The soldier pill went down terribly. It wasn't chewy or nasty or anything. It was just a block of super condensed nutrients and drugs. I could feel it traveling down my esophagus none too gently.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Aimi asked as we traveled in the direction Katsuyu told us. Despite her outer looks, her chakra, though dipping, was stable and buzzing, ready for combat.

My chakra was growing more erratic and irritated. A side-effect of taking soldier pills. My chakra would replenish much more quickly, but my control would be shot. I could basically kiss the Mystical Palm Jutsu goodbye.

"I can't use the Four Legs. Can't heal. My chakra regulation is all over the place. For the rest, I'll manage." I grimaced.

She considered. "You can still do ninjutsu?"

…Sure. "I'll cover you. Or do my best, anyway."

"I'll take it. Just keep any cheap shots off me, and we'll mow through them like grass."

I snorted. "I like the optimism."

"Me too." She activated her Byakugan. "We're getting close. Get ready for pandemonium."

I readied my chakra. Now or never. I'm ready.

We burst out of the trees into a clearing that wasn't a clearing. It was a giant battlefield, completely destroyed by ninjutsu and what I could see were gigantic snake tracks. Craters and destroyed rocks and trees made for an unleveled and unstable floor. This was not going to be fun.

Thirty different chakra signatures were flitting about the battlefield, trading blows and jutsu in an absolute mess of a fight. In the distance you could see a large cave entrance supported by wooden beams, surrounded by a scattering of houses. The mining entrance. The majority of ninja were right in front of it, and a few of the houses had clearly suffered. Half torn down, one on fire, quickly spreading.

"We're way in over our heads."

"Yup." She agreed, "First target, red bandana."

We ran. Jumped over a Fire jutsu heading for us, then under a line of ninja wire Aimi helpfully pointed out to me. Deflected about four different shuriken barrages, sent a few ourselves, and then finally we came to our target.

Red bandana was engaged in a fight with a Leaf nin I recognized as part of Sarutobi Rie's squad, but she was clearly losing. A Yamanaka, if I had to guess by her long, light blonde hair. She was clutching a chest wound, and dripping in blood from a cut on her other arm, her head, and her left leg. Her breathing was heavy, but not erratic.

Red bandana held up his katana, ready to deliver the finishing blow. Aimi headed in first, sliding under a Lightning Jutsu launched by another enemy to stop her and blocked the strike.

I threw a kunai with an explosive tag on it to the Lightning Jutsu guy and moved in with a kick to support Aimi. He blocked it.

More kunai in my hand stopped the guy from taking my head off and I dropped to the ground, Aimi jumping over me.

Her radius came out of her arm, forcing the guy to block again. I moved to cut off the tendons in his ankles, but he jumped up, leaving behind a flasbang.

Fuck!

I covered my ears with chakra like we were taught in the kennels. Couldn't have our greatest strength turned into a weakness.

It exploded, and I closed my eyes. I could feel the chakra of a jutsu coming for me as I stood there. Time to dodge again.

I jumped up into the air, my eyes still closed and went through hand signs. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

I super powered it, blowing anything and everyone away. I needed the field clear.

"Aaah!"

"What!"

I landed and dared to open my eyes again. Aimi was behind me, crutched. The Yamanaka flew somewhere out of our reach. Luckily, out of Red Bandana's reach too.

…I really hope I didn't exacerbate her injuries with that. Would make a poor medic if I did.

"Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique." Aimi whispered. I don't know what her strategy is, but I hope it works.

A carbon copy of the Yamanaka woman appeared between the rubble and torn-apart tree.

Oooo. Bait I see.

Red Bandana fell for it, drawing his sword and cleaving her in two. The two pieces fell to the ground, blood and organs oozing from them.

Then, Aimi rushed in.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixteen Palms!"

The first two blows he saw coming and deflected. The next four, his katana broke. The next eight his body took. The last sixteen splattered blood out of his mouth as he flew backwards.

Then lightning jutsu guy came in at the worst time, his hands bursting with chakra. "Lightning Release: Lightning Beast Tracking Fang!"

Two big, feline forms of lightning tore through the ground, heading straight for Aimi. The blue light they emitted made the middle of the day seem dark.

Aimi saw them coming, and jumped out of the way, but the distance had already closed. The beasts just turned and came for her again. They were too close

Too fast for Aimi to dodge and too strong to block. I had to intervene. Luckily, I remembered that Tsume uses this technique. And she says the weakness is the cord of lightning attached to the user for the tracking part. If I overload that with lightning of my own…

"Lightning Release: Depth Charge!"

A weak stream of energy coursed through my veins and fizzled through the air. Fucking pill. I'll have to force the issue.

More chakra!

The beam grew in size and strength, rivalling the Tracking Fang in scope, if not ferocity, and melded together, causing both of them to collapse and implode in a burst of instant light. Mine wasn't attached to anything, but he was.

"GRAAAA-HUK!" He screamed as he was fried from the voltage of his own jutsu, abruptly collapsing. Dead before impact with the ground.

That fight was over, but the battle wasn't.

A blanket of poisonous gas exploded around the battlefield, and I knew I had to get out as soon as possible.

Many different types of jutsu were already at work at dissipating it.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."

I contributed a little bit of my own, performing the technique again, my shoddily built-up reserves crashing back down to barely manageable levels.

A small blade with some kind of technique over it headed for my face. I took the sensible option and Shunshined away.

I came over next to Aimi, who was hiding behind what used to be a hill. She was trembling. Faint burn marks covered her arms. Wait— "What happened?!"

"Some of the residue splashed off. Hit me." Her voice was small. Oh no. There's no way. I hurt a child!

"I'm so so sorry! I—"

"Don't be. I'll heal." She tried for a smile, but she was clearly in pain. "You got the guy right?"

How do I even begin— "Yeah. I did."

"Good. Did you see what happened to the Yamanaka woman?"

I… completely forgot about her. "I'll go get her. Get both of you far away from the battlefield. We're done fighting." No sense for injured genin to hop into a fray like this.

She didn't seem satisfied with that answer, but she didn't speak up, so I put a False Surroundings genjutsu over her to hide her. "I'll be back."

The moment I revealed myself from over the hill I was pelted with a jutsu. A Lightning Bolt they didn't quite aim right, shooting just to the left of me. The guy that did it quickly ran away and caught himself in another conflict. Bitch.

I scanned for the Yamanaka's chakra signature, finding her not that far away from where I, let's say, dropped her off from.

"Ma'am, are you okay?" She groaned, her eyes closed and still clutching her arm.

"Do I look okay kid?" She said, teeth clenched. Why are my superiors always patronizing bastards? Do I just attract that kind of energy? Is it a Konoha thing, or what?! It's starting to get annoying.

"Can you walk? I'll guard you."

"Yeah. I'll have the genin guard me. Sure! Day can't get any worse than this." She said, standing up. She was favoring her right leg. "Say, aren't you Tsunade's kid? Can't you heal me?" Tsunade's kid?! Hate that.

"Sorry. Soldier pill shot through my control."

"Oh great! Just great. Cannot get worse!" I escorted her to the edge of the battlefield, where Aimi was. Only one guy tried to take potshots at us, but was quickly stopped by a Nara coming out of a fight and swooping into this one.

"Take Chie to safety! We'll handle the rest!" What I presumed was Suzaku Nara shouted at me.

"That was the plan.." I muttered.

I got to Aimi, lowering the genjutsu. Her Byakugan was still active, her eyes darting all over. The Shikotsumyaku was working at healing her, her burns already gone, but she was still trembling. Her chakra had noticeably dwindled too.

"You lied to me." The voltage she was hit with was way more than just "residue."

"Sorry." She said sheepishly. I immediately felt bad.

"Don't be. Can you still walk?" She tried standing up, before wobbling and falling back down. She started blushing a strong pink.

"I don't have much experience healing electrical burns yet…" Right. Ignoring the horrifying implications of the contents of her regular training routine..

I crouched down in front of her and held my arms out. "Hop on."

She hesitated, before I felt her arms gently closing themselves around my neck. I locked her legs in between my arms and lifted up. Thank Kami for ninja training. I can barely feel her weight right now.

"Alright, let's go."

We walked mostly in silence, Aimi's Byakugan scanning for threats, until I felt we were far enough from the main fighting to stop.

I put her down in a well hidden area hidden by boulders. A small cave opening, just big enough for us to fit through. Well, us children, not the Yamanaka.

I took out my med-pack and walked over to the woman, sitting just outside the mouth of the cave. "Here. Let me help."

She was quiet now, only nodding to accept the aid. I cleaned her wounds as best I could with my water tankard and disinfectant, and wrapped them with gauze. I could tell her arm was broken in more ways than one, so I bound it to her body for now until she could seek treatment for it in lieu of setting it and possibly messing something up.

"I'll get Tetsuo or Ayame to help you, if they still have chakra left by the end of this. They're my teammates." I explained. My brain was slowing down, my body feeling heavy. The aftereffects of the soldier pill were kicking in pretty strongly right now. "I'm… gonna go sit down now."

I plopped down next to Aimi in the cave, the light peeking through just enough for me to see the insides. "I'm sorry." The symptoms were all coming down on me now. The jitteriness and anxiety were next. "The lightning would have hit you. I should have seen that coming."

"Didn't I tell you it's okay already?" She turned her gaze my way, even though with the Byakugan it would be pretty redundant. "You saved my life. You acted quickly and decisively to protect me and simultaneously neutralize the enemy. Can't ask for more than that."

"And if you didn't have your kekkei genkai? What then?" I could have disabled her, shut off her motor functions, or worse. If she couldn't heal…

She frowned at that. "If you weren't lightning-natured, I would have been dead either way."

"Right. You're right. Sorry." Aimi glared at me. "Sorry! It's the soldier pill talking! Ignore it." Another 'sorry!' almost came out, but I stopped it. Barely.

I grabbed my legs and hugged them, resting my back against the wall. Aimi shoved herself next to me, leaning her full weight on me. Her head rested on my shoulder. "They're retreating. The fight won't last long now." She said loudly enough for the woman outside to hear.

"They'll be back." There's no way they'd give up the assault with one frontal attack. Ninja didn't work like that. They would try subtler, sneakier ways next. I bet they thought they would arrive long before us, and their numbers would help aid in their escape. There's no way they would have tried an assault like this against a Sannin otherwise.

"We'll be ready for them then."

"I'll be glad to be."

We remained in the cave for another few minutes before we deemed it safe to come out again. The walk back was fairly tranquill until, "You should probably head there first. Diffuse the situation." Aimi said.

"What do you mean?" I frowned. Me? What should I be doing? "What's happening?"

"Go see for yourself." Okay, cryptic. "Hurry!"

"Alright, going."

I Body-Flickered through the rest of the path, instantly regretting it once I landed. My body hurted, protesting the sudden use of chakra.

What I came to I couldn't prepare for even if I tried.

All of the Leaf-nin on this mission were congregated together, most of them in some state of battle weariness. Thankfully not too many injuries, except for one.

Souma, the bratty Sarutobi on Yaketsuku's team, was missing his entire leg.

The scene didn't end there. Right beside them Ayame's teeth clenched together painfully in anger, her hair tugged like horse reins! By Yaketsuku!?

"Ow! You scum bucket! Let go of me! OW!" Ayame yelled out.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" I screamed.

Yaketsuku did not seem to appreciate my disruption, glaring daggers at me. "This child put my—"

I-don't-care-I-don't-care-I-don't-care— "GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER! NOW!"

I was mad. Furious! How could anyone treat my teammates this way!?

My Four Legs revved up, despite the chakra exhaustion, despite the soldier pill it flared, and I growled. "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.."

Children! Literal children that just survived their first large scale battle and you dare to attack your own comrades right when they think it's safe?!

Killing Intent flooded the area, and it took me a second to realise it was mine. As soon as I did, I had to cut it off.

A collective breath no one seemed to realise they were holding was released. Yaketsuku let go of her hair. Several people took their hands off their weapons, and put kunai back in their holsters.

The easing of tension set my priorities straight, and my rather rushed training kicked in. "Tetsuo! Run triage on Souma!"

Tetsuo's neck snapped over and he rushed to the scene. Orochimaru, a calculating glint in his eye, did the same, and they began to help each other. Ayame slowly walked over to my side, shielding her body with mine.

"Explain. Now."

Yaketsuku looked properly cowed as he tried to formulate a response. "I.. Souma. He…" He floundered.

I frowned at him. Why would he be scared of a 7 year old genin? Was it the Intent? Surely not. Maybe the combination of Killing Intent and Four Legs did something? Certain techniques amplifying Intent isn't unheard of. Heck I use it to enhance my gen— not the time.

"Please. Start from the beginning." I flicked my gaze to the other ninja, cataloguing their injuries as I went. Nothing egregious. There were still bleeding wounds that needed to be taken care of, however, and I'd wanna have that done sooner rather than later.

Speaking of, where's Tsunade?

"Near the end of the fight, a fleeing enemy nin engaged both Ayame and Souma into conflict." Suzaku Nara spoke up, foregoing Yaketsuku entirely. "Instead of helping Souma defend against the threat, Ayame used him as cover to seek out an easier target to chase after." His face hardened at that. "Everyone saw it. The technique the enemy nin used shaved through the ground, and he wasn't fast enough. His left leg is utterly gone."

Wow.

Behind me, I could hear Ayame sniffling, could feel her shivering. Just as I didn't look kindly on an ally attacking an ally, abandoning one was… well.

I could feel the general mood towards us worsen, now that whatever that earlier thing was had now well and solidly passed.

Great.

Nevertheless, I would defend Ayame, come hell or high water. Yes, what she did was bad, but she's also seven. There is literally no reason for a crowd of adults to go off on a child like this. Now, how to cover for her ass. "Thank you for updating me. Is there anyone else that needs immediate treatment at the moment?" Deflect, deflect, deflect. That's the name of the game.

Everyone shook their heads, but I made the rounds either way. Everyone sat down in clumps together to get more comfortable, either disinfecting and bandaging themselves, or having me do it.

I had Ayame stick close to me the entire time, no matter the scathing looks it got me. I was well acquainted with societal scorn, so the ire of having broken one of its rules didn't really faze me anymore.

You couldn't say the same for Ayame. When Sarutobi Rie started giving her the same look, she almost started crying. I finished with her rather quickly.

"I have sent out several snakes to monitor the other entrances." Orochimaru started, once Souma had been stabilized. "Keep on high alert, this mission is not over yet. Anyone who is not injured should be setting up camp and establishing a perimeter. This will be a temporary stronghold until we get further orders." His eyes flicked to my direction for a second. "Any questions or concerns should be addressed directly to me. I will not permit any further disorder among our ranks."

And with that, the briefing was over. Several people split off into different directions, grabbing water, setting up tents, getting started on that perimeter, smoothing out the area from battle damage, etc.

I got to work quickly, despite my tiredness, gathering logs to start a fire. It would give away our position, but this many ninja in one place would do that either way.

"Ayame, can you..?" I gestured at the gathered pile of logs, willing her to light it up. She looked at me, her eyes wide and sparkling with barely held-back tears.

I sighed, and then moved to hug her. She collapsed into me, clinging on tightly. "Later. We'll talk about this later, okay?" Her grip intensified, and I tried to soak up all the tension still inside her. After a while, she let go, her eyes on the ground.

I don't think I had ever seen her this downtrodden before.

I gestured to the fire, and she nodded.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu."

"Gotta say, that was pretty extraordinary, what you did there." Aimi sat down next to me at my place by the fire, sipping from her water canister like it was a particularly stiff drink.

Everyone had sort of settled down now, sitting around the campfire and talking softly between each other. Some, like Tetsuo and that Yamanaka woman, had already tucked into their bedrolls, too exhausted to do much of anything else, even if it was barely evening. Oh, and Souma obviously.

I was strongly considering doing the same thing. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

She huffed. "Sad day for Yaketsuku. His kouhai gets crippled, and then right after he gets humiliated in front of everyone."

I looked over to where Ayame was in fast conversation with Anko and the snake that brought her back from Ryuuichi Cave. The giant 20 foot long snake stuck around for some reason, eagerly getting headpats from Anko and chipping in on their chat every once in a while. She thought I didn't notice, but Ayame's gaze flicked to me fairly periodically. Maybe to see if I was still there? Not really sure where else I'd go. Although..

"Anko seems good with snakes."

Aimi scoffed. "The one thing she's good at."

I turned to her. "Is that jealousy I detect?" She did seem to struggle with summoning them earlier. Damn, was that really just this morning? It felt like days ago.

"We were talking about you." She deadpanned.

"Nope. You were talking about Yaketsuku."

Her expression grew even more flat. "I still have chakra left, you know."

I raised my hands up in surrender. "I'm gonna go check on something. Watch Ayame for me?"

"Fine. Don't let yourself get picked off." She took a swig off her canister. What is that, seriously? She drinks it like a Russian does vodka. "Still hostile territory."

I stood up, scuffing some dirt from my pants. "Yes mother."

She rolled her eyes. "You're the mother hen, making me watch over your kid."

I waved her off. "Of course, of course."

I walked back over to the forested area, just far enough away from camp that the individual voices blended together enough to be indistinct from each other. You could hear the sounds of the forest coming back. Birds chirping, leaves moving. The critters and rodents were coming back. I could hear their little feet scurrying away from me in fear as I walked.

Thankfully, the one I was looking for didn't. "You know the fight ended a while ago."

Her amber eyes never stopped being piercing. "I'm aware."

I stayed silent, just watching her. She was sitting down, leaning against the trunk of a tree. She had not a single crease, nor a single hair out of place. LIke she barely even moved at all.

Now, how to approach this one..

I sat down about two meters away from her. Enough distance to be awkward, but not uncomfortable. "I'm sure Katsuyu-sama updated you, but there's been no deaths on our side. Souma lost his left leg, and Yamanaka Toshiko has a broken arm, along with some bruised ribs. They're both stable. Aside from them, just minor injuries."

She said nothing.

The wind blew again, the leaves moving in an almost circular motion. Back and forth. When the wind stopped, so did they, back to their resting place, hanging above us.

"Ayame and Yaketsuku got in a bit of a spiff over Souma's condition, however, and I had to step in to intervene. Orochimaru took over from there. He said his orders were to set this place up as a temporary stronghold."

Again, nothing. Felt like I was talking to a buddha statue or something. She was even sitting the right way. All she had to do was put her hands in the right position and it'd be perfect. Is that offensive? Probably.

Mm. You know, what's been my strategy with her so far? In fact, what am I even trying to do? Have her teach me? So far, I've been doing a pretty stellar job of doing that myself, not to brag. I don't particularly aspire to be a physician or a high ranking med-nin, so it's not like she'd be able to provide me with anything I'd need. In the grand scheme of things, for my plan I only needed her title. As a student of the Sannin it would (hopefully) open doors to let me make connections with people in proximity to power. I could change things with that. Things to turn this mess of a timeline around. But having her actually teaching me? It wasn't strictly necessary. I would get by. I've been getting by.

To be honest, reading the manga, her story never really resonated with me. How could you just turn your back on everything you had worked so hard for? Your entire life for? She made the concept of a med-nin in the first place. Invented over a dozen medical jutsu and procedures. Raised up Konoha's forces against Sand and helped them persist against their poisons. There is no one more knowledgeable about the human body and how to fix it. No one. And while Souma's leg is gone and I can't heal Toshiko's arm, she sits here! Acting as if nothing happened!

But.

I could understand it. Somehow, I could.

To believe you have nothing left to fight for. Nothing left to protect, or want to nurture. She had done it all, but she had also done it all. She had accomplished all her goals, but had still lost too much. There was nothing waiting for her at the finish line. Absolutely nothing.

At least, she believed so. Grief clouds your rational thoughts more than people realize. I of all people would not know that. I had lost everything and everyone, and I didn't want to do anything for five whole years.

I was miserable. But I found my way out. Maybe… maybe I had to have faith that she could do the same.

"You mentioned wanting to know about the ANBU presence here in Hot Water. Why?"

She didn't move, but I could still feel the tension shooting through her body. "That is none of your business."

"Your phrasing says it's not classified." I tried. Conjecture really, but she hadn't shot it down yet. We maintained eye contact. "You have a mission that's not ours, correct?" It would explain why she hadn't helped us at all yet. Why else would she go off on her own?

"It's none of your business."

"We saw you. With the body, and the scroll. It wasn't pretty."

Ever so slightly, she flinched. "Brat. When I tell you it's not your busine—"

"I can help."

Her eyebrows shot up, and she prepared to say something before she stopped herself.

It was quiet again as she assessed me, her eyes never leaving mine.

Slowly, she took the scrolls she had taken from Aimi out and presented them to me. "You said you could see the connection. I looked through them. There's definitely a third force at play here, but why did you say it was Leaf ANBU?"

Damn. Tsunade doesn't beat around the bush, huh. "Do you know how to set up a privacy ward outside?" My heart started beating faster. I did not want to risk being overheard for this conversation.

She looked about ready to shoot me down, but something must have caught her attention in my expression, as she relented. She took out a bottle and a brush, and got to work outlining a perimeter. Once the seal was set and active, I relaxed a little.

She went right back to her seat, both her legs and arms crossed. "Speak."

I sighed, breathing out my nerves. "There was a recent coup attempt in my clan that involved me. My caretaker Nobuyuki, and a few of the elders, tried taking Headship from my dad while he was away at war."

"And why is this relevant? Clan matters have absolutely nothing to do with ANBU. By design." It's now or never. I would be irreparably breaking canon from this point forward, if I hadn't done so already. Kami, Shizuka's gonna kill me. This was not according to plan.

"I know. Which is why it's strange that two ANBU showed up on ancestral Inuzuka grounds and attempted to kill my sister, the clan's heir."

She frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would ANBU be—They're not ANBU." Her eyes widened, then widened again. "They're not ANBU."

"They were, but they weren't the Hokage's forces. He hadn't authorized the attack. Nobuyuki couldn't have attempted a coup without some type of support. Despite my dad's decreasing popularity, he would have never convinced the elders to turn on him in the middle of a war."

"Someone else was pulling the strings. Why?"

I shrugged. "I can guess, but I'm assuming it's to take control of the clan from the Head's family. Nobuyuki would only be Head in name, and whoever organized his forces would actually call the shots."

Her frown got deeper. "Why would a third party want control over—no—why is there a third party in the first place? There's the Hokage, and there's the clans. That's how it's always been." Her knee started bobbing up and down. "The only other group I can think of with any modicum of power in Konoha are the civilians, or maybe the elders and the Jounin Commander, but they report directly to the Hokage. They're too close to Sensei for them to get away with anything. He'd see it right away."

Oh yikes. Here we go. "Shikaku-san was there. Tsume made sure he was, in case Nobuyuki tried something. He's looking into the ANBU as well."

"So you're saying it's not him?" I shook my head. "The civilians wouldn't have access to a ninja force inside Konoha that aren't Leaf nin. You said this was ancestral grounds, right? It could have been another nation's ANBU?"

"No. One of them used Shadow techniques. The other showed up in an ANBU register Shikaku-san found. Not to mention they knew that Tsume was pregnant, and used it against her. Other nations wouldn't know or care about that information."

Her eyes widened. "One of them was actual ANBU? That's even worse. But that means Sensei should know about this, if one of his ANBU went rogue."

"That's correct."

Her gaze turned stony. "But he's not involved in the attack on the Inuzuka."

I grimaced. "That's correct."

We sat there, staring at each other for a bit as she processed that. "You know who it is. You know who's in charge of this shadow force."

Sorry Shizuka. "The name of the group is Root. It functions as a sub-group of ANBU, carrying out clandestine missions too dirty even for the ANBU under orders of one of the elders, Shimura Danzou."

"Danzou? Sensei's old teammate…" She muttered. "And why would he allow such an operation? Especially not one under his control? And why does a mere genin like you know about this?" But I don't? Was the underlying implication.

"I could only really guess at his motives. Plausible deniability is an obvious one, but aside from that, I'm just as lost as anyone else. As for how I know… well. Nobuyuki was very talkative in his last moments." That's a good enough lie right? Not even really a lie either.

"He's dead? You killed him?" Woah, you're thinking way too highly of me here.

"My sister did. He didn't go down quietly."

"Alright. Say I believe you. That sensei's teammate is somehow controlling Konoha from the shadows, with Sensei's consent. Somehow. What does that have to do with these files?"

"I don't know." That's the fun part.

"But you said they're connected."

"The phrasing. The actions taken. They all sounded too familiar. And it wasn't Cloud. It wasn't Hot Springs, nor Frost."

She stood up suddenly, and dropped down again right in front of me. She was so close our knees touched. Tsunade opened the scroll I had read. "This implies they were on the assassination mission for the jinchuuriki of the Nibi. What do you know about that?"

It was my turn to frown. "Assassination? No. The mission was for a cover-up for a previous mission to capture the Nibi, to hand it over to Cloud."

Her gaze was the most intense I had ever seen it, her chakra slowly starting to pulse around the clearing. A chill went down my spine. "Now why would they do that?"

….

Why would they do that? Why would Root give the Nibi to Cloud? Money? A tailed beast has to be expensive. You could move mountains with that type of gold. But why Cloud? Ever since the First World War, we haven't exactly been on friendly terms. Giving what amounts to a tactical nuke or two to a hostile nation sounds like a terrible idea, no matter the money involved. It has to be something else.

"The official report on that assassination mission. What does it say? When is it dated?" I only knew what I knew through the ninja rumor mill. Something happened in the war between us and Sand, and Cloud swooped in to take the Nibi during the chaos. That's what I knew.

She took out another scroll, this time from her flak jacket, and handed it to me. "An S-rank assasination mission to Cloud, not Hot Springs, to where the jinchuuriki was stationed. The attempt succeeded, although heavily injuring many, and killing one. Another three were honorably discharged from service. Fuji Senzou was dead, and Cloud didn't enter the Second World War."

I read through the scroll on my own. Thoroughly.

"Alright. Just to get the facts straight. The Root mission report is a cover-up for another, earlier mission. The cover-up is dated the at the exact same time of the assassination of Fuji Senzou, the Kumo Jinchuuriki. Meaning Root tried to cover up something that had to do with that mission."

"You said the function was to hand over the Nibi to Cloud. Why do that?"

Indeed. Why.. Unless? "You don't think it's weird? How the Nibi was taken from Sand? Cloud didn't enter the war, so why were they anywhere near a battlefield? Root may very well have taken the Nibi and given it to Cloud in the first place, which is why they would capture it, instead of just killing Senzou."

"But why? Why would Root do that if they're a Konoha-based force? No matter their domestic intentions, they would have the same enemy as the rest of Konoha."

"Well. Why would an assassination of a Jinchuuriki dissuade an attack from Cloud?" A pause. "Sure it sounds patriotic, that we managed to cower Kumo into a corner through our military might and keep them from bothering us, but that's not how life works. If their Jinchuuriki was attacked, on home ground, they would view that as a casus belli for war over anything else. Right?"

If Kushina was attacked by Kumo inside Konoha that wouldn't make us less willing to go fight them. It would make us more.

"The handoff of the Nibi was a bribe. And the assassination was a propoganda play to keep people from asking questions for why Cloud kept out of the Second War." It all makes sense now! All the dots are lining up!

"That's… That's all conjecture." Tsunade stood up. "It infers too much. Makes too many leaps of logic. And we don't even know for sure if Root is really involved in all this."

"I do know." I stood up with her. "With all the certainty I can muster." She put a hand to her head. No doubt she had a headache by now. I certainly would.

"I have to think on this. Reexamine the evidence. Don't mention this discussion to anyone. You already know the consequences." She walked over to the edge of the perimeter. "We're done for now. I'll come back to you when I'm ready." A slash of her hand tore the privacy seal down.

And then, she left. In the opposite direction of the camp. I waited until she was well out of earshot.

'Any followers?'

Shiromaru walked out of the shadows. 'Yes. Yaketsuku's other teammate, Chuugo. The Yamanaka kid.'

Great. 'Did he catch anything?'

'Nothing. Never seen a privacy seal like that before. It even hid your faces, so he couldn't lip read.'

I started walking back to camp. 'Good. What are the chances he and Yaketsuku are Root, you think?'

'Can't tell. Although my intuition says, "pretty high".'

'Yeah. Mine does too.'

'So? What'd you find out?'

I took a deep breath. 'Well….'

Tsunade P.O.V.

I sat down in the quiet of the forest, next to my tent, staring at the ground. It looks lovely this time of year.

A cover-up. A cover-up.

Root was on the mission for the assasination of Fuji Senzou to cover up information that other Konoha-nin couldn't know. But why?

Arata's theory checks too many boxes to be reliable. It's too convenient. Not to mention, I only have his word to go off of that Root even exists. He's a child. It could just be some strange fantasy he concocted in his head.

But he's not like that.

Sharp brown eyes floated through my head. They had a quiet, measured will behind them. I've only ever seen that look on the Hatake brat before, but he had none of Arata's fire. None of the world-wisdom this kid spoke with.

He just simply knew more than any kid his age had a right to. Or was even able to. It was suspicious.

I'll have to find out more about this Root no matter what. It's clear that Konoha is involved in the situation in more ways than what Sensei told me. I'll leave Arata for another day. Ultimately he isn't relevant to why I'm here.

Dan… did you know about this? About Root? Did they—

The report says the reason he bled out was due to a jutsu cast on him after the battle. But they were still in enemy territory when that happened. It could have been anyone.

It could have been. Anyone.

Fuck.

Fuck!

A/N. Sorry if that ended up a little confusing. That was intentional. They don't have all the info after all. Also, what do you guys think of a summon for Arata? Which animals do you recommend?