Rento didn't want to deal with the Hyuuga.
He couldn't even stop writing seals for long enough to talk to them—and he didn't want to talk to them anyway.
But he also couldn't stop writing seals for long enough to escape, and so he was stuck.
Rento vaguely knew the Hyuuga in front of him, but only vaguely.
He was pretty sure he was a part of the main line of the family, though, so that was something.
Probably.
(Really, the man was barely holding himself up, and he was in a wheelchair. A seven-year-old—clearly a Hyuuga child put in charge of getting him across the worst of the rubble—leaned idly against the wall in the background, watching the dozens of sealers work.
(This Hyuuga was selected because he couldn't be used for anything else, not because of his status.)
"It is imperative—"
"Are your dead going to be any more dead?" Ryota asked.
He had no time to be kind.
He wanted to visit his aunt, in the hospital—he wanted to check on the scarring his mother had experienced—he wanted to mourn his dead friends—he wanted to—
He wanted many things.
Being kind to the Hyuuga wasn't one of them.
"There may yet be—"
"It's been seventy two hours," Ryota said. "You and I both know anyone not found yet won't be found alive."
The Hyuuga coughed. "Be that as it may be—"
"Any renewed discussions on a modern Hyuuga seal will have to wait until Konoha is not falling down around us."
Seal done—hours of work complete.
One more hot air balloon.
Ryota rubbed his eyes, took a few gulps out of his water bottle, and got back to work.
When he next thought to look up, the Hyuuga was gone.
All the better.
.
Shin glared at the Kumo 'diplomat.'
The 'diplomat' grinned back at him.
The idiot thought he had Konoha between a rock and a hard place.
In Kumo's defense, Shin could see why.
Konoha was…
Suffering.
Kiri was bound to keep fighting until mid-winter.
The byoki—
Who knew how long that would last?
It was understandable, that Kumo thought they could make threats.
Get concessions.
But the Hokage wasn't in a very compromising mood.
"Okay," Shin said.
The 'diplomat' blinked.
"What?"
"Okay."
"Okay…?"
"Okay, if you believe that without the sealing information you will be forced to attack us for it—do so."
The Kumo-nin grinned, obviously believing Shin was showing false bravado. "You and I both know Konoha can't handle another war."
Shin grinned.
He showed all his teeth.
"You're not Kiri," Shin said. "You can't hide in the endless ocean between attacks. You won't fight to the last man, killing off your entire nation just to hurt us.
"You're not the byoki, either. You are a known entity."
"We only made peace last time because you had another jinchuuriki. Your jinchuuriki are both very, very busy."
That was true.
Shin kept smiling.
"We don't need them to deal with you."
"Yes—"
"You are predominantly lightning-natured," Shin said. "We have seals that attract lightning, keep them from hitting anything we don't want it to."
Admittedly, they didn't have them in large number, and they were large and clunky and hard to scribe, but—importantly—they existed.
Which meant Konoha's world-renowned Research Department could figure out how to make them better.
(It would have been nice for the seal to have existed in the previous war, but bygones.
(And anyway, they'd only just managed to come up with a way to mimic the lightning-attracting seals Uzu had placed on all of its ships last month, just before the worst times had started.
(Konoha's was far, far smaller and only one-use, but—
(They'd managed it.
(And now Kumo was… well.)
"We have plenty of non-lightning jutsu," the Kumo-nin pointed out.
Shin nodded agreeably. "You do. A great many, I'm sure. But you had no idea that we could so effectively counter your lightning, and so it will take time to adjust, to retrain your shinobi."
"You're bluffing."
Shin shrugged. "Test us."
For all his confidence, for all his assuredness—
Shin hoped they didn't.
Konoha might win, but they had enough dead already.
.
It was so, so easy to sneak in.
He knew it was sheer pride which had sent him, but—
Well, he was allowed to be prideful, wasn't he?
He should have been the Hokage.
Konoha was a wreck.
Of course it was.
Only bits and pieces looked remotely organized—the Administrative building, of course, the main Research building, the hospital…
Actually, that was a much shorter list than even he had expected.
He glared at the Research building.
His spies had been entirely unhelpful there.
Everything was constantly sealed in password-locked storage seals, all the good information hidden away.
He'd been sent lists of what they were working on, of course, long, long lists, and partial descriptions and drawings of various seals—
But it wasn't good enough.
Trying to break through the Research Department's protections would probably be beyond even Orochimaru could get in unnoticed…
On the first try.
Not worth the risk, anyway.
Not when there was an easier option.
Orochimaru turned to the hospital.
His eyes flickered.
He hadn't figured out how to go very far, not yet, but—
He could go far enough.
He disappeared.
And then he hurt.
He looked down, looked at the blade sheathed in his stomach, and then he looked up.
The Hyuuga heir.
Why—
Why was he—
Why was he even using a sword?
Was this a genjutsu?
Too many variables.
Too many unknowns.
Orochimaru disappeared.
He'd figure it out from afar.
.
Misaki wanted to scream, but her vocal chords wouldn't let her.
A minute ago Hyuuga-sama had been arguing with her, demanding entrance into her teammate's aunt's room, and then—
Then—
Yamanaka-sama was out of his room, now, and he and the Hyuuga were communicating in the sort of rapid signaling that must've taken years to learn.
And Ibiki's auntmother Yamanaka Sakura came out.
"Don't bother," she said.
"Don't—Don't—"
"He's long gone by now, or else off doing some other evil." She looked tired, frustrated. "We don't have the resources for wild goose chases at the moment, no matter how hungry we are for goose."
"Then what—" Yamanka started—and then Hyuuga-sama brushed past him, and Misaki ran after—it was her job to care for the patients of this floor, and she wasn't going to let anyone, even Clan Heads, get their way.
"Hey! Where are you—"
He was holding Kohana's right eye open.
"She's just twitched."
"She's been twitching a lot," Yamanaka-sama said, but his voice wasn't cynical, wasn't suspicious. It was hopeful.
Yamanaka Sakura moved next to Inoichi, the four of them surrounding the head of Kohana's bed. "You're sure?"
"Yes." Hyuuga-sama was certain.
Silence.
Bated breath.
And then—
Yamanaka Kohana's eyes flickered.
And the other two Yamanaka collapsed in relief.