"I'm not actually... feeling guilty about it. There were some rather young people involved, and because of how Sasuke handled it before coming home there was no leeway on how they should be handled but... I don't regret having dealt with it."

He shook his head, a frown on his lips as he stared intently down at his cup. "I don't know when I stopped considering every life to have importance in and of itself, instead of as it pertained to those things under my protection. Seeing how distressed Sasuke was... really highlighted that it wasn't... more than a bit hollow for me and that's what bothers me."