Chapter 55: Trying Recovery
Kakashi sat at his desk, as he usually did, with his brow furrowed, as it usually was, at the papers sprawled about his desk. The last week or so has been a hectic one, many of his machinations coming to terms all at the same time made for a filled schedule and scattered thoughts as he tried to manage them all at the same time. However, as of right now, there was a clear front runner in his worries that he had to tend to today. Currently, many floors below him, Tsunade was making good on their understanding by doing her best in seeing that Hiruzen awoke at least one more time before he laid his extensive and peerless life to rest. It was a dour thought, writing off someone so surely and swiftly, especially someone so great, but it was the truth of the matter. Tsunade made it painfully clear how much she could do for the old man and what should be expected.
"I'll be able to fix what I can of his heart and clear out as much as possible of his arteries, but that's all I can do. The best I can guarantee is a few weeks to a couple months before it happens again. It's not a matter of if, but when he'll have another heart attack." Tsunade concluded to the room that she's made herself comfortable in while only returning to the village only days ago, making eye contact with all that made it down to the basement room on a floor that simply didn't exist. Despite the secrecy around where they stood, the room was still fairly full in its own right. The two returned Sannin, former students of the legendary Hiruzen Sarutobi, stood by Lord Third's bed with Kakashi and the three elders of the Leaf, Danzo, Homura, and Koharu, all stood at the foot of the bed. Occupying the side of the bed directly across the Sannin was Asuma standing as Hiruzen's closest relative.
All was silent in the room save for the sounds provided by the machines that kept the old Kage alive in his forced slumber, the air within the room only becoming heavier around them at Tsunade's words. Everyone gathered digested the words in continued quiet, no one daring to speak out of turn without properly grasping the diagnosis given. That heavy understanding, though, couldn't, and didn't, hold forever.
"I suppose there is a choice to make, isn't there?" Danzo interrupted the room with a quiet voice, but one that couldn't be mistaken for weak. Kakashi saw Jiraiya bristle immediately at the words spoken, as he tended to do around Danzo. It was no surprise that the Toad Sage was the first to respond to the man.
"Is there? And what choice would that be, Danzo?" Jiraiya practically spat, accusation heavy in his tone. Danzo didn't flinch at it. He wasn't a man to show much reaction no matter the circumstance.
"Tell me, Jiraiya, how righteous would it be to condone such an operation?" Confusion was thick within the room at the initial sentence, but Kakashi had a feeling he knew where the man was going and already felt discomfort at the sense it made. "Who are we to strip the peace of a quiet death from Hiruzen in favor of laborious final weeks of life? He would be wheelchair-ridden at best from how long he's been kept in this bed, he'd be spending most of his days after waking merely getting used to functioning again, and all for what? For a death that was still soon around the corner? Hiruzen, despite whatever disagreements we've had in the past, is deserving of something more gracious than that. He would deserve a quiet, peaceful death instead of a farce at renewed life."
Kakashi watched the passionate words come from an otherwise untouched and unmoved face. Still, his voice didn't raise at all, keeping a respectfully quiet tone as he responded to Jiraiya's thinly veiled accusations. The elder's words did as they were intended, many conflicted gazes could be seen around the room, but Kakashi knew that they couldn't leave it all at that.
"As touching as that is, Danzo, I'm afraid that it's not up to any of us." Kakashi let his eye fall to his right at Asuma who still stoically stared at Hiruzen's sleeping form. "What do you say, Asuma? Does Tsunade do this, or should we let him rest?"
Asuma didn't answer his question immediately and rightfully so. There was no reason to make a hasty decision that was so important. It was a choice of how a living legend would end his life and how a great man would be remembered. They would be remiss to make choices based on whims or fleeting thoughts. Neither fleeting thoughts or whims could be construed to be on Asuma's face, a sure and confident visage meeting Kakashi's own.
"We will do the operation. He deserves at least some peace at the end of his life, even if it's only a few weeks." Asuma quickly turned and left the room after the decision was made, making any and all arguments of the otherwise a moot point. Kakashi left not long after, only staying to give a nod to Tsunade in confirmation before joining Asuma outside of the room.
Now that the operation was underway, Kakashi was more sure that Asuma made the right decision. As far as Kakashi was concerned, Hiruzen deserved to leave this life on his own terms. If they let him go now, if they let him leave this world from his own despair, then he truly would be exiting life far below what a man of his station deserved. He didn't need to die believing that the world he lived to construct, that the future he fought hard to rebuild for the Leaf was collapsing on itself once again. That was a cruelty that should be reserved for the worst of men.
In the meantime, while Kakashi waited for news of the operation, he still had much around him to take his focus. Firstly, Tenzo returned with Naruto just the day before with much to say and even more to report from the missions he passed on to them with no small amount of risk. Naruto himself was recovering from the overload of the first long-term use of the Shadow Clone, finding himself in a hospital bed once again despite the likelihood of the boy already finding his way out before any nurses or doctors had a chance to meet with him, but showed to have taken to the tasks Kakashi sent off to them well. Other than his former student's general health and well-being, Tenzo had little positivity to share with him about what they saw. Tales of a massive monstrosity that could be assumed to be one of Orochimaru's heinous creations mixed with reports of the Stone occupying much of the Land of Claws that sprouted from a potential alliance between the Stone village and the Rain Village.
It was safe to say that neither aspects were particularly warming to Kakashi's ears.
The only surety that Kakashi came to after Tenzo's reports was the fact that he needed eyes and ears around the Elemental Nations again. He tried to see if his squads could scrounge up anything of their more pressing concerns, such as Orochimaru or the Akatsuki, within the Land of Fire, but outside of comparatively petty criminals that were brought to and end within their great country, he's had no such luck. Only hours after Tenzo reported what he had, Kakashi sent the orders to his commanders as well as word to Danzo to send out their operatives once again. If the Stone, if Onoki particularly was working with the Akatsuki, be it knowing or ignorant of their interest in Jinchuuriki, then the Leaf would be the sole target of such a union. With any luck, the Sand can rebound quick enough to provide their services before the Leaf has to face the might of the continent on its own.
The mere thought of having to balance the Akatsuki, Onoki, and whatever the hell the Cloud was doing all at the same time brought a vicious jab of an oncoming headache. Fingers roughly massaged the bridge of his nose to try and ease the aggressive thoughts that flowed through his mind at ridiculous speeds. None of this even considered Orochimaru's plans or his young Uchiha charge that was fighting a mental battle with the Snake constantly. Truly, Kakashi felt like he was thrown into the most unstable landscape he could've as Hokage, but it was a landscape he'd have to carefully navigate through, lest he become the Hokage that let the great village built on the shoulders of legendary men fall around him.
Drastic thoughts were interrupted by a flickered presence that appeared at the center of his office in a bow. A large blonde-haired man whose face was covered by a porcelain mask that vaguely resembled a snarling bear was dropped into a kneel in front of Kakashi waiting for the Hokage's permission to speak.
"Report." He tiredly commanded the Anbu, already assuming the worst to come from the man's mouth. Was it war finally? Were there complications with Naruto or Sasuke? Did Kabuto Yakushi smuggle out more damning information than they could've assumed, putting the whole village at Orochimaru's absent mercy?
"Lady Tsunade requested you. She's informed me that her operation is done." Bear reported without so much a shudder in his voice, staying perfectly still as orders were awaited. Kakashi took a deep breath, giving a quiet thanks to whomever listened to him that it wasn't something more drastic as he rose from his seat.
"Thank you, Bear. You're dismissed." As quickly as Bear appeared he was gone without a shred of evidence that he was ever there in the first place. Kakashi took no time to leave the office and begin his descent down the tower's stairwell, intent on hearing Tsunade's thoughts on the procedure. His nerves were disarranged as he did, hair standing on end the closer he got to the hospital's hidden basement as he let his mind consider all that could've come from the operation. Through it all, he only hoped that he could give a proper goodbye to a man that took him under his wing, a man that honored him with the most powerful seat in the country, and a man that Kakashi personally saw to the health of as an Anbu captain.
When Kakashi finally descended down the final step of the trek to the darkened basement, he was greeted by the sight of an exhausted Tsunade Senju who sat alone in the dim hallway. She sat in a chair that was placed just outside Hiruzen's room, leaning her head on the glass that peeked into the room at her back as sweat was visibly rolling down her face. Her breathing was heavy still, her hair disheveled, but Kakashi hoped that it was pride that was showing through all the fatigue that crowded the Sannin and not a reaction of shock or despair. He stopped only a few steps before the pane of glass and the sitting woman, not finding it in himself to look into the room with her words first. Pushing hands deep within his pockets, Kakashi was the first to break the silence.
"The operation?" He asked, his uncertainty likely loud and clear in the words. Kakashi felt a scrap of triumph at the light curling of Tsunade's lips but didn't dare hope until he heard the words from her himself.
"I did it. It went exactly as we hoped. I can't guarantee anything more than what we discussed, but he won't die today." A brown eye opened at her own words, pride just as clear in it as it was in her words. Kakashi allowed himself to take a deep breath and turn his gaze through the window at the man still occupying the bed. He looked no different, but Kakashi was willing to push away his doubts at Tsunade's words. "He might not wake up until tomorrow, but he will wake up."
She, whether knowingly or not, reassured any of his thoughts before he could address them himself. The Hokage graced the woman with a nod but continued in silence as he let the worries of the day wash away to bask in the comfort of this triumph, as brief as it would last. Thanks was on the tip of his tongue, genuine thanks for a woman that he began more than a little rocky with, but Tsunade beat him to the punch.
"It's safe to assume that this isn't the only thing you called me back for, isn't it?" She asked quieter than she had previously spoken, the tiredness becoming more clear as she did. Despite being away from shinobi life for so long, no one could confuse Tsunade for ignorant. She could be called many other things, many other true things that would be just as unflattering, but not ignorant.
Many would assume otherwise, based on how he recalled the woman and how he greeted her, but Kakashi truly did hold Tsunade to a high regard. However, that high regard couldn't be considered when he was to be the woman's superior, a superior that she wouldn't respect in any way without establishing firm boundaries. Kakashi needed to show someone of Tsunade's stature that he was not only her Kage, but her saving grace when she was racking up debts and reputations around the country. He didn't have the luxury to play nice without knowing how she would react to him. However, with the time that passed, the brief celebration that was to be had for the successful operation, and a certain level of understanding, Kakashi hoped that he wouldn't have to be that way with her any longer.
"There's a few things that I'll need you to do, but none of them are as demanding as this." He affirmed but in a tone that wasn't far off from her own, allowing the peace to continue. When he shifted his focus back to the woman, Kakashi spotted the amusement on her face.
"I suppose you aren't too much of a fool, no more than anyone else that took the job. I can't say you're as impressive as Minato was, or any of the others." Kakashi could've chosen to take her words as more than a harmless observation, he could've looked for something to be of offense to him, but he didn't. As far as he was concerned, she told no lies.
"No, I'm not my sensei, but nobody is. That's a ceiling too high for anyone." And those were words he would forever stand by, as tunnel visioned as it was. Many iterated and reiterated the same sentiments, lauding the Fourth Hokage as the Sage come again, but the truth was that they were fooled by the fanciful stories that got tossed around. Kakashi got to see it all first hand, with his own eyes when he still had the original pair, and got to see the ugly along with the mesmerizing. Minato may not have been the man that the stories would paint him as, but Kakashi wouldn't dare argue with the praise he was given. To compare himself to such a person, such a figure in his own life, would be too arrogant for Kakashi to consider.
"From what I hear, there is someone that could be Minato's doppelganger. That there is someone that could be the Fourth all over again." Kakashi didn't miss the prying look or the condescending tone that she spoke with. She was right to be skeptical, given that she was likely told by Jiraiya of how much potential Naruto has and how great he could be. Jiraiya was always fanciful and kids almost never lived up to their parents, not in this life.
"And you are hearing wrong. Naruto isn't Minato. Naruto isn't Kushina. He's lived a life that made Naruto become only Naruto." He made sure that his message was clear, not allowing any to pry in the boy's life. They've skated by telling him where he came from only months ago without much issues, it would be insulting to start truly comparing an orphan boy to such vaste measures. That being said, Kakashi wouldn't let his former charge's prowess go understated. "But there is no question that he will be a force to be reckoned with in only a few short years."
Tsunade took his words with a quiet nod, the both of them allowing the conversation drift off into a quiet peace as one recovered from an intensive operation and the other looked upon the slumbering body of his predecessor. There was a point, a point long passed now, that Kakashi expected the old man to bounce back from such a sad state and be leading the Leaf into uncertainty once again. Now, with the famed Tsunade Senju doing all she could do, Kakashi was now looking at a man with an unfairly short time limit on his life and it made the bitterness that was ever-present in the young Kage only grow.
This was one of the better scenarios for the old man to leave this world. There could've been some skirmish with a village or another that would pull the weakened Leaf into battle being led by an old man decades past his prime. Some nobody shinobi with big eyes and a bigger stomach could've gotten to claim the life of the God of Shinobi and attached their name to Hiruzen's forever more. Some argued that it was a true shinobi's grandest duty and highest honor to die in combat for their village, to sacrifice it all for the symbol you present on your forehead. In some ways, those people would be right, but Kakashi couldn't stomach it. It would always be part of the job description for a shinobi to dance with death every time they leave their village's walls, but it was no high honor. They weren't beings of honor and such a thing had no business to be thrown around. Ideally, a man of Hiruzen's stature would be facing death with his family and loved ones gathered by him to see him off from this life, not alone on a battlefield without a grave dug or affairs properly tended to.
Kakashi kept his melancholic vigil over Hiruzen longer than he had expected to, outlasting Tsunade as the woman took her leave to rest in the long-empty Senju compound. He stayed through Jiraiya's visit, sharing his fair share of words with the man before falling into silence again, not having to wait long to hear the wooden footfalls of Jiraiya's sandals leaving the dark basement. Only when Asuma was cleared from his duties with his students did Kakashi gain a true companion in his wait to see the Third Hokage awake from his slumber. Tsunade had already said that it could be days before he wakes, as it was unclear how long it would take for his body to regain its strength, but he didn't care much. The Hokage himself couldn't put what it was that made him stay into words, but neither did he care to question it himself. At least, he didn't until his quiet companion questioned it for him.
"Why are you still here, Kakashi? Don't you have Hokage things to do?" Asuma asked him through the incessant, constant beeping of the chakra sensor that Hiruzen was connected to. As incessant as it was, it still promised the man's life so it was a tolerated annoyance. Kakashi looked at the man who lit up yet another cigarette in the hallway they stood guard within next to the shadows that remained hidden around them. There wasn't an immediate answer that came to his lips as he didn't even have the answer readily available to himself.
His eyes went back to the laid up form of Hiruzen, unable to pull them away as he tried to think of his reasoning. In truth, there were many duties he could be seeing to, the statuses of two young shinobi he could obtain updates on, reports from Sannin to account for, movements of his shinobi to plan for, and contingencies to draw up should the information they receive around the continent not be the friendliest. Despite all of that, Kakashi wasn't comfortable leaving Hiruzen. He couldn't let the man neither fall into eternal sleep without proper company nor allow the many to wake up to a quiet room.
Kakashi's mind fell back to his past, to the deaths he's had to endure through to get to where he was today. He found his father with the man's own sword sticking from his back, he was next to Obito Uchiha when the boy gifted him and eye before he left the world, it was his own hand that was punched through Rin's chest, and both Minato and Kushina's dead bodies were stabbed through with gaping holes as lay around Naruto's bundled form. All the closest people around him were casualties of a despair-filled life and Kakashi was either there for their deaths or closely following behind. He didn't want Hiruzen to be added to that list, to a list of great people that he was to endure the deaths of, and Kakashi also didn't want to be anywhere else if this was to be the man's final resting place.
"There's nowhere else I need to be, Asuma. This is my place until he wakes up or doesn't." Kakashi's response was met with a chuckle from the man to his right and it was left at that. Only the occasional conversation would sprout as the hours passed, the setting not one conducive to jolly talks or cracking jokes, but it wasn't an uncomfortable vigil that they set for the man.
Time was a tough thing to follow on a floor so dark and hidden from the regular world. How were they to know when nightfall came or when meal times passed? Neither men showed a care for the forced irregularity that their guard would force them into, all other responsibilities comfortably taking a backseat to the man in the room ahead of them. Japes were to be had at each other's expense, jokes revolving around a half-assed leader and others swiping at a relationship that wasn't officially allowed to be vocalized in the shinobi corps of the Leaf. But, with enough time and patience, it came to all be worth it.
At first, it seemed to be a trick of the eye. Depending on how long they forced themselves awake, it wouldn't be long before their minds played all kinds of games with them in their tiredness. However, when the same tricks were seen many times by both men, it was clear that their waiting had come to an end. Eyelids, for the first time in many weeks, eventually opened and fluttered to reveal the dark eyes that lay beneath them as the heaving of the laying man's chest rose more aggressively than they were used to seeing. Little more than a second passed after Kakashi truly realized that the man was awake before he ordered one of the many guarding Anbu to retrieve those that needed to see the man alive. Just as soon as the operative was ordered away, both Kakashi and Asuma entered the room to speak with the long slumbering man.
There was a sputtering of weak coughs, prompting Kakashi to order another operative to retrieve a pitcher of water for the man, and several painfully rasped attempts at the man speaking to both Kakashi and Asuma but nothing could be made out. Soon, after the waking man's mouth was wetted and Hiruzen was lifted slightly to make it easier for him to speak to those that would be coming, they were finally able to make the man out.
"Thank you, Asuma. You as well Kakashi." Was all that he was able to get out, the need for a deep breath while speaking broke his words up by each individual thought. "I seem to be less than my whole self now and I thank you both for the help."
Hiruzen gave both he and Asuma what was supposed to be a warm, reassuring smile, but Kakashi couldn't see it as such. Not while the smile came from a face that showed clear discomfort and on a body that was so worn and wired that it would take some time for the man to find himself outside of it.
"You need anything, Dad? At least before the rest come and start asking questions?" Asuma asked, but the man's worries were brushed off by a dried chuckle and a weak pat of the shoulder. Despite what the old man looked like, Hiruzen was acting as he always did, even if he was a little sluggish as he did so. As to be expected, the man still showed more strength than what could've been expected from him.
"Don't worry, my boy. They'll come and ask how I am and leave quickly, I'm sure. Nobody wants to hang around an old dying man." Hiruzen said without so much as a flinch to his own words and verbiage. So, Kakashi and Asuma kept their pestering to a minimum as they waited for their company to join them. Soon, the same group that gathered around Hiruzen for Tsunade's diagnosis was joined again around a conscious Hiruzen.
Just as the old man expected, the gathering was swift and to the point. Even Danzo wasn't quick to ruin such a hesitantly joyous affair with a callous comment or question and soon all were willing to leave the room to allow the recovering Hiruzen to rest some more to regain some of his strength. However, before Kakashi could join the rest in his exit, he was stopped by a final comment from the old man.
"I thank you, Kakashi. I have been gone for weeks, leaving you to pick up a hat that you were still trepidatious in taking." He paused for a second to regain the strength in his lungs. "I can see the change in you already. The way you handle yourself is already different to what I saw when you sat at my right hand. You make me proud to know that I chose right for this village."
Kakashi didn't truly have a chance to respond to the man's words, eyelids closing again to allow Hiruzen to fall into another, hopefully shorter, slumber. The door clicked behind Kakashi and there was a lump that he had to swallow back down his throat before he surfaced from the underground floor. He could only hope that he could continue to be what Hiruzen saw he could be, that he could be something that the old man could continue to be proud of, and that he could be the pride in all the others that he was forced to continue on without. A lot was thrust on his shoulders, a lot that he never expected to carry, and if he could be someone to be proud of then maybe it would be worth it when he met them all again.
Recovery wasn't painless, nor particularly comfortable, but it wasn't something that Baki hadn't experienced before. One does not cover half of their face out of mere compulsion or some odd sense of fashion, such things were useless in the middle of the desert. But as it were, the Sand's medical shinobi were more than sufficient enough to close the gaping hole that was brutally punctured into his arm. Each time he was inspected by one of their medics, Baki was never not reminded that he was lucky to not have died from rapid blood loss. That behemoth's horn was a hair's width away from ripping open an artery that would've seen him dead before the beast itself was skewered by the Leaf jounin's wooden jutsu.
The assignment that his Kazekage passed along to Baki turned out to be an odd one. He wasn't ignorant enough to believe that his leader gave them this mission by happenstance, that the four of them encountered such a foe by mere luck, or the lack of it. Surely, the man knew that something was crucially off around the circumstances of Fuurin's destruction and gave a team that was vastly over-qualified for any normal job the chance to seek out the truth without severe risk of casualty. Lord Fourth has always been a shrewd man. What was seen by the beast aside, however, there were other things that were learned on that trip that Baki was more than eager to share with his Kage. Things he learned were essential in navigating the strengthening bond between Leaf and Sand, making it of utmost importance. That was why Baki was waiting to be seen by his Kage, arm slung across his chest and left eager as he listened for the receptionist to clear him to see the man.
Baki only sat in wait a few minutes before a gathering of Leaf and Sand chunin exited the round meeting room that the Kazekage often heard people within. Only when the room was fully cleared out was he permitted to enter, but to his surprise, when Baki entered the room it was the whole Sand council that joined the Kazekage in the large room. While the information he wished to share was important, Baki knew that he couldn't blurt it out to the entire council. There would be too much confusion to properly handle the situation properly.
"Baki, I see you have something of importance to share. I hope all is well." The dry voice of the Kazekage only sounded when Baki stood at the center of the room and was gazed upon by the dozen councilmen that joined his Kage. Lord Fourth himself, though, didn't look up from the reports that sat upon the table in front of him, brow furrowing over whatever words he read.
"Actually, Lord Kazekage, I was hoping to share this information personally. It is over some delicate matters." By reflex, Baki let his sole eye take a passing glide over the other council members as he spoke and noted the suspicion that already settled in them. This brought the Kazekage's gaze from his pages and his harsh, intrusive eyes to Baki himself. With a second of pause, Lord Fourth relented in a nod and stood from his chair to address those that sat at his sides.
"I'll take Baki's meeting in my office, I trust you all can handle the rest of the day's issues?" The Kazekage didn't allow any of the members to answer his faux-question and instead treated the words like a command instead. Without any further discussion, Baki followed his leader up the stairs that sat to the right out of the large room and climbed to their top and into the office that took the uppermost portion of the Kazekage's Dome.
Like most things in the Sand, the Kazekage's Office was a room that lacked any audacious decoration or extravagance. The room was round, just as the building itself was, with alcoves equally spaced around the room that opened into windows that allowed a breeze to always flow through the room. In the portions of wall that sat between these alcoved, walls that were the same sandstone as all else in the village, there were cabinets and shelves that held books and scrolls of all the wisdom the Kazekage could possibly need. At the center of the room was the Kazekage's desk, a large iron desk that was said to be created from the Iron Sand the Third Kazekage boasted control over, a remnant of the village's grandest hero that sat intimidatingly at the heart of the Kazekage's chambers. If one got close enough to the desk, it is said that you could see each granule that was meticulously placed by the Third himself in the construction of the desk that acted like a throne of sorts within the Hidden Sand Village.
"You had matters to discuss with me." The Kazekage spoke from behind the large iron seat. The Fourth sat upon an iron chair made much the same as the desk itself but built large enough to sit the Kazekage on equal footing to the desk itself, showing the leader's dominion over all who visited this room. Baki shook himself from the sight before him so he could give his report that was, in truth, days later than it should've been as the targets of this information long left to return to their village.
"It is about the boy that came with jounin Tenzo from the Leaf; the Jinchuuriki boy. I made an observation during one of the night's that we set camp early into our mission." Baki left it at that, allowing the Kazekage to decide whether or not he would hear what Baki had to say. Some things, as Lord Fourth made clear many times before, were not worth their snooping. As he put it, the Sand was in a position too dire to grow noses too long for their own good. In this case, however, there was no denying the intrigue that settled in his leader's eyes.
"Continue." With the affirmation given, Baki stood straighter and spoke his findings as clearly as he could.
"When we set up camp after a day's travel, every night, Naruto Uzumaki would participate in individual training until we decided to lay down for the night. The technique wasn't one I was familiar with, not personally, but I've heard tell of it as everyone else has: a spiraling ball of pure chakra. Even without the boy's mastery of the technique, it was beautiful, Lord Kazekage. But, after I saw the technique being performed in the hands of Naruto Uzumaki, the boy became very familiar to me. Blonde, spiked hair with deep blue eyes as the Rasengan spun in his hand, that sounds like only one man, Lord Fourth." There was no immediate reaction from the Kazekage, the man's face carved from stone as it always was. But then, after several moments, a glint appeared in the man's eyes. It was subtle, but Baki was familiar enough with his Kage to know it; he's served the man and his family long enough to detect the man's discretions.
"Are you sure about this, Baki? As sure as you are of Tenzo's brief departure mid-assignment." His leader asked, not in distrust but as a matter of surety. Baki nodded his head at the question and he watched the Fourth Kazekage sit back in his chair as he fell into thought.
Tenzo's departure from their group was one that he would expect from a man of far lower station than a former Anbu. Baki wasn't fooled for a second by Tenzo's movements and he hoped that all the theatrics were for show rather than a true act of cloaks. That dagger would be seen by a blind man no matter how dim its glint. Still, it was Baki's duty to report the movements to his leader and neither determined there to be any foul movements against their village. What do they care about the Land of Claws? Even if the Claws were their goal, would they be ignorant enough to assume that the Leaf has any business with the Stone outside of death? Not a chance. Lord Kazekage assured Baki that, should it be pertinent, Kakashi Hatake would send a passing word to them somehow.
"Keep this to yourself, Baki. It may do us well to keep that heir of Minato Namikaze's legacy to ourselves. At the very least, it will be substantial information should our alliance fall flat." Baki nodded at the suggestion immediately. If the Leaf turns to become an enemy, there is no doubt that someone like Onoki would be interested in this. The Fourth then opened a drawer of the desk, a loud and rough scratch of metal on metal sounded throughout the room, and pulled from it a scroll. From Baki's position, the scroll appeared to be nothing more than a report from one of the operative squads. "This came to me just this morning and I thought you'd like to hear it.
"The Anbu team that I sent out to the place you and your team described the beast to be left skewered upon a tree or whatever it was. Well, I have word that they located the place of your little fight but didn't find much out there. Only a fallen tree that was almost fully left for the earth already, foul blood that lingered in the area, and a cave full of days old carcasses. It seems that it wasn't as dead as any of you thought." There wasn't accusation in the Kage's voice, but only questioning. What a good question it was. Baki, even in his pain-ridden state, remembered seeing the tree that punched straight through the monster's stomach and the blood that flowed freely out of it. It may have been durable to tough through their initial attacks, but nothing could live through that. Baki was left in a state of stunned silence at the report.
"I don't know what to say, Lord Kazekage. That is impossible." Was his lame reply to the report. Both within the room knew that their Anbu weren't wrong in this. If they said that the beast was gone then by some act of divine power it was gone.
"Indeed. Tenzo, in his initial report, hinted that he would need to refer to Kakashi before saying anything more to me. Perhaps, if Kakashi is feeling as open as he has been, we'll know more of what we're dealing with. It seems that more and more oddities are appearing as the days pass." The Kazekage concluded, marking the end of the importance of their reports. Only a few more words were shared between both himself and the Kazekage before Baki was released to rest some more.
The Sand jounin's mind never left the room of the Kazekage, not even when he was comfortably resting within his own bed in his own home at night. It took much to unsettle a man that saw as much as he did throughout the years. He's experienced wars both foreign and domestic. Suffering was seen across battlefields that were fought by petty disagreements between village leaders and within the confines of this village by the pettiness of politicians in their country's capital. However, with monsters scouring the land's near their border, a powerful organization that targets the continent's most devastating weapons, and the clear machinations of the same old villages fighting the same old skirmishes that will lead to the same old blood shed, Baki couldn't help but worry for the future. It wasn't simply the fear of his own life, he's faced that too many times to count, but it was also the fear of the future.
Who's to say that the future they were clamoring for was any good? Surely all of this conflict and blood can't give birth to anything greater than what has already been.
Hiruzen is kicking again, Kakashi is still his melancholy self, and Baki had news to share and news to receive. We're still shifting, covering what needs to be covered before things move again. All I can say is that its coming. The next step, the next portion, all of that is right around the corner already. As it is, thanks for reading and I'll be updating again on Tuesday.