FYI – I changed Shinji's name to Neru, I'd thought I hadn't used the name 'Shinji' too much so the change wouldn't be too noticeable, but apparently I did back in chapt 17 or so, and since updating chapter content is an incredible pain in the ass, I probably won't be going back to change it, apologies! And as an aside – the best Star Trek innuendo ever – "Very well; get me the thrombic modulator," LOL! (From ST:Voy 14x4 "Message in a Bottle")

Apologies for the obscene delay with the chapter – almost a month! Unthinkable! O.O! But I've been a bit preoccupied with devART and the Flash-Fiction Month and re-thinking my life lol...

Storm Cloud – Chapter 21 – The Swifter The Rain Falls…

It took Sakura a moment to realise where she was – her grogginess faded as she forced herself to sit up and look around; back in her accommodation? What? She racked her brains for a moment as she finally managed to make sense of the memories – Neru and Uruki had shown up not long after, they'd listened to Senri and had tried to dart off and capture the nurse, but Sakura had stopped them, telling them not to jump to conclusions. They'd argued with her then, insisting that if the nurse had been connected to the ransacking of Sakura's office, then they had to challenge her on it – that they couldn't allow her to get away if she was a possible threat.

Inherently, the kuniochi agreed with what they were saying, but she couldn't very well tell them that the reason she wanted them to hold their horses was because the culprit might not be who they thought. Groaning slightly, she forced herself off the bed and onto her feet – apparently the chakra exhaustion and the subsequent mental stress had caused the kuniochi to finally crash; the clock told her it was nearly the afternoon of what must be the day after. For her many hours of sleep she certainly didn't feel any better.

"Neru-kun?" She found him stood outside her door,

"Sakura-Taichou! You're awake at last!" Neru span around, concern flashing over his face,

"What happened? Why are you stood out here?"

"After you collapsed, we decided that one of us should stay close in case the woman who did your office in decided on doing something more radical," He ushered her back into her room and for her to sit on her bed, she was indeed still feeling her fatigue;

"You've unequivocally proven that who did it?" She queried, a pointed look on her face causing the Chuunin to falter slightly,

"Uh, well, we chased after the nurse that Senri-san told us about but we haven't been able to find her yet…but if there was a chance she was responsible, then…" Neru trailed off slightly, scratching his cheek in apprehension,

"I get your point…Can you bring me a meal from the kitchens? I'll get ready in the meantime, I need to get back to my lab 'a-sap'," She rose to her feet, and after a minor spell of dizziness, she busied herself with gathering a change of clothes;

"Uh…Sakura-Taichou, I think you should rest for a little while longer…you pushed yourself too hard yesterday, and it will take a bit of time for your chakra to-" He bit the end of his sentence off with the razor sharp look the kuniochi shot him for his attempted protestation,

"…I understand your concern, Neru-kun," She said at length with a small sigh, "But I've wasted too much time already sleeping – there are probably five new patients in the hospital by now…I cannot afford to dawdle," She made another gesture to her door, "Now bring me a meal, please, Neru-kun," The Chuunin hesitated for only a few more moments before he turned from the room and closed the door behind him.

Sakura had almost surprised herself at the speed with which she'd managed to shower and eat, so barely fifteen minutes later, she was marching down the corridor towards her office (which, from where she could see was still a state); as she crossed the threshold, she found that most of the disturbed (but mostly intact) papers had been restacked in to semi-neat piles – she shuddered to think at the state they might be in, organisation wise. The kuniochi closed the door and inspected, first, beneath her desk where she'd hidden her case full of blood samples – just as she'd expected, every last trace of her adventure into Kumo to collect the samples had been destroyed, no trace whatsoever had been left…it might have all as well been for nothing.

Wait – the bacterial cultures! She jumped to her feet and hurried over to the cabinet they'd been hidden in; the door was open and many of the glass beakers, test-tubes and microscope slides normally stored in there were knocked askew. Sakura moved enough aside to clear the hidden compartment before summoning what chakra she was able and moulded the earth blocking up the cavity; as the earthen plug melted away, she tugged out the petri dishes and laid them out on the bench beneath the cabinets.

It took her almost a minute of staring at them blankly before she forced herself to carry one over to the microscope and slotted it into position, desperately hoping her eyes were just playing tricks on her, but just the same; there was nothing in the petri dishes. Nothing. She smeared the sample correctly, hadn't she? The agar was just right, wasn't it? What the hell was going on? Why had nothing grown? It didn't make any sense…deciding to check every single last petri dish just to be certain, but, with a horrible knot in her stomach told her that the facts in front of her couldn't be ignored or explained away for much longer – had she misinterpreted the blood samples?

Impossible…but then, why was there nothing there? Had someone switched them? But why would they go to such trouble to replace them, when they'd obviously shown no such qualms about trashing her office and leaving the strewn evidence for all to see? Could it have been someone different? A suspicious whisper from her mind offered, but something didn't seem right about that either – when would they have been time? She was gone for barely two hours, and in that time someone would have had to undo her jutsu, replace the dishes (which would have mean they must have had prior knowledge of their being there) and then recast exactly the same jutsu…and no one Sakura knew could perform such an action to such perfection, besides the Copy Nin – and, besides being an ally, he was currently in Iwagakure…even he wasn't that fast.

"Sakura-Taichou!" A sudden shout drew her attention as she snapped her head up, her neck clicking with the force;

"What is it?"

"We've got to go! The outbreak in the Naikan province urgently needs our attention; Yuukori-sensei said we need to leave within the hour!" Ikori called from the far side of the door – right!

"Okay, I'll be out in a moment…how many cases are estimated?"

"Approximately ten or so," Damn, Sakura hurried to hide away the petri dishes again and gather up what supplies she'd need for the trip,

"Who will be sent on this mission, aside from you and I?" She checked around for a few spare slips of paper and texts,

"Neru and Uruki, too, and another nurse…Chisa-san, I think," Sakura nodded – momentarily forgetting that Ikori couldn't see her, still being on the far side of the door; taking a last look – satisfied she'd hidden the cultures away again – she yanked open the door, and marched out; "You're all set?" Ikori asked politely, to which she nodded,

"Where to?"

"The others are waiting at the hospital entrance…" Sakura could see a silent question written on his face, but they continued on in silence nonetheless, both knowing better than to discuss it in such an open setting. As they reached the main doors, Uruki nodded to his team captain,

"Taichou,"

"Uruki-kun, anything new to report?" She hadn't actually met with him recently, he'd been out checking the areas of the hidden village where the majority of those infected lived or regularly went.

"I apologise, Taichou, but I haven't had any luck in tracking down the suspect nurse, though I didn't want to leave Kumo without your express permission,"

"And rightly so, we've little more than conjecture to go on concerning her – I want you to start looking for more concrete evidence, which you should have been doing since the beginning!" Uruki looked irritated but didn't say anything as he averted his eyes; the kuniochi held the silence for a moment more, but decided to let it slide, with just a warning of, "We'll talk about this later," She turned to the small-ish nurse who was stood beside Neru, looking a little nervous from their bickering – she was very slightly built with very short hair, but it was of the palest blonde Sakura had ever seen, "Chisa-san, I trust you know the way to Naikan province? How long will the journey take?"

"Approximately six hours," Another, male voice responded instead of Chisa; it came from one of the Kumo Chuunin, the kuniochi guessed and he was dressed in full shinobi gear; "I am Yin Kutaro, and I will be escorting you to Naikan province," Sakura eyed him carefully for a few moments – he was imposingly tall with a stern, unfriendly face;

"Right…well, then we should get going, there's no time to waste,"

…

Sakura sighed as she placed her hand on the forehead of a young girl – she couldn't have been more that about fifteen or sixteen, but she was desperately ill, and the kuniochi knew there was so little she could do for the girl, besides make her as comfortable as possible, which wasn't easy amid the rashes and elevated temperature…and headaches and numerous other symptoms. She walked away to the next cot, separated by a small canvas partition, to tend to a middle aged woman, who wasn't quite as bad off, but she was still a state,

"Wha…tuh…" Sakura lifted the glass and helped her drink, being well versed in translating the slurred speech of the ill, "Hows…my –aughter?"

"She's stable, but you must rest, Pesha-san," She soothed, "I promise I'll inform you of any change,"

"Sakura-Taichou?"

"Yes, Uruki-kun?"

"I've asked around as much as I can, although the people here aren't exactly forthcoming, but it seems that a small group of men stopped in the village about two days ago, there were four of them and by most accounts they seemed a bit shifty – if only because it's pretty rare to get five men travelling together who aren't samurai or monks or mercenaries…they claimed to friends although two were siblings who looking for work and were very pleasant according to almost everyone who came into contact with them." Sakura frowned,

"Were any of them obviously ill when they were here?"

"Apparently one of the younger ones was quite lethargic suffered from dizzy spells, and had apparently vomited a number of times, but – and I quote from the elderly woman who told me this – 'like a typical man, he refused to admit there was anything wrong with him', although his friends tried to get him to see a doctor…they left before he'd received any treatment or diagnosis," The both shinobi rolled their eyes slightly at the younger nin's words, but it was soon dismissed,

"Well, those symptoms do fit, but they're common for a large number of illnesses and ailments so by itself that doesn't tell me much…any information about where they'd come from or where they were going?"

"They'd said something about having come from the North shore fishing village of Okyona, and other than the fact that they left the village by the standard trading route, heading north-west,"

"Well, at least we know a little more – good work, Uruki-kun, keep your eyes and ears out for any more information or anything suspicious,"

"Hai, Taichou,"

"Oh, and if you see Ikori-kun, tell him to come and see me," He walked away after a polite nod to the kuniochi (who lamented the fact Pakkun still wasn't back from Kakashi yet) and she allowed herself a moment to pause, she took a few steps away from the front of the large marquee-tent (one they'd had set up to help deal with the sick) to a slightly quieter side-alley. Casting her eyes up to the sky, which was steadily darkening with an all-too-quickly approaching night; she hadn't forgotten about the failed cultures, but neither was she finding it easy to direct the necessary mental energy to analysing them with all of the victims of the illness around her.

Already they'd been in the small province for three days – but even in that time (and with the levels of Sakura's exhaustion) she hadn't missed the signs that something was not right – if she were back in Kumo, by this point, the mother and her teenage daughter would have suffered the most severe of the migraines before falling unconscious – waking, only on occasion, to a delirium; but here, none of the victims seemed to have suffered that.

Sakura wasn't sure what was going on, for all of her other analysis, it appeared to be the exact same illness – but where there should have been migraines, the ill instead suffered from joint inflammation and soreness, as well as weaker deliriums more filled with paranoia – these victims tended to vomit less, too. Instinct told Sakura not to take the discrepancies lightly, she had no idea what the changes signified, but the knot in her stomach had her awake on most nights analysing more blood samples. Which wasn't easy in the rather backward province, although she'd struggled with the limited supplies she'd brought with her, the kuniochi was thankful that she'd managed to make at least some progress-

A sudden movement drew her attention as her eyes flicked across to catch a figure dart over the low roofs of the village buildings; but something seemed tantalisingly familiar about the long, dark purple hair that was just about visible in the dim evening light, that stature was also familiar…but where was-wait, wasn't that…the nurse from the hospital? The one Senri suspected?

Kakashi took a lot of pleasure in pulling his classic routine – after making Peikou wait a full forty-five minutes for him that morning, he'd then expertly halted, right before they were supposed to enter the building allocated for the negotiations and turned to Genma and Raidou – Peikou had wasted no time in cutting across not bothering to even attempt to mask his irritation,

"What is it now?" Apparently, the aide did not deal well with a lack of sleep and Kakashi had kept him up all night, requesting certain items of information, documents and accounts to read over – by the early hours of the morning, Peikou had almost given up fighting Kakashi on them and had provided them all with little more than a grumble. So by now, after he'd gotten all of an hour's sleep, he was an angry bear in a small cage;

"Hmm? Oh, I just need to go over a few last minute things with my aides – you can wait for me inside, I won't be a moment," The sharp eyebrows of the Iwa nin pinched together in an ugly scowl,

"I cannot leave you unattended in Iwagakure,"

"We'll only be a moment, in shouting distance still if we get that desperate, Peikou-c-san," Kakashi only just caught himself enough to avoid having said 'chan', which, admittedly, he desperately wanted to do, but knew it would be just a bit too out of line; the aide's eye twitched dangerously,

"Ashikino-san?" Riro approached them from the opposite side of the street, drawing the senior aide's attention,

"Yes, Riro-san?"

"Hakkou-sama requests our presence," Peikou let out a small breath of what was probably irritation but he nonetheless turned and entered the building, leaving only a sour cloud of irritation behind - which Kakashi pretended to be oblivious to.

Eventually, the Copy Nin placed himself in his seat – and in true mediating style, he was joined that the table only by Ashikino (Taneki Riro and Sarekita Washin stood just a little way behind, as did Genma and Raidou). The Lords were each divided onto their own, small table; but as a group, they were sat close together into what could loosely be seen as a triangle, giving no one (not even Kakashi) the dominant position.

"Finally! Copy Ninja Kakashi, you have kept us waiting too long! Tell us your preliminary decisions and let's get on with it!" The loudest (and most irritating) of the Lords, Hakkou, demanded – which was followed by murmur of agreement from the others. Kakashi made a point of looking up from the pages of document in front of him and meeting the Lord's eye,

"If you please, Hakkou-sama, delicate negotiations take time, and I assure you that there is very good reason for my tardiness," Kakashi shuffled the paper in front of him for effect before continuing (here, the silver-haired ninja found himself appreciative that Genma was stood behind him – seeing the tokubetsu Jounin's silly grin at Kakashi's antics would surely break his cool demeanour), "Now, before we go any further, there are a few questions I would like to pose to you, the Lords, about the state of Iwagakure as it currently is. I am aware that you have been telling me bits and pieces over the past few days, but I need some more specific information; firstly, I would like you to tell me more about how you claim authority over Iwa."

Kakashi almost sighed at the blank faces that greeted him and so he dove into the lengthy elaboration, "You all say that you 'rule' Iwagakure, and yet you are all fighting over certain aspects and allowances usually therein the role of the Tsuchikage; yet, if you were all accurately sharing that role, I do not understand how a number of your disputes could have arisen. I was told that you each have taken command of some of the Iwa shinobi, but that by itself doesn't seem enough to warrant such problems. So I imagine that you must have each accorded yourselves some part of Iwa which affords you some portion of your wealth…please describe to me how that allocation has been decided," He was still met with blank faces,

"What do you mean? We are in control of Iwagakure, the four of us," It was hard to tell if their foolishness was a genuine or not,

"Yes, but…here, take one of your disputes for example, Orsha-sama, you stated that you wish to commission more building work on the…south eastern side of Iwa, but Jurka-sama refused stating it would encroach too much – tell me, what exactly would it be encroaching into that only Jurka-sama objects to so much?"

"It would be encroaching to space that my shinobi need!" Kakashi raised an eyebrow,

"So you have divided Iwa up? Has it been cut into sections?" He could feel Ashikino stiffen next to him, but he ignored it, Jurka looked suspicious for a moment, but nodded,

"That's right, we divided Iwa up into allocated sections between us,"

"And what do these divisions mean? Are there literal blocks between each section of the village, or is it simply a line you've draw on your map to allocate collateral?" The Copy Nin hated the taste of such ugly political words, but he made certain to keep it so well hidden even Inoichi would have a difficult time finding it;

"There are signs demarking the borders within the village, but there are no restrictions on movement," Jurka shrugged lightly, apparently to give the aura of ease, along with his answer,

"Completely free?" Kakashi carefully noted the averted eyes of the other Lords and their diminutive presences – normally, none Lords would have spoken at this length without another interrupting by now,

"Of course,"

"…I find that hard to believe. If there was absolutely no limit on movement, then why would Orsha want to expand within his district? But more than that, surely there would be no benefit to even having districts without there being some incentive to do so…such as monetary gain," A very similar guilty anger flashed over all of the Nobles' faces;

"What are you suggesting?"

"You don't tax your citizens or shinobi?" His voice might have been cool and detached as he spoke, but the silver-haired nin fought to control his disgust – of course he understood the need of taxes, they were a necessary evil, so to speak; but at least he could trust in Konoha, that the majority went back into caring for the village, instead of into the pockets of selfish and greedy men.

There was a slight pause which fell over the room, and it told Kakashi more than he needed to know; instead of allowing it to work against him, however, he quickly made use of the silence,

"Well, then, since you have drawn such boundaries between your districts, then any alteration to the size of one area with directly detriment the other three,"

"Right!" Jurka affirmed suddenly,

"Then, why don't you simply increase the monetary value of the district you have?" The Lords all narrowed their eyes slightly at Kakashi's words,

"How so?"

"You could build up the training facilities of your shinobi – the better trained your nin are, the more missions they can take which will bring greater revenue to Iwagakure,"

"But that would require a huge cost! I can't afford to create a whole ninja village in just my district!"

"Exactly! The ninja don't bring in enough revenue for us to afford to do that!"

"Then why don't you all pool your resources? If you each contributed some finance, then I'm certain you'd have enough to better train your shinobi to take the more high ranking and expensive missions," Kakashi offered, watching carefully as each of the Lords hesitated, shooting the occasional suspicious look at each other,

"…I couldn't possibly do that – look, even now Orsha is trying to steal my district and now you expect me to give up my wealth to him?" Jurka angrily demanded, "You're a fool, Copy Ninja Kakashi, I don't know why you were called in! This is pointless!" The Lord rose to his feet in apparent preparation to leave but the Leaf was quick to stop him,

"Now hold on, you misunderstand me, I am saying that you all need to contribute. Iwagakure will shortly collapse in you do nothing about the present situation, your revenue is falling because so few missions are being taken – and successfully completed – by Iwa shinobi, that shortly you won't be able to sustain even the currently level of training you're offering," This was now dangerous ground and Kakashi had to work hard to make sure he concerned, but did not offend the Lords – if they didn't listen, then Iwa was really going under.

"You…you just want Iwagakure to fail, Leaf, so that you'll have less competition! Peikou, why did you call this shinobi in to help us? Didn't you realise that he'd be working for his own ends, rather than ours?"

"Jurka-sama, Hatake Kakashi has long since earned the respect of Iwagakure for his assistance during the Fourth Ninja World War, and the business with the Akatsuki; it would do him no good to see Hidden Rock fail," Kakashi wasn't sure what exactly prompted Ashikino's confidence in the Copy Nin's intentions, as his words had been something of a non sequitur – was there a silent threat in that?

"Ahikino-san is correct, Jurka-sama, believe it or not Konoha would suffer greatly if Iwagakure was to fail as a ninja village; the five Great Nations must remain in place to keep the balance of power, if Iwa ceases to exist, then all of the nations will suffer. The other Great Nations will then be perceived as weak and the smaller shinobi countries will then seek to work for their own more selfish goals; the system of the Great Nations only works with the five and a degree of tension therein ensures that they are all the best, never allowing one to completely take over."

"I find that quite difficult to believe," Orsha began, "If Iwa collapsed then there would merely be more missions for the other nations, making them stronger, how could you possibly say that it would make them weak as well, that's preposterous. I think you are twisting words to try and make us do what you want, what would benefit Konoha most, rather than Rock," The other Lords in the room murmured in agreement,

"I also think that, just like with our situation, if one of the Great Nations falls, then it only affords more power to the remaining four – if one of our Lords were to falter, the remaining three would gain greater control over Iwa," Riish supplied, earning an angry-

"Is that some sort of threat?" From Hakkou,

"It was only an analogy, Hakkou-sama, no need to get out of your basket," Said Lord nearly jumped to his feet, but Ashikino wasn't slow to step in;

"Hakkou-sama, Riish-sama, please, these are polite negotiations and I politely ask you all to be mindful of them; now, Kakashi-san, you were given the task of setting out agreements for the Lords, what have you decided?" Kakashi barely resisted the sigh he wanted to issue…it seemed that no matter what concerns he raised, they would all fall on deaf ears.

"Well, first off, I do not think that Orsha-sama should be allowed to encroach into the district which Jurka-sama or any other Lords control,"

Sasuke ambled slowly back towards his current home – one of the many apartments dotted around Konoha that were designed with shinobi in mind (apparently, the old Uchiha compound had long since been destroyed by Pein's attack year and years previously). As he ambled, he tried to distract himself from the feel of the eyes on him from the ANBU assigned to watch him; it severely irritated Sasuke, but even so he found that he couldn't quite be bothered with trying to evade them or escape Konoha.

There was nothing left for him out there, all he ever wanted, has nearly been accomplished…still, he'd never have imagined that he'd end up back in Konoha, though, no matter what his old teammates had said time and again. He wanted to hate it, to resent them for forcing him back where he didn't want to go, but he just couldn't quite find the effort to do so; he let out a sigh as he turned down the next side-alley to take him to his apartment.

The shinobi took note of where he was and his mind turned to what he'd witnessed a week or so back – Sasuke had almost gaped like a fish when he'd been passing by and came across Kakashi pinning Sakura against the wall of an alley, his lips on hers. Were they really involved with each other, despite words to the contrary? Sasuke thought more about the kiss he'd witnessed – if they really were together, then why had Kakashi's mask remained up?

And Sakura's words of playful complaint suggested it wasn't a regular occurrence…but what the hell had happened that two of his teammates would choose to become romantically linked? Especially for it being Kakashi's team – he was the freak of teamwork, and Sasuke suspected that if anyone would set aside his personal feelings for the sake of a team and mission, it would be the silver-haired shinobi at the very top of the list.

Sasuke smirked as the thought crossed his mind that Sakura might somehow have tempted the lust in Kakashi to side-step the man's sensibilities; as if that could ever be likely…that girl was as pathetic as she had ever been. She might have grown up physically, but he'd seen nothing yet to suggest that she was anything more than the whiny girl of so many years ago – and Sasuke knew Kakashi had better taste than that. As the Uchiha made it onto the next street, he bit back the groan he wanted to issue at spotting a familiar orange blob in his periphery – but that attempt to be quiet, ironically, drew attention to himself.

"O-oh! Sasuke! What're you doing?" Naruto grinned in genuine happiness to see his darker haired near-sibling,

"Just on my way home from work,"

"Ooh!" Naruto cooed, "Where're you workin'?" Sasuke's attention was drawn a familiar kuniochi stepping a touch closer to the two, almost equal to them in height, but a good deal more slender and delicate looking than her male counterparts; was that…Hyuuga Hinata?

"I work in maintaining the Genin and Chuunin training grounds, Naruto,"

"Hahaha, you're a gardener, now? Hahahah!" The jinchuuriki nearly doubled over in amusement, but the shy Hyuuga chastised him,

"Naruto! You shouldn't laugh at Sasuke-kun's attempt to redeem himself," Her words lacked the aggressive assertiveness that most of her age-mates expressed, but it was still a monumental improvement on her younger years,

"Ah-ha, Hinata!" Naruto offered to her coy smile, easily transmitting his embarrassment, whilst rubbing the back of his head with his hand,

"Idiot," Sasuke spat at him, causing the Uzumaki to flush with both humiliation and anger, but before he could get a word in, the kuniochi beside then cut across more fiercely than her last words,

"Well, Naruto-kun is smarter than you…he might have had good reason to, but he knew not to abandon his village," Her words might have been lacking lively confidence, but of all things it did contain, conviction was top of the list – and it surprised both boys; Sasuke's eyebrows raising ever so slightly, as Naruto's surprise flickered into a proud grin,

"Ha!" He added, smirking first at the Uchiha, before turning back to the Hyuuga, "C'mon Hinata, let's go and get lunch – see ya, Sasuke!" The Uchiha stood stock still for a few moments taking in everything that had happened; an assertive Hyuuga heiress? A Naruto more interested in girls than he was training? A Kakashi daring to fraternise with a team-member? A Sakura capable of attracting the Copy Nin?

Konoha sure had changed whilst he was away.

Kakashi threw his fist forward, aiming for Raidou's chest as the bodyguard specialist leant back just far enough out of reach as his own arm shot up to grip the Copy Nin's wrist and grip it tight, not only stopping the strike but trapping his opponent. Raidou span around, twisting the other shinobi's arm as he went, to get better leverage, and thrust a kick to his ribs; Kakashi yanked his arm back and darted away before pulling a kunai and a length of wire free from his pouch. Genma chose this moment to step in as he swept his leg around to Raidou's ankles, it was more of a distraction move than anything else, by simply forcing the bodyguard specialist to change his position and give his attention to something other than Kakashi, it put him at a disadvantage.

This advantage wasn't wasted by the youngest shinobi as he flung his kunai, with attached wire to Raidou and immediately followed up with some fast taijutsu. Kicks flowed into punches which flowed into strikes and blocks, Raidou kept up well, and returned most of the attacks, but the Copy Nin was renowned for his speed and agility; even that wasn't enough for him to stay a step ahead when Genma joined more fully, also attacking the silver-haired shinobi and Kakashi was forced to change tactics.

He flung himself backwards, allowing himself to slide to a halt over the sandy concrete roof whilst his hands dug into his pouch to withdraw some weapons, but at that moment, his attention was drawn by an appearance put in by Washin. All three of the Konoha nin drew themselves out of their attack stances and waited for the Iwa nin to explain his presence,

"Hatake-san, Ashikino-san requests your presence immediately," Kakashi flicked his eye over to Raidou and Genma, both of whom apparently shared his dubiousness, but the Copy Nin nonetheless nodded and turned to replace his weapons away into his pouches and follow the aide; only a slight cock of his head gave his two teammates the sign to keep their eyes open to everything that wasn't as it seemed. Why would he need to be seen now? The negotiations had disbanded early, but even so, they would have been long over – the sun was already drooping below the horizon;

"Why does Ashikino-san want to see me?" Just as they stepped over the threshold of the shōji, he subtly slipped his headband high enough that he'd be able to peer out with his sharingan, just in case. They traced their way down the narrow winding steps until they were back onto the central corridor of the building; their footsteps echoed – just as they had done every time they'd walked the wooden halls – in the otherwise silence and dead seeming edifice.

"He didn't elaborate, Hatake-san…please," Washin had always been a man of few words, but Kakashi didn't like the suddenness of such a request and with no indication of purpose; the Iwa nin gestured to the fusuma they halted in front of, "You may enter," Washin didn't join Kakashi in what turned out to be Ashikino's office, but he remained close by, just outside.

"Hatake-san, I'm sorry to trouble you so late in the evening, but it simply cannot wait until the morning," They both kneeled to sit down on two zabuton, whilst Kakashi took careful notes on the room he'd never been in before. It was of a traditional style with a low desk beneath the window and a modestly sized tansu on the adjacent wall – there was even a yoshizu [a non-hanging screen] set against one of the walls, it depicted a ninja battle – the first world war, Kakashi supposed; although the Leaf could not see why it would be in such a small room as this – unless it was for untoward purposes.

"The Lords are pleased with the progress made, Hatake-san, I believe that they are close to setting aside the worst of their differences,"

"I'm pleased, Ashikino-san…I must admit, it's been a while since I'd negotiated with such high-ranking figures," The Copy Nin didn't like Peikou's smile – nothing good could be at the root of such a sour man's change of heart,

"Well, you weren't out of practice… Now, if we might turn our attention to this matter of your recent discovery,"

"…Could you elaborate, Ashikino-san?"

"It would seem that you've stumbled across some relics, recently, after your visit to Uzu no kuni," Here it was, "You took the Kyuubi with you and another ANBU aside from yourself…you remained on the island for almost a week and later, Konoha receives visitors from Uzu. You cannot deny this is suspicious behaviour,"

"Why not? It's customary to visit your guests and begin diplomatic relations, is it not?"

"Uzu was destroyed years ago – there is no one left!"

"And you've had a sentry on the island for all these years making sure?" The ire that flashed over Peikou's face told Kakashi that his response wasn't appreciated,

"I have been very patient with you, Hatake-san, and Iwa with Konoha's arrogance for some time, if only because we were lacking in military might to fully challenge you, but we aren't completely useless and our eyes have seen ways in which to cause you trouble," Kakashi was ready to spring to his feet at a moment's notice,

"You should know, Ashikino-san, that I do not respond well to threats or bullies," Peikou jerked his chin out slightly, as though to deflect the comment, "And Konoha's decisions to form bonds with other countries are for Konoha to choose – if Iwagakure has such concerns then do you not think it would do well to voice them in a civilised setting?"

"Do not play your tricks with me, Copy Ninja, I've put up with your foolery only because the Lords did not notice, but I will not stand for it – if Konoha makes an alliance with Uzushio, Iwa will consider it an act of aggression,"

"On what grounds? There are no pacts stating against Uzushio - Konoha is well within rights to make an alliance with the Hidden Village. But it will count as an act of aggression against Konoha if Iwa attempts to strike at their allies,"

"…Funny that a man so quick to scare from a threat so easily deals them out," It was very difficult not to dislike this man, Kakashi decided,

"I'm merely stating facts you seem to have forgotten, Ashikino-san. With Iwa in such a…fragile state, it would certainly be unwise to risk a conflict; besides, I had thought that by inviting me here to bring resolution to a squabble with your Lords, that Hidden Rock was finally wiling to show some trust, we are allies after all,"

"Tentative ones."

"…You don't enjoy being allies of Konoha?"

"Do not be so high-and-mighty, Leaf; Iwa will crush you when the time is right," Ashikino's eyes had narrowed to mere slits and Kakashi didn't need a sensor's skill to detect the turbulent, rising chakra;

"But you are nowhere near there yet, Konoha is prepared to strengthen the ties with Iwa and help you regain your military might,"

"More lies…why would you help a potential enemy get back on its feet?"

"You are not that foolish, Ashikino-san," It was starting to take real effort for Kakashi to remember his manners, "I know you understand the need for a degree of tension in order to keep the villages in their peak condition. Complacency does nobody any good, especially for ninja," The tension lulled, but the mistrust did not; the silence stretched for longer and longer, but no hint was give as to whether Kakashi had gotten through to the owlish man.

And when the snap came, it was a very nasty sound;

"We might be in a slump, Hatake-san, but we are not powerless – our eyes have been keeping watch over that little medic in Kumogakure, she's had her share of trouble too, apparently, and it seems we'll get more information from her than we will you. Interesting for the Copy Nin to be so careless win coordinating with a vulnerable ally – can we expect that same dutiful attention to detail if we became your allies?" Kakashi grit his teeth,

"Does Kumo know you're violating their borders?" He hadn't thought it possible for Peikou's eyes to glint, but it was creepy;

"You seem to think Kumo doesn't have eyes – they've been watching your shenanigans over Uzu too – and that little medic they've got running around after them, she's helped them immensely," Kakashi's chakra flared and he was on his feet in seconds, his hands flipping through a familiar set of seals to call his lightening chakra before he could think better of the move. But Peikou was a highly skilled ninja in his own right and his jutsu was half-complete before Kakashi'd even entered the room; the Copy Nin was forced to back up and cancel his jutsu as great spears of earth shot out from behind the screen.

One of which caught Kakashi in the ribs and he stumbled almost, though quickly recovered and again his sharingan proved its worth as he darted over the now solid mud spears to crack a punch over Peikou's jaw – something he'd been itching to do almost since he'd met the man. But Ashikino pulled back and flipped through more seals as his hands were momentarily out of sight, rebounding with a powerful water jutsu that Kakashi had only seconds to escape from – enough for him only to leap up and avoid the brunt of the wave as it twisted and wove within the space, seeking its wily prey.

The shinobi gathered his chakra to push off the solid beam which divided the wall in two, though supported it as the wave wasn't quick enough to catch him, it crashed into the wood and split it in half, dragging down half of the wall in a confusion of dust, noise and falling chunks of concrete. This gave Kakashi a moment to flick over to Peikou and attempt to cast a genjutsu upon him, but a second wall of water appeared between them, preventing any eye contact from occurring.

"Are you in alliance with Kumo, Ashikino? Did you set this up between yourselves to trap Konoha?"

"Don't be so conceited, this isn't just about Konoha, though we certainly won't complain if we can cripple a thorn in both our sides!" Kakashi didn't bother to keep the frown off his face as he created a kage bunshin before dipping his hand into his pouch and drew out a shuriken with attached wire which he handed to his clone.

Said faux-nin flung the projectile through the water wall and kept a solid tension on the wire as the real Kakashi darted off to the side and threw a kunai with attached kibakufuda at Peikou, who was forced to glance in the direction as he tried to evade the weapon, but in doing so, the Copy Nin caught him in his genjutsu and immediately he went rigid. The water, which had continued to swirl around the room like a foul-tempered beast, immediately appeared to lose its cohesion and escaped out of the gaping hole in the side of the room; a familiar figure appeared in the room as he flashed through hand seals.

A sudden swarm of birds separated the two nin, in the confusion and flapping and mess that was several hundred crows crammed into the small room, Kakashi recognised his friends jutsu, so backed off to allow him to do his work and the bodyguard specialist darted in front of Peikou to thrust a sudden katana through the confusion, catching the aide in the throat. Unfortunately it was not enough to kill him, but the jutsu had done its job and the three Leafs fled from gaping hole in the side of the building just a series of enormous explosions rocked the building – Genma's grin gave himself away as the culprit keeping the other Iwa nin from them.

The three Leaf shinobi were just as soon flying over the rooftops, Kakashi's sharingan working hard to feed a large-scale genjutsu to make them invisible to all but the most skilled of shinobi; it wasn't much and would fade within seconds as they passed by, but it gave them a vital head start nonetheless as they continued to hurry well away from the turbulent time in Iwagakure.

But, it would seem that the return journey home would prove just as tumultuous and demanding – Kakashi wasn't sure what gamble to take – go to Sakura and play into the hands of Kumo and Iwa who were looking for an excuse to strike at Konoha? Or return to the Hidden Leaf, report back all that he'd learned, allowing Tsunade to get a handle on the situation and take charge whilst he regained the valuable chakra he'd lost in the battle with Peikou?

"So? How is she faring? It's been two weeks already, surely it's been enough time? We can't leave Uzushio unchecked any longer," The nin paced irritatedly with his hands behind his back as another nin lounged on the set of seven steps, which lead to the door, at one end of the "lived-in" room, cleaning and dousing a kunai with a vial of oddly coloured bluish liquid,

"Calm down, we need to give that bitch of a medic nin time to find all she can about the virus, otherwise we'll have wasted the opportunity," His voice was little more than a leisurely drawl, but the underlying confidence was a cool assured one, bred of certainty and depth of knowledge, rather than stupidity and ignorance; "And we've just given her more to figure out - you know this stuff takes time,"

"Fuck…I know but its taking ages…damn I wish we could speak to the 'eyes',"

"Asiro, you know we have no direct contact with our mole, that would be stupidly risky…but you know Yusai, he verifies everything before he brings it to us. We're well on course, the worst thing you could do would be to screw it up by being an idiot and rushing in," The more relaxed of the two shrugged as if to reassure what he'd said before redirecting his attention back to his kunai, "Besides, we need to wait until she'd found a cure so that we'll have a counter measure secured…we can't go release an illness on our target only to have them turn around with the vaccine already in their hands."

"Yea…I know…" Asiro sighed, as the other grinned lightly to himself,

"See, that's why I'm the brains of this outfit–"

"–And I'm the secretary, I know, I know," The still-pacing nin rolled his eyes, ignoring his partner's laughter as a thought struck him, "Oh yea, how are we going to get a hold of her, anyway? She might be a medic and a girl, but she's no shinobi to sniff at…last time she flattened me for an entire week – even after being chakra-healed,"

"That's because you were stupid enough to move in whilst she still had some fight left; this test-run helps us in two ways, remember? She gives the answers we need and exhausts herself in the process, so when the time comes we'll just need to time it right and hit her with something that'll take more chakra than she'll have to heal with," Takarai, the still lounging nin spoke as his mind turned to the pink-haired kuniochi; despite his earlier words, he too lamented the fact he hadn't the opportunity to observe her for himself.

She was a highly skilled medic, head and shoulders above even her closest counterpart, with a matching physical and attack strength often forgotten by even the highest ranking medical ninjas. And already she had proven herself in dealing with the "crisis" in Kumogakure, in less than a week she'd accomplished more and gone about her investigation in a more intelligent fashion than the Kumo shinobi in charge of the hospital; it almost sent shivers down his spine at the thought of how events would play out with an enemy like that on his tail.

It had been so long since Takarai had had an equal sparring partner – and he longed to properly do battle with the kuniochi…he'd already agreed within himself, that he was going to make certain he got the opportunity to truly test the limits of her abilities.

"Asiro-san, Takarai-san, I have news of the medic nin you are watching; the recent outbreak in the Naikan Province had been brought under control and we believe that the kuniochi has gathered enough data for her to being making a vaccine…here is a transcript of her conversation with one of her medical subordinates," Yusai held out a neatly bound scroll, which Asiro quickly took hold of and snapped open,

"I think she's done it…" Takarai gestured and Asiro flung the scroll at him,

"…Not quite, but it's nothing that she won't be able to complete in our lab…is she on her way back to Kumo?"

"Hai, Asiro-san,"

"Then let's move – remember, we'll be in the middle of a busy ninja village, so that means subtly, got it? Yusai, is you team ready?"

"I just need to give them the word,"

"Then have them move into position, and inform me the second you set eyes on her…remember, which way to send them?"

"Hai,"

"The get going – we'll reconvene at the agreed meeting point before we make any further moves," Takarai rose to his feet and closed the distance between himself and Yusai, "Here, these are five kunai with the special serum on, they'll work immediately, so if you get a shot, take it; but be careful! An overdose could easily kill her or make her useless to us, we need her brain in-tact, remember? Here's a small vial of anti-toxin, too, though I hope you'll bring this back to me untouched,"

"Hai, Asiro-san, I have fully briefed my team. There will be no mistake,"

"Excellent." He shot a glance at his friend and partner-in-crime, both of whom nodded to each other – it was about damn time.

..

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