Test 21: Uchiha Kato. Fu, my tongs."

Fu stepped forward in the white laboratory, holding the requested item. Orochimaru, as usual, accepted with a grunt. He turned back to a beaker on the table. Inside the beaker, painted with a glowing seal, rested two eyeballs.

"These should be compatible," Orochimaru muttered. "I will not destroy my laboratory for that decrepit fool." On his table, underneath another sprawling seal, rested an arm. It looked more like a tree, with its knotted material.

"My working hypothesis is that the current appendage will not accept Sharingan of more than one tomoe. The sealing work simply cannot take that amount of chakra strain. Fortunately for Danzo, the… untimely death of the Uchiha, especially the Academy students and genin, seems to have awakened many more eyes than planned for."

Orochimaru delicately lifted an eyeball with the tongs, still dripping viscous liquid. Fu's stomach churned. He placed one eyeball into the socket, and the arm shuddered for a moment. Fu shut his eyes, and reached out with his chakra.

"Inserting chakra in 3, 2, 1." Orochimaru called.

As soon as Ino rose from her body, she tackled Shisui. It didn't matter that she had a new memory of Shisui falling into a stream on a mission. It didn't matter that they went flying out Ino's window. What mattered was Shisui's startled yelp. Once he gained his bearings, in midair like the show off he was, he grinned.

"Hey, Ino."

"You," she hissed. Ino hadn't meditated yet, and it showed; she wobbled left and right, nearly elbowing Shisui in the eye. "Why didn't you tell me about Sasuke?"

"In my defense," he said, hands raised to placate, "I thought it would be better if you both found out on your own. You didn't trust me, and Sasuke wouldn't believe it unless he saw something that made him believe it. Speaking of, what did he see? He wouldn't tell me."

Ino looked away. Somehow, they had made it back to the Hyuga compound. She described her drawing and watched Shisui's face fall. His eyes flashed, and he stopped abruptly.

"Does it help?" he asked. Ino wobbled as she tried to stop herself. Shisui grabbed onto her tether.

"Does what help?"

"Drawing what you felt that night."

She thought about it. Sometimes it did help to get it out of her mind. She could lose herself in trying to find the right color for Hisoto's hair, or Katsu's face. It wasn't scary when she could make the picture, and when she could stop.

"I think so."

"Then I'm glad." His head tilted. "Will you tell Sasuke you're an ikiryo?" His face was unreadable.

If Sasuke knew, he could tell his family. It was fine if he knew she saw ghosts—they had a promise not to tell anyone. Shisui knew, but he hadn't said anything. What would happen if all the Uchiha knew?

She shook her head. "He still thinks I'm normal." Between her cousins and their awkward conversations, her school friends she felt out of place with, and Shikamaru and Choji looking at her like she would collapse, the person she had been the most honest with was Sasuke.

Sasuke was annoying, and he ate tomatoes like apples, but he wasn't…a terrible person to be friends with. She didn't want to ruin that before it even started.

"You are normal."

Ino looked down at herself. While wrapping her tether around her waist prevented her from tripping, having it uncoiled now showed its damage. The remaining links of her tether looked could barely wrap around her waist.

"…Maybe not normal, but there's nothing wrong with you, Ino. You're the heiress of the scariest clan in Konoha—"

"We're not that scary!"

"And you're an ikiryo." He shrugged. "So what? You're still a kid, just like Sasuke."

She wasn't, though. If Ino was, she wouldn't need her bracelets. Before, her greatest worry was getting Sakura back as a friend. The fear hadn't gone away, but alongside it, she worried about dying or going insane.

Ino switched subjects. "You're a kid too," she pointed out. Shisui couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen. If he was in her clan, he'd sit at the kids table during Hanami parties with Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and all their cousins.

If Shisui were able to come, she'd invite him to the next Hanami party.

He laughed, but it sounded strained. "I'm really not. Not anymore."

"Are too."

"I'm not."

"Are too!"

"I'm—"

"Shisui!"

The Uchiha in front of her immediately shifted into a battle stance, pushing Ino behind him. It took Shisui a moment to relax his shoulders, and remember he was dead.

As the pale blob grew closer, Ino could see it was just annoying Aimi. She stopped (perfectly, a part of Ino couldn't help but think) in front of Shisui. Aimi tugged his hand.

"You have to follow me—it's Kato! He's flashing and I can barely see him anymore yougottacomequick!"

He straightened, looking between them both. He sighed, and Ino had a feeling she knew what he was going to say.

"Would you be able to fly ho—"

"You're not getting rid of me, either," she said. She'd convince Shisui he was just a kid too, but for now, they needed to fly fast. Before Shisui could argue, she pushed glowing links into his hand.

Ino turned to Aimi. "We'll follow you."

—

As they followed Aimi, Ino soon realized Shisui had been holding back on her. Ino really felt like she left her stomach across town as they shot across the dark sky. It was midnight, Ino guessed, from the way the moon held still in the sky. Shisui did his best to push through the other yurei in their path, ignoring angered, sometimes pained cries.

Ino tried to blink the memories of the ghosts that managed to touch her out of her eyes, but it was no use.

Blood leaked from a glowing red eye. She coughed more into his face. "Kakashi."

"Kimiko doesn't have to know." A closing door. Footsteps.

Panting. Need to keep going. No end in sight to these damn trees—

"This way!"

Aimi swooped lower, to one of the training grounds behind the Academy. Iruka-sensei had taken them there for kunai practice a fews ago. It was dark, and Ino knew she should feel cold, but she could barely feel the night air.

Aimi didn't have to guide them any further. Ino could hear the screams.

The scream didn't sound human. It made her shoulders hike up—it was the sound of kunai scraping bottles, or maybe wind twisting in her ear. Despite all the sound, there was a pure sadness beneath it that made Ino shiver. How was it possible that someone could sound so upset?

They came to a stop in the clearing, where Uchiha Kato stood, wailing.

Kato's form was disappearing. His t-shirt, covered with frog faces and streaked with blood, flashed out of sight. Just like his feet. Shisui looked like someone scooped out his heart.

"Ryu!" Kato screamed. "Otouto!"

Run, otouto.

His brother hadn't made it, but if Ino had his last memories, he must have become a ghost. Where did Ryu go?

"Ryu's gone," Ino could barely hear Aimi's whisper over Kato's yells. He still hadn't noticed their little group. Kato looked left and right, like his brother might be trying to sneak past him, and he needed to be on watch. "He disappeared a few weeks ago. I haven't been able to find him."

Aimi turned to Shisui, and Ino thought she looked like she was shaking. "You can help him, right? That's why you've been spending so much time outside the compound. You've been trying to find the others and help them ascend, right?" She pushed at him. "So, help him!"

Shisui's eyes could only be described as panicked. For the first time since Ino met him, he looked young, and afraid. Still, he flew in front of his clan member, stopping at eye-level.

"Kato," he said, putting a faltering hand on the boy's arm. "It's okay. I'm still looking for Ryu. He's just not here right now, but me and Aimi will find him soon."

Kato kept on screaming.

Ino clapped her hands over her ears. She hoped she didn't seem rude, but she couldn't help it. It was like the sound reached into her brain and tugged.

Aimi flew to Kato's right. She looked like she was going to break. "Maybe Sasuke helped him rise? Or he could still be out flying! We'll find him, Kato. We will. Just please," Her voice broke first. She grabbed his other shoulder, squeezing like he could feel the sensation if she just tried hard enough.

"Please don't go."

In the darkness of that night, Kato blended in with the shadows. His aura had no light. Shisui's low murmurs were doing nothing. Aimi's fidgeting was doing nothing. Kato would disappear, just like the others.

Years later, she would never understand led her to do it. A need to help, most likely. Wanting to be useful, maybe.

"Ryu made it out the window."

Shisui gave her a sharp glance.

Kato's wails faded as he looked over at Ino. He must have been only a year or two older than her, with see-through bedhead and sunken holes where his eyes should be. "Who are you?"

She glanced at Aimi, then back at Kato. "I'm an onibi." The word felt odd in her mouth. "I can help."

Kato's confusion didn't change, but she struggled through the air to fly closer. After watching her wobble for a moment, Aimi reached out to Ino, pulling her forward.

"Come on!" she said, exasperated.

Door creaking. "Papa?"

Papa's body lay facedown in a dark pool. A man in an orange mask stood over him. An orange mask, only showing one glowing eye. A blur, and she's on the floor. stomach burning—

A gasp. Ino blinked red and orange out of her vision, to focus on stunned black eyes. Aimi stared at her with amazement.

"You're warm," the Uchiha exclaimed, darting her eyes between Ino and Shisui. "How is that possible?"

Shisui looked a bit uneasy. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"Don't think what is a good idea?"

"Let me try." Ino insisted. What else would they do, besides watch Kato continue to scream and fade?

The best lie was one wrapped in truth, Uncle Shikaku said one InoShikaCho dinner. Auntie Yoshino told him to be quiet, but it was all she could think of, now.

Shisui looked conflicted, but he made more space for her. Ino swallowed, and held out a hand to Kato, charged with yin chakra.

"Ryu made it out," she said. "I can show you."

Kato took it immediately.

Memories were movies you played in your head, her cousin Yua said once. Ino took the memory of Kato and Ryu in their last moments. Ryu dropping the blanket. Rushing out of their room. Making it to the bathroom. Climbing above the toilet. She stopped the memory, and reached for another.

Running through the trees during InoShikaCho practice, twisting through the forest and panting. All she did was run and spar in training, and now, maybe, there was a use to it. She squished both memories together in her head, and pushed them through to Kato.

But as she touched him, her vision was flooded—watching his little brother drop the noisy blanket, they didn't have much time—Ino could barely keep track of which memory was which.

She thought of Ryu reaching the window, then pushed the memories of the forest, running as hard as she could.

Kato's aura brightened on Aimi's awestruck face, the first smile from her Ino had ever seen. "He ran?" he asked, full of hope. Ino kept her smile on to avoid wincing as wood creaks under Ryu. She opened her mouth, but couldn't speak—she choked on phantom blood.

"He ran," Aimi repeated, with a growing smile. Ino wasn't sure if she believed it, or just wanted Kato to stay. She bobbed her head quickly. "Ryu ran, and he got far away from here! That's why we can't find him!"

Ino's hands twitched with the urge to sign quiet at her little brother, because the clan heir was walking up the steps, covered in blood. Pushed Ryu towards the bathroom.

Kato's slow, hesitant smile. "He made it?"

Ino continued to push the memory of running through the forests. Kato suddenly let out an unworldly screech, pressing his other arm over his empty eye sockets.

"My eyes," he groaned.

Ino's world flashed.

Pain. Something was wrong—her eyes were burning. No matter what Ino did, she couldn't close them. It felt like staring into the sun. She wasn't—all she could see was a man's pale, scaly face.

"Success," he said, and hot breath hit her eyes. She couldn't move, no matter how she tried. "The arm shows no visible signs of chakra strain. Fu?"

"The chakra network is secure." a boy's voice called.

"Splendid." The man licked his lips, but his tongue looked strange—forked, and far too long. "Bring the others."

Her hands quaked, and two hands wrapped around her wrists— 'Remember your limits, Shisui.'" a man's voice, red stained hands shoving through a medical kit. 'Can't have the baby of the team die on my watch'—

"That's enough."

Someone's arms were pulling her away. The world sharpened into view around her. But Ino, head spinning, was no longer keeping track of which memory was whose. As they separated, the kunai hit Kato's neck, hit Ino's neck, and the memory of Ryu's death slid into place, then out.

Ino watched Kato's face crumple.

"Shisui, what are you doing?" Aimi shrieked, and Ino winced, holding a hand up to her ears. She felt exhausted. She swallowed, and could have sworn she tasted blood on her tongue. "Kato was glowing. She was saving him!"

"Look at her!" Shisui shouted. His eyes spun an angry red. Ino couldn't help but flinch. "She's fading!"

She looked down. Her body was flickering with blood, the same way Kato's had. Her aura, gold like the rest of her, had dimmed, barely flickering out from her body. She had never heard Shisui shout before, and a small part of her was surprised at how angry he sounded.

"Come on," Shisui said. "Aimi can stay with Kato. Let's fly back—"

"You lied."

They all stopped, and turned towards Kato. The boy was flashing rapidly, from the blood on his clothes to his aura. His voice sounded shrill, like he was on the edge of another scream. "You said he ran, but you lied."

Ino shook in Shisui's arms.

"Kato?" Aimi's voice trembled. She reached an arm out.

Kato slapped it away. "He fell!" He cut himself off to scream, clapping his hands over his eyes. His aura faded, barely flickering white. "He fell!"

Around them, the other ghosts had gone quiet. Ino couldn't breathe. Kato's features began blanking again with his screams. But this… this time was different.

Shadows like fine black mist climbed his feet. "LIAR! LIAR!" he screamed, even as the shadowy mist hit his hips. The word burned. Nearby, Aimi's confusion had morphed into fear.

Kato let out another screech, and he launched at Ino.

Shisui let out a swear. He grabbed her— "Running drills will save your life, Panther!"— and jetted off into the sky. Ino's stomach jerked as Shisui turned sharply, diving towards Konoha's houses. Kato followed, his demonic wail scraping her ears.

"LIAR!"

They blew through the Hyuuga compound. Sleeping children and adults blurred as they passed. He flew through ornate wooden doors, towards what must have been a sitting room. Ghosts of the Hyuuga clan cried out in alarm as they rushed by. Ino tried to hold on the best she could through the memories.

Demon chakra, a crimson tail sweeping his house—

Footsteps. "Just a little longer sensei, we can make it!"

"Tell Hinata and Hanabi I'm always—"

Kato's screech jogged her out of their memories. Shisui dropped like a rock, avoiding Kato's wildly flailing grasp. They passed through the floor, and landed in a bedroom. Hinata's, judging from the dark blue head peeking out from the covers. Her classmate continued sleeping peacefully as Shisui paused, checking their surroundings.

"Do you think we lost him?" Ino whispered.

"LIAR!" roared down the hall.

"Not yet." Shisui dragged them through the ceiling, and into the sky. In the distance, she could just see the trees of the Nara clan forest. "But if we cut through the forest, we should reach your compound."

Just a little longer. Ino was almost home.

"LIAR!"

Without another word, Shisui dragged Ino out of the Hyuuga compound, swooping down into the forest. Despite Shisui's best flying, though, Kato had picked up speed. The black mist had crawled up his body, ending at his chest. He was his own wall of shadow, screeching towards them. Sunken pits stared through her.

A jagged hand encased in shadow reached out of the darkness. She had no room or focus to dodge. Ino threw her hands up. Hot pain raked down her left arm. She let out a scream, one that was nearly lost to the wind.

"Just a little longer!"

"LIAR!"

But it didn't matter. Kato lunged forward again, but maybe that last attack used the remaining energy he had. The black mist rose up, covering his neck, his mouth—

and with one last scream, Uchiha Kato's body faded into shadow.

—

Shisui settled them to the floor of her bedroom. Neither of them spoke. Her purple room continued to tremble, or maybe it was only her. Ino stared at her body, still sleeping. As if nothing had happened.

Like Kato hadn't...

Her transparent hands shook.

Except—her arm. On her body, three long, angry scratches stretched from her elbow to her wrist. She checked her wrist, and sure enough, the same scratches stared back. Just like the mind transfer, without her being in anyone's body.

Maybe she was like the rest of the Yamanaka, after all.

(Sakuya, what had she done?)

Her body kept swaying in the quiet of the room. No, someone was shaking her. She blinked up at the source slowly. Shisui. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear a word. Ino could barely hear anything, except a high buzzing in her ear.

It sounded a lot like liar.

"I'm fine," Ino tried to say. The moment she opened her mouth, Ino knew it was a mistake. Her throat tightened, almost painfully, like she was choking on blood again. She didn't want to talk anytime soon. Right before her sleepover, too. Great.

With a shaking hand, she spelled O-K-A-Y for Shisui.

It didn't look like he believed her. That was fine. It wouldn't matter anyway.

She stumbled to her bed, and clumsily fell into her body. When she arose, Ino took a moment to glance at the clock. 04:09. Still enough time to sleep, or…whatever she did these days.

She looked up. Shisui was still speaking, but that was the perk of being in her body—she didn't have to hear him lie. Because what else could he say?

Ino's arm would heal. She'd get up in a few hours and push her way through school, and have a sleepover with Sasuke. Kato wouldn't get the chance to have a sleepover, living or dead, because Ino lied.

Sasuke, would find out that one of his remaining family was…gone, and it was her fault.

What could Shisui say that would take away Kato's body fading? What could she say to Shisui that would make anything better? Who was the man in Kato's vision?

Her arm ached. She rubbed at it, but only managed to get her other hand bloody. Shisui looked down. His eyes grew wide, and his mouth started moving faster—

Until she put the bracelets back on. Her heart stuttered. He faded from sight immediately. Ino hopped out of bed, and stumbled her way to the bathroom.

She had a cut to clean.

"Are you sure you want to have a sleepover tonight?" Inoichi asked, for what must have been the fifth time. Just like all the others, Ino nodded her head silently.

When Ino walked downstairs that morning, Inoichi had expected his daughter to be excited about her upcoming sleepover. Instead, Ino walked to the table, completely silent, sitting on her long sleeves as she kicked her feet. She looked exhausted. No matter what questions her parents asked, Ino would only nod or shake her head.

The bouquet for that day was somber, filled with marigolds for grief, and purple hyacinths for sorrow. Inoichi was tempted to keep his daughter home for the day. Nozomi said he was overreacting, and maybe he was. But every time Ino's eyes went that dull, it rattled something inside him.

Inoichi squeezed his daughter's hand as they walked, giving her a smile. "Are you excited for Hanami?" The Hanami parties would be taking place in a few weeks, and were always Ino's favorite time of year.

Ino shrugged. Inoichi hid his frown.

"Maybe this weekend we can start—"

"Ah, Inoichi," a voice called. "I've been looking for you."

He turned, and there was Kakashi, leaning against the walls of the Academy. Kakashi turned his eye down towards Ino. His daughter had hidden behind one of his legs. He couldn't help a frown. What nightmare could make Ino this afraid?

"You must be Ino," Kakashi said.

Ino nodded, and continued to stare at Kakashi. For one moment, no one spoke. Kakashi, feared copycat ninja, shifted on his feet, before looking back at Inoichi, as if for guidance. But Inoichi didn't know what to say. He was simply glad Ino wasn't aware of Kakashi's sharingan, or she probably wouldn't look at him at all.

Inoichi kneeled down to meet his daughter's wooden gaze. She quickly moved her eyes to the grass. "Are you sure you want to go to class today?" he whispered. "If you want, we can go home right now."

Ino shook her head.

"And you still want Sasuke to come over?"

A pause, but she nodded.

Healing took time, he reminded himself. Maybe Ino was simply having a bad day. She still wanted to meet with her new friend, and Inoichi shouldn't stop her.

"Okay, Ino. Mama will pick you both up after school, okay?" He looked down to double check her bracelets were on her wrists. "Have a good day." Ino squeezed his hand, and wandered off towards the school steps. Watching her leave, Inoichi had never felt so helpless.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Your daughter and Sasuke are friends?" He began walking away from the school, and Inoichi, bemused, followed. The sounds of laughing children soon faded into the regular bustle of the village.

"It appears they have more to bond over in the past few months."

The look Kakashi gave Inoichi was full of polite disbelief. To the outside eye, it would be out of place—there was little Ino and Sasuke had in common before this tragedy, besides both being the same age, and children of clan heads. Now, his daughter and Sasuke shared the same flat gaze.

Inoichi's throat threatened to close, but he swallowed. "Itachi's actions that night spanned more than the Uchiha clan," he said. Kakashi's head tilted, an echo of his summons, but Inoichi didn't elaborate. He didn't know what he would have said if he did.

As they walked to the park, Inoichi used the time to survey Kakashi. The Hatake wore regular jonin attire, rather than his ANBU gear. He seemed more rested, unlike the pale, haggard ghost Inoichi usually saw fleeing from mental readiness exam days. A welcome change.

"Are you on leave from missions?" he asked.

"Not a leave," Kakashi said as they sat. He began arranging the pieces. "I've been taking more guard duty for Naruto."

Ah, more guilt. "Anything interesting?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Uchiha Sasuke has been leaving groceries by his door." Inoichi blinked. First a sleepover with Ino, then this?

"Are they friends?"

"I'm not sure. Sasuke's last delivery led to them wrestling in Naruto's apartment, but he seemed to leave on good terms."

Odd. Very odd. But still, a good change. Sasuke was connecting with other people. Yuko would be pleased.

Inoichi waited for the flash of the silence barrier seal before speaking. "What have you found?"

"Itachi can't have changed the notes. Reports have him in Frost Country. He killed one of their leaders." Kakashi's voice was flat. "Someone else was able to copy my observations with perfect accuracy."

"Do you have any idea of how?" Inoichi breathed, leaning forward. Kakashi fiddled with a piece on the board.

"Soon after the death of the Yondaime, I was transferred to a different section of ANBU. Root."

Inoichi choked, hands stilling over a piece.

"Orochimaru, a root agent at the time, was known for his fascination with the Sharingan," Kakashi continued in almost a whisper, despite the seal. There was a lingering fear in his eye, one most shinobi had when talking about the disgraced Sannin. "He was interested in my eye. While I was in Root, he wanted me to be a part of his research."

"Please tell me you didn't participate," Inoichi breathed. No matter what anyone thought of Kakashi, no one deserved a fate like Root.

"No, the Hokage moved me out of the division soon enough."

Inoichi sighed his relief. Maybe Kakashi didn't expect him to be glad he didn't suffer a terrible fate, because he was given an odd look in turn.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Before I was transferred out of the organization, some agents were sent after me to take Obito's eye."

He wasn't expecting that. Inoichi gripped the sides of the table. "By Orochimaru?"

Kakashi shook his head. "He wouldn't have the authority. Only the leader of Root could command those soldiers and have them follow."

Shimura Danzo.

Inoichi frowned. "But Root was disbanded years ago," he said slowly. "After Orochimaru fled the village. After the truth of his experiments came out. The Hokage confirmed it." As soon as the hollow words left his mouth, he realized his mistake.

He had gone over them in TI, and the journals were stomach-churning. Clanless, orphaned children experimented on for any sort of compatibility with Hashirama's cells. The same children, kids picked up off the street with the promise of a warm meal, floating dead and lifeless in containers of foul-smelling liquid. Inoichi couldn't hold any food down for days after the investigation, and Fugaku was the one who had to investigate it more, not him.

Sixty children dead, under Orochimaru's terrifying care.

The Hokage had been very clear that all of Orochimaru's experiments were a thing of the past. The hideouts the Sannin used for his acts of torture were cleared. As Orochimaru was a member of Root, an organization most shinobi barely knew about and most clan heads avoided, the organization had been quietly disbanded.

Or so Inoichi and the rest of the clans had been told. He narrowed his eyes at the shinobi in front of him.

Kakashi sighed, then said, "How do you remove poison from a lake?"

"What?"

"How do you remove poison from a lake?" Kakashi repeated. He wasn't looking at Inoichi, instead rolling a piece in his hand. "And if there's too much poison to remove, at what point do you consider the body of water to be poison?"

Something cold dripped down Inoichi's spine. "…What are you saying?"

"We had a rush of new ANBU in the past few weeks. They do what they're told when they're told. Someone trained them first, and it certainly wasn't the ANBU commander."

"Danzo-sama is sick," Inoichi said, and even to himself, it sounded like a plea. The Hokage told him Danzo was sick.

"I didn't say he wasn't." Kakashi's blank expression did nothing to ease Inoichi's concerns.

"Even if that's true, how does that explain the notes?"

Inoichi could feel another layer of genjutsu slam over them. Kakashi fiddled with one of the board pieces.

"That's where I'm not entirely sure. All I know is that that the leader of Root wanted a sharingan, and he stopped looking to me for one." And with that, Kakashi flickered away, leaving Inoichi with far more questions then he started out with.

The matter of someone trying to—Inoichi suppressed a shudder—steal Kakashi's eye was disturbing, to say the least. This was Konoha, not Kiri. If Kakashi was transferred out of the division after the attempt on his eye, then the Hokage would have known.

And nothing was done. Inoichi's hands clenched around a piece.

Even if Danzo wanted the sharingan, all the Uchiha bodies had been burned. Kakashi had been there. There wouldn't have been an opportunity to—Inoichi felt nauseous at the thought—take an eye from a dead clan. It wasn't like Danzo could have known Itachi would kill his clan that night. Something was missing.

His head snapped up.

That was it.

He summoned up his chakra, and body flickered to the Jonin command center. Shikaku would be flooded by paperwork at a time like this, and confined to his desk.

What better time than tonight, with Sasuke spending the night at his house, to begin the investigation? Shikaku had a golden opportunity to case the compound for any clues. There had to be something they were missing. Inoichi would drag Shikaku to the Uchiha compound if he needed to.

And maybe if Inoichi had been a bit less tired, a bit less stressed, he might have noticed the near-silent sound of a blank-faced shinobi flickering away.

At the end of the day, Sasuke waited beside Ino. His classmate waved at nearly every girl in their class, and nearly every one waved back. He couldn't understand it.

Some days, Ino looked like she wanted to talk to every single person in class. She smiled at everyone and seemed to know what to say to everybody.

Today was not that day. Ino looked like she would rather swallow a lemon than talk. Still, she waved to those that passed.

Besides one pink-haired girl.

When the girl walked by, she stopped. The hand around her books tightened.

"Ino," she spat.

The Yamanaka opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Silence reigned between the three of them. Ino closed it again, stamping her foot on the Academy steps. Sasuke thought she looked frustrated. Pink Hair's nostrils flared.

There was a moment when all the girls did was stare at each other. Pink Hair (he should learn her name) looked angry, Sasuke thought. Ino shuffled her feet, staring at the girl's cheek. Pink Hair looked at Sasuke for a moment, then back to Ino, cheeks red, before stomping through the front field, towards a pink-haired man. Ino watched the girl leave with a sigh.

"What was that?" Sasuke couldn't help but ask.

The Yamanaka swallowed harshly, shaking her head. Somehow, he had expected silence. Ino had barely spoken all day. She sat away from her friends, from everyone, during lunchtime.

Ino looked off to the side, where parents and older siblings stood waiting. Weaving her way the front, Yamanaka Nozomi started waving. Ino rushed over to her.

Sasuke waved back. It was only fair, he thought. Ino had done the same thing.

It was then that Shisui landed next to him. He looked frenzied, running a hand through his hair. "Hey, Sasuke."

Sasuke learned not to respond to his family by now. Still, he raised an eyebrow at his cousin, who kept looking over his shoulder.

"Aimi's mad at me," Shisui said quickly, and that honestly explained enough. "But I need you to do me a favor. Make sure someone looks at Ino's arm."

Her arm? Sasuke looked at the girl in question, who was still hugging her mother. Ino's arms were hidden in long orange sleeves.

"Why?" he whispered.

"She's hurt. It's her left." Sasuke looked to the side, where Shisui floated. He looked disturbed. His eyes flickered behind Sasuke, widening almost comically. "Alright Sasuke, gotta go!"

Without another word, he took flight.

"Shisui!" he could hear Aimi shout. He watched as Aimi followed Shisui across the sky, in the direction of the Compound. That didn't look good.

Something else did not make sense. Ino and Shisui were close, oddly close. It would make sense if Shisui knew her before his death, but he didn't. But the way they talked about each other was too familiar. If Ino couldn't hear him, then how in the world did they even interact? How would Shisui know she was hurt.

Unless Shisui stopped trying to find their family to spend time with Ino during the day. But she was in class, just like Sasuke.

It was just another mystery he'd finally be able to ask about.

"Are you ready, Sasuke-kun?" Ino's mother said. Ino looked pale, for some odd reason. He wasn't sure why, but soon, he'd find out.

Sasuke nodded. Slowly, they began the walk towards the Yamanaka Compound