Despite Ibiki's assurances, Arina did not return in a day, not even two. Kakashi was glad to be distracted by his new mentees, although his somewhat absent-minded state almost made him fall for the world-old prank with a doorway, and their acquaintance did not work out a little at first. But later he somehow imperceptibly got involved and even for the first time since he became a mentor he credited the students with successfully passing the test known as the "Survival Exercise".
However, in the evenings, he circled around his small dorm room like a wolf in a cage. He never returned to his house — only popped by a couple of times in case he and Arina missed each other.
On the third day, after sending his team on their first and rather simple mission — they were unlikely to be in any danger with weedery — he sneaked off home and again made sure that Arina had not appeared there. Then he went to the interrogators, but was surprised to find the headquarters locked. After that, he already went straight to Hiruzen.
The office of Lord Third turned out to be empty as well, so Kakashi randomly poked into other reception rooms — first to where the main work on processing tasks was usually going on, and when it turned out that there was no one there either, he headed to the one where Hiruzen usually conducted longer negotiations or less formal receptions. Practically barging into a small room with a laconic traditional interior — he was slowly beginning to lose patience — he stared in surprise at Arina, who, apparently, at that moment was peacefully chatting with the Hokage over a cup of green tea, sitting on a tatami floor by a low table.
Arina turned at the sound of the door opening. When she saw Kakashi, she exclaimed joyfully and jumped up. She ran up to him, hugged him and pressed her face into his chest. Kakashi was a little taken aback — he was ready to go on rampage by that time — but still hugged Arina tightly in response, in turn burying his face in the top of her head.
Lord Third looked at them with interest and a little inquisitively. Doesn't expect anything, does he? Well, well...
Finally, they tore apart. Arina raised her face and looked at Kakashi bright eyed, and he was relieved to note that although she looked a little tired, there were no traces of hardships she had undergone. However, he still cupped her face in his hands and gently asked:
"Are you alright?"
Arina nodded composedly and then, to hide her sudden awkwardness, hugged him again.
At that moment, Kakashi finally caught himself and looked over her head at the Hokage, who was still watching them closely. He got noticeably embarrassed, finally remembering where he actually was.
"Hiruzen-sama, I... apologize for the intrusion. May I know what's going on? Why is it taking so long?"
"Come and sit down, Kakashi, there's no sense in standing when you can sit."
When they sat down, Lord Third began to speak:
"As planned, we checked our outlander. In particular, her memory had to undergo a deep analysis..."
Arina winced lightly and Kakashi cast a worried look in her direction. She immediately smiled reassuringly, shook her head, as if saying that it was unpleasant, but tolerable.
"As you know, memory deployment takes a considerable amount of time. But it is safe to say that, fortunately, Orochimaru did not have any influence on the girl."
"If you were able to analyse particularly Arina's memory, then this does not reveal to us the interaction with Orochimaru of the other girl before..." Kakashi belatedly bit his tongue. Hatake, you don't know when to slow down, do you?
"Naturally, we also thought of that," Hiruzen smiled condescendingly, noticing Kakashi's oversight. "However, we also saw the dream that was an echo of the memory of Arina's predecessor: and through that dream we could unwind this thread a little — in fact, this was the main difficulty and this procedure required a more thorough preparatory work and extra time... Anyhow, we believe that this was their first and last encounter. Fortunately or unfortunately — it depends on how you look at it — it didn't exactly work out. Orochimaru also did not get to mark her — for some reason, he clearly did not expect a refusal, or did not plan to use the girl for such purposes."
"Case in point... and, ahem, regarding this whole situation with Arina's 'migration' into our world?" Kakashi looked at the girl again and figured from her look becoming melancholy that they had probably already discussed it, and the answer was not reassuring.
"Preliminary discussions, unfortunately, did not lead to any encouraging conclusions, but I assigned several people to look into this issue. However, I would not particularly count on a favourable outcome. There are probably insurmountable circumstances," Hiruzen looked at Arina sympathetically.
"The problem is," Arina said softly, lowering her gaze, "that with a high probability I simply have nowhere to go back... I do not know how my body — the body of the girl here — was able to cope with a blow to the heart, but in my world the laws of physics are very severe and after a head-on collision with a ton of iron, you will hardly leave mincemeat. Not to mention if it catches on fire... So even if it had been possible to arrange an exchange again, we might very likely just get two deaths instead of one."
Kakashi looked at her with compassion, gritting his teeth. Another feeling — unforgivably selfish — he tried his best to suppress.
"But, on the other hand, it means that I can stay here and continue to pester you further," the girl raised her head, smiling, but tears glistened in her eyes.
Kakashi wanted to pull her to him, but he had to restrain himself under Hiruzen's gaze — he had already permitted himself far too much in his presence, under other circumstances he would have been standing stiffly to attention.
They were silent for some time. Hiruzen coughed. Kakashi cowardly hastened to change the subject:
"And what about the seal?"
It seemed as if Hiruzen had also breathed a sigh of relief.
"Regarding the seal, it is quite interesting. Actually, it has already been deactivated, so I wish you luck in potentially having to train another student," Hiruzen smiled gently.
Arina looked down modestly. Kakashi shuddered slightly at the mention of 'students' — as soon as he remembered the bickering on the way to the farm earlier.
"Fortunately, the seal also had nothing to do with Orochimaru and did not pose any threat to others," Hiruzen continued. Apparently, it was imposed by someone at Hofu temple. Given the traditions of those lands, and, in particular, the cult of the Goddess of Fertility, it can be assumed that the girl was kept at the temple sort of as a living embodiment of the goddess, while restrictions from her chakra were removed at certain times of the year to conduct a number of rituals that contributed — just think of it — to a rich harvest! Savageness, really."
Kakashi snorted:
"Rather unusual use of chakra."
"You can say that again! But the population there is rather peculiar, and shinobi and everything related to the use of chakra are not welcome. At the same time, this area is filled with superstitions and strange, sometimes not very pleasant, rituals, some of which, obviously, were still tied to the chakra, which did not prevent its denial. I don't even want to think how this girl got into that temple and what exactly they did to her there, especially considering the quality of the seal..."
"Well, obviously they won't have it easy with harvesting anymore..." Kakashi winced involuntarily and glanced at the girl. It was good that he did not dare to personally deactivate the seal then. The procedure for applying and removing the seal was unpleasant enough already, and if it was done by an amateur, all the more reason to act with caution.
"Apparently, yes. Perhaps we can still benefit from this — I'm sorry, Arina, but these are the usual pressing issues. Besides, I doubt it you'd want to go back to help them."
Arina threw her hands up and shook her head as if to say: "Not at all."
"So," Lord Third continued, "about the chakra, it's still more curious."
He paused, looking at Kakashi pointedly. The latter only raised his eyebrow, so the Hokage sighed reproachfully and said:
"Kakashi, she is a Seigenryu."
Kakashi stared back at him, dumbfounded. Hiruzen narrowed his eyes in response.
It's not getting any easier from hour to hour, is it? — Kakashi thought wearily. He coughed lightly and clarified for some reason:
"I... do I understand you correctly?"
Instead of an answer, Lord Third asked a counter question:
"Hatake, how did you not pay attention to the girl's eyes? Where were you looking at all, may I ask? Yes, it's not like this is common knowledge, but you — you should have recognized it...."
Kakashi glanced at Arina sheepishly. He was ready to sink through the ground, especially remembering where exactly he was looking when they were together... He tried not to think about the fact that their interaction, so to say, had probably already become the legacy of the Interrogators Department. He wondered how much of this Hiruzen was aware of. Judging by the way he was looking at him — quite enough.
Arina looked back and forth between the Hokage and the embarrassed Kakashi. Her eyes were indeed quite unusual, but rather only for her past life: vividly golden, with a purple rim around the edge of the iris. When the silence dragged on, she inquired impatiently:
"May I ask what you're talking about?"
Kakashi managed to pull himself together and looked at her even somewhat sympathetically:
"Seigenryu or the Source... This means that you can share your chakra with others as you please, but — the dark side of the Moon — chakra flows out of you freely and practically uncontrollably, so you can hardly concentrate and use it yourself, for example, to attack. Seigenryu's abilities are a kind of a DNA anomaly, Kekkei Genkai, which gives specific unique abilities to its owner. However, if most often, when talking about Kekkei Genkai, we refer to a generic feature that is inherited, this particular ability manifests itself randomly. A typical feature indicating these abilities is a specific colour pattern of the eyes," — Kakashi winced slightly, thinking back to his blunder.
Hiruzen nodded:
"Yes, at the same time you can share chakra without coming into conflict with the recipients. Usually a certain compatibility is required, which is very rare — there are too many individual features. Only within individual clans can you find at least some kind of conjunction. In this case it is a universal donor. Desirable support for any battle — the only thing is to learn how to share effectively and safely for yourself. At the moment you look more like a fountain spreading flows of chakra in all directions... A pretty sight, probably, but ineffective. Your ability to absorb and transform someone else's chakra is also in question..."
"Um, and... can I learn this from someone? Are there many others like this — Seigenryu?" Arina asked.
Hiruzen looked away:
"No, not many. None at the moment, as far as I know."
Kakashi looked at him grimly:
"Because in any battle, the Source is most likely to be the primary goal. For obvious reasons."
Arina didn't need an explanation. She had experience of online games, where healers with a certain reputation almost needed their own team of defenders, otherwise, as a rule, they were eliminated on a first-priority basis so as they would not get in the way...
Kakashi, meanwhile, continued to stare at the slightly downcast Hokage. Finally, he could not hold back anymore:
"Lord Third... with all due respect... I do not know how this whole story will end, but I cannot allow it... Arina doesn't even have a rank!"
"Hatake, you are forgetting yourself!" Hiruzen snapped suddenly. "It is my obligation to first take care of the welfare of our village, and the situation has been unstable for a long time — you should know that. Therefore, if the girl stays here and learns to use the techniques available to her — and if such a need arises — then yes, I will be ready to put her in our ranks, get this clear."
Kakashi had the expression of a barked, though still brave, puppy on his face.
"If she decides to leave, however," Hiruzen continued a little more calmly, "we won't hold her, so be it. However, if you decide to leave with her — you remember the consequences..."
Kakashi wilted completely.
"But if others find out that we have a Source..." he said hopelessly. "If Orochimaru finds out that she survived... After all, surely that's what attracted him..."
"In that case we have to make sure that they don't find out..."
Kakashi smiled bitterly:
"Do you think that the others will be even less attentive than me, and surely rumours will not spread?"
However, Lord Third calmly finished:
"And — prepare her, as much as possible. Well and please, let's have a bit more faith in our comrades. They are sensible enough not to talk about it right and left."
"And what if Arina doesn't want to train, can she remain a civilian?" Kakashi asked softly.
"What do you mean I don't want to?" the girl stared at him indignantly.
Kakashi wearily covered his face with his palm. What was it that he'd expected anyway?
Hiruzen grinned involuntarily.
"Kakashi, think about it, this technique will be useful to you in particular," — he said meaningfully, "given your 'issues' with the Sharingan."
Arina looked at Kakashi with interest — what 'Sharingan'? Useful to him?
However, the latter remained steadfast.
"I don't need that. Not at that price, anyway," he said stubbornly. "I'll sort out the Sharingan myself somehow. After all, I've gotten used to it after so many years."
Hiruzen shrugged his shoulders.
"Yes, as for security, by the way, you do understand that if we leave her without training, it is unlikely to change anything? She will just be more vulnerable."
"Fewer chances someone will find out about her," Kakashi narrowed his eyes doggedly.
"Well, if you are with the girl, then I would feel secure about her," Hiruzen continued undisturbed.
"Does that mean that I'll have the rookies taken off of me?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Don't even dream of it," Hiruzen chuckled. "We've even had the Jinchuuriki running by himself, after all."
"Yes, only that the Jinchuuriki is able to stand up for himself at least minimally, unlike Arina..."
"That's the point — and wouldn't it be better if Arina could also stand up for herself, at least minimally? Well, let's say, in case of urgent need and if you are not around, so be it, we could assign someone from the Anbu to her. Although for me it's a bit too much."
Kakashi's whole appearance expressed that it wasn't.
"As for the learning, we could entrust it to Iruka: he is perfect at teaching the basics. Part of the program can be taught together with other students of the Academy," Hiruzen concluded.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes in displeasure, but did not comment on it. He suggested it himself not so long ago, but who would have thought that his opinion on this matter would change so much...
☙ ❦ ❧
They walked side by side down the street. Kakashi was gloomy as a storm cloud. Arina, on the contrary, radiated unhealthy optimism:
"What is 'Anbu'?"
"Special forces unit under the Hokage. You've met them before — remember, the men in masks..."
"Wow, so I'm a big fish?"
Kakashi stopped, gave her an anguished look:
"You're a damn vulnerable 'fish'. If possible, be more serious. This is not a joke. You don't understand what you're getting into by deciding to learn..."
"And what am I supposed to do now, curl up into a ball and howl in despair? I'm trying to deal with it somehow. At least some purpose in this life," Arina said, and, trying to brush off the angry tears welling up, marched away.
Kakashi, feeling like a complete idiot — indeed, the girl was much more balanced and reasonable than him — caught up with her, grabbed her hand, turned her around and finally pulled her to him, ignoring the curious glances of passers-by.
"I just won't forgive myself if something happens to you," he muttered. "And if you become a full-fledged Seigenryu, little will depend on me then."
Arina gently but resolutely freed herself.
"I'll be fine," she said firmly, but a thoughtful expression appeared on her face.