Ibiki pushed the heavy iron door open. Tayuya was still glaring toward the entrance when Kenji followed him inside. Her wrists were secured to the metal table, and the expression she gave him suggested the cuffs were the only reason that table hadn't already been thrown at his head.
Ibiki unrolled a map of northeastern Fire Country, pinning the corners flat against the metal.
"Where were they supposed to regroup after you separated?" Ibiki asked, tapping the map.
Tayuya looked away.
Kenji took the seat opposite her. "I'm impressed. Three of your friends escaped and apparently none of them knew where they were going."
"We knew exactly where we were going."
"Good. Then Ibiki can stop wasting ink searching half the border."
Tayuya glared at the map. Kenji said nothing else.
After several seconds, she jerked her chin toward the northeastern sector. "Old courier storehouse. Three miles off the trading road."
Ibiki circled the location without thanking her.
Before Ibiki could roll the map back up, Kakashi spoke from the back of the room. "What would happen to Sasuke after you delivered him?"
Tayuya let out a harsh, mocking laugh. "Lord Orochimaru doesn't collect students. He changes bodies. The Uchiha was a future vessel."
Kenji kept his expression neutral. None of it was new to him.
Across the room, Kakashi straightened.
Ten minutes later, Ibiki placed the marked map directly onto the center of the Hokage's desk.
Tsunade looked at the red circle near the northeastern border. "How old is the information?"
"If they followed protocol, the survivors should have reached it hours ago," Ibiki answered.
Tsunade looked at the ANBU commander standing by the window. "Take a reconnaissance squad. Reach the storehouse. Do not engage unless absolutely necessary to defend yourselves. Determine whether the Sound survivors passed through, and bring back anything useful."
Kenji stepped forward slightly. "Do you want me—"
"No," Tsunade interrupted. "I have ANBU for a reason."
Kakashi stepped forward next. "Tayuya confirmed Orochimaru's actual objective. Sasuke wasn't being recruited. He was being prepared as a vessel."
Tsunade stared at the desk for several seconds before looking up at Kakashi.
"Tell Sasuke."
Kakashi nodded.
Sakura was pressing carefully along the edge of Sasuke's bandaged ribs, checking the healing, when Kakashi and Kenji walked into the room. Sasuke sat propped up against the pillows. He took one look at Kakashi and frowned.
"What happened?" Sasuke asked.
"Tayuya confirmed what Orochimaru intended to do with you," Kakashi said quietly.
Sasuke looked past Sakura toward his teacher. Kakashi explained it simply and directly. Orochimaru had never intended to groom Sasuke to become his successor. He intended to steal Sasuke's body once it matured, taking the Sharingan for himself.
Sasuke said nothing. His hand slowly tightened over the blanket.
"If I had gone willingly?" Sasuke finally asked.
"Same result," Kakashi said.
Sasuke looked down at the three dark markings of the Curse Mark on his shoulder. For several long seconds, nobody spoke.
"Can this mark be removed?"
"Removing it completely isn't simple," Kakashi explained, "but the suppression seal can be strengthened while the medics find a permanent answer."
Sakura stepped back from the bed, holding her medical chart. "Shizune and Karin are already compiling notes on how the forced activation affected your chakra pathways. We're going to figure it out."
The door slid open, and Naruto walked in with his right shoulder still heavily bandaged beneath his jacket. He looked from Sasuke's expression to Kakashi, immediately realizing he'd interrupted something.
Naruto looked between them. "What happened?"
Sasuke answered before anyone else could. "Orochimaru wanted my body. Not just the Sharingan."
Naruto's face twisted. "That's disgusting."
Sasuke gave him a tired, flat look. "Thank you, idiot. Very insightful."
"We'll just beat him up next time," Naruto declared, waving his good arm.
"You're still wearing a bandage," Sasuke pointed out.
Naruto immediately started arguing that the bandage was just a precaution and didn't mean anything. Sakura cut him off, raising her clipboard and threatening to personally re-bandage his entire torso in a full-body cast if he tore the healing shoulder open just to win an argument.
Late that afternoon, the ANBU reconnaissance squad reached the northeastern border.
The abandoned storehouse sat crumbling beside an overgrown dirt road. The building was empty. Dust covered most of the floor, but one corner had clearly been disturbed recently. Dried blood, discarded field rations, and heavily damaged bandages were scattered near the wall. Outside the back door, fresh tracks disappeared into the deep forest.
The evidence was enough. The escaped Sound members had reached the rendezvous before moving on.
An ANBU scout pried a loose brick from the foundation and found a narrow dead drop hidden behind it. The compartment itself was empty, but charred scraps of a small scroll lay on the floor beneath it. Whoever had collected the message had tried to burn it before leaving.
One folded strip had survived well enough to preserve several lines of writing. The squad sealed the scraps with the rest of the evidence and returned to Konoha.
That evening, Kenji and Kakashi stood across from Tsunade as she unrolled the reconstructed message.
The surviving lines were incomplete, but the meaning was clear enough: withdraw, avoid pursuit, and report why the extraction failed.
Tsunade read through the reconstructed lines in silence.
Most of the message was a request for information.
Reason for extraction failure. Konoha response time. Shinobi involved. Techniques observed. Uchiha's condition when recovered. Patrol routes encountered during withdrawal.
Kenji glanced over the list.
Kabuto wanted to know exactly where the operation had gone wrong.
Tsunade set the page down.
"Change the outer patrol schedules. I want every route Kabuto could have mapped reviewed, and random checks around the isolated training grounds. Sasuke stays under protection until he's recovered."
The heavy wooden doors of the office opened, and Shizune walked in. She adjusted Tonton in her arms, carrying a fresh stack of paperwork.
Tsunade was still staring at the decoded Sound intelligence when Shizune gently placed a single sheet of paper slightly apart from the rest of the stack.
Tsunade glanced down at it. "What is this?"
Shizune hesitated. "Tenten's latest launcher test."
Tsunade picked up the paper and scanned the brief damage report. She stopped reading and looked up.
"Why does this say 'western test wall'?"
Shizune cleared her throat delicately. "The wall survived."
Tsunade stared at her.
Shizune added quietly, "Most of it."
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