A/N: Hey ya'll, no, I'm not dead, and no, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, lol. So sorry this took so long to post, but it is my longest chapter yet, soooooo brownie points?

Hope you enjoy reading :)

Arya was not pleased.

Shuffling on her feet for what felt like the millionth time, she let her eyes drift over the people seated before her. The Hokage, the Elders, and three men introduced to her as Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Ibiki Morino. It was her understanding that they were the Hokage's advisor, and part of the Intelligence and Interrogation departments respectively. Although, she did wonder why the three of them had to be present at the blasted meeting. The fact that the head of Konoha's torture and interrogation division was in attendance didn't serve to put her at ease. Then again, neither were the glares she was getting from Sasuke. He, Naruto, Sakura, Zen, Haru, as well as Kakashi and Enta were also present, though they were all standing by the wall across the room, out of her line of vision for the most part. That didn't prevent her from feeling their eyes on her unfortunately, and she struggled not to fidget.

She absolutely hated these sorts of things. Being put up in front of a bunch of people and forced to speak while they all watched her like hawks. It was unsettling and it had her hackles rising to the point where felt as though all her muscles were perpetually tensed. She just wanted the entire ordeal to be over with so she could go and demolish a small portion of the forest or something.

When Kakashi had informed her back at the hospital that the Hokage wanted a meeting to discuss what had conspired a week ago with Itachi, she assumed it'd be between herself, Kakashi, Enta and Tsunade in her office. But no. She was instead ushered into the large conference room only to see that the Hokage decided to bring friends to the party. And even if she could somehow brush off the fact that there were other 'higher ups' in the room, she still didn't understand why the other chunin had to be there. They had nothing to do with anything, and she could really do without the stares she was receiving from the lot of them.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she dug her blunt nails into her flesh as she turned an almost murderous look on Enta, as if any of this was his fault. He knew her well enough to know how agitated she was, and so he gave her a reassuring smile before mouthing 'relax'. Yea, easy enough for him to say. He wasn't the one being micro-analyzed like some specimen in a lab. Still, he did have a point. She had to relax, what other option did she have? If she threw a fit, like, a serious fit, she was sure she'd be exiled, jailed, or executed. Any of those options would result in a shit ton of paperwork for Enta, and he really hated it when she made him fill out paperwork because of her.

Her eyes flickered to Kakashi as he leaned against the wall, hands shoved into his pockets. His eye was trained on her, but so were the others, and so she was expecting it. She hadn't seen much of him since that day at the hospital. She distinctly remembered falling asleep with his fingers curled around hers, but she'd woken up alone. She had been released a couple hours later, and since her own team was out on a mission, she simply went back to her room alone. A part of her did wonder where Kakashi had gotten to, wondered if he'd show up to 'check up' on her. But he hadn't, and she tried to convince herself that she didn't care. In fact, this was the first time she'd seen him since that day in the hospital, and the circumstances were less than ideal.

When Tsunade cleared her throat, finally done whispering with her cronies, Arya turned her head to face forward. She was certain that her posture and demeanor clearly told them that she didn't want to be there and that she didn't give a rat's ass about proper decorum. The Elders, especially the old lady Koharu, clearly did not approve, but Tsunade looked sort of amused. Or perhaps she was pissed off. Probably both.

"Arya Rin of the Hidden Shadow," said the Hokage as if they didn't all know who she was already. "What?" Arya asked flatly, raising an eyebrow in defiance, and she was fairly certain that Enta sent up a prayer to Kami at the exchange. Tsunade simply gave her a long look.

"Listen you little brat, we understand that you don't want to be here, but neither do any of us. So let's just get through this and get the hell out of here, alright?"

Arya decided to let the 'little brat' part slide and only nodded, which was about as much cooperation she was willing to offer.

"Alright, why don't you start with the basics?"

"Shouldn't you already know the basics?" returned Arya in that same defiant tone, and she could practically see the veins throbbing at the Hokage's temples.

"Such insolence!" cried one of the Elders and Arya simply smirked in their direction.

"Perhaps you should let me handle this, Lady Hokage," said Ibiki, leaning forward to brace his arms on the table in front of him. Tsunade simply hushed them all with a flick of her wrist before steepling her fingers before her face, eyes narrowing at Arya.

"I suggest you do as you are told, kid. Now start talking before I decide to take Ibiki up on his offer."

Arya rolled her eyes at the blatant threat, but decided to humor the occupants of the room nonetheless.

"I don't know what you mean by 'the basics' but I assume you are talking about the fact that I am a vessel." Across the room, she heard Naruto's soft gasp. He started to say something, but was silenced by Kakashi. Tsunade shot the blonde a warning look before giving her a curt nod. Arya shifted and jammed her hands into her pockets in a style that mimicked Kakashi's to a T. "If you wanted to know about that, you'd be better off asking Enta or Kakashi," she said, but continued before anyone could comment on that. "I was born with the spirit of the Great Black Dragon sealed within me. I don't know why. I don't know how. I don't care why or how. But he's there. Usually makes an appearance when I'm particularly angry or distressed. Nothing out of the ordinary. Well, as far as housing spirits go, it's pretty normal I guess. He's cool. We don't have problems."

"You seem to be quite…friendly with it," said Koharu, disapproval clearly written all over her wrinkly face.

"He," Arya clarified instantly, her tone turning just a little taunting, "Not it. He has a name too, if that'll suit you better. Ryujin. I'll let him know you said hello."

"Arya…" came the warning from Enta, and she didn't bother to conceal her smirk.

"You speak with him," said Tsunade, though she supposed it was supposed to be more of a question.

"Occasionally. I can hear him in my head sometimes, he's usually pretty dormant though."

"But not all the time," said the other Elder, Homura, and Arya gave him a look.

"That's what 'usually' means."

Across the room, Naruto snickered but it immediately turned into whimpering after Sakura smacked him.

"Tsunade, are you going to continue to let this child make a mockery out of-"

"You are trying my patience Arya," said the Hokage, completely cutting off Homura who simply sputtered in indignation. "I won't continue to be so forgiving if you keep this up, do you understand?" She waited for Arya to nod, and when she did, she continued. "Can you draw him out?"

"I guess," answered Arya with a nonchalant shrug, but when Tsunade only waited, sighed again. "It's hard to make him talk to me if he doesn't want to. 'Conversations' happen when he choses to make his presence known. So as far as mentally 'drawing him out' I can't really do much."

"And what about physically?" this question coming from Shikaku.

"Ryujin is a spirit, but he can function as a summons. Instead of using a regular summoning jutsu, I have to use a modified version. An internal summoning jutsu. Hurts like a bitch, but I guess it's worth it when the result is an enormous fire spirit in the form of a dragon, right?"

If Tsunade had noted the cursing, she didn't say anything about it. Arya was fairly certain the woman knew all of this already, and so she could have easily told the others the information herself. She didn't know why she had to stand there and tell them herself, it was unnecessary and a waste of everyone's time.

"That's when you have control over the spirit, is it not? What about when you lose control?"

Arya knew she didn't like that granny for a reason. Sneaky old bat. She half wished that Ryujin would make her 'lose control' just then so she could give the lot of them a front row seat as to what happened. But that'd probably not end too well. For anyone.

"He can summon himself. Perhaps not in a full physical form like when I summon him myself, but he can take over my body. Use his chakra through me. I generally don't remember what goes on when that happens. I'm essentially a puppet."

The Elders began to whisper then, shooting glances between her and Naruto. Arya couldn't hear what they were saying, they must've used a jutsu of some sort to keep conversation between the lot of them private, but she did however see Homura mouth 'Naruto' and 'Kyuubi'.

She knew, or rather she was informed, that Naruto was a lot like her in that he was also a vessel for a demon spirit. His was a part of a whole, one of the nine tailed beasts, whereas Ryujin was a fire spirit, an entity of his own that had nothing to do with any of that. Still, the concepts were similar enough. At the end of the day, they were both hosts to spirits. And if the look on his face was any indication, he'd known nothing about her and Ryujin.

"What is your business with Itachi Uchiha," asked Koharu suddenly, and the abrupt change in topic had Arya pausing for a moment.

"I have no business with Itachi," she said finally, "he paid me a couple visits back when I was in Kage. He rarely said anything, he just…watched me, I guess. I didn't think anything of it."

"A strange man seeks you out when you are alone, doesn't state his business with you yet continues to approach you, and yet you did not report it to your Sensei." asked Homura, frowning deeply at her. "Why?"

"Like I said, I didn't think anything of it. To be completely fucking honest, I was dealing with other shit at the time and some weirdo was the least of my worries." Across the room, unbeknownst to her, Kakashi's hands tightened to fists in his pockets and Enta gave him a sympathetic look before turning back to his student. By 'other shit' she clearly meant her messy break up with Kakashi. It took a serious mental and emotional toll on her. Enta watched her standing there, before some of the most influential and most important people in Konoha, looking like she was waiting in line at the market. At first glance she merely looked bored or annoyed, but he could tell that she was unsettled. He was horrified with her attitude, though he was totally expecting it, but for whatever reason, he was also oddly proud of the girl he'd come to think of as his little sister. She'd been through a lot, especially during the four years after she'd left Konoha and the months before it, but she'd pushed through. And she had done a lot of that on her own. Enta couldn't help but feel the familiar feelings of guilt that came up whenever he thought about their time in Kage though. He let her have her space because he thought that'd be the best course of action, and it was for the most part, but he wondered if things would have been different if he tried to engage her more. Perhaps she'd have felt comfortable enough to tell him about Itachi then. Regardless, it was too late to go back and fix any of that now. At this point, all they could do look forward, and he'd be damned if he let Itachi Uchiha hurt her again.

As soon as the poorly veiled reference to her failed relationship left her lips, Arya wished she could have sunk into the ground and disappeared. She hadn't meant to throw that out there, especially not with Kakashi right there in the room with her. Taking a deep breath, she stared pointedly at the wall behind the Hokage.

"Can I go now?" she muttered through clenched teeth, though she had a pretty good feeling that the answer would be no. Sure enough, Tsunade shifted in her seat a little before leaning forward.

"What did Itachi say to you on these meetings?" she asked, eyes intent.

"I don't know, he didn't say much," Arya retorted, trying her best not to sound too exasperated. "There was one time though…"

"Go on," Homura prompted impatiently and Arya ignored him completely, her eyes on the Hokage instead.

"He said I was different. Unique. Something about how I have a 'greater purpose in life' but that I have 'much to learn', whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. He's not very clear, that one. When he did say something, he spoke in stupid riddles. I still have no idea what he was talking about."

Tsunade's eyes flickered to the side, to where Enta and Kakashi stood. She didn't have to look to know that something was exchanged between the three, and she narrowed her eyes. Back at the hospital she suspected that Kakashi and Enta knew something that they weren't telling her. Now she was certain that there was something being kept from her.

"What aren't you telling me?" she asked, drawing the Hokage's eyes slowly back to her. "And don't tell me it's nothing, because I'm not stupid."

A smirk crossed Tsunade's lips then, and she propped her chin up on a fist. "No, you are many things, but I don't think stupid is one of them." Before Arya could wonder whether that was a compliment or not, she continued. "Itachi Uchiha is a missing ninja of Konoha. He abandoned the village after massacring the Uchiha clan."

At that, Arya couldn't help but look over at Sasuke who looked like he was ready to snap someone's neck. His eyes were blaring red, fists clenched as he glared at nothing in particular. Beside him, a worried Sakura touched his arm gently. He didn't acknowledge the gesture, but he didn't brush her off either, simply continuing to seethe silently. Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's brother, murdered his own family before abandoning his village. Arya realized that that was why the older Sharingan user seemed so familiar. Though they'd never directly interacted, she had seen him around the village back before she left for Kage. How could she have forgotten? Itachi was a prodigy, just like Kakashi had been.

"He's part of a group called the Akatsuki, along with other missing ninja from other villages," said the Hokage, drawing Arya's attention back to her. "They are an S-ranked criminal organization, headed by one named Pein. The hidden villages have made it a priority to shut this organization down, and they have succeeded in collectively taking down three of the nine members so far. They've been laying low for a while now, be we think that's because they're plotting something. Something big."

"That's interesting and all, but I don't see how they have anything to do with me," she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Itachi wasn't yet a part of the Akatsuki when you left the village four years ago," the older woman said, only confusing Arya further. What did that have to do with anything? "That being said, the Akatsuki were already formed by then, and they were already making plans. Plans that involved you."

"What? Me? What do I have to do with anything," she asked, a disbelieving look crossing her face. The conversation was getting progressively weirder, and Arya was beginning to wonder if she was in some fucked up genjutsu or something.

"Arya. You are aware, more than anyone, of how powerful that spirit sealed within you is. That being said, you aren't the only one who knows about it. Ryujin may not be as well known as the tailed beasts, but he is a powerful spirit nonetheless. It seems that the Akatsuki know that and have been keeping an eye on you because of it."

She was at a loss. Not many people knew about the fire spirits, let alone that there was one sealed inside a human vessel. Call it ignorance, but she assumed no one aside from a very select few close to her knew about it. And now Tsunade was telling her that an international criminal organization knew about it and was keeping tabs on her as a result?

"I…what could they possibly want with me?"

"It isn't you so much as that the spirit. You are a vessel, and so naturally they're going to take an interest in you by extension. Fire spirits are tricky things, don't really get along with those that aren't their kind, which is why they are rarely found sealed within vessels. But when they are, they become very attached to their host, as you know. And that means that they need you too, not just the spirit. As for why…well, for the power I suppose. At one point in time they were trying to capture the tailed beasts for a similar reason; to harness their powerful chakra. For whatever reason, they have shifted their attention off the tailed beasts and to the fire spirits instead."

"…You're trying to tell me that these freaks want to take me for their own fucked up reasons and no one thought that it'd be a good idea to tell me about it? How long have you guys known about all of this?" Fuming now, Arya glared at the people seated before her before turning her livid eyes onto Kakashi and Enta. They'd been in on this too.

"We've known for a little over four years," responded Tsunade, seemingly unfazed by her anger. A little over four years? That would have been around the time she left the Hidden Leaf. Tsunade wasn't in office then, Lord Third being the Hokage at the time, but clearly she'd been filled in on all the details. And for some reason, Arya felt that there was still something else that she was missing.

"I don't get why no one told me any of this. You all knew, and yet you didn't think it was important enough to tell me about it. Instead I was allowed to leave the damn village. Maybe if I was told about all of this, I'd have stayed and the whole mess with Itachi wouldn't have happened in the first place." That was a stretch. At the time, right after Kakashi effectively broke her heart, she'd barged into the Hokage's office and demanded that she be sent away for an extended mission. That was when Hiruzen Sarutobi offered her the transfer to Kagegakure along with Enta. It'd been the perfect escape, and so she jumped at the chance. Realistically speaking, with the emotions running through her at the time, she wouldn't have stayed in Konoha either way. Regardless of what she did or didn't know.

"The point was to get you out of the village."

Arya was mid-mental rant when Tsunade's words registered.

"What did you say?"

"You needed to be moved out of the village. Lord Third decided that it was the best course of action at the time," Tsunade responded, and Arya caught her eyes drift to the side of the room again before returning to rest on her.

"But…I was the one who wanted to leave. I went to the Hokage to ask to be sent off on a mission myself. Of my own free will, I mean."

"It was a…calculated move. You were the one to approach the Hokage, but that's was the reaction they were hoping for."

"They…What? I don't understand…" She was starting to get an odd feeling in her chest as her mind began to race. What did she mean? A calculated move? She looked over at Enta and Kakashi attempting to gauge their reactions, but what she saw only unsettled her further. Enta, always the more expressive of the two, was looking both guilty and troubled whereas Kakashi refused to look at her entirely. He was instead glaring at the floor, and from where she was standing, she could see the outline of his clenched fists within his pockets. Something definitely wasn't right.

"Perhaps this is something you could discuss later," said Tsunade, her mask of indifference slipping for the first time to show…pity? "I'm sure you can-"

"No. I want to know now."

"Now is not the time to-"

"If you guys fucking manipulated me into wanting to leave this stupid village for whatever reason, I think I deserve an explanation," she all but growled, her voice dropping half an octave. It wasn't much, but it was a good warning sign that things were going downhill. Tsunade noticed this, and she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Listen kid, I understand that this may be a lot to take in, but believe me when I say that some things aren't meant to be hashed out in front of a dozen or so spectators, alright?"

"No," said Arya, and the tone of her voice had Tsunade dropping her hand as the Elders tensed. She could see Shikaku and Inoichi both shift subtly as well, angling forward in their chairs. Ibiki was the most obvious out of the bunch of them, actually getting to his feet and giving her a hard glare that was no doubt supposed to intimidate her into submission. Unfortunately for him, she couldn't care less about any of them, her eyes trained on the older woman before her. "You listen to me, Hokage, I came here and answered your questions and now you will answer mine. Tell me."

The tenseness in the room was palpable, only made more so when her eyes began to darken ever so slightly. Fists clenched tight enough that they trembled, she could see Enta take a couple steps towards her from her peripheral vision. Unlike the Elders or the three men before her, he didn't look wary or tense, he just looked…guilty.

"Princess, come on," he started in an almost light, teasing tone, clearly trying to diffuse the situation before it got too out of hand. Perhaps he was just trying to avoid a situation in which he'd have to choose between protecting her and defending the Hokage. "I'll tell you everything once we get back to your room, alright?"

Like the Hokage, Enta was stalling and trying to put off the inevitable. And it infuriated her further. She just wanted a straight answer, was that so much to ask? What was so bad that they were reluctant to tell her? Regardless of their reasons, Arya could feel her careful control slipping as her anger mounted. Almost as if on cue, Ryujin rumbled disapprovingly in her head. She opened her mouth, probably to make a couple threats when all of a sudden she was interrupted by someone else.

"What?" she asked, turning her head to face Kakashi, much like everyone else in the room. His hands were still in his pockets, his face carefully blank, though she could sense a tenseness around his visible eye. At the sight of him, with Ryujin so close to the surface, she felt the spirit's intense desire to attack the silver haired ninja. The beast was goading her in her head, tauntingly telling her to strike him. It took an effort to battle him back down and silence him, but it was working, her eyes clearing up again. Though the voice in her head was now gone, she was left with a pounding headache and, for whatever reason, an ache in her chest as she focused on Kakashi who'd taken a couple steps towards her.

"Not much was known about the Akatsuki's intentions with the fire spirits," he repeated in that infuriatingly lax tone of his. They were facing one another now, a couple feet between them. She itched to jam her hands into her pockets again, but he was doing that at the moment and so she refused to do so herself. Instead, she met his gaze evenly, waiting for him to continue. "All we really knew was that they wanted you. We didn't know why or how they planned to do it, but we figured it was to harness Ryujin's chakra. It was the most likely explanation, especially considering that they were after the tailed beasts for the exact same reason. One of their members contacted us once, this was after we learned they were after you, and proposed a…deal." Shifting on his feet ever so slightly, his eye flickered to Enta for a moment before returning to rest on her.

"What kind of a deal?" she asked, her voice sounding faint even to her own ears. How was it that she was so lost and yet still knew with an odd sort of certainty that she wasn't going to like where any of this was going?

"They agreed to leave you alone. To not pursue you. It was a weird proposal, especially considering that we assumed all their plans revolved around capturing you. But it turned out that their plans involved removing you from the village rather than taking you for themselves. Or at least, they did."

"But…why would they want me out of the village?"

At that, Kakashi shrugged slightly. "The details weren't clear, still aren't. But from what we know, the Akatsuki were originally intending to attack the village, but couldn't risk having you here when they did so. Of course, they didn't tell us that, but we assumed as much."

"And so you guys decided to give in to their demands and send me away and risk an attack on the village?" she asked, incredulous at the apparent stupidity of the Third Hokage and everyone who had a say on the matter. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to keep me around and avoid the attack?"

"It wasn't that simple," he said, shifting on his feet. "If the Akatsuki really were planning an attack, which we weren't even sure they were, there could be a very good chance that they'd attack regardless of whether or not you left the village. We couldn't risk the chance that they would still attack if we kept you, couldn't run the risk of having them take you in the exchange, and so Lord Third decided that it'd be best for you to leave. I know you don't understand why," he said quickly before she could interrupt, "just know that it wasn't a decision he made lightly. I know, personally, that he spent a lot of time mulling over each and every possibility. I made sure of it."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Arya fell silent. She was trying to process all this new information. Trying to follow the thought processes and the details to attempt to make some sort of sense out of it all. She supposed, on some weird level, that what Kakashi was saying made sense. She didn't agree with the decision to send her away, but she could see why that overly sentimental Hokage would make said decision. Though some of her questions were answered, there was still one big one that remained unanswered. Perhaps the most important of all.

"She said that my decision to leave the village was a calculated move. Planned out," she said slowly, noticing Kakashi's jaw tighten behind his mask. The almost imperceptible move had her heart thudding in her chest, and she swallowed thickly, wondering why she was having this sort of a reaction. "We both know why I went to the Sandaime to ask for an extended mission, so how…" She trailed off uncertainly, unwilling to even suggest that there was some sort of a connection between the two statements. Somehow, she was beginning to think that there was a connection though, and her heart squeezed at the implications.

"We needed you to leave the village, and we knew that telling you the real reason why would only make you refuse to go," said Kakashi, and she could sense the faintest hint of hesitance in his voice. Kakashi Hatake didn't hesitate. This wasn't good.

"And…?"

"And everyone also knew that you'd never leave with me here…I tied you to this village. You'd have never voluntarily left me."

The room went oddly silent then. Behind Kakashi, his students were exchanging confused looks with one another. They were the only ones in the room who didn't know about her relationship with their sensei. Yet.

"…What are you saying?" she asked, horrified to hear that her voice cracked once. The wheels had begun turning in her head, but she refused to allow her mind to wander down the most obvious route. She couldn't…He wouldn't have…Would he?

"Arya." He said her name softly, intimately, and she wanted to scream at him to shut up while simultaneously begging him to keep talking. That look in his eye, the way he took one jerky step towards her, it was all becoming too much for her.

"Tell me," she demanded as a lump formed in her throat. Kakashi stilled before her, only an arms length away now. His eye drifted shut for a moment as he fell silent. When he opened it again, he was all business, his expression flat once again. Part of her was grateful for that, this Kakashi was so much easier to deal with than the more expressive version of him. Or at least, that's how she felt under the current circumstances.

"As long as we were together, you wouldn't have left. And even if you somehow did go, you'd have never completely cut ties with Konoha. With me. We needed you to cut those ties."

"No…" she whispered, mostly to herself as things started to fall into place.

No, no, no, no. Please, no.

"You were in love with me," he continued mechanically, and Arya could help but wince slightly at the way he almost seemed to throw that fact in her face. Behind him, Sakura gasped and Naruto gaped like a fish out of water. "You wouldn't have broken up with me any time soon."

"No," she said again, this time a little louder as she felt an odd prickling behind her eyes. She had to dig her nails into her palms, hard enough to break the skin, in order to try and keep the tears at bay. She would not cry in front of him. Not under any circumstance. Not again.

"The only other option was for me to break up with you," he said as though she hadn't spoken, his voice as flat as the look in his eye. "And so I did. I had to make it believable. I had to make you upset and angry enough to want to leave the village."

"Stop," she said hoarsely, not wanting to hear any more. Her teeth clenched, and she very nearly took a step back, as though his words were physically battering at her defenses instead of just figuratively doing so. Still, he paid no heed as he continued to speak like he hadn't heard her.

"It worked. I broke your heart. You wanted to get as far away from this village and me as you could."

"Stop it."

"You went to the Hokage, asked to be sent on an extended mission. And he just so happened to have one entailing a complete transfer to Kagegakure on hand for you."

"Shut up."

"The 'calculated move' worked exactly as it was intended to. You willingly cut ties with Konoha. You left the village, the Akatsuki didn't try to attack you. Everything worked out in the end. We-"

"SHUT UP," she roared, and this time Kakashi fell silent, his jaw snapping shut with an audible click. She was breathing heavy, her chest heaving as her hands trembled, but she hardly paid attention to that. She was far too busy being forced to acknowledge what Kakashi had just revealed to her. She felt the stinging in her eyes, knew that it'd only be a matter of time before the tears spilled over. And for all her visible distress, Kakashi simply stood there looking down at her with his usual, nonchalant expression, and it only added insult to the injury that he seemingly did not give a single fuck about the whole ordeal. Of course, she was much too distraught to notice the strain near his eye or the rigidness of his body. She could feel the familiar tingling throughout her form, the voice in her head, the darkening of her eyes. She couldn't be there, couldn't be around him. She couldn't even look at him without wanting to simultaneously rip out both their hearts. Ryujin agreed with the idea, well, he agreed with ripping out Kakashi's.

But she couldn't.

She was angry, so angry. And it hurt. And it hurt, and it hurt.

But for all her anger and pain, she couldn't do him any harm. She was exactly where she was four years ago, when he'd broken up with her just as cruelly as he'd revealed his real motives for doing so just moments ago. She thought she was better, stronger, but she was right back to square one. And that realization, along with Kakashi's brutally delivered confession, drove her over the edge.

"Fuck you," she snarled animalistically, teary eyes flashing entirely black for a second before she dispersed into smoke and disappeared.

In the moments that followed after her exit, the room was completely silent. Even Naruto knew when to keep his trap shut apparently, simply continuing to gape silently, wondering if he was dreaming or caught in a genjutsu.

Tsunade had her steepled fingers in front of her face, staring at the spot the younger girl had stood moments ago. She herself was no stranger to heartbreak, having experienced it too many times in the past, and so she could empathize with Arya. She agreed that Kakashi had only done what he had to in order to keep her safe, but she also acknowledged why Arya wouldn't see it that way, at least not for a long while. It was obvious to her that the girl still had feelings for the Copy-Ninja, the way she'd reacted was proof of that. Speaking of feelings, she shifted her gaze to the man in question. Her perceptive eyes took in the hunch of his shoulders, more pronounced than his usual stance, the tenseness of his limbs, the strain on his face as he glared at the floor. He may have hid it better than Arya did, but Tsunade knew that the confession had affected him just as much as it affected her, perhaps even more so. Tsunade also knew that the infamous ninja was still in love with the Shadow kunoichi. Sighing, she rubbed her temples and wished for about a dozen bottles of sake. This was not what she'd had in mind for their meeting, but it seemed that it was over nonetheless. She looked past Kakashi, at Enta, taking in the apprehension in his stance, torn between wanting to comfort his best friend and going to check on his student. Just because he understood what had to be done, didn't mean that he could justify the hurt it brought Arya.

Shifting her gaze again, she looked to Enta's other two students and very nearly gave a halfhearted smirk. Though Enta's loyalties were torn, the two younger men didn't have such a problem. Their loyalties were very clearly with their teammate, if the murderous glares directed at the back of Kakashi's head were any indication. She looked to Team 7 next, wondering how they'd react to learning that their sensei, who'd never shown any interest in anyone before, had such a…complicated relationship with Arya. Sasuke, as she'd expected, was stoic in his surprise, almost dazed even. He, like Arya, had a lot to process. First with Itachi and now with the Akatsuki's looming plans and the whole mess with said kunoichi. Her apprentice looked suitably horrified with the whole ordeal, her green eyes wide, jaw dropped open in disbelief.

Tsunade's eyes finally landed on Naruto. The look on the boy's face was almost comical, but she couldn't find it in her to laugh. Sure, he was momentarily distracted with the details of his sensei's relationship, but he'd get over it soon. And when he did, he'd no doubt focus on the fact that Arya was a vessel, just like he was. Sure, the boy had met other Jinchuuriki before, but it was different when you had one living in the same village with you. Knowing Naruto, he'd want to bond over it and share stories and such, and knowing Arya, she'd very likely snap his neck for his efforts. Perhaps she should tell him to lay off for a while. Then again, the brat had a habit of not listening to her.

Sighing, she brought her eyes back to Kakashi, noticing that he'd managed to somewhat get ahold of himself. He looked almost normal, the customary slouch, hands in his pockets, face blank. But his eye was dead, completely devoid of anything and everything as he stared straight ahead.

"You're all dismissed," she said finally with a wave of her hand, acknowledging that there wasn't anything she could do to make this situation better for anyone involved. A split second after the words were out of her mouth, Kakashi was gone. Enta looked over at his students before turning to her, offering a strained smile as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I, uh, sorry about all that," he said and she managed to bark out a weary laugh.

"Don't even mention it," she said and then watched as he bowed before heading to the door, Zen and Haru stalking after him. Sasuke hesitated for a moment before following, leaving Sakura to glance between him and Naruto before also scurrying out. The blonde turned to her, opening his mouth to no doubt say something that she was in no mood to hear.

"Not now, brat," she interjected before he could say anything, and turned away from him. "Get out."

From the corner of her eyes she saw him hesitate, but he grumbled something under his breath before leaving as well, the door slamming shut behind him.

"Well then," said Homura after a beat, and Tsunade realized that she was in no mood to deal with any of them either. Unfortunately for her, they were harder to get rid of than a bunch of Chunin and their Sensei.

Sinking down in her seat, she propped her feet up on the table, ignoring the disapproving looks she was getting from the Elders.

"Someone find Shizune," she hollered to no one in particular, knowing that someone out there would hear and do her bidding. Perks of being Hokage. "Tell her to get me sake. Now." It was going to be a long day.

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