Arakaki set the bottle down on the map, obscuring a cluster of villages that straddled the border between Fire and Wind Countries. As he did, he slid the map a few inches, so that the border between Waterfall and Earth Countries was squarely on the table. He set the wheezing pug on the chair, laid the folders down next to the Go board, and remained standing. Where to begin?

"Well--" he started. Pakkun made a thick snorting sound, drew a ragged breath, pushed himself to his feet, and started to interrupt. Arakaki held up a hand cocked at the wrist, fingers bent, in an unmistakable and deeply ingrained field sign for 'hold back, do not advance.' The dog whimpered.

"It appears," Arakaki continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "that he and Shiranui Genma, who were tracking Inouye Suguru, succeeded in their mission to catch and eliminate the man, but not without consequences so thoroughly dire it will boggle your mind. And require the trickiest and most unpleasant bit of diplomacy we've had to face since the whole Hyuuga kidnapping debacle."

He sighed heavily and watched as the Hokage poured out two generous measures of whiskey. The old man's face was unreadable, but he was clearly waiting for more.

The pug started to interrupt again. This time Arakaki put a hand on the dog's head to still him. Maybe to comfort him, though there was something that seemed almost wrong about making the attempt. He pulled the hand away, picked up the whiskey, and swirled the amber liquid in his glass.

"From what I've gathered from Pakkun, in the course of taking down our rogue agent, both of them ended up poisoned. Genma successfully treated Kakashi but missed it in himself. Then Kakashi attempted and failed to perform a medical jutsu on Genma, which has given Genma seizures and a serious chakra coil injury. In the brain." Arakaki shut his eyes a moment, picturing it. "And though that in and of itself should be more than sufficient to categorize the mission as one of those fantastic success-based failures, Kakashi--" He took a deep, exasperated breath. "Kakashi, because he is such a genius, has decided that the only way to save their souls was to run to Iwagakure for help, and rely on the fact that we now have a treaty in place."