Late at night, inside a mountain cave somewhere in the Land of Fire, Kakashi and Hikaru sat facing each other.
They'd spent the entire day running.
By now, they had reached the town closest to Konoha—but Hikaru had no intention of entering it.
After all, they had just "stolen a head" right out from under Kakuzu's nose.
Not figuratively.
Literally.
And Hikaru didn't believe for a second that Kakuzu would swallow that humiliation.
Even if they'd moved fast, Hikaru was convinced a man who valued money like oxygen wouldn't let them go. Kakuzu chasing them down was almost guaranteed.
The only reason they'd managed to snatch the objective was because Kakuzu had been careless.
He hadn't taken Hikaru and Kakashi seriously at all.
That was the only opening they got—the only reason the mission was even salvageable.
But if Kakuzu caught up?
Then they'd be facing a Kakuzu who fought seriously.
And Hikaru didn't think the two of them could survive that.
So they didn't enter the town.
They wiped their trail along the way. Erased tracks, masked scents, doubled back. They even used Shadow Clones to take detours and throw off pursuit.
For a man who'd fought on battlefields for nearly nine years, and another who'd spent close to six in ANBU, this kind of thing was routine.
Still, Kakashi looked unconvinced.
As he slowly stirred a cup of instant rations, he glanced at the cave entrance, where a ninken stood guard, and finally spoke.
"Captain… isn't this a bit too cautious?"
"This is rest time," Hikaru said, stretching lazily. His voice stayed mild. "Call me Hikaru."
"And no. Being careful is never wrong. Not when the thing behind you isn't ordinary."
"But he's dead, isn't he?" Kakashi frowned.
That man had been pierced clean through the heart by Chidori.
Kakashi didn't believe someone could keep living after that.
Shinobi weren't made of iron. Even senbon could kill if they hit the vital points.
No exceptions. No miracles.
"Dead?" Hikaru shook his head lightly, the gentleness on his face unchanged. "Kakashi… that man isn't dead."
He paused, watching Kakashi's expression shift as he prepared to question him. Hikaru smiled and raised a hand slightly, as if to stop him.
"Confused?"
"Honestly, you only just joined ANBU. Normally you'd be made to study intelligence files first, then eased into missions gradually."
"I don't know if this was the Fourth Hokage's call or the captain's decision—but you came straight out with me on an operation."
"Kakuzu is extremely dangerous."
"According to recorded intel, he once faced six elite jōnin—each with a black-market price tag above thirty million—and wiped them all out."
"In that same operation, he was stabbed through the heart."
"And the result?"
"He walked away, cashed out, and traded at the underground exchange for nearly two hundred million ryō."
Hikaru spoke slowly, letting each line land.
"You did pierce his heart."
"But I don't believe a man like that dies easily."
Kakashi listened carefully.
When Hikaru mentioned "normal ANBU procedure," he watched Kakashi's reaction on purpose.
Inside the cave, both of them had removed their masks, but Kakashi still wore his usual cloth face covering.
Unfortunately, Hikaru didn't see any particular change in Kakashi's eyes.
Calm. Flat.
To be honest, Hikaru had been hoping for at least a flicker—anything.
But when the numbers came out, Kakashi finally showed a hint of reaction.
Surprise at Kakuzu's strength.
And more importantly—surprise at the idea that someone could survive a heart strike.
Kakashi wasn't stupid.
He'd already noticed Kakuzu hadn't been taking them seriously in the fight. Kakuzu had treated them like kids trying to bite a tiger.
If that man was still alive, and Kakashi kept thinking he'd killed him…
The consequences were ugly.
Kakashi nodded slowly. "I understand, Captain."
Then he corrected himself, almost automatically. "So… you cut off the target's head while he was paralyzed, and withdrew immediately."
"Exactly." Hikaru smiled. "Even if things went wrong, you'll understand this better once you go back and read more intel. It makes a difference in the field."
Because intelligence was everything.
In the shinobi world, if you understood your enemy while they knew nothing about you, you held the advantage.
Sometimes, that advantage was enough to kill someone far stronger than you—before they ever realized what had happened.
And Hikaru wasn't making this up.
Those details existed in ANBU records.
They were just scattered across fragmented reports, buried in minor files—easy to miss unless you knew what to look for.
Hikaru only dared to speak so confidently because he was sure he'd seen those snippets before.
He wasn't worried Kakashi would fail to find them once they returned.
Kakashi nodded and fell silent again.
Hikaru kept his expression warm, but inside he let out a quiet sigh.
Why don't you follow the thread?
Why don't you ask yourself why you were thrown into live missions the moment you stepped into ANBU?
But Kakashi didn't go there.
And Hikaru wasn't going to spell it out. He'd guided Kakashi this far for one reason only—to give him a warning.
ANBU water is deep.
And you might not be able to keep your footing.
Minato had only just taken the Hokage seat. He didn't have a stable base of power yet.
Inside Konoha, a lot of control still sat in the hands of the old guard.
If nothing else, ANBU still answered the Third Hokage's voice. Even ANBU's higher command remained filled with Hiruzen's most loyal people.
This period was sensitive.
Minato had a perfectly reasonable excuse to bring Kakashi into ANBU, but it still poked at nerves.
In the eyes of some people, Kakashi's transfer wasn't about "helping a grieving student" at all.
It was a signal.
A hand reaching for ANBU authority.
Too impatient.
Too eager.
And that was exactly why Kakashi had been given a "welcome gift" the moment he arrived—a hard little shove to remind him where he stood.
Hikaru shook his head, indifferent.
If Kakashi didn't realize it now, then fine.
He could always remind him later—more gently, more "friendly."
As for the power struggle between the Third and Fourth…
Hikaru didn't care much.
If he had to gamble, he'd actually rather bet on the Third.
That old man still had more than a decade left.
The Fourth?
At most, a little over a year.
But if this created some turbulence early—stirred some conflict sooner than expected—Hikaru didn't consider it a bad thing.
Because somewhere back in Konoha, there were people who would love nothing more than to see the Third Hokage fall.
And in a way…
Hikaru was a spy too.
"As ANBU, I spend my days cleaning out spies," Hikaru thought, eyes half-lidded.
"But you people… you never considered it, did you?"
"I'm one as well…"