Chibi-Kari: I found this chapter very hard to write. I'm sorry. I feel like it's also a little out of my normal writing style, but next chapter will be back and better. And eventually I'll try to edit this one again. I've just been going at it for a long time now and with my life right now, can't get it better than this. PS. I don't own anything.

Genjutsu

Chapter 17

The silence that had settled amongst the group lasted until Itachi suddenly took off from the field. The group quickly followed the boy back towards the Uchiha compound. The run back was somehow more hurried than the run there. After arriving at the entrance of the compound, Itachi abruptly broke off towards the left. As some of the group moved to follow the boy, Fugaku held up a hand. He realized where his son was going and turned towards the main house signaling the others to follow him instead.

"He's going to get the clan birth records." Fugaku said simply when they entered the main sitting area.

Inochi blinked for a moment, staring around the open room. "I'll get my own." He looked over at Shikaku.

"I've already sent a message to my wife. It would be bothersome and delay us if I went to retrieve them myself. She should be here soon." Inochi nodded before he took off through the shoji doors which lead directly outside.

Minato blinked. He hadn't noticed Shikaku send a message. Was it while they were running? Or was it when they immediately arrived? In all honesty, he had barely noticed the journey back. His thoughts were spinning. Everything he knew felt wrong.

His eyes scanned the room, falling on his wife. She was turned away from him. Staring out at the full moon. How could she even grieve this? If it was true, if it was all true, then simply being here was a betrayal to her country—her kin. He was about to step forward when Mikoto's simple shake of a head stopped him.

Maybe it wasn't right that he comforted her now. If it was true, did he even have a right to comfort her? Not that long ago he had felt the briefest moments of relief that it wasn't because of his position. That this wasn't his fault. Something that had been unspoken between the couple. A gulf that would grow a little year by year. He felt almost smug and most certainly vindicated when he thought that it was her fault…her family. But now it wasn't her fault and it wasn't his. Maybe that was supposed to be better. No one to blame. But he needed someone. He hadn't realized that until the last few weeks. And here he was, the figurehead of Konoha. He stood for the country and its values. The values that lead to the death of her people. The values that ultimately led to the kidnapping of his son…or so they claimed. Minato found himself in a state of blamelessness and blame that he couldn't rectify.

The room was silent as everyone stood around. Fugaku staring out into the night, Sasuke tucked tightly under his arm. The smaller boy was half asleep on his feet, yet neither of them seemed to mind. Minato could understand the man's feeling. He wouldn't want to let go of Naruto if the roles were reversed. He closed his eyes tightly as they stung from unshed tears.

"Why don't I make some tea?" Mikoto called softly. "It will be a long night." She hurried off quietly with only one more backwards glance towards her friend who had shrugged off all attempts of comfort.

A moment later Yoshino stumbled in the open shoji doors, dragging a half asleep Shikamaru after her. "I have the records."

Shikaku gestured to the low table he was sat at. And his wife activated the sealed scroll, which released several other scrolls. Shikaku hmmed briefly as he looked at the dates on each of the scrolls.

"What are we looking for exactly?" His wife intoned as she glanced at the rather strange crowed gathered in the room. She hadn't expected that her night would end with her sifting through family records with the Hokage and the Uchihas.

"We are looking for missing children from our clan." Shikaku stated simply as he released the scroll that he estimated held the birth record of the man from the memory scroll. He scanned through the sheets quickly, but all of the children could be accounted for. It was like a needle in a pile of larger needles.

Hours dragged on into the early morning as all three families looked through the records. Papers were discarded throughout the room in makeshift piles. The early morning light had set the room in a soft orange glow.

"We aren't getting anywhere." Inochi growled as he rubbed his eyes. "We have agreed on the correct years, right? Does anyone think they could have been much earlier or later?"

"They couldn't." Fugaku mumbled before sipping more tea. He was starting to feel the thrum of the caffeine through his bloodstream and it wasn't pleasant at this point.

Shikamaru sighed heavily from next to Sasuke. The two boys had fallen asleep earlier in the corner of the room. But were now awake again. Sasuke had quietly filled in the other boy. They hadn't talked much in the short time they were in the academy together, but Sasuke had a grudging respect for the intelligence of the other boy.

Yoshino turned abruptly with a scowl. "Leave the room if you're going to be disruptive. You're too old to do that."

Shikamaru glowered at his mother before standing slowly and leisurely walking to sit next to his father. "You say you've been going through the birth records. Why aren't you going through the death records?"

Shikaku shook his head. "Why would we go through death records? These were shinobi not recognizable by the clan, so they wouldn't be recorded in deaths. They wouldn't have died and been recorded in the larger Konoha records either, if they are even dead at all."

Shikamaru sighed again. "If they weren't recognizable in the clan then the birth records you're looking at wouldn't make sense. Look at the stillbirth records, father. I thought you could follow the logic."

Shikaku blinked and quickly grabbed the lone unopened scroll. It was genius. He looked out of the corner of his eye at the young boy just in time to see him get smacked on the back of his head by his mother.

"Do not speak to your father that way. Go outside until I can look at you again." Yoshino barked at her son. Pleased that he decided to be obedient for the moment. She turned back to the stunned group. "Sorry. He can get a little mouthy."

"But he's smart." Shikaku laughed. "I think this makes sense. But I don't know how. And I'm not sure how we'll tell the actual deceased from the men we saw."

With a scramble, the flipping of papers started again with new rigor. It was relatively silent before Itachi suddenly reached across the table, snatching Inochi's possible pile. A few flips later and the boy was out the door again.

Fugaku called for some of the KMP to follow the young boy and the Hokage signaled for some Anbu to do the same. He had obviously come across something.

Shikaku picked up the pile Itachi had gathered and thrown down on the table when he left. At first glance the records were the same for each of the children except for the names. Glancing at his own clan records, he tumbled into the conclusion that that was the key. They were the same.

Shoving through his records, he started pulling out some of them. He shook his head quickly. The thing that tied all of these together were they were unbelievably the same. These particular records had one oddity that made them the same. None of them were filled out with a clan medic's name. The medic that had attended each of these births was the same. Yamamoto Shizuka.