Chapter 9: Barriers

Itachi entered the room in which the guests resided in. There was just a smattering of people present. His first impression was that, of the 5 guests, no one was immediately suspicious.

"It is very good to see such a hasty response from Konoha," the daimyo said.

"Thank you, lord," Kakashi and Itachi replied in unison, bowing. "We understand that there has been a theft and we're here to assist in any way we can." Kakashi continued.

"Yes, very good." the daimyo said. He gestured at the occupants of the room. "These are all the people who were present when the discovery was made. I hope you find the thief who stole the family sword," and with that, the daimyo left them in the room.

"Shall we get to work?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes," was the reply. Itachi first used Observe on the occupants of the room, ignoring everything but their current mood.

Mr. Tanaka:

But a simple gardener for the daimyo who's devoted to his job. His clothes are dirty, a sign he's been working recently.

Feeling: anxious, a desire to work, concern

Ms. Sato:

The daimyo's doctor. She's wearing a semi-formal kimono, and is here for the daimyo's regular checkup. Kakashi seems to have caught her eye.

Feeling: nervous, infatuated, concern

Mr. Reigi:

A family friend. Very well-dressed and has a rogue-ish mien about him.

Feeling: guilty, nervous, anxious, tense

Ms. Ryori:

A portly woman who works as the daimyo's chef. Her cooking is quite excellent.

Feeling: jolly, confused, concern

Mr. Taio:

The family servant. Waits on the daimyo and attends to various duties including cleaning. Always eager to please.

Feeling: anxious, concern, impatient

Itachi rolled his eyes at the names. But more importantly he'd discovered who the thief was. Everyone else was in the daimyo's service, everyone else was feeling concerned to some degree; the culprit was fairly obvious. He did some navigating and selected: Call out Reigi as the thief.

No! You don't have enough evidence!

Itachi stared at the text box, dumbfounded. It looked like his power had some restrictions in certain situations. So Itachi did the only thing he could, he began interviewing each of the "suspects." Tanaka was first.

"So, what do you do for the daimyo?" Itachi asked.

"I tend to his many gardens, which serve both to please guests and provide the kitchen with fresh fruits and vegetables." He said. At least this seemed rather straightforward. He glanced over at Itachi, who had began talking to Sato. It was probably for the best.

"Where were you when the theft was discovered?" The mystery novels Itachi had read were bland and predictable, much like his current mission, but they had taught him the basics of investigation.

"I was tending to the gardens as I usually do." He looked desperately like he wanted to help, yet he had nothing helpful to say, like a kid trying to help his dad move a couch. That was the impression he gave Itachi.

Alibi: Tanaka was working in the gardens

"Alright, I'll come back to you if I need anything else, thank you." Itachi ended the conversation. "Oh, and I want to see the gardens later," he added. Tanaka's eyes seemed to light up at the prospect. Itachi moved onto Taio.

"What do you do for the daimyo?" There was no reason not to start off gathering the same information.

"I am the house servant," he said with pride in his voice. "I ensure that the riff raff stay outside of his lordship's manor. I also keep the manor in top condition to keep his lordship happy. I make sure the halls are clean, the beds are made, and that every picture is hung straight."

"And what were you doing when the theft was discovered?" Itachi asked.

"It was approximately 7 PM 5 days ago that the daimyo called me to report the heirloom had stolen. At the time I'd been cleaning up the books that Reigi had distastefully left out," he answered. There'd been some amount of disgust at having to mention Reigi.

Clue Discovered: The timeframe of the incident

Alibi: Taio was cleaning up the library

"What had Reigi been reading?" Itachi asked. Given how it'd been going so far, it was probably going to be a history book detailing the expensive nature of the heirloom.

"Among the books that had been scattered about the library was a book on origami, with a rather poor attempt at a crane left inside, one of his lordship's romance books, a gift from one of the Sannin, and a book detailing the daimyo's family history." Taio said as he counted them off on his fingers.

Clue Discovered: Reigi had been reading a book about the daimyo's family history

So he was making some progress. He thanked Taio and moved onto the man himself, Reigi. Kakashi was now interviewing the cook, and they were having a laugh about something. Itachi just wanted to get this over with.

"What do you do for the daimyo?" Itachi asked for the last time.

"Me, I don't do a thing for the daimyo, except, you know, be there for him. I'm just a family friend, our dads knew each other, same as their dads. Say, maybe one day we'll have a son and daughter who'll marry each other. Then we'll be family. It'd be great," He said. Itachi was amazed at how off topic he'd gotten.

"What were you doing when the theft was discovered?" Itachi asked, waiting for the inevitably false response.

"I was laying in my room, yeah. I was waiting for dinner and thought I'd have a little lie down. You know, long day, lots of stuff happening, it really wears you out." Something about his speech pattern was distinctly irritating to Itachi.

Deception detected

There was no surprise there. Itachi went to ask him about his alibi and was greeted with another popup.

You need evidence to prove he's lying.

Nothing was going to be simple about this mission, was it. He left Reigi alone and met up with Kakashi to discuss what they had learned.

"The theft was discovered at about 7 PM 5 days ago. They all have alibis, but Reigi's is a bit questionable." Itachi didn't waste any time. "How about you?"

"Let's see, I couldn't get much useful out of Sato besides she had just given the daimyo his checkup. Ryori had been cooking dinner and she'd just discovered some crumbs." Kakashi listed off.

Alibi: Sato was with the daimyo

Alibi: Ryori was getting dinner ready

Clue: Crumbs in the kitchen

Itachi dismissed the popups in annoyance. If there was time later he'd have to see if he could disable them for the time being.

"I think we should look into the alibis first," Itachi said. "Should we split up?"

"I'll talk to the daimyo and check the kitchen." Kakashi replied. Itachi felt like he was trying to do as little work as possible. He couldn't argue though, those were the alibis he'd found.

"Okay then, we'll meet up an hour before dinner." Itachi said. Kakashi made himself scarce, and Itachi talked to Taio.

"Do you happen to have a map of the manor?" He asked. "I'd hate to keep you from your duties."

"I do indeed. I assumed you and your companion would be needing them to navigate the labyrinthine manor. Although it seems your partner has run off without it." Taio replied. He gave Itachi two maps. "Make sure you give this to him."

Items Obtained: Maps of the Mansion

It shows you where you're going and where you've been. Makes navigating a cinch.

One of the maps automatically went into Itachi's inventory. The other floated up to the top left corner of Itachi's vision and became a small representation of the mansion, a mini-map. Itachi reached up and touched it, and it responded by expanding to its full size.

He first headed out into the gardens. Kakashi could wait. Itachi was sure he'd be fine without the map. He was only going to the kitchen and talking with the daimyo after all. Tanaka was waiting for him.

"I'm sorry, I was not expecting you so soon. I have not finished my work for the evening." He said, bowing in apology. Itachi waved it off.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just here to make sure there's nothing unusual here." He said. Tanaka immediately left Itachi to resume his work. Itachi began tapping on things.

Garden:

Fruits and vegetables are planted in neat rows. Some of them are missing crops, probably used for meals.

Tanaka:

He seems hard at work, it'd be best to leave him alone.

Dirt path:

A well worn path consisting of dirt. Nothing of interest here.

Itachi found nothing worth noting, not that it surprised him. He'd just come out here to check on some things. As he was about to leave, the sun began reflecting off something metallic. Itachi tapped it.

Item Obtained: Fork

It's a very fancy fork. But what's it doing out in the garden?

It went to Itachi's inventory. He didn't really have time to ponder how it got out here, so he just started making his way to the library. Once there, he found that one of the books had been left out. He tapped on them to investigate.

Icha Icha Book:

This isn't a kid friendly book. Reigi was probably reading this again.

Taio wasn't anywhere to be seen, so Itachi did him a favor and returned it to its proper place. He began going through the bookshelves, looking for the book on the daimyo's family history. He was amazed at the variety of books present.

There were books on philosophy, hobbies, mathematics, science, and a nice collection of fiction, which happened to include a healthy number of mystery books. Itachi even recognized a decent number of them having read them himself. Eventually, he found the book.

Book about daimyo's history:

This was the book Reigi was reading. Upon further reading, the book details the many heirlooms, including the sword that went missing. It is extremely valuable.

Evidence Gathered: Book

This shows Reigi knew of the value of the heirloom.

Well, at least his power had saved him from reading through the book and trying to find information about the sword. But he was still annoyed that it was painfully obvious. The book was now in Itachi's inventory, which meant all he had to do know was search Reigi's room.

It was only a few movements away, but Itachi encountered a problem upon trying to go in. The door had been locked. He looked around for anyone and went to bypass the door.

You need a key for the door.

This was beginning to get severely annoying. Lockpicking was among the many skills Itachi had. He could have the door open in no time and even lock it up afterwards. His anger was interrupted by Reigi's sudden appearance.

"Hey, what are you doing outside of my room?" He asked. Of course there was a note of panic in his voice.

"I'm looking for clues and evidence to pin down the thief with." Itachi replied.

"Oh!" He was interested now. "So have you found anything? I mean, you got to have. Aren't you and your buddy really good at this stuff?"

"No." Itachi gave his response in a flat tone. He wasn't revealing his hand, not yet.

Deception Successful

"Well, good luck then. I really hope you catch the guy." It could not have been more obvious that Reigi was just saying it to go through the motions. "And hey, dinner is about ready. They'll be ringing for us any minute now."

On cue, a bell rang throughout the house. Reigi quickly left. Itachi was glad to be rid of his presence. However, he still needed to find a way to get into his room. Perhaps he'd have to ask Taio when he could. In any case, he had a dinner to attend to.