He had used his shared history as Orochimaru's student to slip past Anko's emotional armor. A few perfectly chosen words, and she had agreed to a therapy session before she even realized she was being guided.
It was a classic psychological tactic, one used far beyond the walls of a clinic. When a private tutor meets a new student, they rarely open a textbook right away. Instead, they chat, finding common ground based on what the parents told them in advance. Once that simple bridge of trust is built, the child's defenses drop, and the lesson begins smoothly.
Of course, lowering someone's mental walls could be used for darker, more manipulative purposes, but the core method remained the same. Only the end goal differed.
Kei returned to the Sanatorium just as Haru arrived from the Main House compound. As Shisui had predicted, the elders were tired of opening their vault.
Kei reached into his coat and handed his new promotion scroll to his assistant. "They might be unwilling to honor my letters for cash anymore, but this changes our standing."
"Take this to the Clan Head and the Great Elder right now," Kei instructed, a satisfied smile resting on his face. "When they see that Lord Hokage himself has made me a Special Jonin, they will be forced to make this final gift of money a very generous one."
Haru took the heavy paper, nodding as she recognized the Hokage's seal. She knew exactly how much weight this carried in the village hierarchy. She bowed and immediately headed back to the Main House.
Kei went to his own quarters, his mind turning entirely to Mitarashi Anko.
The bond between Anko and Orochimaru was undeniably deep and painfully tangled. For years, the Sannin had been both a demanding master and a father figure to her. But tragically, that devotion had been entirely one-sided. Orochimaru never truly saw Anko as a daughter; his snake-like gaze had been fixed only on immortality.
It was this agonizing inequality that left Anko so utterly broken and lost.
But... did Orochimaru truly feel nothing for her?
Kei didn't think so. When Orochimaru finally abandoned the village and Anko tried to stop him, he could have easily killed her. Instead, he had merely sealed her memories. Years later, he would spare her again. It was true that he treated her as a living experiment with the curse mark, but Kei felt there was another, quieter reason buried beneath the snake's cold exterior. Unfortunately, only Orochimaru knew the absolute truth.
Dozens of approaches flickered through Kei's mind before he finally settled on a path. He had no intention of trying to erase Anko's deep love for her master. That was impossible. Instead, he wanted to change how she looked at that love.
The human heart could be gently reshaped, as long as the right words were spoken at the exact right moment.
The following morning, Kei rose before the sun. The lesson he had planned relied heavily on a bit of luck, so he needed to start early.
Stepping out of the Hyuga compound, Kei 'saw' Anko already waiting. Her arms were crossed, and her expression was anything but pleasant.
Kei offered a warm smile, pretending not to notice her foul mood.
"Where exactly are we going?" Anko demanded, her tone freezing cold. "Let me warn you right now—if your method doesn't work, don't ever waste my time again."
"Please, try to have a little patience," Kei said gently, his cane tapping rhythmically against the stone. "The more you rush, the more likely you are to stumble."
Anko didn't argue.
"Tell me," Kei asked as they walked down the quiet street. "Have you ever paid attention to the stray cats in this village?"
"Cats?" Anko paused, completely thrown by the sudden shift. "Are you talking about the ninja cats? The Uchiha clan holds the monopoly on their summoning contracts. Why would I study them??"
"No, not the ninja summons," Kei shook his head. "I mean the ordinary stray cats roaming the alleys. Have you ever truly watched them?"
Anko stared at the blind doctor, her eyes narrowing with deep suspicion. "Are you messing with me? The village is crawling with stray cats. They dig through the garbage. What is there to watch?"
"Furthermore," she added, her voice dripping with irritation, "do you honestly expect to fix my head by making me look at alley cats?"
Facing her mounting anger, Kei remained perfectly calm.
When he had first told Neji to buy a pet dog, the boy had looked at him with the exact same expression of furious disbelief. But look at him now—a devoted, unquestioning student. Sometimes, the most profound truths were hidden in the most absurd, ordinary things.
Kei raised a hand, gesturing for her to calm down. "Whether I can convince you or not is my burden to bear. You just need to listen, and watch."
"You had better not be playing games with me," Anko warned darkly.
If she hadn't stupidly eaten the dango he had bribed her with the night before, she would have shunned him entirely. But she was a woman of her word. She had promised to give his methods a single chance. She resolved that if he failed to produce a spectacular revelation soon, she would walk away and never speak to the blind lunatic again.
Sensing her frustration, Kei simply smiled and led her toward the bustling morning market.
Konoha was teeming with stray animals. Using his heightened senses, Kei quickly found several groups of stray cats scavenging for breakfast.
Anko followed him into a damp alleyway, watching a few mangy cats play. "Well? You found your cats. What now?"
Kei swept his senses over the animals and shook his head. "Not these. These aren't the ones I am looking for."
Anko ground her teeth, seriously suspecting the doctor was completely out of his mind. Still, she stayed quiet and followed his steps, wanting to see what he was actually trying to pull.
For the entire morning, they wandered through the alleys. They found dozens of strays, but every time, Kei would move on.
Just as Anko's patience completely ran dry and she opened her mouth to leave, Kei suddenly raised a finger to his lips, asking for silence. He pointed his cane toward a stack of rotting wooden crates at the end of the alley.
Tucked safely inside a rusted iron pipe, a scruffy orange mother cat was dropping a dried fish in front of her litter of kittens.
Smelling the food, the kittens eagerly swarmed the fish and began to eat. The mother cat sat back, watching over them, her maternal love glowing warmly in the quiet alley.
Seeing the tender scene, Anko unconsciously softened her stance. She couldn't bring herself to disrupt such a quiet, peaceful moment.
Kei, however, focused his senses entirely on the kittens. He could clearly feel that they were no longer fragile newborns; they were older, steadily growing into their own strength. This was exactly what he was looking for. However, whether the scene would unfold the way he needed it to still depended on a stroke of luck.
The kittens continued to eat, and the mother cat watched them diligently.
Anko looked away from the pipe and frowned at Kei. "Is this what you wanted to show me? A heartwarming scene of a mother feeding her babies?"
It was touching, yes, but if Kei thought he could unravel a decade of deep, agonizing betrayal by showing her a happy family of cats, he was severely underestimating her pain.
"This is just the appetizer. What I really want you to see hasn't happened yet," Kei smiled softly. "However... whether we get to see the rest of the play requires a bit of luck. Watch closely. You might not see such a heartwarming scene again for a very long time."
Anko frowned, confused by his cryptic tone. "Can't you just speak plainly?"
"Some things lose their meaning if you know the ending before the story is finished," Kei replied. "Life needs a bit of mystery to be interesting."
Looking at Kei's serene smile, Anko felt a sudden, inexplicable chill. She didn't know what he was planning, but she felt that as long as she stayed alert, she would be fine.
She fell silent and kept her eyes on the pipe. The kittens quickly finished their meal. Full and happy, they began to tumble over each other, playfully batting at their mother's tail.
Anko could feel the deep, unbreakable bond between the mother and her children. Watching them play, a tight knot in her chest slowly began to ease.
However, just as Anko thought the peaceful morning would continue, the atmosphere inside the iron pipe changed completely. The mother cat suddenly stood up, refusing to play.
Kei's senses flared. "It's coming," he whispered seriously.
"What's coming?" Anko asked.
But before Kei could answer, the heartwarming scene vanished in the blink of an eye.
Hisssss! Yowl!
The mother cat let out a terrifying, aggressive shriek. She lunged forward, snapping her teeth and violently pushing her own children toward the exit of the pipe.
The kittens naturally resisted. They cried out pitifully, confused and terrified, begging their mother to stop.
But their cries were useless. Driven by a sudden, vicious anger, the mother cat relentlessly swatted and bit them, forcing every single kitten out of the safety of the pipe and into the cold alleyway.
Anko stared at the sudden cruelty, completely taken aback. She felt entirely lost.
Just moments ago, they had been a perfect, loving family. The mother had given up her own food for them. They were playing happily together.
Why had the mother cat's warmth suddenly turned into such vicious violence? Why was she doing this to the children she clearly loved?
Could something have happened that she missed? But she had been watching the entire time; there had been no sudden noise, no approaching predator. Nothing had changed.