𝑰𝑵𝑶𝑪𝑯𝑰 𝑵𝑶𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨 :: Dauntless

13. DOTING FATHER

Inochi in the next two weeks swept over only a small fragment of the central part of the village, during which she realised that the security of Suna was in no way similar to Konoha. Even when the police force was active in the central part of the leaf, there wasn't as strict surveillance as it was in Suna. Moreover every guard seemed as if they were ready to kill someone at sight, even for the tiniest mishap.

As the month and the next passed by, Inochi had completely searched the central part as well as the northern outskirts , which had no sign of any kind of terrorist group. For further monitoring, she installed her mud clones at different spots as stationary objects as it would not bring any kind of unwanted attention, plus if any activity is seen, Inochi would be able to receive the information almost instantly by calling back her clones.

However, even with all the preparation, Inochi was not getting anywhere with her mission. She restrained her frustration and continued with her plan to complete her search with the southern outskirts, which stretched out a bit too far and had little to no suna guards for surveillance.

----------------------------------------------------------

As Inochi walked down the corridor to the Kazekage's office, she overheard some officials arguing about something in one of the chambers. Out of habit, she stopped and took a step back to eavesdrop.

- "That phony feudal lord won't listen to us! We should just continue to threaten his council until all of them fear the Kage"

- "I say we just raid Konoha. Those bastards have been stealing from us for years"

"Konoha?" Inochi was now even more invested in the debate. "We have been stealing? From Suna? This sounds ridiculous" As Inochi leaned in more to hear better, she noticed someone approaching her way.

"Shit" Inochi cursed under her breath and continued with her way reluctantly. She climbed up the stairs and knocked before entering the Kazekage's office.

- "Sir, may I come in?" Inochi said in the feeble voice that she had been maintaining in front of the sand officials.

- "Yes you may" The Kage said in a stressed tone as always. "Kumimono san, is everything alright?" Rasa said while looking up from the sheets of paper lying on his desk. Rasa's tone was always polite with Inochi, not over friendly nor rude. In some way, Rasa respected Inochi, for taking care of his son whom everyone else was scared of.

- "Yes sir, but I wanted to ask a favour" Inochi went straight to the point as she knew that the Kage hated any sort of time waste.

- "Is this about your schedule? I can increase the number of rest days to four but not more" Kazekage said before Inochi could answer him.

- "No sir, I am perfectly fine with my schedule. I wanted to ask your permission about a trip"

- "Trip?"

- "Yes sir. Gaara sama seems to be bored from staying in the building. I heard that he went out months ago, but that ended up badly. I wanted to ask for your permission to take him to the outskirts of the city, as it may be enjoyable plus there aren't many people in the southern outskirts so it won't be dangerous"

- "Do you think he can handle himself?" Kazekage asked after giving the proposal a few moments of thought. Inochi was a bit relieved by the fact that the Kage did not outright reject the idea.

- "He has been stable for days at stretch now. I was thinking of the trip being three days long, four days if we include the time it would take to reach the camp site. If he controls himself during this, he would complete a whole fortnight without any slip ups" Inochi tried to persuade the Kage. "A change in the environment may be good or bad, depending upon what Gaara sama thinks of it. If he doesn't want to, then I won't take him, but I did not ask him first as I did not want to give him false hope"