Chapter 113 - Missed Connection

The walk from Naruto's office to Karin's room on the first floor of the hospital was a far more painful and far longer-seeming one than when Sakura had had to summon Karin only a few weeks before, and with almost identical news.

How could she tell her this? The option of simply not telling her seemed grossly unfair. It would be like keeping the news of a son's death in a war from his mother.

(Though Yakata wasn't her son, Sakura had to remind herself.)

(Though Karin cared as much as a mother, she didn't have to be reminded. Sakura knew this.)

The sheer impossibility of the current situation kept the words stirring around in Sakura's head, unable to settle or clump together into sentences. She entered Karin's room feeling tongue-tied and foolish, her joints hard and tight, like knots.

"Oh, hello, Sakura." Karin's voice was smooth, from where she was writing at her table. "What brings you in?"

Sakura grimaced, trying not to let any fussy noises escape. Her darting eyes saw a huddled mass of blankets—Ooda—reclining on a cot, placed by the window, where the sunlight could easily be felt.

Karin, of course, noticed her discomfort, after that. "Sakura, what's wrong, did something happen?"

Sakura nodded, reluctantly. "Karin, I have some… bad news."

Karin's pen began to droop, where she held it. "What sort of bad news?"

A flurry of openings scattered themselves across Sakura's consciousness. Resisting every urge to not begin with "You're not going to believe this, but," she said, "Orochimaru's returned."

Karin's eyes flicked to the cot in the pause between her answer. "Returned how? I thought he was sealed away."

"I don't know. And he hasn't told us. But that's not… the worst part." Sakura lowered her head, her chin almost touching her chest.

Karin's chair creaked as she sat up, listening, alert. "Sakura, what is it? I can handle it, tell me."

"…he found Yakata-kun, and he's using him as his vessel." Sakura kept her head down.

Karin took a long time to respond.

"Karin…" Sakura attempted.

Then: "No." Karin's voice was very soft. "No, not Yakata…"

"It's… been confirmed. He didn't… actually single Yakata-kun out, he doesn't know who he is or where he came from, but…" Sakura's voice broke. "Karin, I'm so sorry…"

"No, no, don't be sorry, what's important is that he's… that he's back, and that we have to figure out how he got out and what he's planning on doing, okay?" Karin was speaking too quickly; her pen rattled slightly from the movement of her trembling hand, still clutching it.

Attempts at comfort and pity smeared themselves across Sakura's mind, and into nothingness. "Right, that's definitely the most pressing issue…" she said. "Do you have any idea… how he could have gotten out, what methods he could have used?"

"In terms of breaking the seal placed on him, I have… no idea." Karin leaned forward, propping her forehead up against her hands, thinking. "Only possibility I can think of is if Sasuke himself broke the seal, and I can't… imagine him doing that."

"Mm…" Sakura joined her at the table, partially to avoid the awkwardness of her continued standing, and partially on account of her weakened knees. She put the folder on the table between them. "And I don't think any part of him survived through Kabuto… I mean, especially considering what he said, stuff about 'waking up,' and his mental state…"

"Are those… transcripts?" Karin said.

"Notes and photographs, yeah."

Karin opened the folder and began to read, the middle finger of her right hand tracking words with her fingers.

(Sakura had kept the photographs to the back.)

(But Karin still got to them.)

Sakura wanted to speak, to say something that would wrench Karin's attention away from the pictures of that boy in the chair, eyes dyed yellow and mouth curled into a needle-thin smile. But no words came.

All she could do was watch as Karin flipped through them, the anguish barely contained in her tightening features.

"That man he's with, who is he?" Karin finally said. Her voice sounded squeezed.

"Orochimaru's been calling him 'Riverman,' apparently," Sakura replied.

"Like the folk tale?"

"I… don't know?" Sakura said. "I don't know who he is, but he seems sorta… familiar, almost. Do you recognize him?"

Karin adjusted her glasses with one hand as she brought the photograph closer, squinting. "There's… something in his face that seems familiar… but otherwise I can't say that I do."

"Ah… Well, we're thinking he's maybe a former Sound ninja, from some of the things he's said."

"Sound ninja? Not an active one, I wouldn't think. What sorts of things was he saying?"

"Calling…" Sakura's mouth twisted with the sour words. "…Orochimaru his 'Master' and being utterly obedient to him. It's in the report."

"Hm." Karin put the photograph down with the others in the folder. "Well, it's possible that he's an ex-follower, okay. There are plenty of those drifting around, still devoted… Orochimaru had quite a cult of personality, after all. Sort of had a way of… getting people around his finger."

"Mm." A small silence followed. "Um, well, also, you saw in the reports that he's asking about a… 'False Snake'?"

Karin halfheartedly spread the papers out, away from the folder, in an imitation of searching. "Mhm?"

"And I just… remember Ooda-kun mentioning that, when we were healing him. And I think that Orochimaru's asking about him, too. Do you think… that man that Orochimaru's with is the same one that hurt Ooda-kun?"

"…I don't know, but I hope not." Karin ended the sentence with a hard note in her voice, like a nail.

"Well, we could… always ask him, show him the photographs…"

"I don't want to wake him. Not for this," Karin replied, immediately. "He's been through too much, okay."

"…I understand," Sakura said, feeling almost shrunken afterwards. "Still… if this False Snake they're talking about is Ooda-kun… well, they said they want to talk to him-"

"Not on your life." Karin didn't even let Sakura finish her sentence. "I would never, ever let that happen."

"…Karin, we weren't going to. Especially with the threats against him," Sakura replied, gently. "Naruto and I are going to do everything we can to make sure Ooda-kun remains safe. All right?"

Karin's glare remained hard and narrow. "If you say so," she said. "At any rate, this is barely enough information to go by. I can't draw any conclusions about who this Riverman is or even Orochimaru's general state."

"Well, they did show up only an hour or two ago…" Sakura said.

Karin spread the papers across the table a little more widely, eyes zipping left and right as she read. "And so far Orochimaru hasn't given you any idea about how he came back?"

"No."

And Karin took a deep breath in, then out. "Well, if you let me in to see him, I could assess his chakra. That might tell me something; how long he's been back, how long he's been in… Yakata's body, if the integration is reversible, even…"

Sakura sat up slightly. "Well, that's—reversible? You mean you can do something about this?"

"I can't, okay," Karin said, lowly, sharply. "But if Orochimaru's chakra hasn't completely overrun Yakata's system then there's a chance that Yakata might be able to fight the influence and get his body back."

The stuttering, shifting-eye memory of the boy did not fill Sakura with any comfort. "And if it's… not, could you at least give us an idea about Orochimaru?"

Karin sighed again, heavily.

(Feeling no comfort from her careful, relayed memories of the boy as well.)

"Yes. I can. And maybe that man he's with, too, if I recognize his chakra signature or his personality tics, okay."

"All right," Sakura said. "When you're ready, you can come to my office and we'll go to his cell."

"No," Karin said. "We're going now."

She closed the door very quietly behind her, when they left the room, after bending down over Ooda's sleeping body and resting her forehead against his cheek in a sort of kiss.

(Had he stirred even once, she would have moved the conversation to another room.)

(He did not deserve to get tangled up further in his "father's" crimes.)

The only time Karin hesitated was in seeing the boy draped over the lap of his companion, one bare, brown blood-smeared foot propped up on the table. His eyes were half-open, ever-yellow, and he was smiling sleepily, watching the foot on the table sway to and fro. His companion was docile; his head drooped low into the matted folds of his collar, utterly still.

(This is not your child he is not your child you just made him that doesn't make him yours.)

"Karin, are you okay? Do you need to wait?" Sakura, beside her, put a hand on her shoulder.

Karin breathed in, and out. "No," she replied. "Let's go."

Orochimaru perked up almost immediately upon the opening of the door, and even clapped his hands a little once he saw who it was. "Oh! Oh! Sakura-chan, is it? And you brought Karin! Karin, my dear Karin, my favorite child, how are you?"

Karin remained at the door, standing, with Sakura. "Is that you, Orochimaru?"

"Indeed it is. Don't you recognize me?" He tilted his head in an unfitting expression of sweetness.

"Yes, I do," Karin replied, tonelessly. "What do you want from these people, Orochimaru?"

"Oh, darling, that tone does not suit you at all," Orochimaru said, frowning. "Don't you remember anything I taught you? A lady angered must remain passionate in her words, or she'll only be taken lightly."

Karin didn't say anything. But she reached for Sakura's hand, and held it tightly. Sakura held it back.

"As for whatI want… well, one of the things I wanted was to know how you were doing, dear. And seeing you, now…" He shook his head, almost sorrowfully. "Child, what happened to you and that beautiful body of yours?"

"I grew up. That's all," Karin replied. "I don't feel like playing catch-up, okay, so why don't you tell me what, exactly, you're doing here in Konoha?"

Orochimaru rolled his eyes. "Well, all right, I suppose, since you haven't seen me for almost as long… I've got some unfinished business to attend to, you see."

"What sort of unfinished business?"

"Well, catching up with certain individuals, getting back to postponed projects…" He waved his finger in the air, as though pointing to thoughts floating about in the cell. "Though, first, I think I deserve to repay this child for lending me his body. That's the main reason I'm here, dear Karin."

"Repay him how?"

"Well… hm, I suppose you wouldn't know this, Karin, dear, but this child was a ward of Sasuke's. And I know you remember him. Sasuke, you know?"

There was a low, chest-rumble from the Riverman.

"Yes," Karin replied, "I remember Sasuke."

"Well, Karin, you would not believe the mistreatment this child experienced there. Trained until he had scars and bruises, poor thing, and I'm not even mentioning the awful environment of that home—ruled with fear and an iron fist! And then, outbreaks told he was the reincarnation of a killer? If the poor dear weren't so timid, there'd be no way he'd have ever had any sort of fitting retribution. It would have been downright unjust!"

Karin's hand squeezed Sakura's to the point of trembling.

But her voice remained firm, her face neutrally fixed with anger. "And how, exactly, do you know these things?"

Orochimaru tapped his temple with an index finger. "I've been going through the child's memories recently; there's not much else to do. Things were sort of jumbled up, at first, but I'm starting to get a better idea of the poor dear's background, since I'm settling in. It's enough to make you want to cry."

"Then you should know that he probably has a family that would be horrified to see what you're doing to him, Orochimaru," Karin replied. "People that care about him."

"You know," Orochimaru said, "that's what Naruto-kun told me. Funny." He paused on the thought for a moment, looking at the floor. "I'll just tell you what I told him, then." His eyes locked with hers. "Nobody cares about this child, and he knows it. Except for a sociopathic teenaged girl—who doesn't really count, I don't think—the poor child's probably never even felt real love from anyone. And you know I empathize with that, so I'm fixing things a little for him, sort of as penance for his little sacrifice. Making the world a little more right."

Karin's jaw was quivering as she struggled to keep her mouth shut, to concentrate instead of succumbing to her emotions.

(He isn't yours he isn't yours and he was loved he was loved as much as you would have loved him Suigetsu told you so-)

"Honestly, finding out he was tied to Itachi only made me firmer in my resolution. Tell me, Karin, do you have any idea who made this child? Since I'm sincerely hoping he's more than a flimsy reincarnation or whatever. I'd love to have my own Sharingan, for once…" His mouth curled with pleasure.

(Wait what happened to Suigetsu no don't ask don't ASK-)

"What did you do to Suigetsu?" Karin blurted.

Orochimaru blinked. "Suigetsu? The Hozuki? Why do you ask? This is a bit of a swerve in questioning, Karin, dear…"

Karin could feel her face growing hot. She twisted her mouth into a displeased curve. "Sakura… told me that Suigetsu was acting as the boy's guardian. I'm guessing he wasn't doing a good job? I mean, if this child's been so unhappy, as you say."

"Ahh, I see, I see," Orochimaru replied, nodding, knowingly. "Well, I had him killed. He was rather getting in the way. Why, were you two still acquainted?"

"Somewhat, okay," Karin said, spinning the anxiety in her voice into sarcasm. "Who else are you, uh…" She swallowed to mask a wince. "Planning on taking care of?"

"What, for the boy's sake? Well… I at least want to speak to Sasuke… and certain members of his family, definitely… and that false snake fellow, definitely him."

The body-throne of his companion began to stir. "Loathsome wretch… Dared to come, by earlier…"

Orochimaru looked up, placing a hand on the man's lowered head. "Riverman, my sweet, I told you to remain still and silent."

"That, rotten… still, silent… still, still, and… silent…" His voice disappeared with his movements.

"Riverman, huh?" Karin let go of Sakura's hand so she could cross her arms over her chest, half-armor, half-placebo. "I don't think I know this new… friend of yours, Orochimaru. Who is he?"

"You don't know, me, you, impudent WOMAN how could, you, not KNOW?"

The Riverman's face snapped up to face her, and both of his eyes, wild and wide, were the color of burnt-pink flesh. His mouth was bent in a wolf-like snarl, as he shouted, "YOU SHOULD KNOW ME, YOU SHOULD, KNOW ME! I'M NOT INSIGNIFICANT BECAUSE I'M, SECOND."

But as soon as his roar had subsided, almost artificial-seeming insecurity seeped into his face, and the very features seemed to shift, pale angles catching the light where there were not angles before. "Don't, you, you should know, remember, me, you, should…" His head turned this way and that, as if searching for walls closing in that did not exist. "Why don't, you…"

A second scream, but this time, his eyes were black.

"WHY DON'T, YOU REMEMBER ME!"

Orochimaru finally reached up, rising out of the chair slightly to cradle the side of his head into the man's shoulder. "Darling, sweet, special one, calm down, calm down…" The high cadence of the young boy's voice twisted and spiraled with his comfort. He turned to Karin with an apologetic expression. "You'll have to forgive him; he's got such a temper…"

"But she, she should remember, me, she should…" the Riverman murmured, his frame sinking deeper into the chair at each of Orochimaru's light touches to his face, his neck.

Karin, her feet rooted to the ground for her survival, just swallowed and tried to process the chaotic swirl of chakras that had surged inside and around the man during his outburst, and the visible shifts in facial structure, in eye color that accompanied them.

This was not normal.

"That's fine," Karin said, "but I still want my question answered. Who is he?"

And Orochimaru, sidling back into the comfort of the Riverman's lap, put his finger on his chin. "Not that it matters, but I'm actually not terribly sure any more."

This did nothing to help keep the Riverman calm.

"...but, but, Master you know who, I, am you KNOW, who I am you, recognized, me you made me, come on don't you."

The Riverman was hunched over, face as close to Orochimaru's face as he could make it, bracing himself.

"Remember, your own sensei's master don't you remember YOUR OWN HOKAGE."

The hand bracing himself now making dents in the aluminum, and horrible squeals where his nails hit metal.

"Master please tell me you remember, me, please you said you, had, promise don't you, remember…"

Orochimaru blinked, eyes flitting to the long dents on the table in front of them.

"…of course I remember you, sweetheart. There's no way I could have ever forgotten, not after all you've done for me."

And Orochimaru leaned in and kissed him, gently, on the cheek. "Now be a good boy and calm down for me, now. You're not useful to me angry."

"Not, useful, not useful, not, oh, I'm… sorry, Master, I'm sorry…"

"There, there, it's all right, no harm done…" Orochimaru cooed. "Well, Karin, are you satisfied? My dear friend is a bit of an enigma, and that's all we have. For all intents and purposes, he is my Riverman, and that's all that matters, I think."

Karin, carrying the memory of his chakra signatures with her, said, "Fine. So, then, I suppose that brings us back to Sasuke and his family."

"If you want," Orochimaru replied, casually.

"What did you want to talk to them about? More catching-up, like with me?"

"Perhaps a little, but only that," Orochimaru said. "The ultimate goal, however…"

And he grinned widely, but there was no smile in his stolen eyes. Only madness.

"…is punishment. And I won't rest until I find out who in the world my lovely little doppelganger is, either. I'm a… man on a mission, you see." He giggled, his laughter squeaking with youth. "It's very exciting to have goals again, after nothing but dreams…"

Karin turned to face Sakura. "I think I'm done here."

"All right." Sakura motioned behind her, and the ANBU behind the door opened it.

"Aww, are you leaving me?" Orochimaru curled in nearer to himself, pouting.

Karin did not reply, beginning for the door.

"Oh, whatever. It's been a joy talking to you, Karin. I missed you so. It's been far too long."

Sakura put her hand on Karin's shoulder again.

"It's such a shame you're not as sweet a girl as you used to be. Nor as pretty. The Karin I knew would have dropped everything to help me. What changed, dear?"

Karin let them shut the door behind her, and she walked away from the room with purpose, not even daring to look back at the double-sided glass.

"Sakura," she said, once she was far enough away, "we need to get Sasuke and his family under protection now. I don't care how good the cells are here, okay, I have a feeling it won't be enough."

"You don't need to tell me," Sakura said. "Do you need a more secure room at the hospital for you and-?"

"What, do you have jail cells in your basement?" Karin said. "My room is fine; the hospital is secure enough for me, okay."

"All right, all right," Sakura said. "Let's get you back, then, I don't want anything to happen."

"No, hold on."

"What?"

"Orochimaru's chakra? I was tracking it the entire time, don't you want to know?"

"Oh, yes! Yes, here." Sakura got out her notepad from her pocket. "I'll relay this to Naruto. What's the situation?"

Karin sucked in her lips before answering. "His chakra is weak, and there's not much of it, so he was either injured not long ago or was forced into… regenerating himself. Which means he probably came back very recently; I think we'd have known if he'd been in any battles."

"Well that's… comforting, a little?" Sakura said, jotting down the notes. "That he hasn't been around long enough to do much… major damage."

"A little," Karin replied. "And as for… Yakata…" She closed her eyes as she breathed in, thinking. "…I don't know, okay. I felt… something apart from Orochimaru's chakra inside of him, but it was so hard to notice…"

"Does that mean there's hope?" Sakura's pen paused. "That Yakata-kun might break free?"

"…I don't know," Karin said again.

Sakura lowered her head in a half-nod. "All right. Let's move onto the… Riverman guy. Any idea?"

And Karin paused, closing her eyes as she thought, concentrating, dragging up the conflicting sharpnesses of his chakra.

"There was… something in him that I recognized. But it was hard to keep track of; it felt like he had two separate chakra systems, at times."

"Two chakra systems?"

"I don't know how else to describe it," Karin replied, raising her hands with a shrug. "They always seemed to happen whenever his appearance shifted, though, okay. You noticed that, at least, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," Sakura said. "Does this mean he's some sort of experiment, then? A modified human?"

"Possibly," Karin said, "but none I'd ever heard of. And trust me, I know about all of Orochimaru's experiments. This isn't like anything he'd even thought of. If he were an artificial construct, like a Zetsu clone, then he'd still have one uniform chakra signature. And if he were using immortality jutsu like Orochimaru is, then one of the signatures would definitely be dominant, okay, and we wouldn't be getting these physical changes…"

"So that tells us… nothing," Sakura said.

Karin was looking down, thinking further. "No, there's… one thing that caught me."

"And that is?"

"When he got angry about me not recognizing him, he mentioned… something about a Hokage?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Karin adjusted her glasses. "Well, it's nothing I've observed before, but I'm wondering if maybe he's… an Edo Tensei summon."

"Edo Tensei? No, surely not," Sakura said. "Those all got sent away after the war."

"I'm thinking this one's from before the war," Karin sad. "Set aside, or… one that Orochimaru lost control of, in trying to perfect the technique."

"As… interesting as that would be," Sakura said, uncomfortably, "why do you think that's a possibility? He doesn't look like an Edo Tensei summon, he doesn't have those black sclera or anything, or cracked skin…"

"Well, the Edo Tensei is a largely under-researched technique. Understandably, okay," Karin added, glancing sideways. "The longest they've ever been used, from what I understand, is only a few days. And I'm wondering if, left alone for long enough—a couple of years, for example—the soul from the host body, used to bond the summoned soul to the earth, would start to… leak through, or merge with the summoned identity, and start to change them."

"So… two souls in one body, you mean?"

"An indestructible body," Karin replied, lowly. "And from the looks of this Riverman guy, highly unstable, at that. Imagine your brain trying to process two entirely separate egos and ways of thinking at the same time, and your body shifting to try and accommodate, as a side-effect of the Edo Tensei."

Sakura just grimaced, in thinking about it.

"It's only a theory, but… from the amount of chakra he has, the nature of the chakra, his appearance… I can't think of anything else that Orochimaru is capable of," Karin said. "Besides, if he were a follower-turned-test subject, that would explain the extreme… devotion, okay." She swallowed the unpleasant words after she spoke them.

Sakura considered her options for a while, after this.

"So you really can't think of anything else he could be, can you…?" she said.

"If I could, I'd have told you by now," Karin replied. "Believe me, this is the last thing I want him to be. I know how much trouble those things are."

Sakura turned to her notepad, jotting down a few things, her mouth fixed. "I'll… go to Naruto, then. See what he and Andou-kun can dig up about Orochimaru using the jutsu, and what he summoned with it. Is there anything… you can remember from Orochimaru's reports off the top of your head that you think might help? We have copies stored away, and-"

"Everything I know about the Edo Tensei from his notes is severely limited. He mostly wrote about wanting to learn it and then finally learning it, and how he wanted to use it, okay. I'm sorry," Karin said. "He never mentioned who he wanted or managed to summon."

"No need to apologize," Sakura said, without smiling. "I'll take you back to the hospital, then, before I go to Naruto."

"Oh, that's fine, you can go straight there, I'll be okay," Karin said, standing.

But Sakura grabbed her arm. "Karin, I don't want anything happening to either you or your children. Let me escort you. Please."

She managed a smile, at that, and Karin gave in.

(When Karin got to her room, and once Sakura was gone, she went in search of Shingetsu and hugged him as tightly as she could, trying not to cry.)

("Mommy, what's wrong? Why you so upset?")

(After all this misfortune and pain, what she wanted most was for Suigetsu to be there.)

(But he was gone, much as her mind wanted to deny it, to believe that nothing had happened to him, that he was okay.)

(She didn't tell their son this, however, just holding him tighter, feeling his lukewarm hands, just like his, clinging to her neck.)

Sakura left shortly afterward to report Karin's findings. Naruto was in the middle of a casual gathering of Kages in one of the lounges, at the time, and she tried to be as discrete as possible.

"Just, whenever you're free, I have some new information, about things, you know, with our… visitor," she said, after Naruto asked her what was up.

"Our visitor…?" His eyebrows twisted. "Ohh, you mean that guy! Yeah, let's take this to my office, y'know."

"What visitor?" Gaara, pouring himself another cup of tea, said.

"Just, uh… a friend of ours that's havin' some trouble, no big deal," Naruto said, with a smile that was just a bit too wide.

"Anything I can help with?" Gaara continued.

"No, no, not at all, it's fine, we can handle it," Naruto said, saving his hands. "I'll be back soon, y'know."

Gaara sipped his tea with suspicion, as he watched them leave.

Naruto closed the door behind him when he entered the office. "Okay, so what did you find out?"

And she told him, about Yakata's slim presence, about the Riverman, and Karin's theories on both.

Of course, Naruto remained optimistic about the former, but the latter brought out a rare, worried crease. "An Edo Tensei summon? Is she sure?"

"She says it's the only thing she could think of that would make a guy that looks and feels like he does," Sakura replied. "So we have to start thinking about ways to get rid of him. And, more importantly, figure out just who he's trying to be."

"Well… he mentioned something about a Hokage, right?" Naruto said. Sakura nodded. "Well… I don't think Kabuto summoned any of the former Hokages during the war. Not the first or second, or even my dad, y'know. I dunno why he didn't. Maybe Orochimaru had already summoned them and he didn't have control over 'em?"

"It's a possibility. I mean, Karin said she thinks this guy was summoned before the war, and was left alone long enough to turn… weird."

"Right, right…" Naruto nodded. "I'll have Andou-kun look through skirmish records and see if there's any instance of him using an Edo Tensei-summoned Hokage in a battle. And if nothing turns up… well, hey, we can just assume, right? Not like it matters," Naruto said. "We can just guess."

"Yeah… I mean, if I had to really guess…" Sakura frowned, concentrating, remembering that uneven face. "I'd have to say that he's maybe the Second Hokage? But I can't be sure; the resemblance comes and goes…"

"Right, and that gives us a rough idea of what he's capable of." Naruto nodded a few more times. "I mean, heck, the guy that was with Ooda-kun was a water-user, and he's probably the same guy, right? So that confirms it."

"I suppose," Sakura said uneasily. "Let me know whatever Andou-kun finds, though. And…" She rubbed her forehead out of sheer embarrassment. "And get some guards to protect Sasuke's family. Both Orochimaru and this… Riverman guy have targeted them."

"Absolutely, of course, I won't let any harm come to them," Naruto said, his voice firm. "That'll be the first thing I do, y'know."

Sakura sighed, with only a little relief. "Thank you. I mean, hopefully we'll figure out what to do before we'll need to use the guards, but…"

"It'll keep our stress down," Naruto said, smiling. "Knowing we have one less thing to worry about."

"Right. I'm… keeping the hospital together, at any rate. Making sure Karin's safe. I can manage that."

"You so can," Naruto said. "Well, go on, I'll keep you informed."

"Thank you," Sakura said, and left.

As promised, Naruto sent out the orders for the Uchiha family's protection immediately after Sakura's departure, citing a temporary attack risk as the reason to be given, should any of them ask.

"Oh, no, please, don't tell me that Sasuke's done something…" Ino's voice became quieter and quieter.

"It's not your husband, ma'am," the crow-faced ANBU replied, as allowed by Naruto. "He's under protection too, until the threat passes."

(Though Sasuke chased out his "protection" with an application of chidori and plenty of yelling. They stayed near his house, regardless, keeping watch.)

"What sort of threat?" Inoichi, from behind, said.

"We don't know, sir. But the safety of your family is paramount."

Part of the terms was not allowing any of them to leave the Yamanaka compound. Inoichi temporarily closed his shop, to stay home. Takeru still managed to disappear, and stay unbothered as long as possible.

Sakura, at the hospital, made routine checks with the hospital's security staff whenever she had a moment free, just to reassure herself. She trusted her staff, but she trusted herself more, and vowed to personally defend the hospital and everyone in it—especially Karin, especially her family—if that was what it came to.

Once the orders had all been given and reported as successful, Naruto returned to his waiting friends.

"So, really, is everything all right?" Gaara said, quietly, once he got a moment in.

"Perfectly fine," Naruto said, with a ceramic smile.