"Thank you for seeing me, Lord Hokage." Yoake said, dipping her head respectfully.

"Call me Sarutobi, Yoake. I think we're well past, 'lord' and 'lady' here." The Hokage said, puffing hard on his pipe. This scene was like all the others-the Hokage behind his desk smoking his pipe while Yoake spoke her piece on the other side of the desk.

"I see that you've eliminated the Suna genin." Sarutobi nodded, "In one night"

"We did." Yoake sounded a little uncertain, "Has the Kazekage approached Konoha about the blame of the event? That was one of the things I wanted to talk to you about."

"The only think the Kazekage approached me about was the rest of his genin cells withdrawing from the selections." The Lord Hoke said delicately, "He never mentioned that there were any deaths, but I sent a few ANBU out there and they confirmed your mission."

"We were worried that the blame would fall on Konoha" Yoake lied swiftly, "When really we wanted a swift, silent, and faceless killing."

"The Kazekage mentioned Gaara of the Sand."

Yoake looked up, alarmed, "Our Tasogare had a run-in with him. Do you suppose he took the blame for the killings? I can see why his village would suspect him…"

"That would be the only other option, unless the Kazekage simply doesn't not want to cause a fuss."

"Cause a fuss?" Yoake laughed, "Forgive me, Hokage, but if the Kazekage didn't want to cause a fuss, he wouldn't be plotting to invade Konoha or to kill you."

The Lord Hokage gave a grim smile, "Yes, you're right. It's a mystery, though. Make sure your Tasogare asks him about it should they meet tomorrow."

"About tomorrow…it is absolutely imperative that we rig the random pairings. You know as well as I do that a pairing of Sato against Sasuke would be disastrous for the both of us. You and I will be there watching of course, but there isn't much we can do. The computer decides. What can we do?"

"Hope they don't get paired." The Hokage said in a low voice, "But these things have a terrible habit of happening anyways. Sasuke had a bit of trouble with Orochimaru in the forest of Death."

"What kind of trouble?" Yoake asked carefully. She had a sinking feeling she knew already.

The Lord Hokage hesitated for one second, "The…cursed seal of heaven."

Yoake gasped, "No—"

"He seems to have shaken off the initial effects, but I don't know where its going to go, " The Lord Hokage said. He was no longer puffing on his pipe, "Anko was distressed to hear of this news as well."

"Of course she would be distressed, she was the only one who has managed to survive that Seals lasting effects!" Yoake's teeth were set, and she clenched her fists, "One in ten, Hokage. One in ten."

The Lord Hokage looked intently at Yoake, "Now it's your turn to forgive me, Yorukage, but I must as you…did you anticipate this?"

Yoake was thrown off track for one second, but then swiftly regained her composure. She thought she knew what the Lord Hokage was implying, and she resented it. Truthfully, it scared her that he still doubted her intentions like that. They needed trust between them right now if Konoha was going to withstand the coming storm.

"Of course not, Hokage. If you are suggesting that Orochimaru acted under Yorugakure's consent, orders and knowledge…or otherwise…you would be grossly wrong. I still don't think I've explained this…my village and its people hate that snake more than we hate Konoha."

"And the greater of the hatred lead you to ally with the lesser?" The Lord Hokage questioned, "No, Yoake. You have not explained to me why Orochimaru would ruffle you more than the village they eliminated your most powerful clan."

Yoake teetered on the edge of revealing her village's darkest secret, but in the end settled for a slightly toned down version.

"When Orochimaru first joined the Akatsuki with Sasori they went to each of the Villages and killed off whatever clans they thought were most a threat to the cause of the Akatsuki. That included my clan, the Hebigiru, the Seriroyuki, and numerous others. Yorugakure isn't so much a village as a refugee camp where loose ends come to lick their wounds." Yoake had a hard time meeting the Lord Hokage's gaze, "The reason you didn't hear about it was that Orochimaru and his partner were very good at making sure that if Konoha heard, they heard only what they needed to hear to dismiss it as nothing."

Yoake's voice suddenly became harsh, "I was born and raised in Kirigakure, and when Orochimaru destroyed my family after I turned eighteen, your people wrote it off as part of The Hidden Mist Village's gruesome genin selection test. He got the Serioyuki clan as well. Makuro wasn't so lucky as to escape totally intact after that, and our Shinri was born from the monster himself."

"Wait." The Lord Hokage raised his hand, "I am sorry to hear about what Orochumaru did to you, but if Shinri is Orochimaru's son, how is his clan name Hebigiru?"

"Because Orochimaru is a master of guises and secrecy, " Yoake ploughed on, sounding tired, "He has had many numerous aliases, the grass-nin at the start of the third part of the exam was just one of them. Shinri can't go around saying that he's the son of the most hated man our village has ever seen, but he also needs a clan name."

"Your entire village has in some way been touched by Orochimaru?"

"Yes." Yoake actually had to pause and think about what had made her launch into the story. After two seconds it came to her, "So why would Yoru even tolerate the idea of an alliance with them?"

"Very well, once more forgive me for suspecting you." The Lord Hokage apologized, "But this brings me to another point-will Orochimaru approach you about joining him in this invasion plan, or will he immediately assume you'd hate him as well?"

"That's still up in the air, Hokage, but here is my theory." Yoake cocked her head and continued, "Orochimaru's greatest fear is that my village will become strong again and crush him. The Tasogare clan was our first hope at doing that, and once it was destroyed I think he assumes that our primary hatred would go for the village that trampled our hopes."

The Hokage's face remained motionless, but Yoake was sure that his thoughts were racing on the inside. She continued.

"What he doesn't understand is that we still reserve a burning hatred for the man that wounded us to begin with. The man that lengthened the healing time we have no lasting spite for."

"Me." The Lord Hokage said, inclining his head.

"Actually, I think Orochimaru might have been playing both sides there." Yoake mused, staring up at the ceiling.

"What do you mean?" Sarutobi looked confused, "I ordered the hit!"

"Right, but your ANBU and military police came back with the report. Do you realize how easy it would have been for Sasori to kill some of your men while they were spying on my village, make undead puppets out of them, and convince you that the Tasogare needed to be crushed?" Yoake shrugged, "That's just me going out a limb here. I don't know for sure, I was only a kid when all this happened."

The Lord Hokage rubbed his temples, "But that would mean that Orochimaru…and that you were only…dear Lord my head hurts."

"Yeah, mine does too. Sorry for the tangent, sir, but back to my original point, I think Orochimaru wrongly considers himself the lesser of Yoru's hate. Therefore shortly I think he'll be threatening us to join him…or else."

"What else could he do to you?"

"With Orochimaru's twisted imagination, I have no idea." Yoake said darkly, "He's already broken most of our spirits. I remember when I first came to Yorugakure—this was before the people there even considered becoming a village—every mother father and child there looked like they wanted to die."

"He defiantly needs to be stopped." The Lord Hokage said firmly.

"Don't worry, we'll take him out soon enough but right now things are tedious enough with the exam to throw an assassination into the mix. Or at least another one." Yoake smiled thinly, "Alright...can you think of anything else?"

"Itachi." The Lord Hokage said, "The whole reason you called for this meeting."

Yoake smacked her forehead with her palm, "Oh God. I forgot about that. Right then. Quick recap. Just like Orochimaru dropped In on Sasuke, our good friend the Uchiha decided to observe Sato and to test her powers. My guess is that the leader of the Akatsuki was also curious to see how far she's come, and while Itachi may not have given her a cursed seal of heaven, he certainly scared the crap out of her."

"This must be getting out of our hands if Itachi has come out to play." The Lord Hokage said in a low voice, "What could have brought him out of hiding?"

"Either his own unquenchable curiosity of the last living member from the clan he thought he killed, or something above him wants to know how Sato is doing," Yoake scratched her head, "And like I said, I have a feeling that it's none other than the Akatsuki leader."

"What would he want with your Tasogare?"

Yoake snorted, "Sorry, Hokage but isn't it obvious? Our Sato might be the only one who can stop the Akatsuki's plan to take over the entire world. The leader will want Sato either dead or on their side, and I'm guessing he doesn't want to destroy something that could be his tool to bringing the entire world to its knees."

The Hokage frowned, "But it you know all this, then can't—"

Yoake held up one finger to the fireshadow, indicating that he should be silent. In one smooth motion, the woman pulled a kunai from the billows of her robe, and flung it at the door.

The blade sunk home with a ssssssthunk, and Yoake was sure that she heard a gasp of surprise from the other side of the wood.

"DAMMIT, SATO!" Yoake roared. In one step she had crossed the room, and wrenched open the door, revealing a very startled looking fifteen-year old protégée.