The hotel lobby is nearly empty when Kakashi and Sakura come down. A young man dressed like a doctor with white coat and case appraises them and smiles.

"Are you hungry?" he says. "I meant the offer about a meal. Sharing food makes things friendlier, don't you agree?"

"I think it would be better for the people of Tanzaku-Gai if we had our discussion outside its borders," Sakura says.

The man shrugs. "As you like. Though I assure you, I mean only to talk."

The rest of their team isn't supposed to meet them for another three hours, but Kakashi leads them towards the rendezvous point anyway. If the team is early or if they sense the chakra signals of a fight, maybe they'll make it in time to assist.

Outside of the city, Kabuto's henge puffs away. He still has one wicked serpentine eye, and his old trademark glasses are gone. The strange scaley texture that used to be only on one side of his body is less pronounced, yet seems to have spread over all his visible skin. Not that there is much of it; a hooded cloak obscures his hair and most of his body. A long silver mustache brackets his smiling mouth.

"Well?" he says. "Won't you do likewise?"

"This is an ordinary disguise," Kakashi says. "It doesn't come off."

"How old-fashioned!" Kabuto exclaims, and laughs more loudly than the comment deserves. Sharp fangs glint in his mouth.

"You want to talk?" Sakura cuts in. "What about?"

Kabuto looks at her more fully. "You've come up a long way in the world since we last saw each other, haven't you, Sakura. In some ways you're even more impressive than I am, I'm not too proud to admit it. I was scouted for my talent in childhood, after all, even if I've proven myself far more than any of them expected. Whereas you..." He turns back to Kakashi and laughs. "Well, Kakashi-sensei, you remember, don't you? In the chuunin exams, it couldn't be more obvious how little you thought of her."

"What's your point, Kabuto?" Kakashi tries not to be distracted down well-trodden pathways of self-accusation. "You want to buy information? Sell it? Or services?"

"I just want to talk, like we're doing right now! Is that so hard to believe?"

Kakashi and Sakura look at each other.

Kabuto sighs. "I suppose that's reasonable enough. I'll have to offer up free information in advance to assure you of my pure intentions. I still have intelligence channels in all the major nations and most of the minor ones. I learned about the little ambush that was planned against you in Earth. It caused quite a stink when you left no survivors, by the way. Iwa wasn't sure how or in what condition the two of you got away. Even my Konoha sources didn't know anything. So I thought I'd nose around the Fire border and see what information I could glean for myself. Coming upon the two of you, together, alone... was not what I expected at all."

"You mean Iwa set the ambush for us specifically?"

"Yes, you see, now that Rain's God has died, the Angel can't hope to command the same level of control over her city. I'm sure Iwa got all the same details I did about your little humanitarian voyage... you weren't exactly discreet, were you?"

"But why would I need to be discreet?" Sakura asks, bewildered. "It was a humanitarian mission."

"A best friend of the Nine Tails and protege of the Fifth Hokage? More than one border away from home, with only one ninja as guard, even if that ninja is an S rank? It practically begged for a hostage taking... at least, that is what they thought. I had a hunch when I heard that it was just a team of two. Then that team of two leaves no survivors, from an entire Iwa battalion? They thought they were sending overkill. From what I hear, they're still theorizing that you must have had back-up... but I had another theory from the beginning." He smiles at Sakura and raises his staff in a kind of salute. "You're a sage."

Sakura had a feeling this was where he was leading as he spoke, so she is ready with a hunch of her own: "Like you are, you mean?"

"Mm, cagey." Kabuto lowers the staff back down. "You still want more free information? It seems I'm always helping you and your friends, Sakura... do you remember my ninja info cards?"

A pang twists in her chest at the reminder of those difficult days, the proudest and worst moments of her genin career. She pursues the present situation. "You're a snake sage?"

"Not a snake," Kabuto says. "A dragon. "

With a flourish, he slips down the hood. Horns swoop back close along his head, and indeed, they look very draconian. Without the hood shading his face, his skin is strangely luminescent.

"Learned some points about style from Orochimaru?" Kakashi cuts in.

Kabuto lets out a sort of choked, reflexive hiss as he turns back towards Kakashi. " I have done what he never could."

"You were always so devoted to him," Kakashi replies, his voice treading the line between calm and patronizing. "It's good if you've moved on at last..."

"Moved on?" Kabuto puts his hood back up, huffing. "Orochimaru-sama-I will always think of him that way-had a unique gift for offering talented people a pretense at meaning. His death left me utterly rudderless, I admit. I originally simply wanted a puerile revenge against Sasuke, but as I wrestled with the White Snake Sage's venoms and tasks in the Cave, I realized that Orochimaru-sama only ever offered me a false purpose. I bear no particular malice against Sasuke now. By the way, is it true that he tried to kill you, Sakura?"

Sakura swallows, then squares her shoulders. "That's a matter for Konoha shinobi."

Kabuto chuckles. "You know, Sakura, I think you had much better speak to me plainly. I'm far better at diplomatic double talk and espionage than you. I'm getting all the answers I want either way, believe me. I can read every twitch of your finger and every pulse of your skin. I don't mean to insult you, you're certainly far improved over the genin who lacked even academy level emotional control. But please, no more attempts at subterfuge. You are a sage, and I am a sage—can we not learn from each other?"

"Learn from each other? You only care about power."

"No, Sakura. That is why most of those who seek to become a snake sage fail. After Orochimaru-sama's death, and after absorbing his remains and making the journey to the Cave, I was open to everything. More importantly, I was open to nothing . And the White Snake Sage taught me that nothing. I have always been nothing, and hated it. I have tried desperately to escape it. Now... now I embrace it. Nothingness and destruction are what our mutual enemies are attacking, and that is where we can be allies."

"Our mutual enemies?" Kakashi cuts in.

Kabuto continues to look at Sakura. "The Uchiha. I always hated Sasuke... now I know just how deep is the enmity between me and his cursed clan. They want to freeze the entire world—to plunge it into a perpetually unchanging and illusionary existence. It's abhorrent! You, who are a sage of creation, must agree with me on this?"

"Agree with you to kill Sasuke?" Sakura spits back. "Seems like you're not as over him as you claim."

He grins. "Oh? Perhaps we have that in common then, since I heard you also tried to kill him."

"I don't know what you heard, but I never went through with the attempt. I was wrong to ever think I could," Sakura insists, half to remind herself. "I believe in Naruto."

"The Toad Sage." He scowls. "You need to ally yourself with me instead, before it's too late. I can see it happening... the Toad Sage is the sage of preservation, after all, and Toad senjutsu is naturally powerful against Slug senjutsu. He will join the Uchiha and he will destroy you."

"Naruto would never betray me!"

"He won't think of it as betrayal. Those Uchiha are all so well-spoken, you know... Naruto, one will say, wouldn't you rather live with your dear Sakura-chan forever in a world—"

Speak of the devil comes true yet again as out of nowhere a black sandal rams into Kabuto's chin with such speed and power that a civilian's head would have surely exploded. Kabuto, however, is far from a civilian; though the kick clearly caught him off guard, he twirls his staff and his body to turn the power of his attacker's blow against the opponent. But this opponent is no pushover either. The newcomer's flame trimmed cloak billows as he shrugs off Kabuto's counterattack and merely lands in a low squat, narrowing his toadlike eyes at his enemy.

"What's this bastard doing here dattebayo?!" Naruto demands. Without taking his eyes off Kabuto, he adds, "Are you alright Sakura-chan? Kaka-sensei?"

"I thought heroes always arrive late, Naruto," Kakashi says dryly as Kabuto warily rubs his chin. "I'm not exactly sure why you're here at all."

"Well... escort -ttebayo!" He blinks slowly, looking more frog-like than ever, as none of the other three takes a stance. "...aren't we fighting?"

"I'm not going to fight a battle that is so obviously not to my advantage," snaps Kabuto. He appears to have activated some form of nature energy himself, as his horns are noticeably larger, his eyes more serpentine, his skin more brilliant. "How many times do I have to repeat that I just want to talk? Will I have to repeat it three more times for your companions coming to join us?"

Sakura tries to sense, but gets nothing. Kakashi, through longer experience and deep familiarity with the chakra signature of one, catches the far-off chakra of Yamato and two companions rapidly approaching.

"How did you know to come here, Naruto?" Kakashi says.

"Sent a toad to scout, got the word that you'd gone off with some weirdo. All I needed to hear."

"I see. And the others...?" Kakashi prods.

"Uh..." Naruto's tongue flicks out in a nervous gesture. "Didn't ask..."

"Yamato and...?"

"Oh! Sai and... um..." He looks at Kabuto and back at Kakashi. "His um... good buddy?"

Kabuto sighs. "Oh Naruto. You still haven't managed even the most basic principles of passing on coded information?"

Sakura flashes back to the Chuunin Exams again. Kabuto's generous, friendly concern for Naruto's foolishness.

Kakashi doesn't outwardly react, but he is rapidly running through the possible outcomes of Kabuto learning that Shisui is alive. All of them are bad.

"I think this talk is over," Kakashi says, pulling off his disguise's eyepatch. He intends only to warn Kabuto off, but Sakura takes his gesture as a more direct indicator of an imminent fight, because she shifts into Sage Mode and charges.

Kabuto doesn't react as a person should who is facing imminent death at Sakura's fists. Instead, his gaze is more that of fawning admiration before he shimmers out of existence just before Sakura's chakra-sucking strike turns a five metre radius around his previous position into sterile dust.

"Wait, Sakura!" Kakashi calls. With his Sharingan open, he was only just able to follow Kabuto's earth jutsu movement into the ground and out. "He's behind you, but we don't need to fight-you either, Naruto!"

Naruto lets the rasen-shuriken in his palm dissipate with another disappointed tongue flick.

"Indeed, please not," Kabuto says, his eyes stretched inhumanly wide with his excitement. "Although I thank you for giving me a taste of what you can do. Magnificent. Perfectly complementary to my jutsu."

Yamato and the rest increased their speed as everyone's chakra spiked during the brief fight, and they land in the seemingly peaceful area in a basic ANBU defensive formation. Sai and Shisui are both wearing their masks—monkey for Sai, otter for Shisui. Kakashi glances over at Kabuto. Clearly, the enemy ninja is most interested in Shisui, but it's hard to tell if he identifies him.

Sakura's Sage Mode aura fades back into her body, but she looks revitalized, rather than worn out. The chakra inhale refilled her depleted yin seal.

"Well, then I will say it three more times for the new audience. I just want to talk, I just want to talk, I just want to talk. " Kabuto emphasizes each repetition with a bang of his staff on the ground.

"There's more nothing to speak about," Kakashi says quickly, since Naruto looks like he might be about to burst into some doubtless ill-advised speech. "Our thanks for the information about Earth, but you must think us foolish if you think we intend to give you any information in return. You leave your way, and we leave ours."

"Are you injured, sempai? If you're wounded, you should clean it."

Unlike Naruto, Yamato knows how to speak in code. In conjunction with some gestures, he's suggesting to Kakashi that they attack with the advantage. Unfortunately, apparently Kabuto recognizes the ANBU code, because he takes a stance with his staff while forming one-handed seals.

"You don't remember I was one of you?" sneers Kabuto. "Shall I even the odds? Six against one is hardly a fair fight."

In a throwback again to the horrible events of the Chuunin Exams, he rapidly summons two coffins. They burst open, and from them walks forward two men, one whose long black hair is smooth and tied back, one whose long black hair is wild and free.

"Ita—" Shisui isn't quite able to stop himself.

Itachi's cracked face with its dark doll-eyes stares at Shisui's mask. "He... got you too?"

" Who too?" Kabuto quickly reins in Itachi's free will under the Edo Tensei jutsu. "Tell me."

"That is the mask and voice of my cousin," Itachi answers tonelessly. "Uchiha Shisui."

Kabuto whistles. "Shunshin no Shisui. What a legendary group of Uchiha we have gathered here... and yet the most legendary of them all doesn't seem to have even been recognized." A smug grin spreads across his face. "Go ahead and talk, I can tell it's burning you up inside."

"You will die in tremendous agony," the wild-haired man spits out with intense dislike.

"Oh come now," Kabuto jeers, "you have nothing to say to the loyal supporters of the village you founded and the last remnants of your clan?"

Shisui pulls off his mask. He has eyes, now, although neither Kakashi nor Sakura knows where they came from. "You're claiming this is Madara? Isn't Madara the one behind Nozomi?"

"Really, you think that a man as old as he would be could be the Madara you've met? No, you've just met pale imitations; I've got the original. Usually he has a lot to say, but apparently not to you. Oh well." He reins in the man's will with a flourish, turning him to an impassive mannequin like Itachi.

The resemblance of the motionless man before them to the statue at the Valley of the End is strong, but that doesn't prove anything. "The man who told us he was Madara had the Mangekyou Sharingan, a very rare eye that only a few Uchiha have ever had," Kakashi points out. "If what you're saying is true, then who is the False Madara, the one who used to go by Tobi?"

"Masks and disguises are essential tools to shinobi, aren't they?" Kabuto non-answers. "You, Hatake Kakashi, use them to be more than one person. But more than one person can also use a single disguise to be one identity, right?"

"Don't dodge the question," Shisui injects. "Who are you suggesting is pretending to be Madara? Another Uchiha?"

"Of course they are Uchiha," Kabuto says, and his scowl really does seem to express sincere contempt. "You Uchiha really are something else."

Naruto blows out his frustration in a huff, leaning precariously far forward in his odd squat. "What's your deal, Kabuto? You're as obsessed with Uchiha as that snake bastard ever was!"

"He's acting as if his purpose is to recruit us, or maybe just me, to fight against the Uchiha," Sakura says. "He wants me to join him against Sasuke."

"Ha!" Naruto surges out of his squat and rocks on his heels with his arms crossed. "Sakura-chan will never betray Team 7 dattebayo!"

"The betrayal has already happened," says Kabuto. With another twist of his hands, the two Uchiha return to their coffins which sink back into scrolls. "Or rather, her loyalty ought never to have been there in the first place. Listen to me, Sakura. The village hidden in the Leaves... when a forest is rotted through and infested with parasites and diseases, what does nature do? Razes it down. It's all rotten, all through, Sakura. What were you ever to Team 7 but the weakest link, the useless flower, the clanless nothing, the disposable decoy? There is nothing you've achieved through them. I admit that your Hokage has perceived your worth better, but only because of her slug affinity, not the hypocritical Will of Fire. You have no real bonds to them, you just don't realize it yet."

Naruto roars, "That's not true! We love Sakura-chan! And she knows it!"

Sakura says nothing, and Kabuto smirks, sliding the scrolls into his sleeves. "Shall I show how long and how deep the Uchiha corruption in Konoha goes, Sakura? There have been at least two more Uchiha who wore the mask of Madara, and I'll tell you their other names. Ask your Kakashi who is Obito, and ask your Shisui who is Kagami! And remember, Sakura, that there can be no creation without destruction. When you are ready, I am more than capable of inflicting the destruction you require."

Kabuto grins, and the grin widens, or rather the face distorts until the entire body, also, melts and crumbles and writhes, reforms, erupts wings, and takes off into the sky.

"Holy shit -ttebayo," Naruto marvels, dropping Sage Mode as Kabuto becomes a tiny dot on the horizon.

"It was an impressive exit," Kakashi agrees, feeling emboldened by Kabuto's embarrassingly obvious bluff. Trying to rattle Kakashi by naming Obito , of all people? He turns to Shisui. "Don't be put off by the mention of your father. He must have heard somehow through his contacts that the eyes taken from the 'Tobi' corpse in Rain were your father's, and it's well-known about my eye being Obito's. He's just trying to rattle us. I don't know if you remember Obito, but he was my teammate under Minato-sensei. The way he died—it's impossible for him to be involved. I don't know how Kabuto knew who he was and yet didn't know that."

"Of course I remember Obito-nii-san," Shisui says, staring at the spot where Itachi had been. "He wasn't that much older than I was. I remember that the body never came home. Neither did my father's."

Kakashi looks at Sai, then back at Shisui. "But it's not possible. Obito's body was half-crushed already, and the entire cave collapsed after. It's impossible that he could have survived it."

"So he wasn't dead when you last saw him? If you don't find the body, can you really be sure he died?" Shisui says.

An old and familiar accusation rears itself up: you left Obito to die alone. And now it twists: you left him to die alone, and he didn't die.

No. No. "I tell you it's not possible."

"He was alive?" Shisui pursues.

"It isn't possible! He couldn't possibly survive it. And even if Obito did survive... he was a loyal Konoha shinobi. The whole reason he died was because he wouldn't abandon a teammate! He had dreams..."

Kakashi's distress is radiating off of him, and instinctually Sakura wants to settle him, yet she is feeling distinctly unsettled herself. Teams, and teammates left behind, Uchihas with dreams, Kabuto and betrayals and secrets... it's all sending her back to a time in her life when she was small and helpless and overwhelmed, and she's coping with it now by being numb.

"I don't want to believe it about my father either... he was also a loyal shinobi, my model and my hero... he had a son and a pregnant wife when he never came home... but he was different in the months before that mission... I know now that he changed because my uncle, Uchiha Fugaku, had agreed to hand over my unborn younger sibling to Root in exchange for protection for his own children." Shisui looks at Sai. "Which is exactly what ended up happening without my father around to protect him."

"We should not be discussing these things in the open," Sai responds, with a placating tone. "We should report to Hokage-sama. By the way, Kakashi... let me pull you aside briefly."

Kakashi blinks, feeling the stares of the others as the two step a very short distance away, not nearly far enough to keep them from hearing Sai's stage whisper.

"I can give you tips on your disguise when we get back to Konoha," Sai whispers loudly from behind the monkey mask. "The mole is not a good look at all. Far too obvious."

"I see..."

"I'm pulling you aside because I read in a book that you could criticize people's appearance only privately," Sai adds, clearly proud of himself at having mastered another aspect of social interaction. "Although I am not sure if that includes disguises, which is a professional matter?"

"I think doing things in private is generally the safer choice for criticism, if one is not sure," Kakashi says.

Sai pulls out a notebook and makes a note. "Thank you. You are being very helpful to me."

There was no further talk about the situation between them all as they sped back towards Konoha, though everyone's minds were swirling with questions.

"Sakura," Kakashi calls as they come within a few minutes of Konoha. "Who do you want to see first?"

Sakura blinks herself out of her meditative run. She had been far back in her mind, thinking about Kabuto at the exams and trying to puzzle out some of his still unexplained actions from back then, as if perhaps they could offer a clue to his current motivations. Why had he taken that blow for Naruto in the Forest of Death? Why had he healed Hinata? "Uh... you want me to choose?"

"For me, there's pretty much only Guy," he explains, "and I'd rather he not be the very first. He'll probably want to do a congratulatory challenge."

"Then... I suppose my parents, after we report of course..."

They have pulled a little behind the others for privacy, but Naruto interrupts with all the subtlety and good nature of a herding dog.

"Hey! You two tired? Need a rest? A drink? A snack? A soldier pill? I don't got any but you could wait here and I could run to Konoha and I could get you a soldier pill. Or I could bring Granny Tsunade dattebayo!"

Sakura sighs and picks up her pace. "No, Naruto, he was just asking me a question, but it's nothing that can't wait until after our report."

Izumo and Kotetsu wave them through with smiles. As they dart across the academy roof, Iruka-sensei sticks his head out the window and waves, followed shortly by a crowd of children screaming at Naruto the hero, who beams and immediately doubles back.

"Naruto!" Yamato hisses from behind the cat mask. "Hokage-sama is awaiting our report."

"Just a few high fives?" Naruto pouts, already in the process of giving them.

"Come back inside!" Iruka says, and Naruto sighs.

"Well! Sorry kids! Ya gotta listen to Iruka-sensei, just like I always did -ttebayo!"

This little interruption provides an opening for another.

"My eternal rival!"

The cry thunders across the rooftops of Konoha. The children, who only a moment ago Iruka had been ineffectually cajoling to return to class, yank their heads back inside like frightened rodents disappearing into holes. A shiny green dot on the horizon rapidly enlarges: the approach of the Leaf's Beautiful Jade Beast, Might Guy.

"Guy," says Kakashi with a wave.

Guy seems unable to decide between giving a cool thumbs up, smacking his rival's manly shoulder, or embracing him with the warmth of youth. His arms undulate in indecision and his eyes quiver with tears. "My rival!" He repeats. "How I congratulate you...!"

Kakashi sticks out his hand and catches one of Guy's hands in a firm handshake. "Thank you, Guy."

Having received a physical outlet for his tremendous feelings, Guy grips Kakashi's hand with such intensity that tears form in Kakashi's eyes as well. "You have been given a second chance at a bright, bright romance! How much you deserve it. Sakura!" He beckons to her with his free hand. "A flower of spring to bloom upon a scarecrow! Now that's the youthful force of nature!"

Sakura approaches with caution but Guy reaches out and yanks her in for a double handshake the moment she's within his range. He shakes both their hands vigorously for a moment, then decisively joins their hands together and strikes one of his trademark vogue poses. "The mating call of spring—yosh! Instinct wins! Bowl me over with your fresh romance, yeah!"

Sakura isn't sure whether to laugh, cringe with embarrassment, or be touched. Kakashi scratches at his hair with his free hand, trying to ignore Naruto's openly appalled expression at this extremely mild PDA. Sai, Yamato, and Shisui's ANBU masks give away nothing.

Naruto will not be ignored. "Let go of Sakura-chan! You can't grope her in public like that!"

"Naruto!" Sakura's cheeks flush. "He's just holding my hand! As if you're not far more shameless with Hinata-chan!"

Naruto grins sheepishly. "Oh, yeah... well, still! It's just weird! You and Kaka-sensei...!"

Guy comes unhelpfully to the rescue with a knowing chuckle. "This is irresistible passion, my young friend!" He twists his body into another pose, this time a double point at Naruto. "Oh yeah!"

"But we do need to report to Hokage-sama," Yamato interjects, and both Sakura and Kakashi drop hands gratefully at the excuse.

"Alright," Guy calls after them, "but find me the very instant you are free, Kakashi! I must generously give you a chance to improve your record in our Legendary Challenges!"

Tsunade tilts her sake cup and watches the drops slowly trickle down the interior back and forth as Kakashi recites the clash with Kabuto. "Anything the rest of you would add?"

"I respectfully disagree with Kakashi-san's conclusion," Shisui says. "I don't know what happened to Obito-nii-san. But ever since I read Danzo's records about my father, I've had this... sinking feeling in my stomach... that something wasn't right. Even though I don't want to believe it."

"Your father was like an uncle to me," Tsunade muses. "Of course, this all happened right around the time I... when I... wasn't available. But I don't want to even contemplate that he could have betrayed Konoha."

Shisui twiddles with his otter mask with a humourless smile. "Betraying Konoha I could believe, even forgive. It's betraying me , abandoning my mother, giving up on saving my baby brother from Danzo... that's what I don't want to believe, because if it is true, I don't know if I could forgive it."

Tsunade downs another shot of sake and grimace-shudders more than her alcohol tolerance would require. "It needs more going into. Danzo himself believed that Kagami was dead. And he was hardly the sort of man who leaves things half done."

"But he also said that he was glad he didn't have to do it himself, Hokage-sama. That leaves open the possibility of a fake death, perhaps with an accomplice."

Tsunade huffs. "I said it needs more going into. We have a more immediate matter. I told the council that this was an act of war, but I allowed myself to be persuaded that a misunderstanding was possible, and so we asked Iwa for an explanation. It's been a few days, and the only answer we've received is that they are 'investigating the matter.' What bollocks. I thought this sounded like a deliberate ambush from the beginning. All we've done is given them time to prepare for war."

The Hokage tips the bottle of sake to refill her cup, but it's empty. She opens a drawer, peers at its emptiness for a moment, then suddenly pitches the empty sake bottle where it smashes into a fuinjutsu seal on the door, shattering the sound-proofing and leaving a dent in the door for good measure. "Shizune!"

The door opens, and Shizune pokes her head in. "Yes, Tsunade-sama?"

"This drawer is empty. "

Tonton oinks nervously at Shizune's feet. "Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"Don't say yes ! Where is my sake? No, never mind where," Tsunade says, rubbing at her temples. "Go and replace it, now. I have war to declare and I will need it."

Tonton squeals and leaps up into Shizune's arms. Shizune bows and her head disappears.

Tsunade swears again. "No, Shizune, wait!"

The brunette head pokes back in cautiously.

"Get the hawks ready. We're going to be sending a lot of copies. No codes. This will not be a secret." Tsunade stands up. "And have all the council summoned here. Immediately, no excuses. Then, get me sake. Kakashi, since you're already here , you can't be late." She points him to a seat. "The rest of you are free to go. Sakura, your seal looks alright. How's your chakra?"

"It's good."

"Good, then you can take over for the remainder of my shift at the hospital. At least two surgeries scheduled. Come and see me at 22:00, if you get off on time."

"Forehead!"

Sakura nearly spills the water she was pouring as she turns to see Ino, her Interrogation Squad cloak billowing behind her in the wake of having swung open the door to the hospital break room. "Oh, hello Ino."

"'Oh, hello"?! Don't waste words on oh hello when I want to hear every damn detail ," Ino practically squeals. "I have been dying . I heard from Shikamaru that he assisted you with a surgery today. How dare you be doing surgeries for some people who don't matter when your best friend is dying from lack of details."

"Details?" Sakura looks around the break room and over Ino's shoulder to the door, still ajar. "...what kind of details?"

"The big details." Ino waggles her eyebrows significantly, and then after a beat, "Maybe starting with how big a detail."

"Ino! I can't tell you all about that!"

"C'mon, why not? I've told you everything you've wanted to know, haven't I?"

This was true. "Well! Anyone could walk in, staff always come here for breaks..."

"But you are going to tell me, right? When do you get off, anyway? Can't believe Hokage-sama put you straight to work... I mean I know we're, like, at war , but still... well, if you can't tell me here, then I'll come to your apartment tonight with booze and... oh." Ino leans back.

"What?"

"Well... you won't be living in your apartment anymore right... that's gonna be weird. Because you're married. No more crashing at your place when I don't want to deal with my folks. No more telling my folks I'm crashing at your place when I'm actually with somebody that's none of their business. Damn. This is really gonna cramp my style."

"I apologize for the inconvenience." Sakura rolls her eyes.

Ino clucks. "Well! But it is weird!"

It is weird. Sakura feels a strange grief in her gut. Everything seemed so simple and idyllic back in Tanzaku Gai, the opening up of a sweeping romance. There seemed nothing valuable in her previous single existence. Ino climbing through her window with take-out and telling Sakura the latest gossip while getting grease spots on her borrowed pajamas... that was really mundane, so why did it truly feel like a loss? Oh. And she would need to talk to the landlady about terminating the lease...

"Kakashi-sensei must have a pretty nice place, right?"

"I... don't know where he's been living since Pain's attack."

"Oh."

Sakura refocuses on Ino, who has a worried expression on her face.

Ino fidgets with her eye-shielding bang and says, encouragingly, "Hey, maybe you guys can choose a new place together? Plenty of empty houses in the clan districts. Get some place with space for the baby. Oh, I hope the baby gets your pink hair! That will be so cute!"

Sakura smiles reflexively, even though the lists of tasks in the back of her head is growing at an alarming rate: terminate lease? new place? mortgage? commuting distance? war? baby? last will and testament? furniture?

"Sakura-sensei, excuse me," a nurse says with a sharp rap against the doorframe, "the lab test you asked for is in and positive."

Ino waves aside any need for farewell as Sakura stands and follows the nurse.

Kakashi jerks awake in the corner of the Hokage's office as Sakura closes the door behind her. He's back in his usual uniform and mask, and a long shower with a hair-colour removing shampoo has almost restored his spiky locks to their famous silver.

"Not as late as I feared," Tsunade says, glancing at the clock. "I'm glad to see your new husband hasn't influenced you in that department."

Sakura smiles weakly at the joke.

"I'm sure you're tired after the shift, and I won't keep you long," Tsunade continues, "but I just wanted to give you a chance to say goodbye to Kakashi before he leaves on his mission to Lightning. We need to try to secure them as allies if we can, or at least keep their neutrality."

"Is... a medic nin going on the team?" Sakura asks.

"Shikamaru. And before you ask, you can't be swapped in. I need you here." The Hokage stands up, and turns deliberately to the picture windows. With the lights on in the Hokage office and the village mostly asleep, it's not much of a view.

It takes Sakura a moment to realize that this is Tsunade's attempt at giving them privacy.

She and Kakashi stand in silence for a moment.

They look at each other with tired eyes.

Slowly, almost like a movement of dealing with a wild animal, Kakashi extends his hand, the one with the mark just peeking out through the fingerless glove.

More naturally, Sakura extends her hand as well, and he caresses the wrist with his thumb.

"I'll be back soon," he says.

"Be safe," she says.

They let go at the same time, and after another moment, Kakashi clears his throat.

Tsunade turns back around. "Report to Shizune for orders at 9:00."

"Hai." Sakura bows and leaves through the door.

Kakashi walks to the windows and pushes one open.

"Don't take too long at the Stone," Tsunade warns. "They're already waiting for you. Safe mission."

Kakashi bows humbly as well and darts across the quiet town towards the Memorial Stone.

The field is dark and lit only by the moon and stars but Kakashi knows exactly where the particular names he's looking for are.

He runs the same thumb over them: Hatake Rin. Uchiha Obito.

"I know it can't be true," he says aloud. "I know it isn't. But both of you are... no, my failures with regards to both of you have been the biggest source of guilt in my life. I've drained every bitter drop of that well. And so when I find another way to feel guilt about it all... I can't help but want to punish myself again.

"But I can't let myself be rattled. I have more precious people to protect. I remember both of your smiling faces... and I know that I have to go forward. It's what you would tell me to do, and I'm listening."

Kakashi steps back, claps his hands together, and bows.

"Thank you for watching over me up until now. I will do my best."

"Finally," Anko greets him rudely when he strolls up to the gate. "What was the hold up this time? Conjugal debts?"

"You could say it was a debt repayment," Kakashi agrees with a congenial eye smile. "Interest rates are so high, one never makes a dent in the principle."

"Can we get going," Shikamaru huffs, shifting his pack. "It's such a drag, but I'd rather not be going to Lightning at all, so I want to get it over with."

Anko clucks. "Inexperienced little fawn. Political missions aren't like that. Getting there faster doesn't finish them sooner—or back to your little sand princess sooner."

"Yamanaka Santa at the front," Kakashi says mildly, ignoring Anko's leer. "Mitarashi Anko at the left and Nara Shikamaru at the right. I'll bring up the rear, if you all promise not to leave me behind. Understood?"

"Hai!" they chorus.

"Team Kakashi, start!"