Minato knew he'd become rather… unfeeling.

In how he attempted to better Konoha.

He was worried about that; worried about how easily he made some decisions.

(Kushina told him he was stupid; told him he worried far, far more than he thought.)

But Minato was convinced that—

Well, that he was doing the right thing.

It still felt dirty, to set the Hyuuga up like he did.

But—

Well, it was the Uchiha.

It was Suna.

It was war.

Minato was going to use every weapon in his arsenal, and he was going to use them well.

.

The poppy field was huge.

Ebisu—

The poppy field was huge.

(It wasn't that growing poppies was illegal.

(It wasn't.

(It was just—

(The look in his father's eyes, dead on the couch, would forever be burned into his skull.)

"Why do we always get the boring missions?" Aoba griped. They hadn't reached advancement in the exams—well, Hyuuga Toro had, but that was a given—but their Sensei was needed on the frontlines. They'd been put with a chuunin instead, Utatane Asahi (their age, their age but a chuunin, not fair, clan advantage), and kept on mission track. Kept making money for the village.

"You'd better hope it's boring," Asahi said. "They're paying a lot to have these fields guarded. It've been cheaper to have their own guards unless…"

Unless they expect ninja.

But why would they?

(Not illegal.

(That's what Fire was known for—as long as you paid enough in taxes, nothing was illegal.)

"Should I get started on a camp?" Ebisu asked, because he wasn't in charge.

Asahi nodded vaguely, glancing at the sun. "Might as well. Aoba, can you get on the perimeter run?"

"You got it, boss!" Aoba grinned.

Ebisu—

Ebisu pressed his feelings down.

Set up camp.

Listened to the wind.

It was winter, at least, which meant the iconic flowers weren't there.

(They were everywhere, poppies. Everywhere.)

Ebisu stood, having just finished the fire, and then leapt out of his skin.

Asahi was beside him.

"H—Asahi!"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, of course," Ebisu said. His eyes slid off the chuunin, turning towards the stewing pot. They weren't trying to hide their presence, so at least there'd be hot food.

"Are you sure?"

"Why are you poking about?"

"It's just—you've been unhappy ever since we got assigned this mission."

"I'm fine, Asahi. Let me do my job, and just focus on doing yours."

Ebisu could feel Asahi's pursed lips, but at least the other teen stopped pushing.

It wasn't like there was anything to say anyway.

And Asahi—he was probably too worried.

They'd be fine.

.

Minato nodded at Hyuuga Hiashi and Hyuuga Mawaru as they entered his office.

He still couldn't get his teleportation seals to work on anyone else, and they were still physically costly over long distances, but it helped in times like these, times when he had to be all over, and there wasn't enough time for any other method.

"Have you selected a team?"

Because they did need to actively hunt Orochimaru, even if they were planning to use the secret new Suna government as a lure, and Hiashi was still… piqued.

And, of course, they had their eyes.

"Yes," Hiashi said. Then he turned and nodded to Mawaru, who looked rather uneasy at the act.

"Three branch house members, Hizashi, and one main house member," Mawaru said. Interesting that Hizashi was no longer placed in either house. "All have extensive tracking experience, and Hizashi will lead."

Minato nodded, drawing out the updated maps. "Here's where Orochimaru was last spotted by our informants," Minato said. "Again, we believe he and Suna are no longer on good terms and he has since cleared out, but…"

But it's a start.

But he might have a lab, might have information nearby.

But they could no longer try to wait until they knew exactly where he was—they needed boots on the ground, because Sensei's networking couldn't seem to catch up to the present, to where Orochimaru was now.

Both Hyuuga nodded, peering at the topography: not great, lots of chances to be spotted, but that was the main reason they hadn't tried to get away with this yet.

Sasori should be busy trying to secretly gain control, however; especially now that the late Kazekage's wife had started to glean something was afoot, started to increase her own security. Now would be their best shot.

"Your team will be fully outfitted with seals from the Research Department. They will meet with Jiraiya, who should be back tomorrow, and leave the day after. Research Co-Director Uchiha Hotaru will be available for the next three days to lead the team through what seals are currently available and what their uses might be." A risk, but a necessary one. Minato still didn't know where Hotaru stood on leaving, and he was the Co-Head of one of Konoha's most important Departments.

Minato stood, bowed. The two bowed back. "Let this mission be a success," Minato said, prayed, and then they left.

And Minato needed to get to the coast; if Sensei's notes were right, it should be any day now.

.

Yahiko was lying on the ground.

Why.

"Why?" Konan asked.

"Why what?"

"Why are you lying on the ground?"

"I'm looking for… secret things."

Konan looked around. Nagato did the same.

It was a jail cell.

Why were they even here? Yahiko could just deal with the penal system; they all didn't have to be here.

"Secret things?"

"If I was here, I'd hide stuff." Then Yahiko stood, looked around. "Can we see a cell currently being used?"

The guard looked at him. Shrugged. "I'll ask."

Konan made a face. She didn't—she didn't care about this! She didn't bother to try to commiserate with Nagato; he'd been in his head a lot, recently, and when he was like that, he didn't talk to anyone.

So instead the three of them stood silently, waited for a response.

"Follow me," the guard said at last.

He hadn't moved.

Creepy.

They were led down three floors, then through two hallways.

"This cell is currently being used," the guard said. "You may not remove anything."

The three nodded, because that's what you did.

And then Yahiko was on his stomach again.

"What are you looking for?" Konan tried very hard not to whine, but really?

"They get books?" Yahiko asked.

"Yes," the guard said.

"And toiletries."

"Yes."

Yahiko was unscrewing the toothpaste.

"How do you know they're not hiding anything they're not allowed?"

"We're ninja," the guard said. "We can be invisible when we want. Also—they can earn a lot, over time. The biggest thing we restrict are weapons, drugs, and communication with the outside. Weapons because some prisoners have… strong feelings about each other. Also, we'll be the security they need. Drugs because drugged prisoners are much, much harder to manage and far more medically expensive. Communication with the outside because we've had issues with powerful prisoners running gangs from within here, so we've got to be careful with that."

"So… they get their own clothes?"

"Sure, after the first year."

"Why?"

The guard shrugged. "Hokage's orders. A lot of these people end up leaving eventually, and we need them to be able to support themselves. So we're starting to add in more job training opportunities, but we also need them to be motivated to do those opportunities, and do well. And behave generally, of course."

"So… carrots. What are the sticks?"

The guard shrugged again. "The usual. I know the Research Office is looking into that, though—trying to figure out what punishment is more effective, or whatever."

"They get their own blankets, too?"

"Why not?"

Because that's not how it was done in Canyons. Because none of this was how it was done in Canyons.

Because in Canyons you had a lot more privacy—until you were in prison.

Because in Canyons they killed murderers, didn't lock them up and have them earn the ability to have a warm winter blanket.

Because Konan didn't care, didn't want to care, except—

Except she had a kekkai genkai, apparently.

Except that didn't mean she was immediately engaged to a powerful family, or forced out of the ninja life, or forced into medical procedures.

Except living in Konoha was so, so much better than living in Canyons, was so much better that she still expected to wake up, sometimes, still expected to turn around and be back in that cave.

Except even though Konoha was better Konan still missed the freedom of Canyons, still missed the food, still missed her friends who she left behind because Jiraiya only ever really cared about the three of them.

Except—

Konan was tired.

She didn't want to be here.

She was mature; she'd taken care of herself for years now; she wasn't going to throw a tantrum or anything—

But she wished so, so badly that they could leave. That she could stop thinking about all of this.

She closed her eyes. Listened to Yahiko's question about plumbing, of all things. And wondered when Nagato was going to get out of his head and start leading them again.

.

"Will it work?"

"I don't know. Probably," Sakura admitted. "But Shuji—he was working on some medical stuff, and then had this idea, and with what my nephew has already designed… I mean, if this works… well, it would certainly be a technological innovation…"

"And," Hotaru finished, "it would revolutionize security."

The idea of any way to track everyone in a boundary—no matter how chakra-intensive—would—

Well, it would make Konoha a defensive powerhouse. It would make the idea of going against Konoha far, far less straightforward; far, far less enticing.

And Konoha needed that.

As far as Sakura could tell, the reason all the other major nations continued to harass Fire's borders was because Konoha was seen as an offensive threat too big to be ignored. The thought seemed to be that if they eventually wore Konoha down they could get through their comparatively-weaker defenses, could do lasting damage.

And Konoha had… not exactly been helping with that.

Sakura understood why Minato didn't want a lot of their existing tools to become common knowledge. A trap would a lot less effective, after all, if your prey knew about it. That said, not telling anyone—

It had led to the status quo.

The constant border patrols.

The trade issues.

And that wasn't any good for Konoha.

One big thing—and this would be a really, really big thing—might be enough to convince Minato to let some of the smaller things leak, see how the world reacted.

…Shuji just had to get it to work.

"The crystal ball, that's his idea?" Hotaru asked.

"Yes," Sakura said. And then, because she had knowledge Hotaru didn't, "I do think it'll work, but I want a preliminary version first, something that can be done quicker but will still be very effective."

"And that's what the map is."

"We can use the same seals on Konoha's walls for both, and the map will just show presences—or at least that's my recommendation. Shouldn't require nearly as much chakra, sealwork, time…"

"Get that going, and then have the crystal ball several years later."

"Exactly."

"That's… a good plan. A useful plan," Hotaru said. He traced a finger along one of Shuji's particularly technical paragraphs on his sealing plans. That was more his area of expertise than Sakura's, though she could parse through it with enough time. She specialized more in the physical side of things.

Hotaru was about to ask another question—no doubt about the chances that Shuji actually stayed on-objective—when the back of Sakura's neck tingled; many chakra sources, relatively fast pace, clear direction.

Sakura glanced outside, saw the Hyuuga walking up again. "Looks like you have guests."

Hotaru pursed his lips. "Yes." He did not elaborate. He clearly didn't want to talk about what was going on, and Sakura—well, she wasn't about to press.

Hotaru wasn't telling her his secrets, and she wasn't telling him hers.

An uneasy peace, but Sakura still thought she had the upper hand.

Hotaru, after all, did not advise the Hokage.

He certainly hadn't been the one to recommend this test of loyalty.