"What's…wrong?" Tsuji asks slowly, furrowing her brows as she looks into the younger boy's obsidian eyes. She looks over out of the corner of her eye and sees Toyo moving his spoon in his miso soup back and forth; clearly trying to avoid having to talk with the kid he considers 'a black hole of misery and danger'. Tsuji never believed him, and still doesn't.

"Spill it," Korohi demands, "Why did you have information on Haruki and me? I saw you two give whatever other information you stole from Kumogakure to some old rogue shinobi. If you don't tell me, I'll report you to Raikage-sama when we get back to Kumogakure and laugh as you two get tried for treason and killed."

"That's…" Tsuji starts, finding herself cornered by his dark, abysmal eyes.

"Leave it," Toyo's matching obsidian eyes flit up and glare harshly, "Damn hypocrite. You have information on more than just our village's Genin. Don't act like we don't know; you suck at infiltration."

"W-what—" Korohi's face begins to redden, furious.

"And don't get me started on the alliance you made with that Uchiha boy," Toyo says quietly as he fishes out the tofu from his soup and places it in Tsuji's bowl.

"Alliance?" Tsuji's eyes turn just as cold as her brother's, "Korohi, why didn't you ask us? You can't make decisions for us like that. I don't like pulling this card, but we are four years your seniors."

"Don't patronize me," Korohi snaps, "I got more information yesterday! Here," he shoves some papers at the two. Toyo lifts his gaze from his bowl to the papers and then looks up carefully at his sister.

"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto. Led by Kosari," Tsuji reads aloud.

"Are you an idiot?" Toyo asks with a sneer, "Honestly."

"What do you mean?" Korohi growls.

"I'm talking about how you not only got us involved with an Uzumaki," Toyo's voice begins to rise with anger, "A Hyūga, who will certainly like us Kumogakure shinobi quite a bit," he stands from his seat and his eyes burn holes in Korohi, "And to top it all off, a damn, fucking, Uchiha! Don't you understand a thing about how dangerous they are?!"

"Toyo," Tsuji snaps, "Sit down."

"Like hell I am! I'm tired of this brat here acting like he's the one calling the shots!" Toyo turns his gaze to his sister, "Aren't you!?"

"That's not what I mean," Tsuji nervously glances over to the elderly man staring with a surprised look at Toyo, "Please, Toyo."

She reaches out to grab his arm and pull him down, but he swats her hand away and grabs Korohi's collar from across the table in the café, "Answer me, Korohi. Don't you understand how dangerous Uchiha are?"

Korohi rolls his eyes dramatically, "I clearly don't. Maybe you could ask this nice Uchiha man right here."

"What Uchiha—" Toyo looks over and sees a man with unkempt, grey hair staring at him. His yukata is a blue color with the Uchiha crest stitched on his shoulders and in a large motif on his back. Toyo visibly pales before gathering his composure, "Good morning, sir."

The man nods slightly before looking at Korohi. He studies Korohi for a moment before handing him a scroll. Korohi reluctantly takes it, "Who're you?"

The man neatly writes on a napkin: Uchiha Kagami.

Before Korohi can get another word in, a man with bags under eyes that are glazed with some sort of grief approaches the Uchiha patriarch. Kagami looks at the troubled Jōnin and purses his lips when he sees the blood on his vest. The young man, a Hyūga takes one look at Kagami before bowing his head, "Hokage-sama wishes to see you."

The moment Kagami walks through several hallways, doors, and frigid air; he has a feeling that something isn't right. The Jōnin that had brought him to the Hokage tower in the first place had long abandoned him at the second doorway of the basement. Every hallway, there was a new ANBU who escorted him until he ended up walking a few alone. His eyes turn a fiery red color and he sees several chakra signatures ahead. He'd only been down here once or twice and it always resulted in someone's death. It was never a pretty one, either. Murders here was always slow, drawn-out, and meant to leech out every drop of traitorous information out of the shinobi, whose death certificate was already signed by the Hokage.

When he arrives at the last hallway after providing his chakra and a special set of seals, there is one last ANBU. At first glance, he sees no difference to the others before, but after looking critically at the ANBU, he sees it's a new Black Ops captain.

"Good morning, Kagami-sama," he says formally, "Hokage-sama and his other advisors are eagerly awaiting your arrival."

Kagami quickly signs in ANBU code, 'What happened to the other head of Black Ops?'

The ANBU stiffens slightly, 'Please follow me.'

Kagami's sharingan eyes bore holes into the back of the man's head. The bird mask gives him chills and he can't stop the tendrils of fear from squeezing his heart. With each step closer, he grows more and more nauseous. His heart rate makes him feel as if his heart will leap out of his chest, but at the same time he feels that it's probably better if he just died before knowing what Hiruzen wants.

The ANBU opens the door after several complicated seals. He holds the door open for the man, who lowers his eyes when he sees the room. From the floor, green light glows brightly but is quickly eaten up by the remaining darkness in the room. Hiruzen turns and an eerie light lights up his face. Kagami places a fist over his mouth to keep the bile in. Behind him, Danzō is as stony as ever, but exudes an aura of smugness. At first, Kagami can't fathom why; the two never really talked, but upon looking at the green light, the seals that it shines from, and the reason why the lights shine in the first place, he understands. He takes a tentative step forward towards the shinobi restrained by the seals that wrap around arms and legs and neck, keeping her bound to the ground facedown. A blindfold covers her eyes, but Kagami can tell she's looking right at him, out of the corner of her eye. She says nothing, despite nothing hindering her from doing so.

"She won't talk," Jiraiya says gruffly, "No matter how much I let the seals burn her skin, she won't say a word aside from the sound of her gritting her teeth. I tried looking through Minato's books and scrolls of sealing, but I found nothing as intricate as this. And, nothing involving a blood contract like this."

"Kagami, can you decipher this?" Hiruzen asks.

Kagami's eyes sweep the room and then he sees it. Bound to the wall with chakra restraints stuck to their skin are his two boys. When he lays eyes on Nagadachi and Shisui, all he sees are little toddlers running around with birthday cake on their face and then Genin who cut themselves on kunai they aren't even holding and the look of pure elation at freedom in his older son's eyes when he fled from Fugaku's grasp. He pushes down a smile when he remembers Shisui's wedding day. What a good kid.

He slowly walks over to his younger son, who eyes him warily and cryptically. Kagami stands eye to eye with his son before narrowing his eyes dangerously. Shisui keeps his face neutral but gasps in shock when Kagami slaps him across the face, hard. The sound reverberates off the walls and the shinobi restrained within the green light squeezes her eyes shut, as if that would stop any sound from reaching her ears. Something wet hits his feet and Shisui looks up in shock when he sees his father, crying. He'd never, ever seen his father cry. Not even when Nagadachi left. He can read what his father's lips mouth, and he wishes more than anything that he can't. But, he does: How dare you bring Kosari into your mess! She worked so hard for our clan and this is how you treat the woman that looked after Shirusu and Yūko on the night of the Massacre?!

Then, Kagami sucker punches Shisui so hard he hears a rib break. Shisui pants shallowly as Nagadachi keeps silent. As always. Blood drips down onto the floor and Shisui coughs wetly.

Although a henge would work to restore his ability to speak and to have a tongue again, he refrains from doing so.

"Kagami?" Hiruzen asks after Kagami breaks almost all of the toes in Shisui's feet, "Will you help decipher this?"

Kagami turns away from his son and walks over to the Hatake. He looks over the ink with his sharingan and closes his eyes. Just what is Shisui thinking? I think all the praise and fame got to his head. But no matter how much I want to kill him right now…I can't. He's stupid and he hasn't realized that yet.

Kagami stands and turns to Hiruzen, who now stands behind him, "Could you decipher it?"

Kagami looks at his son and glares harshly, 'Yes. This is a seal fashioned by the Uchiha clan. Jiraiya is right; this is a blood contract. This contract was first created to use corpses as soldiers in war on a large scale. In a way, this seal is similar to a summoning contract because it can be used over long distances. Simply put, this seal is a contract of liege and servant. The person whose blood and chakra are applied or mixed into the ink of this seal will give orders after going through several hand seals, and the person who receives this seal is the one who carries out orders. I had believed this seal was simply one person giving out orders to as many people bear this seal, but apparently this seal can be shared between people, lieges. In addition—'

"T-tou-san…" Shisui says in pure disbelief, "You traitor!"

Nagadachi looks on with mild disgust. While the liege or lieges are beyond disgraceful, I never knew Tou-san would break clan rules and talk about that forbidden seal. I'm not protecting him when Shisui gets his clan-loving hands on him.

'In addition, as every seal and jutsu has a downside, so does this one. This seal draws upon a large amount of chakra. Corpses must be outfitted with some chakra for the seal to work and living people bearing this seal must be careful to carry out orders, usually quick assassinations, with as little chakra as possible,' Kagami says.

So this is why you honed your taijutsu so much, Danzō thinks as he looks down at his former agent. But…that doesn't explain why since Shisui had attacked you five years ago you could freely use your chakra. Had the seal been deactivated then and now it's reactivated? This doesn't make sense.

"This doesn't make very much sense," Hiruzen says, "Why is it that she was able to use her chakra freely after the Uchiha Massacre? Five years has passed since then. Kagami, does this seal deactivate after some interval of time?"

'It deactivates when the liege dies,' Kagami signs.

"And who was the liege then?" Danzō asks, "I'm having a hard time believing it's Shisui; she isn't a careless shinobi and if she knew that the seal was still active she wouldn't have been so liberal with her chakra use. To me, when she attacked me, it seemed as if she too was surprised that she suddenly appeared where Shisui was in the forest. I think the seal may have been reactivated."

'That's likely,' Kagami says, 'The liege was Fugaku. After he died, I could no longer sense his chakra permeating the seal.'

"And who is the liege now, then?" Danzō eyes Shisui warily.

"No way…" Shisui mutters under his breath, "That bastard…"

Kagami clenches a fist in his pocket, 'Itachi, mainly, and there's a trace of Shisui's chakra and blood.'

Danzō scowls, "I hadn't sensed Itachi's presence within the forest. And, Shisui hadn't formed any seals. Shisui's mentor was Uzumaki Kushina; could she have taught him a way to override seals?"

'It's not that so much as it is that the placement of Shisui's blood. It seems…right here,' Kagami lightly pokes Kosari's back where some part of the seal is, 'Is where the seal might've had a loophole. I'll have to look into this, but from what I can guess is that perhaps if the liege is in a situation in which his life is threatened, seals are unnecessary. However, the only people who would really know are the ones who reactivated the seal.'

"Itachi, presumably," Hiruzen says, "And Shisui."

"Is there a way to get this seal off?" Danzō asks, "Not only is this a danger to her life, but a danger to the village. Itachi could simply form the seal anywhere and have her destroy the village without being able to stop herself. And with that stunt she pulled with controlling my blood, I doubt she'll be easily stopped without being killed first."

"Are you threatening to kill her, you sick bastard?" Shisui demands, "Like that'll happen!"

'The seal can be taken off permanently if the caster removes it,' Kagami continues.

Jiraiya cups his chin, "Just why was this seal placed on her in the first place?"

Kagami's eyes become dim with sorrow, 'I'm afraid that is none of my business.'

Jiraiya glances over at Shisui and narrows his eyes at Shisui's emotional display. Maybe. Just maybe.

"Hiruzen, even though it's clear that Kosari has no wish to harm this village or any of its citizens, she cannot be left alone. Someone must be around to stop her before she acts upon the wishes of Itachi or Shisui and annihilates the village. I believe letting her reenter Black Ops is a wise choice," Danzō says, "She'll be under my careful eye."

Hiruzen scowls, "No. We still haven't addressed how she had used your blood to try to kill you."

Hiruzen clenches a fist and the seals that bind her body glow an orange color as her skin burns a bright red burning color. The seals slowly turn a brighter color and a small, shallow gasp escapes her lips as her fists clench and unclench over and over in agony.

"Hokage!" Shisui screams, "Leave her alone!"

"What, you have some explanation regarding her controlling of Danzō and the ANBU's blood?" Hiruzen asks, his tone mocking. Shisui's blood boils. He's enjoying this!

Shisui glares hatefully and he opens his mouth to say something, but Kosari beats him to it, "I…I'll talk."

"Finally," Jiraiya says, exasperated. Hiruzen unclenches his fists.

Kosari inhales and exhales deeply and her body still shudders with pain. Yet, she begins, "I normally tell this story with my teammates having been the heroes. It's easier to say because that's how they remember this. During my Chūnin Exams, my teammates had quickly wasted their chakra with their kekkei genkai. At that time, I had even less chakra than I do now and preserved as much as I could. However, that became impossible when my teammates succumbed to severely depleted chakra reserves and high temperatures. I was left alone to defend them, make traps, and try to use the high humidity to my advantage to gather enough water. Then, as luck would have it, we were ambushed. My teammates were separated from me. I was surrounded by seven other shinobi and quickly outmatched. However, I had managed to nick all of them. Their blood dripped down and seeped into the ground. As my consciousness faded in and out and I began to lose more and more blood, all I could think about was just how much blood was around me. And how much water was around me. I pulled out the senbon from my hands and pressed my hands together. The color in their faces drained, they screamed, their bodies quivered, and then they exploded. It rained blood and I was covered in it. After that, I passed out. I had tried not to think about it after that, and only confided in one person what truly happened. To everyone else, to my teammates, to my brother, I told them that my teammates had miraculously woken up and saved me. Yet…to this day I believe my sensei when she told me that this must be a kekkei genkai. I never told my teammates this; I wouldn't want them to feel bad that they weren't special anymore. Right, Shisui?"

Shisui blinks slowly in shock, "No…you passed out and then I…"

"You can search through my memories, Hokage-sama," Kosari sighs in defeat, "But, to verify my belief that I must harbor this awful kekkei genkai, you would have to find my father."

"Listen," he leans a hand against the wall and looks into her eyes, "I'm sorry about—"

"I get it," Kosari snaps back, "You don't trust me. Especially after something I've tried to keep under wraps was just exposed. Soon enough all of my superiors will know about this. I'm useless now. And—"

"I don't care about that," he says sharply and then sighs, "If it makes you feel any better, Sarutobi-sensei has had much lower points in his life than you. I'm sure you still have more events in your life you'd rather forget, but believe me: he's had a rougher time than most. At least you got to meet your parents, Kosari."

She bites her lip at the image of her mother and then looks back at him with irritation, "What do you want?"

"Let's get some drinks," Jiraiya says. "I'll pay, promise."

The look in his eyes, as Kosari notes, doesn't leave room for a no. She sighs and goes along with him.

At a seedy bar, she pours him a cupful of sake and then drinks straight from the bottle until it's all gone. He lets out a low whistle, "Not even Tsunade does that. You must have an impressive tolerance for this stuff."

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, "I guess. What did you want to talk about? I'll try not to lie."

He laughs, "Somehow that's even less convincing." Jiraiya takes a bite of some sort of fried food and looks into her cold, killer eyes, "Why do you have this seal? What's it called, anyway?"

"Seijō," Kosari says, "It's called Seijō."

Jiraiya leans in eagerly, "And?"

"And?" Kosari arches a brow, "What?"

He sighs, "I'll repeat it: why do you have this seal?"

Kosari's eyes become distant. She reaches for another bottle and takes a small sip before pursing her lips. She shakes her head, "Why are you so interested? Why all of a sudden are you digging into a Hatake's life? Don't you have more interesting things to do?"

His face becomes serious, "This isn't about you," he adds a bit of disdain to get her attention. She eyes him warily, "It's about the entire village's security. I don't know what kind of jutsu you wield, what your skillset is, or much of anything about you, but I feel that if I know why you have this seal I can try to outwit those Uchiha and think of a way to get it off."

Kosari swirls the sake in the bottle before setting it down on the table, "I'm an unknown entity still, huh? That's good. I'd rather keep it that way."
"Are you implying you don't intend to tell me?" Jiraiya asks, lacing his fingers together neatly.

"Of course I won't tell you," Kosari smirks, "I'm not going to ask how your parents died and I don't owe you anything. Besides," she snatches the bottle from him, "You let Kakashi die, didn't you?"

He glares harshly and the chopsticks in his hands splinter.

Then she laughs once, "Oh, sorry. Did I hit a nerve?"

"Stop being so selfish," he growls, "You're a dangerous weapon. You need to tell me," his voice grows quieter, "Or I'll have to squeeze it out of you."
Her jovial façade falls instantly. The air grows cold and several people around the two shinobi leave quickly. Kosari's face falls into a dark one, "I'm not telling a damn thing to you. You dare call me selfish? You're selfish and arrogant if you think that only you can protect this village. You must think you're some chosen hero, don't you?"

Pure rage shines in the Sannin's eyes. Kosari stands and slams down more than enough to pay for the bill. Jiraiya grits his teeth, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Home," Kosari says firmly, "I have no reason to tell you anything. I don't trust you. If you're so invested in Konoha's security, you should be more focused on the most hazardous event to Konoha's safety of the year: the Chūnin Exams, and not some nameless Jōnin."

Before she can hear Jiraiya's angry response, she disappears in a black blur.

"Sorry," he sighs loudly as he closes the door behind him. Hiruzen turns around in his chair and gives him a dark look.

Jiraiya always hated that dark, menacing look Hiruzen wore sometimes. On our first B-Rank mission, he slaughtered everyone with that look. Orochimaru and Tsunade didn't seem afraid at all, but I… "Sorry, really."

"Clearly you're not," Hiruzen's voice is quiet, full of cold rage, "If you were sorry, you wouldn't show your face here. I want answers. I was hoping you'd use your genjutsu on her and get some real facts out of her. Today has been a real test on my patience, Jiraiya," his voice drips with anger at his student's name, "I might not be an expert on seals, but according to the ANBU, her skin became covered in black markings. That would only happen if she has more than one seal being used at the same time. Danzō won't talk and slinks back into ANBU Black Ops barracks like a coward. I know she served as his top agent," he takes a drag from his pipe, "Kagami says he's busy with Sasuke and doesn't have time to explain just what sort of relation she has with his clan. I went down to the cells and interrogated Shisui until I was certain there was no way to get all his blood from staining the walls. All he did was just curse me and vowed to respect her, 'unlike me', he said. If that killer doesn't die tonight, I'll be impressed. But," he takes another drag, "For you, my last hope, to come here, empty-handed…"

The air becomes much, much colder. Jiraiya finds breathing more and more difficult with each passing second.

"Is beyond disgraceful."

"S-sensei…" Jiraiya chokes out, "I…!"

"You'll what?" Hiruzen asks, his voice level.

"I'll…get…answers…" Jiraiya says in a whisper, barely able to suck air into his burning lungs.

"Good," the air lifts and Jiraiya hits the floor, coughing and wheezing, "And don't come back here until you do."

Usually, just hopping over a few buildings would serve as a quick way to get home. But, after drinking so quickly, Kosari supposes it would be best to take the scenic route, clear her head, and get her mind off of Jiraiya and the Seijō. She knows that she isn't drunk enough to pass out or vomit; after a month of Shisui's genjutsu in the hospital years ago with Kakashi not moving from her side, she had gone to every bar within the following month and drank enough sake to outdo Tsunade's records.

Along the longer, quiet route, the sun shines on the leaves and makes drops of water on the flowers shine. She turns her head to look into the greenery beside the path. A small pond glows with the few shafts of light hitting it, emphasizing the few lilies in the water. A couple birds soon fly into the water and fluff out their feathers and spread their wings, cleaning themselves.

A soft smile plays out on her lips, the first smile in a long time. She reaches for a few stale crackers in her pocket, and crumbles them roughly in her hands. She tosses it, and the birds quickly gather and pluck at the ground. Then, she turns on a heel and continues walking.

It isn't long before she hears something of a fight.

"…don't you understand?!"

"…hey…"

Kosari's smile fades and she quickly makes her way towards the sound. She rounds a corner and sees one boy throw another boy to the ground. A girl quickly catches the first boy and throws him to the ground as well. Kosari would've continued on her way, seeing the girl clearly had some handle on the situation, but the second boy launches himself at the first boy, his hand glowing with chakra.

Kosari catches the boy's fist with an equal amount of chakra to cancel out whatever he was planning to do. Her obsidian eyes stare down his fiery eyes and he glares, "Stay out of it."

"Fighting is prohibited before the Exams," Kosari says, "And you picked a bad person to stop your fight," she turns his body so fast the world becomes a blur of green and brown. She holds his arms against his back with one hand, keeps a knee on his back, and a kunai in the other hand.

"N-no, wait!" the girl cries out, "He didn't do anything wrong!"

Kosari waits patiently for the two silver-haired shinobi to gather themselves.

"Don't kid yourself, Tsuji," the boy pats his clothes to get the dust out, "Don't suck up to his shinobi just 'cause of how she looks."

Kosari sees the two weren't going to get anywhere, "Unless you want for me to disqualify your team from the Exams and go home immediately, you'll tell me why you were fighting."

Tsuji clears her throat. She's giving us a chance. I'd better not screw this up. "Earlier, my teammates got into a disagreement over a few things. This is just a continuation. Please—"

A senbon flies by and nicks her cheek, "Don't lie to me, please," Kosari says, "Do you want to go back to Kumo? I can personally escort you."

"Fine, fine," the boy scratches his bruised face, "Earlier, this morning, I found out that the guy you're keeping pinned down made an alliance with a Konoha team. I wouldn't have gotten so mad if he'd 1) asked us before dragging us into some risky alliance and 2) hadn't picked that team. Recklessly and without thinking about the consequences, he chose a team that had an Uzumaki—someone who I'm sure knows all about how Kumo destroyed his homeland—, a Hyūga—someone who I'm sure will want to get along with us Kumo shinobi and will completely disregard any past incidences—, and…" the boy scowls, "And an Uchiha, the most dangerous. I'd been trying to tell him just how dangerous Uchiha are and how much trouble you can avoid by not involving yourself with them, but he won't listen. You're a Konoha shinobi; surely you know more details than I do about the Uchiha Massacre."

Kosari's grip on the kunai tightens and the black-haired boy beneath her knee tenses, "You know nothing. Your reluctance may be a good thing when teaming up with any team in the Exams, but to stereotype my students into their clans is ridiculous. All you seem to have done is complaining and you haven't looked into even spying on your alliance members. From what little I've heard, I dare say that you have no interest in these Exams. If you've no interest, you shouldn't have come. Konoha will be safer without more foreign teams."
"'My students'?" Tsuji parrots, "You're Kosari?"

Kosari looks at them with no expression, "So have you done some research then?"

"Then that means—" Tsuji starts.

"Don't," Toyo warns in a low voice, "She's not our target."

Tsuji nods carefully, biting her lip to keep quiet.

"T-to some degree…" Tsuji answers with her eyes glued to the ground.

"You three have no idea, do you?" Kosari lets go of the boy beneath her, "You three want to know just how dangerous Uchiha can be?"
Toyo's face lightens up a bit at that. She believes me!

"We don't need to know," the second boy with dark hair and dark eyes snaps, "Come on, let's go, Tsuji, Toyo."

The two siblings stay put, looking at him with a serious expression. He glares, "What?"

"You think you can just," Kosari sinks a punch into the boy's soft stomach, "Leave when you want to? You think you can just disrespect the shinobi who can bar you from ever competing in the Exams again? Don't you dare get on your high horse. You really picked a bad person today. I have no patience for brats like you. You should be thankful I'm being so kind and giving you so many chances."

The boy holds his stomach tightly, "…"

"You want to prove to him that Uchiha are dangerous? Fine," Kosari snaps, "Follow me."

The walk through the scenic route is cut short as Kosari walks through Konoha's busy streets. She doesn't look back to see if the three are following; she knows they won't run off. Their ability to compete rests in her hands and doing what she said may keep them in the Exams.

After a long series of rounding corners and walking through crowds of people, Kosari stops in a quiet area with no one around. She looks down and sees a grassy area where a part of the dense forest area begins.

"Do you know where we are?" Kosari asks, keeping her voice low.

"The forest to the west of the Uchiha compound," Tsuji says. Kosari arches a brow at her. "I-I memorized a map before coming here…"

"You're not wrong," Kosari says, "But here, on the night of the Uchiha Massacre, an ANBU was attacked by one of Konoha's most prized and strongest shinobi: Uchiha Shisui. He killed his children and burned the ANBU agent alive," Kosari's eyes harden as she stares at the ground, "That night, that ANBU came home early. She wasn't supposed to come back from a dangerous Assassination mission until the day after. She was so glad that she'd gotten home early that she sent a kage bunshin in her place to go report to her superiors her mission. The original went to the Uchiha compound and, as she was entrusted to do, cared for Shisui's children. That was the only reason she was able to grab them the moment screams began to echo through the compound as night fell. Uchiha Itachi and Shisui were quick, however. Itachi was left to slaughter his clan and burn his home while Shisui gave chase to the ANBU. She would've gotten away if she hadn't used a clone that took away half of her chakra. On any given day, Shisui had much more chakra than the ANBU, but even less chakra was a greater handicap. She went as fast as she could, disregarding the kunai sticking out of her. She couldn't look back; she was too focused on going forward. She couldn't counter with any jutsu because of the children she was holding tightly in her arms. Then, she hit the ground when flames engulfed her from all sides. She was expecting to continue her escape on foot, but it was not to be. Shisui quickly incapacitated her, stabbing her over and over, but made her watch him murder his children. As it is right now," Kosari squats and rubs a bit of dirt between her fingers, noting the spot where grass wouldn't grow, "That ANBU is dead. Another has taken her place."

"Tsuji, Toyo," the dark-haired boy says carefully, "Please. Let's go home."

"Not quite yet," Kosari says, "There's one more thing I'm going to say. While Shisui and Itachi are madmen, worthy of execution, Uchiha Sasuke is different. He was left alive with memories of his clan's destruction. He's hateful and wants nothing more than to destroy Itachi. In short, he's Konoha's ally. He has no reason to help the man that killed his parents and his clan. By default, he will help Konoha. He won't betray you. If he's agreed to you, Korohi," Kosari glances at him, "Then you should take that as his word, unbreakable."

"How do you know my name?" Korohi demands.

"I thought you wanted to leave," Kosari quips back, "It's fine. You can go. I'd like a word with your teammates, however."

"Them?" Korohi looks at Tsuji and Toyo.

"Um…" Tsuji starts, uncomfortably, "I-I don't think I understand…"

"(What don't you understand?)" Kosari asks in the same tongue she'd spoken to Aiko in. Korohi's eyes widen, "What…"

Tsuji seems to relax slightly, "(So you do speak our language then. I was unsure if you were simply a shinobi with grey hair. But, yours is pure silver. You must be from the Royal Family, yes? You must be Lord Sakumo's daughter, yes? Though…you're not in any of our history textbooks…)"

"(Tsuji, don't assume things. She could be anyone)," Toyo chastises.

"(So that man is still alive?)" Kosari leans against a tree with her arms crossed, "(Why isn't he dead yet?)"

"(W-why would you want Lord Sakumo to be so? He's a kind man!)" Tsuji argues.

"He abandoned my brother and me!" Kosari snaps. Korohi stares in disbelief, "Abandon?"

"(He left us. Not that members of the Royal Guard could understand, though,)" Kosari eyes the black tattoo on their shoulders, exposed by their sleeveless shirts.

"(Please don't assume you know us, Lady Kosari,)" Toyo glares despite his formal tone, "(We're orphans. He took us in. He trained us. He taught us how shinobi speak. He gave us food and shelter. We owe our lives to him. It's just repaying a debt of a lifetime to devote ourselves to protecting him and our nation.)"

"(Tell me: why are you two even here? During the Third War, my father put up a barrier and forbade anyone to go out or come in. That shouldn't have been taken down. There should be no reason to send out any Hatake. You should just stay in your snowy land, far away from us shinobi.)"

"(Lady Kosari, are you unaware of anything?)" Tsuji's eyes widen, "(Haven't you heard? War will soon break out. The green-eyed Hatake plan to kill every black-eyed Hatake. They—")

"(While we can't rely on everything that we hear, it's true. We've received several reports about an increase in green-eyed people being jailed and hanged. They're starting to pose a threat to national security. As to why we're here, we're here because Lord Sakumo asked us to keep an eye on our teammate and that sharingan-wielder from Kumo as well,)" Toyo says.

"(That doesn't make sense,)" Kosari argues, "(When that killer Mikata broke the barrier and slaughtered all those Hatake, that was somewhat to end the fighting between the green-eyed and black-eyed Hatake. That was supposed to keep the peace. Why isn't Sakumo making use of Mikata's existence? Fear of a killer is supposed to…)" Kosari runs hands through her hair and stares incredulously at the ground.

Shisui coughs and wheezes when he finds himself on the roof of some building. He looks right and sees Nagadachi beside him, restrained still. He looks left and sees Madara looking at him with apathy, with Itachi standing on the rooftop's edge, looking into the distance, "I can't have you die yet, Shisui. And, with what Itachi found, neither can this brother of yours die either."

Shisui rubs his wrists, "So you thought you'd get us out of those cells? How kind."

"But, if he proves to be a problem, you're the one who kills him," Madara glances at Nagadachi, whose chakra is still suppressed. Nagadachi glares at Shisui, "I didn't sign up to be dragged into your screwed up life, Shisui. Let me die."

"With this," Kosari flips the coin-sized bug over her fingers over and over, staring at it, "I could get Nohara-san killed for treason."

Knock.

"But should I?"

Knock knock.

"What would happen if I did? Who would run the hospital? No one but her has enough experience. She hasn't shown any less devotion to helping sickly people before this, and even before the war."

Knock. Knock.

"She's a criminal. She's helping an enemy of Konoha. But…" Kosari purses her lips, remembering when she'd trailed Rin. "That rebellion just makes my skin crawl. Any rebellion is bad, but if it's been stewing for this long…I can't let it slide. Even if it is probably closer to Kiri or Kumo than Konoha is."

"…need to talk…"

"And I've got to find Sakumo and Kakashi. And kill Shisui on the way there. There's no way I can sit around by a screen watching my Genin trip through the Finals."

Kosari grabs her bottle of sake and carefully opens the door, "What do you want?"

"Hound," Hawk bursts into her apartment, sending several alarm bells off in her head.

"H-hey! Don't just come in here! And how do you know where I live?" Kosari demands, brandishing her bottle.

"I found something out about your family," Hawk says quietly, taking a seat on her bed, "Hear me out."

Kosari looks at him harshly before putting her bottle down and crossing her arms.

"During the Third War, a shinobi defected, or rather, separated from her team. This shinobi was exposed to a powerful genjutsu that convinced her that a Hatake far away had killed her family. This shinobi was convinced and went to a snowy land to avenge her family, only to kill roughly a thousand people. At the same time, plans were being made to exterminate this shinobi, on the grounds of desertion. Her family was actually somewhere else, but were dressed in Iwa garb and sent to the west. There, the man that would become the Yondaime Hokage killed a thousand people, including her family. Her father, however, was in hiding. The Hokage told him that his clan had suffered a huge loss. This forced Sakumo to go after them. Then, Hiruzen accused Sakumo of not only the death of that shinobi but also the entire massacre, and then banished him for killing one of his own. This didn't change a thing about Sakumo's defection, which had happened years before, but gave him more reason not to come back to Konoha. Hiruzen was able to stamp 'traitor' in his file for not only defecting, but also for killing one of Konoha's shinobi in cold blood," Hawk looks at Kosari intently.

"Soon after, Danzō took an very concerning interest in the sharingan. He was vaguely aware of the Hatake clan and its supposed recluse existence. He suspected the Hatake clan must have some sort of strength, especially having seen Sakumo and Kakashi fight. He was looking into what would happen when Uchiha and Hatake blood met, and studied Kakashi intently. He easily brought him into ANBU and gave him more and more difficult missions, to test how far a Hatake could be pushed. Then, he watched you. You—"

"Get out," Kosari orders.

"Hiruzen doesn't want you to go back to Black Ops," Hawk says, "He wants you to be under his command to use as a way to kill Sakumo. Sakumo knows about what Hiruzen did and Hiruzen wants him silenced. Danzō wants to be Hokage, and killing Hiruzen will secure that. He'd originally planned to do so using Kakashi, but Jiraiya squashed that, probably per Hiruzen's order. Before that, he'd planned for Shisui to kill Danzō, but, apparently, with you directly under Danzō's command, that complicated things. On the other hand, Danzō wants you back in Black Ops to do just that. Hiruzen already told me about your…ability. Danzō plans to use Kagami to allow him to take control of your seal and kill Hiruzen. In the end, you're nothing but a tool to them.

"But here's the thing that confuses me: I looked into the shinobi records and found no Mikata. Mikata was the name of the shinobi that had been set up to kill thousands of people during the War."

"Hawk," Kosari's voice is calm, but edged with rage, "Why are all of you so interested in my father? There is nothing interesting about a man who left his own children to fend for themselves!"

"I found this scroll," Hawk holds it up.

Kosari slaps it out of his hand, "Who gives a damn?! The War is over! I'm under neither of their commands! Who are you, anyway, to come here and have me relive something I never want to remember?!"

"What?" Hawk blinks under his mask, "Hound…"

"I'm not Hound!" Kosari barks.

"Then what are you? Who are you? Why are you still alive?!" Hawk challenges, grabbing her collar as his fingers glow with faint embers.

Lightning glows around her, "I'm Kosari! I'm alive because Shisui isn't dead yet and my brother is alive! I'm going to find Kakashi and Sakumo and stop the rebellion!"

"Good," Hawk grunts and roughly pushes her away.

Kosari grits her teeth and takes a swig from her bottle. She shakes her head at him, "Hawk you'll get killed if you stay here. In Konoha, I mean."

Hawk watches her as she grabs a few scrolls from her shelf and then a small box from underneath her bed and some clothes and places it all in a bag and zips it up. She eyes a small yellow bottle, hesitates, and then stuffs it in her pocket, "I'm drunk, and I'll regret this…but why not come with me? By hearing this, we're both traitors. I've got to leave this place if I'm to find Kakashi. And, Hiruzen doesn't trust me after being shown the power that Itachi and Shisui have over me. I'm like a bomb, waiting to go off."

She takes another swig, "Well?"

Hawk sighs, "I suppose I've no choice but to obey you, Hound-taichō."