It Was Complicated

"Killed by Kakuzu?"

When Xia Yan heard Kakashi say that, he was rather stunned, but his expression soon turned somewhat awkward.

Kakuzu really knew how to hold a grudge.

Hadn't he merely cut the head off a corpse Kakuzu had intended to exchange for money? Even if Kakuzu couldn't find him to take revenge, surely he didn't have to take it out on the other Konoha Anbu.

Xia Yan sighed inwardly. This situation really was frustrating, but he couldn't say anything more.

The members of the Konoha Anbu were always among those exposed to the greatest danger, especially members of pursuit and assassination units like them, whose level of risk was frighteningly high.

There were always some who would either succeed or die trying, and countless others died on missions.

Strictly speaking, getting killed by Kakuzu like this was perfectly normal. In a sense, Kakashi had already avenged them anyway.

Kakashi destroyed one of that guy's earth-attribute chakra hearts. It wasn't enough to kill Kakuzu outright, but it was better than nothing.

Although Kakuzu's retaliation made Xia Yan feel awkward, that was as far as it went. It couldn't cause him much distress.

In fact, Xia Yan should have been on his guard after Shinichi and Masaya were transferred away.

Transferring exactly two people out of his squad definitely suggested something was wrong, but at the time, Xia Yan had thought the Captain wanted to target Kakashi or something along those lines, and hadn't given it much thought.

Now, however, it seemed the Captain had actually been responding to the Kakuzu incident, giving Xia Yan a warning that was neither particularly severe nor particularly mild.

However susceptible Anbu personnel were to retaliation, when Xia Yan had actively brought trouble upon them like this, giving him a silent warning was something the Captain ought to do.

"It looks like this really did have something to do with us." Xia Yan sighed softly, but soon gave a gentle smile again. "But there's no need to dwell on it. We reported the situation in advance, didn't we?"

"That's true, but..." Kakashi sighed softly. "I still feel a little guilty. If we'd..."

"Then we'd have been the ones to die. Besides, we reported this in advance. That information should have been passed along so everyone would be careful." Xia Yan cut Kakashi off. Of course he knew what Kakashi meant.

It was simply that they should have stayed and found a way to kill Kakuzu or something like that. But was that possible?

It was possible, yes. After all, Xia Yan knew Kakuzu's abilities, and he hadn't gone all out. If he and Kakashi worked well together, they might have had a chance.

But merely having a chance would never have been enough to make Xia Yan decide to do it.

Either he had complete confidence, or he wouldn't do it. To him, those were the only two choices!

The last time he had fought Kakuzu, for instance, he had only done it because he was confident he could get away unscathed, and the outcome had proved him right.

He had been confident about that, so he had done it.

But as for killing Kakuzu, Xia Yan felt there was no need to give it any further thought. Better to forget it.

"Ah, I understand." Kakashi nodded lightly. "By the way, what are you planning to do about our squad? You're the squad leader, but we seem to be quite short on people now."

"We're short two people, aren't we? It's no big deal," Xia Yan said indifferently. "Besides, bringing in new recruits is a bit of a hassle, too. Training takes time. There's no rush."

Including the captain leading it, a squad could consist of either three or four people. Xia Yan's previous squad had been a standard squad of four, including the ninja leading it.

The Anbu's staffing structure generally didn't change, so they still needed two more members to fill their squad.

However, the Anbu also allowed some flexibility: whether or not a squad was full, vacancies could be left open unless the Captain required someone to join.

On the other hand, regardless of whether they were short-handed, they still had to carry out their assigned missions. They wouldn't be allowed to rest over such a minor matter.

Xia Yan naturally understood all this, but he didn't care too much. Just as he had said, recruiting new people was a hassle, too.

New recruits naturally came from the reserve roster, and after joining, they still had to go through a necessary period of learning to work together.

That process was essential, but it was relatively time-consuming. Besides, almost all the geniuses on the reserve roster were already spoken for, and those remaining were nothing special.

If people like that were recruited without a suitable adjustment period, they would most likely end up serving as shields against kunai or ninjutsu.

Although Xia Yan had never done anything like that, the thought really had crossed his mind. If he hadn't been worried that an inspection upon his return might uncover something wrong, he might have done it long ago.

Anbu weren't battlefield ninja. Anbu inspections were always the strictest and most troublesome; otherwise, he wouldn't have kept complaining that the Anbu was no place for a human being.

Thus, when it came to bringing in new recruits, he generally chose to wait and observe, to see whether anyone more suitable came along.

As for recruits who ran into trouble on missions, he generally refrained from killing them himself, but wouldn't go too far to rescue them either.

This approach fit Konoha's wartime ninja values perfectly. Xia Yan understood political correctness very well. He wasn't going to become another Sakumo Hatake.

"Let's wait until we have time." Xia Yan patted Kakashi on the shoulder, his face filled with a gentle smile that made him look utterly harmless. "Otherwise, bringing them in now might get them killed on a mission."

"Is that so?" Kakashi nodded. "I understand, Captain. By the way, I didn't cause you any trouble when I misspoke last time, did I?"

"Don't worry, it's fine," Xia Yan said with a smile. "You played along pretty well afterward. I don't think there'll be any trouble."

Kakashi couldn't help feeling a little awkward at that. He had played along pretty well?

That hadn't really been playing along at all. It had been a genuine combat spar, and without using lethal ninjutsu, that was about as far as he could go.

Yet even at that limit, Xia Yan had beaten him until he could barely hold his own, only to mistake it for playing along. Kakashi really couldn't bring himself to smile about that.

Soon, however, he noticed Xia Yan take out paper and a pen, seemingly to record something, which piqued his curiosity.

"Captain, what are you..." Kakashi asked, somewhat puzzled.

Especially when he noticed that what Xia Yan was writing concerned the people they had encountered earlier who had wanted to attack them, he became even more confused.

"It's for Lord Hokage," Xia Yan said calmly, his voice very low this time. "Some things have to be made clear. Besides, this is part of my mission."

"A mission?" Kakashi took a deep breath, then nodded and asked no further questions.

He didn't know what sort of mission-related connection existed between Xia Yan and his teacher, and he didn't intend to ask.

Because he knew the complexity involved was definitely beyond his imagination...