Chapter 49: What's the Real Deal

"Look," said Akaiko, gesturing to the price tag, "there's no way we can't buy them. It's a buy-one-get-three deal. You don't see that every day."

Kushina sighed, deftly snatching one of the boxes away from Obito and returning it to the shelf. "If they're on sale to that extent, that probably means they've gone bad." She read the label. "Or haven't been selling well."

Looking over the snack-box again, Akaiko couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at it. Just a bit. Dried fruit, she didn't have a problem with usually. But leaving the peel on, and adding cheese?—those were weird choices in her book. And other's too, if it wasn't selling even with a sale like this.

"I mean, they don't look very good—I'll give you that much." That said, they weren't buying for themselves. "You know Axel has weird taste in food sometimes."

Obito nodded in complete agreement.

All of them knew that, of course, having been sharing dinners with the man once a week for nearly a year. Axel didn't cook a meal from scratch every time, but they'd certainly gotten to try out some new foods: often pretty good, but also often quite strange. Well, at least now they knew why.

Kushina took the box from her, but paused before putting it back on the shelf. "One," she decided. "We'll get one."

"But—"

"There's no point filling his cabinets when we don't even know if he'd like it."

"…That's fair."

As they slowly circled back to the front of the general store to pay, Kushina looked over their grocery list. Some had been marked off and others had been circled for a later shopping trip, but there was still a lot left.

"We'll finish faster if we split this up, ya know," she remarked, jotting down initials beside the remaining items. "Let's speed things up."

Flipping the paper around, Kushina held it out so that everyone could get a look—and she made sure to wait, just a bit, to give them a chance to read and memorize which items they'd be buying. Having guessed the plan as soon as Kushina started annotating her list, Akaiko stepped up and doled out some money to the kids so they could actually make the purchases.

"You have your targets," Kushina said imperiously, folding the list away again with a flick of her wrist.

Kakashi, with the advantage of familiarity, knew a dismissal from her when he heard one. He turned quickly to seek out his assigned groceries—mainly flour, rice, and pasta—with a manner only slightly less professional than he would have for a proper mission. Rin followed his lead, peeling away to find the butcher.

For a moment, Obito seemed torn—wanting to tag along with one of his teammates instead of heading off independently. But, with a sigh, he made himself put the 'mission' first.

"I notice you didn't give me any objectives." Akaiko looked back into the general store, so much quieter than the bustling open-air market, and then led the way toward what she judged to be a medium-background-noise vegetable stall. "Don't trust me to find the good stuff on my own?"

"I'd trust you with a lotta things, Aka-chan, but I've made my thoughts on your ability to stock a pantry very clear."

Akaiko wrinkled her nose. "Oh, no, don't call me that. You sound like one of my more judgmental summons."

"Sakana-chan?"

"Making a pun of 'red' and 'fish' is actually worse," she said, in a level deadpan. Even if it was kind of funny. "You know that, right?"

"Psh, fine. Just Akaiko then," Kushina decided, waving it off with one hand as she tucked the other into her pouch.

A flickering wash of chakra—subtle, but with a familiar spicy kick to it—signaled that they had something a bit more serious to discuss than dried fruit snacks and nicknames. After all, there'd be no need to set up a privacy seal just for that. Akaiko didn't outwardly react, beyond turning slightly to keep any nosy onlookers from lip reading.

(And in a shinobi village, there's always nosy onlookers.)

"So." Kushina cocked her head to the side. "You're taking the news well."

"What, that thing about our mutual friend?" Akaiko had taken the news, yes, but she had yet to really take the time to chew on it. She just shrugged, checked the feel of the privacy seal to make sure it was secure, then said, "I could say the same for you. It's not everyday you hear that somebody's basically an alien."

"I had an advantage, ya know. I'd already heard some of it before today."

She scoffed. "For something like this? Having a few extra days isn't that much of an advantage."

"True 'nuff." Kushina stepped aside to peruse the vegetables, make a selection, and hand over a few coins to the merchant. "Anyway, why'd ya believe him?"

"Probably for the same reasons you did," she said lightly. "For one thing, a story like that is basically too outrageous to be a lie. That's not even getting into what he showed us." She pictured everything she'd seen and heard earlier, and weighed how much effort it would have been to fake. The images on the 'laptop' computer—and the computer itself, for that matter—basically beggared belief on their own. "The photos helped, though."

Kushina nodded, no doubt also thinking back on some of those pictures.

"For another thing, it does explain a lot of the odder things about him."

"Somehow," she agreed. "And you know there were odd things goin' on with him if 'traveled from another dimension' simplifies anything."

"Very true."

A shopper with a full basket by his feet—flour, rice, pasta—lingered at the nearby spice merchant, seemingly debating his purchase. It was fairly evident that he was looking more for gossip and rumors than the perfect scoop of ground sesame seeds. Of course, the seal meant he wasn't going to get anything at all.

Tough luck, but good attempt. Akaiko just smirked, and decided she'd let him get away with hovering.

For now.

"Besides," she continued, shrugging, "it's not like it even effects me all that much. How often would that kinda thing even come up, really?"

Kushina snorted. "You be surprised, when it comes to Minato."

That gets an eye roll. "Okay, how often for those of us who aren't teleporting space-time jutsu connoisseurs?"

Although some things had definitely taken on a new light with what she now knew, like that senbon she'd lost to the woods. Since the place had gotten a name like 'Tamashī no Mori'—the purportedly very haunted 'Forest of Spirits'—her own strange experience definitely wasn't a one-time occurrence. And seeing as that was where Axel had been found… there was at least a small village worth of people who'd had contact with something potentially literally otherworldly.

That's other than Axel himself, of course.

There were a few other examples she knew of, with this greater context: the coins. The apparently-from-another-reality coins, like the one that girl from the festival'd had and the ones that the blacksmith, Pei, was collecting as a novelty.

It's no wonder Axel had been surprised to see them.

Plainly their blacksmith friend was not the only thing to fall through. There might even be other living beings, though she suspected that had to be incredibly rare. At the very least, outside of myths and legends, she'd never heard of any other humans jumping between worlds.

(Myths and legends, now that's a thought.)

Well. The whole situation would be a lot less outrageous if there were prior examples, other than stories.

Although…

Akaiko didn't glance at her pouch, didn't so much as twitch toward it—but she did think about the scroll held inside.

Summoning.

Many summons simply lived in remote corners of the world, but there were others said to live somewhere else entirely. Like her Betta Summons, and their expansive river basin surrounded by rice paddies of sizes that felt impossible. When she'd seen it for the first time, it was truly surreal.

"It is a bit weird, though," Akaiko mused, pausing as she thought back to reports she'd read and written what felt like ages ago. "For a guy that's from… so far away, he didn't seem too lost when he got here."

Not that she could personally attest to that, having not been assigned until some time later. She's ANBU, after all, and Axel hadn't exactly been high priority until a Sannin recommended they take a closer look. Even so, standard procedure had chunin running rotations, going through the gate lists to check in on any new arrivals. So the point still stands: there weren't any reports of particularly strange behavior or inexplicable freak-outs from those first few days.

If his world had seemed so unbelievable to them, even just seen through images and anecdotes, then she had to assume that their own world was, in turn, equally fantastical to him. She'd probably be able to adapt without letting too much shock slip, but she's a kunoichi: she'd quite literally trained for emotional control in tense situations. But Axel, for all his strange origins, was still just a civilian.

Kushina double checked the groceries they'd gathered before replying, "Axel always gets the funniest look on his face when he sees a jutsu in action, but not that much worse than civilians outside the village." She paused with a thoughtful hum. "Which is impressive, ya know, since literally nobody uses chakra where he's from."

Trying to imagine a place like that was all but impossible—chakra is everywhere, a part of everything, and a vital part for anything alive. Low chakra kills. Anything other than that still kind of seemed preposterous, even when she had living proof.

"But then again," Kushina continued, "Minato has mentioned a few times that he'd had to explain stuff that he'd thought everyone knew."

"So he took some things in stride, but not everything."

"Or maybe he's a better actor than he looks, and he was actually lost the whole time," she said, with a half laugh. "Ya know, just pretending like he understood whenever he thought it was something he was expected to know?"

A reasonable possibility—one Akaiko had considered too, but frankly: "I genuinely don't think Axel has the skill to pull that off convincingly."

She conceded the point, tilting her head. "Yeah, and if he was faking, he probably wouldn't have watched jutsu lookin' like he'd been slapped with a dead fish." A pause. "Uh, no offense."

"None taken, at least until you added that."

Kushina snorted.

Taking a quick glance at shadows to judge how long they'd been out, Akaiko decided it was high time they wrapped up this shopping venture. The kids had definitely had long enough to find their assigned items.

Still…

"How about we get a little something extra?" Akaiko pointed toward the dango shop, her usual stop when getting something to bring to their weekly dinners.

"You buying?"

"What, was it not enough for me to pay for the groceries?" She huffed, shaking her head with a grin. "Of course I'm buying, I'm not stingy."

She bought a few cartons of dango to take back to the smithy, and a few more to share with the rest of the shopping team right away. A variety of flavors, of course: there'd be something for everyone.

"But perhaps we should just put these back," Akaiko remarked as they stepped back out of the shop, gesturing with one of the sticks of dango. "After all, good shinobi don't get treats for being caught eavesdropping."

Startled by the implication—rookie mistake, shinobi gotta stay on their toes—Obito fell out from behind the stall he'd been using to try to listen in undetected. With a sigh and an apologetic look, Rin stepped out as well.

Their third teammate had hidden himself a bit better, but soon enough Kakashi dropped his average-shopper henge and picked up his shopping basket to join them.

"When?" he asked, more resigned statement than proper question.

"Soon as you came back 'round the corner." Akaiko shrugged, casually moving the sticks of dango out of the way when Obito made an attempt to grab them. "I've been doing this for a while, kid. It's gonna take a lot more than a genin's illusion to trick me. Good attempt, though."

His mask pulled slightly as he scowled: not a good feeling, knowing his disguise hadn't even managed a few seconds.

"None of you did much to hide or suppress your chakra," Akaiko said, predicting what the group's next question would be.

Then she deftly dodged a follow-up attempt from Rin—good instinct, trying to support her teammate—before taking pity on them and handing out the treats. The kids ate quickly, as if they thought she might change her mind.

"Most of the time that wouldn't matter, ya know," Kushina added. "Genin don't usually run into jonin-class sensors on stealth missions. Still, it is important." Gathering some of the heavier groceries together, she poofed them into a storage seal. "You all need a lot more practice on that front—I'll make sure to mention it to Minato."

Obito groaned, but it was mostly in resignation.

They finished off the dango and distributed the remaining unsealed bags, left out to be carried back to the smithy by hand. And sure, she could have put everything into a storage seal, but it'd be good exercise for the kids this way.

"Anyway, did ya hear anything interestin'?"

"No."

"What Kakashi means," Rin interjected, basically translating that curt one-word answer into a proper reply, "was that we wouldn't have been spying on you two—or trying to, anyway—if there was anything else worth listening in on."

"Eh, you'd be surprised." Maybe the shinobi tendency to want to know everything possible was more of a learned trait for some trainees—they'll get there, she's sure.

But Akaiko had to agree at least somewhat, as she listened to a pair of women enjoying their argument about the best way to prepare omurice: not all overheard tidbits are really all that interesting.

Kushina led the way out of the market—though rather than 'out', it would be better to say 'over'. Traveling by rooftop was faster and more convenient, even when they weren't going at top speed. Kakashi could probably keep up if they went a bit faster, but Obito and Rin would start flagging before too long. And a slower pace was, admittedly, probably safer for the groceries they were all carrying.

So it was a comparatively leisurely lope back to the oddly-named smithy and its smith of even odder origin.

"We're back!" Akaiko called, shouldering in through the front door. The kids followed after her, arms full of groceries.

Kakashi wrinkled his nose, visible only in the squint of his eyes and a shift in his mask. "It smells… weird. Did you clean something while we were gone?"

It would seem that Axel and Minato were still sitting right where they'd left them before heading out. There was, however, a new feature to the room: a thin scroll resting right in the middle of the table. Relatively innocuous, but still out of place. And both looked a little more… slumped, than they had earlier.

Minato tried for a smile. "Welcome back."

Kushina plainly picked up on that, too. "You guys are lookin' a bit tired, ya know?" She set her storage seal on the counter and released the rest of the groceries. "You're acting like you were the ones running errands."

"Maybe they were," Akaiko remarked, eyeing the unfamiliar scroll with suspicion. There was something about it…

"Nope, we've been here the whole time." Quick as a flash, Minato grabbed the scroll and tucked it away.

The two men shared a look and a silent conversation.

Then Axel thunked his head onto the table, which—assuming she was interpreting that move correctly—was an unspoken 'I would not know where to even start'.

=X=X=X=

Gripping his cup of water (and his composure) with both hands, Axel couldn't help but wonder what was going on here. This whole situation was surreal on so many levels, even by his standards.

Across from him, Orochimaru took a sip of tea. The pot Kushina had brewed had probably gotten a little tepid by this point, but their unexpected visitor had poured himself a cup anyway. Just for the aesthetic, perhaps, or the polite fiction it enabled: just a visit, nothing more.

Of course, the fact that the tension in the air could be cut with a knife—or, more appropriately, a kunai—kind of dispelled that notion.

Because it was quiet. Not to be cliché, but it was too quiet. Everyone was just watching each other intently. Dach was still on the table, so focused that he was trembling.

Axel vaguely wondered if anything would explode if he tried just getting up and leaving.

With a frown, eyes narrowing, Minato suddenly exchanged his three-prong kunai for a slip of inked paper. The intricate seal was about the size of two hands with fingers spread wide, now pinned between them by a knife.

Blinking at it—boggled as ever by a ninja-fast move—Axel's mind just quietly complained about the damage to his kitchen table.

Then, after catching up to himself, he stared for a different reason: he recognized that seal. Kind of, at least. It was one he'd helped with, though it had been mostly theoretical and largely untested.

It had started with an electromagnet, actually. After the seal they'd drawn up to power the magnetism-based iron sand sifter, Minato and Kushina had a lot of questions about how it all worked. Axel had done his best to share what he knew—they were pretty familiar with the electricity aspect, given lightning jutsu, but magnetism seemed to be a relative unknown. They'd been particularly interested in the overlap between the two. So he'd mentioned electro-magnetic pulses, in general terms; not a topic he knew all the science on, but he could certainly describe the effects of an EMP on electronics.

There had been a few discussions about adapting the concept to work on chakra, and Minato had drawn up a few prototype seals.

And, apparently, had tested them—at least to the extent that he'd be willing to pull it out here. If it really did work as designed, it would certainly be useful in any chakra-based confrontation (which, with ninja, was most of them). That said, there weren't any jutsu in-play at the moment, so…?

"You're not even here right now," Minato stated, a threatening finger at the edge of the seal. "You sent a clone."

Oh.

"Astute observation." Orochimaru—or his clone, rather—looked over the ink for a long moment, experience letting him read the effect from black lines. His expression lit with interest. "And a clever tool as well, though it could be optimized further. Though I suppose, right now, it only needs the power to dispel a single clone."

A clone—the person sitting across from him isn't real.

Sure, fine, fine! This is normal and not unsettling at all.

He'd seen various ninja techniques while he'd been here, some more impactful than others, but he hadn't seen a clone before. Well, as far as he was aware anyway. Axel had known about clones, of course: they show up in episode one of the anime, and what felt like every episode after.

It was different in person, like so many other things.

Not because of anything uncanny, quite the opposite.

Indistinguishable.

Axel watched as… it?—no, as he took another sip of likely-lukewarm tea. What would happen to the drink once the clone dispelled? Was it incorporated and properly consumed in some way, or would it be left behind in a splat?

He was guessing (and hoping) for the former: less of a mess.

His priorities must've been thoroughly jumbled after everything, given one of his first thoughts when faced with the existence of human-indistinguishable, designed-to-be-disposable clones being very real was a concern about keeping his furniture clean.

Not that any of the very numerous shadow clones in the anime had ever, to his knowledge, appeared to hold existential dread at the nature of their temporariness. Axel certainly hadn't thought twice about that aspect until right now, sitting across from one such clone.

As his mind wandered, the two ninja had begun a rapid-fire argument, words flying as fast as steel—though actual steel had remained un-thrown so far, thankfully. Even though he could follow the broad strokes, just missing the occasional word or phrase, he had the impression that the ninja were not concerned with his understanding. Still, Axel had a vague of idea of what the conversation was about, if largely inspired by anime-driven context.

Anime-driven context which seemed to be, at this point, wildly diverging from what was actually happening in Konoha. Primarily: the fact that Orochimaru apparently wanted to restructure his research and, in order to do so, was willing to ditch the larger organization that had enabled it in the first place.

That's what it sounded like, anyway.

"While I am not opposed to pursuing… alternative measures to continue my research," Orochimaru stated, with a deliberateness that made him impossible to read, "I prefer to be efficient. There are resources here that, under the current approach, I have been unable to properly utilize. It would be a shame to leave options unexplored."

Okay, so, obviously the mad-scientist has several backup plans—'alternative measures' up to and including just leaving the village entirely, given the events of the anime, though it sounds like he'd rather not have to bother with relocating his lab. Then again, he might have just been referring to his willingness to forgo ethics in pursuit of results. But saying one thing and meaning two is honestly par for the course with ninja, so Axel was inclined to think it was both (and probably some secret third or fourth thing, too).

Regardless of whatever extra meanings there might be, it sounds like leaving Konoha behind is an outcome Orochimaru would like to avoid.

The sheer fact that he was considering that to be a viable option—that he felt there was a chance he could continue his experiments here, that he'd decided altering the tests to that extent was permissible, even preferable—was remarkable in and of itself.

That definitely wasn't part of the source material.

So… Good news.

On several levels.

The most immediate being that it proved things could be different. Axel had been concerned that his presence (and, consequently, his somewhat-foreknowledge) was part of a closed loop: that no matter what, the events from the show would play out again unchanged. It's good to have pretty definite proof to the contrary.

Admittedly, he'd gotten some good proof already back when Tsunade and her apprentice had visited his cell. A lot of her backstory involved leaving Konoha entirely, full-stop. Her returning to the village like that had never happened in the anime or manga, as far as he'd known; and given the characters involved, his sister definitely would have mentioned something like that.

So something had changed.

Had been changed.

Not that he'd credit himself with that. Although Axel was no doubt the domino responsible for this deviation, he certainly hadn't thought that Orochimaru was really listening to his rambling about forges and fire and scientific advancement as a community instead of lone flares of insight… let alone that the ninja would actually do something about it.

Was that in character for him? Out of character?

Was there even any point in considering things from that angle?

Probably not.

Axel took another small sip of his water, attempting to get his thoughts back in order. He didn't have a whole lot of information about the current goings-on in the village—he felt like he never did, to be honest—but even he could tell this would make waves. An entire tsunami, probably.

Especially given the organization involved.

To be honest, most of what he knew about Root was from 'real world' sources: his sister, mainly, as he hadn't gotten that far in the show. Either way, that means most of what he knows is likely years out of date, in a backwards fashion, given that the story was set over a decade in the future relative to today.

Most of his outside-context anime-driven intel was like that, and therefore of dubious reliability: doubly so, since it would seem his actions were indeed having a rippling effect on events. Still, for now, the broad strokes were probably correct.

The majority of the references to Root that he'd found in his laptop had been in the 'Orochimaru' file, which makes sense given… all of what had happened in the past few days. If the snippets accumulated during his sister's info-dumping were to be trusted—as 'canon' rather than 'fanon', as she'd put it—then that group was, to varying degrees, behind a lot of problems for a lot of people. Specifically, one character in Root major enough that Adri had talked about him, but typically more like antagonistic set-dressing for others' backstories: the commander of the whole shadowy organization.

Unfortunately, this commander wasn't so major that she'd used his actual name in her rambling. Not often enough to remember or write down, at least. Adri did try to make her plot-heavy info dumps easy to follow, after all, so she often replaced proper nouns with the role the character played in the story. Even 'Minato' had just been 'the village leader' before upgrading to 'the Fourth Hokage', and she only really started referring to characters by name when she finally got Axel to watch the show.

Though he did recall the name of the organization, thanks to how tree-themed and ironically on-the-nose it was.

From what he could tell—catching parts of the discussion and piecing them together over any parts he couldn't quite follow—Orochimaru hadn't mentioned the commander character, or even Root itself, by any specific name. That was probably a purposeful omission, something the two ninja (and dog) all understood and were just leaving unspoken.

Another point he hadn't caught any words on: "What about your experiments, the other… subjects? What will happen to them?"

The back-and-forth immediately stopped, and, though Minato was too focused on the potential threat to turn to him, there was definitely a shift in attention.

"I mean, unless they… didn't make it through…?" Axel didn't want to consider that, even if it was the most likely outcome; he remembered the label for 'deceased', and the number of marks in its column. He might not understand why Orochimaru had shared those papers with him, but he knew full well what the report implied.

It might be too late.

But even so, he wanted to hope for the best. He wanted to believe that there was a chance for things to change. Tsunade was presumably down there, somewhere, right now. That must have made some difference, or Orochimaru wouldn't be willing to do all this.

Right?

"You have such interesting priorities," the mad-scientist remarked—and it was definitely the scientist in him, not the ninja, that was watching so closely.

(That actually made it so much worse.)

Axel twitched. "And could you stop looking at me like you want to—" the words 'dissect' or perhaps 'vivisect' would be most accurate, but, alas, they were beyond the scope of his mental dictionary, "—take me apart?"

Orochimaru… well, he didn't really smile. But his eyes did narrow slightly, in a way that seemed at least a little amused. That would be a 'no', then.

Dach, still on the table, silently bared his teeth at him.

"In answer to your question," he said, ignoring the dog between them, "although the experimental subjects have tenuously reached stabile equilibriums, many remain too fragile to be moved. If you wish to keep them intact," a sideways glance to Minato, so quick that it was almost unnoticeable, "then this will require a delicate touch."

Right. A lot of the adjectives there were too specific to parse out entirely, but what he did understand and the overall tone at least made it feel more like a reassurance with a caveat.

The other subjects are still alive, for now.

"Unfortunately, it would seem we are running short on time," Orochimaru added, seemingly out of nowhere but presumably because he was picking up on something that only a ninja could. He stood up, which of course meant that Minato was already standing as well.

Seriously, how do they react so fast?

"Before I depart, however," slowly, deliberately, he reached out one hand, "I'll leave you with this. It should prove… useful, in the right hands."

Lightly touching the tips of his fingers to the table, a small scroll appeared just under his palm—whether it got there by some ninja-magic trickery or simple slight of hand, Axel couldn't say. Orochimaru just smirked.

Then he… poofed.

(Right. Clones could do that.)

The chakra cloud dissipated more quickly than regular smoke, revealing that only the thin scroll had been left behind. Dach gave it a cautious sniff, ready to leap back should it turn out to be a trap of some sort—as if the coiled paper was actually a coiled snake.

Axel just blinked at the now-empty chair, vaguely noting the lack of any tea reappearing after the clone vanished. Then, tension finally snapping, he slumped in his own seat.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do about all of this, frankly.

"So… what now?"

Minato was eyeing the scroll too, with that same snake-wary caution. "If Orochimaru is telling the truth, and if that is what I think it might be…" he drifted off, expression darkening. "The Hokage needs to see it, as soon as possible."

"What will he do?"

Now, ninja as a whole are very skilled at disguising their opinions; they can say one thing, imply ten other things, and believe something completely different. Axel had learned as much from dealing with Minato and Akaiko, not to mention the kid ninja trio. Even Obito could sometimes pull off a believable faux-innocent act, if a prank was on the line.

Keeping all of that in mind, Minato looked torn. Axel could see the worry in his eyes, unmoored and uncertain, plain as day.

"It's… hard to say." He carded a hand through his hair. "And it's hard to say what I'd want him to do. After what he just told us, I definitely wouldn't want Orochimaru running loose. But keeping him in the village after what he's done…?"

Still, optimistically: "Maybe Tsunade will be a good influence?"

"If she were here, maybe, but— Wait. Is…" Now he turned, eyes wide. "Axel, is she back in the village?"

Confirmed: apparently she had already left the village by this point. But it would seem she hadn't really returned, either.

"Uh, yes?" Axel had spent so much time talking today, he'd forgotten that he hadn't actually said that much about what had happened while he was kidnapped. "I guess they must have snuck in, if you didn't know."

Minato had gone very still, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind. "Orochimaru must be serious, then." He was thinking out-loud now, brainstorming. "But if— No, she wouldn't, not without… so that means—" His eyes locked back on to the thin scroll. "This needs to get on the Hokage's desk, but in a way that couldn't be traced back to us. To you."

Given that Axel was decidedly not a ninja, and therefore not equipped to defend himself or even really navigate the snarled web of ninja subterfuge: yeah, he could see how that would be dangerous.

"The timing will be suspicious enough as-is," he continued, "even if I delay a few days before passing it on, or risk having somebody else deliver it."

Dach, at this point, elected to relocate to Axel's lap: tail stiff and serious, ears up and focused, and his forepaws still on the table. "If they suspect a connection, suspect that Axel was responsible in some way…"

The conversation drifted off into an unsettled silence, all three of them staring at the scroll and the upheaval it implied. Such a small thing, for all the change it could potentially bring about.

Then the front door opened, its bell chiming a bright welcome.

"We're back!"

The rush of activity as bags of groceries were carted into the kitchen was a welcome change. There was a bit of chatting while the kids started to unpack the food, and at some point Minato whisked away the scroll.

Good, because Axel had no idea how to address that. It should be addressed, but he had no idea how—all this sneaky dealing was far outside his comfort zone, in many ways. Let the ninja deal with the ninja stuff.

Axel was just… so tired.

He half-watched the fully-fledged ninja do some rapid hand flicking and waving at each other while the kids were distracted; presumably Minato was giving them a quick debrief of what had happened while they were away. For a myriad of reasons, Axel had absolutely no hope of deciphering all that.

Actually, that one-handed flutter Akaiko just did seemed a little familiar—a sort of 'this might as well happen' disgruntlement, conveyed in a move that might be a hand sign but honestly might just be a regular gesture.

"That's heavy," Akaiko concluded aloud. "I intended this as a celebration treat, but…" She took out a small carton from somewhere and popped it open. "Can I offer you some dango in these trying times?"

Axel, startled, couldn't help but laugh.

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Does anyone have the coupon code for this? It's a buy-one-get-one-free deal on neutralizing antagonists.
(Assuming the coupon is genuine, of course.)

Happy holidays, everyone!

Why did this chapter take so long? Honestly, I don't know. I've been chipping away at this chapter this whole time, but it was slow going. I'm still having a blast thinking about this story (and rambling about it to anyone in earshot willing to listen), but it was not cooperating in getting to the page.
(I, for one, blame Orochimaru. Any chapter with him in it seems to fight back!)

As per the replies I got on the Discord (many thanks, by the way!), the next chapter will be from a different point of view character than usual. Mayhaps that change-up will help get the words out of my brain more better-er!

Next chapter on the agenda will be Under the Veil, at the start of the new year! Getting it out for Christmas would be amazing, but probably a bit optimistic given how hectic this season is. After that, hopefully the next chapter for this story will come out sooner than it took this time.
As always, even if it takes a long time to finish off, I'll be working on it!

Again, I really cannot thank you all enough. It means a lot to me, seeing signs that people are still reading even when it takes me so long between updates. So thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews!

If you're interested, feel free to visit the Discord server to chat about whatever, canon or headcanon or fanfiction or anything else.
Here's the invite code: m3CFXnC

Stay safe out there, and I'll see ya on the flipside, everyone!