Chapter 12: Ties of a failed past
A leaf flew in the dance of winds, carried from the earth up to the heavens. In the whirlwind, Sasuke's eyes got covered by strands of hair. He gently took them off and put them back in their place.
"What made you return for me?" Jūgo asked.
"Eh, let's say that I learned from some old friends that there are certain ties that bind you to paths that you were unable to see before," Sasuke said.
"Let's just say I want to explore those paths with new eyes," he added.
Jūgo watched closely as he listened. He had known Sasuke through his darkest times, and while he seemed the same old Sasuke that he knew, composed and in control, a man of few words and direct action, there was something new, something changed about him.
He never really questioned Sasuke much. Just trusted him completely. Being the only one who could help keep in control his abilities after Kimimaro had been gone, for Jūgo, Sasuke meant a lot. The rest of the world might have seen the last survivor of the Sharingan clan as a curse, but not him. For Jūgo, Sasuke was a blessing. So, for that reason alone, he never really questioned any of his commands or decisions.
And it wasn't the case now. It wasn't inquisitive questioning. More like… curious one. After all, given the new political regime they were all finding themselves in, Jūgo never really expected to see Sasuke ever again. Like the rest of Team Taka. That was partly the reason why they all returned and stayed with Orochimaru. Or well, he did, as Karin and Suigetsu had already left the hideout.
But Sasuke returning for him had never been a thought to cross his mind. He expected him to be held captive for what the world saw as crimes given the political regime they lived in. Or, in the best-case scenario, expected him to get back to his former teammates.
He guessed as much that those were probably the old friends that he referred to.
"Let me guess, your former teammates?" Jūgo asked.
Sasuke nodded.
"I figured as much," he said.
"How did things go? What happened with them, with you? Last time, you and Konoha and the whole shinobi world..." he paused.
"Let's just say that my aid in the war was crucial and well… they agreed to let me roam the world free. For now, at least" Sasuke said.
But this was all too simple. Those were all surface-level details. What laid deeper? Sasuke was a man of deep oceans of emotions. Yes, the waters above might be clear, but what about the depths of his being?
"And what about you and… Konoha? I know you helped them in the war, but… you said, you know…" Jūgo asked again, tilting his head to the side, reminiscing the times when he said his only goal was to destroy his former homeland. Sure, he helped them in the war, but the last thing Jūgo remembered about the situation, was Sasuke still wanting to cut those ties…
Thinking about Naruto, Sasuke spared a slight smile in the corner of his mouth.
"I do. I fought that battle and lost," he said smiling and serenely, looking at the sky above.
It was a tad bit odd to see Sasuke this way, but Jūgo couldn't help but smile and be content about it.
"I see…" he said.
If Sasuke was smiling while saying that, then it meant it was okay. Of course, it was strange to hear that he had lost, as he'd always been quite a skillful shinobi. But, eh, life sometimes was out there surprising one. He hid the best he could the fact that he was astounded though.
"It's okay," Sasuke said, sensing Jūgo's silent amazement.
"Not all defeats are losses. Some are just heavy burdens you carry, that life helps you get rid of, so it can make place for better things to come," Sasuke said.
"After all, they were right…" he continued, thinking about Sakura and Naruto.
"Revenge didn't bring me happiness," he said reminiscing about Sakura's words.
"And companionship makes one's burdens lighter to carry," he added, as Naruto's figure came into his mind's eye.
"After all, all hearts bleed grief when they hurt, no matter the source of that sorrow. Pain is the great equalizer. It teaches us that suffering is all the same for everyone, and it connects us to make the heavy load easier to carry, until it gets healed" Sasuke concluded, as he reminisced about the words he used to tell Naruto when he compared their suffering. Sure, the situations were indeed different, but the pain was all the same. The pain of loneliness.
He seemed to be in a chatty mood, a thing which was quite unusual for Sasuke. The old one that Jūgo knew was a man of few words but, for some reason, today he was quite talkative. Maybe it was a spur of the moment. Whatever it was, Jūgo decided not to interrupt him and just take advantage of the situation and see the world through these new eyes of Sasuke's.
But as Jūgo contemplated over Sasuke's new nature, he heard him speak again.
"Despite the pain, Itachi sacrificed his life, our clan, and our family for the village. My former teammates also do the same. However, in this respect, I can't be like them. At least yet. Truly speaking, I don't know if I'll ever be. There are certain stains on my village's past that I cannot ignore. And while I understand that we all suffer the same pain, there are still elements from this complex situation that I haven't made peace with. Those stains in my village's past pained me so much that I ended up making great sacrifices…"
Sasuke paused. His serene expression turned bleak at the reminder of the sacrifices he had made.
The first time it was Naruto, because he was the one who strongly stood against him and his goal to gain more power to kill Itachi. Then, after he managed to reach that particular goal, a new one came along, as he learned about the underneath of all the surface history of the Uchiha clan massacre. That's when he vowed to cleanse the Uchiha name and destroy Konoha. It became his ultimate goal, his reason to live.
And as he was closer to that goal materialized in no one else than Danzo Shimura, the man who had cornered his brother into that terrible choice in their political war fares, Karin was the one who stood in his way, unwillingly. However, engulfed in the hatred that he felt towards that man, when she got captured by him, Sasuke threw away his last shred of humanity and sacrificed her.
"Karin, you mean?" Jūgo asked, not knowing about Sasuke's previous sacrifice.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he answered.
"Yes," he said. For a while he just paused, not knowing what to say more. Especially after in the context of what he had found out from Orochimaru about who she was.
"Her and my former teammate, Naruto," Sasuke managed to add.
Jūgo saw the tension already rising in Sasuke.
"I don't know if you're thinking about their forgiveness or not, if you care about that or not, but… at least we know that Karindid forgive you," he said, reminiscing about the last time they saw each other.
Sasuke half smiled. A smile mixed with awkwardness. He didn't even know how to react to the memory of the time he met Karin after the Danzo incident. In a way, he felt like smiling because he remembered Karin and her antics, which were intriguing in their own odd kind of way but at the same time, that same memory puzzled him.
This girl was so hard to pinpoint. She was like light and dark in a single frame. Two beings in one person. One serious and reliable, one crazily eccentric. And it was always a lottery ticket surprise in terms of which one you'd have the chance to encounter on a particular day. So confusing!
However, she was the only familiar face when he had joined Orochimaru's network of hideouts back in the day. He remembered thinking about what were the odds of that happening, but surprisingly, the universe works in mysterious ways sometimes.
In the time they spent together before Karin was sent to another hideout, he managed to find out how Karin, like him, wasn't truly there for Orochimaru. It was when she had actually unmasked his ulterior motive for joining him.
That's when he found out the exceptional shinobi she was when she was quick to pinpoint that he was lying about his affiliation with Orochimaru. Or better said, not fully telling the truth. While it was easy to fake it with the others that he's willingly giving himself to Orochimaru, with her, it was different.
She knew Sasuke wasn't there to be Orochimaru's errand boy and she confronted him about it. To make him open up to her though, she opened up to him and informed him that she wasn't faithful to the snake either.
However, when Sasuke asked Karin about the reason she was working under him, she quickly had a change in demeanor and started acting incomprehensible to him. But it was enough for them to start forming a kinship of some sort.
He remembered them having that conversation in a low tone when Orochimaru was about to experiment for the first time on Sasuke's body. He had just left for a moment, and they were whispering as they didn't want to get caught. He was supposed to be under anesthesia but for some reason, the dosage didn't work on him. He guessed it was because of that seal Orochimaru put on him when they had met for the first time.
That's when Karin also showed her sensing prowess to Sasuke when in the middle of their little chat she urged him to fake his sleep because she sensed someone approaching, detailing how many and by chakra nature type. And since she sensed one of the three being a medical ninja, most assuredly he'd be able to tell Sasuke was faking his sleep.
He said he couldn't, so Karin told him that she had no choice but to give him another shot. Not before assuring him to not worry, as she'll make sure Orochimaru doesn't harm him as she can sense anything that happens in his body. In the urgency of the moment, Sasuke agreed and to his surprise, the second shot worked.
What he didn't know past this was that Karin was successful in her plan, but to cover everything up, she took advantage of the situation and made it look like she was pinning over Sasuke like a girl who just wanted to steal a kiss. Seemed like the perfect cover for the perfect timing, as Orochimaru came back with Kabuto and Suigetsu in the lab.
In the scare of the moment and the position she was in, the syringe that she used to shoot Sasuke the second time, fell on the ground and that's when Suigetsu took notice of it. A broken syringe after she turned back as "she was getting caught," made Suigetsu give a snarky remark about what she was "doing" to Sasuke.
That's when she got her very first tease from Suigetsu over her feelings for Sasuke. Not that they weren't true, but there was more to meet the eye than what Suigetsu was witnessing.
Orochimaru & Kabuto on the other hand, didn't even care, despite her apologizing scarily. They were busy with other things and just thought it was the nervousness of a young girl having a crush on the broody Uchiha, like he had seen it many times throughout Konoha.
So, in that peculiar kind of way, the cover-up Karin planned was just perfect. The mission was accomplished.
Later on, when Sasuke woke up, he didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. Next to him was Karin, proof that indeed she took care of him and didn't let anything happen to him like she had promised.
After that day, Sasuke promised her on the other hand that one day, he'll get them both out of there.
That reason combined with the prowess of the strengths she displayed, became the reason that he sought her when he managed to escape. He knew how reliable she was. Through thick and thin.
And yet, he betrayed her trust the same way he betrayed Naruto's and sacrificed her for his goal, the same way he had sacrificed Naruto's friendship and life, almost, back when he left Konoha the first time.
His brows furrowed. His breath betrayed a sigh, as his eyes dropped from the sky.
"Now, I don't know about your relationship with the others, but Karin… she loves you, you know?" Jūgo said, seeing Sasuke's eyes fall to the ground as he was reminiscing about that memory.
"Sure, she is probably the most eccentric one out there, second to none, bar maybe Suigetsu. Though I'm not sure about that one either. You don't know much, but Suigetsu always used to tease her about it. And while she did her best to hide that fact, you could just always read it on her face. But in all her queer way of being, one thing we can know for sure is that she loves you. Greatly. So much that despite you hurting her, she found it in her heart to forgive you. If the others care about you the same way she does, I'm sure they have forgiven you, too."
It didn't make Sasuke happier to hear that, and he quickly closed himself off when he heard it. In a split second, he returned to his former demeanor. Cold, tensed, and not many words.
Seeing that Jūgo apologized. The last thing he meant was to make Sasuke feel in any odd way.
"Maybe I shouldn't have added that piece of information," he thought to himself. Now thinking about it, he wasn't sure how exactly was that supposed to help Sasuke, and especially, if Karin was present, she'd probably want to kill him. Talking about the feelings she had for Sasuke had always been her tabu.
"I…" Sasuke tried speaking.
A load quickly enveloped his body. Felt like the old burden he carried so many years with him.
Of course, the old burden that he had escaped was related to the revenge for his clan. That matter was cleared. He had made peace with that particular subject.
But the entirety of that situation was more complex. There were still unresolved feelings. Still, things he had to make peace with. It wasn't all for nothing when he said to Naruto there were still things to resolve between them.
As much as he made peace with the fact that he didn't have to be alone, there were still other burdens that loaded his soul.
One of those loads carried him back to the times when Sakura had confessed once again in the war when Jūgo mentioned Karin's love for him. Made him remember Kakashi's words that said Sakura was hurting because of that love.
"It's just…" he said, through gritted teeth.
He got more and more frustrated as he found it hard to express what he meant. Whenever he heard about someone loving him, there was a wall in Sasuke that rose every time. His muscles got tensed. His stomach ached. His whole body reacted as the trauma stored in his bones came once again back to the surface.
He didn't ask for anyone to love him. Sakura, Karin, Naruto. He didn't want anyone to do so. People who loved him had the unlucky habit of disappearing from his life in a traumatic way. It made things way more complicated than they needed to be after an already convoluted life.
The intense sensation of being caught up between the two parts of a bench vise he felt while thinking about all these things soon made his body and soul go numb.
"The starved can't feed the hungry. Only the abundant ones can," was all that he mustered to say, as his eyes turned spiritless for a while, like in the old days.
"Who am I, but a starved soul who can't feed the hungry?"
Jūgo felt remorseful. It probably wasn't the best to bring back those memories. He tried to switch a bit the subject.
"I suppose you're right," Jūgo said, putting his eyes down to the ground. However, this gloom and doom wasn't going to help anyone, so he tried to diffuse a bit the situation and bring some positivity back.
"But hey… old friends and new paths you said, right?" Jūgo said, raising his head from the ground, smiling at Sasuke, as a reminder of Sasuke's own words from earlier.
"It's no use to get stuck in the past. There's nothing you can change about it. And it's not the past that defines us, but the present moment. And the present you is here. Now. No matter what has happened in the past and the bridges you destroyed, from what you're telling me and from what I know, there are people out there who still love you. You still have ties in this world that you can connect with."
Jūgo's words reminded Sasuke of Naruto's own idealism, so he managed to muster a somewhat candid smile.
"I suppose you're right, too," he said, as they continued walking through the forest getting further and further away from Orochimaru's hideout.
It wasn't long until they came out of it, landing on top of a valley whose path seemed to split into two directions.
"Which path now?" Jūgo asked.
"Hmm…" Sasuke mumbled, as his hair started dancing in the blowing wind again. Looking at the entire valley that contained two villages. For a second, it felt like a miracle seeing them look so serene and unscathed by the horrors of the war that had just passed.
It was hard to make a choice really, as from above where he and Jūgo were placed, both options seemed viable. A decision had to be made though.
"Let's see…"
She smashed her backpack against the reception desk and asked for a room. The old man in front of her looked at her from head to toe and back up, visibly bothered by her behavior.
With slight disgust that he didn't try too much to hide, he asked how many nights she was planning to stay.
She informed him that just one for now. She'd decide in the morning if she needed more and she'd let him know. But for the moment, a night should do.
The man looked again at her through the glasses that were slipping off his nose; seeing her looking so young, he couldn't help but comment on her financial status.
"Do you even have money to pay for your stay here? You look quite young to be traveling alone like that," he said.
She quickly glanced at the price list behind the man as she ignored his comment and picked the money from one of her pockets, throwing it directly on the counter, making sure to drop a few on the floor.
The man threw away the keys at her in disdain, blabbering some words she didn't even bother to listen to as she took the keys, the backpack, and headed to her room.
"Those glasses need your nose for support, why do you insist on sticking it where it doesn't belong to you? Next time learn to just do your job and mind your own business," she said to him, looking back as he gathered the money on the floor.
This inn wasn't the friendliest nor the most well-respected by the looks of it, but she needed to lay low anyway. Just needed a night to clear her head and decide what she was going to do next.
Arriving in her room, she just threw herself on the bed immediately. Took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her mind started wondering…
She had found out so much about herself, lately, that she didn't really know where to start.
Where should she go to? Towards Konoha, or towards Uzushiogakure? To meet Naruto Uzumaki or to go to that Uzumaki compound Orochimaru had told her about? From her discussion with him about the other Uzumaki boy, it didn't seem like he himself knew much, but Konoha did.
How come he doesn't though he lives there? Are all Konoha ninjas that stupid or what's up with them?
And to think they were distant relatives. Ugh. She couldn't help but slap her forehead at the thought of it.
On the other hand, from what she remembered, his chakra from back then was so warm… he seemed like a really great person to be around. His chakra reminded her of Sasuke's from back in the day. That warmth that he so much tried to hide behind that tough facade. He could fool anyone else, but her.
Sure, there was always something off about his chakra from time to time, but before she learned the truth, she had guessed that it was because of whatever reason that had brought him to Orochimaru.
"Ugh, that damn stupid again… get out of my head!" she shouted as her look frowned and her whole expression changed into an all-out pout. She opened her eyes quickly and saw the window that was at the top of the ceiling. Which she hadn't even noticed initially. She was that lost in all the wonders of her mind.
The crescent moon was shining through the stars of a clear sky that night. And since she couldn't get Sasuke out of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder where he was.
"Are you okay, I wonder? How's the world treating you now?" She asked as she stared at the crescent moon with soft eyes. A flash of the smile when they first met visited once more her mind's eye.
But those soft eyes soon turned icy.
"Ugh, I should get you out of my mind, you damn idiot! You tried to kill me!" She said, quickly changing her demeanor. She was either hot or cold when it came to him. Rarely in-between.
A battle of reason and passion was constantly warring against each other inside her very spirit whenever it came to Sasuke. What a total nuisance! If only she could get him out of her head.
"Ugh!" She shouted in frustration as she rose from the bed and went straight to the backpack. From a specific pocket, she took out the picture of that woman.
With her hair red almost the same shade as hers and tied in a knot at the top of her head, slightly smiling, Karin started shouting at it.
"It's YOUR FAULT! If only his smile hadn't reminded me of you… You who I don't even KNOW that much about anyway! Who are you mot-…" were the last words she could speak before an incredible pain started swarming inside her skull. Her ears started ringing and a high prolonged pitch ended-up collapsing her on the floor.
She spent all her night passed-out, and by the time she woke up, it was already morning. The only way she was brought back to consciousness, was the second day when she heard the loud knocks at the door. It was the old geezer from last night preparing to kick her out because it was already check-out time.
She slowly rose from the floor and went to the door to open it. After squabbling with the old man, she quickly went to the backpack, took some more money from there, and asked for another night.
Then she shouted at him to close the damn door and leave her alone. The man complied after seeing his money, but not before blabbing something that she didn't bother listening to.
"What happened to me?" she asked herself as she held her pained head, while slowly sitting herself down on the edge of the bed.
"Last thing I remember is being pissed about Sasuke and…" she said, cutting herself short of her own monologue as she looked around the room.
"A picture… a picture," she said, as she started looking on the floor through the other objects that fell around her when she passed out.
It didn't take much and she saw the picture she was looking for. When she took it into her hands and looked at it again, her mind turned completely void and empty… That person no longer made her feel anything.
"Who are you?" she asked as she looked at the picture of what was now a complete stranger.
"Why am I carrying you around with me?" she asked, looking at it closely and analyzing it. She was left with the sensation that it was important to have that picture with her, but she couldn't remember why she had to do that. The only thing she noticed was a certain similarity to a certain someone's smile.
"God, I swear I'm incurable sometimes. Focus, Karin, focus!" she told herself as she tried to search through her memories what was it with the woman in that picture.
And as much as she tried to remember, as harder her head started aching and a pitch whose sound got higher and higher sounded in her ears.
She threw the picture away for a second, screaming in complete pain.
"What the hell?" she shouted, as she put her hands on her head and ears to cover herself from that sound in an attempt to soothe the pain.
She couldn't understand at all what the hell was happening. She had to do something to get rid of that pain.
Maybe she needed to get out of the room. To go look for a pharmacy or something like that.
So, she got up, and through all that pain, arranged a bit of the mess in the room, took her backpack, and waltzed out of it as soon as everything was somewhat tidy.
Some fresh air was needed. Something, anything. Anything that got her out of that monstrous headache.
A firm voice invited the person who was knocking from the other side of the room. Soon after, the sound of a screeching door made itself present in the room.
"Ah, you're finally here!" Kakashi said, somewhat enthusiastic. "I've been waiting for you," he said, as he put aside the paperwork he was looking at.
"Yup, I'm finally here," the other voice replied to him. "Like you asked," the silhouette said, shrugging its hands in the air.
"My, my, but why do I sense some aversion in your tone?" Kakashi asked. "What did I ever do to you so bad?"
A frustrated sigh made its presence felt.
"Because I don't quite understand your proposal, to be honest," the person on the other side of the room said.
Kakashi chuckled.
"Is it that bad?" he asked.
"If you ask me… yes?" the other voice replied.
"How can you even propose such a thing after I've failed Konoha so badly, and I was nothing but a pawn in the grand scheme of things that helped the enemy succeed with their plan?" the frustrated voice said. "And I didn't do that once, but twice!"
"Twice?" Kakashi asked curious. "What do you mean by that?"
"Yes, once in the war that just passed, in which I wish I'd had better died than survive and come back to a reality where I was such a complete failure, and the second one back when he first attacked Konoha… You know what time I'm talking about…" the person said, as she took the coat's collar and shoved it aside to show a very familiar sign on her neck.
Kakashi's forehead frowned for a second there.
"Which is precisely why I want to have you as my advisor, Anko," he said, accentuating his tone.
"You're a fool for even thinking about it!" Anko quickly replied when another knock came through.
"Maybe," Kakashi said. "But there isn't anyone in Konoha to know our troops as good as you, to have so much knowledge regarding the administrative and logistic tasks of the operations we conducted over the years, and who has so much knowledge on the top targets of Konoha, one of which being the very one you mentioned earlier," Kakashi added, pointing at the sign of the cursed seal that Anko showed him earlier.
"After all, let's remember who was always in charge of the chunin exam's event and the captain of most of Konoha's top-tier missions," he added.
"Also, why do you think Kabuto targeted you specifically, Anko? It's because you're an asset, not a liability," Kakashi said, as he laid back on his chair.
"And I intend to make use of that asset very well, so no more fighting me over this. I've made my decision!" He said, firmly.
She tried to put in some words, but Kakashi was more spirited than usual. Out of all the times he could've been chattier, he chose this one. Marvelous!
"I'm the Hokage now, remember? You respond to me. It's I who says who decides if my soldiers are to be released from their duty or not.
Visibly bothered, Anko puffed and turned her head to the side.
"You men are impossible like that," was all that she could respond. "Besides, I'm not the person who could stay in an office all day!" Anko said as she raised the tone of her voice.
"Do you see me standing next to your ass 24/7 guarding you and pampering you for whatever boring Hokage meetings you have?" she asked.
"Who said anything about being my strategic advisor, though? You're going to be my military advisor. I have someone else for that kind of job," he said.
"Besides," Kakashi added, "Consider this as me giving you the chance to make up for some of those backtracks in the past," he said, shrugging nonchalantly.
Anko tilted her head to the side, side-eyeing him.
"Aren't we now in what they call times of peace? Why would you even need a military advisor anyway?" She asked.
"The war might be over, yes, but that doesn't mean all the darkness of the world just vanished. You know as they say, it is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."
Dismissive, Anko puffed.
"Whatever", she said. "You and your ever-present pearls of wanna-be-wisdom," she added, rolling her eyes. "I'm not your old cute and impressionable young team, you know?"
"Who said anything about that? I know you're not. Which is why I want you as my military advisor. The war might be over, and an alliance is formed, but who knows what this alliance will bring to the military forces we and the other nations have. I need someone capable of dealing with the aspects of such operations, and as I said, your past recommends you highly. Plus, as I said, there are still other threats looming in this world, you know?"
Shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes, Anko capitulated.
"I guess I have no choice. I'll be your advisor"
Smiling under his mask, Kakashi couldn't help but tease Anko a bit to ease her out.
"See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?"
"Don't push your luck, Hatake!" Anko replied, pointing his fingers at him, while her eyes were cutting him into small pieces already.
"Hey, is that a way to speak to your Lord Hokage, advisor?" he kept pushing, chuckling behind his mask.
No matter how much he tried, he just couldn't help teasing her a bit. But that was all part of a very well-thought-out strategy. Anko was truly a valuable asset of Konoha for a very long time now and besides that, after what had happened in the war, letting her dwell on what she considered failures wouldn't help her. He knew that very well from past experience.
Giving someone something to look forward to is what a soldier like her needs. Plus, for the thing he had in mind, she was more than perfect. And yes, the times were indeed peaceful. For now, at least.
The war was yet too fresh for anything to happen right away, but he had been in this field long enough to know that once the common enemy was gone, nothing could guarantee the peaceful state of the world would stay that way. Not to mention, there were still some darker aspects of the world that needed taking care of. Such as Orochimaru.
And who better at that than Anko, who was one of his test subjects? And one that survived, no less? There weren't many that were lucky to still be alive after someone like Orochimaru had gotten their hands on it. In Konoha, it was only she, Sasuke, and Yamato who were lucky enough to still see the light of the day.
And with the destruction and destabilization, a war brings, it is the perfect time for skewed and shrewd characters like that to take advantage of the situation. And a snake might shed his skin, but never its nature. And no matter how much Orochimaru helped them in the war, he didn't trust his change of heart. Not when their enemy was a common one. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, but when the enemy is gone, so is the friendship. Which is why he thought about this very aspect and made sure to be already one step ahead of the game. And to do that, he needed someone like Anko. So, he informed her about everything he thought about.
That, and about the mission he had already sent a certain someone into.
"You understand now why I need you to help me out with this, right? And why there's no one better than you and him to carry out this important task," he said.
Being reminded of that sick bastard, Anko couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"The very sound of his name makes me want to throw up," she said. "But, I guess you're right. We need to make sure that no children fall victim to his old antics. Especially now, that Kabuto also has something weird about him. I couldn't say what yet but when I met him, he was different. He had done something to his body, I don't know what, yet…"
"Well, lucky you I already know something about that from a certain someone," Kakashi said.
"Eh, what do you mean?" Anko asked.
"I'm still waiting for some data for a certain someone to be able to fully bring you up to speed, but if you're patient enough for a little while longer, you should get the whole story soon," Kakashi said, as he heard another knock on the door.
As soon as he invited the guest, Kakashi couldn't help but smile.
"Well, Anko, it seems you're in luck and you won't need to wait that long," he said as Yamato came in carrying a file.
"Welcome!" Kakashi said to Yamato, as he raised his hand to grab the file Yamato was holding in his hand.
He opened it and started reading, but not before instructing Yamato to go next to Anko, as there would be things the three of them need to discuss, as soon as he's done reading the briefing.