Making mistakes was the fate of every human. Not making the same one twice was Hazō's fate—at least, if he had anything to say about it.

Privacy was going to be important, so Hazō waited two nights after leaving Sand. He waited until Keiko had first-shift guard duty, dinner was over, and everyone was starting to climb into their bedrolls. "Minami," he said quietly. "I'd like to go talk privately with Keiko, but I don't want to worry you. She's prone to getting depressed sometimes, so I've gotten in the habit of checking in with her periodically; it's better if those conversations are private. I'd also like to help her brainstorm new combat tactics and techniques. Do you have any objections?"

Minami pulled her blankets up over herself and turned on her side. "Just don't stay up too late. You've got second shift and tired ninja are dead ninja."

"Yes, ma'am," Hazō said, yet again not mentioning his Mist Academy sleep deprivation training. He turned and slipped silently outside, although he made sure to scuff his feet slightly before jumping up on the roof. It didn't do to surprise a ninja on guard duty.

"Good evening, Hazō," Keiko said calmly. "Difficulty sleeping, or did you want to help me develop secret new combat techniques that will act as my trump cards?"

"Okay, I know for a fact that you were already on the roof and there is no way you heard me say that from up here."

She smiled. "You blundered by disclosing Noburi's secret, leading to Kagome's rash actions. After that you have been focused on repairing that more significant issue, but now he appears to have fixed it himself." She paused. "And isn't that one of the more amazing things we've seen on our travels? In any case, now that the more significant issue has been resolved, you are moving on to helping Noburi find new techniques to replace the one you revealed. As an obvious extension, you are looking to help me and Kagome find trumps of our own. You spoke to him two days ago and tonight is the first night that I have been on first-shift duty when you were on second. Tonight was the logical night for you to approach me."

Hazō looked at her, narrow-eyed. "If I had come tomorrow you would have had a reason why tomorrow was the logical night, wouldn't you?"

Her smile got wider. "Perhaps. In any case, what miracles of combat sealing did you wish to suggest that I put on my thrown weapons? Macerators loaded with pepper spray? Shurikens equipped with mobile Force Walls? Kunai equipped with Force Wall wedges?"

"...You are scary, you know that?"

"I've been told that, yes."

"Okay, yes, I hadn't thought of the wedge-equipped kunai but I had the other two. I did have one other idea though...." He took a breath. "Let me preface this by saying that this is only an idea, and it might be a bad one. It involves your bloodline, which is something I know nothing about except that it's amazingly powerful and that it's dangerous. I want to help, which is why I'm bringing it up, but if it makes you uncomfortable I will let it go."

"You are going to suggest that I practice using my bloodline in combat, aren't you? That perhaps the Frozen Skein would allow me to calculate angles more precisely, track the battlefield more rapidly, or give me a level of combat intuition that allowed me to anticipate opponent's actions before they made them?"

"...Something like that. I would like to emphasize, however, that I still get scared every time I remember you going too deep into your bloodline back in Iron. It took you minutes to come back to normal. I would much rather have Awesome Keiko with no Frozen Skein style than Vegetable Keiko with a style. You kick immense amounts of ass as it is; we can find a safer way to let you kick even more."

"Thank you for your concern. Using the Frozen Skein in combat is possible, and it can be extremely effective. It carries enormous risks, however. My aunt Noriko fought from within the ice for years without being frozen. Then, one day, her team leader wanted to show off a flashy new lightning technique he had learned. He led the squad into an ambush. Aunt Noriko breathed the ice deep inside herself in order to prevent the utter destruction of her entire squad. When we left for Noodle the most knowledgeable of our elders were working to bring her back; there was a fifty-fifty chance that they would succeed.

"You are correct, however. I have been remiss in not exploring the potential of my bloodline. Our lives are too uncertain, too at risk, for me to have let my cowardice rule me like this. I should have been— Hey!"

Hazō poked her again. "Keiko's getting mopey, Keiko's getting mopey," he chanted in the mocking sing-song of little children everywhere.

"Cut it out, Hazō."

"Oh, look at me! I'm Keiko and I'm a total badass but I can't admit it because I need to be mopey all the time! Sure, I made the ninja of Sarubetsu wet themselves and I won the respect of Pantsā of the Adamant Scales, but I can't think about that because I need to be mopey!"

Glare of Death no Jutsu. "You are not funny, Hazō."

"Oooh, ooh, I'm such a terrible coward, even though I can stare down insane freaky-pants biosealmistresses and kick the ever-loving crap out of basically everything we've ever met."

"I know what you're doing."

"Wahhh, I'm so socially incompetent even though I was a successful spy and information analyst back in the Liberator's camp and I managed to navigate the politics in Hidden Mountain better than anyone except Mari-sensei."

"Stop it!"

The mocking tone fell away, replaced by steel. "Then cut it out. You're a grown woman and an incredible ninja. You have the respect of every ninja we have ever met, including Jiraiya of the Sannin and the God of Shinobi. Are you omnipotent? No. Omniscient? No. Do you have self-doubt, just like everyone else? Yes. You're still a badass, so get over yourself." He was very proud of those words; he'd practiced them in the mirror back in Leaf, knowing that he would need them at some point. After her Nara-esque 'super deduction' trick from earlier, it was nice to get a little of his own back.

She looked at him sourly. "Fine. I will investigate the potential of my bloodline and I will not focus on my various fai—ow! Cut it out!—I will not focus on the parts of myself that I find less than ideal."

"Good. Now, about seal-based weaponry?"

Keiko hesitated. "I am already reasonably capable of lethal engagement. I would prefer to focus on less-lethal options when I can. The macerators I have equipped on my kunai are mostly sufficient for that; I can load them with various irritants, and I still have a tiny bit of the dragonfly dust left. Which reminds me—I will be curious to see what Noburi can do with that snake venom; it would be ideal if he could dilute it enough to make it a non-lethal paralytic or a sleeping agent." She sighed. "Still, peaceful options aside, it would be foolish of me not to admit that lethal engagements happen more often than not. Shuriken of Spinny Slicey Force Doom would be appreciated. They would also be useful for removing obstacles. It would be important to ensure that they are short-lived, however; they should not persist for more than a second, lest an ally stumble through one of the cutting planes sticking out of the ground after the shuriken embeds itself."

Hazō raised his eyebrows. "Go back a bit. 'Shuriken of Spinny Slicey Force Doom'?"

"What?" she asked, sounding offended. "You name your seals things like 'macerator' and 'bazooka'."

Hazō held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, Spinny Slicey Force Doom is good. I am totally on board with Spinny Slicey Force Doom."

She gave him an old-fashioned look so severe that for a moment he was afraid the Leaf librarian had Substituted with her. "I am glad to hear it. Moving on, perhaps caltrops that sprout Force Wall blades would be good? I notice that we have spent a fair amount of running away from things. A serious obstacle would be useful. Proximity detection in general is probably the highest-value item you could research. If we wanted non-lethal options we could have caltrops equipped with proximity-triggered macerators that were loaded with irritants."

Hazō laughed. "On the subject of irritants and spinny slicy force doom, would you appreciate a sounding board when it comes to planning what pangolins to contract with?"

"Did you have input?"

"Seems to me like the team needs two things: heavy firepower and a genjutsu specialist. Genjutsu is nice because it can completely shut down one opponent, and the fact that a summon can't be perma-killed takes away the biggest disadvantage. We could also use a real heavy hitter for big fights. Is there any chance that Pankurashun would let you summon him?"

She looked pensive. "Perhaps. I can speak to him about it. Although, it seems to me that we should analyze our tactical roles before deciding where we need another fighter. You and Akane are close-range fighters. Her defensive jutsu gives her some protection, but you are quite 'squishy', as Noburi put it during gaming. A melee pangolin could make sense there; it would work with Akane to tie up the enemy while you used macerators and explosives from midrange."

"Midrange is Noburi's spot," Hazō pointed out. "Water Whip is long enought to keep him out of hand-to-hand and Hozūki's Mantle gives him a mobile defensive position. He can back me up with the Whip while I'm fighting. It worked great against those zombies."

"Having you at midrange with him means you could throw explosives freely and then hide in the blast shadow of his Mantle."

"True...just need to make sure that he knows where I'm throwing them so that they're away from the throat of the Mantle and he doesn't turn at the wrong moment. It would make for great battlefield control, though."

"Indeed. Also, I will note that Kagome is actually a more effective close-range fighter than either you or Akane."

Freshly burned by the 'secret techniques' issue, Hazō noticed how careful she had been not to use words like 'explosion punching' or 'blast rings'.

"True, although given the number of tags he carries he also works pretty well at midrange throwing explosives around."

"Yes, although he is completely unable to hit the broad side of a building."

"Well, explosions."

"True."

They both paused, considering the possibilities. Eventually Hazō asked, "What do you think we should do about him? He basically just pledged himself to be Minami's servant forever. That's millions of ryo of services for nothing."

"It is not for nothing. It is for his own sense of self-worth and self-determination. In the long term it lets him feel that he is taking control of his destiny, cleaning up his own mess, and growing as a person who is aware of his own weaknesses. In the more immediate future it is to preserve the safety of his team and the secrecy of Noburi's technique."

She didn't add "...which you leaked" but Hazō still winced. "I guess. Still. I don't like the idea of him being tied up like that forever. It feels like Minami's taking advantage."

"I tend to agree, but I do not see what can be done about it. One thing we should do, however, is to discuss his impulsive behavior with him. That will probably need to wait until we are back in Leaf; it will require significant time and privacy. Still, I feel that it is important. He deliberately did not talk with us before his attempt on Minami's life, nor before offering her the deal to keep everything quiet. I applaud him for the deal he made—he may well have found the only way to keep Minami quiet about what happened. It would still have been preferable for him to have included us in the decision."

"A little hard to do on the first one," Hazō pointed out. "There wasn't any privacy."

"Perhaps that would have been a good sign that he shouldn't have done it," she said acerbically.

"No argument from me. Still. There ought to be some way to buy him out from this contract."

"I don't see how," Keiko said. "He tried to kill her. If she reveals this to the Leaf command structure he will at best be imprisoned and at worst be executed."

"I think he might reverse the badness of those options," Hazō said. "He's got a real thing about being stuck in a seal factory."

"A valid point. In any case, if Minami reveals this information then Kagome will experience a bad fate. That will weaken Jiraiya's position and likely end with him removed from the position of Hokage. The rest of the dominoes will fall as I previously mentioned."

"Yeah." He sighed. "Although, there's probably an expiration date on the information. If she waits too long to report it she's get in some trouble herself for concealing important information."

"Kagome would still be dead or imprisoned."

"True. Well, let's both keep thinking about it, and get Noburi in on the thinking as soon as we have a chance."

"Of course." She sat quietly for a bit, looking out at the desert and up at the stars.

"Speaking of getting people in," he said at last. "I was wondering...we'll be going past Mist at the end of this trip. Do you think there's any chance we could get my mother out?" He looked at her warily, hoping against hope.

She didn't seem to hear him, remaining silent and still with her eyes looking out over the desert. A minute ticked by, and then another. When she finally answered it was in the still and far-away voice of the Frozen Skein. "It is conceivable—conceivable—that we could extract your mother. By now the fact that Yagura is dead or missing will have been noted. Mei would have been the logical successor, but she is missing as well. The Noodle Incident that started all this cost Mist a significant fraction of their jōnin force. After that and Jiraiya's mission, Mist has very few jōnin remaining. The command structure will be in disarray. It is possible that administration will be sloppy, which means that sentry schedules will be chaotic and it would be feasible to sneak in. It is also possible that the defenses will be even tighter as the village turtles in on itself during the challenging time."

"Oh." Her words had hit him like a hammer between the eyes. Was she serious? Was there a possibility...? "Could we—"

She slumped, shivering as though with fever. "My apologies, Hazō," she said shakily. "I could not stay that deep."

With anyone else he would have put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to share the warmth of his body, but he knew better where Keiko was concerned. "It's all right," he said. "I would much rather have Awesome Keiko with no extraction plan than Vegetable Keiko with a plan."