Eight

What They Should Have Known

"He's been quiet."

Kikai roved about the room in small clusters like a living wallpaper pattern. They crawled into corners and filled cracks, undulating with their hosts' chakra and carefully avoiding the pretty little seals that criss-crossed one another on the expanse of the chipped white ceiling.

Sakura ran a whetstone over her kunai, her left arm thrumming with chakra as she held the gleaming metal up to the light. "He's planning his next move, just as we are. All that it'll come down to is who makes the first one."

"It's bullshit," Kiba huffed. He snaked around the table and the rest of his pack sat around it, jotting down seal reversal ideas and throwing down crumpled wads in frustration. The stolen Forbidden Seals Text was cracked wide open on the countertop, its binding stained with ink. "If I was in the Seals Division I woulda' had access to all the texts I needed right now, and what have we just ended up doin'? Sitting! Just! Sitting!"

"Even if you were in the Seals Division, we would still need information on him. Why? Not much is known and it is crucial to understand our enemy before making any bold statements." Shino paused. He tapped his fingers and watched his colony swirl into a new pattern. "More bold statements, at any rate. I suppose there's nothing more infuriating than seeing us come back time and time again despite his efforts for our elimination."

"We need to do something."

"We need evidence," Sakura countered calmly, twirling the kunai between her steel and wooden fingers. "I know that the longer we wait, the longer we run the risk of something else happening, but there's only so much we can do."

Kiba sighed. "I know, I know. It's just..." He crumpled up another sheet. "Ugh. You guys find out anythin'?"

"There are no hospital records I'd come across that would have any use—I imagine anything related to Orochimaru's lab or its victims has been effectively removed. Granted, the suspension I acquired delays things on my end, but nothing else has turned up," Shino informed them. He tilted his head. "Sakura?"

Her eyes focused on a smudge on the table. "The Godaime isn't like her predecessor. Maybe she doesn't have as many years of experience as the Sandaime, but she's not stupid. The Hokage Library is sealed with extra security, nothing we can get into without having to vacate the village immediately, and I've scoped out all of Konoha top-down. I haven't come across any ROOT headquarters as of yet, but I've located areas of interest that contain secret passageways utilized by upper-division shinobi. Some of these Tenzo-san has mentioned before, but I've made a clear note of all the new ones."

"Sweet. You got a map?"

She plucked a folded piece of paper from underneath her shirt and slid it across the table. Akamaru pushed himself up and set his paws near her stack of nearly sharpened kunai as he leaned over the page. "Memorize, then burn."

"I'm still concerned about his silence," Shino brought up again as both Kiba and Akamaru pored over the map. He pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eye, exposing the dark shadows sunken in his skin. "We don't know when he'll attack, but when he does I fear we won't be prepared enough for it."

Kiba pushed the map over to his friend before flipping to the next page on his notepad and frowning down at the blank sheet. "It's nice seein' everyone again," he said. "But... you know we didn't come back just for them." His lips twisted into an awful scowl. He didn't think those words would ever stop tasting bitter. "You know we didn't come all the way back ta' this hellhole ta' try and get our lives back."

He thought of his family's tears when he came back from Kumo.

He didn't think he'd ever be strong enough to tell him he wasn't back forever.