Peals of laughter echoed from within as Anastasia Inugami emerged, pulling back the white hood that kept her copper red hair contained. "And you spoke it so well..."
Kurando rolled his eyes as he handed her the note. "I can still speak it; I just can't read it anymore!"
"Ha, so you do, my love…" Sho's mother said in a tone that suggested she was playfully ribbing her husband when suddenly her voice cut out. Her hands began to shake and tears filled her eyes. "Sho… Sho was forced to kill someone, Kurando!" Anastasia buried her face in his shoulder. "Oh, my baby boy…"
* * *
"There's no Malice in this body!" A shocked sounding Kurando declared in his wife's native language as he emerged with a scroll three times thicker than before. "There must be a Henryuuki in the Land of Rivers!"
Okito Tanaka nearly felt his own legs give out from under him. Kurando Inugami was not only the key to the Fourth Hokage's mysterious technique, but the way he just used the word Henryuuki – like it was a proper noun instead of a mere descriptor – suddenly made the diamond chakra user think that he might be a key to another part of Ryoushi's prophecy… He'd have to ask Sarutobi-sensei about it when he told him about the new development.
"WHAT?! Really? I thought… Could it really be, after all this time?" Sho's mother turned to Tanaka, a hopeful look on her face. "Yaiba, who was the closest to the Rain ninja when he was killed?"