Danzo

"Thank you for informing me of this meeting Hiruzen" Danzo said as he walked into the room, the sound of his long black outer robe's gentle whisper as it trailed across the ground being the only thing you could hear in the strange silence which overtook the room at his entrance.

"of course, after all, even if you aren't in charge of your organization anymore, you're still a valuable advisor" Hiruzen said.

Danzo slowly walked to stand in the corner behind Hiruzen, away from the window, bringing with him a strange weight, a quietness which permeated his surroundings. As he walked by, He looked at me as if I were an unknown element, a piece on the board he had yet to decide how he should move. The shadows seemed to almost draw closer around his form as he stood in the corner, making it suddenly seem darker than before.

"Give us a full report on your mission, include all details you remember, even those you find trivial, say nothing unless you are completely sure it is truthful" Danzo ordered before Hiruzen even had a chance to speak.

"What I mean to say" - Hiruzen said while sending a warning glance at Danzo - "is that we would like you to tell us anything you remember, as even though we have heard the essentials from Kakashi it will still help to hear a more complete version from you. Now do make sure that everything is correct before you say it, as it would be worse to have false information than none at all" Hiruzen said with a grandfatherly smile.

And so I told them everything which happened in the months since I left, getting interrupted frequently by either Hiruzen to gather more details about a particular subject, or Danzo commanding me to be more objective.

"Thank you for telling us all of this again, I am aware that it must have been hard, but I do hope that you are capable of understanding why we needed you to tell us, even if it was uncomfortable. And I would also like to thank you for the effort and hardships it took for you to get us this information" Hiruzen said after hours upon hours of questioning.

"I cannot help but disagree, Hiruzen, while his tale is somewhat sympathetic if you only look at it from his perspective, if you scrutinize his words beyond the self-loathing prattle an entirely different story unfolds. It becomes impossible to miss the fact that all the 'hardships' as you put it, were completely due to his own inadequacies and mistakes, mistakes which, beyond just harming himself, have also harmed Konoha by giving our enemies the perfect excuse to move against us" Danzo said calmly while staring into my eyes with the one black orb not covered by bandages.

"while I do think he made mistakes, as any half-trained, inexperienced, and young shinobi would, I do not believe that now is the most prudent time to evaluate his mission, especially after such an exhaustive questioning" Hiruzen said firmly.

"Any shinobi should be able to receive criticism after failing a mission, especially one who has managed to drag down his entire village with his lack of skill" Danzo grunted.

"Enough, Danzo" Hiruzen said, his mask of a friendly smile falling for a moment, just long enough for the steel which made him a Hokage to shine through.

There was a tense silence for a moment, before Danzo stepped back to his corner and spoke frostily "of course"

"You are dismissed, Anno, Danzo and I have much to talk about" Hiruzen finally said after a moment of tense silence.

And so, I picked up my crutches and moved out of Hiruzen's office, the quiet sound of their conversation starting up again being cut off completely when the door closed behind me. It was a rather nice seal, I had to admit, at least as far as I could tell from the tiny glimpse I caught of it when I saw it on the hinge jamb.

It was a rather mixed first reception I received, I thought, Hiruzen was nice, as always, danzo... less so. I slowly shambled my way through the Hokage building as I made my way towards training ground seven, where I assumed team seven would be. Danzo's words plagued my thoughts as I walked towards the training ground, what he said forced me to consider all my actions once again, desperately searching for some way to prove to myself that his words weren't true. Of course, I came up empty-handed once more, with no way of denying my many mistakes.

"Anno! You're back!" Naruto yelled out with a smile.

"Hey anno, how did it go? You were gone for a while longer than we expected" Sakura asked.

"oh nothing too unusual, just a mission report, though I did learn that Danzo, who I can only assume is one of the Hokage's closest confidants, severely dislikes me" I said with a relaxed smile.

"What did you do to make him hate you that fast?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Nothing much, though it is quite lucky that he does, after all, ever since I left, I haven't met a single person more powerful than me who doesn't hate me. and while I suppose it would be nice to not have all those stronger than you as enemies, there are certain points where you just have to realize that keeping up a streak is more important than personal well-being" I said.

"If you are wise enough to realize something like that, what do you need us for?" Sakura asked.

"Well sometimes a person of superior wisdom, which I obviously have, after all, only someone truly wise can take a B-ranked mission and turn it into a possible war, but sometimes even people like myself have to ask lesser minds like yours for help since you can relate to other lesser minds" I explained grandly.

"So, what do you really need?" Sasuke finally asked.

"Part of what I said was actually true, I do need help making a decision, now, what dramatic entrance should I use on the others?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Well, there are so many possibilities, should I, for example, hire a group of dancers and singers to reintroduce myself to them with a musical number? Or should I pretend to assassinate one of them only for them to capture me and take my mask off and reveal me? So many choices and so little time before at least one of their fathers, probably Shikamaru's father as he is the jonin commander, finds out!"

"You want us to help you make the biggest emotional impact possible on our friends by suddenly parading their 'dead' friend in front of them?" Sasuke asked.

"No, not really, I understand by how you reacted in our first meeting that it wasn't fun when I suddenly disappeared. but it was a rather fun scenario to think over, right?" I smiled.

"But then why are you here?" Naruto asked with pure innocent curiosity.

"Well, you see Naruto, after a year-and-a-half filled with tense espionage, battling an A-ranked ninja alone, and, last but not least, learning fuinjutsu and taking it to great heights in a rather short time, it is only natural for the mind to become weary, and start to forget certain things" I explained.

"you forgot where they live" Sakura stated.

"I did have a decently stressful year all around, and we always just went to Sasuke's place so it's not like there was ever that much of an incentive to remember in the first place" I said in an attempt to defend my forgetfulness.

And so, with only slight judgment from Sakura, I got their addresses and prepared myself for the series of seven intensely uncomfortable reunions I would face the next day. Which suddenly caused me to remember that I had no place to sleep, and that Sakura had either forgotten to give me her address, or decided to punish me for forgetting, which, of the people who knew I was alive, left only Naruto and Sasuke, with Naruto's place being filthy, and Sasuke's place being... how to put it, the site of genocide, I had nowhere to sleep...

Ino's place was rather nice, at least from what I remember, filled with plants all around, keeping the air incredibly fresh, and I would have to tell her at some point, so why not now? It was purely coincidental that I needed a place to stay.

I made my way towards the address Sakura had given me, slowly walking along the streets of Konoha, looking at the city I had not seen for over a year, not that I had much of a choice about walking slowly on my crutches. I felt it was strange that everyone was just going about their day, completely unaware of the fact that multiple hidden villages were planning an attack on us. I guess I finally understood the distance Shinobi must feel from civilians, simply due to the gap in information.

I eventually arrived at the 'Yamanaka' district, the district was the cultural hub of Konoha, because unlike the other clans of Konoha, the Yamanaka's chose not to live in a compound, and instead trust the walls of Konoha by just having the clan live in the same area. Of course, as the clan grew so did the Yamanaka district and civilians started living there too, and with the many plants all around creating a soothing atmosphere, combined with the natural safety afforded by living with a noble clan, businesses started appearing in the area. Especially fashion, flowers, painters, and all other forms of creative arts, eventually making the Yamanaka district the central hub for culture in Konoha.

And so, I stood at the center of the Yamanaka district, in front of the very first Yamanaka flower shop, and knocked on the door. Then I remembered that this was the store entrance, and that, as the store was closed, there probably wasn't any chance of me getting heard, but how should I draw their attention then? I looked around the dimly lit street, seeing only empty streets and dark storefronts. No one would see me if I were to throw a couple of small pebbles at their window, right? So, I wound back my arm and prepared to... throw something at the house of a clan head. Maybe I should just check for a back entrance.

Walking into the ally to the right of the house I was immediately greeted by a staircase, leading to a door on the second floor. Huh. I stood back after knocking on the door, waiting for it to open, and when it did open I was greeted with the confused face of Inoichi Yamanaka, looking at me with a rather befuddled expression as the light from inside the house shone on my face.

"aren't you the boy who lured my daughter into committing treason? you are, but I thought you were banished ages ago, why are you here?" Inoichi asked with narrowed eyes.

"It was really more of a persuasion than a luring, honesty" I said.

"But it was your idea?" he asked.

"Of course it was, after all, I'm just an orphan with no background or special abilities, the others didn't exactly need to rob the library of Konoha" I said.

"goodbye" Inoichi said as he started to close the door in my face.

I needed to keep him talking "wait, wait, wait, if you tell Ino that I'm out here, I will tell you an A-ranked secret"

"that's treason again" he said.

"I know, I know, but old habits die hard, and it's not like you won't get told about it tomorrow" I said.

"Fine, what is it?" Inoichi asked, his curiosity overwhelming him.

"I can't tell you that, that would be treason" I said.

"You were one who offered to tell me!" he exclaimed.

"When I thought you wouldn't accept! It's like when I offer to pay for things, everyone I know is aware that I have no money, that's why I offer, because I'll never actually have to follow up on it" I said.

"Fine, I'll go get her, but if you try convincing her to comit treason..." he trailed off.

"Great" I beamed.

Waiting outside the house was almost physically painful with the amount of anticipation curling my stomach into what I could only assume were four-dimensional shapes. Especially since Inoichi apparently took it upon himself to make sure that Ino had a lecture on the dangers of treason fresh in her mind for when she met me.

"Sakura? Did you finally get back from your first mission? But why didn't you wait until the morning to come visit, I mean, I'm curious but I need to sleep too, you know" Ino grumbled slightly as she opened the door.

"If you would prefer it, I can leave and come back in the morning" I said.

There was a long stretch of silence as Ino stared at me in openmouthed shock, my sudden appearance incomprehensible to her as I stood before her alive, and to anyone who did not happen to glance down, well.

"Anno? But- why are you- how did you- when did- how?" she stuttered as she desperately tried to communicate even one of the questions plaguing her.

"'How?' is a very broad question, so I'm afraid that you'll have to get slightly more specific than that" I teased.

"How are you alive?" she asked, my leading statement finally letting her gather her thoughts enough for a comprehensive question.

"Well, I never really died in the first place, so that part is quite simple, now if you were to ask, 'what happened to you?' that would be a far more interesting story" I smiled.

"Then tell me" she almost pleaded in a desperate attempt to make sense of my sudden revival.

"You know, I always felt, for the one other time that I have done this kind of thing, that this kind of conversation is best had with a cold glass of elderflower juice, sadly I have no way of getting my hands on it here in Konoha, so I propose we talk over a glass of cold water instead" I said.

"can't you just tell me?" she asked in annoyance.

"To be completely honest we probably could, but my throat is rather dry, and I would like to get something to drink" I said.

"Fine, just come inside, but if you try to weasel around telling me for 'dramatic effect' I'll go inside your mind and pull what happened out of you myself" she said while narrowing her eyes at me.

"You know, I like the new 'bang framing your face' thing you have now, it adds a whole new dimension to your glares" I said while following her into her house.