"If you could not, you would not have come so far as a shinobi of Kiri." He brushed the words away quickly, obviously not caring. "It's a shame your civilian connections leave you... a liability."

He stared down at her, green eyes intense, sharply evaluating her. "You have stagnated in the year since we last spoke."

True or not, he was sure the statement would get the results out of her that he wanted, since it seemed true enough to him.