A Kunoichi At Heart

Chapter 79: Cipher

You set off towards the second training grounds with your new flute wrapped snugly in a swathe of cloth, arranged so that you could take it out at a moment’s notice. Even though you had just begun to get accustomed to playing this particular flute as well as improve your genjutsu skills, you still couldn’t fuse the two as well as you hoped.

Even at the slight disadvantage, you were looking forward to the mission that lay ahead. Kiba had already boasted more than once about new attacks he was eager to try out, complaining frequently about how you were going to fall behind at this rate. This must’ve meant that Hinata and Shino were training hard during this time too.

C-rank? It was going to be a breeze.

“Our client is the Cryptanalysis Team,” Kurenai read off the mission details, looking very pleased with herself. “Your job — Kiba, [Name], Shino, Hinata — is to assist its members in whatever they need, starting today.”

“Starting today…?” Kiba echoed, catching how she worded her request with a slight frown on his face.

She nodded. “Yes. Until the end of this week.”

So that was how you got yourself stuck doing cleaning duty for the next seven days for one of the most cluttered offices in the Leaf Village.

-:-

The head cryptographer assigned one of their youngest trainees, Shiho, to keep an eye on the four of you and just mainly to keep Kiba out of trouble. He had a knack for knocking over files and documents, and was therefore confined to the hallway outside of the main facility. The equipment, Shiho explained, was too delicate to allow outsiders to handle, and the work too complicated to entrust to a bunch of kids. It would take at least half a year to learn the basic algorithms for the various hidden villages' code systems. The most you could do was to sit tight and admire from afar.

You were fine with it mostly, even though you’d been looking forward to combat in some shape or form. You’d thought the C-ranking meant that there’d be a little action, but it seemed that was not the case.

True, it was kind of disappointing that there was no fighting whatsoever, but at least you’d be paid with the C-ranked salary range.

“Here.” Shiho handed you a stack of transcripts written in one of the many codes that you’d come to recognize. “Can you sort these for me?”

“Yeah, sure —”

“And Hinata, these files need organizing. Mind looking through them?”

“O-okay —”

She nodded brusquely and turned to Shino. “And you. There’re a couple of decoded documents that Yurika wants delivered to the Third. Could you take them to him?”

He took the stack and disappeared through the door without saying a word.

“I’m going to go check on something,” Shiho announced, getting to her feet. “I’ll be back soon.”

That…would most likely be Kiba.

You flicked through the pile of transcripts she’d given you, squinting at the tiny print. Numbers, eh? This was your seventh day on the job, and it was still as terribly boring as the first. The Cryptanalysis Team’s main office had been cluttered when you arrived, and it was cluttered even now. Your efforts over the past week had been completely futile, it seemed. You managed to learn fragments of one code, though, a simple one that Shiho taught you and Shino.

“Um…[Name]-chan…”

“What is it, Hinata?” You glanced at her in mild concern as she blinked apologetically up at you.

“S-sorry,” she mumbled, pointing to a spot near your feet. “I dropped one of the files. Could you…?”

You reached over and swiped it from the ground. “This? Here, I’ll —” The words died on your lips as you caught sight of the title inscribed on the file folder.

Nohara Rin.

Something about the name rang familiar. Rin…Rin…where had you heard it? you wondered idly. Staring down at the harmless little file, you couldn’t help but feel that it would solve some sort of mystery, only what sort of mystery it would solve even you didn’t know.

You risked a fleeting glance at Hinata, who was gazing at you expectantly. Your eyes flitted to the papers scattered all over the floor, the shelves and boxes filled to the brim with thick files.

It was just one out of however many tens of thousands or even, say, millions.

They wouldn’t notice.

Would they?

You were suddenly very aware of the flute strapped to your waist, bound in its makeshift case. Without even meaning to, you began to formulate a plan in your mind. If you could just play a short little something, cast genjutsu over the place and simultaneously slip the file under your jacket…

No one would ever notice.

Should you risk it?

Was it worth it?

If you decide to the genjutsu and steal the file, go to Chapter 118.

If you decide that there really was no point in going out of your way to take it, go to Chapter 119.