Chapter 5. Blue Eyes
The gates of Sunagakure cast a deep shadow over the sand. It was approaching noon and even though it was autumn, the heat was cranking up. The gates were solid and unmoving, but up top its guards were arguing.
Kakashi sighed.
"So, what's the holdup?" Shikamaru asked. Out of all of them, he was probably the most comfortable in the heat. Not only did he have the natural advantages of dark hair and eyes, he also had the benefit of experience; he'd visited the village more often than most, so he'd simply grown used to the heat.
"Mahh, they're debating whether it's possible for us to be impersonators, since we only just left and they weren't expecting us back," Kakashi drawled, and shifted his weight to his right leg. His left eye was starting to sting. The new eye was more sensitive to light than his right one was, and usually started to ache with a vengeance when exposed to sudden flashes. Turning on the bathroom light at night was particularly awful. On the upside, it wasn't a gaping hole in his skull and he could see through it, so all things considered he would take the sensitivity.
Next to him, Anko snorted. "They realize we can just walk up the walls, right?"
"You'd expect so."
"Actually, Gaara booby-trapped them. Well, Baki, Ebizou and Gaara," Shikamaru explained. "You'd be burned alive if you tried."
Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. Burning alive was generally a bad thing. "How high is the perimeter? They can hardly seal the entire village."
"I'm not sure. High enough that you can't just jump over."
Anko pulled a face. "Permission to give them a good scare, Rokudaime?"
"Please stop calling that. And no, don't." He could just about picture the diplomatic horror of trying to explain why Sunagakure's guards had found themselves surrounded by snakes, or something even worse. Anko had a vivid imagination. He squinted at her. "You do know the meaning of diplomatic, right?"
She shrugged, with the air of a person who was distantly aware she was doing something bad but couldn't really be bothered about it. "I wouldn't have done anything too bad. They're just being rather stupid. Why not check our chakra signatures, or call for a higher up? They're a bunch of greenhorn chunin. Look at them. Wet behind the ears."
The guards did look a little young. And overwhelmed. And very nervous. Anko's predatory looks weren't helping.
"At ease, Anko. I'll get you something to do once we're in," he said, improvising.
"Reconnaissance?" She said, perking up.
"Something like that." Needling the Council members for information, perhaps. Shikamaru hadn't been able to provide much more than what Gaara had already told him. Anko often worked for the interrogation department; she could definitely be of use there.
It probably wasn't very ethical to keep such close tabs on an allied village, but people had been drilling the importance of knowledge into his head since he'd been able to walk. The more he knew, the more he'd be able to use to protect his village. Even if Gaara wouldn't like it. After all, a rebellion in Suna could potentially cost Konoha their most loyal ally. Gaara was the glue that kept the two villages together. If he was replaced…
A moment later, a young brunette chunin came down from the wall and gave them a quick, nervous bow. "I apologize for the delay, Hokage-sama. I know it's terribly impolite to make you wait."
"You should know how often he makes us wait," Anko muttered, too softly for the girl to hear.
"Are you going to let us in?" Kakashi gave her his best squinty eye smile, the one he reserved for getting what he wanted.
"I – yes, of course! I'm so sorry. It's just that we couldn't reach any of our commanding officers –"
Shikamaru opened his mouth to respond to this, but Kakashi silenced him by raising a hand. "Thank you, chunin-san. You've been most helpful."
Finally, finally, the great gates opened, creaking like an old man's knees. Kakashi and his party quickly went through. People were still bustling around so there obviously hadn't been an attack, but not all was right with the world: Baki, Gaara's former teacher and current jonin commander, awaited them, along with two other jounin.
"Hokage-sama," the three bowed.
" Baki-san. I can't say I was expecting you," Kakashi said.
Baki smiled tightly. "We could tell you the same thing. We thought you would be nearing Grass country by now. Did anything go wrong?"
Kakashi didn't trust the look on Baki's face. Actually, he wasn't sure he trusted the man at all, given that he had played a part in Sunagakure invading Konoha during the exams all those years ago. Just because Gaara trusted him… Gaara was young, after all.
"Mahh, nothing for you to worry about," Kakashi said lightly, as though he wasn't speaking to the village's second in command. Baki's face twitched at the implied insult.
"That said, there is something I wished to discuss with your Kazekage. Something I forgot to tell him." Kakashi continued.
Baki gave him a thin-lipped stare, the unfortunate side effect from being ruthlessly put to the side. Undermining the Jounin Commander's authority right in front of his troops. Whoops.
"Of course. Although if you forgot, how important can it be?" Baki said.
Kakashi only smiled, but noted the calculating look in Baki's dark eyes. "Who knows? Please, lead the way." Putting a bit of pressure on Baki might be just the thing.
Baki bowed again, and started to lead them towards the Kage tower. The other two Jounin fell in at their flanks, like watchful shadows. Kakashi had the fortune of looking at Anko just as she pulled a face at one of them.
Shikamaru seemed bemused, if anything. "We know the way," he drawled. "There's no need for an escort."
"This is not one of your clandestine visits, Nara-san," Baki said curtly. "This is an unexpected visit from the Hokage. We are merely following protocol."
Which meant there were probably more shinobi shadowing them. If Kakashi tried, he could probably sense them. That wasn't really Gaara's style, though. Gaara had given them free reign of the village. He'd hardly take it back a mere few hours after they'd left. Such a tight escort was old-school. Which meant this was Baki's decision, not Gaara's.
So, right now Baki probably held more authority than he usually did, suggesting Gaara probably had his hands full already. Why else would he delegate such a simple task to someone else? Kakashi couldn't help but be reminded of Fox, and the poison. Had someone gone after Gaara? No – he would have already known, read it in the lines on Baki's face. Baki was stressed, yes, but not worrying about the future of his village. Something less life-threatening had happened, then.
His suspicion was confirmed when Baki led them straight to the Council room, where a pair of voices were rising steadily as they fought to be heard. They were getting loud enough to be painful to the ear. One would almost miss the eye-searing sunlight.
Shikamaru tensed; Temari's was one of the loudest voices.
The other voice belonged to the councilmember who had argued with them every step of the way this past week. His name, if Kakashi remembered correctly, was Yamada Isao. He was the head of one of Sunagakure's oldest clans, a proud man with dark hair and fierce facial tattoos, who was in possession of remarkably sharp, tense chakra that seemed to vibrate with his every word.
"– But you didn't tell us, you didn't, you lied, and people could have died!" He shouted, focusing most of his rage at Gaara and his siblings. Some of Yamada's fellow clansmen stood by his side, equally seething.
They weren't the only ones though. The entire council seemed restless, and angry. Only Gaara was calm. He didn't speak, only watched as his siblings and a handful of others defended him.
"Yamada-dono is rather… Fanatical, but he is not wrong," another councilmember was saying, one of the older men. "The fact that we have not been alerted of a threat so close to our village… It is alarming, Kazekage-sama."
"Oh boy. This is going to be troublesome," Shikamaru muttered during a brief lull in the conversation, and inadvertently drew the Council's attention to their presence.
The Council members finally seemed to agree on something, namely that shutting up and staring at Kakashi and his group as though they had grown second heads was a great idea.
The silence was broken by Temari's puzzled, "Shikamaru? Why –"
Gaara rose to his feet. His chair scraped over the floor and several heads whipped back into his direction. "Hokage-sama. You surprise me."
Kakashi smiled. "And yet, you look remarkably unsurprised by our presence. Did a little bird tell you?"
"Technically, it was a floating eyeball," Gaara said dryly, referring to his preferred surveillance method. This remark caused a great deal of consternation amongst his Council members as they began to realize he'd been inspecting his village while listening to their tirade, which wasn't exactly common Council protocol.
"Kazekage-sama, this is important –" one of the women began.
"Yes it is, but I suspect the Hokage didn't return to our village for another cup of tea," Gaara interrupted her. He was still entirely at ease, despite the chaos in the room. Kakashi could certainly admire that.
"Indeed not. A word in private, perhaps?" Kakashi said, and smiled when the protest rose up again ("More secrets? MORE secrets?" Yamada was shouting).
Gaara nodded, and raised his hand. Immediately, sand rushed up around their feet and swept them away from the Council room before anyone could protest. For a moment there was only the rush of air against his face, and Gaara's cool hand gripping his arm. Then they re-materialized.
"Neat trick," Kakashi said, as he brushed sand off of his clothes. He took in his new surroundings; the whole of Sunagakure lay spread out beneath them, and, of course, the sunlight was once again glaring in his eyes. They were on top of the Kage tower, which did seem like a rather nicely dramatic scene for a meeting between two heads of state.
"So, they figured out the Ashihara nomads went missing, then?" He asked, and turned his back towards the sun by leaning against the rooftop's banister.
Gaara sighed and nodded. "I don't know how they discovered it. One of the shinobi set to guard the nomads must have told them, even though I made sure not to pick anyone from a major family…"
"Hmm, free will is inconvenient for sure," Kakashi said dryly. "They must've had friends or lovers in one of the families. Just one would do; if your Council really is as discontent as you say, they would probably embrace any kind of excuse to attack you."
Gaara gave him a thoughtful, clearly discontent, look. "I had hoped it would not come this far…"
"Why are they this dissatisfied?" Kakashi said, "is it really just bigotry?"
Gaara huffed and dropped his shoulders. So he had been tense, he had just been hiding it. "I'm trying to push through a major new regulation. They know I'll eventually manage, and they don't like it one bit."
"Sounds familiar. What sort of regulation?"
Gaara hesitated, and then shrugged. "There are many talented people outside of the village like the Ashihara nomads. I wish to open our gates and offer them a place to live and work. The Council does not."
Kakashi frowned. "Sunagakure doesn't recruit from outside the village? I'm guessing the nomads weren't very popular..?"
"Popular enough that their disappearance caused a stir, but before today their well-being was rarely on the minds of my Council," Gaara said, with a wry twist to his mouth. "Perhaps we are more old-fashioned than Konoha."
Kakashi smiled faintly and leaned with his back against the nearest banister. He let his head fall back and closed his eyes. "Seems to me you're doing a good job modernizing things."
Gaara inclined his head. "Not quite good enough, though. Now, you'd better tell me why you came back. What could be so important?"
Kakashi opened one eye and let out a long breath. Without further hesitation, he told Gaara about what they had found. "Obviously it's a stretch, but if Orochimaru really is involved it could get nasty very quickly. He's growing older, but it would be stupid to underestimate him because of it. Did you know he likes to steal bodies?" He added.
Gaara's response to this little tidbit of information was appropriately horrified, although it only showed in the mild widening of his eyes. "Yes – I believe he used my father's, for a while. Other than that, I've only heard rumors. He was usually only Konoha's problem."
Ah, right – his father had been the previous Kazekage. Sunagakure was practically a monarchy.
"Until the invasion," Kakashi nodded. "I don't have to tell you how strong he is – your father's death is proof enough. Add to that a nasty little predilection for having no moral compass, no sense of empathy, and far too much scientific curiosity, and you end up with a man who used to steal babies and slaughter entire villages just so he might one day obtain immortality."
Gaara sniffed. For a moment, he seemed far away. "Immortality's overrated. Empathy, I have found, is not. Thank you for warning me. If he does plan to move to Wind country, I'm glad that I know upfront."
"If he hasn't moved already. Or perhaps it's not so much a move as an expansion," Kakashi theorized. "The further away from his usual territory, the less likely we might be to suspect him."
Gaara nodded slowly. "And you are sure this informant is reliable?"
"Not entirely, but I didn't want to run the risk. I have two of my group looking for more information right now."
Gaara perked up. "Have they found anything yet?"
Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest. "Last I heard, they had a lead..."
It started with footsteps. A pattern of two steps, quick, and a third, sliding across rough textured bark.
Owl held up her hand, her first two fingers extended. ANBU finger signs for stop, two potential assailants nearby. Sakura hadn't been able to place where the footsteps had come from. Since she wasn't as good as sensor as Owl, she kept her eyes open and her chakra at the ready, spreading it out in a net around her so she'd be able to catch movement once their opponents got close enough.
Owl moved first. She slipped her blade from its sheath, the faint hiss of steel on steel the only sound as she rushed into the foliage. Within seconds, she was out of sight.
The forest was quiet again.
Sakura swallowed. She wasn't nervous, exactly; there were few who could match her in one-on-one battle. That said, she wasn't used to this kind of battle, where you didn't see your opponent until they were inches away from sliding their blade through your heart. This was the world of ANBU, and it scared her.
There; that same patter of footsteps. Two quick, light steps, and then the slide. A flash of purple as Owl leapt past her. The clash of two blades, and there, finally, a hint of chakra. Sakura smirked, and narrowed in on that chakra signature she'd finally found.
Sunagakure might have its desert, but Konoha had trees. Sakura could move through them like other people moved on flat land. Genin made a sport out of who could maneuver through them the quickest and flashiest (Kiba always won). Whoever her opponent was, he wasn't as quick; Sakura was catching up fast.
A man slipped around a particularly large and gnarly oak. She only caught a flash of pale blue eyes and brown, shaggy hair before he twisted his body and seemed to disappear into thin air. Teleportation?
He reappeared at her side, accompanied only by the sound of his blue robe unfurling as he twisted towards her. Her eyes were instinctively drawn towards the bright fabric. Still, she raised her left arm and blocked his foot as it went for her face.
He landed and twisted away into nothingness again. She turned around, and thought back to what Tsunade had once told her. When fighting a shinobi faster than you, always…
His fist connected with her jaw before she could finish her thought. He laughed, an incongruously beautiful and musical sound. Sakura moved with the blow, caught her weight on her left hand and kicked her right foot at his face. Before it connected, he twisted away again.
Sakura forced herself to keep breathing under control. He'd very nearly broken her jaw with that one blow. When fighting a shinobi faster than you, try to predict their movement. That was a little hard when the bastard could flit all over the place. Teleportation? Or was he just that fast?
The patter of footsteps again, to her right, and to her left, a furious growl. She ducked purely by instinct, and was then forced out of her tree to avoid the huge white tiger that leapt at her. A summoning animal, it had to be; no real tiger could be that big. It bared its gleaming white teeth in a snarl and launched after her. On the ground, it would be faster.
Another blow connected, this time his foot to her back. The shinobi, making use of his summon animal's distraction. Stupid! The blow echoed through her spine like percussion. Something cracked, and pain shot through her back. Chakra instantly flared to life as she poured it towards her back, reinforcing her spine and healing the fissure already running through one of the vertebrae.
Damn.
The Tiger leapt again, but this time Sakura's chakra was roaring to go. She drew back her fist and screamed a challenge. She met the oversized creature halfway in its leap, and caved in its chest cavity with her fist. After the knocks she had taken, the crackle of bone felt distinctly satisfying. The creature disappeared in a cloud of smoke, but not before his summoner launched another attack.
Those blue eyes again, a few shades lighter than Naruto's… And why the hell couldn't she look away? He was in front of her one moment, then behind her the next. Another blow struck her back. Not as damaging as the first, but more disturbing; few people managed to get this many blows in. Tsunade would be angry if she lost.
No way. Time to change the game play.
If she couldn't predict his movement, step two was simply slow him the hell down. She gathered up chakra in her fist again. She threw a quick glance over her shoulder, and saw that the man was nearing her again. Still smirking, that arrogant asshole. This time, Sakura smirked back.
She threw her fist at the earth, and shattered it. Earth split up and cracked, jagged rocks shooting up in every direction. Blue Eyes barely managed to avoid being impaled, and wore an appropriately shocked expression on his face. He certainly wouldn't be able to move around so quickly, now that the once smooth forest floor had been reduced to rubble.
"Your move," Sakura said.
But he was smiling again. Behind her, she heard the footsteps again. Two quick steps, then a sliding foot, and oh, she'd been such an idiot. This time, when she twisted around she wasn't surprised to see it was the same tiger as before, too close to dodge. All she could do was throw herself out of its path and try to avoid the worst of the damage. Its massive talons raked across her upper arm, damaging skin and muscle in the process. It burned with pain.
But when she gathered her chakra it was not to heal herself, but to stop its flow. "Kai!"
The genjutsu rippled and broke.
Half a second later, she was on the ground, the tiger hovering over her. Its breath was hot on her face. She was breathing hard. How long had she even been here? How close had she come to this creature simply ripping her throat out while she lay confounded by the illusion Blue Eyes had cast on her?
Her anger at herself transformed into furious chakra and a matching expression. The tiger's eyes widened, and it disappeared into thin air just before Sakura could cave its chest in again. Good. It knew to fear her.
Blue Eyes was nowhere to be seen. He had cast his illusion and run off.
"Sakura! Are you alright?" Owl appeared from a nearby tree. There was blood on her sword, but her uniform was intact and her mask pristine. Sakura felt heat rush to her face as she got up. How embarrassing, to fail like this around the elite of the elite.
She pulled up her nose, and forced herself to meet Owl's eyes-or, well, where Sakura thought her eyes were-because even if she had lost this battle, she hadn't turned into a coward. She wouldn't run away from a chastisement. "I'm fine," she growled.
"You're bleeding."
Sakura looked down at her right arm. It seemed not everything had been an illusion. It was hard to raise her arm at all, which indicated her muscles had been damaged. With an annoyed growl, Sakura called up her chakra again and began to heal the deepest damage. Owl helped her put a tourniquet in place with firm, practiced moves.
"Did you get yours?" Sakura asked, when she had her breath back and the world slowly resumed at its normal pace.
Owl nodded. "Taijutsu user. It was something of a mismatch," she said, sounding rather satisfied. She tapped her blade and began to clean it with a piece of old cloth. "I think you got his boss. Did he use genjutsu?"
"Yes. And I should've seen it. There's always a marker in genjutsu, something that gives it away. According to Kakashi-sensei, that's your subconscious trying to warn you. But I didn't catch it in time," Sakura said, bowing her head. She was hurt and now she was slowing down mission, even though she was supposed to be one of the village's strongest. That hurt more than the wound to her arm.
Owl was quiet for a moment. She seemed more at ease in the forest than she had been in the village, and there had been something that almost resembled joy in her movement when she fought. This, the darkness and the subterfuge, this was her element. Fighting Akatsuki had made it easy to forget there are multiple kinds of battle in the world.
"It's alright," Owl said eventually. "Genjutsu is rare these days. It was less so a few years back, so we got more practice in. It seems people prefer ninjutsu now."
Sakura blinked. She was pretty sure Owl was around Kakashi's age, or even a little bit younger. She had to mean the third ninja war when she said 'a few years back'. "I know it's hard to master, so… Did people really use it more often in the war?"
"Yes. It was an effective way of covering an escape route for obtaining information, so it was worth the hassle. Information gathering was vital, back in those days. Which reminds me, did you see a headband?"
Sakura could have slapped herself. "I didn't even think to check – no wait, I think he was distracting me on purpose. I couldn't look away from his clothes, and his eyes, or anything else that was blue… That must've been a part of the illusion."
Owl nodded. "Genjutsu is very efficient at distracting people, keeping them from looking where they're not supposed to look. It's likely how he kept you from noticing the marker. Don't feel too bad; you'll get him next time."
So could ANBU read minds, or was Owl just more sensitive to other people's moods than the other ANBU Sakura knew? Then again, the people in question were Kakashi and Sai, so maybe…
Reassurances or not, Sakura knew she wouldn't let herself forget this. She also had to press Kakashi for more lessons when she got back. For now, though, she could ask Owl. Even though she was a sensory and weapons expert, she was clearly also a very experienced and knowledgeable shinobi. Sakura would certainly be able to learn from her.
She took a deep breath and still herself. "Please, take the lead. Where do we go next?"
If Owl was surprised to be appointed leader, she didn't show it. She nodded, and settled into a crouch. "First, we'll see if I can still sense them…"
Of course that troublesome Hokage would just up and leave right after he'd caused a riot. Shikamaru really shouldn't have been surprised by, at this point. He let out a deep sigh, and prepared himself for battle.
Next to him, Temari was scowling. "What the hell?" She said, barely audible over the arguing council members. "What's that crazy Kage of yours up to now? Don't you see we have a crisis of our own going on?"
It was nice to know Konoha's esteemed leader was known as 'that crazy Kage' up here. It really inspired confidence.
Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose. "Trust me, we have a good reason. In fact, I'm not sure we have time to deal with these idiots. What's their problem, anyway?"
"They discovered the nomads went missing, first, and then one of the others heard about the hospitalized jonin. It snowballed from there," Temari said, narrowing her fierce green eyes at the Council members in question. "It's one thing that they're mad, but this mad? When what we need most is unity? These old geezers drive me mad!"
Shikamaru grimaced. Somewhere behind them, Kankuro had resorted to physically holding one councilmember back from attacking another. Yamada Isao had, from the look of things, punched one of his colleagues. The whole thing was starting to remind Shikamaru of a Friday night at Rock Lee's favorite tavern. There was even an old wench in the corner shaking her fist threateningly at the rest of the company. Shikamaru would've pinched the bridge of his nose again, except he was still holding it. He groaned. Perhaps he should do something –
"All right, that's enough! Sit down, shut up, and listen to me!" Temari roared. With a gust of chakra, she pulled her fan from her back and whipped it in the direction of the council members. The burst of winds that followed it was enough to upend most of them. Only the old lady managed to keep her feet, somehow.
As far as managing group gatherings went, though, it was pretty effective. Shikamaru would definitely have to consider something similar for Konoha's own council, once it was elected. He had a feeling they would need it.
The council members were still blinking in shock as Temari took the center of the room and gave them her best authoritative look (which did funny things to Shikamaru's heart).
"Listen up! Gaara is your Kazekage! You know as well as I do that he only wants the best for his village, and for your people. If he doesn't tell you something, it's for a damn good reason!" Temari shouted. "Konoha is our ally. We can't just pretend like this is fifty years ago, and they're going to betray us – they never would! Wake up, we're living in a new world!"
Her speech was followed by a short silence, possibly because most of the council members hadn't recovered from the miniature hurricane that had bowled them all over, or maybe because it had just been that epic a speech. Shikamaru was possibly biased. The old lady from before was giggling somewhere in the corner.
Yamada Isao, of course, was the first to open his mouth. "Pretty words won't change the past! Gaara may be our leader, but that doesn't mean we should just follow him blindly, or trust the Hokage just because he does. We would be fools to do so!"
A couple of heads nodded their agreement. Temari gave them her sternest look, which at least silenced the meeker ones amongst them. Yamada was unfazed, though. He stared right back, his tattooed face stern.
"If I might make a suggestion," a shaky old voice said from behind Shikamaru, "I would say everyone should take a seat, and speak calmly instead of shouting. Aren't we all Suna shinobi?"
Shikamaru whirled around – he hadn't even felt a presence. The voice belonged to old man Ebizou, the oldest councilmember of them all.
"Ebizou-sama- why are you here? We thought you were ill! You should constrain yourself –"
"I'm fine. And look what a mess you all made in my absence? It's a good thing I came after all!" Ebizou said, his voice sharp enough to cut steel. "Such dissent in the Council? It's unheard of!"
A few more of Yamada's followers dipped their heads in shame, until only Yamada and his clansman were left. Their faces were still angry, but they kept silent.
Ebizou gave a satisfied nod as everyone took their seats again. "That's more like it. Let's all behave like adults and decide instead how we should respond to this threat."
One of the men stood up to protest. "But without the Kazekage –"
Ebizou raised one bristly eyebrow. "Weren't we supposed to think for ourselves? Either way, he will be back soon and we will be able to present him with our plans. How about it?"
Shikamaru couldn't quite hide the smirk that crept up on his face. When Temari came to stand next to him again, he nudged her softly. "The old man is good. Where have you been hiding him?"
"He's supposed to be in retirement, but obviously his word still holds a lot of weight here," Temari said. "He's right, though," she added, raising her voice. "Let's make ourselves useful!"
Slowly but surely, the Council settled. Some of them still grumbled little, but even Yamada yielded to Ebizou's authority.
When no one stepped up to begin the discussion, Shikamaru steel himself and pointed at the large map of wind country that decorated the wall. "Please, tell me where all of the attacks of taken place, and also where other nomad or refugee populations live. Perhaps together, we can puzzle out which other places might be attacked."
Some of the council members gave him distrustful looks.
"And who might you be?" Yamada asked.
"I am –"
"You are Nara Shikaku's boy, aren't you?" Ebizou asked, surprising Shikamaru. The old man turned to the Council room. "Nara Shikaku, who died saving your lives! Listen to this boy."
Shikamaru swallowed past the sudden lump in his throat. Some of the council members refused to meet his eyes. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, if we could focus…"
Slowly but surely, the Council began to work together to puzzle out the mystery. It wasn't until halfway through that Shikamaru realized he had no idea where Anko had gone…
AN:
if you enjoyed this, please leave a comment!:) I don't bite, and you'd really make my day!
I have to admit I'm having some trouble with motivating myself to write for this story. You could help me get through this funk by suggesting missing scenes which I could write, either for this story or its prequel! (Please don't suggest the scene where Kakashi tells team seven about his past, it has been suggested by many people before.)
EDIT: I've decided to pretty much completely change what I had in mind for the storyline, and it's gotten me excited again. Hang tight, I think it'll be pretty exciting.
What did you think the chapter? Where do you think Anko went off to, and what are our two crazy kage's planning?
Next update may be a little slow due to the holidays.