The next week felt like an onslaught of information and emotion. Now that they were actively looking for clues, it felt like the floodgates had been thrown open with regard to confirmation of Sakura’s dreams. They’d identified the woman who would someday be pregnant and, they assumed, lose her husband, the shinobi named Asuma who had been so protective of Ino the day she’d seen suspicious-lady. It seemed like every time they saw Asuma now he was with the woman, a gorgeous red-eyed shinobi who seemed as happy to be with him as he was with her, or at least that’s what Ino claimed. Ino picked out roughly a thousand details that showed how obviously fond they were of each other and couldn’t understand why it wasn’t equally obvious to Sakura. Ino was a little disappointed to see that Asuma-san appeared to have a bit of a smoking problem.
Then they overheard a conversation while at a restaurant with Mebuki and Kizashi. Ino hadn’t really been listening that closely until her brain picked out a phrase which sounded eerily similar to something she’d written down while listening to Sakura.
“It’s the massive sword with the holes cut out of it!” A young woman said excitedly.
“A sword with holes in it? Sounds like a pretty shit sword.” A guy responded with an air of superiority. Ino looked up to see a shocked Sakura staring at her, eyes wide and mouth agape. So obvious! Ino kicked her under the table before her parents noticed.
“Tessen! You call yourself a weapon specialist and you’ve never heard of Kubikiribocho?” Ino would recognize that voice anywhere. Anko-sama! How did I not see her? In fairness Anko did seem a bit more restrained than usual.
“I’ve never called myself any such thing!” The teenager responded defensively, although he sounded slightly cowed.
“Don’t worry Tessen, you don’t need to say it out loud. We can practically feel your smugness dripping off you everywhere you go.” Anko said dryly.
A new voice spoke up. “Anyways as I was saying before we got sidetracked by Tessen’s ignorance, apparently this ‘Demon of the Mist’ proved himself, was officially announced as a member of the seven, and given the executioner’s blade.”
“Oh, so killing dozens of his classmates wasn’t enough? I mean if that’s the graduation exam they want then you’d think he’d have proved himself plenty already.” The young woman responded.
“Don’t laugh, you’ll regret it.” Anko’s voice cut through the air. She sounded deathly serious, and let silence settle on the group before continuing.
“The way Momochi Zabuza ‘proved himself’ was by beheading Konoha’s Kumade Toriichi.”
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