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Midnight in Konoha, and it was nearing to the end.
His eyes automatically fluttered open.
Next was the severe pain from his muscles.
Kakashi hissed at the stinging sensation. From the last fight, his Sharingan was perpetually active, and a massive chunk of his chakra had been wasted by simply maintaining it; his body was never strong enough to be able to utilize the Mangekyo Sharingan and any of its abilities. Now, Kakashi's chakra had drained and he needed time to recuperate.
He wanted to sit to have a better vision of where he was right now, but his sense of smell had caught the lingering antiseptic scent. There were also the simultaneous sounds of beeping heart monitors, and using his eyes, he glanced at his right to the other patients in this hospital room. Kakashi felt the relief when the eight of them had survived Akane's unsuppressed assaults. Then he sighed, angling his head to the window on his left. The cold night had dominated the solitude of that hospital room and the wind was swaying the plain white curtain of the sliding window.
Soon, the door quietly creaked open and it showed Jiraiya. He stepped inside, not making any sounds as possible, then shutting the door close again.
"Jiraiya-sama . . ." Kakashi weakly called, surprised at the sudden, late-night visit.
"Oh, Kakashi," the sennin greeted back in a low tone, "you're the first one to wake up, huh?"
"Because I'm the one who's less injured, so . . ." Kakashi was practically useless a while ago. After Akane made him puncture Yamato, he couldn't function well because he unintentionally activated the Mangekyo. If it wasn't for the senjutsu of the sage, things had gotten south.
"True, you are." Jiraiya settled on the bedside chair. "Or maybe, Akane didn't mean you to."
Through his eye, he made a voiceless why question.
"Did she strike a deal with you?" he asked, giving the jonin a meaningful taunt.
"Yes, did she tell you?"
The toad sage shook his head. "Just aware of her conniving tendencies."
Akane had cornered Kakashi mercilessly and left him no choice but to abide with her deal. Basing from Jiraiya's statement, Akane must have been using the same tactics ever since she young . . . Was she that twisted?
"What's the condition she made?"
"She gave me this–" the silver-head slid off his hand out of the blanket and showed Akane's jutsushiki to him– "to join the Akatsuki."
Jiraiya had a momentary intellectualized shock, nodding twice. "You agreed?"
"Hai," Kakashi replied with a heavy sigh. "In exchange of healing the others."
