Kumo told Nenshō everything, the ANBU, his threat, and his ultimate deal to trade Nenshō for his mother's life. "So that's their offer," Nenshō said with a sigh, after Tenten had returned from putting Eri to bed they stepped outside to smoke as Kumo returned home, they checked their six making sure Kakashi was within sight of them but out of earshot. "They really want me for some reason, I'm trying to think of what I've ever done to them, aside from kill Hiashi of course."

"I doubt that's the reason behind their actions," Kumo said lighting his pipe, "their smarter than to put this much energy in simple revenge, theirs a method to their actions, a reason to why their targeting you."

"I can't think why though," He admitted, "I don't possess any sensitive information they don't have accesses to, my time away from home was mostly spent handling common bandits, so I'm stumped, I don't know what I they could possibly want."

"Your kekkei genkai," Kumo said realization dawning on him.

"That's impossible," Nenshō said putting out his cigarette, "those guys in the Mist prison tried to remove my kekkei genkai for years, they had no idea how to get it out of me, or put it to use, only reason they didn't take your byakugan is because they were waiting for you to be fully grown, once you reached twenty five they'd have cut those eyes right out of your skull."

"That was years ago," Kumo reminded him, "perhaps they know something they didn't or new developments in extracting various kekkei genkai have been made, my point is what you have is one of a kind, and it'd be worth all this trouble their going too to get their hands on you, it's the only thing that seems to make sense."

"I guess," Nenshō said breathing in the night air, "but why they want me is irrelevant right now, the issue at hand his finding your mother, and we have no idea where she is."

"I don't think she's in the village," Kumo said, "I'd be troublesome to hide her and they wouldn't want to attract more attention to their selves than they already have with us."

"Meaning she could be anywhere, I doubt she's even in the country right now," Nenshō said pulling a fresh cigarette from his pack, he always chain smoked when he was brainstorming solutions, "finding their location should be our first objective, do you think Ibiki could make one of them talk?"

"You mean if we captured one?" Kumo said, "Ibiki can make anyone talk given enough time… but considering it shouldn't take them long to discover one of their comrades missing and once that happens they might try executing her and closing shop, also we don't know if everyone possesses the information we need, they seem to operate on a need to know basis so It'll be difficult to spot the right mark."

"Good point," Nenshō said taking a drag off his cigarette, "unfortunately we can't let our enemy know we're onto them, I suppose we could ask some questions in the ANBU Black ops but more likely we'd just let someone onto our actions, we need to make them think things are going according to plan."

"I sense you're thinking along the same lines as I am," Kumo said staring into the smoking bowl of his pipe, "And if you are then I'm not comfortable with this idea."

"You mean agreeing to their terms and handing me over?" Nenshō asked, "I don't really see any other way, if we want to get close and save your mom then we can't raise any alarms. And the best way to make sure alarms aren't raised is to make it look like things are going according to plan, and that means making them think their threat work and handing me over."

Kumo looked into his friends eyes, "Do you know what that mean?" he asked.

Nenshō raised a red eyebrow, "You know I do," He said, "don't tell me you've gone soft on me all these years."

"If I hand you over we don't know what will happen to you, for all we know they'll just kill you," Kumo protested dumping the ashes from his pipe.

"I've never been afraid to die Kumo," Nenshō said, "Zabuza made sure we feared him more than our inevitable death."

"Don't try to dodge what I'm saying," Kumo said tucking his pipe away into his jacket, "gambling with our lives has certainly paid off in the past, but rolling the dice has different consequences than it once did, there's more on the line than just our lives, what about Eri? Are you going to leave her farther-less again?"

Nenshō sighed stamping out his cigarette, "Listen Kumo," he said staring at the snowy ground, "This stuff with the Hyuga is all my fault… I don't regret killing Hiashi but its caused problems for you Eri and Tenten, so don't expect me to sit back and let the problem persist. And don't use Eri to dissuade me from doing this, if it is my Kekkei Genkai they want it's only a matter of time before they target her for the same reason, for all we know she's already in their sights and I can't allow that. And even if I do die I won't be leaving her farther-less, after all you've been filling in that role longer than I have."

"That's not fair to Eri," Kumo said.

"It's not fair to you either," Nenshō said looking up to the overcast skies raining snow on the village, "or Tenten or Ino, the fact of the matter is this isn't fair to anyone."

Nenshō stuffed his hands into his pockets, "But we're Shinobi and in war we don't play by the rules and nothing is every truly fair."

Kumo gave a relenting sigh, "We'll need to prepare for this," Kumo said, "If I defect from the village then we'll be hunted, we might not be able to return here, and to think my wedding was in a couple months."

"Don't bother canceling the wedding," Nenshō said, "I'm certainly going to hell if I ruin that for you as well, talk to Ino and tell her what's going on just be discrete we don't know how close they could be listening to either of us. If it wasn't for Kakashi watching us like a hawk I wouldn't be sure about talking openly like this."

"What'll you do?" Kumo asked, "You're not planning on talking to Tenten are you?"

Nenshō shook his head, "No I'm not," he said, "which is unfortunate because if I do somehow manage to survive this she's defiantly going to kill me for running off to fight bad guys after just coming back. No if anyone should know about our little plan it should be the old bat, I'll tell Tsunade what we're doing. Knowing her she'll try to stop us but I don't expect her to do anything about it."

"We should wait awhile before doing this," Kumo said, "If I hand you over immediately it could look suspicious, we should give them some time to pressure me, I doubt they'll simply let me think about it on my own, let make them work for it a little."

Nenshō nodded, "You should also prepare yourself for a fight," he said, "We don't know exactly what we're going to be up against so bring out your deadliest toys, I'd also like you to do me a favor."

"What?" Kumo asked staring at the faces of the Hokages on the mountain side covered in snow.

"I'd like to get Zabuza's sword back," He said, "They confiscated it from me and if we're going to fight these bastards I'd like to have it, think you can pull some strings to get it back?"

"I already have it," Kumo said, "I got it once I was released from the hospital."

"Why?" Nenshō asked, "Why'd you get the sword?"

"I have my reasons," Kumo said, "But I'll be sure to pack it for you, as my prisoner you very well can't be carrying any weapons."

Nenshō chucked, "So since you're going to take me in. How would you capture me?"

"I'd drug you," Kumo said simply.

Nenshō laughed, "Yeah that'd about do it."