Chapter 16: Interrogation - Part One

Summary: In which Hiruzen discovers the many inconsistencies of Kara and that kekkei genkai explains exactly nothing; in which Inu is stoic and Shikaku tries to help Calla but she'd rather shoot herself in the foot.

Hiashi took another sip of his sake before deciding it was time he went to bed. No sense in being impaired tomorrow, whether through drinking too much or sleeping too little. He finished his evening ablutions and, lying down in bed (alone, always alone these days), he activated his eyes to check on his daughters once again just to reassure himself. It was a ritual that had begun the moment Hinata was born; the newborn appeared to have trouble breathing all too often and almost seem to stop. Hiashi had checked on his daughter every few seconds when he was home; his wife laughing at his overprotectiveness (a sound he would never hear again). Frankly, the fact that he only checked on them three times a night these days was demonstrating remarkable restraint. Not that he had any intention of telling anyone, of course.

Except Hinata was not in her bed, window wide open and soft toy abandoned. Hiashi sat up abruptly in his bed, not panicking quite yet – checking the kitchen, roof, training hall and even garden.

Fuck.

He didn't bother with more clothing, jumping out his window. Where- Who would dare…? Oh fuck, Kumo. His little three-year-old heiress – a broodmare or eyes plucked out of her head. Or both.

He would rather kill her than leave her to suffer.

But Hiashi wouldn't let it come to that, to either of those scenarios.

Chakra burst at his feet, slightly too large and leaving a dent in his windowsill Hiashi knew he would never admit to, a rare display of uncontrolled emotion he hadn't shown since he was a genin, launching himself in the direction of the main gate.

He prepared a shunshin, standing on top of the wall surrounding their land, and aborted rapidly, noticing the collapsed adult figure on the ground. It took barely an additional second for his eyes to scan the man rapidly and deduce that it had indeed been someone from Kumo, either one of the delegates or an infiltrator.

The figure sitting on the bench only caught his eyes a few seconds later, her incongruousness in stark contrast to her surroundings. It was a child – holding his daughter. A child in a… dog onesie? Hiashi flared his chakra slightly to disrupt genjutsu and, when that failed, used the byakugan, but his view didn't change. There was still a small child (Eight? Nine, maybe) holding his daughter.

Hinata was safe.

His heartrate dropped and he approached the child (one hand still on his kunai because the Hyuga clan head was not stupid; yes, one girl was a prize, but a man would be able to sire more children faster, whereas a woman needed time – and a toddler even more so to grow up; so, yes, Hiashi was by no means relaxed yet).

"Ah, thank god. Is she yours?" The little girl asked, then promptly ignored him, turning the child in her arms around so she was facing him. It was his little Hinata, not even a scratch on her.

"Is that your tou-san, Usagi-chan?"

Hinata giggled but then looked at him and lit up.

"Tou-san!" she exclaimed brightly, running at him with her arms up, ready to be picked up. Hiashi had no intention of not indulging her (and himself) after her kidnapping (failed or otherwise).

She was still laughing, luckily, but there were tear tracks on her face he carefully wiped away (kunai momentarily stowed away). His daughter was a handicap and fighting during the war had taught him that even children could be fearful opponents, but… it was incredibly difficult to take a child in a dog onesie seriously; there wasn't even space for a kunai pocket or anything! Plus, she must be half-soaked from sitting on the still-wet bench from the earlier rainfall and with the chill in the air, he felt those parental instincts his wife had always laughingly warned him about kicking in, urging him to bundle her up and get her to change into a warm set of clothes at his house.

But he still didn't know if she was involved in this, so instead he flared his chakra in the standard signal for urgent attention – no delay to draw the nearest ANBU patrol.

Mere seconds later a team of three appeared; two of them were fanned out – within earshot, but giving them a larger view of the area and ability to respond to a variety of situation.

Dog landed in front of him, using regular Konoha sign language to ask about the situation.

Hiashi sighed internally. Why even bother with masks if you didn't bother hiding the hair? Everyone knew Kakashi had joined ANBU at this stage; and there was speculation that the injury he received on the return from his last mission had been intentional. He'd wanted to get benched by the medics to in-village supervision to ensure the Kumo delegation didn't so much dare as even look at Namikaze's son wrong. Not that he could fault him – they had clearly intended a kidnapping, but it looked like Naruto was still safe. He didn't know if that was because the attempt to hide the Fourth Hokage's son was successful or if it was because of lack of interest in such a well-guarded target. Genma and Raidou, Hiashi knew, had signed up to protect the little Namikaze heir the moment news of the incoming delegation broke to the higher echelons (apparently there had been a brief argument on training ground nine for the privilege – it took two weeks for a genin team to restore it to its previous state).

"My daughter wasn't in her bed – I found her out here in the arms of this child with that man out for the count."

He pointed at the two people, lifting his daughter higher slightly to balance her weight better. He suspected that the little girl-child in her dog onesie had, somehow, managed to take out a seasoned jonin.

Yeah, he didn't know how to explain it either when he noticed Inu's double-glance at the child in question.

"So…" the girl spoke up leadingly, standing up from the bench she'd been sitting on, "I don't suppose you'd let me get home and get changed, would you?"

Inu shunshined his way to the Hyuga compound where the signal had originated from.

Although the signal was not for combat, Inu was ready. As captain, he was in charge of the subordinates he had been assigned (not Team, never again) and he was determined not to lose a single one of them. He still couldn't fathom why the Hokage forced him into the position of captain and away from his solo missions; he had been very successful in his mission runs and he had barely any downtime between them (and he wouldn't have been responsible for his not-Team dying under his command). But the Hokage had ordered – and he had obeyed. At least Tenzo was well-trained and someone he didn't have to be concerned about in combat. He had two temporary additions to the team and, given the political climate, Inu was certain at least one of the two prodigious Uchiha would land on his team soon enough (too soon, he privately thought, but Inu would never speak against the Hokage, not again, not after Danzo had almost convinced him to assassinate him).

Sharingan active he processed the scene lightning-fast; indisposed Kumo shinobi, unconscious, respiration slow but steady, no blood or wound. Black knapsack beside him, empty and wet from the ground, strands of hair on the inside. Kumo has history of attempted kidnappings and envy of Konoha dojutsu and other kekkei genkai. Conclusion: attempted kidnapping.

Small knapsack, not large enough for an adult; child kidnapping, therefore. Would need to be a child without the seal; hence main clan, rather than branch children. Clan head was present with his daughter – daughter therefore the likely victim of the attempted kidnapping. Hair and clothing ruffled, evident tear tracks on face, scratches on hand (trying to escape) and in pyjamas. Kidnapped out of bed, not unconscious, but the heiress clearly had not raised a commotion and had escaped being put under genjutsu or being knocked unconscious.

Good for her – but not very clever. Needed to be better trained for future kidnapping attempts. Sloppy. Even one scream would have raised Hiashi's attention and alerted the entire compound in short order.

Child in onesie on bench – not Hyuga. Accomplice? Unlikely – no weapons pouch, no headband. Callouses on hand suggest shinobi though, but not ready for battle clearly. Konoha? Unknown. Possible.

Curious that she survived the nearby Kumo jounin exfiltrating the heiress from the compound. Although given his position, Hiashi must have caught him just as he landed outside their walls.

No sign of secondary accomplice; successful escape from Konoha less likely without diversion. More enemies incoming if the heiress was the most important objective. If not, re-evaluation required and intelligence gathering from the currently unconscious shinobi.

Kakashi landed from the jump, closing his Sharingan eye and standing a short distance from the Hyuga clan head. He signalled his team to spread out and keep their senses alert for possible secondary enemies congregating on their location, then quickly asked for a report on the situation from Hiashi.

"My daughter wasn't in her bed – I found her out here in the arms of this child with that man out for the count."

Inu followed his hand gesture and double-checked again to ascertain if he had the right target.

Yes.

According to Hiashi the dog onesie child had rescued the heiress from the jounin.

Re-evaluation required. Possible collaboration with enemy and later rescinding it either out of guilt or to find favour with a clan head. Or aborting kidnapping as the heiress missing noticed too early.

Still, Kakashi knew all jounin in Konoha – not personally, but their names and faces. This child was not among them. Thus she was either still a chunin – or genin – and had succeeded through sheer dumb luck, or the Kumo shinobi had not expected betrayal (all shinobi expected betrayal and backstabbing, especially so when collaborating with someone from another nation). Not a clan child – black hair, vivid green eyes, young – approximately ten years old, he would guess. No clan characteristics. Certainly no main heir.

Inu walked over to the child who looked between them and asked wryly, "So… I don't suppose you'd let me get home and get changed, would you?"

Kakashi would have felt a slight regret for forcing a child into interrogation – which is where she would no doubt end up – but Inu was not Kakashi. Inu, although he despised it, had learned much in his short term under Danzo. Kakashi did not exist, once the mask came on, only Inu did. And Inu followed, Inu lead, Inu obeyed and took out any target his Hokage pointed him at; entire families and children had fallen under his blade and this child would merely be another tally added to his death count. Inu did not feel and did not falter. Inu did not hope that Inoichi would be assigned to her case rather than Ibiki. Sentiment did not belong in ANBU.

He negated her question with a sharp headshake.

"Report," he ordered sharply and watched her straighten under his impassive gaze.

"I was- well, I heard- no, I was out and then saw this fellow," she pointed at the as-yet still unconscious jounin, "coming out of there with this little girl in the bag and then managed to surprise him and got her to calm down by the time Hyuga-san's tou-san here arrived."

Well, Inu could definitely attest that it hadn't been rehearsed. There were so many holes in her story, he was surprised she hadn't refused to answer rather than incur even more suspicion.

She clearly hadn't been out for a walk, had somehow been alerted or already here, instead. She had no money, no intention of grocery shopping or and no excuse prepared. And how, exactly, would she have been able to tell that the Kumo jounin had a little girl hidden in the black sack? It made no sense. He was jumping over a shadowed area of the fence, and even in broad light there would have been no way for her to tell that it was a child hidden therein (never mind whether or not it was a female one) unless the heiress had made some sort of noise, which she heard but no other Hyuga did, somehow. Doubtful.

And no details on how she took out a seasoned jounin.

Yeah, neither Inu nor Hiashi were buying this story. The girl was shifting her weight, made steady eye contact and her body was tensed. She had not lied, exactly, but omitted the truth and clearly was looking to see if he believed her.

"Follow me," Inu advised tersely, using quick ANBU sign language to tell Tenzo he was in charge of transporting the Kumo prisoner to T&I and watching over him. He dispatched the remainder of his team to inform the Hokage and alert the Yamanaka clan head that his presence was required in T&I, respectively. He followed a few steps behind Tenzo, both moving deliberately slower for the girl-child to keep up with.

As Inu had expected, the girl easily used chakra to follow him, jumping from roof to roof near-silently until they reached the Interrogation unit. The girl grimaced but followed him without protest. Inu remained between her and Tenzo, allowing his subordinate to concentrate on containing his prisoner and watching his back to ensure the young kunoichi did not attempt to free the prisoner or injure Tenzo. While Tenzo was capable, they did not yet know what the girl had done, and carelessness was the easiest and fastest way to get oneself or their teammate killed (subordinate, Inu corrected immediately; despite their mutual rescue and working together for over a year now, sentiment only made you made more vulnerable and Inu would not allow it).

At Inu's command, they easily bypassed reception and he had them put in separate interrogation rooms – ones with observation rooms, as Inu did not doubt that both cases would necessitate surveillance from several parties. Kumo succeeding in not only infiltrating but also nearly successfully taking the Hyuga heiress without any alarm was highly suspicious. It meant potentially further spies in the barrier team, the higher-ups in Konoha for layout of the clan and patrol schedules, the police patrol and even ANBU.

Inu impassively stood in the corner of the interrogation room containing the young kunoichi, awaiting motionlessly and silently the Hokage's arrival, eyes fixed on the girl, cataloguing every twitch and movement made. She had not yet been strip-searched as her security risk had not yet been catalogued and her identity remained unascertained.

Inu could remain motionless for hours until the Hokage commanded otherwise; he had on occasion been forced to remain so for a full twenty-four hours to await opportune moments to kill the target when they were alone and do so without suspicion. He doubted that would be the case in this situation.

Even if the kunoichi really was Konoha and had really just stumbled over the situation, the Hokage would likely have her executed. It would either mean all the people who trained her and observed her were incompetent – and they would undoubtedly be higher up in ranking – and be a black mark on their record, or execute an unknown child with suspicions of her working for the enemy. It was easier and less risky to have her executed than allow her to continue to exist and potentially subvert further targets to her cause or impugn higher-ranking shinobi for not noticing her skills and talents. Unless she could prove herself too valuable, but as she did not appear to be from a clan, Inu thought that was doubtful.

Hiruzen looked over the treaty he had signed again, sighing internally, wondering why he felt as though this was just the quiet before the storm. Danzo, sitting opposite him, flicked through to the next page of the treaty. It was nice; his teammates rarely saw eye-to-eye him anymore – Danzo especially – so these moments when they were both united before a common foe were rare occurrence, and cherished for their scarcity. He had lost his wife to the Kyubi attack, and his nominated successor, and was buried in paperwork he had thought he had given up with no immediate successor in sight.

The first had chosen his brother, his brother had nominated one of his students – Hiruzen himself – and he had nominated his student's student after being the longest Hokage in power in Konoha's history; a title he'd abdicated and yet wore again after Minato had passed. His own students were spread across the Elemental Nations and were not inclined to take the hat from him. He had no siblings and no more students to pass onto. So he looked at Minato's student – the only one left. But Kakashi had proven too susceptible. He had followed Danzo into Root with few questions and nearly attempted assassination of his own Hokage. Hiruzen saw that although Kakashi brought many results in his solo ANBU missions, it was time for him to be part of a team again and regain the Will of Fire.

There was no one left. The clan heads had not been interested and too many had died of the previous generation. There were good jounin, of course, like Genma – who had been part of Minato's guard platoon. But he wasn't renowned enough and Konoha could not appear weak – not now, of all times.

So, Hiruzen remained and struggled on, without his wife and his son, Asuma, having left Konoha as well after being neglected for too long. At least his teammates were still here to hold him to account and support him, help him with the decisions he encountered daily, sending his men and women to their death if he was too slow, took too long to read reports which indicated trouble in certain regions or was too tired. As things stood, he had no choice but to keep to the unreasonable hours, slogging through mountains of paperwork and meetings, hoping to keep his teacher's legacy alive and Konoha running.

At least the remnants of the Kyuubi attack were not visible on Konoha streets anymore, repairs having taken precedence to avoid the visible signs of weakness in front of foreign merchants or, god forbid, dignitaries.

This treaty with Kumo would at least guarantee a few more years of peace – years in which Hiruzen could maybe seek to find a suitable successor or convince one of his two remaining students to take the hat and burden from him. He was not hopeful on the latter but couldn't help but hope.

"What do you think?" he asked Danzo, leaning back in his seat.

"This is worth less than the paper it was written on," his teammate bit out, brows furrowed, as he slapped the treaty onto his desk.

"Yes, but do you think it will last? Our alliance with Suna has lasted, despite being equally worthless as a treaty."

"Only because they can't afford a war. Kumo can. They're struggling after the last war, but they're better off than we are," Danzo disputed easily.

Hiruzen sighed internally. Danzo was the pessimist to his optimism; he was excellent in wartime but in peace time, everything was a scheme to the man and nothing could convince him otherwise.

"They don't know that. With the dissolution of Root and them joining our ranks, we have bolstered our numbers and missions, so there is nothing to show the loss of income and manpower."

"Don't be daft, Hiruzen," Danzo spat contemptuously, "they will have spies in our village somewhere. They will have at least some of the information – worst case scenario, they have all of it. We have had to divert resources from finding spies to infrastructure. They think we're easy pickings – we need to show them we're not."

This time the Hokage sighed out loud.

"Danzo, the treaty is signed. It's done. The delegation is under constant surveillance; they cannot twitch without us knowing about it. I'm not worried about what they'll do while they're here, but what they'll do when they're gone."

"I still say you should have argued harder – this clause about reciprocity smacks of manipulation."

"How would Kumo even know who killed their shinobi; we will simply argue someone else did the deed," Hiruzen explained again, "and even if they have evidence it was us, we send someone less important instead. It applies to us, as well, and we always operate in teams – which means we are far more likely to return with testimony of the true killer. Really, that clause operates in our favour not theirs."

Danzo's eyes narrowed. "But they were oddly insistent on that clause – there is something they're planning here."

Hiruzen snorted.

"We're shinobi – of course we are always planning. It's in our nature. Nevertheless, do you think this treaty will last?"

It was Danzo's turn to sigh as he picked the treaty up again, flicking quickly through the document before setting it aside.

"It will last until Kumo finds a more useful alliance – like Iwa – and turns against us."

"Then we will reap the rewards of breaking the treaty and inciting war," Hiruzen countered.

"They will shift the blame to us, and refuse to adhere to the compensation clause," Danzo argued, "and what could we do to enforce the treaty if we are already at war?"

"The other nations will not engage in further treaties with Kumo if they prove liable to not adhere to treaties or break them without repercussion."

Danzo rolled his eye, scars on his face twisting unpleasantly as he grimaced, "you cannot possibly be this naïve, Hiruzen. The other nations won't care on whit, because they know it's something they will only dare do with Konoha – because you're soft and they know it."

Hiruzen straightened – there was banter and honest opinion, and there was disrespecting their commanding officer.

"Have care how you speak, old friend," he intoned threateningly. Danzo's eyes narrowed, but he shrugged off the mild killing intent almost immediately, acknowledging the command with a curt nod.

Hiruzen leaned back again, carefully relaxing his muscles. Civilians were often under the stupid assumption that relaxed position meant a shinobi was not ready to jump into action at the twitch of a finger; it was a mistake most only made once. All jounin went more relaxed, muscles loose and ready, when they were under tension. It was different, of course, when it was for show – as this had been. Danzo would not hesitate to grab the hat from his still-cooling corpse, of course, but he would never be stupid enough to be caught as the one dealing the final blow.

After Orochimaru's defection, it was hard to hold onto illusions about those he surrounded himself with. Sometimes he regretted pointing Danzo towards Kakashi post-Kyubi attack, but he had to know how Minato's student would handle the strain – his father had committed suicide, after all, rather than deal with the repercussions of his decision. Not someone suitable for the Hokage seat. Unfortunately, it would seem that Kakashi had followed suit – too easy to break and mould; excellent as shinobi, terrible as a commander.

"Well-" they were interrupted when an ANBU appeared between them, kneeling. Sparrow had recently lost his team commander and the team had been dissolved – two of them joining Kakashi's team temporarily. If he remembered correctly – and he did, how could one forget Kakashi voluntarily visiting a medic and handing in a injury form which barred him from outside missions? – this team was currently assigned to the inner Konoha patrol. Not directly watching the delegation, of course, because Kakashi was too renowned for his part in that war and as student of the man who had slaughtered hundreds of them in short succession – and if they were to find Minato's student and the White Fang's son watching over them, they might view that as enough cause to incite war. Or cause an attack on him without thought to the repercussions, even – either way, detrimental. So Kakashi was satisfied by patrolling the area which contained both the Jinchuriki as well the Kumo delegation.

"Report," Hiruzen ordered curtly, wondering what had gone awry this time. Kakashi seemed to encounter more ludicrous situations on even the most minor of missions than seemed probable given the lack of predominance among other shinobi who had never been assigned to a Team 7. Even the C-rank curse seemed to be a Konoha only phenomenon, happening only very rarely in other nations.

"A suspected Kumo shinobi attempted to kidnap the Hyuga heiress. The kidnapping was foiled by an unknown child. Both will be in T&I, awaiting interrogation. Hyuga clan heiress appears uninjured," Sparrow reported quickly, still on one knee in front of him, head bowed, awaiting further orders.

"What were Inu's orders?" Hiruzen asked curiously.

"I was to report to you, Badger was sent to fetch the Yamanaka clan head. Boar and Inu took the prisoner and unknown kunoichi to T&I, respectively and are watching over them," Sparrow reported quickly before hesitating momentarily and adding, "Ah, the suspected Kumo shinobi bore no signs of obvious injury."

Eyebrows raised, Hiruzen stood up.

"Care to join me in interrogation, old friend?"

Danzo nodded, obviously just as intrigued. Good advice was hard to come by these days, unfortunately, so despite still being angered by his teammate's accusations, he let it pass. He let a lot pass, these days; there always seemed to be something more important which needed dealing with. Hiruzen heaved another sigh internally, before leading the way to T&I and slipping in, ignoring the casual greetings thrown at him. He always seemed to be running out of time lately.

"Inoichi," he greeted the blonde jounin mid-way through the depth of T&I, allowing him to join the small congregation, "I will need you to investigate the foreign jounin. Go into his mind, find out everything you can. Don't let him see anyone if you can. And-" Hiruzen stopped, standing between the two interrogation cells on either side of the corridor, facing the clan head to ensure he understood the importance of his order, "thorough search beforehand. Make sure there is no concealed poison anywhere on him."

The man bowed subserviently, smoothly saying "as you command, Hokage-sama," before making his way into the man's cell, two other interrogation junior agents joining him.

Hiruzen moved on and looked through the one-way glass to see who it was that had foiled this attempted kidnapping.

To his surprise, the bright green eyes had followed his procession behind the mirror and were fastened onto him – but the biggest surprise was probably her identity. Eyes narrowing in anger, Hiruzen turned to Sparrow and Badger.

"Fetch Shikaku and Choza, now. No information, just to come immediately."

The two ANBU nodded curtly and disappeared quickly, moving at break-neck speed to fulfil his order.

"Who is that?" Danzo asked, eyes skimming over the figure sitting currently without restraints in the middle of the room in front of them. Both had noticed how her eyes flitted to follow the ANBU agents leaving abruptly, before turning back to them.

"Orphan since the Kyubi attack. Kara. She's in the corps," he divulged, sharing a suspicious glance with his teammate, "Age… eleven, I think, now. Graduated at ten. Her background's verified, Konoha born and raised. Shikaku was interested in her, but told me there was nothing to report."

Hiruzen didn't need to say just how suspicious that was, among all the other oddities. He gestured for one of his personal guard to fetch her file and watched as Kara, through the window, seemed to blink and her head turned slightly as Yugao flitted away, chakra still suppressed and almost non-existent.

Another oddity.

He didn't have time for oddities. Execution was the simplest method, but as he had permitted her to babysit clan heirs, she had likely won favour with them and the clan heads. Not a great position for him; he at least had to give the appearance of evaluating her, then.

Sometimes he regretted that Minato had ordered Root disbanded. While he could point his old teammate to the occasional suspected spy, it was more difficult if the party was well-known. And it would only be the occasional child soldier added to Danzo's team, never the full Root under his command again; but as an elder advisor to the Hokage, the man was obviously entitled to his own 'guard'. Hiruzen knew when not to ask questions – it was how they had worked so well together for so long.

Shikaku arrived shortly after, falling into a bow, shortly after followed by Choza, murmuring "Hokage-sama."

"Ah, Shikaku," if his jounin commander was compromised, that would be difficult to deal with – and even harder to replace. "Kara-san has put you in a precarious position as she was found and is suspected of collaborating with foreign elements to orchestrate line theft, kekkei genkai theft, and child abduction. You argued for her to watch over your clan heirs, if my memory proves correct," not that anyone would dare say otherwise, Hiruzen thought with mild amusement, gaze still hard and fixed on the two shinobi in front of him.

"Tell me everything you know about Kara."

They weren't obvious enough to exchange glances but Hiruzen noticed the hesitation, however short it was, and flared his killing intent.

"Now," he ordered, "before my patience runs thin."

Shikaku stood up, straight and stiff, very much unlike his usually lackadaisical posture and a stance Hiruzen hadn't seen him in since they had last been together in the command tent planning defensive manoeuvres and attacks.

"Kara-san came to our notice because she trained near the clan. She trained alone, didn't pass on clan grounds but corrected her own forms and training, without external input, continuously. Choza picked up on her as possible victim of abuse, most probably, or at the very least neglect and for her reading and cooking skills. She knows recipes the Akimichi have never heard of. She has means of keeping food warm and fresh for days – but it is not the food itself, but rather the plate. Except the plate belongs to the Akimichi and has not been altered through fuuinjutsu as far as we can tell and once the original food is gone, the plate serves as a normal plate. As long as even a little bit is left, it will keep all food hot and fresh."

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"She created the pain-relieving toys. She knows songs not heard of before. There are clan-related secrets I will not divulge, but suffice it to say, she is recognised and treated as – and better than – a Nara clan head by our deer. There is suspicion she is a Nara, but no evidence from our clan registry but according to her, her father and his friends called her 'little fawn'. Frankly, we have not been able to explain the things she does. She can dry Shikamaru's hair in an instant, appears to be able to call things to her, create things, her bag seems to be infinitely large and cannot be operated by anyone other than herself. Additionally, she could be incredibly rich, but uses money she makes to help orphans and anyone in the red-light district and that's on top of what we suspect are gems and jewels hidden in her bag which could probably buy her Konoha. Kara herself has proven patient and kind, not easily impressed, has issues with authority, doesn't trust adults, only sees herself as valuable so long as she can help, we suspect and is honest and open to a fault. When she lies it is immediately obvious. She is not adept at the life of the normal shinobi. We have not seen her training. Her apartment is completely secured and impenetrable as far as we can tell without actually attempting to enter."

Hiruzen's brows furrowed. He understood why Shikaku hadn't reported anything – there wasn't anything obvious or at least nothing detrimental to Konoha. But the issues were curious and interesting.

"New kekkei genkai?" Danzo asked, his interest easily betrayed to Hiruzen by the way he tilted his head slight right and pulled his left shoulder back – even decades later and his tell hadn't changed a bit. It was easy to portray nonchalance if the other party didn't know you as well as they did each other.

Shikaku see-sawed with his hand in a more relaxed fashion, "uncertain – what kind of kekkei genkai, after all, could explain all of this?"

"Why did you not report this to me, Shikaku?" Hiruzen prodded, eyes fixed on the clan head who winced obviously. The Hokage was under no delusion; he knew his jounin commander was a well-trained shinobi and had allowed or intentionally portrayed the wince to let him know he was aware of his misstep.

"There was nothing dangerous or suspicious to Konoha to report," the man argued, "all her actions so far had been to benefit those surrounding her."

"Yes, precisely," Danzo pointed out, "when they could have been used much better for the greater good of all of Konoha, rather than individuals or a couple of clans."

"We were trying to gain her trust to find out how she accomplished the things she did and to see if they could be replicated," Shikaku argued.

"It's been a year and a half," Hiruzen pointed out calmly, eyes still hard as he looked at his jounin commander, glad to see that at least in this, he and Danzo saw eye-to-eye. "Have you gained her trust, then?"

Shikaku faltered and hesitated a moment before shaking his head slightly.

"No, I do not believe we have, Hokage-sama."

A pause – where to go from here? She could be a potential asset… but why had no one else picked up on this? What about the ANBU Aburame who put them to the test or her Academy teachers?

"She works together with two other members of the genin corps, if you want more information, Hokage-sama," Choza offered. "Yori and Tomo are their names, I believe," he added.

Another wave and down to two guards now, as Boar ran off to get the aforementioned genin corps members and the genin corps commander.

"We will be having a discussion once this is resolved, about what counts as clan matters and what needs to be brought before your Hokage before it becomes treasonous."

Both clan heads bowed to him, "as you command, Hokage-sama."

Finally, Rooster returned with the file and was promptly sent off to notify a few ANBU teams to investigate her apartment for any clues of her collaboration.

There was nothing in the file he hadn't already read prior to her graduation, but the mission in the hospital was interesting. Potential immunity to poison would be very valuable if it could be replicated or passed on. The remaining missions were barely of note in the face of everything he had heard already from Shikaku.

"Anything to add, Choza?" he asked nevertheless but the burly man but he merely shook his head. He hadn't expected anything less – Choza and Inoichi would always collaborate with Shikaku regarding intelligence.

Shame he couldn't really do anything to Shikaku; his position was too important and he was not so easily replaced. His acumen in warfare and wartime strategy was far too invaluable at this point in time.

"Ah, sorry for the interruption, Hokage-sama," Inoichi started as he put his head past the door to look at them, "but we cannot wake up the prisoner."

Brows furrowed, he passed the file onto Danzo for his opinion, having not garnered anything exceptionally useful from it.

"What do you mean, you cannot wake him up?"

Inoichi winced when his eyes fell on Kara but immediately focussed back on him.

"We… are not sure. We tried cold water, shock, pain – he remains completely unconscious. He hasn't drifted into sleep nor is he close to consciousness. At this point, I can access nothing."

Hiruzen gave a frustrated groan, pinching the bridge of his nose, hoping in vain to stave off the headache he could feel coming on. He should've gone to sleep instead of ruminating with his old teammate; maybe he wouldn't feel so exhausted by all this.

"Poison?" He asked, knowing it would have already been brought up if they had noticed any, but needing the confirmation nonetheless.

"He had seven capsules, glass and touch poisons hidden on himself. It looks like he was set-up for suicide rather than assassination or collateral damage. We could not find any damage to him. We have used medical jutsu as well and other than determining that the shinobi is suffering from a long-term congenital disease which will soon take his life, we have found nothing."

Danzo closed the file with a snap behind him, stepping forward slightly until he was parallel with himself.

"Are you saying he was going to die soon and this was a suicide mission."

Inoichi nodded.

"It is what we suspect given our findings, but again, we have not been able to talk or read the mind of the suspect."

"And they were caught trying to abduct the Hyuga heiress? No one else other than the child nearby?" He interrogated further, eyes narrowed, forehead in furrows and jaw and hand clenched.

At Inoichi's nod, Danzo turned to face him.

"I told you – they were too insistent on that clause. They did have a plan!" Danzo bit out angrily, and within seconds, Hiruzen followed his line of thought, swearing furiously.

"…Hokage-sama?" Shikaku enquired hesitantly and both Hiruzen and his teammate turned to him.

"This was the plan all along. The peace treaty allowed for reciprocity of turning over the killer. What we thought to be in our favour was their plan all along – either get the Hyuga heiress or have the Konoha turn over the Hyuga clan head to Kumo in order to prevent war and avoid incurring the debts listed in the treaty. Even if Hiashi had restrained himself in the confrontation, they would have committed suicide but Kumo would have lain the blame at our feet," Hiruzen explained, regretting that Shikaku had not been involved in the treaty; but while he concentrated on foreign affairs, Shikaku had taken over many of the burdens which typically fell to the Hokage.

"Get genin Kara and order her- No, on second thought, I will do this myself," the Hokage stormed out of the observation room and slammed open the door to Kara's interrogation room.

"Genin Kara, with me. Inu, guard," he ordered curtly, leaving immediately and hearing the satisfying scramble behind him as the genin struggled to comply quickly. Inu was a step off and behind her so as to immediately intercept any attack on his Hokage.

Throwing open the door to the Kumo shinobi's cell, he stood aside, waving for Kara to precede him, which the girl did, uncertainly. While he was still angry, it was satisfying to watch the young girl afraid and uncomfortable, considering all the trouble she was giving him.

"Wake him up," he ordered, leaning back against the door where he had a good view of both her and the prisoner.

"What? I- I mean, can't you…?" She hesitatingly asked.

"Interestingly enough, no, we can't. Not pain, nor cold water or any other method we tried. So genin Kara, your Hokage is ordering you to right now reverse whatever you did."

She gulped and looked between him and the prisoner.

"I- Could I have some privacy?"

"No," Hiruzen immediately refused, arms folded, watching her coldly.

When she still hesitated, he told her coldly, "that is an order, genin Kara, from your Hokage. Refusal means execution."

Obediently Inu had unsheathed the ANBU-standard tanto, silver sparks dancing across the blade, wreathing it in chakra to ensure it would cut cleanly; the tanto would not last through many executions like that but it was a kindness a few of his ANBU afforded to children, ensuring their death was swift and painless at least.

Kara glanced between them but then clearly folded, turning around to the prisoner and with nary a moment, a red light left her hand, hitting the prisoner, who shot upright immediately. Another coloured light left her hand and the shinobi who was still regaining his equilibrium became stock-still.

With a grimace, Kara turned her back on the man.

"He is now… immobilised," a small, amused smile here, before turning serious again, "you can look into his mind but he won't be able to speak much – or at all."

"Thank you, genin. Now, you and I will be having a conversation in a bit. Inu – take her back to her cell."

Inoichi came out of the observation room for this prison the moment Kara had left, giving the prisoner and incredulous look. A short range of tests followed but the genin appeared to be correct -the man was completely immobilised. At Hiruzen's nod, Inoichi prepared to scan his memories.

Hiruzen watched as Inoichi was motionless for a time before blinking rapidly, reorienting himself, before turning back to him.

"You were right, Hokage-sama, the plan was to obtain the Hyuga kekkei genkai, one way or another. There is no evidence of the Konoha collaborators or spies. The man was not involved in the planning, only the execution. Kara-san appears to have caught him by surprise with… well, another red light? He went unconscious immediately until now."

A knock on the door, followed by Boar landing beside him.

"Report on the apartment?" Hiruzen questioned only to watch confusion in his subordinate before he stood.

"Hokage-sama, I need to be investigated for tampering. I went to the apartment and suddenly remembered you were in T&I and required me there urgently to… repair the light bulbs?"

Hiruzen stared, baffled, at the normally loyal-to-a-fault member of his guard platoon who just admitted to abandoning his mission.

"Ah, I believe I may be able to shed some light here," Shikaku offered, snickering slightly at the unfortunate ANBU's plight. "When I said impenetrable, I meant that those without negative attention are turned away, remembering inconsequential things they absolutely need to do right this moment instead – such as cleaning their room or, for example, changing lightbulbs."

The jounin commander shrugged. "We never got to testing it fully, obviously, and we had no negative intention but suspect it will be much harsher to those with bad intention for the apartment or any residents therein."

Hiruzen sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose again, his head pounding as he found himself baffled at the confounding genin-level (at least supposedly) child he was confronted with.

"Alright. Boar, ANBU team again. Their mission is to observe. Yours is to break into the apartment with force, and destroy, say… the dining table. The ANBU team is to observe and rescue you but remain outside the boundary of effect of whatever she uses to protect the apartment. Then report back. If you manage to infiltrate, search for links between her and Kumo or any other informant… And get a Hyuga to assist you and either Itachi, Shisui or Mikoto Uchiha. And Fugaku Uchiha is to report here."

With a sharp nod, Boar disappeared again, hopefully returning with better news next time. This was not where he imagined this day would go.

Two genin stood to attention in the hallway, bowing deeply as he stepped in front of them.

"Yori and Tomo, correct?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the boy confirmed.

Humming to himself, Hiruzen tapped the girl on the shoulder.

"You – follow me. We'll talk first. Yori-kun, please wait out here until we are ready."

Calla groaned, dropping her head on the table in front of her, despite knowing there were people outside watching her – and Inu inside here, with her. But she'd been doing so well, skating by beneath everyone's notice until now. It just hadn't occurred to her that they would not be able to wake the jounin up. She'd just used stupefy by rote rather than thinking about it. Reenervate was an easy spell, she'd forgotten they wouldn't be able to wake him up otherwise.

This was bad, really bad.

And the Hokage had gotten information from Ino-Shika-Cho out there and now Tomo and Yori. Fuck. This was so, so not good. Sure enough, in came Shikaku.

Calla would like to say that the seriousness of the situation made her immune to his charm, but the past year and a half had not inured her, and right on cue she blushed. Teenage hormones were the worst.

"Any chance we can pretend nothing happened?"

"Sorry, kid, wish that we could," he admitted easily, leaning back against his chair, all grace, eyes half-lidded and fixed on her intently, scars twisting as he gave her a half-smirk.

Blushing darker, Calla groaned and buried her head in her arm on the table for a moment before forcing herself upright.

Professional. She could be professional. She was a total professional. Completely professional. Nothing could put her on the backfoot – she was far too professional for that. So, so professional.

She made eye contact with the man in front of her, smirk slightly amused but eyes distanced, analytical, and felt her belly flutter. This man was dangerous. In every sense – it did not help, she noticed, but Calla was used to being in situations where she was in over her head and everything unexpected that could've possibly occurred had happened – and more.

"Alright, ask away," she offered, knowing there was little else she could do.

"What happened?"

Kurama beside her snorted. "This is what you get for trying to help people. They're beyond help. Just kill them all and be done with it."

It was like the Horcrux all over again, your worst thoughts personified and always telling you to kill and murder everything and everyone around you. Yeah, different universe and yet for all that had changed, so much remained the same.

"I- I was told that there was a foreign shinobi in Hyuga clan property," Calla started but stopped at Shikaku's raised hand.

"Okay, few issues here, little fawn. First – who told you? How did they know? Secondly – the foreign shinobi was remarkably quick – taking the little Hyuga and right back out, no detours. So how did you get from your apartment," Shikaku pointed to a corner of the desk near her, "all the way to the opposite side of Konoha with enough time to catch him just as he left? Even with Shunshin all the way, that would've taken longer. And lastly – what did you intend to do there? Why didn't you alert anyone and where is your shinobi equipment and headband?"

If Calla thought she had blushed before, that was nothing to now, when her ears heated up, as did the back of her neck and she avoided eye contact. Somehow she'd really hoped they would all be above mentioning what she wore, but naturally, Shikaku loved teasing her and would pick on her for it.

"I, em… I like to relax… like this?" Call confessed quietly, embarrassed. Imagine if anyone saw the saviour of the wizarding world like this – she shuddered to think what Rita would come up with as the next headline in the newspaper, but knew with certainty it wouldn't be flattering – not to her, at least.

"I- I don't- I just, I don't really get to be a kid. And there's no one home to judge, so I can just,…" Calla shrugged helplessly, feeling tears pressing at the corner of her eyes due to how flustered she was, but blinked them away.

"And when, well, when I heard that, I didn't think. I don't need- I mean… Well, I guess it's too late to put the cake back in the oven. I figured I could do something without needing to be lethal or using kunai or shuriken. And I could get there fast, but I didn't know who to alert or even about what. It would've taken time, time to convince and get there, whereas I can just, well, get there."

"Uh-huh," Shikaku nodded placidly, glossing over her earlier confession, despite the look in his eyes softening slightly, "and just how can you 'get there'?"

Frowning, Calla scratched the top of her head, trying to remember how Hermione had explained it – but it had just been another one of her friend's rants and she'd been pretty good by then at tuning her out, so well… Grimacing slightly, she shrugged apologetically.

"Destination, determination and deliberation?"

Shikaku blinked. "And what does that mean?"

"Well, you visualise the place you want to be, you have to want it really strongly and not rush it or you can leave limbs behind or split yourself in half," Calla shrugged, "terribly uncomfortable, would not recommend it. But it is instantaneous travel."

Frowning, Shikaku looked at her. "How instantaneous?"

"Here one blink of an eye, there the next?" Calla suggested, looking bemused.

"And how far can you travel with that in an instant?"

Furrowing her brows, running over the distances they occasionally discussed in class in her mind and comparing it to her world, Calla tried to run comparisons.

"I could, I think, cross the entire elemental nations in the blink of an eye. But haven't tried, so I don't know. And I would need to know the place I'm appearing in – so I would first need to travel to all these places on foot and if they've built a house there, say, in the interim, you can end up in the middle of the wall. Not pleasant."

"Care to demonstrate?" Shikaku asked after a moment, processing what would be a clear military advantage, Calla knew. And unfathomable to them – they had nothing similar that she knew of.

"Alright? Would you like something from your home? My home? Choza's?"

"Mine. Please grab my mug of coffee – I left in on the kitchen counter."

Calla hesitated.

"Are you sure I'm allowed to leave?"

She threw another glance at where Shikaku suspected the Hokage was standing.

"Are you intending to come straight back?"

"Of course," Calla said immediately, feeling offended he even had to ask. Shikaku's lips twitched with amusement but just nodded at her.

"Well then, go get," he ordered and Calla shrugged, standing up. The ANBU in the corner tensed slightly but made no move towards her, so she disregarded him, visualising the kitchen she'd become rather familiar with over the last year and a bit.

And disappeared with a pop, reappearing in the Nara's kitchen, startling Yoshino into grabbing a kunai only to hesitate once she registered it was her.

"Sorry, Yoshino-san, Shikaku-sama asked that I use this method to bring him his coffee," Calla apologised, reaching for the mug still sitting on the counter. Shikaku's wife flicked her wrist, the kunai disappearing as swiftly as it had appeared, and giving her a wry smile.

"Tell that lazy man that he shouldn't be sending you on errands for his coffee or using you as his guinea pig. Oh, and that I was kind enough to dispose of that for him, as he clearly doesn't need it anymore."

"Sure thing, thanks, Yoshino-san."

Mug in hand, Calla disapparated and reappeared just beside the table (no need to accidentally reappear inside her chair).

"Here you go, Shikaku-san. Yoshino-san sends her greetings, and asked me to tell you not to use me for your experiments or to supporting your laziness. And that she was kind enough to get rid of the old coffee for you."

Shikaku groaned, obviously regretting sending her to his own house, Calla registered, snickering slightly at his woebegone expression.

"Interesting though," he said, gathering himself. "So, you've explained how you travelled there so fast and the lack of shinobi equipment. What you haven't explained is how you knew."

Calla froze.

Fuck. How does she explain this?

"I… I can see souls of animals? The ones who don't pass on? And some of them can speak?"

Yes, good, Tobirama and Minato would still be a secret and no one needed to know she was Death. This could work.

Shikaku looked doubtful.

"You talk to dead animals?"

Oh shit. There was really only Kurama – and he wasn't technically dead.

Biting her lip, Calla shook her head.

"No- I, I'm not sure. Just.. Just the one, I think?"

Shikaku nodded, affably, obviously not believing a word.

"Alright, they here now?"

Calla tried to stop it but couldn't help but give a sideways glance at Kurama, who was by now standing next to the stationary ANBU, berating his smell, dress sense, skills, hair and everything else that occurred to him. Unable to help herself, lips twitching as she watched Kurama take out his anger on another person who had no idea he was there, Calla nodded, giggling slightly.

Maybe she was becoming hysterical – that was not her normal reaction to being caught in a lie – although, who could be mad at Shikaku. She really wished Ginny was here, sometimes; her friend would've joined in with the private fangirling and crushing on unavailable, older man with sexy scars and smouldering stares.

"Ask them to go to the back room. Choza will tell your creature something, they'll come back and you then tell me what he said."

Calla sighed. So many experiments – she really wished she'd had dinner earlier, but she'd had a mission until late afternoon, a post-mission nap and by the time she got around to it, Kurama had burst in.

"Hey, Ku-"

"Do not speak my name in front of these worthless fleshbags."

Calla nodded seriously.

"Sorry about that. Please – just go into the next room and the man who smells like food, he's going to tell you something. Please listen to it and tell it back to me."

A pause wherein Kurama used his backpaw to lazily scratch an itch behind his ear.

"And what do I get out of it?"

"What do you want in return, then?"

Kurama hesitated, obviously remembering who he was talking to.

"It's fine, a favour for a favour," Calla offered and after a moment, Kurama nodded.

"Alright," Calla said, "he's in with them now."

Shikaku nodded.

"And in the meantime, let's get back to my questions. Why were you spying on the Hyuga?"

Calla's eyes widened and she scooted back on her chair, rapidly shaking her head.

"Nope- no spying, promise. Ku- I mean, the animal," she winced slightly at her own wording, "was just exploring Konoha. Only see him when's bored and wants some contact, otherwise he just kind of strolls wherever he wants whenever he wants. He never tells me anything – this is the first time he's told me anything about where he was and that was only because it was so suspicious! I promise, he's not a spy and neither am I."

Shikaku nodded calmly.

"And you have a kekkei genkai, then?"

Calla froze. Kekkei Genkai – so inherited talents which stayed in the family… Family magic? She supposed Dora's and Teddy's ability to morph their features was kind of like the red eyes of the Uchiha and the white ones of the Hyuga. Except, he meant her magic. Well, it was sort of inherited – except not just her family. But in this world, kind of?

"Yes? Maybe?"

"Uh-huh. And what does your kekkei genkai do?"

Well, wasn't that the question of the century. Everything? Anything? What had they seen?

"Well, that instantaneous travel thing, obviously. And, um, talking to- the animal, talking to him, that is. And making people unconscious and conscious again. Em, yes, that's- that's it, I think," Calla stammered out hesitantly.

Shikaku's mouth fell into a frown before his face fell into a blank slate, all expressions just wiped away, eyes distanced.

Kurama pranced back in, content and self-satisfied.

"Tell deer-man that the cooking guy was talking about a mission when they were genin and deer-man got surprised by a rabbit and jumped into a river and had to complete the mission like that because he didn't bring a change of clothing with him."

Calla reiterated this to Shikaku, but there was no acknowledgement other than a curt nod, no change in expression as he gathered his paperwork and left the room without a word.

Shit, she'd fucked up somewhere. What else did they know?

The Hokage entered the room shortly thereafter, gaze flinty.

"Genin Kara Togei-Kuro, you have lied, repeatedly, to your superior officers and your Hokage, you have hidden your kekkei genkai, have lied about your skills and present a security risk to Konoha at large. Tell me, why should I not have you executed right now for treason?"

Author's Notes:

Hi all - sorry for the long wait! Here's a long chapter to make up for it!
Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think Calla's punishment should be ;) And hopefully everyone remained in character - let me know what you think of Danzo's / Hiruzen's interactions o.O
Next chapter should be quicker to come out - holiday's over :)

Voting!
You can vote via the link on my profile page here or leave a review and in that review add in the pairing(s) you want to vote for (one or all three). Reviews which only contain the vote and no review, will not be counted.

Current voting:
Shisui: 155 votes
Itachi: 408 votes
Kakashi: 391 votes

My omake / Alternative scenario for Hinata rescue – one of my ideas when I was angrily stomping through our neighbourhood:

Calla: *sees Kumo jounin kidnapping Hinata* *immobilises and mind-reads jounin* *sees plans to breed or take eyes* *gets very, very angry*
Also Calla: *takes location of Kumo's kage from his mind* *apparates into A's office* *hood up, face in shadows, only green eyes showing*
A: WTF!
Calla: I am Death. I like children. I hear you plan on kidnapping & stealing their eyes. Don't test me! *A immobilised*
Also Calla: Want to be on my good side? Treat your children well!
*apparates back to Konoha's gates with A*
Calla: tell nice Hokage you want to renegotiate treaty and no more children-napping. Or your village is history, children exempt.
A, walking through village with Hokage, sees Calla couriering files *bows deeply*
Hokage: That's … a career genin?! -

Omake by QueenCarlton:

Inoichi, on the verge of a breakdown: What do you have against me?
Kara, flatly: You're the Head of T&I.
Inoichi, hesitantly: And?
Kara: You're the Head of T&I. Have you ever taken the T&I Cleaning E-rank?
Inoichi: No?
Kara: Its traumatizing much like your daughter's singing.
Inoichi is scratching his head on how to fix this (and hopefully save his hearing). - Another Omake, also by QueenCarlton: I'm imagining Kakashi getting relentlessly attacked by Naruto and Sasuke working in perfect tandem during the bell test. It's not about getting the bells, it's because Naruto saw him getting icecream with Kara-nee-chan yesterday!
And meanwhile Ino-Shika-Cho is interrogating their parents about Kakashi and Hinata, Shino and Kiba are trapping his apartment and the staircase to the apartment and the Hatake Clan Compound and even the Memorial Stone in an attempt to 'teach that pervert what for, going after OUR Kara-nee-chan).
Kakashi is very confused. Kara can't stop laughing long enough to explain.

Another Omake, by CatNapTime again (btw, looooove Shikaku's second line, that seems so in keeping with him *rofl*):

Shikaku: Shibi, do your bugs detect anything strange about Kara's chakra
Shibi: …
Shikaku: I don't like that look, it looks like another headache, but curiosity demands I ask
Shibi: I… couldn't get an answer from them
Shikaku: ?
Shibi: They came back… the best way to describe it is "blackout drunk"
Shikaku: how is that possible?!