"Is your new mission to admire the scenery here?"
A teasing voice suddenly spoke up.
Tenzo was peeking from behind a tree, completely focused, and the sudden voice from behind nearly made him jump.
He quickly made a hand sign, and with a "poof," left a Wood Style clone in his place.
"Sa... Satoru?"
Tenzo jumped to the side and looked at Hatake Satoru with lingering fear.
Satoru rested one hand on the wood clone and leaned his face on it, watching Tenzo with a half-smile.
Tenzo's usually dull eyes lit up all at once, almost sparkling with excitement.
He quickly stepped forward and looked up at Satoru in amazement.
"Weren't you just over there? You got here so fast…"
"What was that blue thing?! Do you really have a Kekkei Genkai?!"
"That was so cool! Everything just went 'boom' and closed in on him!"
"If you're that strong, then what about Kakashi-senpai…"
Tenzo was starting to get too loud—anyone nearby could hear him.
Satoru didn't want to deal with extra trouble, so he raised his finger to his lips and made a "shhh" gesture.
Tenzo shut his mouth mid-sentence and covered it with both hands.
"Shh, this kind of thing is supposed to be a secret, right?"
"If other people find out, it's going to be a pain, so keep it to yourself."
Tenzo nodded with his hands still over his mouth.
Satoru smiled and patted Tenzo on the head.
"Good kid. Oh, and if you've got time, fix up the hallway."
"It's all wood anyway—you're good with that stuff, right?"
"It's all yours."
Hatake Satoru gave Tenzo a thumbs-up and flashed him a "you got this" kind of smile before casually walking off.
Nice, saved on repair costs!
"Satoru is awesome, huh? He wrecked the hallway like it was nothing."
"He smashed the wood so hard it turned into dust."
Still unaware of how crazy things really were, Tenzo stood there staring at the ruined hallway from the fight between Hatake Satoru and Orochimaru, quietly impressed.
And just like that, Tenzo completely forgot about Kakashi asking him to come back and grab something.
It wasn't until he saw Kakashi's face back at the Anbu base that Tenzo let out a loud "Oh no!" and finally remembered.
"I-I forgot to fix the hallway!"
He mumbled something to Kakashi to cover himself, then quickly ran back.
Watching Tenzo run off looking all flustered, Kakashi didn't need to be a genius to figure out this had something to do with Hatake Satoru.
"That guy… is he putting people under some kind of spell?"
...
Though signs of a fight with Orochimaru were found near the Hatake residence, luckily, neither of the Hatake brothers were home at the time—so no one got hurt.
As for Orochimaru, he had only left behind a fake body. By the time the tracking team got there, he was already long gone.
This time, the reason for Orochimaru sneaking back into the village was ruled to be his attempt to steal his old research materials.
The incident didn't make too many waves. After all, he just took some data—not exactly a huge loss.
Still, Sarutobi Hiruzen paid Hatake Satoru a visit.
"It would be better if you and your brother lived there together, but Kakashi spends most of his time in the Anbu dorms."
"The Hatake house is a bit out of the way. It's not the safest place."
"Like this time, it's a good thing you weren't home, or it could've gone badly."
"You should think about moving into the village dorms. It's also closer to your school."
This kind of concern was mostly just part of the job. If they really cared, they would've given him a place to stay when he first became a teacher.
Hatake Satoru didn't take it personally, though. The old man didn't have anything against him, after all.
The Hatake family didn't have extra people or extra money.
No one really cared enough to target them.
He just… couldn't bring himself to like the old man.
After all, what happened to Sakumo—one way or another—happened with Sarutobi's silent approval.
Kakashi could stay clueless, happily doing his Anbu work without knowing the truth, but Satoru wasn't that easy to fool.
"Ah~ don't worry about it. I'm just more used to living over there."
"Besides, there are still a lot of my dad's things in that house. I have to clean up pretty often."
"Moving would just be more of a hassle."
Of course, most of the cleaning was actually done by Kakashi. That guy's ridiculously neat—he's had a mild case of OCD since they were kids.
When Satoru mentioned Hatake Sakumo, Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a soft sigh.
Other people might not know, but he definitely did—Hatake Sakumo took his own life right in front of Satoru.
Even though Satoru acted like nothing ever happened, deep down, there had to be something stuck in his heart.
"If you don't want to move, I won't force you. But if you change your mind, just come talk to me."
Sarutobi didn't push any further. He just left it at that and let Satoru go.
And just like that,
Hatake Satoru's place became a kind of peaceful hideaway, out of reach from both Anbu and Uchiha surveillance.
Looking at the two who were now poking around his house like spoiled kids visiting the countryside for the first time—Itachi and Shisui—Satoru couldn't help but kick them both lightly.
"What's with those faces? You two never seen a normal guy's house before?!"
Shisui and Itachi both raised their hands in surrender and sat down around the low wooden table on the tatami floor.
After sitting down, Itachi let out a helpless sigh.
"Sorry for taking over your place like this, even though it's something going on with my clan."
"Things are a mess within the Uchiha right now, and there are spies everywhere."
"Not just our own people—there are also Anbu and members of Root watching us."
"All the places we usually go are being watched, so we had no choice but to come here."
.......................................