The Demonic Konoha

Beady blue eyes watched the red eyes slowly drift towards them. Any second Sasuke would spot his chakra. Before he could think of an escape route a cracking sound was heard. It was from Sakura, who tore off his ghoulish creature's arm!

"Hm … You're right. This seems to be made of wood too and I'm pretty sure it made the sound we heard, but why is it here?"

Sasuke looked at his fellow Anbu as his Sharingan was deactivated, "And why does it have holes in the head?" He mused unknowingly about shocking Naruto, who didn't notice that the hollow ghoulish creature no longer had white vines coming out of his head. 

At least, Naruto thought he knew the answer to that one. His vines in his moss form probably didn't change much. They just grew thicker and turned white in the ghoulish form and just shrank back down when he shifted to his mossy form. 

"It's like a shell- …" Sakura suddenly scoffed and looked guilty. "There's an art festival here in a couple of weeks."

"Oh. It could've been drying and that made the sound." Sasuke muttered, looking like he actually was sorry. The two Anbu seemed to realize there wasn't any danger for they respectfully set the hollow arm down and silently left in the direction of the campsite.

Naruto, on the other hand, was suddenly annoyed again. Did they really have more guilt about destroying what they believed was an art project over manipulating him? It seemed so wrong, but he had no time to think about this.

The tiny moss's feet scurried over to the hollow ghoulish thing. After thinking it over Naruto decided to seal away the entire thing. Severed shell arm and all.

The mission they were on was taking them in a different direction so they wouldn't be back here. Even if they did return there's really no reason to find his ghoulish shell still here, especially after Sakura snapped the arm off. A broken art piece would need to be moved to be repaired. Naruto felt safe enough taking everything, but he was exhausted now. 

This called for a snack so Naruto unsealed his jacket. However, he didn't feel safe enough to shift into his human form so he stayed in his tiny moss form the entire time. The hedgehog opened a hidden pocket inside the orange jacket and pulled out a bag of 'Pig's' Rinds. 

It was the last few scraps of the drunk ninja Naruto first killed to save Teuchi and Ayame. There were two full bags in his pocket plus a 'trail mix' complete with 'nuts'. He definitely had plenty of the dried salted snacks to last the trip, but it'll end soon. 

Ayame and Teuchi told him not to worry though so he'll wait to see what they have planned. In the worst case, he could use his new seal to grab a body. For now, he'll focus on his mission and hopefully, everything will go faster. He missed the chefs and was called by his new name.

XXXXXXXXXX 

Teuchi scowled and poked his head out from his hiding place in the laundry room, "Are we sure that windbag is the right guy?" He whispered to Ayame, who was dressed in a sexy black Chinese style dress and her hair pinned up in a bun.

"Let me get him talking about his job and we'll see," Ayame said while getting the dinner set up.

"This place is pretty nice. It's hard to believe that a girl like you can afford it. Your family must be wealthy. What's for dinner anyway?" A male voice was heard coming from the living room of what was actually a rented house that the chefs broke into and pretended was Ayame's.

"A spare guest." Ayame hissed under her breath.

"What?" The man called out, not sure what he heard.

"Asparagus! Grilled and with a selection of meats and cheeses." Ayame said as she finished putting the platter together.

"Not great in the kitchen, I take it. Good thing your family is rich, otherwise you'd be a terrible wife." The man chuckled as if his sexist joke wasn't worthy of a platter to face for its offensive nature.

Ayame twitched in annoyance, "Even if he isn't one of the scientists I say he becomes Kaji's next meal anyway." The woman said sweetly, albeit while twirling a knife. "Yes, I'm sorry. The kitchen staff got the day off today. It's nice to have something simple though." Ayame said as she put a sweet smile on her face and left with the food and some wine.

"No problem at all. This far more … intimate." The man said with a chuckle.

Teuchi rolled his eyes as he crept closer to the kitchen door. While the guy was a bit of a creep around women he was steadfast in keeping his job's secrets. All he proudly said was that he used to do various scientific research. However, beyond that he didn't say much.

It took a couple of bottles of wine before he started venting. Apparently, his work was nearly destroyed when his special plant left the building and was killed. The way he described it was vague, but it happened around the same time that Naruto was attacked. The scientist's work was further delayed after recent cuts in the budget.

Ayame gasped, "That's terrible! They're stifling your genius by making you work with what sounds like fish tanks!"

 The man scoffed, "I checked the company they came from. My experiments are actually floating in real fish tanks! The medical equipment is normal hospital monitors threaded through the top. Plus, the number of my fellow scientists was slashed in half! I haven't even heard from them since they were fired and I suspect some reports have been hidden from me too." He exclaimed furiously before accidentally knocking over his mostly empty glass.

A slightly tipsy Ayame pouted, "Sounds like someone found a secret. Maybe a way to complete everything faster so there'd be no point in giving you more than needed? I don't know science."

A strange shade of purple came to the enraged man's face, "What possible way could be more efficient than mine?! I created many monsters so far with one sample from the source-" 

In the middle of his drunken rant, he passed out. Teuchi, who had a knife in his hand, came out from behind the couch. The two ramen chefs looked stunned.

Teuchi blinked as he put the knife aside, "Ok then … That was over easy-"

Ayame giggled slightly, "Over easy. We should feed him to Kaji that way."

"I love it!" Teuchi laughed at his unintentionally funny pun, but he then took the wine from Ayame with a serious expression. "You've had enough … I have not," Teuchi said and took a couple of swigs from the bottle. "Ok … Let's get sleeping beauty to our place, which would've been easier if we did this there." He muttered sulkily as Ayame helped him lift the drunk scientist.

Ayame scoffed, "As if this guy would go for anything less than a luxurious place like this. Besides, all traces of him will lead here and not to us."

With that point, the two chefs put the man in a large crate just outside the door and hidden by the big hedges. It was one of the very crates they get with every order of ingredients they need for the ramen stand. However, there was one difference this time. A waterproof tarp lined the inside of the crate.

"Ok … He's in." Teuchi panted breathlessly, feeling a little out of shape. "Let's make sure he's quiet … Damn. Ayame, where'd I leave my knife?"

Ayame looked up from where she was searching, which was a spot hidden behind the crate, "I think you left it next to the ham."

"But the ham is there," Teuchi commented and pointed to the bonehead in the crate. 

Both chefs kept a straight face for exactly one second before snickering. Teuchi went back into the fancy house and Ayame continued searching for something behind the crate. After a moment Ayame dragged out a heavy bag. 

"Need help?" Teuchi asked as he returned with the knife.

Ayame groaned and stretched making her back pop, "Yeah. The damn thing is stuck on the hedges. Trade you." She suggested and without any further explanation, Teuchi gave Ayame the knife. 

As her father went to make sure the bag was freed Ayame looked at the scientist in the crate. Only a moment of hesitation passed before Ayame tilted the snoring drunk man forward and cut the man's throat. The expected blood spray gushed down onto the man's clothes. The clothes quickly became soaked in blood, but everything was contained in the tarp and Ayame avoided being sprayed.

With a firm grip on the man's hair, she held him in place. There was a little choking and struggling, but he soon fell limp. Of course, just to be sure Ayame stabbed the man in the arm.

"He's dead," Ayame said the second she pulled out the knife and saw no bleeding from the new gouge.

Teuchi nodded and focused solely on unsnagging the bag, "Good … It would've been easier with the knife, but the bag is free now."

Ayame slid the knife back into the gouge on the body's arm and even pushed it in deeper, "We can't risk leaving any trace, especially knife marks." Ayame commented as she untied the corners of the tarp from the corners of the crate. With great care, she tied them together effectively closing the body in a blood-filled sack. "It's tight."

"Ok. Help hold the bag. We can't let anything spill over. It's too dark to see anything on the ground." Teuchi lectured only getting an eye roll from Ayame.

The two chefs poured the contents of the bag into the crate. It sounded distinctly many thumps from solid round objects hitting the walls of the crate and the body-filled sack. Those objects were carefully arranged to look messy but covered the tarp and the body inside.

"Shouldn't have drunk so much … Should we leave the lights on?" Ayame asked as she quickly headed back to the house.

"No. Just make it look like fun was had." Teuchi said and watched Ayame go back into the house. He raised an eyebrow when Ayame quickly returned in her work clothes and no makeup. "That was fast."

Ayame smiled as she moved her sleeve a little revealing that her fancy dress was just under her uniform, "I fixed everything up. Considering what he said, let's hope his colleagues were more than just fired. For now, we should hurry up and get this guy in the freezer."

Nobody suspected anything when the two ramen chefs brought the crate to their stand. Of course, that was mostly because it was late so very few people were walking around. The few people who were out focused mainly on their stroll or shopping or whatever they were doing.

Only a handful of people noticed them and weren't too surprised. After all, it wasn't unusual to see the chefs getting a big crate for their produce. A couple of nosy people asked why they were carrying the crate so late at night. However, the chefs just simply said they were behind because they got distracted trying to think of new recipes. Of course, those people stuck their noses in further by telling them some recipes they should do. Funnily enough, those 'helpful' people immediately vanished when Teuchi said he'd keep the recipes in mind if they helped carry the crate.

Despite those moments, the chefs got back home safely. In no time at all the fresh meat was stripped and stored in the freezer. With the main ingredient needed for future meals for their dear family member found they relaxed. As they sipped some tea and discussed what they learned from the late scientist.

Ayame sipped her tea hoping it'd help remove the slight alcohol-induced headache she had, "How big of a fish tank can we fit next to the freezer?"

"I get what you're thinking, but no," Teuchi said firmly though he, like Ayame, was shaking a little from tonight's events. "Getting a fish tank big enough is fine. Maybe I can get the hospital equipment, but there's no way to get '000' out of the tube and into ours. Plus, we don't know exactly what he's floating in … Though I have been wanting some pretty fish so we can get a tank … A conveniently human-sized one just in case."