Here's a quick warning that the various POVs take place at different points in time. It should be fairly obvious when what happens if you pay attention, though.

Let's start this from the beginning

Swordsmen of the Mist

XIII

The first thing that clued Anko in on the fact that they weren't on the route anymore was that she was lying on something soft. She had been unconscious for most of the time, yes, and her awareness had been rather limited even when awake, but whenever she did manage to get a grip on herself for a short amount of time, she had either been carried by someone or lay wrapped in blankets on the hard ground.

She had never been able to stay conscious for long, though. The pain and her exhaustion always drove her back into a restless sleep no matter how hard she fought against it.

However, that wasn't the case now. Not only did she feel fine aside from some stiffness in her neck area, but she also lay in some comfy bed in a perfectly climatised room, leading her to the conclusion that they must finally be back in Konoha. It bothered her a bit that this was how she returned to her home after all these years, but considering she could count herself lucky for being alive at all, Anko decided to ignore that feeling.

Alright, she thought. Let's find out if I'm right and this really is Konoha.

With that in mind, she finally opened her eyes.

Her vision was blurred and her eyes hurt from the bright light, but she forced herself to keep them open to get them used to it. Nonetheless, the little bit she could see was enough to make her realize that this was indeed Konoha. Or, more specifically, a hospital room in Konoha. The white walls, machinery, and the Konoha emblem on the wall were kind of a clear giveaway. Furthermore, there was also the typical hospital smell in the air that made her mentally scold herself for not noticing it earlier.

All of this could theoretically be faked, of course. So, what truly convinced her that she was home was none of that but the woman sitting next to her bed that gave her a beaming smile when she noticed that she was awake.

"Mikoto-san?" Anko didn't even care about how weak and raspy her voice sounded, caught off-guard as she was. She then tried to sit up but was immediately stopped by two hands that gently pushed her back down before she could get far.

"Welcome home," Mikoto said, her voice just as soft and melodic as Anko remembered. "You shouldn't overexert yourself yet. Just keep lying like that and relax, yes?"

Anko couldn't say she liked that very much, but she didn't have the energy to resist her anyway, so she reluctantly did as she was told. "What are you doing here?"

"Why, I couldn't let you be all alone when you wake up, could I? No one should be left on their own when they wake up in a hospital bed. Having someone at your side is much nicer, don't you agree?"

Something in her chest clenched painfully at that, and unsure whether she even could utter a sound, she just nodded.

"Besides," Mikoto continued. "You're practically family, so of course I wanted to be by your side when you wake up."

Anko blamed it on the drugs which had doubtlessly been pumped into her body that she reacted so emotional, but she couldn't help it and teared up a little bit. While she hadn't woken up in a hospital all that often, it did happen from time to time as Orochimaru had never been one of those teachers that take it easy or show much consideration for their students. However, he certainly never bothered to wait at her bedside for her to wake up, and because she was an orphan she also had no family to visit her either, so she had always been alone. Sure, Yukio visited her sometimes when she stayed there for more than a day, but other than that, the only people she saw were nurses and doctors.

She had known that Mikoto took an interest in her son's life, the fact that she regularly invited not only her but Haku and Izumi -another one of Itachi's friends- as well for "girls' days" was proof of that, and Anko had even been sure that the other woman genuinely liked her, but never would she have ever imagined that she considered her family.

Anko had never had something like that, so regardless of whether Mikoto truly meant that or just said it to be nice, it meant a lot to her. After all, she was an Uchiha; family was important to clans such as hers, so she surely wouldn't say something like that lightly.

"Thank you."

There really wasn't anything else she could say, though she was glad that she managed to suppress a sob before she embarrassed herself.

Mikoto, kind as she was, didn't mention it even though she surely must have noticed. After all, retired or not, she was an experienced Jōnin. Instead, she just gave her a warm smile and let her take all the time she needed to collect herself.

It was then that a question suddenly popped up in her head.

"Is everyone else alright?" Itachi must be fine when Mikoto could sit so calmly at her bedside, but Kakashi had been injured if she remembered things correctly, and then there was also their third teammate whose name she didn't know but who she thought had made an appearance and distracted Orochimaru long enough for her to score a hit on him. "No one else got hurt, right?"

Mikoto's expression didn't change, but Anko thought she could hear a note of sorrow when she replied. "I don't know any details, but there seems to have been some complications when you were unconscious." Anko eye's widened and she opened her mouth to demand what she meant with that, but Mikoto continued soothingly before she had the chance to do so. "However, everyone is fine now. No one died and none of them suffered permanent injuries."

Well, that was great and all that, but Anko still wanted to know what kind of complications had happened exactly! Even if Mikoto didn't know any details, she surely knew something. With that in mind, she opened her mouth again to ask for more information only to be interrupted again, this time by a loud bang when the door to the room was thrown open.

Usually, Anko would give anyone who barged into her room like that quite an earful, but in this case, her words got stuck in her throat at the sight of just who had entered the room with a foul expression on their face. Just like probably every other kunoichi not only in Konoha but all over the world as well, she recognized the person immediately. How could she not when this was the person praised as the strongest woman in the world?

"You are-"

"-damn tired and done with this shit? Hell yeah, I am, so let's get this over with quickly so that I can have a drink and take a nap, shall we?"

Mikoto gave the woman a reprimanding look that bounced off her ineffectively. "She woke up just a few minutes ago, Tsunade-sama. Please show her a little more consideration."

"I would think rushing over here as soon as she woke up would be consideration enough."

"Most would say that rushing to their patient's side is a doctor's job and thus a given."

"Well, most people-"

Anko had never seen Mikoto being so antagonistic towards someone before, and frankly, it scared her quite a lot. Although now that she thought about it, that might simply be a reaction to having two terrifying women that could easily kill her glare at each other over her prone body. Consequently, she said the first thing she could think of to redirect their attention away from each other.

"How did you know that I have woken up?"

… she regretted that decision as soon as both their attentions focused solely on her, though.

Thankfully, Mikoto decided to take pity on her and actually answer her.

"In addition to the regular doctors, there are various medic-nins in charge of different sections of the hospital," she said. "It's common practice that one of them casts a Genjutsu on every patient that needs to be closely observed because their condition is particularly delicate, although in your case it was merely because we need to talk with you as soon as possible. These Genjutsu are extremely weak, just strong enough to guarantee that the patient has a calm and restful sleep but fragile enough to be broken just from waking up. The backlash of the broken technique then alerts the medic-nin in charge that the patient has woken up or, in cases in which the patient's life is in danger, that they might have died, allowing them to act quickly enough to potentially still save them."

That… was actually really clever. Who would have thought that Genjutsu could be used in such a way?

"Yes," Tsunade drawled as if reading her mind while also pulling out a notepad and a pen. "Pretty ingenious, isn't it? People laughed at me when I first proposed this method, but seeing how many lives it had saved so far, it's me who had the last laugh, don't you think? Well, be that as it may, I don't have time all day, so let us start with what I actually came here for." Anko swallowed when Tsunade threw her a stern look. "What the hell did you do to wreck your body like that?"

She blinked. "I… what? I don't know-"

However, Tsunade ignored her.

"Twenty-four of the twenty-seven bones in your right hand were broken, eight of which to the point where 'shattered' would honestly be a better term to describe it. Both forearm bones on the same side were broken in five and six places respectively while most of the muscles attached to them were torn as well. Your left leg wasn't quite that bad, but there, too, most muscles were torn and your ankle bone broken to the point where it was hardly recognisable for what it was.

And as if all of that wasn't already enough, your entire chakra network is littered with fissures. Whatever you have done with it almost ripped it apart. Just a little more damage would have been enough to destroy it completely, resulting in your death at worst and the end of your career as a shinobi at best.

You can count yourself lucky that your teammate knew medical Ninjutsu. Rudimentary as it might have been, without it, the damage your body suffered would have been irreversible even for me by the time you arrived here. You better thank him later."

Anko honestly didn't know what to say. She had known that she had been injured, sure, but she would never have guessed that it was that bad. Though I guess that explains why my arm is still in a cast, she thought with a sideways glance at the limb in question. After all, such things were hardly ever necessary after a medic-nin had treated already treated an injury. If even Tsunade's treatment couldn't completely heal her arm by now, it must be a serious wound.

"Tsunade-sama-"

"It's alright," she interrupted Mikoto before she could reprimand Tsunade once more, her voice weak even to her own ears. "I prefer it this way over having everything sugar-coated."

"Good, because I wouldn't do that even if you asked."

She nodded before steeling herself. After all, depending on how Tsunade answered her next question, her life might forever change.

"Will I fully recover?"

Contradictory to her previous words, Tsunade's expression grew a bit softer, though her voice remained as stern as before. "Your leg is mostly alright now. The operation was a pain, but as long as you take it easy for three to four weeks and don't put more weight on it than absolutely necessary, you shouldn't have any long-term problems with it. Your chakra network is fine as well. Just don't use any chakra if you can help it for the same amount of time and it will recover by itself. Now, regarding your arm…"

Tsunade paused for a moment, suddenly looking very, very tired.

"I was able to repair most of the damage and put everything back where it is supposed to be, but the damage was quite extensive. You will require regular treatment for at least another four months, though I suspect it will be more akin to six. You are obviously not allowed to strain it during that time either, so you better don't even think about training. However, even with all that, there will be at least some lasting damage."

Anko could feel her blood run cold. "And with 'some', you mean…"

"I suspect you will regain ninety percent functionality at the end of it."

Ninety percent.

Ninety percent!

It was probably a miracle in and on itself that she would regain even this much, but Anko couldn't help and feel terror at the idea of losing ten percent of her arm's functionality. That wasn't enough to immediately make her unsuitable for a life as shinobi, but she wasn't stupid enough to believe it wouldn't affect her at all. Even such a small handicap could make all the difference on a battlefield, after all. It would take an enormous amount of training to compensate for that, and even more to adapt her fighting style to work around any and all problems that would undoubtedly arise from it.

Her career might not be over, but it certainly felt like it…

No, she thought while forcefully pushing her doubts aside. I can't let this bring me down. I won't! So what if I need to train a lot? How's that different from what I have done all this time anyway?

She wouldn't let this be the end. That just wasn't an option.

"There is one more thing."

Tsunade's voice pulled her back into the present, and if there was one thing that could bring across the severity of the situation, it was that her voice actually sounded almost gentle now.

Anko tried -and probably failed- to give them a crooked grin. "It can't get much worse than this, can it?"

Neither Tsunade nor Mikoto replied to that, but they didn't need to for her to understand what they were thinking. The fact that the latter suddenly took Anko's uninjured hand into hers made that very clear.

The answer was 'yes, it could get worse'.

Oh, it could get so much worse.

Anko wouldn't have come up with something like Curse Marks in even her worst nightmares, but now they were reality. Her reality.

Of all the things Orochimaru could have done to her, marking her with such a thing was probably one of the worst.

And according to Tsunade, the greatest healer in the world, and even Jiraiya, the greatest Fūinjutsu specialist in the world who looked at the seal when his fellow Sannin informed him about her situation, there was no way to get rid of it.

After all this time she had spent on becoming stronger on her own to not only overcome but also distance herself from Orochimaru, she was now irreversibly bound to him.

Itachi was more than aware of all the glances he attracted while he waited in the foyer of the hospital. While he wouldn't go as far as to say that he was famous, he was definitively well-known. After all, regular citizens loved to gossip about everything shinobi related and his fellow shinobi always kept a close eye on every talented member of the next generation, so a 'child prodigy' like himself obviously caught peoples' eyes.

Contrary to what Itachi had heard both Kakashi and Shisui complain about in the past, it was only a minor annoyance at worst and something he was well-accustomed to ignore by now, but he could still do without it.

This is worse than usual, though.

It probably couldn't be helped. After all, it wasn't every day that he found himself in the hospital, even less so as a patient.

And unfortunately, his current gowns meant that he couldn't even pretend to be just a visitor.

The gossip will be horrible, he thought while suppressing a tired sigh before glancing at his arm. At least my injuries could be treated without complications.

Itachi had done what he could to treat them himself during the journey back to Konoha, but that had been only the absolute minimum necessary to make sure his condition didn't get worse and could still be treated later. First, he had to concentrate on catching up with the rest of his team after his successful escape from Kisame which didn't leave much time for treatment even if he had any chakra left at that point, and then he had to spend almost all of it on helping Anko once he had somewhat recovered.

Consequently, it was only three days into the journey that he was able to focus on his own injuries when, just minutes after crossing the border into the Land of Fire, they encountered another squad from Konoha that had been sent by the Hokage in response to Itachi's message from the beginning of the mission that the allies from Kiri they were supposed to meet hadn't shown up.

It was already too late to do anything meaningful with his meagre skill at that point, however, so all he could do even then was to stop his condition from getting worse.

A big part of the reason for that was that treating one's own wounds was more chakra expensive than treating someone else's. The human body recognizes its own energy, so when a person tried to use medical Ninjutsu on themselves, their body would automatically try to absorb it back into its system rather than let it do its intended job. Consequently, one would be forced to either use more chakra than the body could absorb to let it have its intended effect or use a second technique in tandem with the first one to suppress the body's automatic response.

That was not only extremely hard to do, however, but also almost as expensive as the first method.

Tsunade was revered as the greatest medic-nin of all time not only because of her ability to heal others but also because she could heal herself from even the most grave of injuries without noticeably weakening at all. That should demonstrate just how hard it was.

It was truly fortunate that one of the shinobi that came to their aid knew some basic medic Ninjutsu as well, though. Itachi wasn't sure how much longer he would have been able to continue treating Anko with his declining stamina if they hadn't shown up when they did.

Then, upon their arrival at Konoha two days later, they had immediately been brought to the hospital to get their wounds treated. Kakashi and Zabuza, both of which weren't injured, had been patched up within an hour and immediately sent to the Hokage to make a report while Anko was taken into surgery without any further delays. Apparently Tsunade herself would perform the operation.

Itachi himself wasn't too far behind, though his admission was treated with much less urgency once it was clear that his injuries were neither critical nor required emergency treatment. That wasn't to say he was put on wait, of course. He was still a patient in need of aid and the Uchiha heir to boot, after all. However, it meant that he wasn't immediately rushed into the operation theatre with all haste, and he couldn't say he was too unhappy about that. After what he had seen in Orochimaru's lair, he had no particular desire to be in a similar –if much less sinister- version of it.

All of this had happened six hours ago, and his operation had ended just over an hour ago.

The first thing he had done once the drugs in his system had worn off –the staff was thankfully accustomed enough to treating shinobi to know that they disliked not being in full control of their senses and thus never used more than the absolute minimum of anaesthetics on them- was to send a messenger crow to his friends and family.

His mother had appeared in his room not even ten minutes later.

In his last life and this one both, the times Itachi could look right through his mother's mask and see what she was truly thinking could be counted on both hands. He actually liked to think that he had inherited his own skills in masking his thoughts and feelings from her. However, it was easy to read her when she suddenly barged into his room through the window –she was a shinobi born and bred regardless of how long she had been out of active duty, after all- as she was barely even trying to hide her worry.

Telling her what he could about what had happened unfortunately didn't calm very much considering he couldn't tell her a lot to begin with. He would need to talk with the Hokage first to see how much of it was confidential. Until then, all he could give away was that he fought a powerful opponent and was injured in the process- things she could probably conclude herself from just looking at him.

Although just hearing him speak seemed to help somewhat, at least.

It was probably for the best that his mother was the only one who came to visit him. The crows he sent for Izumi and Shisui returned with their messages still attached to their legs, meaning they were both currently not in the village, and his father was too busy to drop everything and come visit him at once when his condition wasn't even critical. Then there were also Sasuke and Haku whom he hadn't bothered sending a message to in the first place because they would be at the Academy at this time of the day anyway.

There was only one other person he had notified, and that was the one he was waiting and enduring all the glances in the foyer for.

Fortunately, his waiting had finally come to an end.

"Itachi!" a voice called out to him. "What happened? Are you alright?"

A small smile fought its way onto his face. It was a sad fact that he and Yukio hadn't stayed in contact as much as they probably should have ever since the latter had mostly dropped out of the shinobi program after his loss during the Chūnin Exams and limited himself to simple guard duty at the gate and helping out in his family's restaurant, but it was still good to see him.

"There is no need to worry. None of my injuries were permanent and they have even been treated already."

"'No need to worry'? This is the first time I have ever seen you in hospital gowns, so of course there's something to worry about!"

He chuckled. "It was unavoidable that this would happen someday. Still, my treatment is already finished and I will be allowed to go home at the end of the day. After that, all I need to do is take it easy for a week or two before I can go back to training."

Technically, Itachi had been told to take it easy for three to four weeks, but while he was usually the kind of person to do as his doctor told him, he really didn't see the problem with some light exercises before that as long as he didn't strain his arm or ribs.

Although he should probably make sure not to mention that sentiment in front of his mother. Knowing her, she would not appreciate it very much.

"That's not as reassuring as you might think, you know. The fact that you met an opponent that could mess you up enough to make you take a break for several weeks is actually kinda terrifying."

"There is always a bigger fish in the ocean."

Yukio gave him a confused look when he noticed the genuine amusement in his voice, but he could hardly tell him whom he had fought, so there was no way to explain what he found so funny about that claim. It seemed to calm him down to just speak normally with him like this, though, so there was that.

"Sure, I guess," he said with a crooked grin. "Whatever you say. And what about the rest of your team? Is everyone okay?"

That one question pretty much evaporated his good mood all at once. Itachi had called him here not primarily to inform him about his own condition but to tell him about Anko. Even if he couldn't tell him much or even let him see her as she was still in surgery, he thought Yukio deserved to at least know that she was back.

He had certainly not looked forward to having that conversation, though.

"Technically, yes. However, there have been some… complications."

"Complications?" Yukio's voice instantly turned wary. "What kind of complications?"

Itachi had led them subtly away from the other people during their conversation, but he made sure one last time that there was no one around to eavesdrop on them before turning his full attention to him.

"It's about Anko."

"All of them have been killed?"

"I'm afraid so, yes."

"And you have no idea who is responsible for that?"

"I don't, but the investigation is still ongoing, so that might change yet."

"Well, isn't that just great…"

Hiruzen wasn't easily offended, but if it were one of his shinobi, he would have chided them for their behaviour by now. That being said, doing so with Zabuza might result in even more complicated relationships between Konoha and Kiri if the swordsmen went back home and reported that Hiruzen tried to patronise him or something like that. As the situation was already troublesome enough as it was, he saw no reason to risk that.

And besides, he could probably give the man some slack considering he had just found out that over a dozen of his comrades were confirmed dead. Even if he seemed to care more about the implications of that than about the lives lost, such a revelation was never nice.

"The Mizukage will not be happy about that."

"I didn't assume she would be, although I would think that the successful completion of the mission might brighten her mood somewhat."

"Considering the involvement of a certain nuke-nin, it's a wonder things worked out a well as they did," Zabuza snorted before giving him a dark look that was entirely inappropriate to direct at a Kage regardless of whether it was your own or not. "A nuke-nin from this village, even. Also, wasn't he your student too?"

He really puts me into a difficult position, doesn't he? If it wouldn't be a sign of weakness, Hiruzen would let out a weary sigh just about now. Not reacting to that provocation at all will make me appear weak while reacting too strongly will make me look unreasonable and might even annoy him enough to negatively influence his report to the Mizukage. How troublesome.

However, he hadn't survived in this world for as long as he did not only due to raw strength. One couldn't wear the Hokage hat for decades and not learn how to play the game.

He released a sniff of killing intent for a little less than a second, intense enough to make the other man instinctively –and visibly- straighten up while still keeping it weak enough to make sure it wasn't misinterpreted as an actual threat. Finding the golden middle ground wasn't easy, but Hiruzen had mastered the art of doing just that many years ago.

"He was," he agreed after a few seconds of tense silence, deliberately ignoring the way the other man's hand twitched towards the handle of his sword at the sound of his voice. "And his interference was most unfortunate. Regardless, I think it's reasonable to claim that the interference of not only one but two more of your fellow Swordsmen of the Mist was a much bigger problem than Orochimaru's appearance."

This joint mission had been based on information provided by Kirigakure. Thus, the fact that two more rogue shinobi from their village appeared during it was much more problematic than the appearance of his former student. A village was not responsible for the deeds of their nuke-nin, of course, but it still looked bad on paper.

Zabuza and he stared at each other for several seconds before the former suddenly let out a dry chuckle. "Fair enough." His posture relaxed to the point where it was clear that it was an intentional effort to show his willingness to cooperate without causing any further problems from here on now. "So, can I assume that you're willing to cooperate with Kiri in the investigation regarding our people's killers?"

Apparently, his subtly demonstration of power had been enough to pass some sort of test. Good.

"Of course," he said. "I will send a delegate with you when you return home to discuss the precise terms with the Mizukage. Furthermore, I will also let you be accompanied by an ANBU squad till you reach the border in case the culprits are still out there."

It probably said a lot about what kind of impression he had made on the swordsman that he didn't even argue about not needing an escort for his protection.

Funnily enough, he would even have been correct if he claimed such a thing. After all, Hiruzen could say with confidence that the people responsible were long since gone. He couldn't share this information, though, as the details behind it cast a bad light on Konoha.

After all, explaining that there had been signs of someone breaking into the Hokage building and stealing the details for this joint mission wasn't something one could share with other nations, not even allied ones. This, combined with the fact that the number of illegal transgressions increased sharply all across the north-western border shortly before and after the time when the Kiri-nins were thought to have been killed, greatly narrowed down the list of suspects who could be behind it.

Again, that weren't details one shared with even allied nations if one didn't want to lose face.

In the end, a village couldn't afford to appear weak. No matter how battered it was, no matter how dire the situation, they always needed to show a strong front to the rest of the world.

It was because of that sentiment that Suna attacked Konoha in the original timeline, and it was because of this that he had tried not to steal too many missions from the Land of Wind in this one.

"With that out of the way, there's another thing I wanted to address," Hiruzen continued after Zabuza gave his reluctant consent to the escort party. "Hm, you could almost call it a sign of good faith."

Understandably, Zabuza threw him a suspicious look. "And what would that be?"

"The reason this mission was initially intended to consist of mainly shinobi from Kiri and only a small percentage of Konoha-nin was to make it clear to the rest of the world that bringing back these rogue swordsmen was mostly your village's doing, wasn't it?" Well, it was actually that and the hope that such an action would dispense all the whispers about how weakened Kirigakure still was after its civil war, but it wouldn't be polite to say that out loud now. "No matter how the mission actually turned out, I think we can still achieve that goal."

As expected, Zabuza quickly understood what he was implying. "You're willing to give up the credit for taking three of the Swordsman of the Mist?"

His mistrust was just as expected, of course. After all, with the aforementioned aim to always appear strong in mind, it would seem suspicious for anyone to give up something that could so easily bring so much prestige.

"I'm willing to hush the deaths of your people up and publicly claim that they were fundamentally involved on the mission, yes." Hiruzen leaned forward, his hands folded under his chin. "In return, I hope you can relay my most sincere wish to have a strong and long-lasting alliance with your village to the Mizukage when you make your report."

The main reason why he had agreed to this joint mission was to solidify the budding alliance between their villages. If he needed to give up on some prestige to reach that goal, it was well worth it.

Ultimately, both parties would get something from this arrangement. Zabuza seemed to understand that as well.

"I'm sure she will appreciate that."

"I certainly hope so."

It was a shame that the relatives and friends of those Kiri-nin that had died would never find out about the true circumstances of their loved ones' deaths when inevitably another, false reason would be named to explain their disappearance, but that was just how this world worked.

Regardless, Hiruzen needed to think about his own people first, and this alliance would go a long way in securing their safety.

Looking at it from that perspective, this mission had actually been quite a success. None of his own shinobi had died, three Swordsmen were dead even though they had started out with only two targets, he had gained important details regarding what Orochimaru was up to, and the alliance between Konoha and Kiri was all but set in stone at this point.

All in all, the only bad thing that came out of this was the fate of poor Anko, but he was confident that she would overcome this challenge in time. Other than that, everything worked out just fine.

Or at least that was what he would have said if it weren't for one thing:

All we can do now is hope that the destruction of the capital of the Land of the Waterfalls will not cause too many problems...

He wasn't a vain man, but right now, he couldn't help but admire his chest in the mirror. The way the green and blue bruises curled all over his ribcage while slowly fading away was a spectacular sight, and one he hadn't been able to observe on his own body in quite a while. Even the dull pain he felt in the back of his mind couldn't dull his curiosity about the phenomenon.

"Orochimaru-sama, are you alright?"

Of course, he thought with an annoyed curl of his lips. Leave it to this fool to manage what the pain could not.

Nakamura had his uses, but they were quickly outshined by his flaws.

"Oh? Do you really think that a mere punch would be enough to truly harm me, Nakamura-kun?"

"N-no, of course not!" Nakamura stammered while quickly averting his gaze from the bruises on his chest. "That's not what I wanted to-"

"I don't care about what you want," he interrupted him, well-aware of how terrified his underlings always became when he kept his voice friendly and sweet even when they knew that he was clearly in a bad mood. "What I do care about, however, is that my commands are followed to the letter. So, tell me, how is it that my precious test subject has been lost to me when I clearly remember ordering you to retrieve it?"

The boy kept his eyes stubbornly on the floor before him from where he knelt. "B-because I failed you, Orochimaru-sama."

"Yes," he purred, enjoying the terror that went through his body at the sound of it. "Because you failed me."

Not that this had been too surprising. It wasn't as if he had expected the boy to somehow overcome Itachi Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake, after all. However, he had hoped he would at least keep them busy long enough for him to take care of Anko and go after them himself.

However, in the end, he hadn't even tried to stop them!

"And tell me, Nakamura-kun," he continued after several seconds during which the boy clearly tried his hardest not to fidget. "How do you plan to make up for your failure?"

"In any way I can, Orochimaru-sama."

The reply came without hesitation, just as he liked it.

"As always, your dedication is simply... awe-inspiring! I'm honestly impressed." It was always amusing to watch his subjects light up when he complimented them even when they were scared to death. "And I even already know just how you can help me."

As much as he didn't like to make mistakes, Orochimaru wasn't the kind of person to lie to himself and make excuses for his own shortcomings. The only reason Anko could hit him and subsequently escape was that he had judged her as incapacitated and thus no longer paid attention to her. If he had been just a little bit more careful, that wouldn't have happened.

And because of that, he now couldn't study the effect of his cursed seal on a true Sage anymore.

Furthermore, he had even been injured! Not in any meaningful manner, naturally, but still enough that even his very own substitute technique couldn't repair the damage immediately. It was only now, two hours later, that the bruises started to vanish.

Anko had demonstrated this ability earlier during their fight, but then, her chakra-coated fists were barely worth mentioning. Sure, the damage needed a few seconds even after he had substituted to heal, but while that was certainly impressive and caught his attention, it hadn't been anything to worry about.

Her last attack was on an entirely different level, though. I wonder if that was already because of my seal or because of something else…

Be that as it may, now that she had escaped, he had no way to find out more for the time being, so he would have to do with what he had.

Also, while he might not be able to study Anko herself, his fight with her had given him quite a few ideas for new experiments, so there was at least one positive thing that came out of this entire debacle.

And I even already have the perfect test subject, he thought, not even bothering to suppress his chuckle. That should keep me busy until I get a chance to get my hand on Anko, too.

After all, she couldn't stay holed up in Konoha forever. She was ought to leave the village for a mission or another at some point, and when that time came, he would have his chance.

No one could escape him forever, especially not when he took such a vested interest in someone. That's just how he was.

Sooner or later, Anko would be his.

Until then, all he needed to do was to be patient and wait.