sunshineverse | [open; 01/19-01/23]

Wood chips -- that made Sasuke pause, surprised by the unusual clone material. Fumiko blinked as well, though her expression morphed quickly into one more of delight than anything else at the compliment. Apparently all that was needed to buy her trust was compliments; she tucked both hands into her pockets and grinned at the stranger a shade impishly.

Sasuke was resisting the urge to ruffle her hair -- apparently it was genetic after all, given how many times his older relatives had done the same to him -- when the mention of one of said older relatives made him straighten in surprise.

"Potential for a --" The notion of a promotion (to what, exactly?) was wiped out even more quickly at the mention of his most recent mission, Sasuke's expression startling into apprehension. Clearly this was another Konoha-nin, but Obito had made it very firm that what they'd done was under very specific clearance. Clearance that Fumiko was absolutely not granted, which meant Sasuke knelt after a moment, fishing a few ryou out of his pocket to hand to her.

"Get something to warm up," he instructed, pointing in the direction of the bakery. He fully expected her to use the remainder on baked goods, the selection of which would distract her for enough time to find out what Obito was thinking.

"How do I know sensei sent you?" He asked once she was out of earshot, voice dropping into seriousness.

Yamato offered the smaller Uchiha a wave as she raced off to what looked like a clean sweep of the bakeries display case, before turning back to Sasuke.

"I understand your suspicion, but he requested I speak to you personally and gave me an overview of what happened, though the details were omitted for securities sake. Of course, if you would prefer to see my papers, I can provide those, though I have been an ANBU captain under Lord Obito's command for a good number of years."

There was no humor to his words, expression serious in light of Sasuke's obvious distrust; it was a good trait, one that he hoped all of the younger shinobi exercised and one he wasn't about to disrespect.

"If you've really been asked to talk to me about my last mission, you'll understand why I want to see your papers," Sasuke said, voice hard, before remembering the belated: "Yamato-san."

It wasn't impossible that Obito would have sent someone to talk to him, but Sasuke had expected someone from Intel if anything. ANBU was something else entirely, and for a promotion to be a potential topic was outright strange, unless he was being promoted for being a mess of a shinobi and a failure when it came to taking adequate responsibility for his own mistakes.

He'd made his Hokage and sensei cut the throats of children for him. Nothing that Obito said could counter that truth, the reality of it.

"If you want more privacy to show me, I can set a sound muffling seal --" He glanced around the small park, spotting a set of trees and a lamppost close enough to form the four corners of one. "There."

Considering the fact that the seal might be more for Sasuke's benefit than his own, Yamato nodded and gestured for the the younger shinobi to lead the way.

Once set, he withdrew a scroll from his flak's breast pocket, unsealing it with a touch of chakra and handing it over without complaint.

"Everything should be in order, but I understand if you would prefer to consult with your sensei before we go any further."

He wouldn't push more than necessary, it had to be Sasuke's choice to trust him and however that happened made little difference to the impression Yamato was hoping to make.

Sasuke was going to end up checking with Obito in any case, but the papers did look to be in order, and he wasn't one for putting (most) conversations off. He let the Sharingan flare for a moment, examining the handwriting in Obito's signature and the structure of the seal: the curves and angles of the characters did have the familiar dashed build of his teacher's.

He let the red fade completely from his eyes before looking back up at Yamato, handing the papers back.

"You wanted a further debrief? What do you need to know?"

At the acceptance, Yamato visibly relaxed, falling into parade rest out of a life time of habit and flickered his gaze away.

"Debrief may actually be more official sounding than Lord Obito had in mind. He..expressed some concern regarding the impact your recent mission had and asked me to offer something of an objective view..if of course you felt you had need of it."

He repaired the eye contact at the last words, very aware that he was a stranger to Sasuke; he wasn't about to force a conversation or give off the impression that he though the younger shinobi couldn't handle himself. Ego's were important and fragile things and Yamato didn't want to risk any damage if this turned out to be simply Obito's over protectiveness.

Sasuke stayed tense even as Yamato relaxed, taking in details: the easy flow from intent to the gathered fluidity of formal at-ease. Even if this Yamato weren't a Konoha-nin -- and Sasuke had enough evidence that it outweighed his suspicion -- he was obviously enough a shinobi born and bred.

His observation cut short when the man spoke again, however, Sasuke's expression sharpening and mouth tensing.

"Concern?" He repeated, keeping the word as free of inflection as he could. "What kind of concern did sensei mention?"

Ah, as he expected. Yamato's mouth quirked with a wryness he couldn't mask and he flexed his shoulders. He'd been unsure if this conversation needed to happen at all, but it would be confirmed or denied here regardless.
"He is understandably protective of yourself and your team mates..But I'd take a guess that it's a little too all encompassing, hm?"

The not so subtle suggestion was an out; Sasuke could wave this off now if he wanted too, writing the encounter off as Obito's over protectiveness or...
"That being said, any knowledge or experience I have is yours to question if you ever require it."

Despite his efforts, the frown surfaced: protective was one thing, uncertain of Sasuke's work was another. Obito had been one of those things much more often than the other, but in this circumstance ... in this circumstance, it seemed more of the former. Sasuke hoped, at least, that remaining concerns with what had happened would have been an in-person discussion with a dozen security seals on the walls.

This public check-in, with a young relative not far off -- he was being given an out.

A strange tactic, if it was meant to gather information. And the identification he'd been given just now spoke to some high-level work. had He gave the man a long look, brow still furrowed, before responding:

"I'm always grateful for experienced insight. But right now is --" And as if on cue, Fumiko pushed open the door of the bakery, breath puffing out in the cold -- "Not ideal. Perhaps we can meet another time?"

His gaze diverted to the young girl trotting towards them, but his attention was still on Sasuke and he nodded.

"Of course. Apart from the general mission roster and my other duties, I'm free whenever is convenient." He chuckled at the amount of baked goods that was being ferried across the snow, as much as his next words "And if talking is less than appealing, you can find me at the training fields more often than not."

General mission roster and other duties, unspecified. Sasuke hadn't been a natural in T&I, but he hadn't been a natural in much other than trailing Itachi; he resisted the urge to narrow his eyes at the vagueness from practice.

"I'll find you," he said, certainty in his tone: whether it was a roundabout test or genuine overconcern, he'd eventually need to speak to this Yamato, he was sure. Or fight him, if the invitation to seek the man in the training fields held.

In the meantime, however, he had way more baked goods to pay for than he'd expected.

"... thank you for your --" He paused. "Concern."

[open; 01/19-01/23]

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/slides in to wrap this up :3

:3