『 Mistake 』

『 A Challenge 』

11.02.18

2700 words

『 A Challenge 』

"This way." Karasu-niisan escorted me towards the Intelligence Force building outside of the Nara compound—and thankfully, not to the T&I building because, who the hell knows what's in there?

Oh, and what am I doing here, you ask? Well, I was chosen as a witness, but I doubt that I'd just be a "witness"... why? It has something to do with the clan heads developing interests in me after the story reached their ears—which is, honestly, NOT creepy.

This is actually my first time outside of the compound so, I get stares from people every now and then. Aside from having my hand held by an ANBU, and being a bit too pale for a young boy, I wore a maroon long sleeves paired with shorts so, people were curious as of where the young black-masked man is taking the little "girl".

'The fvck? This is my worst nightmare coming to reality...' Then again, it's better than having those anime cliché harem happen, right?

I ran my fingers on my free hand through my four years' worth of thick, wavy, long silver hair, only to do it again because another gravity-defying lock fell on my face. I honestly want to cut this thing, but kaa-san said to keep it until I step in the academy... so, one more year and this'll be shortened.

"Hm..." I heard Karasu-niisan hum, making me look up at him and catch his glance. He didn't bother to look away, showing his smile through his eyes, "Don't worry, kiddo. We're almost there."

I fixed my gaze at his enticing onyx orbs for a while, wondering who could be behind that black mask.

"Ah! You must be Orion-kun." A voice snapped me out of my trance. "Good morning."

I looked up and saw a big man standing in front. Familiar purple squiggly clan markings rested on his cheeks, giving away that he's from the Akamichi's. Chōza, I think his name is—Chōji's father. He looks rather friendlier than portrayed in the show, and is quite buffed too.

Well, he might actually be just being friendly towards a "young child" so, there's that too.

Now that I've met all three of the 15th generation Ino–Shika–Chō, who's up next? The Hyūga's? Uchiha's? That'll be cool...

"Good... morning..." I let go of Karasu-niisan's hand and bowed towards the kind clan head as I spoke with my small voice.

"I'm Chōza Akamichi, young one." He smiled, crouching down, "I've heard about you and your bravery."

"Thank you...?" Seriously, is my voice even reaching him? I guess that I'm still not comfortable speaking with the others that my voice comes out broken, inaudible, or completely silent.

"A shy one, eh?" The clan head chuckled, standing up and leading both Karasu and I to the actual inside of the building—to tour me just in case I get... uh... lost?

To be honest, it was a bit of a surprise to see the inside of the building. It doesn't look much on the outside, but it's much bigger in the inside. All sorts of machines rests inside, and rows of bookshelves took my attention, making me halt on my step, falling behind the ANBU and the clan head.

In the past, the most interesting thing that took my interest, before Cherry came to my life, were books inside of my house's private library—where books from around the world were neatly organized on the shelves. I, myself, wasn't even able to finish all of the books in there, which is actually quite the bummer. I might've only finished sixty to seventy percent of all the books inside there.