When Anko carefully made her way back to the village and all the way home without encountering the attack she'd expected, she couldn't help wondering what Lan was thinking.
She already knew Lan was Orochimaru's hidden operative in the village. By rights, he should have killed her to silence her. So why had he let her return to the village unharmed?
If he tried to kill her inside the village, the risk would be far too great. Did that guy think she'd be so grateful for him saving her life that she wouldn't report him?
Was he too full of himself? Orochimaru had arranged to meet him, so there had to be some secret they didn't want anyone to know. It might even threaten the village's safety. She couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
But just as she was about to step out the door, she hesitated.
If Lan hadn't warned her, she would have died alongside Orochimaru's clone.
Judging by the fact that she'd been left not far from the village afterward, that had to have been Lan's doing too.
He had effectively saved her twice. If she reported him now and got him killed, wouldn't that be going too far?
And so Anko wrestled with the decision at home for several days.
At last, she made up her mind. That day, she went to Hyuga Lan's home, intending to have an honest talk with him.
Lan seemed to have expected her return.
He calmly set down the technical documents he'd just obtained from Orochimaru, then asked Anko without the slightest hint of alarm,
"What brings you here?"
Then he gestured for her to sit down so they could talk.
After taking a seat, Anko addressed Hyuga Lan with a serious expression.
"Lan, I think you know what Orochimaru is like. Nothing good can come from working with someone like him."
"What do you mean? What did you come here to do?"
Anko didn't beat around the bush. She stated her intentions outright.
"Join forces with me. We can take him down together. That'll clear our names and get rid of the threat each of us faces."
Anko nervously laid out her proposal. She was ready for Lan to laugh at her, but he only smiled faintly and asked, looking puzzled,
"Join forces with you?
"I'm curious. Why are you so determined to kill Orochimaru?
"Is there some secret between the two of you?"
Anko was so intent on getting rid of Orochimaru because she'd sensed that she might mean something unusual to him.
But she still had no idea why Orochimaru had kept her alive. Even when she'd tried to assassinate him, he hadn't struck her down.
These were only suspicions, though; she had no proof. Even if she told someone, they wouldn't believe her. But her instincts told her she and Orochimaru couldn't coexist in the future. If she wanted to survive, she had to strike first.
The problem now was getting Hyuga Lan to join her against Orochimaru, not discussing her own situation. So Anko steered the conversation back to Lan.
"You've refused to act against Orochimaru, the village's traitor. That's because you're really his spy in the village, isn't it?"
Hyuga Lan fixed his eyes on Anko and answered, each word deliberate:
"That was in the past. Ever since he defected, I've cut ties with him. I paid the price for it and earned the village's trust again.
"You can't accuse me of being his spy now just because I used to work for him. By that logic, shouldn't you, his former student, be even more suspicious?"
Lan's denial made Anko panic.
"What are you talking about? You went to meet him that night. You were clearly still in contact. He must have given you some kind of mission—"
Before Anko could finish, Lan cut her off.
"I remember you were the one who went to see Orochimaru first that night. He must have been looking for you. Are you the spy he planted in the village?"
Anko immediately protested.
"How could I be a spy?
"I went there to kill him. You must have seen me attack him."
"Is that so? Did your assassination succeed?
"Is Orochimaru dead?"
When Anko shook her head, Lan continued pressing her.
"Then I'm curious. You went to assassinate Orochimaru, failed, and still returned to the village without a scratch. Since when has Orochimaru been so kind that he'd let someone who tried to kill him go? That doesn't make sense."
Then Lan abruptly changed tack, as if he'd just figured something out.
"Or are you lying? Maybe you went to meet Orochimaru that night and receive your orders.
"Could you really be the spy he planted in the village?"
Hearing Hyuga Lan say this, Anko panicked. She pointed a trembling finger at him.
"You... you're making baseless accusations! You're trying to pin your own crime on me!"
"Heh... I merely laid out what you did and offered a simple explanation. You accuse me of framing you.
"But when the same argument is applied to me, it suddenly becomes slander?
"What kind of logic is that?"
Faced with Lan turning the accusation back on her, Anko wanted to defend herself, but the words died on her lips. She had no explanation for why Orochimaru hadn't killed her and had let her live. It was completely out of character for him.
"Anko, tell me. How have you been in contact with Orochimaru? What does he want from you?
"Think carefully. Nothing good can come from working with someone like him. It's not too late to turn back."
"I haven't been in contact with Orochimaru at all. He was meeting you, not me...
"I just happened to sense his arrival..."
"Is that so? If you sensed Orochimaru coming, why didn't you report it to the village? Don't you know how dangerous he is? What were you hiding by keeping that information to yourself?"
Hyuga Lan's accusation left Anko speechless. When she'd sensed Orochimaru's arrival, her mind had been consumed by thoughts of revenge. She'd acted impulsively and gone to assassinate him on her own, forgetting that she should first have reported this important information to the village.
Now Lan had seized on her mistake, and she was trapped in a mire she couldn't talk her way out of.
"Can't answer, can you? Looks like it's settled: you're Orochimaru's spy.
"On top of that, you slandered a fellow villager and tried to pin your own crime on him. What do you think the Third Hokage and the other village leaders will do to you when they find out?"
Remembering the scrutiny she'd faced from the village a while back, Anko shuddered. She couldn't bear to go through that again.
"This is all just your accusation, your side of the story. He... they'll believe me..."
Her voice grew quieter with every word, as if she herself realized how weak her defense sounded.
"I'm a member of the Hyuga Branch Family, bound by the Caged Bird Seal. The Main Family controls my life and death.
"Between someone like me, whose life isn't even in my own hands, and you, who do you think is more likely to be a spy?
"Are you holding a grudge over the village's investigation into you and conspiring with Orochimaru?"
Only then did Anko understand why Lan had dared to let her live. When it came to who was more likely to be a spy, she was far more suspicious than he was.
If she accused him, she might drag herself down with him.
Once she realized this, Anko saw how laughable her threat must have seemed to him. She really was an idiot. If she'd thought things through instead of acting recklessly, she wouldn't have ended up in this mess.
Perhaps deciding he'd made his point, Lan stepped up to Anko and gently patted her shoulder. He leaned close to her ear and spoke softly.
"Since we've both suffered because of Orochimaru, we're in the same boat. I'll let this offense of yours slide, but don't let it happen again.
"Remember, neither of us went to the Forest of Death that night, and we never saw Orochimaru. Do you understand?"
Hearing Lan say that, Anko realized he wanted them to put the matter behind them. If she dared expose him, he'd drag her into it too, and they'd both go down together.
"What exactly did you trade with Orochimaru?"
"Does that question matter so much to you?"
When Anko nodded, Hyuga Lan realized that if he didn't explain himself and dispel her suspicions today, this foolish woman would keep hounding him. So he answered plainly,
"He wants me to investigate someone called 'The Fool.' Probably another unlucky idiot who came out of nowhere.
"You know how it goes. Anyone Orochimaru sets his sights on is bound to meet a bad end..."
Anko barely heard the rest of what Lan said. At that moment, only one thought filled her mind.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. If she could find The Fool before Orochimaru did, she might be able to team up with him and take Orochimaru on...