"Ladies and gentlemen, this is what it's all come down to… Prepare to enter Site III approach vector."

The atmosphere in the bridge was alive with excitement, the very air charged with an electricity unlike anything that Sasuke had ever experienced. The usual handful of helm crew working on a given shift had swelled to nearly double its size, the room playing host to a dozen crew members from other shifts who had volunteered their time to provide support and act as backup operators in case of emergency. No one wanted to miss out on the moment the Konoha caught its first real glimpse of the world that, according to every diagnostic the Science Cell had run, would soon be their new home.

Sasuke stood at the rear of the bridge, his hands clasped behind him at perfect parade's rest, his deep blue tunic impeccably pressed. Some of the crew might raise an eyebrow at his formality, but he was a man of principles; no one could deny that what was about to happen was a monumental event, and such occasions should be given the gravity they deserve.

Neji Hyuuga was standing at his side, studying the barely-contained chaos as the helm crew moved to their stations and prepared for approach. Sasuke turned to him and noted the way his posture immediately stiffened to attention with approval.

"Lieutenant Hyuuga, the bridge is yours. Let's make it as smooth as we can."

Neji nodded sharply. "Hai, Sir." Leaving the Captain's side, the older man headed down the wide stairs at the rear of the room toward the main bridge space that housed the men and women of the helm crew. "Okay folks, we've done the drills forwards, backward, inside-out and upside-down… Let's show the Captain that the practice has been worth the time. Time to go home."

A short smattering of applause and a few cheers met his words, but the sound petered off almost immediately as the crew members of the bridge launched into their work. Neji began threading his way through the workstations, monitoring screens and giving the occasional directive over the hum of activity.

Sasuke turned and walked to join the three men who were standing against the rear wall of the bridge, observing the approach. Inoichi clapped a hand onto his shoulder.

"This is a moment no one in this room- and very few people outside this room as well, I'd wager- is likely to forget. Take it in."

Sasuke nodded. Beside Inoichi, Fugaku Uchiha's face was its usual perfect picture of stoic professionalism, but even he wasn't able to completely prevent a faint glow of pride from softening his features. Beside him, the corners of Shikamaru's mouth were turned up in a genuinely excited smile, his lazy attitude completely absent, for once.

Sasuke glanced across the bridge, his mouth curling ever so slightly in distaste. In the corner of the bridge, seated on a padded chair he'd borrowed from one of the command team offices, Asuma Sarutobi looked utterly absorbed by the proceedings going on in front of him. Sasuke was too perceptive to be fooled by that, however; several times he'd caught glimpses in his periphery of Asuma shooting him a sour look, his eyes flashing with frustration. It didn't take a genius to see why the Sarutobi heir held Sasuke in such contempt.

Thank the Mother for Naruto's discretion. There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear myself think. But, joke as he might, it was completely true- Naruto's quick thinking to omit Sasuke's role in the ill-fated Hinata investigation had kept the Uchiha heir's record clean, and had prevented Sarutobi from leveraging Kakashi's deceit into a full-fledged campaign to wrestle control of the ship.

So now, every day since Kakashi had been removed from command, the man who did everything he could to ruin his career skulked about the bridge of the Konoha like vulture, searching desperately for any and all opportunities to insert himself into the vital operations of the station. Sasuke had been doing everything he could to ensure that those opportunities were few and far between.

A chime from his pocket announced that his datapad had received a communication. Excusing himself, Sasuke strode a few metres away from his conversing command team to read what Kakashi had to say.

/ENCRYPTED MESSAGE FOLLOWS: CLEARANCE LEVEL ALPHA/

Sasuke, I hope the approach is going well. Be sure to send updates along.

Lieutenant Mitarashi just contacted me from Sci-Ops. (Sasuke smirked slightly at this; Kakashi had been characteristically tight-lipped about why he was suddenly seeing so much of Anko Mitarashi, and Sasuke hadn't pressed the matter out of respect. But he was happy for the man, make no mistake.) Apparently, several years ago, Nagato was logged several times as being brought to the Science Cell, but no logs were kept of his business there. He'd been called every time under the express request of Orochimaru Hebi.

Sasuke paused at the last sentence, thoughts whirling through his head. Orochimaru Hebi had been the Prelate of Science years ago, and one of Tsunade Senju's and Jiraiya Hikigaeru's closest friends. He'd been something of a recluse, by all accounts, and for much of his career had seemed perfectly content with his position as the head of the Science Cell, rather than reaching for the heights of command like his peers had.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru's reasons for doing so had come to light in a rather disturbing fashion, as an investigation into several allegations of misconduct revealed that he had been involved in several bouts of extremely unethical human experimentation. A naval trial had swiftly followed, and he had been hastily discharged from naval service, pending more severe consequences. When Enforcement Cell personnel had arrived at his quarters to escort him to further judicial proceedings, they'd been shocked to discover the remains of a severe fire within. Orochimaru's body had been burned nearly beyond recognition, with only traces of his DNA being recoverable enough for positive identification.

Tsunade and Jiraiya had never quite been the same following the incident, and Orochimaru's name had become a stain on the history of the Konoha.

What business would someone like Nagato have had with Orochimaru? I wouldn't assume his ventures would stretch outside of Sector 6. That being said, maybe I have it backward… Maybe Orochimaru wanted something from him. Knowing what we do now, it certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility.

Sasuke returned to Kakashi's message.

I don't know whether there's anything to be found there or not, but as long as you've got Sakura looking through Sector 6 crew logs to dig up dirt on Nagato's gang, it might be worth seeing if the Orochimaru connection leads anywhere.

Kakashi

/END ENCRYPTED MESSAGE/

Sasuke looked around the bridge, satisfied himself that no one would miss him for the next several minutes, and retreated into his office. Accessing his datapad's live comms, he keyed for connection to Sakura.

"Sasuke?"

"Hello, my love. How goes the search?"

Sasuke caught the sound of his wife snorting derisively. "I have no idea how you managed to do this for so long. I've double- and triple- checked every member of Nagato's crew, all of their work history, every single thing I can find, and they're about as clean as you can get in Sector 6. I think this might be a dead end, sorry to say."

"Maybe... " Sasuke replayed the information that Kakashi had just sent him.

"Orochimaru?" Sasuke could hear a combination of skepticism and outright apprehension in Sakura's voice, even through the slightly tinny compression of the datapad. "I suppose I could look, but I don't know, Sasuke… That seems like a bit of a stretch to take."

"I know it does, believe me, but we can't afford to ignore any possibilities, even if they seem insane. The Investigative Cell officially started their own inquiry yesterday, and the further ahead of them we can stay, the better."

The silence from the other end of the line was deafening, and Sasuke immediately knew what was coming.

"Sasuke… I understand you're worried about Hinata, and what would happen if Nagato does have her stashed away somewhere, and if he catches wind that Investigative is getting involved. But, this is literally what their entire department is meant to do… Wouldn't it make more sense just to cooperate with them? The structure of the navy exists for a reason."

Sasuke closed his eyes and rubbed his right temple with his hand. Everything Sakura was saying had been gnawing away at his conscience for days now. As soon as Kakashi had been indisposed, the covert aspect of their investigation had effectively been destroyed, whether Sasuke himself had been implicated or not. It was tempting to just take the easy way out, and step aside for Yamanaka and the rest of the Investigative Crew to do their jobs.

But every time he considered it, he remembered Kakashi's words about what might happen if word of the investigation reached the wrong ears… And he remembered the look he'd seen in Nagato's eyes, that day in Sector 6.

"Sakura, I understand your reservations. I don't like this any more than you do, but Kakashi trusted me to keep this quiet, and no matter what else you can say about him, his instincts are some of the best I've ever seen. We just need to keep at it."

A heavy sigh sounded through the datapad. "Alright, you win. I'll keep looking."

"Thank you, Sakura. I love you, and I'll see you soon."

"Goodbye, Sasuke. I love you too."

The communication ended. Pocketing his datapad, Sasuke exited his office and rejoined the bridge crew.

Inoichi, Fugaku and Shikamaru had dispersed. Surveying the room, Sasuke saw that all three had walked down into the operations zone, leaning over various workstations and datascreens, monitoring the status of the approach. Notably, Sarutobi had disappeared from his place in the corner. Following the example of his commanders, Sasuke headed down the stairs toward the working bridge crew, reaching the terminal where his daughter sat in several long strides.

Sarada looked up at his approach. "Hello, Sir- Our approach vector is holding steady, and sensors indicate that we're staying clear of any space objects large enough to pose a danger to the station's hull integrity." Sarada's black eyes were ablaze with excitement, and Sasuke felt a small, warm smile spread across his face at how animated she was. The silvery necklace Itachi had left for her was practically bouncing around her neck as she pointed from display to display. "The Byakugan is operating at full capacity, and I've run several checks along the blind spot to ensure nothing is left to chance. We had a minor blip on one of the scopes along the aft axis, but nothing to worry about so far.

Sasuke placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder and squeezed. Leaning forward until his mouth was directly next to her ear, he murmured "This is exciting, isn't it Sarada?"

Sasuke felt her shoulder shake slightly under his touch as she nodded vigorously. "Dad, this is amazing! We're about to be part of one of the most significant events in human history!" Sarada whispered excitedly.

Sasuke returned her nod with a smile. "Sounds like we'll have plenty to talk about over dinner tonight- after we discuss what I've heard about you and a certain young man in Sector 5 the other day."

Sarada froze, a pink tint spreading across her cheeks. She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, but before she could get a word out, her father winked briefly and straightened, walking away from her workstation. Sarada watched him go, bemused, before returning her attention to the display in front of her as best she could.

The difference in Kakashi's suite was subtle, but to someone who'd seen it in days previous, who knew the right places to look, the change was staggering.

At first glance, it may have just looked like Kakashi had finally worked up the impetus to clean up. Every room of the suite had returned to its usual state of clean, minimalist, military perfection.

But careful observers would have started seeing other things: a second toothbrush balanced in the small steel cup perched on the edge of the bathroom sink, a pair of smaller naval uniform boots neatly aligned with Kakashi's usual pair, a sheaf of notes written in small, cramped handwriting that contradicted the Konoha CO's usual achingly neat script.

If the signs of disorder and neglect his suite had begun to accumulate in the throes of his depression had glowed like red warning lights, these small signs of another life beginning to creep into his space cast a soft, pleasant green glow over every room of the apartment. He could hardly believe the change that those little reminders had brought, not only to his home, but to him.

Kakashi felt like a new man. For the first time in a very, very long time, he was living for someone beyond himself. He had someone to love, who loved him in return.

Anko wasn't there now, of course; with the approach to Site III imminent, the Science Cell was working around the clock performing last-minute habitability checks and preparing for the onslaught of other tests that would be required after touchdown on the strange new world. But being able to feel her presence in the cabin all the same gave the entire place a warm, comforting aura.

Kakashi had been sitting on the couch for the last few hours, flipping through notes on his datapad. He'd been balancing his work between monitoring the state of the final approach through "status updates" being carefully fed to him via Sasuke, and attempting to do his best to assist Sakura in her clandestine inquiry into the whereabouts of Hinata Uzumaki. Sasuke's wife had finally given up on investigating Nagato and his group, seeing nothing to link him to anything that would further their cause, and had returned to Sasuke's original strategy of scouring blueprints and ship's records of the Konoha in an attempt to locate where Sector 7 might be located, or if it even still existed. Kakashi, for his own part, had instead been exploring everything the ship's records contained on connections between Nagato and Orochimaru Hebi, which it turns out wasn't much.

Cracking his aching fingers and yawning, Kakashi slowly rose from his sofa, wincing as he felt his knees creak alarmingly. He wasn't getting any younger, and he'd spent much of the last week either lying or sitting. He knew it was probably in his best interests to get out of his quarters, to stretch his legs and at least put in a cursory effort to rejoin society, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do so yet.

As he idly scratched the back of his head and looked toward the kitchen, contemplating whether there was anything in his totally utilitarian cooking repertoire that he could have ready for Anko when she returned from work, his gaze slid across a small sliver of blue metal resting on the bookshelf in the corner of the living room, and he paused.

The datacard Tsunade had given him the day before she passed hadn't moved from that spot since he'd brought it home, and the events of the last week had all but pushed its existence completely out of his mind.

For a handful of seconds, Kakashi stared at the tiny wafer of circuitry and plastic, contemplating. He'd been told to view it once they entered orbit around their destination, and obviously that hadn't happened yet. Even the second half of the instruction Tsunade had given him was not guaranteed to be fulfilled; there was always the chance that Sci-Ops would discover something upon arrival that meant that everything changed, that the Konoha would be forced to pack their bags and depart for Site IV. A planet that there was every chance he would never see.

The two halves of Kakashi's mind grappled with each other. His firm self-disciple urged him to leave the data where it rested until they knew for sure, to respect the direction that his former Commanding Officer had given him, that surely whatever information was stored in those memory boards could wait another few days until the planet truly became home. Meanwhile, his insatiable curiosity whispered that they were close enough, that the Science Cell had predicted habitability with 98.7% probability at last assessment, and what was the difference if he watched it now or watched it tomorrow?

In the end, his curiosity won out. Snatching the datacard off the shelf, Kakashi inserted it into his datapad, then keyed for the small handheld to broadcast its display to the entertainment screen set into the wall of the living room. Inhaling deeply, he settled back down onto his soft and tapped the icon on the screen to open the datacard.

"Begin recording."

As the gravelly voice spoke, a video file appeared on the screen on his wall, and Kakashi's eyes widened at the sight of a dark-haired man seated at a desk. There was a window on the wall behind him- not a windowscreen, but a full-fledged window, showing the pale crimson of a pre-dusk sky. And yet, that revelation paled in comparison to the man seated in front of whatever video recorded had created the file. Despite having only seen that face depicted in historical records and holograms, it was a face that Kakashi- and every other human living aboard the Konoha, for that matter- knew immediately. The swept-back brown hair shining with strands of grey, the deep age lines, the fierce, coal-black eyes.

The man in the video was Sasuke Sarutobi, the former patriarch of the Sarutobi family, and the father of the first Commanding Officer of the Konoha, Hiruzen. The entire Konoha mission had been his brainchild.

The sudden reveal of such a legendary figure sent a chill down Kakashi's spine, and for the first time, every part of him doubted whether it was wise to open the datacard prematurely. If Sasuke Sarutobi was responsible for this file, whatever information it contained could only be of monumental importance.

Then the man opened his mouth to speak, and Kakashi dragged his attention back to the video to listen.

"Hello. My name is Sasuke Sarutobi, Chief Executive Officer of the Sarutobi Corporation and head of the Sarutobi clan. It is the 7th of January, 2071. We are three days away from the launch of the Konoha, from the beginning of our people's most far-reaching exodus among the stars.

"I've just finished speaking with Hiruzen and his wife. He's the one who actually convinced me to record this message, of course… I told him that I would be more comfortable with him guarding this information, but he pointed out that the first likely habitation site was nearly 40 years away. If there was no hope to be found there, then whatever planet finally did show promise, Hiruzen would not live to see it. And besides, he also insisted that whoever commands the Konoha when it finds its final stopping point will want to hear it from me, and of course he's right. This is my responsibility, and mine alone."

The figure in the video sighed and reached up to rub his eyes. He looked deathly tired, like he hadn't slept in days.

"And now that I've sat down in front of the damned recorder to do it, how do I begin…"

Several seconds of silence passed before Sasuke looked back at the recorder, the tiredness in his eyes beginning to harden into resolve.

"I suppose I'll start with you. If you are watching this, you are the current Commanding Officer of the Konoha city-ship, and you've entered into a stable orbit around a planet that has been determined to be safe for your crew to disembark, to begin a new life for themselves on a strange new world, billions of miles from our home. You are the spearhead of a grand exploratory mission, an expedition to spread the influence of humanity to the farthest reaches of space and beyond.

"This is the story you have been told. I am here today to reveal the truth.

"It all began three years ago. Sarutobi Corps was at the very apex of extraplanetary operations, and our enterprises were growing by the day. Sending probes to the furthest reaches of the solar system, establishing our first research colonies on Venus and Mars, and the genesis of the idea that would eventually become the Konoha mission had already reached early planning stages. Our successes in so many avenues emboldened us to embark on our next great venture: to use the very sun itself, the source of all life on Earth, as a source of power, a way to extend our reach far beyond even the stars.

"Was it hubris, to imagine that we could harness the energy of that which had guided all of our existence? Perhaps. But that is neither here nor there, for it turned out not to matter in the end.

"Our initial assessments were simply to determine the viability of solar energy, to ascertain the sort of output we could expect. But all of our carefully laid plans came crashing down around us when the first diagnostics began to return.

"The temperature at the surface of Sol I was dropping, at a rate that could only be considered alarming. Tests taken two decades earlier were compared to the readings we received, as if we were desperately hoping that we remembered wrong, that surely this couldn't be what was truly going on. But the tests showed the truth: in less than 20 years, the star's surface temperature had dropped by 4%.

"Our sun was dying. Initial estimates put its lifespan at no longer than twenty years, but at the rate of heat loss... No one could be certain. All that we knew was that within two decades, the Earth would be a lifeless husk.

"I won't bore you with the bureaucratic details of what happened next. There were panicked communications among every major corporation and country on Earth. Mindless accusations were thrown around, deflected, and eventually left to wither and die when it became clear that blame was pointless and nonproductive.

"Long story short, the Konoha was born: framed as a grand explorative experiment, a triumphant return to the stars for humankind. A cross-section of the very best of humanity, setting out toward the furthest reaches of the known universe, as far as we could go.

"What no one but those directly attached to the planning of the project knew, however, was that this was no act of conquest, but an act of survival. A city-sized spacecraft that would be launched by a crew who would die aboard it, only so that they could sire the next generation, then the generation after, until eventually, Mother willing, their great-grandchildren or great-great-grandchildren would find a place where humanity could live on.

"The rest of the world will find out eventually, of course. Whether we announce it to them, once the ship is safely away, or they find out themselves makes no difference. But that is our fight, not yours.

"Admiral, this was never a mission of exploration. This is a mission of conservation. By the time you are watching this, our planet and everyone on it will be dead. Those you carry with you aboard the Konoha are the final remnants of our species.

"I am truly sorry for the burden I give you in these words. What happens with these revelations now is your choice, as Commanding Officer. A responsibility that I would not wish upon my gravest foe, let alone the person who is now leading our people to the only chance of salvation they have, but a responsibility you must now shoulder nonetheless.

"Know that the prayers of 15 billion people go with you on your journey. May the Mother watch over you- may she watch over all of you. And may you have the strength to carry on after the things you have learned here today.

"End recording."

The very air in the suite had suddenly gone frigid. Kakashi felt his mouth go dry, heard the pounding of his heart behind his ears. His entire body felt numb and unresponsive, as if every single nerve had been disconnected from his brain.

His mind raced, thinking back to every time he, or Sasuke, or Neji had signed off from the bridge and sent their routine status updates to mission control. And every time, the same reply, calmly transmitted across the stars.

Message received. Well all.

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of the same reply. Beamed across space to assure them that everything was going according to plan.

Hollow words, being sent from some self-maintaining fission-powered computer in some bunker on Earth, ticking away and repeating its message day by day, long after the species that had built it had frozen and died in the waning light of the sun.

Kakashi couldn't process what he'd just seen. He stood from his seat on the sofa, felt his legs wobble beneath him, and fell forward to crash through the coffee table, collapsing it into two large halves with a crack that sounded like the loudest noise he'd ever perceived. Struggling to his feet, he swung his gaze around his quarters, unable to focus his eyes on anything.

Then, a single remembered sentence from the video sliced through the blurred haze like a knife, returning him to some semblance of reality.

I've just finished speaking to Hiruzen and his wife.

Old Admiral Sarutobi had known, had spent his entire life aboard the ship knowing that they were leaving the entire world behind them to die. He had known, and so had his wife.

And if they had known…

A red anger began to swell in Kakashi's addled brain as the roaring of blood behind his ears intensified. He slammed his palm against the release on the front door of his suite, emerged into the corridor, and immediately headed toward the bridge, picking up speed with every stride.

Sakura let her head fall to the kitchen table with a dull thud. She felt Sasuke shift in his seat beside her as he turned to look at her with concern, but at this point she hardly cared what he thought. A groan escaped her lips.

"Sasuke… There is nothing here. We've looked over every inch of the ship, every tiny forgotten corridor, every crawlspace in Sector 6. Everywhere aboard the ship that some secret sector could be, it's accounted for and very heavily documented that there is something there that is perfectly rational and meant to be there. There is no place on this station that could be Sector 7."

Sasuke rubbed his hands against his temples. The worst part was that she was right: They'd looked everywhere, and they were no closer to finding either Sector 7 or Hinata. The table was a mess of datacards, paper printouts of blueprints, and even a few actual physical ship's charts that Sakura had stolen from the Records Cell. How she'd got those out, she hadn't explained, and Sasuke hadn't had any intention of asking.

"There has to be something. Hinata was kidnapped over this phrase, there is no way Nagato or anyone else would have gone to extremes like that over a misunderstanding. Sector 7 exists, and if we don't find it soon Hinata is as good as dead!"

His voice rang out in the empty suite, and he clamped his mouth shut, furious with himself. Sakura's eyes widened at the outburst, and the two of them just stared at each other. The weight of what he'd just shouted hung in the air between them.

Then Sakura reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. He squeezed it back.

"Sasuke, it's okay. We're going to find her." Taking a deep breath, the pink-haired woman returned to the pile of papers in front of her. "I think we need to re-evaluate what we're doing, and go back to trying to find Hinata, instead of chasing Sector 7. Unless there's some kind of hidden chamber that's not on any of these blueprints, some kind of blind spot in the ship's planning records, I don't see how it could possibly… Sasuke?"

All at once, all of the colour had drained from Sasuke's face.

"Sasuke? What is it?"

Sasuke barely heard her. The things she had just said were racing through his mind.

"Some kind of blind spot…"

"There is no place on this station that could be Sector 7."

And then another voice joined hers: the voice of his daughter, of Sarada reporting to him during the first stage of the approach earlier that day.

"We had a minor blip on one of the scopes along the aft axis…"

The hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck stood on end. "Sakura, I have to go to the bridge.

Her face was a picture of worried confusion. "What? Sasuke, you're scaring me."

He turned to look at her, and the expression in his eyes was one that she never forgot, for the rest of her life.

"I know where Sector 7 is."

Sakura's face went pale, and for a second her mouth flopped open like a fish. Then, she visibility composed herself, and stood.

"Then I'm coming with you. Let's go."

On the bridge, a rolling cheer sounded from the operations zone. Neji obviously wouldn't allow himself to join, out of regard for protocol, but that didn't stop him from letting a wide smile spread across his face. Turning to the rear of the bridge, he addressed the gathered Commanders.

"Commander Yamanaka, approach procedures are complete: We have arrived at Site III." The cheering from the crew doubled in intensity at his words, until Neji couldn't even hear the Commander's reply, but the look on his face was enough.

Neji turned to his console and tapped a few keys. The front wall of the bridge shimmered and rippled as the datascreens adjusted to show the exterior view of the Konoha.

And there it was: Site III.

At first glance, it looked so much like Earth, multitudes of green continents resting in a planet-covering ocean of blue. But looking closer, one noticed that the green of the land was markedly different, almost a yellow colour, and the cloud patterns that dotted the planet's surface were utterly unlike anything that had ever been seen on earth. Most notably of all, a band of ruby-red land encircled the entire planet like a belt on its equatorial plane. This massive landmass was largely a mystery, but the Science Cell's best estimation was that it was an equatorial region of intense heat and massive cliffs.

The entire crew went utterly silent at the sight of the planet below. Even the Commanders were at a loss for words, seeing the world that they and their parents had travelled over 80 years to reach. Glancing to the side, Neji was slightly shaken to see that Mr. Sarutobi had risen from his seat in the corner, staring wide-eyed at the screen, a single tear having traced a line down his left cheek.

For a moment, there was complete silence. No one seemed to want to be the first one to speak, to break the spell that the sight on the screen had cast over the entire room.

Then the bridge's main door silently slid open, and a figure with a shock of messy silver hair stormed into the room, heading straight for Asuma.

Kakashi Hatake reached the other man, reached out his hand, and grabbed him by the collar. The object of his wrath stumbled backward, his heel knocking over the chair he'd taken to sitting in for hours at a time. As he yelled in surprise, the Commanders leaped into action, all moving toward the sudden breakout of violence.

"What the hell? Hatake, get your fucking hands off me!" Sarutobi grabbed ahold of Kakashi's forearm, but the other man's grip was like iron.

"Admiral Hatake? Sir, what are you doing?! You need to leave, before-"

Kakashi's typically quiet, measured voice roared, stifling all four of the men trying to speak over each other.

"You knew, you son of a bitch! You knew all along!"

At his words, the bearded man abruptly stopped struggling. Kakashi watched, slightly amazed despite himself, as the other man's face transformed. His eyes went dull and his mouth closed into a firm line as Kakashi's words made their mark. Looking at him, the Sarutobi heir practically appeared to age by 20 years.

Sarutobi turned and looked at the three Commanders, who were surveying the situation with varying degrees of stunned disbelief. A shocked silence had spread over the entire bridge, the excitement of their arrival at Site III temporarily forgotten in the chaos.

"Commanders, this is between Admiral Hatake and myself. Respectfully, I'd like to ask you to permit us to have the CO's office to ourselves."

Shikamaru's face was utterly shocked. The look on Fugaku's face immediately said what he thought of the idea, but as he opened his mouth to vocalize his thoughts, Inoichi raised a hand and stretched in across his chest, blocking him. For a moment, the man's dull grey-blue eyes slowly panned from Kakashi, to Sarutobi, then back again.

Then he nodded slowly. "Be quick, if you could."

Sarutobi looked at Kakashi, nodding down at the hand that still gripped his collar. Without another word, the other man released his hold on the other man's jacked before gesturing toward the door of his former office. The Sarutobi heir strode through without another word, Kakashi following.

Once they were both inside and the door had slid closed, Sarutobi turned to the Konoha's Commanding Officer.

"How did you find out?"

There was no anger, no malice in his voice. If anything, he simply sounded tired.

Kakashi raised his hand, showing a tiny object clutched between two fingers. A data card.

"Admiral Senju gave this to me, just before she died. It's a recording of your grandfather."

Sarutobi's eyebrows rose at that, then he sighed. "I suppose you know everything, then."

His calmness only infuriated Kakashi further, but he bit his tongue and forced his anger down. More violence wasn't going to solve anything at this stage.

"How could you keep this to yourself? How? This ship- everyone on it, they had a right to know! They had a right to know how important this was!"

Sarutobi looked at him, and the look on his face made Kakashi stop dead. He'd only ever seen a look like that once before, and it was so long ago that it took him a few seconds to even reconstruct where he knew it from. Then it clicked: it was the look of a tired, exasperated father gave his son after an outlandish question, the look of patient pity reserved for a young child who was trying to be eloquent about things they didn't comprehend.

It was the look his father had given him, after he'd asked where his mother had gone.

"What would it have changed, Kakashi? How would the knowledge, all this time, have caused anything other than pain?"

Kakashi opened his mouth, then closed it again. The sound of his first name coming from Sarutobi's mouth had been strange enough, but as he considered the other man's words, he realized he had no rebuttal.

The brown-haired man nodded at his silence, then stode to the office door. As he reached for the release, he turned to Kakashi. "I'll be leaving the bridge now. You can consider my grievance against your ability to command lifted, if you'd like. I won't be back."

Without another word, he left the office. Kakashi heard his retreating footsteps toward the main bridge doors, a confused question from Inoichi, Asuma's soft reply, then the soft whirr of the bridge entrance opening to allow him to leave.

That was the last straw. Kakashi flopped down into the chair behind his former desk, a feeling of bemused confusion colouring his vision.

What would it have changed, Kakashi?

He was ashamed to say that he couldn't think of an answer to that question- not a positive one, anyway.

Sarutobi was right.

Kakashi simply sat for several moments, staring at the closed office door, lost in his confused thoughts. He started as the door slid open, and realized with a further shock that Sasuke stood in the doorway, with Sakura standing at his side.

"I've found it. I've found Sector 7."

Sasuke came to a halt in front of Neji, barely registering the salute offered by the Prelate of Helm enough to raise his hand in a rushed reply. Neji's pale eyes were narrowed in concern and confusion.

"Sir… What's going on?"

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Lieutenant, I assure you that I will explain everything shortly. For now, I need something from you."

Neji pressed his lips together, stifling the questions he was sure to be feeling, and nodded. "Hai, Sir. The bridge is yours."

Sasuke shook his head "I don't need command, not right now. What I need is for you to launch a probe to the aft of the station, directly along the vector of the Byakugan's blind spot."

As his words hung in the air, Neji's expression of confusion shifted subtly, becoming a face of guarded disbelief. Sasuke could practically see the doubtful questions forming behind his eyes, but once again he swallowed his concerns and simply nodded, turning and signalling a member of the bridge crew.

Kakashi and Sakura both stepped up to stand on either side of Sasuke. Sakura looked at her husband warily. "What are you expecting to find here?" Kakashi was silent, but the expression spreading over his face made Sakura incredibly uneasy.

Sasuke shook his head. "In a few minutes, if I'm right, we'll know." He turned to direct his attention to Sarada's workstation. "Petty Officer Uchiha, give me visual on the probe's track and patch it to the main bridge viewscreen."

Sarada turned without a word, tapping away at her console. The image of Site III on the screen across the front wall disappeared, being replaced by a view of the rear of the ship from the perspective directly below the bridge. A spherical white probe was slowly working its way directly away from the scope, carefully controlled jets of compressed air pushing it through the vacuum of space.

The probe moved away from the bridge, the image on the screen shrinking as it went. Sasuke stared at it, his eyes locked to the dwindling white circle as it tracked the line fed to it by the bridge crew to represent the cone of space that the Byakugan had no perception of.

Then, something impossible happened on the screen. The very space around the probe seemed to warp, rippling and distorting around the sphere like the surface of a pool of water tipped on its side. The probe seemed to stretch, its outline distending in a way that seemed to defy visual logic, then with a final shudder it vanished. The wobbling space it had occupied shimmered, then settled back to nothingness.

Sarada's face went rigid, and she instinctively reached up to grasp the necklace she wore. Across the bridge, someone cursed softly.

"That's… that's a stealth field. There's something up there behind a cloak." Neji's voice sounded like he could hardly believe the words he was saying. Sakura had turned to Sasuke, and this time there was no mistaking the fear on her face. Kakashi's eyes were still boring into the screen, fixated on the point where the probe had just vanished.

"This can't be. Even if… something… were out there, disguised, how could it have possibly come this close to us without any of our sensors picking up on it? There must be some other explanation." Fugaku had joined the group, and was shaking his head desperately.

Sasuke turned to look at his father. "We never bothered to ask, why does the Byakugan even have a blind spot? We have the technology for a generation-spanning mission in a city-sized space station, but it wasn't possible to design the radar to have full coverage?"

Neji's head snapped to look at him. Realization flashed onto his face at Sasuke's words.

"That blind spot was meant to be there. When the Konoha was being constructed, the Byakugan was installed specifically so that there would be this gap in coverage, but with just enough of a veneer of deniability that no one would question why it happens. All to hide that." Sasuke pointed at the screen. "Something has been following us, matching every vector, our exact pathway, our exact velocity.

"And it was there when we launched."

No one on the bridge spoke. Kakashi had finally turned away from the screen, and his gaze had settled on Sasuke. Sakura had reached out and placed a hand firmly on the side of Sarada's operation console, as if to steady herself. Shikamaru had placed a hand over his lips, his eyes wide and haunted.

A mechanical chime sounded through the bridge, startling everyone. Neji looked down at his screen, then stared at it for several seconds.

"Admiral Hatake… Lieutenant Uzumaki's DOT is back online. She's in Sector 3, in the main hangar."