Chapter 11: The Thrilling Conclusion (of the arc)

Itachi awoke and immediately sought out Kakashi. As much as he didn't want to ask for help, he had to admit he was stuck, and the sooner he was free of whatever rules he was restricted to, the better. Kakashi was in the library, reading the Icha Icha book.

"Can I ask you a question about the investigation?" Itachi asked.

"Sure, though I have nothing new to report on." Kakashi replied, putting the book down.

"I'm stuck," Itachi admitted, "I feel like I have everything but I'm still missing something. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, have you looked at what you do have?" Kakashi asked. "A shinobi has to see underneath the underneath." Itachi thought for a moment and realized he'd been acting stupid, really stupid.

"Thank you, I should solve this case soon." Itachi said, bowing before his wisdom. Kakashi dismissed him with a wave, and Itachi returned to his room. He pulled up his inventory and poked the book. A pictorial representation of it flooded Itachi's vision accompanied by a short description.

Book:

This proves that Reigi knew the value of the sword.

He checked the item and sure enough, there was another button underneath it: Examine. He could've probably had this case wrapped up yesterday if he'd bothered to check instead of glancing at the icon. He doubted the book would give him anything, so he pulled up the only thing that was a mystery.

Fork:

It's a fancy fork. Found in the garden. Relation to the crime unknown.

Itachi hit the Examine button and felt his vision shift as his Sharingan activated automatically. The fork was now in his hands, and he set to examining every part of it. All the tiny scratches were visible under his super powered eyes. The handle of it revealed nothing new, so he moved up to the tines.

He looked up and down the length of each tine. The first, second, and third tines were normal. But when he got to the last one, he noticed something was off. It had a lighter colour at the base of it. He checked it against the other tines to confirm. Itachi recognized the lighter colour as a stress mark.

Item Updated!

The base of one of the tines has a stress mark on it.

Itachi broke out into a grin. This was all he needed. He could wrap up the case now, and be done with this nonsense. He rushed downstairs to gather everyone for the reveal. He found everyone with one exception, the daimyo.

"I'm afraid his lordship is tied up until this afternoon," Taio had explained to him. Itachi left to wait in his room. It was only the fact that all that was between him and normalcy was a few hours that he kept himself at ease. Well, that, and his ability to meditate away a good portion of it quickly.

He returned to the dining room, conveniently interrupting lunch.

"I've cracked the case!" He announced to everyone. He was excited to reveal his findings to everyone, especially Reigi.

"Very impressive," the daimyo said. "So who stole my precious heirloom?" Each of the occupants of the room faintly glowed, indicating Itachi should tap one.

Reveal the Thief!

"It was Reigi!" He declared. Whatever forces had given him this power had a sense of humour, as he was forced to point at Reigi to tap him as he said it aloud.

"Woah… Woah, buddy. Look here," Reigi said with indignance. He was going to fight it, but Itachi was prepared. "I've been a friend of the daimyo for years. Now why would I go steal something from him after he's treated me with such kindness. That's just rude."

Show the Motive!

Itachi's inventory automatically popped up for him to select an item. He'd known it for a while, so it was an easy choice.

"Simple," Itachi said, "here in my hands is a book detailing the daimyo's family history." He ignored the angry glance from Taio for removing the book from the library.

"So what?" Reigi asked. "If someone reads a history book on Konoha does that mean they're going to steal one of the priceless artifacts?" Itachi ignored the fact the hypothetical didn't apply to Konoha.

"It's what's in the book that counts," Itachi countered. He found the right section and read it aloud, "Among the daimyo family heirlooms is the family sword, which has seen many a bloody battle. Its historical presence makes the sword extremely valuable to collectors…"

"Ah yes," the daimyo chimed in, "You are not the first to steal the sword. It's changed hands many times, but it always returns to its rightful place in the manor."

"Thank you, lord, for supplying this information," Itachi said. The daimyo gave a small motion in acknowledgement. "And thanks to Taio, I know you were reading this book on the day of the crime," Itachi added.

Success!

"I read the book, I'll admit that. But that doesn't make me a thief! When would I even steal it anyways?" Reigi was starting to backpedal, falling upon an obvious question to avoid the damning one.

Show the Opportunity!

"This is another simple task," Itachi said. "Everyone else's alibi checks out, leaving you the only one who could have done it."

"I don't believe any of that. How did you even prove everyone else's alibis?" Reigi countered.

"The daimyo can confirm Sato's presence at his side for the greater part of the day," Itachi said before launching into a series of rhetorical questions. "Dinner was served on time, wasn't it? The mansion was spotless that night, wasn't it?-"

"Hold on a moment, buddy," Reigi cut him off, "The mansion wasn't spotless. There were crumbs in the drawing room!" His face grew a triumphant grin. Itachi hid his own smile for now.

"Ah, I forgot," Itachi said, making a gesture of mock forgetfulness, "Taio was preoccupied with something. Namely, a food theft gone awry." Taio started sputtering.

"Now hold on a moment," he interjected, "I always hold myself to the rules like someone in his lordship's service should. Why would I pilfer the kitchen?"

"I've got no clue," Itachi admitted, "but all the evidence points to someone eating stolen food in the drawing room. And it was you I caught in there searching for something last night!" He'd gotten caught up in the theatrics and pointed menacingly at Taio.

"That's preposterous!" He yelled. "You have no proof of that!"

"Oh but I do," Itachi was enjoying himself far more than he should have, "I have it right here." He pulled out the fork that had been baffling him. Taio's mouth fell open momentarily before he regained his composure.

"I suppose it was was inevitable," he mused. "Indeed, I was eating a quick snack when I spilled some crumbs. The plate had been set out with food, and I'm afraid I shamefully couldn't help myself." He looked at Ryori, "I apologize for my selfish actions." She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to.

"Well the gardener still could have done it!" Reigi spoke up now that one mystery had been solved. "Yeah, he was tired of working for the daimyo, and stole the sword to escape this life." He looked fairly pleased with his answer.

"I love my job, sir," Tanaka took it upon himself to disprove Reigi. "Here I don't have to worry about food or any expenses and I can pursue my hobby, gardening."

"Indeed," Itachi added, "yesterday when I went out to the garden right after dinner, he was hard at work. He even apologized when he wasn't done. Now will you let me finish, or are you going to suggest that the daimyo stole his own sword?" He ignored the fact that this didn't technically prove Tanaka's alibi and instead relished in Reigi's squirming.

Success!

"Okay, so no one knows what I was doing at the time," he conceded, "but that doesn't mean anything! You don't even know how the sword got out of the case, do you? Tell me, smart guy, how would I have even done it?" He went on another tirade and ended with a smug smile.

Show the Means!

"If you insist, and stop me if I'm wrong," Itachi said before launching into his explanation. "You learned of the swords value by chance. By your own admittance, you've been a family friend for years, which would give you knowledge of the schedules of the various work-"

"Now you're just making stuff up!" Reigi broke in. "You just want me to be guilty, dontcha?"

"I'm afraid Itachi's right," the daimyo chimed in, "even someone like you would pick up on patterns." The room fell silent. One did not disagree with the daimyo.

"As I was saying," Itachi continued, "all you needed to do was pick the lock. I'll admit I didn't know how you did until this morning. One part I found on the ground," he pulled out the small piece he'd found by the case, "which presumably was taken off of something, and the other, is this," he pulled out the fork for everyone to see. Reigi started laughing.

"A fork as a lock pick," he said in a reprieve from the laughing, "that's a new one, and the silliest thing I've ever heard." He doubled over laughing.

"You would be right," Itachi said, unphased by Reigi's laughter, "except for the fact that one of these tines has stress marks on it, indicating that someone bent it out of place, and then bent it back. The marks were only on a single tine, which tells me it was very intentional."

"This just gets better," Reigi said amidst a fresh wave of laughter, "I don't even believe it can be done. This is just a waste of time."

"Taio," the daimyo said, "would you get the case. I want to see if Reigi is right." Taio bowed and left, returning with the case a few minutes later. Itachi bent the tine back and pulled out the other part of the lockpick. Within seconds he had the case open.

"So an elite ninja can open it with a fork," Reigi said, "doesn't mean that I could do it. Heck, I can barely pick a lock with proper tools."

"Thank you for bringing that up," Itachi said, no longer being able to hide his smile, "if you look around the lock, you'll see that whoever did this did it poorly, which you just so kindly explained to us that's how you pick locks."

"I-I…" Reigi stuttered. Itachi resumed his explanation before he could get much else out.

"Now then, without any further distractions," he gave Reigi a look, "You had an idea to pick the lock, all you needed were the items. You were on the way to the kitchen when luck smiled upon you. There was an unattended fork in the drawing room. You committed the deed, and stowed the sword in your room."

"I was going half mad trying to find that fork," Taio broke in, "I had kept the room dark for fear of being caught. I thought I'd left the fork on one of the books, but when I left for something to clean up the evidence and came back, it was gone. I returned every night, looking for that fork."

"Another piece of the puzzle solved," Itachi commented. "Upon arriving in your room, you found that you'd lost the small metal piece, but you still had the fork. You disposed of it, eventually settling on the garden, only to realize your own folly and go to reclaim it later that night, only for it to have been picked up by me." he finished with a small flourish, alive with the knowledge he'd finally proved it was Reigi.

Success!

"We must confirm this at once!" The daimyo didn't hesitate after Itachi had finished, "Taio, unlock Reigi's room for us."

"No, you can't do this to me!" Reigi butted in, "I'm innocent, I tell you. Just leave me alone!" He was begging now.

"Typical," Kakashi commented, finally breaking his silence. He kept a careful eye on him as the daimyo personally went to check for the sword. He returned with it, and Kakashi detained Reigi, who'd fallen silent. Itachi silently dismissed the quest completion text.

"Thank you for solving the mystery," the daimyo said, addressing Itachi. "In light of this success, I think you deserve something for your work." He offered Itachi the fork. "And it only seems appropriate that you get the piece that let you solve it."

"Thank you, my lord," Itachi said as he bowed and took the fork. It wasn't much but he'd take it. One didn't reject gifts from the daimyo. They bid their farewells and started the journey home.

It was a quiet trip home. Itachi hated the fact that he could've had this case done a lot sooner, but on the other hand he was fairly certain of the reason for Kakashi's silence. He did have a lengthy report to file when they returned.