And those weren’t the least of their concerns. There was also the matter of the Konoha Shinobi who had gone missing in action during the war.
The Country of Silence was collecting shinobi who had gone missing in action as well as shinobi who had deserted the village…
For what reason?
Kakashi could see the reason as clearly as he could see the answer to the decrease of dispatches coming into the Shinobi Union.
“What do you think happened to Sai?” Kakashi asked.
“He’s alive.”
“Well, I agree with that.” The bottom of Kakashi’s mask moved as if he was smiling. “When you look at his obsessive sounding praise of this ‘Gengo’ he mentions in his letter…” Kakashi touched the fine, delicate handwriting on Sai’s message.
Seeing what he was thinking, Shikamaru kept speaking.
“It’s not something I want to believe, but we can’t discount the possibility that Sai’s been taken in by this man called Gengo.”
“Sai’s so pure, after all…”
“If Sai’s alive, we can’t just not save him.”
“That’s true…” Kakashi’s left scarred eye seemed to darken with despair.
Shikamaru could tell precisely what he was going to say without needing to hear it out loud.
This situation had a greater and more important matter than that of saving a comrade.
Shikamaru himself forced out the words.