main reason.
Her body hadn't been found.
That was strange for a great number of reasons. Even if it had been destroyed by the Kyuubi, there would have been some sort of remains. Bones, hair, even ash would've been a clear marker of her fate.
That there were none was both unanticipated and, to Shikaku, suspicious.
Shikaku stared at the blank paper in his hand, before quickly realizing he hadn't made any progress at all.
He crumpled the paper up and threw it at the wall. Whatever weak material was holding up the wall clearly didn't appreciate that, because the entire thing crumpled into itself in a cloud of dust and splinters.
Shikaku started slowly pacing the room, rubbing the back of his neck as he did.
For all his efforts, Nara knew this was a puzzle he wasn't able to solve with the limited information he had. He had a very sketchy idea of what had happened, but he needed more before he could make a final determination.
There were just too many confounding variables.
As a small chunk of wood fell onto his head, he realized that he needed to go somewhere where he could think.
Somewhere preferably less destroyed.
Shikaku left the pathetic remains of his office and made his way back to the tower of the Hokage. Despite the destruction around it, the building was remarkably unscathed.
There, he wandered the floors until he found a seemingly empty room in the far corner of the building.
It was a fairly typical office block, clearly unoccupied for many years. Shikaku flipped the light switch, but was initially only greeted with the sound of a click.
The lights slowly tried to turn on, but only illuminated patchy segments of the room.
It was in this that Shikaku realized the room was not unoccupied.
"Hello Nara," came the voice of a strange man in a mask in the shadows of the room. He wasn't someone that Shikaku recognized, though his voice seemed oddly familiar.
"Who are you?" Shikaku barked out.
He was clearly trouble.
The masked man began cackling, a deep and guttural sound. Whatever strings that held that man together seemed to be tangled.
Shikaku wasn't in the mood for games though.
Shikaku felt his shadow connect with that of his target. He was now in control.
He slowly walked to the strange man, pulling out a Kunai and pressing it against the man's throat.
"Identify Yourself, now." he said, pressing the knife against his jugular vein.
The man squirmed in a few different directions, but eventually stood still and silent.
"Last chance." Shikaku said, lightly scratching the strange man's neck.
"I am Tobi!" the man clamored out with a vibrant shout.
Shikaku felt a small recoil of humor at the sheer sincerity of his answer. His eyes flickered from the small trickle of blood on his neck to the mask that was staring deep into his eyes.
Whatever face the masked man had been wearing underneath bled through the jovial tone.
"Why are you here?" Shikaku asked with utter calm.
As the masked man spoke again, he saw the reflection of a red eye through the hole in the mask.
"Cleaning up loose ends."
That was the last thing Shikaku Nara ever saw.