More Than Enemies Chapter 26: Of Seals and Spies, a naruto fanfic

Recap from last chapter:
Sakura finds out Itachi has a poisonous plant growing inside of him (one related to tomatoes) and in doing so manages to rekindle her friendship with a certain blonde. She and Ino then get up to many shenanigans, such as inviting Sasuke to Ino's house and Ino flirting with him 'to restore his self-confidence'.
Meanwhile, Shikaku and Inoichi grow interested in the case of a certain spy, who had disappeared from Konoha almost ten years ago, with the authorities non the wiser about who 'Yugao Uzuki the first' was.
In order to find out, Shikaku corners Kakashi after Hayate's funeral and convinces him to share his story. We find out that Kakashi and Yugao had, once upon a time, been ANBU teammates, and friends. Whilst captured in a high security Iwa facility, Yugao finally opens up to Kakashi and we find out that she had known Minato quite well, but not how or why. The story continues.

So... new chapter for you guys. It is, as always, pretty long, so yeah. To those of you who don't have time to read it in one sitting- scenes have been parted so you can choose when you want to stop.

More Than Enemies

The cell was still dank and stuffy, its floor still wet and grime-covered. The hunger was worse than ever; the vice-like hug of the encroaching cold tighter, darkness still the only constant. If Kakashi had thought he'd get used to his confinement, then he'd been wrong. With every passing day, the lack of food was weakening him more and more, to the background noise of Yugao's rattling coughing fits.

One day, she tried to give him some of her food. She argued that he was going through a growth spurt and needed it more. It was true. All he felt lately was the gnawing hunger. Kakashi wanted nothing more than to agree and take the damn food, but he didn't.

"No. I'll eat my share and you yours. I'm not leaving without you. And my body's not dumb: if I don't get enough sustenance, then I'll just stop growing, no problem."

A deep frown marred Yugao's features.

"I don't think it works like that… what if your growth gets stunted forever? I mean you're already so short…"

Kakashi bristled. "Short? I'm not short!"

"Vertically challenged."

Some time ago, they might have begun bickering.

"Listen, Kakashi," she said, suddenly cold. "What's more useful: two shinobi crippled from starvation and illness, or one able-bodied fighter that can escape?"

"Stop it, Yugao."

" You should stop being so obstinate."

"Obstinate? What the hell is wrong with you!"

"Both of us can't make it. This is a fact."

"No," he snapped curtly. "You're wrong."

"Ka–"

"No, end of discussion."

They both stared at each other. Yugao was scowling like a drowned cat again. Like a desperate, ocean-on-all sides, drowned cat.

"It is true." There was a bitter edge in her voice. "I can't keep doing this anymore. There's nothing left for me. Maybe it's for the best."

"Yugao… what are you talking about?" Kakashi stared at her with furrowed brows. She didn't elaborate. In fact, her scowl eventually faded, until nothing was left. Her face could just as well have been cut from porcelain. Kakashi didn't like that look in her eye – frighteningly vacant. Glassy. Like a dead person.

"Alright, stop that. This is just the fever or whatever getting to you."

She chuckled hollowly. "No. You don't understand. The mess I'm in… it's too big. Maybe it's for the best if I just…"

"No," Kakashi couldn't believe he was having this conversation. "No. Listen to me, numskull. We've made it this far without giving up. It's a big mess, but, but we can get out. We can."

Silence. Yugao shook her head. "You don't even believe that yourself. I know what I'm talking about. This prison… there's no escaping it. Not in our condition. Not without outside help."

Kakashi wanted to argue back. He gripped the bars, tried to think of what Obito would've said – but his mind drew a blank. A part of him couldn't help but agree with what Yugao's reasoning.

She had that vacant look again. "...my chances are one in a thousandth, anyway. At best. Some problems just… can't be solved. They aren't worth tackling." She looked over at him, as if seeking his confirmation.

He couldn't have said why, but Kakashi knew right then that his answer would make a difference. That this was big.

"No," he said resolutely. "If we don't even try, then we'll never know if your estimation was wrong." She eyed him with a hopeless mien. "Look. One in a thousand is a pretty random number. It could be a lot less."

Yugao rolled her eyes tiredly. "Bad odds are bad odds."

"It still isn't zero."

"Pff." She laughed hoarsely. "You know, if we do make it out of here, please buy a book on giving pep talks."

He shoved her through the bars, cheeks aflame. "Shut up."

"So… eventually, we ended up deciding we'd take a chance, even if that might draw the guards attention upon us."

Shikaku frowned. "Man, that couldn't have been an easy decision. You'd slipped under the radar so far, but if they caught on to who you really were…"

"Well, our situation was pretty bleak," Kakashi said with a shrug. "If we'd stayed there much longer, we'd have died."

After a night (or day?) of fitfully recharging their energy through a parody of sleep, they set a plan into motion: Yugao made a show of wailing, screaming and generally playing her illness up until one of the wards finally came to check out the ruckus. Kakashi, who had been lying in wait, channeled an electric current through the metal bars just as the jailer was touching them. The stocky ninja twitched repeatedly and screamed, but by then Yugao had latched onto his leg and held on desperately so that Kakashi could finish the job.

The guard's death was long and agonizing. In his frenzy to get away, the poor man had tried slamming Yugao face-first against the bars.

CLANG! Once, then again, and again. Clank. Clank.

Nevertheless, she clung to him and didn't let go. Kakashi let out a breath when the guard finally dropped to the floor limply.

"Yugao? Oi, Yugao?" The little pile on the floor that was her moved, uncurling until her face came visible again. It was filled with blood – a broken nose, most likely – and would probably look much worse in a while. Her left eye was promising to match her hair color soon.

"I… I think I see his keys," Yugao croaked.

"Good. Where are they?"

"In his… in his belt. Dangling off it."

She sounded really croakey, but he needed to impress upon her that they needed to hurry. "Yugao, Yugao, listen. You've got to get up. Can you do that for me? Yes, that's it. And then drag the guard toward you and take the keys, quick."

It turned out she was too weak to drag the man's considerable body mass over. Shit, shit, shit. What now?

Kakashi was sure that their escape attempt had failed before it could even commence, but he was proven wrong when Yugao somehow managed to snag the keys in a desperate ditch-attempt by dislocating her shoulder. She was muttering something about the few advantages of hyper-extended elbows even as she tossed them awkwardly back to him. Now it was Kakashi's turn.

It took him an embarrassingly long time to manage to unlock his manacles and the door, but then, impossibly, the latches clicked and he was free. Their escape was underway.

Opening her cell door was done in short order. Kakashi carefully extricated Yugao from where she was limply staring at him (fuck, she was thin) and carefully popped her shoulder back into its socket. Then they bolted. For once, as they staggered through the prison, luck was on their side and they somehow managed to find their way to the exit undetected. Once outside, they dumped the guard's body (Kakashi had put it into a scroll, but they might need it for other things) into a well. Then they ran (tripped) through the forest as fast as they could.

"Our chances were abysmal," Kakashi told Shikaku quietly. "All of our weapons and possessions had been taken from us. I didn't even have an accurate map of the area." He hadn't even had anything to cover Obito's eye with. It was a miracle the guards hadn't noticed it. "We were deep into the heart of enemy territory. It was obvious that search parties were on the lookout for us. Iwa wouldn't stand for the humiliation of letting two teenage prisoners escape."

"Sounds bad."

Kakashi shrugged. "Mah, I'm sure you could sympathize. The worst part about making a great effort is the knowledge that we'd most likely get caught and that all of it would be for nothing."

"Kakashi." Yugao's voice snapped him out of his dark thoughts. "Remember what you told me in the cell? One in a thousandth – it's not zero."

Kakashi kept walking ahead, face stony. "I lied." His voice sounded dead. It was beginning to sink in that they could escape their prison all they wanted; they'd never make it home. "One divided a thousand is a zero with many other zeros behind the comma."

He couldn't see Yugao's face as he was walking ahead; couldn't bear to look her in the eye as he voiced what he knew to be true. Suddenly, she nudged his arm.

"We really need to get you that pep talk book, eh?"

Somehow, that cheered him up. "I'm fine , thanks."

She snorted. They kept going.

"Predictably, our luck ran out as we neared the border: we were recognized by bounty hunters."

"Shit. Why is it always those guys?" Shikaku lamented. "And almost at the border, too…"

Kakashi nodded grimly. "It was an ugly fight. Yugao almost lost a finger, I got a concussion and – well. I don't even remember our exact injuries. We escaped, that was all that mattered."

"Seriously?" the Nara clan head guffawed. "How in the hell did you manage that? A fight, unarmed, outnumbered, in foreign territory – and you still escaped?"

Kakashi didn't remember. He'd just fought with every shred of his being – to survive, to make it home. The details were blurry.

"We weren't willing to chance another encounter, so we were forced to drag ourselves through a river in order to get rid of a possible trail. Then we trekked all the way to Grass Country." They'd pushed their famine-ailed bodies to the very brink. "After days of travel, we made it to the Sunken Wastelands, still alive and free. Not bad, ne?"

He had never seen them before, but the name didn't let down. An ominous, mud-covered swamp that was rumored to be a deathtrap of poisonous fumes, the Sunken Wastelands were infamous as much as they were avoided – both by ninja and travelers alike, which is exactly why they were their only hope of crossing the border.

Their trek through the Sunken Wastelands was grueling, was painful and crude and plain horrible… but somehow, after what felt like weeks of trudging through sludge and barely eating, barely drinking –

"The sunken wastelands?" Shikaku questioned. "Thought those were… uh. Dangerous?"

"Not if you're desperate enough. We crossed them and made it to Fire Country," Kakashi said.

Hope had gripped them as they stumbled forward without pause, never taking their eyes off their goal, barely coherent. And then it happened: they laid eyes on the village gates, tall and proud and larger than life.

KONOHA

Kakashi's hazy eyes drifted over the inscription, a feeling of unreality taking over.

"The guards ran up to us, disbelief all over their faces. As I said earlier, our squad had been presumed KIA weeks ago."

As he fell to his knees in exhaustion, the world spinning around him, dizzy with relief, it was all he could do not to dry heave. He glanced to his left. Yugao was there, quiet tears streaming down her pale cheeks, out of the one eye that wasn't completely bruised closed. She was smiling at him, vivid and strong, and she was saying something, looking at him, but he couldn't make out the words.

Finally… home.

"She said something?"

"I know she did, but it barely registered," Kakashi confirmed.

"But she smiled at you?"

"Who wouldn't?" Kakashi questioned. "We'd done the impossible."

"I… I'm really confused now."

Kakashi chuckled. "Then you're going to love the next part. When I woke up a week later, the hokage was in my hospital room. I sat up quickly and asked him what the matter was."

"Sandaime-sama?"

Hiruzen was mustering him intently.

"I'm glad you're awake, Kakashi-kun. Could you please tell me what the words on the mantelpiece of your old home were?"

Confused, Kakashi answered the question.

"And the names of your ninken?"

Kakashi told him their names.

"What was the first jutsu that Minato-kun taught you and why?"

"How old were you when you graduated?"

"What did I tell you after you completed your first ANBU mission?"

The questions went on for a while. At long last, the sandaime seemed pleased.

"Thank you, Kakashi. I hope you understand the need to confirm your identity."

Kakashi nodded, though he was a little lost. Typically, he didn't get interrogated like this upon coming home. It did make sense that he would be since he'd been captured, but why by the hokage? No, something else was afoot here.

The hokage didn't give him time to ask. Immediately, he started questioning Kakashi about the details of the mission. Relieved that he apparently wasn't in trouble, Kakashi began reporting the horrible events to the best of his ability. He described monotonously how his team had died (again) except for him and Yugao, how they'd been taken prisoners right afterward, their various escapes and the subsequent foray in the horrible, disgusting, smelly swamp that stretched from Grass Country into Fire Country… By the time he was finished, the hokage was frowning.

"And Yugao didn't behave strangely at any point? In a fashion that was out of character?"

Kakashi shook his head in confusion. Sure, she did open up to him in that cell, but it had still clearly been her.

"You're certain that she couldn't have been replaced by one of the Iwa shinobi at the prison?" the hokage pressed.

On his part, Kakashi felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Replaced? What's that supposed to mean? Is she alr–"

"Answer the question, please."

Hesitantly, Kakashi shook his head again. "No, she acted like herself the entire time. Even if the guards had tortured knowledge of our team and village out of her, which to my knowledge they didn't, I would have noticed if her smell had changed. And her behavior would have been impossible to replicate by someone who didn't know her well. It was definitely her."

The sandaime stared at Kakashi silently, his expression grave.

"Hokage-sama?" Kakashi pressed, tensing. "What is it?"

The old man sighed. "The ANBU archives were broken into last night. We don't know what was taken." He paused. "According to the Inuzuka's best tracker dogs, the intruder was Yugao Uzuki."

Kakashi's eyes widened. "Impossible. They've made a mistake."

The sandaime shook his head slowly. "You've said yourself that a tracker's nose cannot be fooled, Kakashi. We have raided Yugao's flat and found her passed out on a bed. However, her smell was different from the one the dogs had picked up on."

"I don't understand."

Full of dread, Kakashi searched the hokage's face for any trace that this was a lie…

But the hokage only leveled him with a solemn look. "I'm sorry to say this, Kakashi-kun… but the Yugao Uzuki that was admitted to the hospital with you is gone. And the Yugao Uzuki who was found in her bed has no memory of the past eight months."

There were two Yugaos?

An ice cold feeling spread over Kakashi's chest. "No, that's impossible."

The sandaime sighed. "I'm truly sorry, Kakashi-kun, but it looks like the Yugao you knew was a spy. The real Yugao Uzuki has never set foot into ANBU HQ."

Thunderstruck, Kakashi stared at the hokage with unbridled horror. No, that couldn't be. Yugao had cared about the village, about the team. She'd been just as stricken by their teammate's deaths… Hell no. It couldn't be.

But… he remembered her hopeless expression in that cell, talking about the problem that she couldn't solve, looking desperate, looking lost – her eyes so frighteningly vacant. What had she been trying to tell him?

" It is true." He remembered the bitter edge in her voice. "I can't keep doing this anymore. There's nothing left for me. Maybe it's for the best…"

" The mess I'm in," she had said, "it's too big."

He had assumed in that moment that she was referring to their predicament, but–

Fool. He had been a fool. As the truth began to sink in, scorching anger welled up within him.

Yugao, how could you? Or was that even her name? Had she ever even been his teammate to begin with? Liar. She had lied. None of it had mattered to her. She had betrayed them, betrayed team Kame.

Fury brewed in his gut. She had lied to him. She had abandoned him; one more name in a long list – and she wasn't even dead. How dare she? He would find her. He would find her and punch her and drag her back and...

"Do you know who she is, or why she infiltrated us?" he asked the hokage, struggling to keep his voice level.

The sandaime shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

There was a long, tense silence.

"Do you even know where she went?" Kakashi questioned. He wanted answers. He needed answers. Now.

The hokage sighed. "Our trackers followed her all the way to the far end of the Nara forests' border, but beyond that… they lost her. She was too fast. I'm sorry, Kakashi-kun. The storm yesterday night has made her trail grow cold." He leveled Kakashi with a grave look of finality. "She's well and truly gone – and good riddance."

Gone.

"So… she left after you both made it back. That is actually… really odd," Shikaku mused.

Kakashi's fist clenched. Noticing his internal conflict, Shikaku gave him a questioning look. Finally, Kakashi relented. "She'd said something to me, in that prison."

The Nara's eyebrow quirked up. "Hmm?"

"She wanted to know if…" Kakashi frowned.

There had been that damned vacant look in her eye he couldn't stand. "...my chances are one in a thousandth. At best." He recalled the sullen voice she'd spoken in. "Some problems just… can't be solved. They aren't worth tackling."

A silent question. He had sensed, even then, that his answer would matter to her.

"No," he remembered his words clearly. "If we don't even try, then we'll never know if your estimation was wrong."

"She wanted to know if something – some sort of problem – was worth trying to solve. She seemed to think that it wasn't… but I encouraged her to."

They were silent. "And she never said what the problem was?"

He shook his head.

As he fell to his knees in exhaustion, the world spinning around him, Kakashi could only sigh with relief. He glanced to his left. Yugao was there, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. Her eyes met his, a deep emotion in them. He saw her move her lips, saying something, but he couldn't make out the words .

"No. I never found out."

Shikaku stared at him. "But that's…" He frowned. "Troublesome woman."

Kakashi nodded, smiling wryly. "Quite."

"And you never saw her again after that, huh? What a way to go…" Shikaku paused, having noticed a minute tensing of Kakashi's shoulders. "What is it?"

The man seemed to deliberate for almost an entire minute.

"I never saw her again," he said, "but. That wasn't the last I heard from her."

A few hours earlier, the civilian district

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite person in the world." Danzo sneered at Jiraiya.

"Likewise," Jiraiya said with distaste.

"And? What brings you here?" Danzo questioned after it became apparent that Jiraiya wanted to talk to him. "In case you can't see, I'm in the middle of something."

Jiraiya glanced around, suppressing laughter. He had found the elder near the civilian court room and if that wasn't telling enough, Danzo was clutching a stack of legal papers in his right hand.

"So it's really true then?" he couldn't help but ask. "You finally got sued?"

"Yes," Danzo replied blandly.

Jiraiya snorted. "Holly cow. Whoever did ought to have some balls of steel."

Danzo scowled. "As it happens, they don't. It's a woman who sued me."

Jiraiya's eyebrows shot into the air. "My… If you were anybody else, I'd write a novel about it. Icha Icha: sexual tension in a courtroom…"

"Don't you dare," Danzo hissed.

"Icha Icha: legally wooed."

"You will drop this topic if you value your life."

"Alright, alright, relax. Jeez."

"Hmp," the elder grunted scathingly. "Now, I hate to cut this short, but unfortunately I am required to make an appearance in court, so if you could just leave…"

"Why not send a shadow clone though?" Jiraiya suggested. "Or is that beyond your abilities?"

Danzo gave him a foul look. "I have been sending shadow clones. But in case it somehow escaped your notice, the longer a shadow clone stays in existence, the larger the cumulative exhaustion upon its dispersal. Or are those words too big for you?"

"I'll have you know that I'm a respectable book author–"

"I beg to differ."

"Icha Icha–"

"Cut the crap and tell me what you want with me," the councilman interrupted with vexation.

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. So he had cut to the chase… well, there was no putting it off now. Jiraiya would go through with his plan.

"I want to talk to you. In private. Right now."

Danzo's eyes narrowed carefully. He seemed to weigh his options for longer than what was reasonable. Finally, he said: "Fine. Follow."

A few minutes later found them in a sealed, empty room with privacy wards painted on the walls and doors. There were no windows.

Upon arrival, Danzo limited to lean against one of the walls and leveling Jiraiya's with a penetrating stare.

"So? State your business, Sannin."

Jiraiya frowned at him. In truth, his business was none of his business. He wanted to know the truth of the Uchiha massacre. He wanted to know why no one had cleared Itachi's name. He wanted to know what exactly had happened on that blood-streaked night five years ago.

But his sensei had already lied to him about it once back then and then again when he brought up the topic a few days ago, so he would have to find out some other way.

Basically, he was banking on Danzo believing that Hiruzen had told him the truth… and if he could trick Danzo into swallowing his lie, then Jiraiya could perhaps get the truth from the source – for there wasn't a doubt in his mind that Danzo knew exactly what had happened.

"The Uchiha massacre is my business," Jiraiya stated in a menacing voice. "Or more accurately, Itachi Uchiha's innocence is my business."

Danzo's jaw clenched. For the longest time, he didn't say anything. "You know ," he spat at last. "How did you find out?"

"Now, now. I'm the one asking the questions here," Jiraiya said slowly.

"Answer me!" Danzo growled. "How much do you know?"

"In case it escaped your notice, I have an intelligence network that spreads wide over the five great ninja nations. Do you truly believe something of this magnitude would slip past me?"

Danzo's knuckles were bone white as he gripped his cane. "Who was it? Was it Hiruzen? He told you, didn't he? That batty old fool!"

Hook, line and sinker. Good , Jiraiya thought viciously.

Outwardly, he kept his face carefully blank. "You should watch how you talk to your hokage, Shimura. Or someone might infer that you're plotting treason."

It was the right thing to say. Danzo clearly took the violent deflection as proof that he had guessed right and glared even harder at him.

Jiraiya could see his nostrils flare.

"Oh? And I suppose that what happened that night is too much for your delicate sensibilities, Sannin?"

"Watch it!" Jiraiya snapped, playing along. Danzo thought he was a hot-headed fool… and that was the part he must play if he wished to press his advantage. Now, how should he go about getting the intel he wanted? He decided to send Danzo a smoke screen and see what happened:

"The massacre could've been avoided and you know it."

It was vague enough that it could practically mean anything, but in the heat of the moment, Danzo didn't seem to notice.

"That's what your foolish old teacher would have you believe," he practically growled.

It seems I've struck gold, Jiraiya thought.

"Oh?" he said faux-casually. "And why shouldn't I believe my sensei? Why should I believe the backstabbing bastard's side of the story instead?"

"Because your inane teacher is a fool!" Danzo burst out. "For months on end he kept jabbering about finding a middle ground and wasting time until it was too late! "

"That's not what he told me ," Jiraiya said, raising his eyebrows for added effect. Not that he had told Jiraiya much of anything.

"Of course he wouldn't see it that way," Danzo spat. "But it's the truth. Hiruzen wasted precious time by doing nothing. Nothing . You hear me? It was his mistake for not reacting and I had to jump in to correct it at the very last second, so don't you dare accuse me when it was my actions that saved us from disaster! Why do you think all of the Uchiha were in the compound that night? Because it wasn't a coincidence!"

Jiraiya fought to conceal his shock. That sounded awfully like… Danzo had ordered for the massacre to happen. No. Imposible. And yet… Jiraiya couldn't deny the evidence that kept piling up. But he knew that he needed to get his head back in the game before Danzo realized that he was bluffing about his knowledge.

"You say you had to jump in and save the day," Jiraiya said derisively, "and yet it sounds awfully like you only made things worse."

"Don't you understand, you blathering fool!" Danzo shouted. "We were past the point of no return! I had no choice! I waited until the last second, and then I acted because no one else would! He who strikes first wins . We couldn't afford to lose!"

Oh, Jiraiya was beginning to understand alright.

"You feel guilty," he said in a soft, lethal voice. "Don't you." His over emotional reaction and how easily he'd been fooled could only be explained if he had deep feelings attached to the event that made Danzo irrational.

Danzo stopped dead in his tracks. "Guilty?" he spat. "Do I feel guilty for saving the village from civil war? No. I acted in the name of the greater good and if you don't understand that, then–"

"But you do feel guilty, don't you?" Jiraiya pressed quietly. "How many unnecessary victims died because of your actions that night? How many children, wives, mothers…?"

"And how many more would've died if we'd had a civil war?" Danzo snapped – a confession if Jiraiya ever saw one. But the elder continued: "Listen to me Sannin, the weakness of our village in the case of a civil war would've led the other nations to ally against us and that would've been the end ! Don't you see? It would've been the massacre of Konoha, not just one of its clans!"

"Do you tell that to yourself so that you can sleep at night?"

Danzo didn't reply this time. He was breathing deeply through his nose now, clearly attempting to calm himself.

"Why are you here, Sannin ?" he questioned at last, his voice frigid. "What do you want from me?"

Oh, how interesting. Danzo thought Jiraiya sought to blackmail him, did he? Well, if he insists…

"I want Uchiha Itachi's freedom. I want you to confess to what you did."

Danzo barked out a laugh. "Hah! As if I could agree to that. He's our only spy within the Akatsuki, or have you forgotten? We need him to stay where he is."

Jiraiya clenched his teeth.

"Well if you won't tell the truth, then I will." He turned to leave, but Danzo's cane blocked the exit.

"Oh, no you don't," he murmured threateningly. "Tell me, Sannin. What else do you want? Perhaps we could come to an agreement."

Jiraiya frowned. He wanted Itachi free, but it was clear that Danzo would never do anything that could compromise his own position… still, couldn't he do something to clear Itachi's name?

"I want Uchiha Itachi's name cleared."

"Unacceptable. Clearing his name would put a stain on Konoha instead."

"You mean you."

"I mean Konoha. Or what, did you think your precious teacher wasn't aware of what happened?"

Jiraiya glared at him. He would've loved to throw a tantrum and insist on his initial terms, but he knew an impossible task when he saw it. If the truth was revealed now, not only would it be a huge blow to Konoha right before the massacre, but they would also lose their only spy within Akatsuki… the Akatsuki who were targetting his godson. Minato's son. What if, by removing Itachi from the organization, Naruto ended up dying? The price… no, it was too high. If Naruto died, then Minato's sacrifice, Kushina's sacrifice, they'd have been in vain. Konoha would be in danger if they lost their bijuu. Shit. Jiraiya's fist clenched. Shit. Shit. Shit . As much as he loathed it, he couldn't free Itachi. For Naruto's own good… at the very least until Akatsuki was defeated… but Itachi was terminally ill. God damn .

I'm so sorry… he thought into the air. But he was a shinobi and shinobi made the best of what they had, the best of any situation. He had Danzo at blade point and he'd be damned if he didn't take advantage.

Jiraiya straightened his spine and spoke his terms:

"If you really want me to stay quiet on this, Shimura, then I want you to sign a fuinjutsu contract in exchange."

There was a pregnant pause.

"And what would be the terms?" Danzo asked carefully.

Jiraiya paused. He knew that this was a one in a lifetime chance. He had the upper hand here, he could tell; he may not be certain about why exactly Danzo had felt the need to order the Uchiha clan to be massacred, but it was clear that he had done so and gone to great lengths to keep it quiet. If the truth came out, his political career would be in shambles. Or in other words: Jiraiya could ask for nearly anything in exchange for his silence.

After much thought, he carefully worded his answer: "That you will never stage an uprising against the hokage. Against any hokage." He let those words sink in. "In exchange, I will sign a silencing contract on my end."

Eyes shadowed, Danzo took a step back. A moment later, his expresión was once again visible if stony, and he stared at Jiraiya long and hard. On his part, Jiraiya forced himself not to falter, not to so much as twitch, barely dating to breathe. Too much was riding on this one moment.

Finally, the elder closed his eyes and then re-opened them slowly.

"If I were to sign this, it would be only under one condition – the terms don't come into effect after your teacher's mandate ends."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "Are you insane? That is practically an admission of guilt on your part!"

"Consider it a promise instead," Danzo said darkly. "If you don't find a hokage that is more competent than Hiruzen and soon, I will take matters into my own hands."

Jiraiya frowned. Damn. What a curveball! He thought frantically about what he should do. This was bad! He wasn't making any de facto promises about not rebelling against sensei! And the contract would be useless if Danzo was elected the next hokage. No, there were too many loopholes – loopholes Danzo must be banking on; he needed to negotiate better terms.

"I don't accept."

Danzo looked at him expressionlessly. "Then don't, sannin. You have no proof to justify your accusations against me either way and while they could hurt my name, they will not be easily believed. So you think the ninja of this village would want to think of Konoha as a village who massacred one of its clans? With the hokage fully aware of that order? No. The won't believe you. Less so as your own reputation is questionable. If it comes down to it, you'll face the largest slander campaign in your career, Sannin, and so will I. Neither of us will benefit. Well? What do you have to say to that?"

Jiraiya gritted his teeth. It was clear he wasn't going to offer any other bargain. Shit. Even so… the terms Danzo had agreed to weren't as great as he'd have wanted but – the deal was still good. Permanent protection from Danzo for any of his sensei's successors? It was an amazing offer, but– who said Danzo would really go to the lengths of staging a coup anyway? He was an old man already. Wasn't Jiraiya being overly paranoid here? What if Danzo was just playing on his fears?

At his continued silence, the elder turned. "Fine, if that's your answer… then so may it be." And without a backward glance he turned, cane clanking against the hard, stone floors with every step.

To Jiraiya, the sounds were almost like the ticking of a clock. He watched, indecisive, as with every step the elder came closer and closer to the door.

Clank.

He was one step away when Jiraiya caved.

"Wait! "

Danzo didn't turn, but his hand rested on the door handle without pressing down.

"Wait," Jiraiya repeated. "I… I accept your offer."

"I never saw her again," he said, "but. That wasn't the last I heard from her."

Badumb. Badumb. Badumb.

Shikaku froze. What?

"Is this… Kakashi." He hadn't seen the report, but he knew that it had been sealed ten years ago and never reopened. Kakashi had seen Uzuki again, and he hadn't said anything. This was... this could be considered...

He didn't finish the thought.

"Relax." Kakashi turned, looking away from him. "We never had direct contact, not as such."

"But you did have contact?"

Shikaku stared wide-eyed at Kakashi, who didn't deny it. He tried to gather himself. Could she be the spy they were looking for after all?

"Kakashi, what happened?"

"You are improving by leaps and bounds, hime."

Sakura, who was panting in the middle of the training field, grinned at Shi-chan and patted him on the beak.

"Thanks, Shi-chan. What did I tell you about calling me that though?"

Shi-chan clucked at her and otherwise ignored the comment. "But you must rest also, hime. Or else you will burn yourself out, caw."

"I'm fine, Shi-chan," Sakura assured him. She had taken to eating some energizing vitamin pills every morning and they really helped. She also ate them in the evenings so she could meet with Ino and Sasuke after all her chores and not be a corpse… but Shi-chan didn't need to know that.

The crow was looking at her with narrowed eyes, as if trying to spot a lie.

Sakura grinned awkwardly and stood up from the ground again. "Please, Shi-chan. I promise I'll take a break once I master the shunshin fully."

"You're already adequate at it, caw."

Sakura shook her head. "No. I have to use my memory to get around, but I can't even keep my eyes open whilst I'm using the technique, and what use is that?"

Shi-chan blinked owlishly at her. "Caw, Sakura-hime, caw, that happens to nearly everyone who uses it. Only those with special dojutsu may hope to truly see whilst using the technique… and of those, only one person has ever been able to do so with full situational awareness. Caw."

"Let me guess. An Uchiha?"

"Caw, that's right."

Figures . Sakura frowned. Ugh! Why was this so unfair? Why did clan people always have to have all the advantages?

She kicked a grassblade in dissatisfaction.

"There's got to be some loophole," she muttered to herself. "An alternative…"

"Actually, there is, caw. But I'm not certain it would work."

Sakura looked up hopefully. "What, what? You have to tell me!"

Shi-chan seemed pleased with himself. "If I do, you will let me call you however I please, caw."

Sakura glared at him. "Fine," she grumbled. It had been a downhill battle anyway. "Now tell me already…"

Shi-chan preened importantly. "Alright, caw. You see, my other human came up with a jutsu that allows all those crows under my jurisdiction to be connected as one mind, caw."

" Woah . He did? That sounds super complex."

"And it is, caw. But also very useful. We can pass on messages, know exact coordinates, eavesdrop on conversations and pass them on word for word through the link whilst they are happening… caw, and we can likewise pass on what we see ."

Sakura gasped. "So does that mean that if he wanted, Tetsuya could see and hear us chat right now through you ?!"

Shi-chan cocked his head. "If he was using the jutsu and I allowed it, then yes, caw. But he only uses it for missions, caw, as it takes much chakra over long distances."

That made sense… but even so, Sakura was in awe of Tetsuya. He must be insanely intelligent if he could come up with such a jutsu. On his own. Just wow…

But more importantly, Shi-chan was right. If she could master this technique, then she would be able to see out of the eyes of the crows. Provided that one was nearby whilst she used the shunshin, she would be able to use the crows' perspective in order to move through the environment and dodge attacks! Brilliant!

"Shi-chan, you're a genius!"

"So they all say, hime, so they all say."

"You must teach me this technique immediately!"

"Caw. I shall do so once you take a break."

"Shi-chan come on!"

Expression heavy with censure, Shikaku questioned Kakashi.

"How exactly did you encounter Uzuki the spy again? And how long ago was it?"

"Ma, it's been a while," Kakashi said noncommittally. "It wasn't an encounter either, as I said. It went like this..."

Almost four years after he'd met Yugao, many things had changed. ANBU's identity checkup system had undergone some significant updates, Kakashi had grown five inches and lost ten more teammates, his threat level in the bingo book had been updated to 'flee on sight', the boy he had saved from Root a while back (Tenzo) had finally been cleared for active duty and assigned to a squad under Kakashi himself…

He had also finally accepted that he would never see Yugao again. His teammate Yugao, anyway.

Now nineteen and a half, he was for all intents and purposes an extremely accomplished shinobi; feared, respected and dubiously admired. The whispers hadn't stopped, but they had changed in nature. He was chronically late to all his meetings, but could get away with it ( one of his many captains were still alive to nag him for it). He had also developed an unhealthy addiction to the book series that Obito had always tried to get his hands on whenever they had visited Sensei at his house.

The old anger and resentment he'd felt for Yugao, which had festered within him for a long time, had gradually simmered down, until all that was left was a bone deep exhaustion and melancholy. He had tried telling the sandaime that Yugao had known Minato back then, had worked with him, that she was definitely not malicious – but this had only seemed to alarm the man even more. To be frank, Kakashi had a feeling that the sandaime hokage knew more than he let on about the mystery of ANBU's first Yugao, but no matter how much he needled and prodded him, the hokage remained tight lipped. It was the one matter in which Kakashi couldn't make him budge, no matter how much he tried.

Eventually, he had come to consider Yugao as one more teammate that he had lost, this one someone whose memory he couldn't even honor. He had tried to leave it at that. To his vexation, this wasn't made easy by the admittance into ANBU of the actual Yugao Uzuki, who, for some inexplicable reason, seemed to hold a torch for him. The woman had orchestrated copious attempts to get to know him, all failing rather comically. He did feel a little bad about it, but Kakashi simply couldn't… He could barely stand to look at her.

When he did force himself to, he couldn't help but be reminded of how, upon inspecting her back then , the medics were surprised to find that apart from her memory loss, the real Yugao Uzuki had sustained no damage at all. She had been fed regularly and nutritiously and her muscles weren't atrophied in the least. She had been clean and her hair washed and conditioned. Her bills had been paid and her house tidied with care. No money or valuables had been taken. She hadn't been killed.

Kakashi reflected on that and wondered … and then he forced himself not to. There was no point. He would never see his Yugao again, and even if he did, he'd never be able to recognize her.

On her part, the real Yugao Uzuki had fit into ANBU seamlessly, almost mockingly so, Kakashi felt, filling all the voids that his Yugao had left. She didn't struggle making friends, she was girly, she stated in her introduction that kenjutsu was her specialty, she grew out her hair and used makeup. To anyone who knew the two of them, the difference would have been like night and day – from their mannerisms, to their behavior, to their senses of humor, their talents and their passions – but all those who had known her were dead; only Kakashi was there to notice.

The topic of 'the fake', as everyone else had taken to call his former teammate, rarely came up in conversation. Her infiltration had been an embarrassment for ANBU and was simply not spoken of, a taboo word that was especially not mentioned if Kakashi was nearby.

He had still heard others talk about her a few times, talking of how they'd enjoy dispatching the traitor, how they'd make it painful and drawn out, how they'd make sure to get the message across. Kakashi would always grit his teeth and walk by without saying anything. She had lied to him too. And yet… he couldn't bring himself to think like that. Not any longer. Not even back when he'd been mad at her. Less so now.

In this world of shinobi what were they all but tools? Tools to be wielded by the hands of selfish, unforgiving masters? He was certain that Yugao had been just as much of a helpless cog in the system as he was, that she hadn't wanted to betray him, that there was a reason for her actions. Was he a fool for thinking that? If he shared his thoughts, he was certain he'd be laughed at, but he knew that she had cared about Gacho and Ahiru and Kame. And him, she'd cared about him too.

She hadn't wanted to betray him. He would stay firm in his belief of that, no matter what anyone else may say.

(A small part of his mind still wondered whether she had betrayed him at all – she had worked under Sensei after all, on some classified project that only the sandaime seemed to know about – what if… what if?)

In any case, Kakashi had decided that, for all intents and purposes, she was his teammate and he would remember her as that. She was one more teammate that had left him, one more teammate he would never be able to reach, to talk to again.

In spite of this belief, Kakashi would sometimes catch himself wondering how she was doing, if she was still alive, whether she still wondered about him too from time to time.

He had just returned from a tiring mission with team Ro when he got his answer. Kakashi's flat had been closest so he and Tenzo had stopped by to get their injuries wrapped and bandaged before any of the medics swarming around could get any ideas.

"You shower first," Kakashi told Tenzo with a sigh. "You're more bloody than I am."

Tenzo acquiesced, disappearing into Kakashi's small bathroom whilst Kakashi went about rummaging through the medicine cabinet. Then he stopped, noticing the potted plant on his windowsill. He was pretty certain that he hadn't put it there though. He didn't even have a plant.

Curiously, he opened the window and (after checking for traps) retrieved it. It was very odd looking, teal-colored, with triangle-like leaves and an unfamiliar, if pleasant, smell. Who on earth could've put it there?

Kakashi stared at the plant in puzzlement. His confusion only grew when he spotted the odd script on the pot. 'Mr Ukki' it read. The letters had been written with a marker, though the ink was old and worn, must've been written some time ago. It was mostly a hunch that had him checking the bottom of the pot, but when he did, he was surprised to discover someone had scrawled something else down there. This ink was much newer. It had to have have been written a few days ago at most. Kakashi squinted at it.

Thank you , it said simply. And below, it was signed – 1 ‰.

Kakashi stared at the plant for five long minutes in silence. Then, he carefully placed it on the kitchen counter.

One in a thousandth percent.

One in a thousandth fucking percent. He snorted, had almost started laughing hysterically.

"Is that a frost azalea ?" Tenzo's incredulous voice interrupted his shocked reverie.

"Hm?"

Having stepped closer, Tenzo snatched the plant away from him and stared at it with wide eyes. "Oh my god, it is! Senpai, how on earth did you get this?"

Kakashi blinked at him. "Uh."

"Senpai?"

Kakashi forced his brain to work again.

"Ma… a stray cat dropped by and left it out on my windowsill."

Tenzo rolled his eyes. "Never mind. Do you even know how valuable this plant is? And you just have it sitting in your flat? The Yamanaka would sell their soul for it!"

"That's nice."

Tenzo continued to chatter excitedly. "Heck, you could probably get a fortune by auctioning it! Now you really can't get out of inviting me for takeout with all that money. Seriously, senpai–"

"I'm not selling it."

A beat, then two.

"…what?" Tenzo turned toward him incredulously. " You? Not selling it? Do you even know how much–"

"I'm not selling it."

There was a pause.

Tenzo must've seen something in Kakashi's eye because he slowly closed his mouth and stared at him with even larger eyes than usual.

"Well… alright," he said slowly, appearing completely baffled. "But you should still think about letting the Nara and the Yamanaka take some cuttings, senpai… the frost azalea has the components to make some really rare poisons and antidotes which would help the village immensely. If we start growing it, we could become the main supplier for it, even."

"It can't be that rare," Kakashi said dubiously, even as his eyes involuntarily widened. How had she gotten this?

"Believe me; it's that rare. Did you know that it used to be kept in special, guarded greenhouses in hidden snow before its downfall?" Tenzo babbled excitedly. "It's literally the sole reason why such a small country could be so rich in the first place. But now that the whole village got burnt down… well, so did the greenhouses. Senpai, I believed the frost azalea to be extinct until two minutes ago . And then one suddenly shows up with one on your kitchen counter. "

"Right…"

Everyone knew about the Hell flame of Snow, the fire which had burnt down an entire hidden village in the span of a few hours some months ago. Intelligence reports had made it clear that it couldn't possibly have been a natural fire. Even if it hadn't been natural, the S-Ranked shinobi that was Yaruk no Yoi, the former unacknowledged kage of Snow, should've been able to put it out easily enough with his renowned water and ice techniques. But Yaruk had died in that fire along with everyone else, and no village knew who or what had been behind it.

Kakashi stared at the plant and wondered whether she would know.

"So that's how you got the frost azalea," Shikaku concluded, eyes wide despite himself. He had always figured Kakashi had stolen it during a mission in the area. People had been so used to the man's ridiculous ability to anticipate and prepare for any and all situations that they had taken his sudden ownership of an incredibly rare and valuable plant in stride. It wouldn't have been the oddest thing that had happened around Hatake.

Still… the fact that he hadn't told anyone where he had gotten it… Well. It sort of was… he didn't want to say the T word. But Kakashi had told Shikaku when asked, and the plant had indeed brought in a huge profit for the village (the Nara and Yamanaka clans specifically – he suddenly remembered with stark clarity how Kakashi had let both him and Inoichi take cuttings for free, cuttings they'd been ready to give an arm and a leg for). Hm. He almost smirked at the thought, suddenly realizing that perhaps it wasn't such a coincidence Kakashi had chosen to finally confide in him after all. The damn bastard had acted reluctant to share the conclusion of his story, but Shikaku suddenly realized that it had all been for show. He'd known he was going to reveal this part to Shikaku from the very get go, if only because Shikaku, in a way, had Yugao to thank for a big part of his clan's income.

And, though he hated to admit it, Kakashi's calculation had been right. Shikaku wasn't one to sell people out needlessly.

"Still," he said out loud. "There's one thing I don't understand. How'd you know the azalea was from her?"

Kakashi tilted his head. "She had left a reference to one of our conversations on it."

"Right." It was clear he wouldn't elaborate beyond that. Shikaku nodded. "Guess you were right. ANBU's first Yugao Uzuki definitely wasn't a conventional spy." He paused. "Still. Thank you for telling me this."

Kakashi nodded. "Ma, no worries. As long as you catch our current mole…"

There was a brief silence. Awkward. After exchanging a few more pleasantries, the two men bid each other goodbye.

"You don't mind if I return on my own, do you?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly.

Shikaku smirked. "Mind? I'm sure you'll find your way just fine."

Don't you already know this forest like the back of your hand, Hatake?

Kakashi had the decency to look sheepish. "Ah, well. I'm sure I'll manage not to get lost."

"Troublesome. See to it that you don't."

"Later."

And with one last careless wave, the jonin vanished into the night air.

The next day

"What do you mean, you have a sister, Pig?" Sakura questioned. "Congrats on your mom's pregnancy?"

"No, that isn't it, Forehead!"

Ino and Sakura had been walking around town aimlessly as they talked… when Ino had seen fit to spring the latest piece of news on her.

"Then what?" Sakura asked. "Is this a joke or something?"

Ino shook her head. "No. I'm serious, Forehead. I…" she hesitated, sitting down gingerly on a bench. She looked distinctly un-Ino-like, with her hands over her knees, her back hunched and her head lowered. "I mean" she said quietly, "that apparently I've had a sister all along – and my parents never even told me! " The last part was finished in a screech.

Sakura blinked, completely blindsided, as she plopped down next to the blonde. Then the words registered. One second, two passed… and Ino still hadn't said it was a joke. Sakura stared at her friend, completely flabbergasted. "What the hell? Seriously?"

Ino nodded. "Yeah. But that's not even the worst part, Forehead." She sounded mad.

"Er… what is?"

"That I only found out by eavesdropping on them!"

Sakura gasped. "What?!"

"Yes!"

"There's no way! Your parents wouldn't do that!" Sakura was sure of it. "Having a sister is huge. They wouldn't keep such a thing from you."

"That's what I thought, too!" Ino said spitefully. Her eyes were stormy, and Sakura was only now realizing just how worked up her best friend was getting. She placed a comforting hand on Ino's shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay…"

"No it's not!"

Sakura flinched. "Well… you're right. It's not okay... if that's really what happened… but Ino… listen. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. Have you talked about it with them?"

Ino shook her head. "No, Forehead. But I know what I heard. My mom was crying, saying something about how your sensei had advised her…"

Sakura stared at her open-mouthed. "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes!"

"He's involved?"

"YES!" Ino said again.

"But… I don't understand. What exactly did you hear?"

Ino frowned. "Not much. You see… well, my parents have been… really distant lately." She sounded pained. "Gone all the time, and when they're home, it's like they're gone too. All sullen and stressed. I've known something was up for a while now… but… the other day I caught mom crying. Daddy didn't cry, at least I haven't seen him, but… they both look really… well… bad. Hugging each other. I knew it was something really bad right then. They've been acting secretive, talking about something with privacy seals, but that day… they looked devastated.

"I only saw them because I wasn't supposed to be home, so they didn't use privacy seals. But I overheard them talking… they mentioned that I have a sister… and she works for some guy named Dango or something like that… I… I couldn't really make much sense of the conversation, Forehead, but I know that Mom mentioned having visited your sensei, and that he said something that made her really sad.

"Wh-what did he say? …Ino?"

Ino stared at her sandals. "He told my mom that my sister, whoever she is… that she doesn't love Mom anymore. Her and Dad. And me, I guess. That she's with the Dango guy. That she has repudiated my family."

Sakura felt her heart break for her best friend. "What…" she could only say blankly. "And… you're sure Kakashi-sensei said that?" It sounded so harsh for him. In Sakura's expereience, her sensei was always one to mince words with stupid jokes and ridiculous behavior. That he would say something like that… well. It was quite bleak. Though Ino's mom was an adult, so maybe that was why.

"Yeah. And I know it was your sensei she was talking about because I remember being startled when his name came up. Dad even called him Hatake, which is his surname, right?"

Sakura nodded. Looking at her friend, she was lost on what to do. "Oh, come on, Ino… cheer up. Even if you do have a sister–"

"Whose name I don't fucking know–!"

Sakura nodded. "Well, even then, it's her loss. If she wants to go off gallivanting with some dango vendor or something, then whose problem is that? Hers, right? She clearly doesn't know what's good for her."

Ino nodded slowly, gave Sakura a smile. "You're right, Forehead. Stupid bimbo is missing out."

Sakura laughed. "Exactly!"

Kakashi was having a bad month. His student had lost his eyes, he'd been forced to recall old wounds and talk about them and… oh, did he mention they were about to be invaded?

After being cornered by the Nara clan head yesterday, he'd returned to his flat and spent the entire night staring blankly at his ceiling. The worst part was, after he'd finally fallen asleep around six a.m., he'd been awakened by his alarm clock at nine, because he had to accompany Sasuke to a doctor's appointment at ten. And since this was serious business (it would be a checkup to see whether Sasuke could get a transplant), he couldn't afford to be late for it either.

Thus, his current eye-bags and desire to strangle something. As he and Sasuke waited in silence for the medic to return with the result of the checkup, Kakashi found that his mind kept on wandering against his will.

More specifically, his thoughts kept coming back to the sandaime's order to kill Rio and what he was supposed to do about it: yet another thing that was driving him spare. It went against his moral code. He had killed plenty of people in Root but usually he'd been able to justify it to himself in some form or another. Not that killing Rio couldn't be justified, but he kept linking her to Tenzo. The thought of what would have happened if he'd killed Tenzo whilst he was still in Root kept haunting him – Tenzo, one of the best people he knew, one of his best friends… and though the bond he had with the mokuton user couldn't compare to his flimsy acquaintance with Rio, the thought of killing her still sat very wrong with him. Yes, she was Root. Yes, she'd mostly acted pleasant around him, though undoubtedly must have a dark side hidden away somewhere… even so, the thought of killing her made him uneasy. It was annoying. His time out of ANBU was making him soft.

But what he hated the most was that he couldn't just say no. The hokage wanted her dead and Kakashi knew in the marrow of his bones that couldn't disobey a direct order like that… if he did, he would be charged for treason, kicked out of his only home and hunted like a dog, never to see his friends and loved ones again. And while Kakashi considered himself a loner, even he had his limits. Leaving Konoha was not something he could live with… so that only left him with one choice: following the hokage's high priority order. He may sympathise with Rio, but in the end he wasn't going to throw his life away for her.

Thus, he knew he'd go through with her assassination, but his promise to Chihiro kept on resounding in the back of his mind, like a haunting echo, reminding him of just how much of a scumbag he was. A scumbag, as he'd always been. Rio's only hope at this point was that she'd be hard enough to kill that he failed. Even so, fights against high-level opponents tended to end in the death of one party, and Kakashi wasn't about to let himself die either. So… what? It all depended on how much wriggle room the fight gave him. It all depended on what kind of opponent Rio was. How would he go about trying to kill her?

Ambushing someone who knew you were about to do so was not exactly easy. It stood to reason that the only logical way to accomplish this would be to try and block Río's mind powers somehow. But how? He pondered it for a while. Perhaps there was a fuinjutsu seal or barrier that could be designed against mental invasions… but in order to succeed at creating it, he would need to understand how Río's technique even worked in the first place… which was normally what he excelled at. Shikaku had been right about his monicker after all: he was so good at copying techniques because he managed to understand them down to their very core. Only this time, he really, really didn't want to figure Rio's jutsu out. Doing so meant he'd succeed at killing her with 100% certainty.

Unfortunately, his brain didn't seem to have gotten the memo. From his recent interactions with Yamanaka Inoichi, Kakashi had figured out that the minimum requirement for the Yamanaka mind-reading jutsu to work was touch. He went over it again. The question was: how did Rio insert her own chakra into someone else's system with mind reading if she wasn't touching them? That was what set her apart from any other Yamanaka he knew.

And the answer, after careful consideration, became increasingly clear to him. It was bound to be through the environment. Only the sharingan could skip that part. But how? Slowly but surely, a theory coalesced into his mind like a screw snapping into place, and it all clicked .

The only way that Río could be doing it… Kakashi was pretty sure he'd figured it out. She must use the environment as a channel of sorts, he thought. She was sending her chakra through it and into the other person's network somehow. The technique likely wasted a lot of chakra; she'd need to send out immense amounts of it that would increase the longer the distance to be crossed – sort of like a chakra string that would infiltrate the target's network, except instead of a string it was probably more like a wave made of both jin and elemental chakra… Of course, this wouldn't be possible without perfect control over a medium that would act as the channel… he bet that she must have an air or earth chakra affinity and was using either element to send her chakra all over the place.

Slowly, an idea had begun to form in his mind about a fuinjutsu array that would likely counter her technique– when Kakashi caught himself. He was doing it again!

He didn't want to figure out how to beat her. He wanted plausible deniability saying that he didn't know how to get past Río's mind control and the mission had failed, without either party dying.

Still, creating such a fuinjutsu array was likely beyond his capabilities right then. Sure, he could probably sneak into the second's archives in order to search for the way to go about creating it, but no one needed to know that. So… he still had plausible deniability. He'd go through with the assassination, yes, but no one could blame him if he failed to sneak up on a mind reader, right?

Just then, he noticed a mednin stepping into the waiting room. It was the same woman from earlier, and as soon as their eyes met, she gestured for them to follow her into her office. Straightening, Kakashi patted Sasuke's shoulder to indicate it was time. Sasuke's checkup results. The woman better have good news.

When they stepped into the room, Sasuke remained tight lipped, so Kakashi took point.

"All good news I hope?" he inquired with his foniest close-eyed smile.

The woman bit her lip guiltily. "Well… yes and no."

Beneath his hand, Sasuke tensed. "What do you mean?" the boy snapped.

"A transplant will be possible," the medic said, and Kakashi deflated with relief. Thank god.

"What's the bad news then?" Sasuke asked tensely.

"Well…" the medic hesitated. "The damage done to the optical nerves during the… extraction… was extensive. In any other nation, I dare say that a transplant would be impossible."

"So what's the catch?" Sasuke questioned with a frown.

"Well… you see, one of the major problems still delaying advances in modern ophthalmology is the seemingly irreversible and permanent nature of damage to the optic nerve. Severed axons of retinal ganglion cells, like the long tracts of the spinal cord, have no capacity for functional repair under normal physiological circumstances. This is quite unfortunate, since a capacity for successful optic nerve regeneration is a necessity for restoration of vision following damage to the anterior visual pathway, moreso if we take into account the complex chakra capillaries involved in dojutsu-centric ophthalmological procedures. In other words, a fully functional neuronal regeneration within the central nervous system is extremely trying to achieve, even for our most experienced mednin. However, Tsunade-sama's research notes in the past few years have made optic nerve and spinal cord regeneration a reality in some experimental testing cases – either along existing pathways, through peripheral nerve bridges, from embryonic transplants, or at certain critical stages of central nervous system development. This case is different in that the peripheral nerve bridges available are quite thin and partly thorn due to the violent extraction of optical tissue and chakra capillaries, so repeated transplantation procedures are not a viable option, I'm afraid."

And people asked why he hated medics?

"Ah, come again?"

The woman tutted. "Basically what I'm saying is: Sasuke is incredibly lucky to be from Konoha, otherwise he would be blind for life. However, even here, due to the strain placed on his optic nerve through the removal of his eyeballs, we will only be able to operate him once at a maximum."

The room fell silent.

Kakashi chanced a hesitant glance at Sasuke and saw that he was frowning deeply.

"In other words," Sasuke said, his voice wavering the slightest bit, "should I get the transplant done now, even if I retrieved my real eyes from Orochimaru later on, I would never be able to transplant them into me regardless. Is that it?"

The woman heaved a drawn-out sigh. Looking defeated, she nodded, not seeming to realize that Sasuke couldn't see her.

Noticing this, Kakashi squeezed his shoulder and clarified: "the transplant can only be done once."

At his words, Sasuke's jaw clenched so hard that his teeth gnashed. Kakashi could tell that he was about to explode and hastily turned toward the medic. "Uh, could you leave us, please?"

The medic nodded. "Of course." She turned tail and left the room.

Hating the helpless feeling in his gut, Kakash slowly turned back toward his student. "Sasuke…"

Sasuke just sat there, staring – or well, facing – his feet.

"Sasuke, you have to get the transplant done," Kakashi said slowly. Sasuke didn't answer. Swallowing nervously, Kakashi steeled himself and forged on, very aware that he might as well be poking a minefield with a stick. "Look, none of the hokage even had the sharingan and they're all strong ninja… you're talented. You don't need the sharingan. Just get a normal transplant and–"

"Of course I need the sharingan!" Sasuke spat suddenly, standing up so fast that the chair clattered to the ground.

"No, you–"

"I DO!" His fists were balled and his expression was contorted. "I HAVE TO AVENGE MY CLAN! I CAN'T DO THAT WITHOUT THE SHARINGAN !"

"Sasuke–"

" No ! You know what I'm talking about! Itach – that man – he has absolute mastery over his sharingan. Absolute. Mastery. I cannot beat him without it!"

"Revenge isn't the only–"

"I don't want to hear it!"

"I know you must be feeling–"

"You don't know! You don't know how I feel!" Sasuke shouted furiously. "For five years, I have only lived for that one thing! Revenge is the only thing I live for! I have to make him pay for what he did. I have to make. him. pay. I need my sharingan! "

Kakashi flinched. "Sasuke. Listen to me. You could transplant one eye now and leave the other eye-socket in reserve, just in case you do get your sharingan back–"

"Itachi has both eyes!"

Despite Sasuke's own lack of eyes, Kakashi suddenly realized that he had started to cry. Snot was dripping down his nose and his shoulders were heaving.

"Sasuke listen–"

"You – you don't – you don't understand! – Itachi was – he was a prodigy – is a prodigy. I – I can't beat him – I can't beat him with one eye – I have to be at my best – sensei, I – I have to – I have to put everything into – into my revenge – I can't – I can't not try – I can't live with myself if I don't try –"

Kakashi regarded the sobbing mess that was his student and felt a pang of potent, unstoppable loathing course through him.

Damn you, Itachi, he thought darkly. If Sasuke doesn't, then I will. I will end you.

As it was, all he could do at the moment was crouch down and awkwardly try to pat his student's head. He felt so pitiful right then… Why was it that he had to deal with all the crying genin by himself? He wasn't equipped for this!

To his surprise, Sasuke suddenly fisted his hand into his jonin vest and buried his head in the crook of Kakashi's neck. Floored, Kakashi just crouched there and prayed to any deity who might listen that this… hug – excuse of a hug, he had no idea how to actually pull it off properly – was somehow helping…

He made a mental note to copy some socially adjusted civilian's hugging technique with his sharingan, just in case it ever happened again.

Oh, god… and wasn't that thought telling? He was not sensei material at all…

Forty minutes after Sasuke's checkup

"Yo! If it isn't my favorite jonin in the whole village! What's up, Kakashi?"

Jiraiya clapped Kakashi on the back joyously. He was in an excellent mood. Just yesterday, he had prevented a possible future uprising by signing his pact with Danzo, had practically made history, and he honestly felt like he could conquer the entire world at the moment. Hell, he even felt like he could try and bond with Kakashi!

And so, it was said and done. With the aid of his trusty summons, the toad sage had located the reclusive Hatake in an instant as he brooded in front of the memorial stone and sought him out.

Upon his sudden appearance, Kakashi looked up from his brooding, staring at Jiraiya with unfathomable black eyes (eye) and saying nothing. He didn't even give him his customary wave… For many long minutes, neither of them said anything… which was a little odd, all told.

Jiraiya frowned. "Er, Kakashi?"

Kakashi continued to stare at him and not say anything.

"Something wrong?"

The jonin turned away and stared at some point far away. "I'm a bad sensei."

Jiraiya blinked, taken aback by the confesion. Since when did Kakashi ever talk about his feelings? "Aw, man, don't say that! I'm sure you're just being angsty–"

Kakashi shot him such a dark look that Jiraiya immediately shut up.

Stupid , he chastised himself. Why couldn't he be serious for once? He was so bad at being serious…

"Do you… want to talk about it?" Damn. He sounded so awkward…

Kakashi shook his head no.

"Is there anything I can help you with though?" Jiraiya tried again. "Anything at all?"

Kakashi tensed, then relaxed, and Jiraiya spotted his chance.

"Ah, so there is ! I knew it. Just name it and I will, Kakashi! Any jutsu you'd like to know, or intel, or info on my next book, or a sealing array you need help with…"

At the last offer, he noticed Kakashi twitch.

Ah, there we go!

"Ah, a seal, is it?" Jiraiya questioned eagerly. "Just say what it's for and I'll see if I can sketch it out for you!"

Kakashi was glaring at him now, but Jiraiya chalked it off to hurt pride.

"Not that I'm saying that you can't do it, or anything. It's just, you'd save a lot of time if I help you, wouldn't you? C'mon, Kakashi, don't be so stubborn! I'm practically offering to do your work for you here!"

Kakashi stared at him, looking extremely miffed. "Fine."

Huh? He actually agreed? Jiraiya perked up. Great! "Alright. Can we discuss it here or is it a sensitive matter?"

Kakashi gave him a dark look. "Let's just go to my apartment…" he muttered at last.

Awesome! Jiraiya mentally patted himself on the back for a job well done. He was making progress, he could tell. He'd never been to Kakashi's place before. Hell, anyone who knew the man was aware that he was an extremely private person. Being invited to over was a downright honor!

Meanwhile, Kakashi wasn't feeling nearly as jovial.

Why, oh why did he have to stumble upon Jiraiya of all people? And a helpful Jiraiya of all things?

He wondered whether the hokage had put him up to the task of helping Kakashi in his assignment to murder Río. It was the only option that made sense. Why else would he act so helpful? And Kakashi couldn't say no to him after he'd practically offered to come up with the fuinjutsu array for him. After all, if he said he didn't need help with it, then he couldn't tell the hokage later on that he'd had no way of coming up with a fuinjutsu array that could block Río's power… damn it. He'd been outmanoeuvred. Shit, what now? His best bet was to hope Jiraiya wouldn't be able to help… but he could already tell that it'd be no use. Jiraiya would figure out the solution faster than he could say 'plausible deniability' and then what?

"Ah, so you need a scroll that can block mind-reading… and you say it works over long distances? Are you sure?"

Kakashi grunted in what one may intercept as a 'yes'.

"And how did you say it works again?"

"Over long distances."

"And besides that?"

A shrug.

Jiraiya stared at Kakashi, his eyebrow twitching.

"Anything else?"

Kakashi was staring out of the window. "Hm."

" C'mon ," Jiraiya groaned. "I need a working theory here at least, Kakashi!"

"I suppose you do."

How could anybody be this unhelpful? If he didn't know any better, Jiraiya would've thought Kakashi was being obtuse on purpose.

He armed himself with patience.

"And do you really not have any ideas on how this mind-reading jutsu could possibly work then?"

"Nope."

"None at all ?"

"None at all."

Jiraiya frowned at him. The man was certainly making it hard to play nice, but he would try . It was clear Kakashi had had a difficult day, and Jiraiya was determined to be understanding about it. He would show he cared.

Meanwhile, Kakashi watched with a dawning sense of horror as Jiraiya poked and prodded at the fuinjutsu array, discarding working theories and hypothesis, inching ever-closer to the solution… and Kakashi was powerless to put a stop to it.

By the time that the moon was high in the sky above them, Jiraiya gave a triumphant exclamation and thrust a scroll into the air. Kakashi stared at it with dread. The sannin didn't seem to notice.

"Ha!" he crowed, standing up and popping his spine loudly. "Tricky bugger. Finally got it right though."

He glanced at Kakashi, as though expecting an answer. Kakashi forced himself to deliver it.

"...so you did."

"Well, it was pretty mind-wrecking, I'll hand it to you. I'd have had no idea on how to tackle the issue if not for those rumors of this mind flayer fellow going around–" Kakashi very deliberately did not tense " – heck, they're probably nonsense, but it did make me curious about fuinjutsu interactions with mind-based attacks, you know? So I had already done some preliminary research on the topic." He clapped Kakashi on the back jovially. "Lucky you!"

"...yes. Lucky me."

Finally, Jiraiya seemed to pick up on his lack of enthusiasm and his smile dimmed.

"Anyway, you can use these babies either by applying the paper with the array over your own skin, making you immune to psychic attacks, or alternatively, you could layer them with an area-intended array-type scroll and build a sort of barrier around a perimeter which would make it impossible for any mind-reading to occur within the perimeter of the barrier."

"That's… fantastic."

"Ah, well it was no trouble." Jiraiya said hesitantly. At Kakashi's lack of response, he frowned. "Kakashi, are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't look it though…"

Great. Could his day get any worse? Kakashi was starting to suspect that all these questions were some type of subtle interrogation. Jiraiya never acted helpful like this and asked him how he was. So why now? There was only one plausible explanation: he must be probing Kakashi in order to find out whether the thought of killing Río bothered him. Kakashi tried not to feel too betrayed; Jiraiya was most likely following orders. But did that mean that the sandaime had him figured out? Most likely. Maybe. He must at least suspect something or Jiraiya wouldn't be here.

And what would Jiraiya do to Kakashi if he figured out that he did indeed care? That he didn't want to kill Río? Would he put him in chains and ship him off to T&I? Brand him a traitor? Tell everyone?

No, surely not. Or would he? He had come to visit him under the hokage's orders after all, and anyway, Jiraiya had never really bothered to be there for Kakashi when he was at his lowest. The sannin had always been a casual acquaintance, had never made any sort of effort to push their relationship beyond that, so it was entirely possible that he wouldn't mind shipping him off to T&I. Even so, Kakashi felt oddly hurt and betrayed. He hadn't expected Jiraiya to… to do this to him.

He wasn't managing to keep his expression as blank as he'd have liked, Kakashi could tell. But he couldn't help it. An odd chill had begun to stirr deep in the marrow of his bones, a potent coldness that welled up within him…

No, he was an elite shinobi. He was entitled to feel whatever he wanted. He hadn't done anything wrong yet. No one could accuse him of anything.

"Kakashi? Are you alright?" Jiraiya repeated.

"I'm fine, don't push it," Kakashi shot back. Some of the coldness he was feeling must've been reflected in his voice, because Jiraiya's eyes narrowed.

Kakashi chastised himself. He couldn't let on. He had to stay alert and pretend nothing was amiss…

Meanwhile, Jiraiya felt a gnawing feeling of worry start to spread in his gut. He couldn't help but feel like he'd done something wrong. Why had Kakashi clammed up like that? He didn't understand the man at all. He'd just spent over eight hours working non-stop to help him, and instead of happy, he looked all the more uncomfortable and annoyed for it… dare he say it, even angry? But then again, maybe Jiraiya wasn't reading him right? Kakashi was a hard man to read, and the mask he insisted on wearing twenty four seven didn't make it any easier.

"Hey, Kakashi," he said placatingly. "I just wanted to help."

Kakashi actually glared at him. "Thank you." He looked all but thankful. "Your assistance has been… invaluable."

Jiraiya nodded uneasily. "No problem… I guess."

Kakashi just stared at him silently. The look he was giving Jiraiya was so unnerving that the sannin cast his gaze around the room in search for something else to say, anything , anything at all that could break the tension…

Unfortunately, Kakashi's flat was… well, boring, to put it simply.

There was a single bedroom with a single bed in it, an adjacent kitchenette, and a door which must lead to the bathroom. The place was sparsely furnished and monotone – the wallpaper was beige, what little furniture he could see was utilitarian and made of steel (certainly so that it wouldn't burn under attack) and to add the final touch, Kakashi's bed had an old, ugly yellow shuriken comforter on it which Jiraiya was pretty sure must be at least two decades old. Finally, the floor was a cold, tiled black – probably good for hiding blood stains.

It was, if one thought about it, quite heartbreaking. This place wasn't a home at all, unappealing even to Jiraiya, who had lived on the road for decades. Most inns were homelier than this!

Truly, the only color in the little apartment as far as he could see was the picture of Kakashi's genin team resting upon the nightstand – and the potted plant next to it.

Hmmm…

Jiraiya remembered seeing the same picture in Sakura's bedroom and even opened his mouth to comment on it, but then he recalled Kakashi saying that he was a 'bad sensei' earlier. Bringing the picture up was likely not a good idea then. And yet, he'd already opened his mouth to say something… in his desperation, Jiraiya squinted at the potted plant. It had 'Mr Ukki' written on the pot… well, here goes nothing…

"Say, where'd you get that plant? It's very… green."

Kakashi's eyebrows rose and his deadpan stare said it all.

"...it was a gift."

Oh? Could it be? He actually had a personal effect besides for the picture?

Jiraiya pounced upon the topic. "A gift? Really? Well, it's an odd plant – er, interesting! Interesting plant, I mean."

Kakashi fixed him with that unreadable look again. "It does look rather odd. But that's because it's not native to the area."

"Oho? And how come? So a foreigner gifted it to you? Was it for a mission well done perchance?"

"No."

"From a lady friend then?"

Kakashi grimaced. "I'd really rather not talk about it."

Right. Great. Now Jiraiya was curious. And… he was also back to square one, namely: tense, awkard silence. And Kakashi's inscrutable stare.

Golly, he was regretting ever offering his help! Well, no, he didn't regret that… but he wished it could've worked out better.

Disappointed, Jiraiya inwardly sighed at himself. He really wasn't one for subtlety in the emotional department, was he? Ah, well. To hell with it! This wasn't him anyway. He'd just speak his mind and hope for the best.

Resolute, he stood up, clasping Kakashi's shoulder warmly as he did. "You know, Kakashi… I think you are a pretty darn good sensei, so don't beat yourself up over false insecurities. The pink-haired girl …Sakura, was it? – why, she's very talented! And she seemed to think very highly of you. And about what happened to your other kid – well, it's not your fault, so get that through your thick skull, alright? No one could've known about the attack to your kid in advance, least of all you. Sometimes, these things just happen…"

Kakashi was eyeing him with a frown. "How do you know Sakura?" His eye narrowed. "Have you been spying on her?"

Of course he would fixate on that part. Of course. Jiraiya mentally kicked himself.

"What? N-no! Of course not! Who do you take me for?"

Kakashi gave him a blank look.

Jiraiya huffed. "It's true, I swear. I didn't spy on anybo–"

"Then why did you say that she was 'talented'?"

Jiraiya sighed. He was realizing now that he actually couldn't tell Kakashi the truth. Itachi had been involved in his meeting Sakura and he was now sworn to secrecy in regard to him. Even so, he could probably get away with mentioning Sakura's escape from Orochimaru, even if he had to lie about who had rescued her…

"Well, you see, Kakashi…" he said at last. "There was this detail that I actually didn't mention about my encounter with Orochimaru… and… Sakura may have been involved…?"

If looks could kill, Jiraiya would've been in the ninth level of purgatory by then. He was beginning to understand rather intimately why Kakashi was so feared across the five nations. The boy he'd watched grow up had turned into someone with the potential to be very dangerous… and it was only now starting to sink in.

In that moment, Kakashi's voice was pure, molten iron as he spoke. And Jiraiya finally realized that he was furious.

"Tell me everything. Now ."

And Jiraiya did.

"...so… that's basically what happened…"

By the time he was done speaking, Kakashi sat still as a stone, a dark expression on his face.

"Alright."

Jiraiya blinked at him. That was all? 'Alright'? Kakashi wouldn't say anything else? There was no way to know what he was thinking – and for the first time, Jiraiya began to feel uncomfortable in Kakashi's presence. He felt exposed, like he was talking to a potentially volatile individual, not a friend. Just what was going through his head? For all his experience as an author, Jiraiya remained none the wiser.

He remained none the wiser of the fact that Kakashi was stewing over Sakura not having come to him immediately after her encounter with Orochimaru, questioning his abilities as a teacher and beating himself up over the lack of trust his students seemed to have in him.

Had he said any of this outloud, voiced any of his worries and deprecating thoughts, Jiraiya would have most certainly commiserated with him, and perhaps, in another reality, the sannin would have tried harder to get past Kakashi's dark silence. Perhaps Kakashi would've snapped at him then, questioning why Jiraiya hadn't come to tell him about Sakura's encounter with Orochimaru immediately, as was his right as a teacher. Weren't they friends?

And Jiraiya would immediately have assured him of how much Kakashi meant to him, would've tried to explain what had kept him so busy. He'd have hinted at having found out the mystery behind the 'spy' in Konoha, and that he had used this knowledge to force Danzo into an unbreakable contract that would ensure he could never stage an uprising. The good news would've put a damper on the bad, and the two men would've reconciled. The next day, Kakashi could've simply gone to the sandaime with that knowledge and easily convinced him to put Río's assasination on the backburner in light of Danzo no longer being a threat…

Alas, that was what may have been – but it did not happen.

Kakashi remained silent as the grave, his churning, negative thoughts clouded; his mien shrouded in forbidding darkness. A discouraged Jiraiya never pried any further, fleeing the lonely apartment as soon as he could.

More Than Enemies

So, how did you like it? I know there wasn't much Sakura in this one, but at least you had a lot of her in the previous chapter to make up for it? She will, of course, appear more next chapter, but I needed to get the info from this one out of the way. As usual, the plot thickens and gets even more complicated.
Jiraiya does something very well and something not so well. To Río haters, it looks like Kakashi will have no choice but to off her, so you can celebrate... or maybe not? I suppose we shall see ;)