"Anko, can you contact Lord Orochimaru?"
There were not many pedestrians coming and going through the alley. Too many people were celebrating elsewhere today, while even more were immersed in grief.
Kato Osamu looked up at Anko. Having graduated from the Ninja Academy not long ago, she had not taken part in the war and still looked somewhat immature.
"Hey, what did you call me? You should call me Big Sis Anko!"
Kato Osamu merely looked at Anko in silence without saying a word.
The atmosphere seemed to grow a little chilly. Perhaps winter had not yet passed, and the lingering cold made Anko quietly pull her clothes tighter. She looked at Kato Osamu, gave a soft snort, and sighed helplessly.
"You're still the same. You're not nearly as cute as you used to be..."
"Fine. Come with me..."
The deeper they went into the alley, the fewer pedestrians there were, until there were practically none. After quietly surveying the surroundings and confirming that no one else was present, Anko lightly bit her finger, formed hand seals, and summoned a small snake.
"Kato Osamu, if you have any words or items for Lord Orochimaru, you can give them to it... Forget it, just tell it yourself..."
Anko stood some distance away, leaning against the wall. She somehow pulled out a skewer of dango and savored it slowly, though her gaze remained fixed on Kato Osamu.
"Take this scroll to Lord Orochimaru..."
A trace of humanlike intelligence flashed in the white snake's eyes. It slowly nodded its raised head, then bit down on the scroll Kato Osamu tossed over.
Anko's eyes flickered. She had never seen such a special sealing scroll before. Her eyes shifted thoughtfully, and a smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
Ever since the day she became Orochimaru's disciple and met Kato Osamu, her teacher had been secretly researching something with this not-so-cute fellow in front of her. Yet he had never brought her along.
She had wanted to ask, but Kato Osamu always answered her with silence, making her curiosity grow stronger and stronger...
"Curiosity kills people..."
Once Kato Osamu saw the white snake swallow the scroll and vanish in a puff of smoke, he turned around, glanced faintly at Anko, and leaped onto the high platform.
Anko immediately looked at Kato Osamu on the platform with displeasure.
During those days in Orochimaru's laboratory, she had eagerly prepared hearty meals for the little underling she had taken in almost every day. Later, though, she hardly saw him anymore, and they gradually lost contact.
She had not expected that when they met again, he would merely treat her as a tool for contacting Lord Orochimaru. He was so cold, as though they were complete strangers...
The more she thought about it, the less willing she was to accept it. Feeling indignant, she shouted up at Kato Osamu on the platform, "Hey! Kato Osamu! You bastard, don't you have anything to say to me?!"
But she received no response at all. The person on the platform had already disappeared.
"Bastard! Bastard!"
"I'm so mad!!!"
Anko's face flushed red with anger. Unable to hold back, she punched the wall, as if she wanted to vent every bit of her dissatisfaction.
"Hmph, when I get back, I'll find your scroll and throw it into the river. Let's see how you contact Lord Orochimaru then!"
Back at the dango shop, Anko was still in a terrible mood. She turned all her anger into appetite and devoured skewer after skewer of dango. Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma Sarutobi stared in astonishment. They knew Anko liked dango, but they had never seen her like this before. It was as if she treated the dango as her enemy, tearing them to pieces with her teeth.
"Um, Anko... Is Kato Osamu also Lord Orochimaru's disciple?"
Tall stacks of plates had piled up beside Anko and Kurenai Yuhi. After silently counting them, Kurenai Yuhi could not help speaking, hoping to divert Anko's attention.
If she kept eating like this, Kurenai Yuhi feared that all three of their wallets would be emptied, and they might even have to work here to pay off the debt.
"Don't mention that bastard! If I see him again, I'll beat him until he's crawling around looking for his teeth!"
Only after finishing another two skewers of dango did Anko finally stop in satisfaction. She comfortably drank a bowl of warm red bean soup, and her mood seemed to calm down. Seeing that Kurenai Yuhi and Asuma Sarutobi had barely eaten, she felt slightly embarrassed.
"Kato Osamu is indeed Lord Orochimaru's disciple, but... he's always researching something with Lord Orochimaru. I..."
After thinking it over, Anko suddenly realized that she truly could not think of anything particularly notable about Kato Osamu. He was like an invisible person.
He did not talk much and liked to stay silent. It seemed that the hooded cloak concealed not only his body, but hid him entirely within the darkness.
"I don't really know much about him either..."
At that moment, Anko suddenly felt that her anger had been completely meaningless. From beginning to end, perhaps it had all been her one-sided wishful thinking.
"Forget it... It's no big deal..."
Gently picking up the last skewer of dango, Anko looked out the window at the darkening sky. There was no one outside, only the cold, biting wind and snow-covered withered branches.
She seemed slightly lost in thought.
The brightly colored, sickly sweet dango—she had once believed she would never lose her love for it. Yet at this moment, it seemed to hold no appeal at all. It only felt unbearably cloying.
Kurenai Yuhi looked at Anko with concern. She had never seen such complicated emotions on Anko's face. The usually carefree Anko seemed to possess a delicate heart as well. Beneath her carefree personality was a longing for friendship and a fear of loneliness.
Kurenai Yuhi gently patted Anko's shoulder. A strange sense of shared sorrow rose within her heart. Ever since her mother had passed away, her home had felt much colder, even though she still had her father.
She could probably understand the loneliness of losing one's parents—they would come to cherish every bond deeply.
"Anko, next time we see that guy, I'll go with you and beat him into a pig-headed mess!"
"How about adding me to the group?"
Asuma Sarutobi shrugged. He did not really understand why such a cheerful gathering had suddenly become so melancholy.
As a rebellious teenager, what troubled him now was always how to go against his parents and keep them from meddling in anything he did.
"Hmph, this is a girls' matter!"
Kurenai Yuhi and Anko spoke in unison, instantly darkening Asuma Sarutobi's face. Somewhat awkwardly, he looked at the towering stack of plates on the table. Then inspiration struck, and he seemed to think of a way to cheer them up again.
"Boss, twenty more servings of dango!"
However, his action seemed to have the opposite effect. His loud shout drew everyone in the shop's attention toward them.
"Those two girls can really eat..."
"You'd never know it from looking at them... This is the first time I've seen girls who can eat so much..."
Though the whispers around them were quiet, Anko and Kurenai Yuhi, as ninja, heard every word clearly. Their faces instantly turned red.
Although they were ninja and held slightly higher status than ordinary citizens in Konoha, they were still only teenagers. That kind of "praise" for girls left them wishing they could disappear into the ground. It was practically calling them gluttons.
"Asuma Sarutobi, you bastard!"
Kurenai Yuhi and Anko gritted their teeth in anger. Blushing, they hurried away from their seats and forced themselves to go pay the bill. They only wanted to leave immediately, lest the title of glutton spread around...
"Excuse me, Lady Ninja, your bill has already been paid. A ninja deposited one hundred thousand ryo in advance. As long as this customer comes by, the entire amount can be deducted from it..."
The young cashier looked at Anko with a measure of respect. One hundred thousand ryo was already a substantial sum for a small shop like theirs.
"Me? Someone deposited one hundred thousand ryo for me?"
Anko froze. She had thought she was about to live a humble life of scrimping and saving, yet she had not expected such a surprise.
"Did he leave his name? What did he look like?"
Kurenai Yuhi looked at Anko curiously, a faint guess forming in her heart. As Anko questioned the cashier, Kurenai Yuhi also turned her gaze toward the girl.
"Um... He looked around twelve or thirteen years old and wore a hood. Oh, he also left a note, but no name..."
The moment Anko heard that he wore a hood, she guessed it was Kato Osamu. Unable to believe it, she accepted the note the cashier handed over and gently unfolded it. There was only one sentence written on it.
"Next time we meet, remember to call me Senior Brother."
Anko's eyes immediately lit up. The smile at the corners of her lips could not be hidden no matter how hard she tried. Every emotion she had was completely swallowed by surprise, though she pursed her lips and continued muttering.
"That bastard..."
Yet even Kurenai Yuhi could hear that there was no longer a trace of anger in Anko's words, only wholehearted delight.
"Looks like your senior brother isn't so bad after all... At least he's much better than certain people..."
Kurenai Yuhi's eyes also brightened slightly. Her impression of Kato Osamu instantly turned around.
"Of course... How could the little brother I took in possibly be bad..."
Anko put one hand on her hip and burst into laughter, repeatedly patting Kurenai Yuhi's shoulder. Seeing Anko return to her usual self, Kurenai Yuhi pursed her lips and smiled brightly as well.
Asuma Sarutobi nodded thoughtfully. Looking at Kurenai Yuhi's seemingly envious gaze, he decided he would compromise with the old man just this once and get hold of one hundred thousand ryo first...
Before you continue