Rabbit Princess [Gaara] [3]

☾ 25 ☽

Throughout that night, Tsukiko had thought about the conditions that were upon them with Sasuke's fake making its moves around. She had kept her Sensors out – there was no way anyone could escape her even countries away. But whoever that this enemy was knew that Tsukiko could do this: they were covering themselves with miscellaneous Chakra.

It wasn't even a question in Tsukiko's mind that Sasuke had anything to do with it, and because of that, she wasn't concerned in that aspect. And as she traced the attacks, she was sure that they were trying to get Sasuke to return to Konohagakure.

There was an ulterior plan at play and Tsukiko was sure that Sasuke realised it as well. Had that not being the case, she knew that he would've at least reached out to her or Naruto.

And with that thought, Tsukiko decided to focus on why and how this fake Sasuke came out to be.

Sakura looked stressed out for Sasuke's sake as she left Tsukiko during lunch to go for a walk. Tsukiko didn't hold her back, heading to meet with Tsunade.

Just past noon, the pair of cousins squeezed into a table at a restaurant and faced each other. Tsunade already knew Sasuke had been seen in a variety of places. It might have been a while since she stepped down as the Hokage, but Kakashi sent subordinates from time to time to keep her informed of important matters. Or she heard directly from Tsukiko.

"I'm certain that the Sasuke being spotted isn't him," Tsukiko said. "But Gaara – he said he had the same Chakra. I've been wondering if there's another way to mimic Chakra to this degree,"

"A method of mimicking not just face and body," Tsunade said thoughtfully. "But also Chakra..." She looked over. "Sakura had mentioned about an ANBU member?"

"Yes, there is a person in the ANBU who can use such a Jutsu," Tsukiko confirmed. "However, he's on a mission elsewhere and accounted for. I was hoping two minds would do something one can't,"

It was concerning because Chakra couldn't just be copied with Transformation Jutsu, and the user of a shape-shifting Jutsu couldn't make a copy of any kind unless they had access to Sasuke. That was what Tsukiko was racking her brains about – how they got there?

"Hmm, it's a tough one," Tsunade said, after a few moments of silence. "I can't think of anything off the top of my head other than what you just suggested. It's not as though White Zetsu survived, after all," She looked toward Tsukiko.

"No, I doubt it survived," Tsukiko admitted.

Silence descended on the table once again.

Finally, after wetting her lips with sake, Tsunade looked at the girl across from him and offered, "Still, the most likely option is shape-shifting Jutsu,"

"But in that case, there would be a connection between the user and Sasuke," Tsukiko pointed out. "It's like a Clone but to graft someone's Chakra onto another..."

"His own Chakra would have to be split and given to the copy," Tsunade filled. "But if the user somehow managed to absorb Sasuke's Chakra without him noticing it and gave it to the copy, that could create a situation in which the fake ran rampant without Sasuke's being aware of it,"

"Yes, but I doubt Sasuke would not notice something like that," Tsukiko said.

"Right," Tsunade agreed, rejecting the idea. "That wouldn't happen. It's hard to think of a situation where someone as skilled as Sasuke would have his Chakra absorbed without him knowing it,"

Even still, Tsukiko felt like it was worth pushing and digging deeper into this idea. The fact that the fake had Sasuke's face and body was no serious problem. The Transformation Jutsu itself was not particularly high level. The real issue was that the Chakra was the same. And just as Tsunade noted, chakra could be absorbed from an opponent and passed on to someone else.