Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Double-Blind Study
Knowing things can change how a person behaves. In normal circumstances, this doesn't matter and is expected. However, sometimes a change in behavior can cue others into what going on and impact results. In research, sometimes a double-blind study will be designed. A double-blind study entails neither the participants nor the experimenter interacting with them are aware of their role in the study. This way the experimenter cannot, subconsciously or otherwise, treat the control group differently than the experimental groups. As any change in behavior or methodology could damage the validity of the experiment.
Anko had a corner apartment in a building that only housed shinobi. Was it zoned for that purpose? No. Would civilians be denied if they tried to apply for housing at this location? No. The sanctions the second Hokage passed during his reign regarding equitable housing made that impossible. But there were a few 'shinobi only' apartment buildings in Konoha. And they became that way due to the mere fact that ninjas are awful. Who'd want to live next door to someone who routinely silenced their alarm clocks by throwing a kunai at them? Who'd want a neighbor that would run across the roof at all hours of the night or only used windows when coming and going? Some shinobi set up booby traps in their homes. All shinobi had the knowledge to break into places and pass through undetected. Honestly, the real question was why anyone would ever want to have a shinobi as a neighbor.
These thoughts swam through my head as I jogged up the stairs to the second floor. The light from the setting sun cast shadows over my feet as I moved. It was quiet right now. Maybe most were out on missions. Or maybe they hadn't wandered home yet. But Anko's light had been on when I approached. So, fingers crossed she was actually here.
In my arms, I held two neatly wrapped boxes of dango like the offering they were. Hopefully, two boxes would be enough. After witnessing Anko consume eight boxes of dango by herself, I wasn't convinced. But two was all my budget afforded and an attempt had to be made. My eye started to twitch when I reached the front door to the corner apartment. There was a dango-themed welcome mat lying in front of it… Sigh. At least, I know I have the right place.
Twice, I knocked on the door. There was an audible grumbling from the other side. I knocked again. "No, I just got home", Anko whined; voice muffled from behind the walls of her apartment. This time, I knocked three consecutive times. "Go away!" Anko called loudly with the intention to be heard. "No more work today!" She sounded tired; pleading for rest. Poor Anko. Work at T&I must be a lot with everything that's underfoot… I started knocking persistently. Excessively. Not pausing or changing my rhythm.
There was more grumbling. Now with an added angry tone. Followed by stomping feet and undisguised swearing. The sound of a chain being removed. I didn't stop knocking. The click of a lock being turned in my favor. I didn't stop knocking. The door was flung open. It was a wonder the force hadn't ripped it off its hinges. My fist was raised in the air as Anko loomed in the doorway; nostrils flaring as her shoulders rose and fell in an aggravated fashion. Trapped in her ire, Anko didn't seem to recognize me right away. "Even shinobi need to sleep, damn it!"
I held out the boxes. "Dango?" I offered.
Anko blinked slowly; making the bags under her eyes stand out. "Rion?" She asked. "Why are you here? How did you figure out where I live?"
How did I know Anko's address? It felt like a strange question considering what our job description was. Mundane information really wasn't hard to find. Especially when T&I gave us more access than most. I didn't tell Anko any of this. Instead, I gently shook the boxes. "Dango?" I repeated.
Anko's shoulders slumped. Her earlier heat faded. She eyed the boxes in my hands for a long moment before sighing and stepping aside. "Yeah. Fine. Come in".
She had already marched over to her kitchen table, her back turned, by the time I crossed over the threshold. My eyes did a sweep of the space as I used my foot to close the door behind me. It was… not what I expected Anko's apartment to look like. For one, it was clean. And decorated. And far more mature than I imagined Anko's tastes being. I mean, she had decorative pillows on her sofa.
Anko's kitchen table was in the center of the space. It seemed to separate the kitchen from her living room. It was made of a light wood that was complemented by a striped purple tablecloth. I set the boxes on top of it as Anko dropped heavily down onto a wooden chair that matched the wood of the chair and a seat cushion that matched the tablecloth. Grabbing a box, she placed it in front of her and flipped open its lid as I slid into the chair opposite of hers. Picking up another skewer of dango, Anko pulled one off with her teeth and chewed it opened-mouth as she let out a relieved breath of air around its taste.
This action was repeated twice before Anko was ready. "You forgot the sweet red bean soup".
"Next time", I replied; crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back into the chair. "So? Have you gotten anything out of Kabuto?"
Anko pushed dango to one side of her mouth so she could talk around it. "You know we can't talk about that outside of headquarters".
"But I'm not allowed at headquarters right now".
"Tough", Anko said as she tossed an empty skewer on top of the table before selecting a new one.
Although not surprised, I frowned. The information collected in T&I was so classified that only the most asinine topics were allowed outside of the office. But still, I needed to know. "What about the witness reports you took from team seven and team ten?"
"Kid", Anko complained as she tilted her head back to groan up at the ceiling.
"What happened in the forest? What about Orochimaru?" Anko was glaring now. Her stare bore into me; a stick of dango clenched in her hand. Of course, this was going to be difficult; interrogating an interrogator. "Something to do about Sasuke Uchiha, right? Because Orochimaru bit him".
Anko's posture stiffened and a certain sharp edge filled her expression. "How do you know about that?"
At least I had an honest answer. Anything less with Anko would be dangerous. "Naruto Uzumaki told me".
As if stepping back from a ledge, Anko's face relaxed. "Damn genin. Someone needs to teach you brats not to gossip". I scoffed and looked to the left. Sure, because genin were the problem. Everyone knows the biggest gossips in the village were jounin. She pulled off another dango with her front teeth.
"Well?" I prompted when another moment passed of just Anko eating.
She chewed and swallowed. "It's classified".
My eyes scoured the room as I tried to think of things safe to say. I needed more. There was a dango plush sitting on Anko's bookcase. I needed to know more so I could plan. Next to the kitchen sink, a polka-dot tea cup dried on a dish rack. How was Anzu and I supposed to avoid stuff if I couldn't predict what was coming? There was kunai embedded into Anko's ceiling… Why was there kunai in Anko's ceiling?
"The only team from Sound is dead. Orochimaru impersonated a genin to attack Sasuke Uchiha-"
"Drop it", Anko warned.
"-And Kabuto's been in our village for a long time working for Orochimaru. Something's coming. Do I need to start stockpiling rice? Do I need to lock my sister in an underground bunker so she's safe?"
There were a million things on the tip of my tongue ready to be spewed out. But Anko cut me off there. "Kid!" She barked in her best jounin voice. It was such a stark difference from Anko's normal goading tones that I fell silent. It reminded me too much of the hierarchical nature of our positions. Ignore it too much and I risk losing any ground I had with Anko. It was a tricky balance; our back and forth.
Anko sighed and slumped further into her chair as she took another dango. She didn't say anything as she slowly chewed and swallowed, never looking away as I fidgeted impatiently in the chair across from her. "Damn it", she complained; breaking the staring contest as she tilted her head back. "Ibiki was right. You weren't ready to take the chunin exams. Now, I owe him 500 Ryo".
… "What?"
"Trust the village", Anko went on to say before I could puzzle out what she was talking about. "Trust the ones giving you orders", she continued; voice gruff as she rolled a clean dango skewer between her thumb and forefingers. But then Anko squinted her eyes and the skewer in her hand stilled as she changed her mind. "Actually, trust the orders Ibiki, the other jounin sensei, and myself give you. Everyone else you can ignore".
Well, gee. Thanks for the permission, Anko. I'll be sure to extra insolent to the Hokage next time he gives me a mission.
"We'll be ready for whatever that snake bastard has planned", Anko promised; crossing her arms and scowling up at her kunai-embedded ceiling.
But what did that mean? Did that mean Kabuto spilled the beans about Suna's involvement? Did Konoha know about the impending invasion? Or that Orochimaru would target the Hokage specifically? Was there a plan already in place? My face must have been emoting things without my permission because Anko gave me a long look before relenting. Just a little. "Run your sister through the evacuation routes. Make sure she knows how to get to the shelters. She'll be fine".
My fingers drummed on Anko's table. So, there was a plan. One above my clearance… I couldn't decide if that made me feel better or worse.
"So, what have you been doing since Ibiki kicked you out of headquarters?" Anko asked as she reached for another skewer; officially closing our original topic.
Grunting, I accepted the change with minimal ire. Recognizing a wall when I saw one, I knew there would be no more information coming from Anko tonight. "The Hokage gave me an ongoing C-rank to protect Konoha Hot Springs from a pervert".
Anko snorted around a mouthful of food. "Why would that be ongoing?" She asked; smacking her lips and sitting up straighter in her chair. "Even a genin should be able to scare off a peeping tom".
Suddenly, I felt very tired. "The pervert is Jiraiya".
Anko choked; an unexpectant laugh. Causing her to inhale her food. With a closed fist, she thumped her chest to clear her airways. And once successful, a full belly laugh sprung out and rang throughout her apartment.
"It's not funny", I complained as Anko started banging a fist on her table. "Every day he's there". Sometimes it felt like he was waiting for me. "Nothing I've tried worked. It's just a waste of time". Naturally, I left out the part about Jiraiya and my sister. There are just some things that never need to be discussed.
Taking two large gasping breaths, Anko calmed herself. "Thanks, kid," she said; wiping a tear from the underside of her eye. "I needed a good laugh". The only response I gave was a glare. "Man", Anko continued. "When the Hokage promised Ibiki you'd be kept busy, I didn't imagine he'd come up with this. That's the best genin grunt mission I've ever heard".
My forehead wrinkled as my eyebrows slanted inward. "What do you mean?" Why would Ibiki need the Hokage to keep me occupied? I wasn't Naruto. It wasn't like I needed busy work to be kept out of trouble.
Anko waved a hand in front of her face. "Don't worry about it", she said; glancing up at her ceiling as a series of footsteps and music started to be heard from the floor above. I blinked and missed it when Anko pulled out a kunai from her holster. "Damn it, Genma!" She yelled; flinging the knife into the ceiling. "Keep it down! Your taste in music makes my ears bleed!" In response, Genma raised the volume of his music.
Walking home through the now quiet streets of Konoha, I let the sounds of chirping crickets wash over me. It was late. Later than I was planning on being out. Anzu would probably beat me home. But it couldn't be helped. I wasn't ready to go straight home after Anko failed to tell me anything important. Besides, she needed an audience when she stomped up to the third floor to yell at Genma about his music choices.
I kept my guard up as I weaved through Konoha's different streets; hands held loosely at my sides instead of resting inside my pockets. That way, I'd be ready to move if needed. Though, it was probably safe. I don't have an exact timeline of when things occur. All my predictions relied on the appearance of antecedent events. And those antecedent events have changed. Kabuto was still in custody. So, he wouldn't be able to meet up with the Suna sensei to talk about their plan for that coughing leaf nin to overhear. And the team from Sound was dead so… that meant no unplanned murder from Gaara, right? I wasn't about to pick a fight with the maniac. Nor did anyone have any reason to believe that I knew about the ongoings of sound and sand… well, Kabuto did. But he was in the bowels of T&I so… no worries. I still traveled with a hand hovering close to my kunai holster just in case.
Rehearsing the evacuation routes with Anzu was a good idea. It was probably something I should have done a while ago. But there was still time to fix that oversight before the final exam. I'd have to figure out if Anzu was working the day of the matches. From there, I'll decide if we needed to spend more time practicing the route she'd take from the restaurant. Or the route she'd take if the call for evacuation came while she was home.
Under a streetlight, I passed a bleary-eyed chunin as he yawned; probably just getting off shift if I had to guess. We paid each other no mind; each going our separate ways. Anzu didn't have a go bag, I thought as I turned a corner to the street I lived on. We didn't have emergency food or a blanket for her to quickly grab if an evacuation was ordered. That was an easy fix. Something I could get done tomorrow after my daily trip to the bathhouse.
Outside my building, I stopped and stared up at the sky. On a slightly less populated street, there was less lighting than the main one. That paired with few clouds in the sky, I could just make out some stars. What was I doing? I asked myself with a long exhale. Things were starting to change. Little things that might not impact the major events. Like Jiraiya teaching Naruto. Or the sand village attacking Konoha. But it was enough upheaval that I couldn't confidently say what was coming. And why did these changes happen? Because I spoke up. Because I got attached.
Staring up at the night sky, the faces of Chouji, Shikamaru, Shino, and Anko flashed through my thoughts. When did it happen? I already knew the answer. Why did it happen? That I didn't understand. It was weak. It was dangerous. It was… Why was Jiraiya standing on the roof of the building opposite from my apartment?
Unease and anger swirled together inside of me. If Jiraiya was here to creepily watch Naruto sleep, fine. Whatever. There was a vague memory of him doing something like this from another life. But Anzu and I lived next door. Naruto shared a bedroom wall with us. Our bedroom windows were right next to each other. Things were different now, and a part of me couldn't ignore that this deviation might give Jiraiya another reason to linger on rooftops.
Building the right amount of chakra needed, I used my surroundings to jump and propel myself skyward until I could reach the rooftop; landing in a crouch a safe distance away from the toad sage. He didn't flinch, blink, or even turn in my direction. But I wasn't fooled into thinking he didn't feel my intrusion. "Leave", I ordered; my eyes flickering over to my apartment building. Despite the poor lighting, Naruto's sleeping form was easy to make out as he snored behind his uncovered window. Anzu's and my window were blissfully dark and Anzu's bed was empty. Seems she hasn't made it back from work yet.
"Good to see you too", Jiraiya responded; still not turning to face me. But I was less bothered. Now that I knew my sister wasn't there to be ogled at. "But isn't it a bit late for little girls to be wandering the streets? What would your mom say?"
Nostrils flaring, my hands curled into fists. My mom? Jiraiya said it like a taunt. Perhaps that's all he meant. Perhaps he didn't know Mom was dead. It wasn't like he was familiar with our family despite how he talked, but… Bitter grievance rattled my bones. What if Jiraiya… knew both Mom and Anzu? The question evoked revolting thoughts as nausea grew in my gut. "Leave", I repeated; spatting out the word with venom. "If you're here for Naruto, he'll find you in the morning. There's no reason for you…" My fingernails dug into my palms in such a fashion that I could feel my fingertips going numb. "She doesn't do that anymore!"
That provoked a response. I wasn't sure if it was my volume or my words themselves, but Jiraiya turned his head and stared at me through his beady little eyes. "She has a job at a restaurant. She's happy. Just leave her alone!"
Jiraiya stared. He didn't look at all like someone who'd just been called out on past lecherous acts. In fact, I had never seen Jiraiya look more like a wise old sage than he did at that moment. "What about you, kid?" He asked as a nighttime breeze swept across the roof and ruffled his spikey mane. "Are you happy?"
What? The question completely befuddled me. Was I happy? Why even ask that? Why would Jiraiya want to know? Besides, it was just a stupid thing to ask in general. We were shinobi. Happiness wasn't afforded to us. It was a waste of time. It was… It was… Was Jiraiya the first person to ever ask me that? For some reason, that question bothered me more than it should.
"Your name is Rion, right?" Jiraiya moved on. Clearing knowing he'd stumped me and taking full advantage of it. "How do you write that?"
"Phonetically", I snarked as I glowered at the sannin. What was this nonsense? I didn't like it.
Jiraiya huffed. "I meant in kanji". My confusion didn't dampen and the lack of understanding irked me in a way nothing else could. Both Mom and Anzu were illiterate. All my paperwork spelled my name out using the Katakana. The name Rion had many meanings. Based on Mom's fruit theme, I could guess what she wanted mine to mean. But why the hell would Jiraiya care?
"That thing you do with your chakra, to push people away, you must have impressive reserves", Jiraiya said once it was clear I wouldn't answer him. "It's probably genetic".
"I'm aware", I growled. Shino had hinted at some Aburame bullshit when I asked for his input. But again, why would Jiraiya care?!
Jiraiya widened his eyes in an almost mocking fashion. "Are you?" He faced forward once more. This time staring down at the street rather than through Naruto's window. "If you don't test your limits and train your chakra, you'll never master it. Maybe you should join Naruto and me for training. I could show you a thing or two". Jiraiya's tone was different as he made this offer. It was less baiting. More wistful. And I didn't understand it any better than anything else he's said all night.
"I'd rather stick senbon in my eyes".
Jiraiya started to laugh; his shoulders shook with amusement. But any sound he might have made was cut short as he peered further at the street below. "Why is she with him?" He muttered to himself. Though still loud enough that I could make it out.
Curious, I moved just enough so I could see too. Outside of my apartment building, standing under the street light, was Gai and Anzu. They held hands as they talked. Anzu had her hair down as she peered up at Gai; smiling. Which Gai returned; teeth gleaming as he said something that made Anzu giggle. They only stood there for a moment before Gai let go of Anzu's hand in favor of wrapping an arm over her shoulders as he led her into our building. He glanced up in Jiraiya's and my direction as they disappeared up the stairwell. Anzu was none the wiser.
"They're dating", I said. Turning away from the sight only when I could no longer see my sister. Jiraiya hadn't. He kept his eyes on the bottom of the stairs; his lips pressed together in an uncomfortable line. Usually. I'd feel the same at such a scene. But in current company, Gai's and Anzu's budding romance felt vindicating. "She likes Gai. Chose him herself. She doesn't have to pretend or force herself to do things with him. She's moved on from that life. So, you can leave".
The light in our apartment flicked on. Anzu appeared in the bedroom as she approached the window and pulled the teel curtains shut. Jiraiya didn't move. He didn't say anything. It was like he was trapped in a thought. I tried to think what I could say to make him leave. But no words came. Maybe if I threw a kunai. He'd be forced to react then.
But he excused himself before I could reach for my holster. Turning his back on me and the window, Jiraiya raised a hand in farewell. "Think about it, Kid", he called over his shoulder. "Training with Naruto and I would really help you out. And who knows. Maybe after I get to know you, I can find the right characters for writing your name".
