They'd made it through about half of their sixteen hour stakeout. It was a bit excessive in Kakashi's opinion but the mission had been labeled urgent and he'd been disallowed from saying no. It was extremely important but apparently also classified, so the Jounin conducting the mission weren't given details about what they were looking for.

On the other hand, maybe they didn't know how serious it was. They'd sent the top three Jounin in the village, so clearly they understood there was a potential threat. Still, they could've just sent ANBU, right? It was the middle of the night, he'd been looking after tweens all day, and there had been very little movement from within the worn down old building. He missed his bed. They were several miles outside the village, deep in dense forest beyond the backside of the Hokage Mountains. It was quiet and dark and he just wanted to sleep.

They could've sent one actual ANBU member instead of all three of us.

"They're doing alright, but I still worry about taking them on any missions," Kakashi complained, shaking his head in a mixture of incredulity and hopelessness. "At this point, I'm not sure if I should even be teaching them ninjutsu, in case they start using it on each other."

Gai chuckled deep in his throat, careful not to make too much noise. "You know, Team Might is a well-oiled machine now, but when they started it was a challenge just getting through a training debriefing," his friend reminded him. "Neji was like Sasuke is now; just can't not say something, and Lee is just like Naruto and Kaisuki – can't not respond. It'll get better."

"Right, that's true." Kakashi admitted with a heavy sigh. Would growing up really help that much? "I don't know how I let them talk me into this. I've refused for the last five years. I should've just said 'no' again."

"I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I said to you when I came to you moping about how Neji and Lee would never get along." Gai patted him on a back and he was smiling with both rows of pearly whites when Kakashi looked at him. He wondered if they'd reflect enough moonlight to attract attention.

"They make it sound like being a team leader is loads of fun to rope you in," Asuma finally spoke up, after spending the last several minutes smiling and shaking his head and laughing quietly at Kakashi's expense. "And then they give you the most dysfunctional group at the most emotionally unstable age that they can possibly come up with and tell you to make adults out of them. I mean, it is loads of fun," Asuma sighed, patting his vest pocket where his cigarettes waited. "But it's also a very specific form of torture, which is why I don't have kids."

Kakashi nodded and let out a breath of laughter, "Well, we all have kids now."

A silence fell among them, interrupted only by the sound of Asuma producing a cigarette and lighting it. Truly, none of them had married and had biological children, nor adopted anyone legally. In fact, none of them had even been on a date since they'd left their teens and twenties behind over the past few years.

"Yea," Asuma nodded sagely. "We played ourselves."

"All the responsibility," Kakashi breathed out in a sigh. "None of the fun."

"Well, some fun."

"Wrong kind of fun, Gai."

Asuma smacked his arm and Kakashi immediately smacked Gai's in response, a brief domino to tell them all to be quiet. Kakashi didn't know what Asuma had picked up on, so they listened in silence. A breeze rolled through, rustling the leaves in the trees and obscuring a good amount of sound. Kakashi pulled his mask down a bit, inhaling deeply. His nose was nearly as good as a dog's, and in that moment it served him well. Right away he picked up on a few things – burning wax from what must've been many candles, lavender and sage that seemed to be mixed together in a powerful odor that worked to obscure others. Within those, he could pick out a strange, sour smell – sulfur, perhaps – and what smelled like spoiled meat. Whatever remained was too faint to pick out over the heavier odors.

The wind died down and whatever he'd been smelling was gone in an instant. Even the way the wind had died down seemed unnatural.

"Y'all felt that, right?" Asuma hissed softly. "The wind?"

"Yea," Gai replied. Kakashi nodded stiffly when they looked at him for his reply. "Anything smelly, Kakashi?"

"Lavender and sage, spoiled meat, sulfur maybe. There's others but the lavender and sage are being used to mask them." He reported. Now that there was something happening, it was time to focus and turn on business mode. He kept his gaze trained on the area, looking for any sign of movement. The other two could feel it too and he knew it; something was about to happen. Someone was coming – or something was coming. The night had already been unnaturally quiet despite being in a forested area that was supposed to be full of animals, but now it was deathly silent.

"Sharingan?" Gai asked softly, "or do you think they might pick up on the chakra?"

Kakashi breathed out slowly, "I'm not sure," he told his friend. His skin was crawling. "To be honest, I'm getting major heebie-jeebies right now. It's like all my instincts are screaming at me to get the hell out of here."

Asuma hummed from Kakashi's other side, "I'm with you. It's like the night is crawling over me. Doesn't feel great."

Gai was staring at them, "I mean, I feel unsettled but... not that extremely." He said softly. "Major heebie-jeebies?"

"Right down to my jellies." The copy-ninja said, though his humor was lost in the tenseness of the situation. Gai's obliviousness probably had to do with his poor connection to his chakra. Kakashi's heart was in his throat but he maintained mastery over himself. "Something's coming," he whispered, smacking the duo on either side of him.

It would've been impossible to miss the person who stepped out of the shadows then. Her hair was blonde, though in the light of the moon it was impossible to tell exactly what shade. It looked gray, so perhaps ashen blonde, or even a dirty blonde.

He immediately started cataloging everything about her appearance: she was wearing what sort of looked like a yukata, but it was haori-length, missing the obi, and looked thicker and heavier than the traditional materials used for yukata. She wore heavy-looking knee-high boots in a style he had never seen before - there was a visible metal plate on the toe of both boots, and they appeared to have two-inch metal platforms. It looked almost like a solid cast of metal and leather around her calf. She appeared to be wearing a form-fitting black bodysuit with no sleeves and a turtleneck, similar to the ones ANBU members wore under their cloak and armor.

Her hair was ridiculously long and came down to her knees despite being kept up in a high ponytail. She didn't seem to be armed at all; he didn't see any holsters, she didn't have anything in her hands. It was possible she was hiding a blade under her haori-top, or even in her boot. She didn't really carry herself like someone who would use a concealed weapon, though. Was their stakeout target actually hers? She looked foreign in every sense but he was too far to make out the finer details of her facial features without his Sharingan. Even at that distance though, he could tell she was far taller and larger than any regular human.

He didn't want to risk them being caught by someone who looked strong enough to crush their heads in her hand. He leaned over to Asuma, and whispered as softly as he could, "Sharingan, yes or no?"

But Asuma didn't reply, and when Kakashi looked back towards the long-haired woman, he saw that she was staring right at them. He froze, looking into her eyes and finding that she truly was looking at Kakashi alone – not all three of them. Without another thought, he lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan eye, sending chakra through it to activate it.

He couldn't see her chakra. That was the first thing he checked. There was something he could see, but it wasn't chakra. It was possible in that case that she wasn't human or was different from humans in some major way. In the far west, across the sea, there were certain clans who were human enough to produce chakra, but it behaved fundamentally differently or was abnormally potent compares to regular humans – they were known colloquially as "beastpeople".

The Shinobi Nations considered those clans to be "different from humans"; not necessarily inhuman but not fully human either. The Hoshigaki clan was one of the last of them to live in the major Shinobi Nations - most others were chased away by oppression. The Nations had no treaties with the countries that had cropped up across the sea, so the information they had on them was extremely limited.

His immediate thought was that this woman was a spy or some other infiltrator. He watched, still and tense, as she turned away from them and resumed her pace towards the building they'd been watching. The odors Kakashi had picked up on before were building again. Were they coming from her, or were they in response to her? His fists were clenched. He had a terrible, horrible feeling in his gut that he didn't know how to decipher.

When he looked at Gai and Asuma, he could see they were in the same boat. They were both stiffer than boards beside him, fists clenched the way Kakashi's were. The woman walked up to the door and, without any hesitation, kicked the door down with immense force. All at once, noise erupted from the building. Screeches like animals, howling monsters from within. It sounded like an army was within that building.

She forced her way in and disappeared into the darkness. Kakashi was seconds away from leaping to his feet and rushing down there. He felt like he needed to help but he didn't know why. Who even was she? Lights began bursting from within the building, almost like fireworks. Balls of light blasted through the roof, tearing through cement and disappearing into the air in a manner similar to clouds dispersing.

"What the hell..." he heard Asuma whisper. Kakashi didn't know what to say and he didn't believe for a second that he would be able to speak coherent words at that moment anyway.

The noise died down a bit, slowly at first, and then suddenly it was completely silent again. There was one more bright blast, this time of reddish-white light, that came through the walls, spreading out in every direction in a strange shock wave. The three Jounin ducked, pressing their faces to the dirt as icy hot energy rolled over them. It hurt only a little, sort of like his body fell asleep the same way one's limbs can. It only lasted a few seconds and felt unlike anything Kakashi had ever felt. He looked over at Gai, who was pushing himself back up, his expression frozen in shock. A glance towards Asuma told him that his bearded friend was just as shaken as the other two.

What the fuck just happened?

But it wasn't over yet. There was a crashing sound, and a wall was broken down. The strange woman stepped out of the house, stumbling a little over the crumbled chunks of cement. Her clothes were torn up and she was splattered with a fluid that was far too dark to be blood. She held up her left arm with a scowl on her face as she inspected the damage. Even without focusing in on it, he could tell it was a severe injury.

With his Sharingan, Kakashi looked at her a little more carefully. The flesh of her arm was shredded; it looked almost like someone had taken a cheese grater to her skin. How did she sustain an injury like that? Was it from those white blasts? He knew very little about traumatic injury and the treatments to repair them, but to him it looked like something that would need amputation. How would she heal it? Aside from the damage itself, it didn't appear to be bleeding at all...

Besides the severity of her wound – which she herself seemed sort of flippant about – he discerned a few more details. He wanted to be able to produce a detailed sketch later if he needed to. She was extremely tall; even taller than he had thought from their initial distance. Her shoulders were broad, her hips wide, her chest generously endowed, and any shadow cast over her frame revealed toned, powerful muscles hiding beneath her black and gray ensemble. Who on earth is this woman?

She looked up as she stepped further from the building and looked up at them again, a single eyebrow raised. It felt somewhat judgmental, but not hostile. He stiffened as she started walking back the way she'd come, towards the woods. He had to follow her and find out where she had come from and where she would be returning to.

"I'll be back," he hissed, jumping to his feet and chasing after her.

He caught up to her easily. She didn't seem to be in any kind of hurry. Did she not care if she was followed? Perhaps she wasn't some kind of spy, then? As he closed the distance between them just a bit, it gave him a better visual of her size, and with the wind pulling her tunic taught, he could make out a little more. Her muscles were extremely defined and toned, indicating training and maintenance and use. He had seen them before but now that she was moving, it was even clearer. Any part of her he could see, there was a line of muscular definition.

Her boots were definitely foreign, but closer inspection proved that he had never seen anything like them. His previous assessment of them being iron casts was nearly true; there was thick leather-like material that laced up, but the knee-high platforms were also plated on the sides of the boots. They had to be fifty pounds each and yet there was no indication that she was affected by the weight at all. He wondered how fast she could move when she wasn't wearing them – would she be like Rock Lee and his own friend, Gai? She touched down on tree branches and ground alike with enough force to leave inch-deep imprints, but she lifted off with practiced ease, never losing her balance, carefully choosing her landing platforms.

Despite the fact that he was following someone who might be a spy or a threat against his life that he wouldn't be able to battle, the anxiety and fear he'd felt deep in his gut faded to obscurity quickly. In fact, it seemed like the further he followed the strange woman from that bunker, the safer he felt. Was it the bunker itself that had been affecting him, or something that was inside of it? Was there something living in the woods that she was trying to protect the village from?

Protect the village? But why, if she's a foreigner?

"No, Yurei spirits can come from anywhere because spirits can travel wherever they want," The Hokage explained. Kakashi didn't want to be a Jounin instructor, didn't know why he'd agreed, and now there was an orphan Yurei being dumped on him – and on top of Naruto and Sasuke, none the less!. "Any spirit in a hundred mile radius of a Yurei birth can be drawn in at the first breath."

Did that include non-humans?

"No, I just... I had a bad nightmare last night, and I guess I was screaming in my sleep and Mr. Midori... well, I don't have a place to stay anymore, I guess." Kaisuki had never looked quite so ashamed as she did in that moment. He sighed softly and agreed to walk her to the Hokage Tower.

Is it possible that...?

She led him around the Hokage mountain, through an area people generally avoided. He wanted to confront her but he also wanted to know who she was, where she was staying, whether her appearance was some kind of genjutsu or something and, most importantly, if she was truly threat or not. It was the middle of the night and thus the streets were empty and quiet. The strange woman had slowed down to a jog and he realized she was leading him towards the square. He was beginning to wonder if he knew who she was after all, when she suddenly picked up the pace and sprinted around a corner. He was close enough to see a flash of glittering white light right after she disappeared from sight. He had seen lights like that before but not in white; they were typically a bright, blazing red that radiated heat.

Kaisuki...

He followed her around the corner but she had already taken off out of sight. He activated his Sharingan, searching for active chakra, and sure enough, he spotted a familiar shade of purple fleeing the square. He let her get a distance away, pretending he was still searching, before he started after her. He could pick out her chakra through buildings as long as he stayed close enough.

As he expected, Kaisuki led him back to Naruto's apartment, where she had arranged to stay until she and the Hokage figured out her living situation. From the rooftop across the street, Kakashi settled down and watched Naruto's apartment. Kaisuki had climbed in through the bathroom window, the light of which had been on already. Naruto was in bed, innocently sound asleep. He watched as she closed the window and quickly pulled the curtains shut as well, but he could still see her chakra moving around.

She would likely clean her wound and then go back to bed, but Kakashi couldn't help wondering how she would accomplish that. Saeka wasn't an irou-nin, but was this newcomer a medic of some kind? He waited to see if there were any other surprises but the silence stretched and nothing happened. Only one more spirit had awakened – or at the very least, only one was active. At least he knew it was Kaisuki and not a foreign intelligence. She didn't seem to have ill intentions towards the village, either.

She knew about the bunker, she knew that there were people inside, she knew how to dispatch them quickly... it was likely she knew far more, right? Saeka was a sensory type and could pick up on chakra – was it possible they were working together to defend the village? Saeka had changed quite a bit, so was it possible she was interested in defending them now?

The Hokage would likely see it differently than Kakashi did. His heart sank. Two combat-capable spirits in a single Yurei, born in Konoha? That old bastard...

The trees whizzed by him as he raced back to that now-destroyed building. They had managed to figure out some kind of understanding with Saeka over the last few years, but it had taken just that – years. A lot of people had had a lot of things to say about Saeka's and, by extension, Kaisuki's behavior, but every incident Kakashi had read about from her childhood before accepting her into the team told him a very different picture that only served to remind him of the horrors of the world they lived in. How could anyone else have seen it differently?

Saeka wasn't just a vengeful, restless spirit; she was a child who, through the scars on her body and the talons she had for fingers and the fear and rage she exhibited, was obviously a victim of human experimentation and torture. She knew of pain that even Kakashi himself couldn't imagine and she had died at the age of eleven. She had come a long way in the past few years, and even in just the few days that Kaisuki had been with the team.

However, the new woman... she seemed powerful enough to be considered dangerous because of that alone. She had looked Kakashi in the eye intentionally. She knew who he was, so she had to have been awake for at least a while without taking control. He didn't know if Kaisuki knew about her or not, but he wouldn't be surprised if she was hiding her existence somehow.

But how can you hide those wounds? He wondered if she'd be healed up by the time their training started tomorrow.

He slowed down as he came back into the forested area he'd been staking out with Asuma and Gai. Silently, he came to a stop at the edge of the clearing, ducked low but in a spot where he knew they could still see him. He moved his forehead protector back and forth, until it caught the moonlight and reflected a brief beacon of light. Then he lifted a hand above his head, just high enough to be seen by the duo up on the hill. A few seconds passed before Gai's hand rose, signaling that it was safe and silent. They cross-converged on the clearing, walking through knee-high grass to the huge hole that woman had left in the wall. It was a combination of wood and poured concrete and she had crumbled it like nothing.

"Find anything?" Gai asked, swallowing and looking around nervously. "She's gone?"

"Yes and yes," he replied directly. He wasn't going to discuss Kaisuki's Yurei business with Gai and Asuma, though. "I have to debrief the Hokage directly on this one. You'll have to wait and see if a non-classified report comes out."

The look they gave him was astonished, but there was something about Asuma's eyes that Kakashi couldn't read. The Copy-Nin didn't say anything further and pulled out a flashlight. He clicked it on and seconds later he heard Gai and Asuma's flashlights clicking on as well. They walked up the mess of rock and wood, stepping into the building. The hole she had left truly was massive and as they passed through it, Kakashi realized the wall had to be a foot thick. What had been here? The Hokage had said the building was abandoned and had been out of use for decades – and it certainly looked that way.

But someone was doing something here, clearly...

Something squelched loudly under his shoe, like a very soft grape popping under his foot. He didn't have to ask to know what it was. He heard Gai make a follow-up noise that somehow made it that much worse. Kakashi closed his eyes, counted to three and looked down.

It was the outside of half of someone's face. He had stepped on the part that housed a somehow intact eyeball... which had exploded when he stepped on it. He clenched every single muscle in his abdomen and stepped back, careful not to put his foot on some other unfortunate fellow's pieces. He shone the flashlight on the ground, his lips parting slowly as he took in the horror.

There were no whole bodies. Just mashed down chunks of meat and bone. One could chew a person up like a meatball and spit them out and it still wouldn't have reduced them to the same level of pulp. His stomach was rolling even as he tried to hold it in place with his abs. He looked away from the carnage, trying to find something to look at that wasn't so awful. He had seen all manner of death and destruction, especially in the wars, but this...

It looked like some kind of monster from a fairytale had been there.

His eyes found Asuma's face. The man wasn't looking his way and Kakashi felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The longer he looked, the less and less it looked like the Asuma he knew. His face seemed the same but there was something that wasn't right. Like he was an actor pretending to be Asuma. Kakashi wasn't sure what it was but something was wrong.

He slowly looked over at Gai and found the man staring back at him. Their eyes met and Kakashi made a face that he hoped looked genuine. Gai seemed normal, somehow. Was it really his teammates that were making him uneasy or was it the environment? He'd felt better after leaving the forest and getting back to the village, so maybe it was just the area. He shook his head, filing the thought away for now. He'd watch them for any changes on the way back and going forward. If something was wrong, he would notice. He'd add it to his debriefing with the Hokage as well, and perhaps a select few others could be made aware.

He resumed his inspection of the grounds. The liquid he had seen splattered all over that strange woman was definitely blood but it was black and runny, more like ink that actual blood. It also wasn't congealing or becoming sticky at all, but there was so much of it. There had to have been forty to fifty people in this place. Blood and bits of bodies were everywhere as they walked through the halls... there didn't seem to be anything besides people - now corpses. No plans, no notes, no journals or maps. No training equipment, no beds, not even any food. Were they all prisoners? Or under some sort of genjutsu? He crouched down, pulling a vial out of his pocket and scooping up some of the black stuff. He was sure it'd be best to get a sample before it dried too much.

Something was clearly going on.

A hand fell on his shoulder while he was deep in thought and he jumped and turned, prepared to kill. His heart was thundering in his chest but it was just Asuma. He let out an exasperated sigh at the man, who seemed too distant to even realize he'd just scared the living daylights out of Kakashi.

"Anything?" Kakashi asked once he'd caught his breath again.

"Nothing. Just the... bodies," the heavyset man replied grimly, his lips pulled into a dismayed frown, his bushy eyebrows scrunched up in thought. "I don't know how they were keeping them alive. It doesn't make sense."

"Hopefully," Gai's voice floated over as he came down a set of stairs. There was a blotch of black blood staining his leg warmers. Kakashi wondered if he'd noticed. "The labs will be able to make more sense of all this."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. His heart was still hammering from when Asuma had touched him. Some part of his mind was screaming to run, get away, escape. He was ignoring it because, while it was convincing, he didn't even know what he was afraid of. It did seem like the longer they stayed in the area, the worse his bad feeling got. It was time to go.

"I don't think the three of us are gonna find anything else here," Kakashi conceded, clearing his throat. The smell of sulphur and rot in the place was nearly unbearable. "We may as well head back."

"Let's go, then." Asuma agreed stoically. "We're better off informing the Hokage as soon as possible."

Kakashi went out first, leading the way back to the village even though his gut was telling him not to let those two travel behind him. It seemed to fade as they approached the village but he still felt uneasy being so close to them. Asuma in particular was giving him a bad feeling. He wanted to get away from them.

"I'd like you two to debrief with the Hokage ahead of me," Kakashi told them, intentionally not asking for their permission. "There's something I'd like to check out. Excuse me."

He didn't wait for a reply, just jumped off and disappeared into the trees. He could sense their chakra up to a short distance and it didn't seem like they were following him, so he took a roundabout route back to the main part of the village. He stopped by Sakura's apartment first. The sun was just barely beginning to lighten the sky so he didn't expect any of the Genin to be awake, but something was telling him to check on his team.

Sakura's alarm was just going off when he reached a spot he could see into her home. Maybe it was a little later than he thought. He watched her thin arm reach up and smack the alarm. She was so obsessed with her appearance, she was constantly dieting and conditioning her hair and panicking about her weight and how her clothes fit and all these other things. It was hard for Kakashi to even comprehend the kinds of worries she had. Things were different. His childhood hadn't been filled with such vain worries.

She seemed to be fine and he didn't want to watch her undress and shower, so he hurriedly moved to the next of his students. Naruto was still asleep but Kaisuki, despite having been up only a couple hours ago, was awake and preparing breakfast for herself and her best friend. It was awfully early to be making breakfast, wasn't it?

Kakashi crept around with his Sharingan out, trying to get a good look at the Yurei's face and her arm. If she knew her mentor was creeping around the apartment checking on her, she made no indication of it. Perhaps the capricious Saeka recognized that Kakashi was checking on them and hadn't told her Yurei hostess.

He followed Kaisuki from the kitchen to the bedroom, zeroing in on her arm as she started shaking Naruto. It didn't look injured but she also wasn't using it much. Nonetheless, she was alert and behaving normally, and she was able to move the arm and use it. Her eyes were underlined with shadows of insomnia and her eyelids were droopy from her sleepiness. He let out a breath, relieved for some reason that they were safe. Why did he feel such a strong sense of danger?

He still hadn't checked on Sasuke, though, so he moved on to the boy's modest apartment. He arrived at the edge of a rooftop that, in an emergency, he could jump from and land directly in the Uchiha's bedroom window. All the lights were on and all the curtains were drawn. He knew that the boy struggled with nightmares and that he was afraid of the dark as a result of his childhood wounds. The massacre of his family had occurred late at night, and his older brother, Itachi, was truly a being to fear in the night. Kakashi had known that before the younger man had turned to the "dark side". He couldn't imagine what it had been like for an 8 year-old Sasuke.

He frowned, peering through the window with his Sharingan to track Sasuke's movement within the house, until he appeared in the kitchen and drew the curtains back. He watched as the boy went to his dining room table and sat down at the only chair. It was a truly lonely sight. The room was bright and he was staring emptily at the cup of tea before him, sipping it very slowly. His expression was nearly vacant. He was probably deep in his thoughts, brooding and tormenting himself in his mind, as survivors did. Kakashi had done exactly what Sasuke was doing many times as he grew up.

He frowned, thinking back to what had happened this morning. His stomach turned. It seemed like his team was safe for now. The threat of danger in his belly was slowly abating. He let out a slow breath, finally feeling a measure of relief from the nearly painful levels of anxiety that had been pressing him forward. Kakashi moved away from where he'd been spying and straightened up, stretching. Gai and Asuma might be hanging around the Hokage Tower waiting for him to spill the details, so he decided to disappear into the village, pulling out his book. He'd ponder his debriefing with the Hokage for a few hours before he delivered it. Just to be sure that no one would be listening in when they talked.

Something was going on, and Kaisuki had a spirit who knew something. Her status as dangerous was well-documented and known, but very few people knew the full extent of why she was considered dangerous or anything about her. Her status as an active, pure-blood Tsubaki Yurei was a national secret just as much as the information about her spirits. Kakashi was one of very few people who knew the whole story and as much about her and her spirits and her family history as the village knew.

People were starting to sleepily filter out of their homes, opening their shops and saying good morning to one another. Kakashi remained deeply involved in his book and thoughts.

The Tsubaki were a nearly extinct clan. Maybe they were extinct by now. Maybe Kaisuki was the only one left. They had been hunted out of existence by power-hungry nations who wanted to wield the strength of the maddened dead during war. After fifty years of marrying into other clans to destroy their own family bloodline, there were no Tsubaki left who were of pure blood. The only way to produce a Yurei was through a pure blood union of Tsubaki, and that hadn't happened in a hundred years – with the exception of Kaisuki. If there were any other Yurei left, they were surely in hiding or captivity. Combat-capable Yurei, who carried spirits who knew how to fight, were extremely rare and hard to control. Armies would trigger rampages in unstable spirits and set them loose on battlefields. That was why Kaisuki's existence was kept a secret. If anyone knew about her, she would be targeted.

It was the same reason no one inside or outside the village knew about Naruto's heritage, or the fact that he was was a Jinchuuriki – despite everyone knowing that he had been on the threat watch list. It was the same reason why Sasuke's international documents all read "Uchiwa" instead of "Uchiha". If people knew about the nine-tails in Naruto, the deadly spirits in Kaisuki, or the fact that Sasuke was the younger brother of the internationally famous assassin and S-rank missing-nin, Uchiha Itachi, they would be tirelessly hunted by people who wanted the power and leverage they could get by twisting the arms of children.

He sighed and pressed his forehead against the pages of his book. He knew why Kaisuki and Sasuke and Naruto were all on the same team, but at the same time... why the hell were Naruto and Sasuke and Kaisuki on the same gods' forsaken team?

The sun had risen and it beat down on his silver head. Maybe he could go back soon. Or maybe he'd wait a bit longer.

Sasuke was holding her right hand and Naruto was holding her left hand. Kaisuki was endlessly thankful to the sheer fact that Sakura had offered to join as well.

"The Hokage needs to see Kaisuki."

"Well, I'll come with you!"

"We wouldn't let you go alone, Kaisuki. I'm here for you."

"I-I'll come, too! I, I'm sorry about what I said before, Kaisuki, Naruto, about... about you guys being dangerous."

Adversity always brought people together, right? It always felt that way. The inside of Kaisuki's mind was empty and silent. Saeka was hiding. Kakashi hadn't told her what was going on but he had told her that Yamanaka Ino's father, Inoichi, would be there. If Mr. Yamanaka was there, that meant Kaisuki could expect one of his classic mind probes. That was the only reason for that man to be there and she... really didn't like him. Saeka didn't like him either and Kaisuki refused to tell her she shouldn't be rude to him.

They walked down the brightly lit halls to the room at the base of the tower, where they usually held the meetings. Her stomach was a tight knot and her mouth was drier than a desert. They reached The Door and she let go of the boys' hands so she could knock on it. The first vestiges of heat began to burn behind her eyes. Saeka was back? She looked inward, seeking the girl out, but there was no sign of her. Kaisuki took in a shaky breath, turning back to the world just in time for the door to open.

Their Jounin sensei stood there, looking very serious but not unfriendly. He smiled at her through his mask when he saw her. "Hi, Kaisuki." He greeted warmly. Was she not in trouble? He had sure made it sound like she was in trouble.

Well, maybe I was just nervous...

"Can I bring Naruto in with me?" Kaisuki asked immediately. Her tongue stuck to her mouth as she spoke and Kakashi very clearly noticed. Kakashi pursed his lips and gave her a "one second" finger as he closed the door.

She clenched her hands several times, then shook them out, then wiped them on her shirt. Naruto grabbed her fingers and held on, a friendly reminder that he was still there with her. Saeka's chakra was starting to make her feel a little warm. Or maybe that was just her anxiety. She felt so stressed and overwhelmed that she didn't think she'd be able to accurately tell either way.

The door opened and the suddenness of it made her squeak. Kakashi apologized quietly as soon as he noticed he'd startled her. "Sorry about that. And... no, Kaisuki, I'm afraid you can't bring anyone in this time. But they can wait out here and you'll be able to feel their chakra. Is that okay?"

It wasn't really but she didn't actually have a choice. Even if she did, she wasn't sure she felt comfortable pressing the issue. She just wanted it to be done and over with. She'd do whatever she needed to do when it really came down to it.

"I... okay," she mumbled, eyes directed at the floor in front of her. "Okay then, I guess."

Kakashi stepped aside wordlessly and Kaisuki stepped forward. Naruto's fingers slid away from her hand but she could still feel his and Sasuke's and Sakura's chakra. They'd both been so quiet. She wished Naruto had been talking and joking like always, but he couldn't disguise his worry. His bright blue eyes looked watery and his face was taut with stress.

Beside him, Sasuke looked stone-faced and pale, likely remembering his own meetings in the same room after the massacre. They had supposedly needed to make sure he wasn't a sleeper cell of some sort, after all. Itachi was a master of powerful genjutsu, so Sasuke had been similarly invaded by Inoichi to ensure he was "clean". So had Naruto, to ensure the continued compliance of the Kyuubi, on a few occasions when the boy had lost his temper on classmates in their elementary years.

Sakura was standing a few feet back, the grayness in her face indicating that she was slowly grasping just how serious it was – they hadn't explained it to her at all. Naruto and Sasuke might share their stories with her and help her understand what exactly what going on. Hopefully they'd be nice to her about it, seeing as she was simply ignorant of the things the village did to "dangerous" people.

I mean, it's not torture. More like harassment... or... Kaisuki took in a shaky breath. She didn't want to think about defining it.

Kakashi gestured to The Chair and she obediently sat down. She had expected to be bound to The Chair with the leather straps that hung from the arms of it, but no one moved to do so. The Hokage was sitting on an office chair to her left nearest the window. Inoichi was sitting in his own chair, directly across from her in another office chair, and Kakashi was in his own wooden chair, which he pulled up nearest to Kaisuki.

"Kaisuki, do you have any idea, any clue at all, why you're here?" Kakashi asked to start the meeting. She appreciated his calm, neutral approach and the fact that he wasn't trying to be intimidating or threatening. There had been times when the facilitators of those meetings weren't so friendly about their questions.

"No," she replied softly. Her throat was tight. "What happened?"

Kakashi nodded in acknowledgment. "There's a new spirit, Kaisuki," he told her.

She stiffened, her eyebrows coming together. She could feel the lines of tension through her jaw and forehead and chin. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes, turning inward to see if she could reach out. Saeka was still missing but she could feel the heat of her chakra again. "Saeka?" She called out hopefully. No answer. "Saeka? Will you please talk to me?"

Still no answer. She turned back to reality, chewing on her lip agitatedly, fidgeting with the fabric of her scarf in her lap. A new spirit? Since when? What had they done? Had they caused a problem? "Who? Wha-... what did..."

"No need to panic, Kaisuki," the Hokage interjected gently when he saw her anxiousness. "Calm yourself, child. None of you are in trouble. The current theory is that your new lady friend is protecting the village. We've been surveying some strange activity just outside the village and it seems like she's been figuring out where these active locations are and clearing them out."

"Yea, 'cause the forty-fourt' training grounds are totally t'is fuckin' quiet in the middle o' t'e night. It's not sketchy as fuck, nope, not at all.

Kaisuki's lips parted in a silent "oh". Her dream was resurfacing, though much more clearly than the previous times she'd tried to recall it. Almost like the woman they were speaking about was letting her see it more clearly... was she listening to them? The world around her spun away into darkness and it took a moment for her to realize she'd been pulled in.

A lean frame with shockingly yellow eyes that pierced the darkness...

"That's the current threat."

She flinched and twisted around in the darkness within herself, still very close to the external world. There was no one there, though, to take ownership of the voice she'd just heard. Who was that? Why were they hiding from her?

"I... I had a dream recently." Back in reality, Kaisuki began to speak, unable to disguise her distraction. "A few days ago. I had a dream... I think. I think it was at the forty-fourth training grounds, but I've never been there. And, I guess..." she trailed off into silence, a shudder running up her spine as she recalled what she had felt and seen in that 'dream'.

She swallowed hard and asked, "What do you mean by 'clearing them out'...?"

"These places she's going, they're old abandoned buildings and there's people in them, apparently." Kakashi told her. His voice was calm and almost soothing. "We don't know who those people are or how they got there or how they're staying there. Your new friend breaks into the building and kills them. That's all we know right now."

Kaisuki stared down at her hands. Lately, her left arm had been aching terribly when she woke up. She had ascribed it to soreness from training or sleeping awkwardly, but it seemed to be getting worse over time. Every now and then she'd wake up with searing pain in her wrists and hands, but no evidence of injury. She was too afraid to go to the hospital for anything out of the ordinary, so she had just been silently enduring it.

She rubbed her arm, throat tight and heart racing. Killing them. This spirit was killing people and hiding from her. Why? Why kill them? Why not tell her or inform the Hokage or something? She looked inward again, gazing into the darkness. The tightness of her brow and belly were nearly identical. She pulled back out again, trying to swallow down the lump climbing up her throat.

"What do you want from me?" Kaisuki asked slowly, looking up at Kakashi. "I... I don't even know where even Saeka is. I... I can feel her chakra, but she's hiding and isn't coming out. I yelled for her and she ignored me."

"She can do that?" This time, Inoichi finally spoke. A surge of heat filled her chest and Kaisuki adjusted herself in her seat a bit, uncomfortable from the warmth. She was already sweating from anxiety and Saeka's chakra agitation didn't help. The aged fabric of the indigo scarf she wore around her waist was suffering from her moist palms.

"What do... yea, of course she can," Kaisuki spluttered, somewhat incredulous. How on earth did Inoichi not know that after so long? Was he not kept in the loop, or something? "She does it all the time. It's not like I can force anyone to come say hi."

Being a Yurei would be a lot more pleasant if it was that easy, she thought bitterly.

"We just want to know what she knows," the Hokage stated plainly. "If she's willing to just talk to us, we don't have to ask Inoichi to do anything at all. He's only here if we need to pry. Honestly, Kaisuki, if you can tell her that we just want to talk about what's going on, I would appreciate it."

"Well," a voice spoke up suddenly, "I definitely don't want Inoichi in 'ere."

It was that woman. Kaisuki recognized her voice from her dream. She sounded annoyed but not really hostile. Was she trustworthy? Something was telling her that this strange woman was, but she was still anxious. She couldn't not be. After everything that had happened with Saeka... it was impossible not to be afraid. She could feel herself being pulled back from the external world and she resisted on instinct. She was sure this woman wasn't hostile, but the fear continued to gnaw at her belly and the tension remained in her throat.

She heard a lighthearted chuckle and a heavy hand fell on her shoulder. She felt the woman's hand grip her just a little before she was yanked back, wrenched away from the reign of her body. Saeka didn't usually do that with so much control – if Saeka unexpectedly took over, Kaisuki tended to be sent flying back into her subconscious and it took time to get back. Instead, the young Yurei stumbled inward and nearly fell. She regained her footing, standing on cold, shadowy emptiness and found herself staring at the broad, huge back of the spirit who taken over her body.

"W-who... who are you?"

"Don't worry," the woman said in a voice that was low and gravelly. "I ain't no t'reat."

It took her a moment to realize that that wasn't an internal voice.

.

It had only been five minutes.

"I think we should bust in there and save her," Naruto stated matter-of-factly. There was no energy to his voice to back up his suggestion, however. Sasuke sighed heavily. He was here for Kaisuki so it really was in his best interest to get along with the team. He wanted to be a part of the team. He didn't know why he struggled so much with it. He wanted to be their friend.

"She'll be okay, Naruto," the Uchiha said with a heavy voice.

"Itachi has never said anything strange, random, seemingly with no context? Anything that sounded like a code phrase, a trigger word?"

"N-no, I, I don't think so..."

"You don't think so? Does that mean it's possible that he has?"

"No! No, I, I'm s-sure, he's never... never done anything like that."

He wiped his sweaty palms on his hips inconspicuously as he slid his hands into his pocket and looked over at Sakura to accent the acting. Beside him, she was furiously chewing up her meticulously cared for nails and cuticles – a habit she had supposedly stopped years ago. A couple of her fingers were already bleeding.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" Sasuke leaned into her gently to nudge her before pulling back. "Your nails are..."

She slammed her hands into her lap with such force that it nearly made him jump. She sat there for a moment, pale-faced and licking her lips. She was still picking at her fingers on her lap. She took a deep, shuddering breath before she looked him in the eye and asked what must've been a burning question:

"What exactly is going on?"

His heart skipped a beat. He didn't like talking about it but Sakura was their friend and she deserved to know the reality that the three of them lived in. Most of the village and none of their peers had a clue what it was like. He cleared his throat and steeled his nerves as best he could before he answered her.

"You know how Kaisuki has the spirit of Saeka with her?" He began simply. Sakura nodded right away. "Well, those spirits have the ability to take over her body and... do whatever they want, sort of. So, for example, there was a time a few years ago when Saeka had been going to some of the training grounds to blow off steam during the night."

Sakura's eyes were wide, her eyebrows reaching for her hairline. Sasuke continued, "It got them both into a lot of trouble. They brought her here, but Saeka wouldn't talk, so Ino's dad, Yamanake Inoichi, you know him? He uses that kekkai genkai of his to ..."

The expression on Sakura's face shifted again; her eyebrows came down and drew together and her eyes remained wide open. Her lips were slightly parted and for a good few seconds, she was completely frozen in shock. Ino had learned a variation of it in elementary school and Sasuke knew she had previously used it on their classmates to make them embarrass themselves – especially people she considered to be "rivals" for Sasuke's attention. He knew that Sakura had been one of the victims of that particular form of bullying that Ino had loved to engage in.

Sakura finally spoke with an unsteady voice. "S-so... he just takes a dive into her mind and... talks to her spirits directly?"

"It's way more than that, Sakura," Naruto's interjection was unexpected even though it should have been easily anticipated. Sasuke had never seen him scowl at a wall quite so intensely. "He can literally just walk around in your mind and go anywhere he wants and see whatever memories he thinks might be interesting..."

Sasuke nodded. "It's awful, Sakura," he said softly.

His teammate's face was turning an sickening shade of green and she was swallowing a lot. It actually seemed like she might puke for real. Sasuke shifted a little, prepared to leap out of his seat to dodge any projectiles.

"I, I understand Naruto... but, you, Sasuke?" Sakura slowly asked, her voice thickened by the saliva building in her mouth. Sasuke nodded stiffly, his gaze lowered to the ground near his feet. He couldn't talk about it in depth. The memory of it was too horrible. He could still feel the phantom sensation of the straps on the chair they used to keep him still while they...

"You need to allow Mr. Yamanaka to see every single memory you have of Itachi, understand? Every. Single. One."

"B-... that's... I..."

"Sasuke, this is a matter of national security. You don't have a choice."

He let out a shaky breath. "I'd rather not talk about it, but... it involved my br..." He cleared his throat when his voice caught in it. "It involved... Itachi."

He glanced towards Sakura, who had fallen silent. She was naturally quite fair, but her face was pale and sweaty and sickly. He hadn't realized she would be so affected by hearing about it. Maybe they shouldn't have told her about it. Was she too … normal to be able to look at what they lived with?

"Sakura, if you... need to be sick, there's a bathroom right over there." He pointed towards it, two doors from the meeting room. Sakura turned, located it based on his indication, glanced back at him to nod in thanks, and then sprinted to the bathroom.

He turned his attention to Naruto, finding a miserable and helpless look in his eyes. "Hey," Sasuke punched his arm lightly. "You okay, dude?"

Naruto looked up at him. His blue eyes were watering. "I..."

"She's gonna be fine, Naruto," Sasuke patted him on the shoulder. It felt like a normal action. He felt like a normal person. His shoulders didn't feel weighed down. His body wasn't heavy. He wasn't even as tired and irritable as usual. It was an unusual experience for him and he was grateful for it, even when it didn't last long. He smiled gently at his friend. "This is why we came."

Naruto nodded, sniffling as he wiped his runny nose on his sleeve. Gross, dude. "Yea, I guess you're right. Yea. We just... yea."

Suddenly the doorknob to The Room turned and both of them jumped, startled. Instead of Kaisuki coming out, however, Inoichi stepped through the doorway and pulled it shut quietly behind him. He smiled at them in what was probably supposed to be a neutral but friendly gesture, but Sasuke felt all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and Naruto noticeably stiffened next to him.

"What's going on?" Sasuke immediately demanded to know, not letting his anxiety at just looking Mr. Yamanaka in the eye show.

"Oh," the corner of Inoichi's mouth twitched. "Good news, they don't need me. No invasions of privacy today."

They both stiffened. Had he heard them? He supposed it was possible if not likely – Naruto had never been known to be quiet. Instead of speaking further, however, Inoichi just gave them a friendly nod that looked about as awkward as they felt. Both boys responded only with silent nods and Mr. Yamanaka strolled down the hall. Sometimes Sasuke couldn't help but wonder how the man could live with himself, having a daughter the same age as the kids he was tormenting.

Did he even realize how badly he had messed them up?

Sasuke slowly relaxed against the bench they were sitting on. Perhaps it was just him being sensitive, but Sasuke had been having nightmares involving Inoichi for years. At first, those nightmares were all about the day itself but over the past three or so years they had become increasingly about the things he had endured from the Hokage and his minions 'in the name of public safety.'

Because I guess my safety doesn't count as public safety.

The silence felt uncomfortable. Sasuke cleared his throat and asked no one in particular, "so this means her spirits are gonna cooperate, I guess?"

"I guess, yea." Naruto agreed quietly. Sasuke heard the faint sound of a toilet flushing and evidently Naruto did too. Then, a faucet running. After another couple of minutes, the door to the bathroom opened and Sakura stepped out. Her face was ashen and sweaty, her hair mussed up, likely from holding it out of her face while she puked, and her eyes and cheeks and nose were tinged wth pinkish-red. Sasuke smiled before he could help it.

"Post-barf is a good look for you, Sakura," he teased, unable to not smile. There was no malice behind it – they were his own words and not laced with venom he didn't know the origin of. Sakura smiled weakly at him as she stepped up to the bench. Her face seemed to get redder.

Sasuke forced Naruto to scoot over on the bench to make extra room for her. "Do you want to lay down here? Is your stomach okay?" He asked, patting the seat beside him. "It's a little cramped, but I don't mind."

His teammate ducked her head, her hand coming up to cover her mouth for a moment. She wasn't usually that shy, but he also supposed he wasn't usually so...

Sakura mumbled through her fingers, "You mean... could I lay my head on your lap?"

Sasuke smiled at her and nodded. He was normally a jerk, wasn't he? Why was he always like that? "Yea, of course. You don't look well, so I'll sacrifice my lap for your comfort."

Naruto snorted, elbowing him in the side a little."Since when are you a nice guy?"

He didn't know why the comment hurt so much – usually Naruto's taunts rolled off his back and he was always ready to fire back. However, this time, the words echoed in his head over and over again. He was usually a jerk; a callous, cruel asshole, in fact. The memories of his previous behavior were sometimes crystal clear to him, but no matter how many times he looked back, he didn't understand why he had had the reaction he had, why he had said what he'd said.

He avoided thinking about it because it frightened him. He just wanted to be normal. He wanted to feel normal. That morning, for some strange reason and despite the crisis he was supporting his teammate through, he wasn't selfishly frustrated, he wasn't being cold towards anyone. He felt safe. He felt confident. He felt stable and lucid and alert. He felt like a person. He felt human. He felt...

Normal.

The silence had stretched between them for a little too long. Sasuke couldn't find the words to respond with a lump rising in his throat. He swallowed hard, trying to control his face and school his features but it stung a bit more than he would've expected.

"Well," his voice sounded thick and nasally and he cleared his throat again to try and make it less so. "I... I know I'm an asshole, and I've been shitty to you guys," he let out a sigh that was too shaky. Damn, why is this so hard? "That's not the kind of person I want to be. So... I'm trying. Please believe that, even ..." When I don't deserve to be forgiven.

"I'm glad you're trying, Sasuke-kun," Sakura's soft voice floated up from his lap. She sounded half-asleep. "We'll keep forgiving you as long as it takes. I believe you, Sasuke-kun."

She hadn't used that honorific in a long time.

Naruto nudged him again, this time more gently. His teammate and friend was grinning when Sasuke looked his way. "Yea," He agreed cheekily. "You may be an asshole but at least I'm polishing my coping skills."

"What are coping skills?"

Naruto's eyes lit up the moment Sasuke asked. "It's a new concept in medicine I read about last week! The whole premise of them is-..."

Normally, Sasuke would've been instantly annoyed and said something insulting to shut Naruto up. In that moment, however, he found himself hanging on to every word. He was interested. He was listening. He cared about what Naruto had to say. It hurt his heart to realize how infrequently he felt that way. How many months had it been since the last time he felt like himself? Had it been months or weeks or years?

He didn't let his thoughts take him spiralling away. He took a deep breath and just listened.

.

"So, let's start small. What's your name?" Kakashi asked the blue-eyed woman who had taken control of Kaisuki's body. There was no chance, even without the eye color change, that someone could miss the differences between Kaisuki and Saeka and now, the woman seated before him.

She cracked her neck and then her fingers, her expression set in a scowl that Kakashi didn't believe was actually directed towards anyone in the room. She leaned forward and put her right elbow on the arm of the chair so she could lean on it, placing her left palm on her thigh. She stared at them for a long moment.

"Khrai," she finally answered, though the thick accent she spoke with caught Kakashi off-guard immediately. He had never heard such an accent in his life and he was well-travelled. The Hokage and him watched as she used the hand she'd had resting on her thigh to spell out her name in a language he'd never seen before. Right after she finished spelling it out, she blew it away and wrote her name again with the letters of the Common Alphabet. Where on earth did anyone have names like that?

"Khrai," Kakashi nodded in acknowledgment. "Nice to meet you."

"Uh-huh, sure. Anyway," Khrai grunted, unimpressed. "What d'ya want?"

Kakashi let out a long breath through his nose, preparing for the worst. "Well, we've caught you murdering groups of people who were hiding out in bunkers around the forests and outside the village."

"Yer tellin' it like I don't know it myself. Didn' we make eye contact t'e ot'er night?"

She was surprisingly difficult to talk to; stubborn, withdrawn, hostile. She clearly didn't want to be talking to them about anything, much like Saeka had been. She did seem more stable and put-together, though, so maybe the conversation would be fruitful even if it was painful.

He cleared his throat and continued: "Your actions are not helpful for public safety. We need to know why you've been doing that. We were investigating those areas and now we have no evidence to go off-..."

"If I let ya take care of it, ya'd never get anywhere and ya'd probably end up needing to be killed later," she was aggressive in her tone and pitch, but she didn't seem truly angry. "They're gat'erin' like t'at because they're plannin' an attack. T'ose people're possessed soldiers. They're 'ardly even human anymore; t'ey can fight 'til t'eir bodies're dust, t'ey don't eat, don't sleep, they 'ave no will and hardly any soul left. T'ey're just puppets fer an invasion."

Kakashi glanced at the Hokage briefly. The old man was stroking his beard thoughtfully as he listened to Khrai intently.

The strange woman sighed, looking out the window with a deepening frown. "To be honest, I don' t'ink they're planning to take over t'e village. T'ere's probably a target so t'ey're amassin' pawns to make a scene, y'know, to hide t'eir real goal. T'at's why I been clearin' 'em out. Can't use an army if t'ey're all puddin'."

She spoke the Common Language with such a thick accent that, at times, Kakashi struggled to follow along. He understood her words but at the same time there were things he didn't. "Possessed" people? A plan with a specific target? Who? How? Why? How did she know when there were no strings to connect anything? Was it experience from her original lifetime? Was she bluffing? Had she somehow gathered information that ANBU and the Hokage hadn't? How, though?

"Do you have any idea who the target could be?" The Hokage himself finally spoke up, though he usually avoided doing so to prevent any outbursts from Saeka. His words hung in the air for a few seconds.

Khrai turned her gaze away from the window and back to the two men in the room with her. Her scowl seemed to have deepened as she fell into thought for a few seconds. "Not a specific target, nah. Just t'e usual suspects, y'know? Got no clue what t'eir end goal is so," She shrugged animatedly to punctuate her statement.

"You mentioned … possession," Kakashi spoke up, asking the burning question before the Hokage could derail the meeting to discuss some war strategy that wasn't appropriate. In that moment, Kakashi could only think of Asuma not being quite himself – ever since they'd checked out that bunker, the man had not gone back to normal. He was just slightly "off". Kakashi was glad they were being excluded from the conversation. His bad feeling was back, stronger than ever. "What exactly does "possession" mean?"

Khrai sighed heavily and nodded in acknowledgment. "I call 'em 'demons'. They're not'ing like t'e Tailed-Beasts you lot call 'demons'," Khrai explained soberly. "T'ey're like an undead virus, some are real powerful, o'ters so weak ye can't even sense 'em. T'ey don't 'ave chakra and they're noncorporeal. They can infect human chakra circulatory systems 'nd control yer every t'ought and action. T'ey can infect yer flesh like a real disease if you're exposed to the miasma t'at some give off. Some people are so sensitive to it, it'd kill 'em in seconds."

Kakashi did not feel well. He had already debriefed the Hokage about Gai and Asuma. They had told no one else. They had told no one else. What if they infected their teams? What if they spread it through the whole village? Was there a way to prove they were possessed? Was there a way to remove the possession? Was there anything they could do?

"Is it possible to un-possess someone?" Was Kakashi's next question. "Is there anything that can be done?"

"Its called an exorcism, firstly," Khrai answered him. "Second, it can be done, but t'e likelihood of a regular human survivin' it is about as close to zero as you can get. It's not even wort' it to try. Better off jus' killin' 'em."

His heart sank. It was that bad, huh? He glanced towards the Hokage again, who met his gaze briefly. If Asuma was possessed then the problem was surely already spreading. The death toll would be immeasurable.

"Is there any way to prevent possession?" The Hokage asked the next question and Khrai scowled at the old man again for a moment before she directed her answer to Kakashi.

"No," she replied with finality. "T'ere's no way to prevent it. T'ere are some people who're more susceptible ta possession and t'ere's some who're far more difficult to possess, but t'ere's no prevention method."

Kakashi swallowed. The bad news only seemed to get worse. Was there really nothing they could do aside from killing their friends and family if they became possessed? It wasn't something that could be announced to the public; people would panic and start killing each other, flee the village, riot... it wasn't an option.

"Before ye' start panickin', I want to state fer t'e record," Khrai lazily gestured towards herself. "We all agree t'at we'll defend t'e village and the people we love if it comes to t'at. T'is is Kaisuki's home, her family is here, her life is 'ere, and she matters to us. If we have to wipe out t'e entire Shinobi Nations to protect what she – and we – care about, t'en we won't hesitate, I can promise ya' t'at much."

There was a heavy silence that fell over them for a moment. Khrai was straightforward and didn't leave room for doubt. Demons were possessing people; they were plotting an attack of some kind on the village. There was no cure and no prevention method. There was nothing the villagers could do to protect themselves. No way to release the information to the public safely. No way to protect their children.

Kakashi blew out a sigh, shaking his head in incredulity and hopelessness. "Thank you for the information, Khrai. You've been a real help already."

The strange woman tilted her head slightly. "I'm glad ye feel like I was helpful. It's a hopeless fuckin' situation," she commented unprompted. "T'ese monsters 'ave been doin' t'eir work in t'e shadows fer a long time now."

"I do appreciate your willingness to talk to us, and even moreso that you're willing to help defend the village," The Hokage reiterated with a gentle smile. "You're all very valuable, so we'll do what we can to support and protect you as well. Please don't sacrifice yourselves for us; just do what you safely can."

"Valuable", Sarutobi? Really? Kakashi thought, annoyed.

"Speaking of combat." Once again, Kakashi interjected before the old man could start an inappropriate conversation with his Genin student. Regardless of whether it was Khrai, Saeka, or Kaisuki present in the moment, he treated and considered them the same way as others in Kaisuki's age group.

Kakashi continued: "Can you give us an idea of your abilities and strengths in combat? Anything you're willing to share. Most of what we know about Saeka is just what we've seen her do, but, if you can tell us anything, it'll help us fight alongside you, if and when that time comes."

Every time Sarutobi spoke, Khrai directed a hostile glare towards him before answering his question as though Kakashi had asked. He truly didn't know why the old man wouldn't just take a hint. Maybe he was just pushing his luck to see when it ran out. Her left eye flickered from blue to pink and then to red, before turning blue again. Khrai let out a breath of laughter through her nose, a crooked smile cutting across her face and a wicked look in her eyes.

"The first and only t'ing ye need to know about my abilities," she told them with a dark chuckle. "If I'm fighting, ya' better be runnin' away as fast as yer legs can carry you. I'm far older t'an the human race itself. I could terraform a mountainous area wi' my fists. I've been t'rough a few 'undred Yurei and I can rip a human apart wi' my bare hands."

Yurei exist to bring peace to spirits so they can pass to the afterlife.

Kakashi's eyebrows pulled together. Hundreds of Yurei?

"You've been around... that long? How?" He couldn't help but ask. Khrai snorted, looking away for a moment. A flash of something like shame seemed to cross her expression for only a moment before she looked towards him again with her scowl. That scowl had to be half of her personality.

"Aye," Khrai replied, her tone somber. "S'been a long time n' a lot of loss. Can ye imagine, bein' dead an' wantin' t' die? I don't know why I won't just pass on. Hasn't it been long enough yet?" She muttered the last part, but Kakashi found himself stuck in her reply. His mind was reeling. These things had been active for that long? Was it possible they had a hand in the past few wars? How much was their infestation to blame for the current global political atmosphere?

Kakashi stared at the floor for a moment in thought before he followed up with another question. "I'm sure you know that Yurei exist to bring closure to spirits... do you have any idea what kind of closure you're looking for?"

Khrai ground her teeth together, her upper lip twitching with contempt. When she finally answered, Kakashi could hear and see true anger. Her hands rested on the arm of the chair, clenched into tight fists.

"Great fuckin' question, Kakashi, but don'tcha t'ink if I knew, I'd have fucking done somet'in' by now!" She snapped at him, her volume rising and her accent getting thicker with every word she spoke. "I've had lovers, saved lives, been t'rough 'eaven and 'ell, war 'nd crime, all wit' yer human fuckin' Yurei! What am I doin' wrong, ha!? Brings'a spirit t'peace, ha? What's fuckin' jokes!"

She slammed her fist against the arm of the chair once, her expression shifting from rage to despair. He could see the tears in her blue eyes, the way her lower lip was trembling instead of her upper one.

"What'm I doin' wrong?" She repeated, banging her fist on the arm of the chair again, and then again. "Tell me! What'm I doin' wrong!?" Her eyebrows came together as tears began leaking down her face and she was grinding her teeth together hard enough that Kakashi could hear it. The agony in her expression was real and Kakashi instinctively wanted to hug her; the pain she carried was palpable in the air.

She lifted her fist again and brought it down on the arm of the chair again, and Kakashi realized too belatedly that the force and speed would definitely...

There was a crack like a gunshot and Kaisuki reacted immediately. Khrai had been hunched over her lap as her despair seemed to physically drag her down but when Kaisuki's arm fractured she sat back, eyes now red and wide with shock and pain. For a moment, her open mouth didn't let out any sound. Kakashi was on his feet immediately, rushing over to her with irou-ninjutsu surging to his hands. Finally, her voice kicked back in and she let out a distressed wail, clutching her arm to her chest and curling into herself.

Kakashi knelt in front of her, "Kaisuki, let me have a look." He could see her chest heaving as she sat back up a bit to let him at her injury. He quickly went to mending it. It was a non-displaced fracture, thankfully, and wouldn't be too difficult to repair right then and there...

There was a banging at the door and Kakashi didn't need to ask what it was.

"Kaisuki!? KAISUKI!?" Naruto's voice came through the door, "Kaisuki, I'm coming to save you!"

Kakashi shouted back to them, "Naruto, don't-..." but before he could even finish his sentence, Naruto had kicked the door open with a well-placed, chakra-enhanced kick. Even while he was cradling Kaisuki's arm and trying to concentrate on healing the damage, he couldn't help but feel a swell of pride at Naruto's improvement in chakra control. He really was getting better in leaps and bounds.

"You bastards, what did you do to her!?" Naruto hollered accusingly, pointing a finger at Kakashi, who only stared back in incredulity. Really? You're gonna call me a bastard? You little...

Sasuke walked up behind Naruto, grabbing his shoulder and yanking him back from his threatening posture. "What happened? Naruto, stop yelling."

"Obviously they hurt her, Sasuke!" Naruto snapped back, only slightly more quietly. Kakashi looked straight to the ceiling, wondering if praying for peace would actually give him peace. It seemed unlikely. At least Sakura was behaving herself.

The Hokage spoke up next, having stood up and approached the intruding students. "It was an accident, Naruto. One of Kaisuki's spirits had, ah, a moment you could say, and was banging her hand a bit too hard on the arm of..."

Naruto spluttered in disbelief. "Old man, you expect me to believe she did that to herself!?" he snarled angrily, his eyes bright with fury. "Saeka wouldn't hurt herself like that on accident!"

How he knew that for sure, Kakashi didn't know and simply wouldn't ask.

"It wasn't Saeka, Naruto," the Hokage began to explain, "Kaisuki's introduced us to a new spirit-..."

"Why did she break Kaisuki's arm, then, huh?!," Naruto immediately interrupted. "Explain that in twenty words or-...!

"We're trying to, Naruto!" Kakashi barked sharply, silencing everyone in the room. "It was an accident! Nobody is at fault! It was just an accident! She's hurt, you are being too loud, and I am trying to heal the damage right now, so can you please get out!"

Naruto looked like he didn't want to. Sasuke grabbed his arm, but he didn't budge. "Well, aren't you done yet? Shouldn't she go to a hospital?" He was still too loud, though he was probably down to half the volume he'd started at. Sasuke punched his teammate in the arm but the boy wasn't leaving without his best friend. Kakashi sighed, shaking his head.

"Naruto, we will handle this. Just trust us, okay? She will be okay, I'm going to repair this, we'll probably talk a little more, and then I'll walk her to the hospital if it's still hurting her"

"I think we should take her now," the Hokage spoke up again and Kakashi looked at him. He was staring at the young Tsubaki. Despite feeling like he was about to die, he too looked at the girl in front him. She had been very quiet for quite a bit by that point, which was concerning and a little suspicious. The bone she had broken was healed, she just needed a shot and maybe some cream from the swelling and to quell her body's healing response.

"Kaisuki?" He spoke her name quietly and gently.

His student slowly lifted both hands, placed them gingerly on the copy-cat ninja's chest... and shoved him with enough force to send him flying across the room and into the wall. Kakashi's back hit the wall as hard as his head did. He slid to the floor, groaning.

Someone shouted his name. He could hear people talking, then an angry snarl from Kaisuki – who clearly wasn't Kaisuki at all:

"I'm fine, fuck off me! We're done 'ere. It's enough! Hokage, do ye' have a place fer us to live?"

"Oh, yes, yes, my apologies. I should've brought it up right at the beginning... here we are, the address is right here..."

Kakashi tried to pick himself up, feeling a little woozy. He was probably concussed. Cool. Great. That was fine. It wasn't like his job was extremely dangerous and came with a significant chance of second-impact syndrome if he was dumb enough to let himself get concussed in the first place. Why did he let the Hokage talk him into being a Jounin instructor for a Genin team this year? This year, of all years?

Am I cursed or am I stupid?

"Kaisuki!" He heard Naruto's voice as he was peeling himself off the floor and spotted his Genin team quite literally running away from their responsibility. Not a shred of accountability or remorse. Maybe he was cursed and stupid. He shook his head and it nearly sent him right back to the floor. He felt a wrinkled, strong hand grip his bicep and help him up. Sarutobi guided him back to the chair he'd been sitting in before.

"Are you alright?" Sarutobi asked with a light chuckle. Rude. "She really did a number on you, huh?"

"I'm concussed," Kakashi confessed pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I didn't see that coming."

"Well, she did sort of lure you in by breaking her arm," he teased lightheartedly. It bothered him that Sarutobi was in such a good mood. He was probably feeling the excitement of potential war already. "Nonetheless, we learned a lot of valuable information and have attained a formidable ally."

Kakashi looked towards the old man, who was standing by the window looking outside. On some level, he knew that Sarutobi truly hadn't changed at all in the last thirty or more years. A war-mongering man with a drive for power but the sense to not ruin his own reputation publicly. He was highly intelligent but his desire for warfare was...

His throat was dry and anger bubbled in his stomach. "It'd be great if you could stop thinking of children as weapons of war, old man," he muttered quietly.

"What was that?" Sarutobi turned towards him with a smile that always made Kakashi suspicious that he had heard exactly what was said and didn't need it repeated.

Kakashi licked his lips and replied, "Oh, I was saying it'd be great if we could get more intel on those 'demons' Khrai mentioned," a perfectly executed lie while a relaxed expression concealed his slip up and disguised his hostility. "Do you think the lab report's gotten to your desk yet?"

"Mm, quite possibly," the Hokage stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I'll head up there now. Are you coming?"

Kakashi nodded, "Ah, well, I gotta prepare some stuff to meet with my team tomorrow," he lied again, carefully standing up. He did need to prepare for tomorrow's meeting but he would likely do it right before bed. The immediate headache was already fading. He'd have to go to the hospital himself now, for gods' sake. "But I'll stop by later to take a look. Leave it out where I can find it."

The Hokage nodded. He turned back to the window. "Certainly. We're still keeping this from the other Jounin, and I will only be inviting a few select members of Black Ops into this for the time being. I am truly hoping we can nip this in the bud and prevent an actual incident from occurring."

Kakashi frowned slightly. He didn't really get on well with anyone in Black Ops. All of them kept too many secrets and told too many lies. Black Ops was what had eaten Itachi alive, driven him to the edge of sanity. The Copy-Nin had quit the force and would never forgive them for what they had done to that child. He never would.

As far as he was concerned, they were behind the Uchiha Massacre.

"Alright, then. We'll talk later."

He needed to go check on his team.

...

It was early. Kakashi had told them to arrive a half hour before sunrise, so Kaisuki was walking through the foggy streets of Konoha only an hour before daybreak, which was basically the middle of the night in the warm months. The village square was empty with the exception of a pair of cloaked men sitting on the fountain, talking very quietly. They were sort of sketchy but they were probably just ANBU – all they ever did was look sketchy in those cloaks of theirs.

Kaisuki had been thinking about her perception of herself as a Yurei for a few days and she had decided she wanted to adjust the way she thought about her role in the world and her existence as it was. She knew so little about it, but the little she did know seemed supported by the little bit of evidence she had thus far. It wasn't about training and giving orders to the spirits she carried. The Hokage seemed to have a very outdated way of viewing them and she was starting to recognize that she had taken on some of his views.

"Can ye imagine, bein' dead and wantin' t' die?"

After meeting Khrai, after hearing her speak just a little on her experiences, she realized that the Hokage had taught her wrong. She'd always hated the lack of up-to-date research and information about Yurei and her clan available in the library. There were so many things she wasn't allowed to see or hear about. She needed to connect with Saeka and Khrai on her own and see if she could learn anything from them. Anything at all she could learn from them would be meaningful. Khrai especially would know a lot, Kaisuki was sure. It was just a matter of building up some kind of relationship with them, right?

As if I know anything about building trust. All I ever do is burn bridges.

She tripped over a root and nearly lost her balance. If she were a less trained Shinobi, she would've fallen flat on her face. Then again, if she was a better trained Shinobi she wouldn't have tripped in the first place. It was always darkest right when the sky began to lighten the slightest amount. She could hardly see and the ground had long since turned to a dirt path.

"I can help with the dark if you'll let me control part of the body," Khrai spoke unexpectedly. Kaisuki stumbled again from the start.

She stared in the darkness, picking her way through. "Uh... wh... how?"

"Here, let me guide you," she felt a strange pulling sensation from inside and let Khrai guide her. She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them. She was startled to find she could see through the darkness – it was with a blueish hue but her night-vision was far better than Kaisuki could've predicted.

"Is this some kind of kekkai genkai?" Kaisuki questioned, staring at everything with intense interest. "Because it's amazing."

Khrai chuckled a bit darkly. "Nah, it's no kekkai genkai," she explained. "Listen, t'is is pro'bly gonna sound... kind of insane. But follow along, okay?"

On the outside, Kaisuki raised a single, curious eyebrow. She looked around but found she was alone. Good. "Okay, shoot." She replied, continuing her way up the trail.

"I'm not human. I'm an Elf."

Kaisuki tripped over her own foot and that time she did hit the ground, barely catching herself before her face hit the dirt. She pushed herself up, eyes wide and blinked rapidly as the information sunk in. She was a bit clumsy getting to her feet, mind racing. Was it possible to take in non-human spirits? Was it also possible to take in the souls of dogs or cats, then? Or was there some kind of defining feature that separated the types of souls that could be taken in by a Yurei? Surely there had to be some kind of logic...

Khrai cleared throat noisily in Kaisuki's mind. "Ye just got really quiet all of a sudden, are ya okay?" She commented.

"O-oh, sorry, I-... I just, like how is that possible, if you're an elf and I'm a human...? I... I'm, I'm just," She spluttered, hardly able to string two sentences together. "Kind of reeling, okay?"

Khrai chuckled lightheartedly. "Oh, well if t'at's the issue t'en I won't worry about it," she joked. "Yea, I get it, it was weird for me the first time too, but it's true – I'm an Elf. T'at's why I'm so big and strong."

Kaisuki nodded slowly as she continued walking, though much slower. "Big and strong, huh?"

Her eyes ached a bit. She was awfully tired, but it was ridiculously early in the morning so she wasn't too surprised. Hopefully she'd feel better after she had her breakfast in a couple hours.

"Oh, using my eyes will drain your chakra, Kai," Khrai informed her offhandedly. "You need to really get a handle on your chakra control if we're going to be able to fight effectively. Get it?"

Kaisuki hummed. She wasn't too worried about going to battle yet, but she did understand the message. She was behind in a lot of ways and her chakra control was probably her most egregious example of her neglected education. She felt Khrai pull away again and her vision quickly returned to its normal ability (or lack thereof, she supposed). It was barely lighter than pitch black, with the moon no longer in the sky and sun having not yet risen. She could see the edge of the patch of woods that surrounded the path to the training grounds and a moment later she was out in the field. It was less dark without the coverage of trees.

As she approached the usual meeting spot, Kaisuki spotted someone who had gotten there before her. She squinted at them a bit to figure out who it was, but it was so dark-...

"It's Sasuke," Saeka supplied without being asked. Kaisuki nearly jumped. Sometimes she could feel when Saeka arrived and other times the girl would just appear with no warning at all. She could hear Khrai snickering at her in her head.

"Thanks, Saeka," she replied sincerely.

There was only a brief silence before Saeka softly answered her: "You're welcome."

Kaisuki jogged over to Sasuke as he was standing up from the stump he'd been seated upon.

"Morning," Kaisuki greeted with a smile. She could feel a strange heat in her chest that she recognized right away as Saeka, but the girl didn't say anything. She kept quiet and her chakra simmered very quietly.

"What's up?" Sasuke replied, indicating the stump so she could sit. Kaisuki gratefully accepted the offer and sat. "Usually Sakura's the first one to show up after me," he commented. He leaned up against one of the nearby training posts instead.

"It's... against him..."

"... explain, maybe?"

"I don't..."

She could hear Saeka and Khrai muttering to one another in her head but it seemed like the moment she noticed they stopped. They drifted away in the internal world, going somewhere she couldn't hear them.

It's weird when the gossip is happening in my own head, she thought privately.

"I need to work on my chakra control, I've been thinking about it a lot this morning." Kaisuki told Sasuke as she looked back at him. Even in the dim lighting, he looked just short of gaunt and a hundred percent gray. The shadows under his eyes could've matched her own. The insomnia was real in both of them. "I know it's important for Yurei, and that's what... they're saying too."

"They? Your spirits? You make it sound like there's an army in there," Sasuke chuckled and it sounded almost lighthearted enough, except for the awkward way he shifted from having his hands in his pocket to crossing them over his chest, the darting gaze that wouldn't linger on her face, the distance he had (perhaps unconsciously) put between them.

She understood his fear. Even Saeka understood it, whether she cared or not. Saeka had attacked Sasuke more than once, and he had gotten injured trying to defend other students at school. It was part of why she dropped out and part of why she decided to move out of the Uchiha Estate. She didn't blame him at all for being afraid, but... sometimes it still stung. It was Saeka he was afraid of, but by extension he was also afraid of Kaisuki herself. The unpredictable nature of the spirits she Hosted, how they behave, when they "woke up" – it made her feel like a time bomb.

There was a reason she didn't talk to anyone about Saeka unless she was made to by the Hokage or another authority figure. She'd had a few conversations with Kakashi, and Naruto understood well enough that he was her true confidant regarding her experiences as a Yurei, but Sasuke...

She cleared her throat, forcing the conversation to continue but making the decision not to mention her Guests again. Some people didn't get it, some people couldn't get it, and some people wouldn't get it.

"Well, I mean, even besides that, I need to work on it anyway," she maintained, glancing sidelong at him. "I'm years behind you and Sakura and even Naruto."

Her adopted brother nodded understandingly, though he didn't speak. He was staring sort of at the ground between them, his lips pursed and pulled to the side in an odd expression of thoughtfulness that she hadn't seen him do in years. She couldn't help smiling.

Kaisuki swallowed. Was it possible that the Hokage was rigft after all? Could they make up and reignite their friendship? Remind each other why they referred to one another as "sister" and "brother" despite having no blood connection?

"Would you be willing to sit with me and practice until the others get here?" She requested with a small, hopeful smile. "It'd make Kakashi happy, I bet."

Sasuke's "thoughtful" face relaxed and he looked at her, blinking and thinking with a stony expression. "How about we climb that tree?" He suggested with a brighter smile than she'd seen in years. "We never did get up it."

Why is he so different today? It was like this when I went to see the Hokage about Khrai, too. He's not usually so...

"Yea!" She agreed excitedly. "That's a great idea. Let's go." She didn't want to dwell on it. She wanted to enjoy being with her brother while he was still the boy she remembered from back then.

They started towards the training area Kakashi had set up before. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon, offering just the slightest bit more light. The skies were clear, the wind was crisp and slow. The rising sun would soon start baking the ground around them. At the site of their previous tree-climbing exercise, everything was still where it had been before. The flags were still perched at the tops of the trees. The only difference was that, evidently, Kakashi had come through and painted numbers on the trees to indicate the distance up. It was as if he'd been planning to have them continue the exercise that morning, since none of them actually made it to the top.

Honestly that's probably what we're gonna do today.

"Same tree?"

"Yea," Sasuke consented, then added: "So we can talk each other through it?"

Kaisuki nodded enthusiastically, "yea, we're a team after all."

Sasuke was an amazing help. He answered any questions she had, he talking her through the individual steps in more thorough detail that Sakura had previously. He was surprisingly good at teaching. Khrai and Saeka remained quiet but every now and then Kaisuki felt them come forward to see what was going on. Saeka offered a couple of pointers that she said had helped her with her own chakra control, and Khrai occasionally muttered a sincere statement of praise. She knew she had years of schooling and training to catch up on but it was a relief to know she had support along the way, inside and outside.

Hours later, they were at the tops of their trees, resting with birds they had calmed with careful chakra control. Splitting leaves, commanding bugs. Sasuke told Kaisuki about a few jutsu they had learned in school that she had missed, even got up and stood on the tippy-top of the tree so he could demonstrate the henge, the bunshin, and his grand fireball – which he had mastered and could make huge!

.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura arrived at the stump nearly three hours after the start time Kakashi had given Sasuke and Kaisuki separately. He had lied and told them that it was simply a mistake and Sasuke seemed to buy it without issue. Though, Kakashi had a gut feeling that Kaisuki and Sakura suspected he had done it on purpose. Luckily, neither of them said anything. Which was good, too, because if Sasuke and Naruto had figured it out then it would've been a massive failure. Instead, the four of them just laughed it off. Once their team had spotted them sitting up on the tops of the trees, Kaisuki and Sasuke demonstrated what they'd been doing for the past three hours while they waited for the team.

Kakashi was proud of the work they had done just in those short few hours. Seeing the friendship that the four of them had shown him over the past couple of days, Kakashi felt that perhaps the team bond had healed. He knew better than to believe one morning could change the results of several years, but he hoped it would be the start of something better over on the horizon. Sasuke needed more people in his life to rely on.

After hearing their detailed explanations and seeing their proud demonstrations, Kakashi announced that in exactly three weeks, they'd be doing their first mission as a team. They'd get more interesting jobs soon enough, but first they had to build up a reputation for being reliable, efficient, and effective as a team. Those early missions were extremely important to the training he'd do with them going forward. Things like catching pets or helping the elderly seemed pointless, but it was an opportunity for Kakashi to see failings and flaws in their synchronicity.

"So, we'll get more fun things to do in a few months, I'm sure. Additionally," Kakashi continued cheerily. "From here on, we'll be formally known as 'Team Plus Ultra'. Naruto came up with the name, I just registered it with the Hokage this morning."

Truthfully, Kakashi didn't expect Kaisuki to react the way she did. Her eyes flickered between her own red, Khrai's blue, and Saeka's bright pink. Her chakra was stirring but she held on to it, losing the battle with her tears instead. All at once, the damn broke and she started crying, tears spilling down her cheeks, lip trembling and chin stiff.

"Awww, Kaisuki!" Sakura cried, giggling lovingly as she hugged her teammate tightly. "We're happy to have you. I'm glad our team is intact, plus one!"

Kaisuki had thought Sakura would always have a private grudge against her – though if asked, Kaisuki couldn't have come up with a reason other than being Sasuke's friend. She had confided her anxiety around her only female teammate to Kakashi before, but clearly the girl had never held any such ill-will. It was a relief to Kakashi to see that Kaisuki's concerns hadn't come true. After she had voiced them, even Kakashi had briefly worried about it. However, Sakura had changed a lot just since graduating. No longer held down by the other girls in school, she seemed to be blossoming into a confident young lady.

Kaisuki cried on Sakura's shoulder for a few minutes before Naruto demanded attention from her and hugged them both. Sasuke stood a few paces to the side, smiling and patting her on the head without joining the hug. Kakashi was smiling under his mask, standing further back, his one visible eye glittering with happiness. He couldn't deny that he had thought of Gai's words to him just a few evenings prior, about how his own Team Might hadn't started out as a well-oiled machine.

I guess you're right about things sometimes, right, Gai?