The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 12: Not Working as Intended

Akaiko was a bit concerned, to be honest.

She watched the house with a careful eye, occasionally probing with chakra to check that the house still felt just as empty as before. Of the two people living there, only one had a signature she could detect: the civilian named Morimoto Hiroshi. He was out at the moment.

The other resident was tall, blond, and if she hadn't spotted him earlier when he walked past a window, she wouldn't have known he was in the building.

So yes, it was a little disconcerting.

When she was assigned this mission, she had been warned that there was a supposed civilian who could hide his chakra well enough to fool high level shinobi. Considering who had reluctantly brought the information to the Hokage's attention, well...

Orochimaru might freak her out, but he had definitely earned his reputation. If it was something that could sneak past him, it was only natural to be interested.

But now, two and a half days after accepting the mission, she was having second thoughts.

Because it was, in every sense, a perfectly boring reconnaissance detail.

Okay, so that's not entirely true. There had been a brief altercation early on the very first day with a pair of ninken-turned-strays, but they left her alone when they realized she had to be there under the Hokage's orders.

One of the perks of being a uniformed ANBU, she supposed.

Akaiko carefully adjusted her mask and tried not to yawn. It was especially uninteresting to keep watch when she didn't even have her partner on hand to annoy— talk to. Inochi apparently had clan business, and had thus taken leave for a week: something about her cousin, Inoichi, finally getting hitched.

Cue mental scoff.

On a tangential note—and because there was nothing more interesting to think about—Akaiko had to wonder about the tendency clans had to name everyone with a similar pattern. All the Yamanakas seemed to be obsessed with starting names with 'Ino-', and the Naras like to use 'Shika-'. It made it easy to guess which clan somebody might belong to, but it's such a pain to keep track of everyone.

Plus people in a clan tend to look similar as well, so the issue was two-fold. Sure, she could do it—she was an ANBU, after all—but honestly.

Motion outside her target's house caught her attention, pulling her mind from its drifting. But alas, it was nothing interesting: just Namikaze Minato again. Given the past few days, the blond not-her-target seemed to stop by at least once a day to hang out with his... friend? Yes, she supposed that was correct.

A little peculiar, to be sure: shinobi don't often make friends—meaning real friends, not just business partners or convenient acquaintances—with civilians.

He leapt to an open window on the second floor, perched for an instant on the sill, then vanished inside.

She followed his movement through the house by tracking his chakra. Based on where Namikaze's signature had stopped, she'd guess that her target was in the back room, separate from the part that had been turned into the store.

Curious, and without her partner there to talk her out of it, Akaiko decided to get a closer look.

Careful to keep her chakra restrained and muted—doubly so, since she was trying to sneak up on at least one sensor—Akaiko jumped from her little surveillance base and crept up to the side of the house.

For a split second, she reconsidered. After all, she was just here to run reconnaissance on this strange new maybe-maybe-not civilian. There was no real reason beyond curiosity compelling her to move closer.