“Stand by?” Ino parroted back.
“Exactly,” Kakashi said, from behind the Hokage’s desk. “Basically, don’t do anything.”
“Don’t do anything? A fake Sasuke’s out there, you know? We’re just going to let him be?” Ino let her anger be seen.
“So then what do you think we should do?” Kakashi retorted. “Go around the village, or maybe even other villages, saying there’s a fake Sasuke and would they happen to know anything about it?”
“Well, that’s…” Ino mumbled.
Sakura and Ino had only just returned from Sunagakure. They had passed through the A-un gates and gone straight to Kakashi.
The falcon released from Sunagakure had arrived two days ago, so Kakashi knew the general overview of the situation. Once Sakura and Ino filled him in on what they’d heard directly from Gaara, Kakashi had announced that they were both to simply stand by.
“It’s best not to make any careless moves right now,” he said. “Or rather, we have too little information to move on.”
“But—”
“We,” Kakashi interrupted Ino. “We know very well that Sasuke wouldn’t do anything like that. But what would happen if someone who didn’t know what kind of person Sasuke is found out about this? People might start spreading false information—Sasuke’s had a change of heart, Sasuke’s a criminal, that sort of thing. Gaara’s decision to tell only the two of you about this and keep it within that village was a good one.”
Which was why Konoha shouldn’t make any moves at that moment, he repeated.
“You too, Sakura. Understood?”
“Er,” Sakura started. “I’m pretty sure there’s a ninja in the Anbu who can mimic chakra, right? I can’t believe he could be involved, though…?”
It was a possibility Sakura herself had rejected when they met with Gaara in Sunagakure, but she asked about it now because she wanted direct confirmation from Kakashi.
“No, no connection there. He does indeed have a jutsu that traces the chakra of his target, but he’s on a long-term mission right now. This is a weird way of saying it, but he has an alibi. So he’s clean,” Kakashi said, firmly.
“Can we contact Sasuke ourselves?” Ino asked.
“Hmm. If we could, that’d be the best thing here, but it’s tough. He tends to move as the spirit wills him, so to speak. We don’t know when he’ll stop at any given contact point, and he’s under no obligation to check in regularly with Konoha.”
“I thought so.” Ino’s face sank.
Sakura looked down at the ground.
They couldn’t get in touch with him. If they started to investigate, word would spread. Which meant that all they could do was watch carefully, just as Kakashi said.
“Of course, if the situation changes, I’ll put you two to work on it,” Kakashi said, and then added, “Oh, one other thing. I have some bad news. Mostly because I don’t have enough muscles to flex. There was a senior level meeting yesterday, and they ended up chipping away at the budget for the children’s therapy center. They’re shifting a larger share of the next budget to the Anbu.”
“To the Anbu?” Ino asked. “Why would they do that?”
“Look, the daimyo was attacked. And, well…there’ve been some other suspicious things happening in the village. So the people at the top think we should shore up the Anbu.”
“What are these suspicious things?” Ino pressed.
“Sorry, now’s a bit… When the time comes, I’ll definitely tell you everything.” Kakashi held up a hand as if to beg forgiveness.
“Don’t move, when the time comes—Master, you’re being awfully evasive.” Ino frowned.
Kakashi offered a bitter, somehow dejected smile in response. “Don’t hold it against me. Things change when you’re Hokage.”
Once Kakashi dismissed them and sent them home to get some rest, Sakura and Ino left the Hokage’s Residence.
“You look pale. Are you okay?” Ino asked, when they parted ways.
Sakura said she was fine, but when she got home and looked in the mirror, she did indeed see a worn face there. Part of it was exhaustion from the nonstop trip to Suna, but more than anything, it was a reaction to what Gaara had told them about Sasuke.
Come on. What are you doing, Sasuke…
But even if she tried to protest, Sasuke was somewhere where her voice couldn’t reach. The words she wanted to say but couldn’t, the things she wanted to do for him but couldn’t, settled inside her, a lump of longing.
She threw herself onto her bed. The cool sensation of the sheets caressed her cheeks before she rolled onto her back.
She touched her forehead with her index and middle fingers.
I’ll see you soon.
Thank you…
His words sprang to life in the back of her mind.
But when is soon, Sasuke, she murmured to herself.
✦ ✦ ✦
On the other side of the thick glass, a group of Kido faction medical ninjas were standing and working. Some were shaking test tubes, others measuring this and that, still others packing purple capsules into boxes.
“It’s going well?” Kido asked Magire beside him, as they watched subordinates packing boxes of capsules.
“It is. It appears that we will safely reach this month’s quota,” came Magire’s level voice in return. “That is all,”
The facility was a research institute Kido had built outside of the village. Here, under Magire’s direction, they could research new medications and produce them for distribution. The facility was underground; the building above ground was a brick storehouse, camouflage. Naturally, the only ones who knew about the underground facility were Kido’s faction.
“What’s the state of the culture medium? Is he crying about how he wants to go home?”
“He does not weep. In fact, given that he is being kept half-conscious with medication, the feelings of the culture medium are not apparent. That is all.”
“Is that so?” Still some bad ones in this world. Kido grinned as he changed the subject. “Anyway, the budget meeting went well. It was almost anticlimactic.”
“However, Hatake Kakashi may have realized that we were the ones who carried out the attacks on the daimyo and his advisor.”
“It doesn’t matter if he did. Actually, if he was the sort of man who didn’t notice that much at least, he wouldn’t have lived long enough to become Hokage.”
This was not just sour grapes; Kido really believed it didn’t matter if Kakashi suspected them of anything. The attacks on the advisor and the daimyo were, for Kido, nothing more than a test.
A Tailed Beast drug.
The results had been superb. Just as Kido ordered, assassins—abilities enhanced by the Tailed Beast drug—had thrown a kunai next to the daimyo, lightly slashed at the advisor, evaded the pursuing guard ninja, and fled the scene quite admirably. Kido had then used those attacks as a pretext to secure a budget increase for the Anbu.
We can use the Tailed Beast drug. Kido could feel the power of it. And this meant two things: they could use it for the dosed human beings and for political strategy.
But Hatake Kakashi was a serious opponent, one he must not let his guard down around. Kakashi might have had his eyes sleepily half-closed most of the time, but his intuition was sharp when it counted. After all, he already had former Anbu member Sai at work.
“Seems Sai’s still sniffing around at us,” Kido said.
He had sent two assassins after Sai the other day, but received a report that they had failed. One of them had self-destructed, which meant he had likely broken under questioning.
Kido had done the same thing for the attacks on the daimyo and the advisor as well: set curse marks on all the assassins before releasing them. Only the ones who accomplished their mission and returned to him could have that curse released.
“The failure of the other day,” Magire began, “was because my own estimations were incorrect. I sent two people with one tail, but their own skills and chakra were apparently insufficient. That is all.”
“Well, it’s fine, I suppose,” Kido said. “They failed, but it will serve as a warning. And if it comes down to it, we can simply send some with more tails.”
They couldn’t let their plans be set back at this stage.
So much money that the village’s budget paled in comparison…
They still had a little ways to go in order to get there.
Pretty great, huh, Kido? Now you can go to the academy like everyone else.
Yeah. Thanks, Dad!
The memory came back to life unbidden in the back of his mind, and Kido’s face froze.
“Money. More money…” The curse in his heart found its way to his voice and slipped out of his mouth.