The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 37: Looking Underneath

"This is going nowhere," Minato groaned, holding his head in his hands.

The table in front of him was a mess of loose papers and scrolls, books and folders. He had technique manuals ranging from jonin-level jutsu to kiddy how-to books for academy students just starting to learn the basics.

On his left—and a bit in front of him, with some having fallen off the table entirely—there was a pile of notes he and Akaiko had put together the previous evening, compiling any details they could recall of the missing children cases. In a stack on his right, Kushina had added her own packet of information: courtesy of pestering her friend Mikoto for any details she could.

There had to be something here.

He pulled over one of the smaller scrolls, marked as low-chunin rank, and rolled it out over the cluttered table. It was a jutsu he was actually quite familiar with, having taught it to Kakashi just a few months ago: a technique to keep the user from leaving behind a scent trail.

That didn't exactly line up with what he had felt at the store, were chakra had worked like soapy water to clean traces before draining away, but...

"Still," he muttered aloud to himself, hands absentmindedly flitting through the proper signs as he thought, "it could be related."

Minato had no doubt that it was a hidden technique: one either taught only to those with a specific role in the village—a tracking specialist, perhaps—or one developed by a lone shinobi for their own use.

He really hoped it was the latter.

Because if it wasn't, then now, and during the missing children investigation, somebody would have recognized that jutsu. And they didn't say anything.

And that would mean, at some level, the village leadership was complicit.

Which was ridiculous.

But as Minato had slowly (well, it was actually quite rapidly) combed through the materials he had borrowed from the library, doubt was creeping up his spine.

He was broken from those grim thoughts by a rattle of keys, and a pointed flare of familiar chakra: as much to tell him she was home as it was to disable their security seals. The door swung open, and shut behind her.

"No luck, I take it?" he asked, not looking up from the scroll.

"Basically, yeah," Kushina grumbled, looking over the mess he'd made. But rather than chew him out for covering their kitchen with paper and ink, she just walked over and put an arm around his shoulders. "Same here?"

Leaning into the hug, Minato sighed. "Nothing new. There are a few possibilities, but..." He shook his head.

With a quiet hum in agreement, she straightened. "But hey, I ran into your kids on my way back. They were looking for you."

He glanced up. "They were?"

"Said they found something important, so I brought 'em with." Kushina shrugged, and gestured back at the shut door. "They're outside. Figured I should make sure you weren't up to anything major before letting them in, ya know?"

"Thanks." Though he managed a tired smile, it dropped when he glanced back over his gathered papers. Minato sighed. "Well, this hasn't got me anywhere. I suppose a break would be good."

"I'll get 'em, then."

And with that, she left.

Knowing she'd be back in just a moment, he turned to tidy up some of the more scattered papers and set aside his own somewhat bleak thoughts. He tried to ignore his worries for the moment—he was their teacher, after all, and he had to act like it.