Sasuke gets the book

As the sun set over the horizon, Sasuke rested near a riverbank amidst the woods; despite the ear quite muddied only by the audible river flow and nature's natural cries, his keen awareness felt a shift in the surrounding area.

The trees whispered in a faint rustle echoed through the weight of silent feet.

"Tch~" He clicked his tongue. Coming out here was supposed to be a reprieve from the bothersome commotion that Orochimaru's lackeys often stir. To practice his new jutsu, amidst the quiet simplicity that the forest can provide.

But no, either he was followed, or this wasn't such a great place for peace and quiet as he had assumed.

Maybe both of those guesses are correct.

"Get down here," Sasuke muttered after an inaudible sigh.

The sound of a light tap behind him signified the arrival of the idiot that decided to intrude on what should be his private reprieve.

"Sorry, I did not realize you were looking for privacy." The voice said, "I will be on my way,"

Still not glancing back, Sasuke raised a curt eyebrow. "That is a little too late. My peace is already disturbed. What did you want?"

"I am returning to base, my infiltration of the leaf was successful; I believe I found something that The Hokage did not intend on falling into enemy hands."

"Oh," Sasuke said in a genuine show of surprise, "You returned alive?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke could hear an edge of sass on the spy behind him.

"It means I fully expected you to fail. That idiot Naruto, their drunk hot-headed leader, many make the mistake of underestimating them."

"Hm?" The snark in the spy's voice was evident, "Like you did?"

At the twitch of the eye, Sasuke rose up from his cross-legged position by the riverbed. "What's your name?"

"Uh, I-"

"Nevermind, I don't care. Show me what you discovered."

The spy, looking momentarily befuddled now that Sasuke was facing her, took a hesitant step back. "I-I was going to hand this t-"

"I will determine if it is worth his time. Or not," Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "What did you discover?"

"I discovered that there was a spy in our midsts." Tsunade sighed as she admitted the truth, which caused a mutual and expected mix of gasps to exude around her, "There has been one here for a while. Perhaps even more that I am not yet aware of, though that is unlikely."

In the Hokage Tower at the topmost office, Tsunade had gathered the likes of Naruko, Ino, and Sakura, with Shizune standing beside The Hokage herself. The sun was beginning to set over the horizon as she had to deliver the news that just came to her attention. A trusted source from her ANBU reported a departing figure, not registered as an official resident of The Leaf, leaving at a suspiciously swift pace. Furthermore, reports of said indivisual have been shared among the locals. Apparently, this person just appeared and went in a brief span.

"How did they go under our noses for so long!?" Sakura slammed a fist against Tsunade's recently installed desk; The Hokage raised an eyebrow upon seeing a small crack form under her student's fist.

"I am not sure, there must have been a crack in our security that went unnoticed. But it is odd indeed. The brat was lucky, is all I can say."

"Yeah, it's almost like the village was distracted for some reason," Ino said with her eye narrowing towards Naruko. "And someone just used that as an opportunity to slip in and out."

In response, Naruko began to whistle a soft tune whilst looking off toward the ceiling.

Seeing this, Tsunade only shook her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose; she took a moment to pause and steady her thoughts. Feeling Shizune's hand on her shoulder certainly, did help, even if the girl was the reason her booze cabinet was empty and as dry as a wasteland.

Yes, a nice long drink would do her wonders right now.

"Okay, enough. Now is no time for pointing blame or fingers, and... Naruko! Stop touching your breasts, you damn brat!" The small crack that Sakura left in her wake was dwarfed by the much larger indent Tsunade's fist created on the desk.

"Sorry, sorry. My bad," Naruko responded sheepishly, retracting her hands. "Just still getting used to them,"

"Tsunade-sama, ignore her! She's just a weird perv," Sakura said, giving Naruko a glare, "What do we do about this spy?"

"Yes, you're right. It's not worth getting heated over." Tsunade calmed herself, irritated that her new desk was already getting damaged. "As for the spy. Currently, you are all instructed to do nothing out of the ordinary. Just be on high alert, as there is a possibility that there may be more spies present."

Ino took a step forward, "But the one that got away? Are-"

"Obviously, I am not going to allow them to escape freely without knowing their intentions. I have connections outside the village and already put out the word to have them returned to The Leaf, alive."

"Ooo~ Connections," Naruko jokes, "I bet they're not nearly as good as me. I could have that spy back by morning."

"Oh, she is 'much' better than you," Tsunade reached for her drink, "No offense,"

"How am I not supposed to take offense to that?"

Bringing the drink to her mouth, Tsunade only took a few gulps before her eyes widened. "Pfffff~achmmgh~" The Hokage stopped herself from spitting out liquid to begrudgingly swallow, "Shizune! What is this!?"

"It is water, My Lady."

"Give me my sake."

"Not until you are done here,"

Tsunade groaned. "You are all dismissed. I've got shit to do."

"A pendant that can enhance the power of chakra and jutsu of the wearer?"

"Indeed. Apparently, it was created by The Hokage herself. I imagine there may be more powerful artifacts hidden in her vault."

"That is a fair assumption," Sasuke muttered, perched cross-legged on a tree stump; he flipped through the pages of the book, all of which appeared empty, void of any rare secrets that the spy had assumed were hidden within. "That pendant does seem to be more important than an empty book."

"Yeah, but this book shouldn't be empty, it's-" The spy was halted amidst her response when Sasuke turned the book in his hands to show her the empty pages that lie within. "Oh, no..."

"Mhm, and you intended on giving Orochimaru an empty book. Not a great decision."

"I-I didn't know... should I go back?"

"Good luck with that, if I could hear you in the trees, The Leaf's ANBU would've known as well. You weren't discreet in your escape. I'm willing to bet The Hokage sent someone to track you down as we speak." Sasuke turned another page. "The best thing you can hope for now is that this book hides secrets that we currently cannot see. Maybe hidden text or sealed power."

"Oh! I did hear of a book that can supposedly alter the fabric of reality,"

"That sounds interesting.." Sasuke glanced up.

"But..."

"And there we go," He looked back down.

"It is apparently.. too weak to be used for anything. The chakra it contains is far too minuscule."

"Right, right," Sasuke muttered, turning a page. "What if that pendent you mentioned before were to be used in tandem with the book? Tsunade created it to boost the effectiveness of all kinds of chakra and jutsus, correct?"

"That is what I heard, but unfortunately, I never came across that pendant myself. We might have to form a raid. Something that powerful would be worth a full-on **** on the village."

"Maybe." Sasuke said, eyeing the current page of the book with a soft glint, "Do you have a pen?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Give it," was all she received in response.

"Fine," She said, reaching into her satchel and retrieving the tool.

Sasuke caught it after a toss and instantly began to write in the book.

The spy tilted her head, "What are you doing?"

"What do you think of that?" Sasuke ignored her question and gestured a finger toward the river.

Following his gaze, she eyed the flowing stream but wasn't sure what he was getting at, "It's a river? What, is there something wrong with blood? We all have it,"

"Oh? So it's fine for river water to have blood?"

The spy blinked, "Pardon? What is.. water?"

Sasuke scribbled something else in the book before replying to her question, "Water is what's in the river behind you. How do you not know what water is?"

Opening her mouth, the spy paused, realizing that he was right in the fact that she just asked something pretty stupid. She just closed her mouth again and blushed faintly, "Y-Yeah, I don't know why I asked that heh... um.. so- what are you getting at?"

"I think you're onto something," For the first time since their encounter, Sasuke displayed a smile, though it was more akin to a sadistic grin, one that made the spy feel a sharp, unsettling churn in her stomach. "If the Hokage is hiding relics like these, we should raid the village for all it's worth."

"Um, okay. Let's inform-"

"Actually, I think I can do this one on my own." Sasuke interrupted, "But first... I need to test something."