He rolled away, hopped out of strike range and landing amongst the uneven ground.

"That you were happy village side, that it was healing you, helping you in ways that I- that ANBU couldn't."
Yamato spat the words, long buried memories, suddenly fresh and raw in his mind again and unable to mask how it had affected him any longer.

"But nothing's changed! Five years and you still can't talk to him and I'm still the whipping boy for the anger you're too cowardly to take out on him in the first place!"