'Who are you, blocking my path? Don't you know who I am?'

The man was standing tall in front of Amanozako, his eyes determined and his posture self-confident. The spirit would have eaten him straight away, had she not looked that sure of himself. She preferred screaming, frightened people. Fear gave those filthy humans a peculiar taste she loved.

But it was not like she was always happy to eat people. Sometimes she would be overcome by guilt, thinking back to the faithful humans that used to worship her centuries before.

'My Goddess, I'm just a humble nobody, disillusioned and disappointed in life. I'm just seeking some peace for my mind.'

'Do you want me to eat you and put an end to your regrets, insect?' Amanozako said, ending her question with a loud cackle.

'My Queen, I know I'm just an insect to your eyes, but I've been following you for a while, now. Please, accept me as your humble servant, and I promise you will never regret that.'

Amanozako examined the man. He was handsome, with curly, chestnut-colored hair and violet eyes. He was tall and well-built, and was wearing a long robe.

'Are you a monk? I hate them. They don't even taste good.'

The man gulped. 'I used to be,' he replied. 'I left my temple and my fellows to find answers.'

The spirit was amused. 'To which questions?'

The man lowered his gaze, then stared back at Amanozako. 'Why are we on this earth? What is life?'

He shivered as a loud, high-pitched cackle resounded in his ears. 'You think too highly of yourself, you lowlife.' She approached him, walking slowly, until she was standing just a few inches away from him. 'Your life has no meaning. You only exist as a feeding stock for stronger creatures.'

Humans were the only life form that truly deserved to be exterminated. They were the only ones who battled against each other for the most futile reasons, yet they were so arrogant as to consider themselves as the most intelligent beings on earth.

The man in front of her kneeled in the ground and bent forward, resting his forehead on the ground. 'My Queen. You've already revealed a brutal, yet sensible truth to me. Please let me enjoy your teaching for a little longer. My life is but a blink of your eyes. I'll be dead before you could notice.'

As he looked back to her, Amanozako couldn't help but notice how his violet eyes seemed to glisten. She felt a strange sensation in her chest, something she had not felt since her dear friend Kintaro was around.

'Fine,' she conceded. 'If that is what you wish, I shall accept you as my servant. But beware,' she warned, 'you'll see plenty of your kind slaughtered and eaten. If I hear you complain even once, your death will be excruciatingly painful."

The man nodded, his eyes still glistening.

"What is your name, my servant?"

"Soga Kenichi, my queen."

"Sheesh, Amanozako. He was a suspicious man. You really fell for it, uh. I'm not accepting another comment from you about my presumed stupidity."

"I was already under the control of his eyes, you stupid woman. You entered his descendant's house on your own will. And against my recommendations."

Asuka felt a stinging pain as the materialized demon in front of her pinched her nose. Not in a playful way. "Ouch! You're such a bitch, Amanozako," she complained, massaging her red nose.

It was strange to be seated right in front of the being that, for the past fourteen years, had been inside of her. That training place was surely amazing; its walls were built in such a way that let her stay focused and channel her chakra so that she could summon Amanozako in front of her. In those two weeks since their arrival, Asuka had slowly obtained the spirit's trust simply by talking to it, peeking into its memories and somewhat understanding its feelings. Now, Amanozako was showing her the memories of when she had been sealed into the jar Asuka had found, more than a century later, at the monastery with Shikaku.

"That man…" Amanozako said, her eyes distant, "… he was definitely something else. I had never felt anything like that in my life."

Asuka stared at the spirit. "Are you telling me… you were in love with him?"

Amanozako looked back at her contemptuously. "I've lived for centuries, stupid girl. I've had my fair share of lovers." She narrowed her eyes as she focused on a point behind Asuka. "Whatever I felt for him… it has turned into a deep hatred. He used his hideous power to make me fall for him and then deceived me. I cursed him so much while I was sealed inside that jar. I hope he lived a long life of sufferings and died alone and painfully."

Asuka shrugged, pouting. She couldn't help but feel somewhat sympathetic towards the monk. Also, she had sealed Amanozako, too. Was she hated like that by the spirit, too? "Maybe you were causing uncontrolled devastation… I remember when I first met you, Amanozako."

"I've become a violent and ruthless demon, Princess. I know that. But it's you humans who turned me into one. I'm different than you. I've embraced my nature. How many people have you killed, convincing yourself you were doing that to protect your village? That's what I hate about your kind the most. The fact that you need to hide yourselves behind some falsely noble reasons, while the truth is you enjoy the mere act of killing."

Asuka hung her head low. She couldn't respond to that statement. It was true, at least partially. She thought back to Gashadokuro. She had felt so good when he had slaughtered all those people who threatened to kill Naruto and Kakashi. Maybe, after all, Amanozako was right. Humans were despicable creatures.

But… her conscience was still there, and Asuka firmly believed in it. She was not a ruthless monster. She was still grieving about all the lives she had taken during those years. But she just didn't have another answer. She had killed those who threatened her family, her village, her life. It may not have been a noble reason. But it was her reason to fight. That was love, too.

But Asuka feared Amanozako would never understand that.

"How… how does it feel to be sealed?"

Amanozako raised her eyebrows, taken aback by that question. "Being in that jar was awful. Imagine staying in the dark for an indefinite period of time. No image or sound from the outside, no stimuli whatsoever. Alone, in a dark, cold limbo." Asuka clenched her teeth. That sounded pretty bad. That sounded similar to how Kakashi had described the darkness he felt enveloped in. Her heart stung painfully.

"Being sealed inside you, however, is somewhat different." The woman's head snapped towards the spirit. "I can see and feel, at least. You're still a stupid, naive, inferior being, Princess," she continued, ignoring an outraged 'what?' from Asuka, "but at least I get to experience the world. You're the lesser of two evils."

Also, though Amanozako would have never confessed that out loud, she had somewhat grown attached to the woman. Despite what she had told Asuka just a few moments prior, she appreciated her perseverance, and above all she admired how the kunoichi had been able to not fall into oblivion and become a ruthless, vindictive being as it had instead happened to her. In spite of the disgust she felt towards mankind in general, Amanozako didn't feel the same towards Asuka.

The woman did not reply to Amanozako's statement, and a few minutes passed without any of them not saying anything.

Eventually, Asuka broke the silence. "Amanozako… I was thinking…"

"How strange of you." The spirit commented, earning a glare from the woman.

"What if… I mean, you know I can't set you free. You are a men-eating demon, after all. And even though what you said might not be entirely wrong, I am a human being, and I treasure other human beings. I just can't let you run free. I can't even make a summoning deal with you, as I did with other spirits; your chakra is just too much to be sealed for that purpose." Also, Amanozako had always been an earthling; even when she was a Goddess, she inhabited temples. On the contrary, the demons Asuka summoned actually lived in another dimension, as Tano had profusely told her. The tanuki liked to brag about his family and home in the demon world. She wasn't sure whether Amanozako would be allowed to go there, seeing as she didn't belong there.

"But… let's say we make a pact. I will find a suitable container for you, who could accept you inside themselves when my time comes. You know, just like they do with the Bijuu. Find a person that could be their containers, and hopefully their bond strengthens in such a way that those people become extremely powerful creatures. It's like… a symbiotic relationship. The spirit provides the strength, the host provides the body. And thus any attempt to seal the spirit into an object would be ineffective. I mean… I'm sorry I can't explain that properly, but trust me when I say I know how this works. I was expert at fuuinjutsu, after all. I designed the seal that's binding us."

Amanozako eyed Asuka. "You're depicting this pact thing as if it were a privilege to be sealed inside you, Princess. In case you didn't notice, it is not."

Asuka huffed. "Geez, Amanozako, help me out a bit. You're so stubborn. We're at a standstill here. You were once a peaceful being, just try to understand me and negotiate. I think it would be beneficial to the both of us. I… I could amend the seal a bit, so that you could be freer than you are now." Amanozako's ears perked up at that sentence, and Asuka noticed a glint of interest sparkle in the spirit's eyes. "Maybe I could make it so that you'd be able to materialize outside of me, as you are now. It would take some time and some trials and errors, but I think it could be feasible. However, I'd maintain it so that I could always keep an eye on you. And you and I together could choose your next jinchuuriki. Maybe, with time, you will also revert back to your old self."

Amanozako looked into Asuka's eyes in search of something that could reveal a lie from her. "What would you benefit from all that?"

The woman shrugged. "Having you under control wouldn't make me afraid of potentially hurting my village, and I'd be finally allowed to return there. And you'd provide a strong chakra source for my fights, and convenient regenerative powers."

Amanozako's lips puckered, as she pondered Asuka's words.

"Let me speak with that eight-tailed idiot, Princess."

Kakashi slumped on his chair with a heavy sigh.

He looked outside the window and to the mountain side with the stone faces of the previous Hokage. His was still in the making. Not that he was eager to see his face every day, carved inside the stone. It reminded him of his constant feeling of inadequacy. Or better, he knew he was strong. Possibly the strongest ninja in Konoha in that moment, not considering obvious monsters such as Naruto or Sasuke. However, after losing his Sharingan, he couldn't help but think that a part of his power had been lost forever. He had had to readapt, and he spent much of his (scarce) free time training, not to fall behind. Even after Tsunade's assurances, he still felt as if he didn't deserve the Hokage title, as if he was some kind of fraud.

His eyes travelled to the letter in his hand and he frowned, yet again.

Kakashi had a feeling that the next Kage meeting, scheduled in four months, would not go as smoothly as the last, even though the agenda, as of them, revolved around the only one topic that had been carefully avoided in Kumogakure. It was Raikage that had expressly requested the meeting, and that it be held in Konohagakure. The topic, none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

Since the end of the war, the boy had been locked up in Konoha's prison. Even the medical treatment of his amputated arm had taken place there. However, Sasuke had never given any signs of rebellion, or even showed discomfort about the fact that his eyes had been forcibly sealed for the past six month or so, making him practically blind. He barely moved a muscle in his cell, Ibiki had informed the Hokage a couple of days earlier, when he had visited the prisoner. In that occasion, Sasuke hadn't even spoken to him. He had just remained seated on his bed (if a thin mattress on top of a wooden plate could be called bed), his head turned in the general direction of Kakashi's mouth. Not that the Hokage had told him anything interesting, after all. He had simply updated Sasuke on Naruto and Sakura, and then he had walked away.

The truth was that Kakashi had already strained himself not to have his former student immediately executed after the war. Sasuke had indeed caused a lot of trouble to the ninja world, joining the Akatsuki, going after Killer B and his bijuu, killing Danzo and threatening the lives of the other Kage. But, in the end, he had saved the world, together with Naruto, releasing the spell of the Infinite Tsukiyomi. Without the power of his eyes, that would have never been possible.

Even though he recognized the Uchiha's faults, Kakashi had fervently defended Sasuke, convinced that he was only another broken soul, a victim that had lost his track and become the executioner. Luckily, the Hokage had the support of both Gaara, the Kazekage, and Naruto, the hero of the war.

Raikage's letter, however, was very adamant about the matter. They wanted a definite solution to the Uchiha problem. Either execution or life-imprisonment in the Blood Prison, or gouging his eyes out and destroying them, or… whatever assured the other Kage that he could no longer do any harm.

Kakashi pondered about the situation. In spite of all Sasuke had done, the Hokage still cherished him. It was his former pupil, after all, and Kakashi couldn't help but see his younger self in the boy. They had both suffered death and loss, they had both known loneliness and guilt. Kakashi clenched his jaw. He might have been in Sasuke's situation now, had Kakashi abandoned himself to vengeance. Instead, he had slowly made it out of the darkness, thanks to himself, of course, but also thanks to the people around him. Sandaime, Yondaime, his friends, his students. Obito. Rin. Asuka.

His eyes wandered, again, out of the window. If he closed them, he could still feel Asuka's warmth on his body, her lips pressed against his, her loud moans and the whispered loving words that tickled his ears. He opened his eyes, trying not to linger on such thoughts too long. A few days earlier he had allowed himself to think about her and he had ended up daydreaming for the entire afternoon, neglecting his work and receiving an annoying lecture from Shizune afterwards.

Two weeks had passed since they had parted in the Land of Lightning. He really hoped she was ok. If… when she came back, she would be fundamental for the Uchiha issue.