Shinobi Isekai!

Dog Pile

"Mah, I'm not sure what you mean, Tsunade-hime. Did my cute little genin do something wrong?"

Oh, she did not like that. Her nostrils flared even as her eyes narrowed. "Cute? These menaces are not cute!"

"Eh? Baa-chan, that's mean! We're the cutest, believe it!"

Ah. He got it now. Beneath his mask, he let the corner of his lip quirk upward. "Naruto, that's no way to speak to a lady."

The blond scrunched his face in confusion, the expression so like his mother's it hurt. "Eh? But she's my baa-chan, believe it! Hana-chan said so!"

Tsunade's long suffering sigh and a wave of her hand conveyed her agreement, if not her approval.

"Indeed," she said. "Hana-chan said a lot of things." She threw a glare over her shoulder at the child, but it was deflected by Sasuke, the Uchiha's expression impassive above the mask. "Things that need to be verified."

Oh, no. What had his little genius done, now? He knew from experience how easy it was to figure out secrets no one outside the highest ranks of Anbu should know, and he assumed Hanako knew better than to share those secrets without official clearance.

Then again, he'd also assumed she knew better than to adopt his bad habit of escaping hospitals—she certainly scolded him for it often enough.

"Mah, kiddo," he drawled, pretending her wince didn't send a senbon through his heart. "What did you say?"

She didn't answer, dark, red rimmed eyes focused on the floor, the scent of tears carrying across the room to hit him in the face. Oh, no. Panic welled up within him and he yearned to reach out with his chakra to soothe whatever hurt was making her cry. He couldn't, though, not with so many people between them. Hanako—and, to a lesser extent, Sasuke—was well accustomed to the feel of his chakra, and, as his child, was expected to be. These others, these non-Clan, were not. Touching them with his chakra would be incredibly rude and entirely deserving of punishment. So, instead of comforting his kid, he sat slumped in his borrowed chair, a fake smile plastered on his face as she actively hid from him.

His question was answered, however.

"I was told to ask after Anbu Agent Neko."

Kakashi didn't need enhanced senses to hear Tenzou's sharp inhale in the ceiling and Tsunade did her training justice by pointedly not looking up.

"Hoh," Kakashi turned his gaze back to Hanako. "And how did you know about that?"

That information was top secret. He, Tenzou, and Danzo Shimura were the only people still alive who had any business knowing it. Hanako's genius was not, by any means, a sufficient excuse for knowing that Tenzou even existed, let alone why he would be of interest to Tsunade. Kakashi consciously hardened both his heart and his gaze, reminding himself why the girl had been placed in his care in the first place. Sharingan aside, she was still technically from Kiri, as Jiraiya so helpfully supplied, and there was no love lost between their villages. Although he could honestly say he probably knew Hanako better than anyone else in the village, he was still viscerally aware that she kept secrets, some of which he knew, others he had yet to uncover.

At the very least, he could say she bore no ill will for Konoha. The dogs would have told him if she had.

The child in question was still dodging eye contact, worrying at her bottom lip with teeth that looked like his, hiding behind a boy wearing a mask like his, and no doubt considering the odds of escape just like him.

The barrier he'd erected around his heart cracked, just a little.

"Answer me, kiddo. This is important."