To their little surprise, Kakashi-sensei emerged from a branch as soon as he saw them in the distance. He waited for them at the edge of the entrance. His usual carefree posture was absent, as were the porn book and serene face. He was frowning with his arms crossed, standing as straight as an ironing board.
"Damn. Kakashi-sensei looks like he's going to run if we don't hurry," Naruto whispered, knowing full well that his master could hear them perfectly.
"I see you all returned safely," the chunin at the gate smiled at them. "Good job. The registry."
Seina and the others registered. As soon as they put the pen down, Kakashi-sensei was there beside them, examining the three with a hawk's eye and then, as if reluctantly, casting his single eye over the others.
"We're fine," Naruto rolled his eyes.
"That's true," Seina nodded when she saw Kakashi-sensei looking at her. "Sasuke should go to the hospital in case the drug he was given has any side effects, but other than that, nothing happened."
"Well done, team," he congratulated, relaxing. "I'll take Sasuke to the hospital. Go directly to the Hokage's tower."
Seina and Naruto handed Sasuke over and watched him disappear towards the hospital. She turned to look at the others, who looked somewhat surprised by the scene.
"Has he been waiting here the whole time?" Kiba asked.
"Maybe... He was there when Tsunade-sama gave us this mission, so he knew the danger we could face."
"Danger?" Neji asked.
"The one trying to kidnap Sasuke is Orochimaru," she told them, to the others' incredulity. "We could have encountered him."
"And why send us? Two chunin and a few genin?"
"Lack of personnel," Shikamaru replied without having to think about it. "And maybe a few other factors..."
"The fact is, we're safe, we got Sasuke back, and we defeated five enemies. There's no point in worrying about it anymore," she reassured, walking into the village. "Let's go. The sooner we talk to Tsunade-sama, the sooner we can get something to eat."
"Yatta! I can't wait to eat a bowl of ramen!"
"No way, Naruto!" Kiba shouted. "The rest of us need to fit in the restaurant too!"
"By the way, how's Akamaru?"
"He's regained consciousness. He's much better."
She listened as Naruto, Kiba, and then Kankuro argued about where to eat while the others walked ahead in silence. She saw Temari and Gaara observing the village with much more curiosity than the last time. When they entered the Hokage's tower, they weren't kept waiting. It was clear Tsunade-sama was expecting their return.
"I've been told Sasuke is in the hospital. Alive. Good job, team," the Hokage smiled at them. "Seina, report."
She stepped forward and began to explain concisely and effectively what had happened. She also handed over the scroll with the bodies for examination and accepted the note to receive their pay for the B-rank mission. After listening to her report, Tsunade-sama stood up and examined them one by one, giving them the all-clear.
"You've healed them, haven't you?" she asked rhetorically, seeing the tears in their clothes. "Good job. Sunagakure team, once again, thank you for your support. You can take the day off and return to Suna tomorrow if you prefer."
"Thank you very much, Hokage-sama. We accept the offer," Temari said, seeing that Gaara wasn't planning on speaking.
They left the Hokage's tower to collect their pay. Naruto and Kiba couldn't stop smiling, realizing how much money they were going to earn for a few hours of mission.
"Are you going to the hospital?" Neji asked. "I'm going to see Lee if you want to come with me."
"Yes. If you want, we can meet up in an hour for dinner," she suggested. "That will give us time to freshen up and do what we need to do."
"Shall we meet at the yakiniku then?" Shikamaru yawned.
"Why don't you show us around the village?" Temari asked Shikamaru. "Last time we didn't see anything."
"...Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed but agreed reluctantly. "See you there in an hour."
They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Neji, Naruto, and she headed to the hospital without hurrying. When they arrived, Neji went towards the operating floor while they waited in the waiting room. Curiously, Kakashi-sensei was not there.
"Do you think he's with the teme?"
"It wouldn't surprise me. He was kidnapped right here in this place..."
Naruto frowned upon hearing this, looking around with paranoia. Seina, however, knew that precisely at this moment, the hospital must be much safer than before. It was clear that both Tsunade-sama and the relevant ninjas had combed the building from top to bottom. About ten minutes later, Neji reappeared, with a slight smile on his lips.
"How's Bushy Brows?"
"The operation went well. He's recovering," he confirmed. "Apparently he begged Tsunade-sama to let him go help us, but they didn't let him leave the hospital, to his dismay."
"I'm not surprised. The last thing Tsunade-sama would want is for him to get injured again the same day he was operated on."
"And what about Sasuke?"
"No idea," Naruto muttered, crossing his arms. "Kakashi-sensei isn't here either."
"They're probably running tests on him. We're meeting at the yakiniku in half an hour. If you want, you can go change your clothes in the meantime."
Neji looked at his uniform and nodded. A few minutes after his departure, Sasuke appeared, walking on his own, accompanied by Kakashi-sensei. He was wearing the clothes he left home in, along with his holster and weapons. If she hadn't lived through the last four hours, she wouldn't have thought he had been kidnapped during his medical check-up.
"Well?" Naruto asked impatiently.
"I'm fine, dobe," Sasuke rolled his eyes, irritated. "There's no trace of the sedative left."
"Apparently, they wanted him intact, so they didn't do anything to him," the jonin said briefly.
"And how did they kidnap him in the hospital?" she asked.
"Someone used a genjutsu to put the nurses preparing the check-up boxes to sleep and then impersonated one of the medical staff."
"It was a sound genjutsu," Sasuke sighed. "I barely realized and started to defend myself when they stuck a needle in my neck."
"It was probably the girl. She used genjutsus with her flute. And now, is he safe in the village?"
"Yes. I'll tell you later."
"Great. We're going to have dinner with the team," Naruto informed bluntly.
"I got it," Kakashi-sensei rolled his eyes too, but couldn't suppress his smile. "I'll wait for you at home."
While they walked to the restaurant, this time with Sasuke in the middle, Seina began pondering about Orochimaru. If Itachi was innocent, as it seemed, and had visited the village under the pretense of capturing his brother and her to ensure Sasuke's safety... why not ask for his help against Orochimaru? She could use one of her summons to find him and deliver a letter. Itachi could refuse to do anything about it, or on the contrary, he could do something to remedy it. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't foresee anything negative about informing Itachi of what was happening in Konoha. If he didn't already know...
"What are you thinking about?" Naruto asked her, glancing sideways.
"Later."
Sasuke also looked at her sideways but, since their connection was minimal to give each other space, he didn't really know what she was thinking. They arrived at the restaurant five minutes before the scheduled time, but saw that the Suna siblings, Shikamaru, and Kiba were already present. The only one missing was Neji, who arrived right on time with fresh clothes and wet hair.
"Lucky..." Shikamaru murmured enviously.
Temari and Kankuro were chatting animatedly with Kiba, who had left Akamaru at home or the vet, while Gaara looked out the window thoughtfully.
"How are you?" Neji asked Sasuke cordially.
"Fine," Sasuke replied tersely, clearly irritated.
"Seina and Naruto rescued you quickly," Shikamaru said somewhat amused, watching her intently. "I think they could have done it without our help, to be honest."
"Hn."
"Hey! We helped too!"
"Kiba, don't be an idiot. Didn't you see how that ninja dropped dead without Seina touching him?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes and then looked at her. "I wonder how you did it."
"Obviously with a jutsu," she said calmly, looking at the menu. "Speaking of lethal jutsus... Wasn't it you who took down the girl? I saw her body was full of holes. It could only have been you with your shadows."
Shikamaru and Seina stared at each other across the table. Shikamaru smiled, looking less tired than ever. He probably knew there was something unusual about that "jutsu," perhaps another clue about the intriguing puzzle Seina presented to Shikamaru. Sooner or later, if he hadn't already, he would deduce that she had other powers. Shikamaru was a genius, after all. The others at the table watched silently as they challenged each other with their eyes, without saying a word.
She noticed both Sasuke and Naruto leaning in her direction unconsciously, ready to defend her if necessary. Naruto looked irritated, and Sasuke appeared sullen. Shikamaru first saw his brother's expression, who clearly frowned in his direction, and then Sasuke's rigid posture. The most interesting was Gaara's sidelong glance, seated diagonally, focused on Shikamaru. He lazily slumped, as was his habit, and that was all. Kankuro sighed deeply.
"What the hell was that?"
"Nothing. I was just curious."
"What tense curiosity," Kankuro joked.
"Drop it, idiot," his sister said, rolling her eyes. "So? What's the best dish on the menu?"
They dined and chatted for a couple of hours. Neji seemed to have gotten the stick out of his ass thanks to his defeat by Naruto. Kiba, on the other hand, appeared slightly calmer compared to the arrogant kid from the exams. Temari and Kankuro, conversely, seemed to have shed an obvious and immense burden, while their brother, Gaara, no longer looked like a homicidal maniac on the verge of a psychotic break but someone seeking redemption. She could hardly believe how much everything had changed in less than a couple of months.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted," she said, yawning, after they finished eating.
"Me too. I'm going to check on Akamaru," Kiba nodded with a worried look. "Dinner wasn't bad; we should do it again."
"We're heading to the inn," Temari said goodbye. "We'll leave tomorrow morning at 8."
They said their goodbyes, each going their separate ways. She observed the lively streets despite the dark sky. Curiously, she didn't feel unprotected within the village, despite Sasuke's kidnapping. Now that it had passed, there was no point in crying over it. All they had to do was prevent it from happening again, and she knew how to do it easily.
"Let's go. I want to know what Kakashi-sensei knows," Naruto urged them.
"After this talk, I'm going to sleep so hard," she groaned, remembering she had the morning off to laze around the next day.
She saw Sasuke clenching his fists, feeling just as irritated and angry as he had hours ago. He hated being caught off guard and having to be rescued. She knew he wouldn't be lazing around tomorrow. She imagined him training even harder to avoid feeling so helpless again. The truth was, if he hadn't fallen into the genjutsu, he could have escaped easily, either by fighting them off or using the bracelet.
"I want one of those earrings Kakashi-sensei has," Sasuke requested curtly.
"Okay. I'll make you another one tomorrow," she agreed without questioning, knowing exactly which earring he meant.
Sasuke had fallen into a genjutsu despite being an Uchiha with the Sharingan and having trained to avoid illusions. It must have boiled his blood to think about it. What happened this afternoon confirmed her theory that "non-optical" genjutsu was even more dangerous than a normal one. Sasuke hadn't realized what was happening because "nothing" had changed; they had simply made him sleep by manipulating his brain with an illusion.
"Ah, guys, you're already here? You took less time than expected," Kakashi-sensei greeted them from the sofa, closing his porn book.
"We wanted to know what happened in the meantime," she explained calmly before Naruto could open his mouth to demand answers like a maniac.
"I figured," Kakashi-sensei sighed. "As I already explained, someone infiltrated the hospital. Tsunade-sama has ordered an increase in security throughout the building from now on, so I doubt it will happen again."
"And why did she send us to rescue Sasuke with the potential danger we faced?"
"I'm afraid you're not very safe in the village either, any of you. I've been investigating Danzo under Tsunade-sama's orders. The department heads she met with the other day are aware of everything and are trustworthy, but they don't know how many moles there might be in each department or who they are. Imagine if Tsunade-sama had sent a team to rescue Sasuke that turned out to be infiltrated by Orochimaru or Danzo," he shook his head, sighing. "They would have sabotaged the mission, allowing them to escape with him. In fact, they think that's what might have happened at the hospital. Someone might have let them get to Sasuke to easily take him out of the hospital. If it weren't for your connection and Naruto, it would have taken us much longer to realize."
"And you? You could have gone," Naruto asked.
"That's what I would have preferred, but someone had to stay here to see what happened once word spread, unofficially, that Sasuke had been kidnapped. They don't want to alert anyone that they're investigating anything related to Root, so they gave me this task because I'm aware of the situation, not a traitor, and don't work in any of these departments."
"Tsunade-sama used Sasuke's kidnapping as bait to see if anyone took the bait..."
"...And?" Sasuke asked impatiently.
"I'm afraid nothing happened," the jonin said. Then he seemed to ponder whether to say something or not. "From what I've heard, Danzo has been trying to discreetly recruit a member from each clan for his forces. He tried to recruit your academy mate, Shino, a few years ago, but he didn't succeed."
Suddenly, Itachi came to mind. Could he have been recruited by Danzo? How could Danzo recruit Konoha shinobi for his paramilitary army without the village's top brass noticing? Unless, of course, the previous Hokage had known all along and turned a blind eye, or alternatively, had been so incompetent that he hadn't noticed anything, giving Danzo free rein anyway. It was too strange, no matter how she looked at it.
"Why don't the clans refuse this practice?" she asked, realizing something very important. "If Danzo has a ninja from each clan..., couldn't he be aware of the secrets of all Konoha's families?"
"It's very possible," Kakashi-sensei nodded, much to Naruto's indignation.
"Then, is it possible he recruited Itachi to spy on his clan and then used some information to blackmail him?"
"...That's also very possible," the jonin frowned. "In fact, that's something related I wanted to investigate. I want to know which members of each clan are part of Root, what official missions they've participated in, and what type of missions they were. Assuming all essential information reaches Danzo's ears, I'll have a good idea of what he knows about Konoha's restricted affairs and what he might have been involved in."
"Couldn't you interrogate one of Danzo's ninjas?" Naruto asked.
"To start, we don't know who they are, and secondly, they all have a seal on their tongues that prevents them from divulging Danzo's secrets. Even the Yamanaka technique doesn't work because Danzo likely had the help of one of them to circumvent their jutsu with the seal."
"What about me?" she asked. "I could try."
Kakashi-sensei looked at her intently and sighed tiredly, which told her he'd already considered it and marked that possibility as a last resort. She smiled slyly.
"If there's no other choice, I'll ask for your help. Still, we first need to know who the Root members are. Can you think of any way to do that, Seina?"
"That's relatively easy," she cut in. "I can simply read the ninjas' thoughts or even use the seal as a locator if I had one as a sample."
"Try to read the minds you can while going about your normal life, no expressly seeking out unknown ninjas. As for the second... better not, for now. Could you find Danzo's base with your powers without exposing yourself?"
"Probably. I used this jutsu to find the tower in the chunin exam," she conjured a stick in the shape of an arrow out of nowhere and placed it in her palm. "It's in that direction."
Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, and Sasuke watched as the arrow turned southeast. The jonin looked up with a loaded gaze. She dispelled the arrow, knowing what he wanted.
"You know what to do."
"I'll get on it starting tomorrow," she promised.
She just needed a map of Konoha and a spell. As she moved around the village, she could narrow the search without having to go in that direction expressly. She would do the same at the hospital, the Hokage's tower, and all the places she could use the spell without anyone seeing her. She had a lot of things to do...
The next day, instead of lounging around, she got up with a tired groan. For starters, she remembered that Gaara and his siblings were leaving the village, so she went to say goodbye along with Shikamaru, to her surprise. Then, she made the earring for Sasuke, who put it on without a word, but with a sense of relief, before going to train with Naruto in the garden. She looked for the map of Konoha in her copied library files and ruled out everything to the west with the point of origin being her home. She stored it in her pouch for when she could use the spell discreetly.
She spent the morning at home, alone, adding a bathroom to Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei's rooms. It was pretty easy since she just enlarged the shared bathroom and then split the room in two. She modified the layout so the door opened into Sasuke's bedroom and then created another bathroom to do the same with Kakashi-sensei. She finished even before they returned home.
With a smile, she sent a couple of clones to prepare lunch while she checked the schedule in her diary. The most urgent thing was to think about what to gift Naruto. Since she no longer wanted him to waste time packing a suitcase, she had ruled out gifting him one, as well as the magical tent since it was more of a necessity than a pleasure gift. Honestly, she was at a loss. That's how Kakashi-sensei found her, staring into space with a frown, sitting on the sofa.
"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting beside her and putting away the manuscript his brother had given him for his birthday.
"I'm thinking about what to give Naruto..." she confessed. "Some things seem useful, but I don't find them to be gifts, and then there are other things I know he'd like but seem more like small gestures than gifts..."
"Actually, what matters is that your brother likes the gift, right? No matter how simple something seems to you, if he likes it, why not give it to him?"
"I suppose that's true," she sighed.
"Besides, you still have over 15 days to buy something. I'm sure you'll think of something."
"Hn. Have you thought of something to give him?" she asked curiously, seeing him smile. "Oh, that means yes."
"I talked to Takeuchi. I paid him in advance a sum of money so that, starting from his birthday, Naruto can eat ramen for free until his next birthday."
Seina started laughing, realizing that Kakashi-sensei was both a genius and a troll. He had given Naruto something he knew he'd like without overcomplicating it, and yet, it surely hadn't been cheap to pay for a year's worth of ramen. Also, the way he had said "until the next birthday" made her think he planned to do the same the following year, saving himself the trouble of thinking about gifts for life.
"I don't know why I'm surprised."
Still, that didn't mean she was any closer to finding something to gift her brother. She collapsed onto the sofa with a budding headache and noticed a touch on her leg. She lifted her head from the cushion and saw Kakashi-sensei signaling to his lap with some surprise. She lay properly, instead of twisted, and put her legs over him. She saw him pull out his manuscript again, reading the unpublished text and placing a free hand on her legs as if it were nothing.
Even though she should have been thinking about Naruto's gift, she couldn't help but relax and fall asleep. She woke up suddenly, not knowing how long after, hearing Naruto and Sasuke arguing as usual. She grabbed a cushion to cover her head with an irritated groan, hearing Kakashi-sensei's stifled laugh, who still had his hand resting on her ankle, slowly caressing her leg with his thumb.
"We're back!" Naruto shouted, appearing at the door.
"You don't have to swear it..."
Kakashi-sensei laughed silently again, though she could tell by the movement of his body.
"What are you doing there?" her brother asked, observing them with a raised eyebrow.
"Seina is trying to sleep, without much success," Kakashi-sensei calmly replied, turning a page of the manuscript, "and I'm reading your gift."
"Uh. Well, I'm starving," Naruto complained.
"Come on, dobe. The food is already made," Sasuke indicated from the kitchen. "Here. Put this on the table."
She heard Kakashi-sensei close the book, putting it away, while Naruto and Sasuke set the table for lunch. She got up at the last moment, reluctantly, accepting her teacher's hand and stifling a yawn. They ate peacefully, but despite her relaxed morning, nothing was going to prevent Kakashi-sensei from destroying them during that afternoon's training.
"Go shower," the jonin recommended, hours later when it was already night. "Tomorrow you have an even tougher day."
Naruto groaned in exhaustion, but the three of them obeyed. That night she slept like a log.