"What the fuck are you thinking, Blondie?" Anko snapped as she waved her dango skewer through the air.

Kuushou had sent Sakura away with a firm reminder to show up at their usual training ground at six on the dot the next morning, as well as a warning that he wasn't going to waste his time helping her if she wasn't serious. By the fire burning in her eyes he had no doubt she would be there, though just how long that enthusiasm would last in the face of what he had in mind would be another matter.

"Pinkie's handy with a genjutsu from what I've seen, but if she goes up against that nutjob they'll picking bits of her off the ground for weeks."

"I am well aware of Sakura's abilities," he pointed out, making a quick feint for one of the dango on her plate only to snag the sake bottle instead. The drink didn't do anything for him, but he'd come to enjoy Anko's rather active and confrontational approach to dining. "And that is precisely why I think she can manage what I have in mind."

"And what would that be, exactly? It'd have to be something damn impressive to get through that sand of his."

Kuushou smirked as he waved the empty bottle through the air tauntingly. "On the contrary, my training will do nothing of the sort."

Anko paused, absently stabbing a skewer into the table as she fended off his latest attempt at her dango. "Alright, now you've lost me. You aren't training her how to beat Gaara?"

"I'm training her how to survive Gaara. If she can do that, beating him in the exams will be a simple matter. Oh, I wouldn't put any money on her if it was anywhere but in the arena, but there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of the terrain."

Her eyes narrowed in thought. "Alright, so what's your plan, then?"

"Sakura has average reserves for her age paired with exceptional chakra control for any age. As long as she uses low-cost jutsu, she can keep going for well over an hour without issue, even longer if you factor in breaks and chakra pills."

She nodded impatiently, absently twisting his hand sharply and snagging the dango skewer as he dropped it.

"What she needs most of all is mobility, so that will be my focus."

Anko raised one eyebrow, then blinked in surprise when her teeth clamped down on an empty skewer. She glared at Kuushou as he popped three dango in quick succession into his mouth, grinning at her all the while.

"Mobility? That's it? Just how fast do you expect her to get in the next month?"

Kuushou shook his head. "Fast enough to completely evade Gaara's sand – as long as she maintains a decent distance, anyway."

She had a look of disbelief on her face. "How fast is she now?"

He thought for a moment, then replied, "Tied for slowest with Chouji."

Anko stared at him a moment, then suddenly grinned. "Ah, I get it. You're setting her an impossible task so that when she fails, she'll be willing to forfeit the match because she at least gave it her best shot, right?"

"Not in the least. She's perfectly capable of doing it, it's just a question of how fast she can pick it up. I'll also be testing her balance, situational awareness, and coordination as we go." A feral grin bloomed on his face. "The final test will be me."

She snorted in amusement, though her eyes looked thoughtful. "I can think of a couple of jutsu that might give her that sort of speed temporarily, but I don't think she has the conditioning or reserves to pull them off. Not to mention knowing they exist and knowing how to do them are very different things. Which one did you have in mind?"

"Oh, it's probably not any of the ones you're thinking of. It's just a little trick I picked up recently," he added, smirking.

~ Scene Break ~

Kuushou strolled into the training ground with a small bag tucked under one arm. The sun was just beginning to rise over the forests that surrounded Konoha, and the area was still deeply bathed in shadows and darkness.

Sakura stood in the middle of the clearing ahead, one hand rubbing at her eyes and the other covering a yawn. Despite that, it looked like she'd already been here for some time; she was clearly taken his words to heart. After all, he'd been entirely serious about calling the entire thing off if she missed even one training session without a good reason.

"Before we get started," he called out, startling her, "you need to understand something very, very well. The technique I am about to teach you will do nothing more than help you survive against Gaara. It will do nothing to defeat his sand or damage him directly."

Sakura's face quickly twisted into a frown. "What do you mean? I thought you were going to-"

"I fully expect you to win if you master this technique, but the technique itself won't be how you defeat Gaara. All it will do is give you time."

Sakura opened her mouth again, then snapped it shut and settled for nodding sharply.

"What do I need to do?" she asked instead, her gaze focusing on him with surprising intensity.

Kuushou placed the bag on the ground beside him before pulling out a large spool of ribbon. "To begin with, you are going to learn how to dodge this."

As he spoke, the ribbon slowly unwound itself and hovered in the air, coiling in lazy patterns as if it were a snake. He could see the confusion on her face, but she nodded sharply and bent her legs slightly, preparing to move in any direction.

Without another word, the ribbon lanced forward, covering the few feet between them quickly. Sakura shifted to one side, letting the ribbon pass by harmlessly, then yelped when it coiled around her ankle and yanked her off of her feet with surprising strength. She landed on her back, her breath bursting out of her lungs.

"And Gaara just killed you," Kuushou noted as he pulled the ribbon back. "Do you get it yet?"

Sakura pulled herself to her feet, a stubborn expression settling on her face. "I wasn't prepared for that. I'll do better this time."

Kuushou stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. The ribbon darted forward again, and Sakura leapt to the side, turning so she could keep an eye on the ribbon as it shifted course to follow her. Then her eyes widened and her hands reached up to claw at her throat as another ribbon wrapped around her neck and squeezed lightly.

"How about now?" he asked as he released her and pulled both ribbons back. Her eyes followed the trail of the second one, noting how the light green ribbon blended with the grass as it snaked along the ground.

"Again," she said firmly, settling into her stance once more.

She managed to evade both ribbons for several seconds, and even avoided the third that came in from a high angle, but dodged into the fourth and fifth that struck in a pincer attack.

"How about now?" he asked again.

"What do you want me to do?" she growled. "Every time I dodge you just keep adding more and more ribbons!"

"And that's lesson one," Kuushou replied calmly, nodding. "Time is working against you. The longer you give Gaara, the more sand he'll be able to throw at you. Since you are fighting in an enclosed space, he will eventually be able to overwhelm you no matter what you do."

"Which is why I need something to get past his sand!" she yelled, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Wrong. That's why you need to strike in the first few seconds of the battle. After that you just have to survive."

Sakura's brow furrowed again. "And how am I supposed to strike if I can't get past his sand?"

"You don't need to get past his sand at all," Kuushou emphasized, shaking his head in annoyance. "Regardless, that is a concern for later. If you can't master this technique, there's no need to worry about that."

Sakura frowned and opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. Kuushou nodded after a moment, then continued.

"The technique you will use has two parts. First, you will confuse Gaara as to your exact location, which will force him to either focus on one or two clones at a time or attack all of your clones at once. Second, you will move quickly to keep as much distance between the sand and yourself as possible."

Kuushou raised his hand and his form shimmered for a moment before two bunshin appeared standing near him. They all smirked at Sakura and asked at the same time, "Which one is the real me?"

Sakura hesitated for a moment before pointing to the one in the center. "That one."

"Wrong," a voice said into her ear.

She yelped and whirled around before hesitantly reaching out and poking him in the shoulder.

"H-how did you-"

Kuushou shook his head, grinning. "A better question would be 'when'. When did I move, and when did I make the clones?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she thought. After a few seconds, she focused back on him. "You made one clone first, then moved, then made the other two clones."

Kuushou raised an eyebrow. "And how did you arrive at that conclusion?"

"The shimmering. It wasn't just to confuse me with the other two bunshin, it was to hide the fact that you were already moving."

"Very good," Kuushou said, nodding. "I know you can use the basic clone technique, so you'll be practicing applying it as we go. In any case that's simply a distraction, not part of the core technique. As for the movement... the basis of the technique is very simple," Kuushou began. "You already know tree-walking and water-walking, so you are aware that chakra can be used to anchor you to a surface. I believe I've also made the point that you essentially have perfect traction when using those techniques, yes?"

Sakura nodded slowly, obviously wondering where he was going with this.

"Once you have mastered those techniques, you can then use the chakra you have placed in whatever surface you are standing on for other purposes," he said, looking around. He walked over and stood at the base of a tree at one end of the clearing before pointing to the opposite end.

"With the proper application of chakra, you can even accomplish something like this. Watch closely."

With that, he crouched slightly and focused. He flooded his chakra into the ground, hardening the earth and creating a small line of chakra with his foot at one end. Carefully timing his own movements, he pushed against the earth with the chakra starting at the far end and building momentum until it reached him. At just the right moment, he pushed off while allowing the chakra to accelerate his movement.

One moment he was standing next to Sakura, the next he was flipping through the air to land on the side of the tree, crouching and working quickly to absorb the impact. He wasn't entirely successful, as the bark under his feet shattered and the entire tree shuddered for a moment. He sighed internally, realizing that he had yet again put too much power into the technique; he was improving, but it would still be some time before he could control it properly. Fortunately, his successes – such as when he had first used the technique to get behind Sakura – were beginning to outnumber his failures.

He dropped to the ground and then waved to Sakura, who was alternating between gaping at him and staring at the cracked ground where he had been a moment before.

"What did you see?" he asked as he walked back to join Sakura.

"See? I didn't see anything! One moment you were standing next to me, and the next you were all the way over there!" she exclaimed, gesturing wildly. "What the hell am I supposed to learn from that?"

"That you can't see it happening," he answered, grinning at the annoyed look that crossed her face. "Now then, for the next part of the training we'll need to move to an area with more open space..."

~ Scene Break ~

They had moved to an empty field near one of the rivers that flowed through the training grounds. Kuushou had just finished explaining the process step by step when he noticed the odd look on Sakura's face. "What?"

She hesitated for a moment, then blurted out, "Are you sure that's how it works?"

"I just demonstrated it for you, didn't I?" he asked, more amused at the question than anything.

"Well, yeah, but..." she trailed off, then shook her head. "Nevermind."

She still looked distracted, but he decided to press on anyway. "For the first step, I want you to form a line a few inches long, and then practice building momentum from one end to the other. I'll judge your progress based on the effect on the ground at the far end."

Sakura nodded and extended one foot, placing it firmly on the ground as her gaze narrowed in concentration. Kuushou focused on her chakra as she distributed it along the ground, quickly forming the line he had described.

Her first attempts resulted in small puffs of dirt and grass as her chakra collapsed on itself, the energy she had built up falling apart or expelled in another direction entirely. She growled quietly to herself before she knelt and placed both hands on the ground. Before he could say anything she had formed a line between her two hands, and he decided to let her experiment continue; she would need to do it with her feet eventually, but perhaps starting with her hands would help her.

She stared at the ground, small beads of sweat forming on her brow and plastering strands of her pink hair to her forehead. After nearly a minute of silence, the chakra abruptly flared at one end of the line and slammed towards the other end. Sakura jerked her hand back as if stung, but turned to him with a wide smile as she stood.

Kuushou nodded to her. "A good start. Do it like that a few more times, then switch to using one hand."

"Right!" she replied, nodding quickly before kneeling to place both hands on the ground again.

~ Scene Break ~

After finishing Sakura's training session, Kuushou returned to his apartment to find that he once more had an uninvited guest.

"Shimura-san," Kuushou greeted as he paused in the doorway to the living room. His eyes flickered over to where the pale boy, Sai, was kneeling in the corner, his eyes watchful.

Danzo smiled thinly, the faintest quirk at the edge of his lips. "Yamanaka-chuunin," he said with the faintest hint of warmth in his voice. "It is good to see you again."

Kuushou eyed the man for a moment, then slowly nodded. "And you as well," he replied as he walked over and settled into a chair across from Danzo. "I admit that I wasn't expecting to hear from you again after what the Hokage told me."

The smile – if it could even be called that – faded from Danzo's face. "And what do you mean by that, Yamanaka-chuunin?"

"The Hokage informed me of the situation regarding my recently revealed abilities and how certain people were taking the fact that I hid them in a rather negative light, yourself chief among them."

"Did he now?" Danzo murmured before shaking his head slightly. "I'm afraid I don't understand, Yamanaka-chuunin. Your performance has exceeded my wildest expectations, and I have nothing but praise for what you have done for this village. Your assistance in the elimination of Orochimaru has removed a grave threat and ensured the peace and safety of Konoha."

Kuushou stared across the room, studying Danzo's face as he tried to figure out what the old man was playing at. It hadn't occurred to him that the Hokage might have been outright lying to him – and he still didn't believe that, really. Hearing Danzo now though made him wonder if the Hokage might not have exaggerated the situation slightly.

"So the fact that I hid my sensor ability doesn't bother you?"

Danzo shook his head slightly. "Only in the sense that I was unable to take advantage of it earlier. I am disappointed that you didn't confide in anyone, but secrets are the lifeblood of a ninja – I can hardly fault you for protecting such a powerful advantage."

"I... see," Kuushou said after a moment. "So you aren't pressing to have me assigned to you permanently?"

"I would be quite satisfied with such an arrangement," Danzo said, gesturing with the handle of his cane for emphasis. "However, I find it unlikely that I would be able to keep such a valuable asset for Konoha entirely to myself. In fact, I understand that you have been offered the chance to join ANBU?"

Kuushou nodded slowly as he tried to reconcile what he was hearing now with what the Hokage had told him; had he misunderstood something? There were bits and pieces from what Danzo was saying that matched what the Hokage had said, but the tone was so far apart that they could have been talking about completely different subjects.

"Something may have been mentioned along those lines," he finally replied.

"A wise decision on Sarutobi's part," Danzo said. "A ninja of your caliber would thrive in such an environment, and the experience you gain will be invaluable. Not to mention the obvious benefits to Konoha."

"I haven't actually accepted," Kuushou pointed out, attempting to gauge Danzo's reaction.

The old man just nodded slightly, tapping his cane on the floor thoughtfully. "It is a major decision, but you should seriously consider it. I myself know a thing or two about what it's like in ANBU, and I can assure you that you will not regret it should you join."

"I'm surprised that you would say that, Shimura-san," Kuushou replied. "After all, if I'm in ANBU then I would not be able to take any missions for you."

The point of the cane thudded heavily onto the floor. "Is that what you were told?" Danzo asked, a slight hint of surprise in his voice. "I can assure you that ANBU is not that restrictive. It takes priority over all other matters, of course, but most ninja in ANBU publicly take missions as well as a part of their cover. After all, it would be child's play to identify members of ANBU if they simply stopped taking missions and yet remained in the village as ninja.

"In fact, a significant portion of long-term missions are simply there to give ANBU operatives an excuse to drop out of sight for a time. Others accept jobs in sensitive departments where their absence will not be remarked on, or even perform their duties in plain sight as normal ninja or even civilians. The masked ninja who guard the Hokage and handle the more sensitive tasks are only a portion of the group, and that is not the only task ANBU performs."

"... I was not aware of that," Kuushou admitted.

"Not many are, Yamanaka-chuunin, though it's not as if it was a highly-kept secret. Most simply do not think about the inner workings of ANBU; I, on the other hand, spent a great deal of time thinking on such matters before my injuries ended my active career. I did not become an Elder of this village merely by surviving, after all."

Kuushou had to wonder just what it was that Danzo had done while he was still active. It was obvious the old man had a great deal of influence within the village – as well as being very well-informed, if he knew about an offer that Kuushou had previously thought to be between himself and the Hokage – but he had never heard a mention of what position, if any, Danzo had held in the past. From what the old man had said so far, Kuushou got the distinct impression that he had been in ANBU himself, and possibly in a position of leadership. The Hokage had made mention of a ROOT program, though he had not said it was part of ANBU outright.

"Regardless," Danzo continued, the point of his cane thudding onto the floor again, "the point is that, should you be willing and should circumstances permit, we might find ourselves working together on occasion. Having seen how quickly you get results, I will certainly seek to make that happen as often as possible."

"You speak as though I have already joined ANBU. I haven't even decided to take the trials, much less passed them."

"As if the result was in doubt," Danzo scoffed. "Your physical skills are good enough to pass, and the variety of your techniques and knowledge would be valuable wherever you are assigned. As for the other aspects of the test, I think you have already demonstrated a commitment to this village above and beyond that of most other ninja."

"And if I were to decline ANBU outright?" Kuushou asked pointedly.

Danzo shrugged lightly. "Then I would be more than happy to expand our working relationship. I have a number of tasks that could use a ninja of your talents, after all, and I'm sure that you would find the benefits more than worth the effort involved."

Danzo slowly stood, leaning heavily on the cane and motioning for Sai to precede him out of the room. "Either way, Yamanaka-chuunin, I hope that you will keep in touch. I expect great things from you."

"And you aren't concerned that I might have abused my ability as a sensor to steal secrets from Konoha?" Kuushou called out before Danzo could leave the apartment.

The old man was silent for a moment. "Such a thing is certainly possible, Yamanaka-chuunin," Danzo replied from the hallway, "but if the Hokage trusts you enough to consider bringing you into ANBU, then you must surely be worthy of such a trust. After all, the Hokage is rarely wrong; that's why he's the Hokage."

Kuushou listened as the apartment door closed and remained motionless, tracking the old man's signature as he left the building and began walking towards the center of the village. His thoughts were chaotic as he weighed his previous conversation with the Hokage against the strange discussion he'd just had with Danzo, the man who was supposedly aiming to have him charged with treason.

Danzo was very difficult to read, certainly, but everything he had said was consistent with his previous behavior. In fact, of the two, it was the Hokage who had acted aggressively. Both sides had their reasons and explanations, but Kuushou couldn't shake the feeling that he was still missing something.

~ Scene Break ~

Kuushou leaned his head to the side, casually sweeping his hand through the chakra string supporting the kunai as it darted past his head. He froze, a wide smile on his face, when he felt the tip of the kunai pressing into the back of his neck.

"Excellent!" he praised. "And how did you manage that?"

Hinata had a smile on her own face as she approached slowly. "I knew you could break the string holding the kunai, so I placed another one behind you to catch it as it fell."

Kuushou looked into her eyes, his grin growing wider. "So you caught a moving object at least twenty feet away from you and had it in a position to kill me before I could take a single step. Yes, you're definitely ready for the next step, and even faster than I had expected."

Hinata's eyes gleamed and she stood straighter as she soaked in the praise.

"Now then, you have a choice to make," he said, causing her to adopt a serious expression. "I can move on to the next technique with the chakra strings, I can teach you the jutsu I promised you now, or we can focus your training on dealing with your opponents in the upcoming exams; the choice is entirely yours."

Hinata thought for a moment before asking, "Would I be able to use the new technique in the exams?"

"Unlikely," Kuushou replied readily. "While powerful, it's not the kind of ability you would want to use on allies."

Hinata nodded at that. "What about the chakra strings?"

"It could be useful, certainly," Kuushou allowed. "Has Kurenai talked about your training yet? You are the only team where all three members made it to the finals, after all."

"Kurenai-sensei is going to continue our group training sessions. She says we'll get enough personal instruction from our families and you and she doesn't want the Chuunin Exams to get in the way of the fact that we're still a team. She'll also spend a little time helping us prepare for all of the other opponents we may face."

"Out of curiosity," Kuushou said slowly, "what did she say about Gaara?"

"She told us to forfeit if we had to face him," Hinata replied immediately, a small frown on her face.

That was pretty much what he'd expected; none of the genin on Team Kurenai were well suited to facing someone like Gaara, since Kiba and Hinata were strongest at melee range and Shino's kikaichuu wouldn't bother Gaara at all. He could give them the same training he was giving Sakura, but he really did think she had the best chance of all of them of mastering it in time - or at all, for that matter. Even Hinata's chakra control wasn't on the same level as Sakura's.

"I may have an idea or two for you, but don't be afraid to forfeit if it comes to that. I'd hate to lose you in a pointless fight against someone like him."

Hinata's eyes widened. "O-Of course," she said after a moment, sounding slightly out of breath. She collected herself after a moment, then asked, "What about Sakura? Doesn't she face him first? What are you going to tell her?"

"Sakura..." Kuushou said slowly, "Sakura specifically requested that I give her additional training after her sensei told her to forfeit. Because she's willing to go that far, I am teaching her something that may be enough to make the difference."

It was easy to see that Hinata was troubled by that. "You think Sakura could beat him where I can't?"

Kuushou immediately shook his head. "That's not it at all. I think in many ways you would have more success against Gaara than Sakura. Sakura, however, has something to prove where you do not."

Hinata relaxed, though she still looked curious. "Are those ideas you were talking about what you're going to teach her?"

"No, I had something different in mind for you. Your Byakugan gives you an advantage when it comes to avoiding his attacks, though your melee-heavy focus is definitely a disadvantage. In the end, he's just not a good opponent for your skills."

"What would you teach me that could help?" Hinata pressed, her eyes narrowed.

Kuushou eyed her for a moment. "We'll get to that later. To start with, what is your plan for dealing with Sasuke?"

"He favors taijutsu whenever possible, an area where I have the advantage," she replied quickly.

"Which he'll know," Kuushou countered. "The Sharingan will also be able to perceive your chakra strings more easily, limiting their effectiveness. How do you plan to get around that?"

Hinata frowned deeply, struggling with herself for a few seconds before quietly admitting, "I don't know."

"That's fine," Kuushou shrugged, "you've still got a month to figure something out. In the meantime, I'll give you a hint to get you started." That said, he pulled out a sewing needle from his pocket and flicked it towards her face. She snatched it out of the air before it could strike her and eyed it curiously.

"What is this supposed to mean?" she asked, confused.

"That's the hint. Once you figure that out, or come up with something viable on your own, we'll work on perfecting it. Tomorrow we'll discuss what to do against Shino if he should win."

He crouched down and picked up several rocks off the ground, weighing each one thoughtfully before placing it in his left hand.

"Now then, it's time to start the next phase of your chakra string training: juggling without hands," he smirked.

~ Scene Break ~

"Alright, Blondie," Anko drawled as she strolled into his apartment. "What've you got?"

Kuushou closed the door and reactivated the privacy seals before following her into the sparsely decorated living room. Even after several months occupying the apartment, he still hadn't bothered to add paintings or knickknacks or anything else to liven it up. Anko didn't seem put off by that at all, but then Anko's "decorations" consisted of discarded clothes and stacks of weapons, so she was perhaps somewhat biased on the issue.

"I've continued studying the seal in my spare time," Kuushou said as he walked into the room, "And I've decided that I know everything I'm going to learn about it short of interrogating Orochimaru or finding his original notes."

Anko tensed up slightly, though she feigned a disinterested air. "Took you long enough. You figure anything out?"

"Quite a bit," Kuushou replied modestly as he walked over to his work table. "For all that the seal is still functional on you, I found several sections that have actually eroded over time. Unconsciously or not, your chakra has actually been attacking the seal ever since you got it; given sufficient time, you may have damaged it enough to deactivate it entirely."

Anko's grinned widely as she nodded sagely. "Yeah, even my chakra hates the fucker; sounds about right."

"Or you could have triggered the fail safe mechanism and flooded your body with enough toxic chakra to wipe out half the village."

Her grin fell and she swallowed thickly. "That won't happen anymore, right?"

"That depends on you," Kuushou answered as he stepped back to lean against the table.

She eyed him warily before making an impatient gesture when he didn't immediately continue.

"Your first option is to do nothing. As I've already proven, the seals containing the cursed seal are more than enough to hold it back. I would have to monitor it, but they will likely halt the damage as well."

"Next," Anko said quickly, giving a small shake of her head.

"The second option is to isolate the cursed seal like I did with Sasuke, setting it up so that it can be cut off completely without too much trouble. It would be considerably more difficult in your case due to the damage caused by the seal already, but it can be done. The benefits in your case are somewhat limited, however."

Anko scowled. "Next."

"As for a third option... I believe I know enough about how the seal works to remove it completely. Before you answer," he said quickly, holding up a head to cut off Anko's response, "that doesn't mean that I know what will happen to you after the seal is removed. You've lived with it for a very long time, and getting rid of it now could have consequences."

"What kind of consequences?"

Kuushou sighed, wiping one hand over his face. "It could damage your chakra network, limiting your ability and possibly crippling you. It could even cause a chain reaction that might result in your death."

"How likely is that?" Anko pressed.

"Not very," he admitted after a moment. "The worst I really expect is that your chakra control will suffer temporarily as you adjust to the changes in your network. And given that-" he cut himself off abruptly, grimacing as he looked away.

As he expected, Anko wasn't about to let that go. "Given what?" she asked. "Given what?" she repeated when he didn't answer immediately.

"It doesn't really matter. Knowing about it won't help you."

She leapt to her feet, scowling as she stalked towards him. "Don't give me that crap. If you know something else about the seal, you better tell me right now. I deserve to know what's going on, dammit!"

Kuushou eyed her for a moment, then slowly nodded. "I honestly think you would be happier if you didn't know," he said. "But! If you want me to tell you, I will." She nodded impatiently, so he continued. "I noticed something about Sasuke's cursed seal, and was able to confirm that your seal worked the same way.

"I can't really confirm this either way, you understand, but I did observe a certain level of… well…"

"Dammit, Blondie! Just spit it out!"

"The way the cursed seal reacted was too complex, too refined. The only conclusion I can draw is that, somehow, the cursed seal can think for itself."

He paused as Anko's eyes widened and her breathing began to quicken. The blood slowly drained out of her face as her entire body began to shake, and one trembling hand reached up to cover the mark at the crook of her neck.

"Get it off," she said hoarsely between shallow breaths. Her eyes refocused on his, still wide as she stared at him while barely keeping control of herself. "Get this fucking thing off of me." Her nails had started to dig into the flesh around the seal, leaving bloody gouges in her shoulder.

Kuushou bowed slightly then motioned to the far side of the smooth marble table that was currently clear of scrolls and other supplies. "In that case," he said, "Lie down here and I can get started immediately."

Anko was on the table a moment later, her coat cast aside and her head turned to bare the cursed seal fully. Her arms trembled as she physically restrained herself from clawing at the mark further, though her fingernails were still digging into her palms and her entire body was shaking slightly.

"Just relax," Kuushou said smoothly as he began pouring youki-laced chakra into her body. For the best results he would need to smother all traces of Orochimaru's chakra first, then remove the minute amounts of the chemical secreted by the seal, then finally begin unraveling the seal itself.

He was prepared to counter the seal's fail-safes that would inevitably trigger; in fact, the bulk of his time was spent determining just which fail-safes he could easily deal with, and which might cause too much damage to Anko when they activated. He'd eventually settled on triggering the poisons and pain-based traps to avoid the one that would turn the seal into a particularly potent exploding tag before immediately detonating.

That was also why he would be putting Anko to sleep and numbing her while he was working; he didn't need her flailing around or panicking while he was ripping out the guts of the seal.

Anko's eyes unfocused and her breathing gradually slowed as he drew her into a deep sleep. Before they drifted completely shut she mustered the energy to mumble one final "Geddit off."

Kuushou allowed his grin to spread on his face as he set to work. Once she had recovered from the shock of that particular revelation, it wouldn't be long before she associated it with the village's decision to take a "wait and see" approach regarding her seal; a decision in marked contrast to the rapid response Sasuke's sealing evoked. Honestly, he couldn't have orchestrated a better confirmation of the seeds of doubt he had planted if he had tried.

He hadn't even needed to say a word – the look in her eye when she noticed the Fuuja Houin on Sasuke had said it all.

~ End Chapter ~

A/N: Didn't quite make it to Jiraiya this chapter, but next chapter for sure.

As always, thanks for reading and thanks for all the reviews!