Inoichi sees the Hokage on a fairly regular basis, as both the Head of the Analysis Team, a jonin, and a clan head. So he's a bit surprised to be called in. Outside of the Hokage's office is the usual ANBU using a genjutsu to pretend to be a secretary (or maybe a henge, if they don't mind doing menial work, he doesn't bother to tell which one it is). When he gets sent in, Anko Mitarashi's old teammates - Hokori Isan - is there.

"Hokage-sama?"

Inoichi doesn't watch Hokori Isan, but he does recall as much as he can. He hadn't been the head of Analysis when Orochimaru went Missing but he'd been part of the work to investigate the loyalty of his students. All three of them had passed, he knew their third teammate, Hibiki Hyuuga, died a little over a year ago on a mission gone wrong. Something had been strange with that mission - he remembers that. There hadn't been any proof or anyone who seemed to be the culprit though. It'd been put on his (ever so long) list of suspect situations.

"We have a situation. One of our teams - Team 13 - was captured and one of its genin tortured." The Hokage says, and Inoichi has heard of this sort of situation before, in his years as head of Analysis (almost a decade now), but not often. "As they were leaving, the genin told Hokori that another one of the other genin was a traitor. During the escape, the tortured genin killed the accused." That. That was not something Inoichi had heard before. He knew of shinobi, like Itachi Uchiha, who had a mental break down and killed comrades, and torture victims were particularly likely to break down. But-

What an awful situation.

"I need you to speak the genin, learn about the situation. Speak to Hokori and the other genin as well. I want to know what happened as soon as possible."

"Yessir."

"The genin in question, Asano Sakurai, was escorted by Anko and Tsume to the main Intelligence building while the other one is in the hospital, unconscious from chakra exhaustion."

When Ino had started at the academy Inoichi had checked on each of her classmates. Asano Sakurai had been among them. He'd approved her to join the force less than a year ago. Asano Sakurai couldn't be older than 13. Inoichi felt nothing but contempt for those who tortured children, even shinobi children.

"Oh yes, and Sakurai is currently without the majority of her tongue, so you'll need to work around that until you can decide if it's worth replacing." (Whether she's going to be alive long enough for it to be worth a medic-nin's time to fix it.)

"Yessir."

"You are dismissed. Hokori will meet you once he has been debriefed and checked over by medical. A messenger will be sent with the mission summary."

"Yessir," Inoichi nods and leaves immediately. Normally he wouldn't be quite so solemn but, by the Sage. What a situation.

xXx

"Midori," Inoichi says, passing the Analysis Team break area where Midori Nakamura is talking with Mozuku from Ibiki Morino's team. "We have a new, high priority assignment. Get me the files for the Sakurai family, shinobi and civilian. Mozuku, tell Ibiki that I need him to visit when he gets the chance." He keeps walking even as the two chunin stand to do as he says.

Further down the hallway, Oyone and Ranka are discussing a strange body. One of the mystery shinobi who'd been attacking over the past three to six years in increasing frequency. As of a two and a half years ago, there'd been reports of strange physical traits that disappeared when the shinobi died. A couple of live ones had been brought in and dissected.

"Oyone, go to the hospital and find out the situation for Team 13, only one of the genin should be in there at the moment but get their files and check on the jonin if you can. Ranka, I don't need you yet, but be on standby."

"Yessir," both chorus, Oyone scowling at the idea of trying to get files from the medics.

In his office, he pulls out the summary of strange situations, each one a mission number, unclassified summary, and shinobi involved. Over the past 20 years that he's been in the Intelligence Division there are half a dozen that list Yoko Sakurai - her identity was unconfirmed on some, as they were ANBU missions that entered the rumour mill. One lists Taro Sakurai and another lists Shoichi Sakurai. It's an unusually large number for one family, but if Yoko Sakurai was in ANBU then that would explain it.

"Sir?" Mawashi Dokuraku says after knocking on the door and leaning in. "Anko Mitarashi and Tsume Inuzuka brought in a genin, Asano Sakurai. I've placed her in Waiting Room 4."

"Good, make a note that she'll be going to light interrogation and get Kumadori to check her over, make sure she's not about to die."

"Yessir. She's also on suicide watch as Tsume Inuzuka reported she attempted to kill herself by biting off her tongue while being tortured."

Inoichi suppresses a wave of nausea at the thought of a girl Ino's age willingly biting off her own tongue.

"Who's watching her?"

"I've put one of Shun's grunts on it, Saburou Hirano."

"Fine, make sure she eats too, I don't know how long it'll be until I'm talking to her and I want her to be ready. This is top priority right now so make sure everyone knows."

"Yessir."

"Dismissed."

With a nod, Mawashi Dokuraku closes the door. Inoichi makes a note to have Midori Nakamura get the mission files for the eight strange situations involving Sakurai and the mission that killed Hibiki Hyuuga. He should probably eat before Hokori Isan arrives, and let Shikaku know so that he can get the files ready for whatever happens next. Choza should be told so that he can have Ino and Shikamaru over for dinner.

He grabs a glass and runs through the hand signs to fill it with water. He takes slow sips, noting Asano Sakurai's waiting room number and what he's told people to do so far. He needs to get the files on Asano Sakurai's teammates and close friends, her teammates' close friends, why she was chosen for a team with such a high risk of capture. Team 13 was usually a senior genin team. He would need to check Hokori Isan's loyalty as well, and her academy teacher - Iruka Umino

"The files you requested, sir," Midori Nakamura says, handing over a stack and accepting his new list of requested files.

"We'll be expecting Hokori Isan at some point. He should be put in Interview Room 3. Send one of the senior genin to tell Choza Akimichi that myself and Shikaku Nara will be busy tonight."

"Yessir."

"Then send them to the Hokage tower and get two - no - three - copies of the mission report, one for Shikaku, Ibiki, and myself. I'm going to get food, leave the files on my desk but come find me if Ibiki or Hokori arrive. Send someone to tell the Sakurai family that their daughter's mission went wrong but she's alive and with Analysis."

They wouldn't be happy to be unable to see her, but it was better to know she was with Analysis instead of the main T&I division or dead.

"Yessir."

"You'll need to schedule interviews will all of them, but not until the day after tomorrow at the earliest. Also this situation is classified so I don't want any gossip out around it yet."

"Yessir."

"Dismissed."

xXx

Inoichi flicked through Asano Sakurai's file. Father in the force (Shoichi Sakurai: chunin, none, ninjutsu and weaponry), mother retired (Yoko Sakurai: rank classified, bloodline classified, focus classified).

Her oldest brother, Taro Sakurai was labelled Missing but presumed dead (Taro Sakurai: D-rank Missing-nin, none, taijutsu and genjutsu). Her second brother, Hideo Sakurai was still active in the force (Hideo Sakurai: genin, Mokuton, ninjutsu and taijutsu). Her younger sister was a civilian, having left the academy without graduating, but doing quite well in school (Kimiko Sakurai: civilian, none, none).

Living with the family was also an uncle, Yohei Sakurai, strangely someone he didn't recognise with even passing familiarity (Yohei Sakurai: rank classified, bloodline classified, focus classified). Perhaps that wasn't surprising since the man was clearly ANBU. He made a note to see if he could get Yoko Sakurai and Yohei Sakurai's ANBU files, the Hokage would provide them if he thought they were relevant.

Asano Sakurai was noted as needing authority training. Her pre-graduation review suggested she could work towards a long term goal (seal mastery) while using caution, showing a high level of maturity. Young genin tended to change a lot during their early time in the force so he'd have to speak with Iruka Umino and Hokori Isan to get an idea of any changes. She wasn't considered a sleeper risk, and her mission tracker suggests that this had been her first mission out of the village.

He added Sakura Haruno and Shikamaru Nara to his list to interview.

xXx

Inoichi has Team 13's files in hand when he enters Interview Room 3. Hokori Isan is sitting on one of the plush sofas, looking through an adventure romance book written about a couple of undercover shinobi from seperate nations, both working in the same cafe. Ino had bought it for him for christmas when she was eight.

Hokori Isan looks up from the book when the door opens,

"Inoichi," he closes the book. He sits, eyes trained on Inoichi. This is a delicate situation. Asano Sakurai may have been the one who was physically tortured, but Hokori Isan was psychologically tortured and detained. The man clearly hadn't been given a chance to relax since then.

"Hokori, my sympathies for the situation."

Hokori Isan nods and looks away, Inoichi wonders how much he blames himself, if he blames himself at all. It would be an understandable reaction to consider himself responsible. As far as his report suggests, he isn't responsible for it at all. Unfortunately fact have little to do with how people feel

Inoichi sits across from Hokori Isan, looking through the files for a moment so that he can get used to Inoichi's presence.

The missions report had been typed up, a sign of how high priority it was. Lots of lines have asterixis, since there hasn't been time to source it and compile an index yet. Inoichi has two topics to focus on: is Asano Sakurai a threat to Konoha, and how did this happen?

The former is the priority for now, everything else can be returned to later.

"Hokori Isan, do you understand that this is an interview, not a therapy session, and as such your answers and comments may be recorded?"

"Yes."

"Are you the jonin-sensei of Team 13?"

"Yes."

"Team 13 is an infiltration team, with a focus on international infiltration for chunin exams?"

"Correct."

"Why was Asano Sakurai, a 12 year old, newly graduated genin with a problem with authority and major health issues chosen for your team?"

"I have no idea." Hokori looks at Inoichi, dead in the eye. "I've asked the Hokage that myself multiple times and I was treated as if I was trying to shirk my responsibilities. Asano and Kabuto didn't like each other from the start and I said that was dangerous, given the situations they would be in. I was told that if Asano could reach chunin in the next exam she could leave the team."

"The chunin exam that's coming up, in Konoha?" That would require Asano Sakurai to pass the chunin exam as a rookie. For a genin without highly advanced offensive and defensive physical skills that seemed… unlikely. Given Asano Sakurai's grades in taijutsu at the academy, it was close to a pipe dream.

"Yeah," Hokori Isan scoffs and Inoichi can understand why.

"You mentioned your concerns to the Hokage?"

"Yes."

Right, so it wasn't a case of sabotage."

"Were Asano's taijutsu skills up to chunin level before the start of the mission?"

"I don't know," Hokori Isan looks down at his hands which twitch for a moment. He seems to curl in on himself. "I don't know how train normal genin. Kabuto and Yoroi were both at chunin level when I took over as their teacher, Kabuto could've been a tokubetsu with a couple months of work on his medical skills." Hokori Isan pauses, but Inoichi lets the silence linger. It feels like Hokori Isan has more to say. After a long few seconds, "Asano's skills were nowhere near as good, but it would take years for her to catch up to them. She's not a taijutsu type. Her basic three were good though, and her understanding of sealing was impressive."

"So why did you choose to take a C-rank?"

"I'm a jonin and Kabuto and Yoroi were both chunin. Even if Asano did nothing it should've been fine."

"Genin's first C-ranks have a tendency to wrong," Inoichi says watching as something close to a snarl appears on Hokori Isan's face.

"Missions go wrong all the time," Hokori Isan leans forward, but doesn't stand. His face is pale and his eyes bloodshot. "Caravan guarding missions get attacked by bandits, maybe even missing-nin. They aren't specifically targeted by an ambush of jonin and chunin level foreign-nin on Fire Country soil!"

"Yes, that was unusual, we'll come back to that," Inoichi nodded. Hokori Isan's face smooths out suddenly and he leans back in his seat.

"Team 13 is frankly overpowered for a C-rank, but Asano needed to complete some C-rank missions before she can take part in the chunin exams. Also I hoped that allowing Kabuto to see Asano working as a shinobi would help him respect her more."

"I see. And how is Asano's relationship with Yoroi?"

"What relationship," Hokori Isan laughs, "I let Kabuto and Yoroi train independently, since forcing them to train with Asano would be a waste of time and make them resent her. They've sparred a few times, they might've had a conversation or two when I wasn't there. He's a decade older than her though." He rolls his eyes and shrugs his shoulders. "I don't think Asano liked him. I don't know if it was because he spent time with Kabuto though, or something else. Yoroi was close with Misumi though, before he died. She was a non-entity to Yoroi, as far as I could tell."

"Alright, can you elaborate on Asano and Kabuto's relationship?

"Yeah," Hokori Isan looks away from the wall and Inoichi realises he can smell the sweat and dirt on the man. Had he even been allowed to wash since returning to Konoha? Probably not. "Asano and Kabuto are… were, as far as I could tell, very similar. They were both incredibly smart, but preferred to play it down. I didn't know Kabuto well when the team first formed, but I think they were both very natural shinobi. They both lied easily and well, I can only recall catching them a few times, usually because I already knew the truth."

"Could you tell now, when Asano or Kabuto lied?" Inoichi asks, and watches as Hokori's face twitches, amusement and frustration perhaps? It was an important question, regardless of Hokori's answer.

"Maybe?" He says, "not reliably. Asano can be hard, she can be so blunt that people don't expect her to lie. I could probably tell though, if she's lying. Kabuto? Probably not. He- I never knew him well. But-" Hokori Isan goes silent and stands up. He grabs one of the books off the shelf and flicks through it. "Kabuto lied like he breathed. Hibiki might've been able to tell, with his Byakugan."

Inoichi makes a note to pay particular attention to Hibiki Hyuuga's death. If Asano Sakurai's accusation was accurate, then the man's death might've been to protect Kabuto Yakushi's secret.

"Can you return to Asano and Kabuto's relationship?"

"Right, yeah. They disliked each other from the start. I think Kabuto disliked her for putting missions on pause- he needed them for rent after all. He was condescending to Asano, which is probably why she disliked him. There didn't seem to be anything deeper. Sometimes Asano acted as if he disgusted her, but," Hokori shrugs, almost helpless, "I couldn't tell why."

"I see," Inoichi says, "and can you tell me about your capture and escape?"

xXx

A note on her file informed him that Asano Sakurai had been moved to Light Interrogation 7, like he'd asked. He watches her for a few minutes She sits at the table, staring at the wall. Her hand taps against the table in the same pattern over and over again. 'T - R - A - I -T- O -R - / - T - R - A - I -' Possibly a sign of insanity, or maybe a reminder. He flips through the file he picked up along the way.

She was in the same class as Ino. He doesn't want to get his daughter involved, but if she's such a fresh genin then she probably doesn't know that many older shinobi. She's Yoko Sakurai's daughter. He can't tell if that makes him more inclined to believe anything one way or another, but it's definitely interesting. Her father is an only slightly above average chunin named Shoichi Sakurai... his face is familiar though. Almost eerily so. He looks like Shikaku, but his background says that his mother was a clan-less kunoichi and his father is unlisted. Maybe the father was a Nara.

She kept a book, and her skill in seals secret. Her best friend would be good to interview, once she gets back from a mission. He'll need to speak with her academy teacher as well. He'll interview her family as well, though her oldest brother is listed as MIA as of a few years ago. The other brother has a surprisingly redacted file for a genin. The younger sister had done well enough at the academy, and had decent grades at the civilian school, seemingly unremarkable.

Asano Sakurai passed all of her classes with moderate grades. Her academics were on the higher end, her Taijutsu on the lower end. Her Kunoichi Studies teacher said she disliked the class but did okay overall. She was noted to be good at infiltration when she bothered to try.

xXx

"Hello, Asano, I'm Inoichi Yamanaka," Inoichi says, smiling at her as he closes the door behind him. Her legs are cuffed to the chair which in turn is chained to the floor, and her hands are rather loosely chained to the table. She was listed as low risk, given her genin-level skills and an apparent non-violence towards anyone besides Kabuto Yakushi.

'I - N - O - / - D - A - D - ?' She taps out against the table, tilting her head to emphasis her question.

"That's right," he gives her another, warmer smile as he sits down. "Do you know Konoha Basic Sign?"

She nods and signs 'CONFIRMED'.

"Excellent, now can you give me the full report of what happened during your mission." It's definitely not ideal to have this happen in Sign, since that's clearly not something she's used to using in conversation, so it'll be harder to tell if she's thinking up a lie or just trying to remember the right signs.

'GUARD - MISSION - TEAM' she changes into tapping to give specifics that don't exist univerally in Konoha Basic Sign, '1 - 3 - LEAD - H - O - K - O - R - I - TEAMMATES - K - A - B - U - T - O - AND - Y - O - R - O - I' She pauses for a second. 'REQUIRE - INCLUDE - L - A - S - T - / - N - A - M -E - ?'

"Are you asking if you need to include their name?" Inoichi guesses, trying to decipher the question. When someone has used Konoha Basic Sign (KBS) long enough then there's enough practice and slang for people who work together to communicate in only KBS. Asano Sakurai is not at that level. The question was clear enough though.

Asano nods.

"Don't worry about the last names, just keep doing."

'MISSION - SUCCESS - RETURN_TO_KONOHA,' Asano pauses and looks at Inoichi to check he's understood.

"The mission succeeded, and you headed back to Konoha," he says, nodding.

'REQUIRE - D - E - T - A - I - L - S - ?'

"No, I don't need the details on the successful part of the mission now, though I will need it later. Please go from returning to Konoha."

'AMBUSH - UNKNOWN - ENEMY'

"You were ambushed by an unknown enemy," Inoichi repeats back and Asano Sakurai nods.

"10 - SHINOBI - RANK - UNKNOWN," Asano pauses before adding, 'G - R - E - E - N - GENIN - NEGATIVE'

"There were 10 shinobi of unknown rank, none of whom were green genin." Before she can continue, Inoichi shows her a sign, "this is the sign for green genin." She gives him a perfunctory smile, repeating the sign back before she continues.

'ATTACK - FRONTLINE - 2 - SHINOBI - AND - ATTACK - JONIN - 3 - SHINOBI'

"They attacked your frontline, who's the frontline," Inoichi knows that Yoroi is the close range frontline, but Asano is supposed to be the long range frontline, so is she including herself?

'FRONTLINE - Y - O - R - O - I,' Asano pauses, 'JONIN - H - O - K - O - R - I,' another pause, 'MEDIC - K - A - B - U - T - O' Upon signing Kabuto's name a flash of revulsion crosses her face, the sort of speed that he might've missed it if he wasn't paying attention

'GREEN - GENIN - MYSELF' She uses the sign he'd just shown her.

"The frontline was Yoroi, Hokori was the jonin, Kabuto was the medic, and you were the green genin." She nods. "Alright, continue."

'5 - ATTACK - FRONTLINE - AND - JONIN' Asano pauses, '3 - ATTACK - MYSELF - 2 - ATTACK - MEDIC'

"Three of them attacked you, and two of them attacked Kabuto," Inoichi repeats, Asano Sakurai nods.

'GUARD - MEDIC - COMMAND'

"You were commanded to guard Kabuto?" Inoichi checks, but shakes her head.

'F - I - R -S -T - COMMAND - MEDIC - DEAD - L - A - S - T'

"The first rule is that the medic dies last?"

'CONFIRMED'

Right, her best friend was a medic, so she'd probably talked, or at least heard of that rule.

'MYSELF - GENIN - 3 - ENEMY - CHUNIN'

"You are a genin, while your enemies were all chunin."

'UNCLEAR - ONE'

"Except for maybe one?" Inoichi guesses, Asano Sakurai nods.

'CONFIRMED - PROTECT - MEDIC - B - U - T - GENIN - FIGHT - CHUNIN - NOT - SUCCESS'

"You wanted to, or you were trying to protect Kabuto?"

'W - A - N -T, ' Asano Sakurai pauses and frowns, 'REPORT - W - R - I - T - E - ?'

"You want to write the report?"

Asano nods.

'IDEA - SIGN - H - A - R -D'

"Just for this part of the report, or all of it?"

'IDEA - FIGHT - / - MYSELF - W - R - I - T - E - QUICK'

"Alright, we can give it a shot," Inoichi says after a second. While having it written would normally make it harder to read her. Compared to signing and tap code though? She's more used to writing so it'll be both faster, and she'll give more hints than she does while trying to sign. He'd forgotten how many signs are learned after the academy, it's like trying to hear a report given by a four year old.

xXx

'I wanted to protect Kabuto, as the medic of the group, so I was trying to keep an eye on him. Take a kunai for him, or get his attention if he's going to get hit from the back.' Asano writes, Inoichi has Shimon Hijiri reading it over her shoulder while he tries to read her body language. 'I'm losing though, and pretty quickly too. I'm basically just dodging and trying to keep fighting as I take hits. I kawarimi into the fray and then henge into one of the people fighting Kabuto, but they figure it out almost immediately. I use explosive seals and burn one of them, but I've also been poisoned by something, I think, I was getting really tired and everything was blurry, like I was about to pass out.'

'I try to explode one of the guys and get thrown against a tree and I see as Kabuto's throat gets slit. And then he heals it. While he's fighting.'

Asano looks up at Inoichi as the chunin reads it out. Inoichi doesn't react, though his thoughts are faster than a body flicker. This could have been a hallucination caused by the poison, or just something she made up. Or it could be true.

'I pass out. When I wake up, I'm alone in a stone cell, chained to the ceiling, and I can't do any jutsu.' She pauses again, and her heart is racing, but if what comes next is what Inoichi is expecting, that's not much of a surprise. He thinks about telling her to go back to signing, but she's actually far more expressive while writing than he would've expected.

'One of them, I can't remember her name, asked for information on Konoha. Hokori and I both said no. I don't know where Kabuto was, and I didn't know where Yoroi was at the time, though I learned he was unconscious, later. Then they took me to a room across from Hokori's and,' She stops and Inoichi is reminded once more that she's a month younger than Ino. She's a child, even if she's a genin as well.

'One of the shinobi, a guy this time, hurt me, to try to make Hokori tell them something.' She pauses and looks up at Inoichi before writing, 'Do I have to go into details?'

"You might need to later, so we can help you recover," he reassures her, even if it might be a lie, "but not yet. What did you do while this was happening?"

'I prayed.'

"To who?"

'Jashin, the god of pain and suffering.' Shimon Hijiri pauses while reading it as she adds more, 'It seemed appropriate. At least someone should get something out of the situation, and hey, maybe he'd appreciate it.'

Right, so now Inoichi has to learn about this 'Jashin'. But later.

"What happened next?"

'I bit off my tongue. I though-'' Asano and the chunin pause and Inoichi watches as she crosses out the last word, 'hoped I would die. Instead they called Kabuto who didn't even try to reattach my tongue.' She pauses, huffing and looking to the side. (Not even a teenager, Inoichi is reminded.)

'He just stopped the bleeding and healed it. They stopped through so,/' Asano shrugs, as if her tongue was a fair trade. It might've been. 'I fell asleep at some point. Hokori came in and woke me up, I told him that Kabuto was a traitor. We left, but were separated.'

This is the part that Inoichi cares about. If she lies here, then she'll die for it. Nothing is more important than whether she tells the truth. Asano pauses before she writes, pulling her thoughts together judging by the look on her face.

'A bear approached me. She wanted me to sign on with her, and I agreed. If she would help me get home and kill Kabuto. She was willing to, so I signed her scroll. We killed Kabuto, and then Hokori arrived. I rode on the bear, Akane, until we met with Anko, Tsume, and Asuka. Then they helped us get to Konoha and now I'm here.'

"Was Kabuto your first kill?" Inoichi asks, watching Asano's face. She doesn't seem to be feeling as much guilt as he would expect, everyone has different levels of empathy, of course, but nothing he'd seen suggested she had limited levels of empathy.

'I don't know. I might've killed one of the shinobi during the initial fight, or during our escape, I definitely stabbed someone on our way out.' Asano was almost refreshingly expressive compared to some of the senior shinobi he'd interrogated. She felt more confused than guilty, but mostly determined.

"Why did you kill Kabuto?"

'He was a traitor. I didn't know where Hokori was.' She pauses then puts down the brush without continuing.

"Why didn't you wait until you returned to Konoha?" Inoichi asks, watching a wealth of expressions flash over her face

'I thought about it. While I was,' she pauses, 'waiting.' She didn't have to clarify where she was waiting. 'I was scared.' She stops again, takes a deep breath and Inoichi realises that she does feel guilty. She'd already decided though. So she followed through. 'I didn't know if I trusted Hokori. I do now. He didn't say anyt-' The brush jerks in her hand as she crosses it out.

She begrudged Hokori Isan for not stopping her torture, understandable even if Hokori Isan did make the correct decision.

'I was scared.' She repeats. 'When Hokori disappeared- Without pause she shifts. 'If we got back to Konoha, just Kabuto and I? He's a good liar. A really good liar. And between a green genin and him? A green genin who was just-' she only pauses only for a second this time, 'tortured? This way, even if I die, he's already taken care of. Kabuto's death can't be undone, even if no one believes me.'

Inoichi knows now, that they're dealing with someone much more dangerous with a traitor. Asano is loyal to Konoha, but she'll do what she thinks is right. That's good if she has good judgment, if she has the strength to back it up. It can be equally dangerous through. She might do things that she shouldn't if what she believes is incorrect, or misled.

Still, shinobi like Asano Sakurai loyal to Konoha, and a great resource.

(Danzo Shimura was loyal to Konoha too.)

xXx

Inoichi waits patiently while the Hokage reads through his findings. It'd been a little over a week and while there was more to look into, the rest of it would focus on Kabuto Yakushi instead of Asano Sakurai. As it was, her punishment would be for acting without instruction, since Kabuto Yakushi had been revealed to at least likely have been a traitor. It was hard to tell since parts of it reeked of Danzo Shimura's involvement. He denied everything, so as a traitor Kabuto Yakushi would be remembered.

"Do we know who 'Kabuto Yakushi' was working for?" Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi asks, looking up from the papers.

"No, Yoroi Akado admitted to betraying Konoha at Kabuto's request, under duress, but he wasn't able to give much information. He clearly wasn't trusted." Inoichi wants to talk about how creepy it is that Yoroi Akado refuses to believe that Kabuto Yakushi is dead. It's clearly related to the healing Asano Sakurai mentioned, and honestly he pities Yoroi Akado for his fear. He can understand it though, since Kabuto Yakushi's healing abilities seem to have resembled Tsunade Senju's. He wouldn't trust her to be dead without having seen the body either. He keeps his mouth closed though, since speaking would suggest that Tsunade Senju was Kabuto Yakushi's master.

"Is it possible that Hibiki's death is related?"

Inoichi thought about Hibiki Hyuuga, Hokori Isan's now deceased genin teammate. He hadn't known the man as anything more than an acquaintance, but his death had come as a surprise. He'd been uncommonly social for a Hyuuga, and excellent at infiltration despite his byakugan.

"I suspect that both Misumi and Hibiki's deaths are related. I've spoken with Yoroi about it, he doesn't seem to know everything about the situation. It looks like one or both of them discovered or suspected Kabuto's treachery."

"I see," the Hokage nods slowly, "perhaps we are lucky that Asano killed him when she did."

Inoichi nods, and privately he agrees. It seems unlikely that a spy of Kabuto Yakushi's skill didn't suspect something. Unless Asano Sakurai was a much better liar than most genin, it seems likely Team 13 would have all died on their return without her.

"What is your opinion of Asano Sakurai?" the Hokage asks, which was a rather odd question. She was a loyal Konoha genin, but he hadn't noticed anything particularly interesting about her…

"Iruka Umino-sensei seemed a bit worried about her. She may have lower than average empathy, but is very loyal to Konoha."

"Like her mother then," the Hokage nods, lessening Inoichi's confusion somewhat. Another Yoko Sakurai would be something worth the Hokage's interest.

"If her medical section was thinner I'd almost be willing to recommend her for ANBU," he laughed slightly, there was no way she'd even make it to jonin with her health. "She's probably going to need some good therapy after this mission, and I wouldn't want her to become a chunin too soon. She needs to learn to follow instructions, how to do as she's told and no more."

The Hokage nods, eyes scanning over the report again.

"You're dismissed, Inoichi, please let me know when you know more about Kabuto and how he remained unnoticed."

"Yessir," Inoichi bows, thoughts already on taking Ino out for dinner now that he's no working until midnight.

A/N:

There was a formatting problem with this chapter, I tried to fix it, but please let me know if you notice anything!

I learned new things this chapter, like Inoichi isn't the head of T&I, but rather of the analysis division of T&I. Also, I could honestly write 20k for this chapter, but I'll leave it at this so we can move on. Please let me know of any questions you have so I can make sure to cover them in later chapters! Also, there's another chapter on AO3 for Original Characters to summarise who the characters in T&I are.