Chapter 36: Team Activity

"Where was it?" Kakashi asked the empty training ground, as he crouched beside one of the log targets.

He had been sure he could find the spot—and he was almost certain this was it—but it was missing something. In his pocket, the shard itself still had a bitter-scared scent. The ground here, though, smelled only of dirt and plants.

Smells don't fade that quickly, shouldn't fade that quickly.

It was suspicious, but…

The vase wasn't shattered, chipped, or even mysteriously missing. He had seen it through the shop window, right where it always sat. So he was probably overthinking things.

Maybe the broken piece he had found was completely unrelated.

Not likely, but still: he had to be sure.

Kakashi stood up, dusting off bits of grass from his clothes before walking over to one of the other log targets. No sign there, either. After a few more minutes just looking around, he took out the shard, turning it over in his hands.

The blue glaze seemed to be the exact correct shade, same with the white, and the curve would match up... but again, he had seen the vase in the shop, undamaged.

He stuffed the broken piece back into his pocket, scowling at nothing in particular.

Something was clearly wrong here.

"I don't know… what if they get mad?"

"They won't."

Voices. Coming closer.

He leapt for a branch before he could really process just who was heading in his direction.

"But what if—"

"C'mon, Rin!" Grinning, Obito gestured broadly. "This is Minato-sensei we're talking about. I bet 'kinda annoyed' would be as far as he gets."

It was his teammates.

Very carefully, Kakashi shifted back deeper into the leaves.

"It'll be fine, they'll just— wait a second…" Obito frowned, then turned a suspicious eye to the trees.

Kakashi froze, staying perfectly still as he debated to himself the demerits of actually talking with the two of them.

"Huh. I coulda sworn…" Trotting over to the log targets, Obito looked around.

"What is it?" Rin followed his gaze, scanning the leaves.

He crossed his arms. "I thought I saw Kakashi over here."

"Really?"

Now she was looking around, too.

Maybe it would be best to just take the plunge.

Dropping down behind them, Kakashi crossed his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"AHH—" Obito jumped, startled, and then very quickly pretended like he was totally unsurprised. "Hello, hi, yeah. Uh, I could ask you the same question."

Kakashi just turned to Rin. "Well?"

"We were going to drop in on the meeting Minato-sensei is having at Axel's place." She shrugged.

He winced.

"Oh yeah!" Obito nodded, looking excited. "I dunno what they're gonna talk about, but Axel was all nervous and stuff—he's definitely hiding something."

Rin gave a long-suffering sigh. "It's probably just adult stuff—like taxes or whatever—but he wouldn't listen."

Her teammate simply acted as if he hadn't heard the remark. "But what is he hiding? That's the real question." He made a show of thinking up possible outlandish secrets. "Maybe he's actually a ghost! Or an alien, visiting here from another world!"

Kakashi kept his expression perfectly neutral.

But apparently that was a bit too neutral.

"What, no annoyed glare?" Obito blinked. "Do you actually think—"

"There won't be a meeting," Kakashi cut in, definitely not wanting the conversation to head in that direction.

"Why?"

He hesitated, not sure what to say.

"Well," Obito huffed, "if you're not gonna say anythin—"

"Axel's gone missing."

There was a moment of silence.

"You can't be serious," Rin said at last, voice quiet. "Missing?"

Kakashi just nodded.

"Since when?"

"I don't know." He mentally kicked himself for not asking more questions earlier. "I think he must have been gone by the time Minato-sensei visited."

"We— We have to do something! We have to—"

"Obito, stop it." Rin caught his arm before he could run off. "What could we even do? We're not even genin." She paused, shooting a glance at Kakashi. "Or, I mean, neither of us are genin."

Following her look, Obito's expression became oddly conflicted. After a second, though, he said, "Yeah… Kakashi, you gotta have some kinda plan, right?"

"So what if I do?" His eyes narrowed. "I can handle this by myself."

"We're your teammates, Baka-kashi," Obito huffed. "We're supposed to help each other out with stuff."

"I don't need your help."

"Ugh, boys." Rin sighed, rolling her eyes. "So what?" She stepped up and jabbed a finger right at his masked nose. "You're getting our help whether you like it or not, so you might as well just cooperate."

That was, somehow, more intimidating than it had any right to be.

Resisting the urge to take a step back, Kakashi slipped a hand into his pocket. The broken piece of the vase was still there.

Maybe he could…

Leaning in suddenly, Obito poked at his shoulder. "Hey, what've you got there?"

He jerked back. "None of your business."

"I bet it is!"

Rin held out her hand, and—though he still wasn't sure about letting them help—Kakashi did eventually hand over the shard. Albeit very reluctantly.

"I found this over there." He gestured to the base of one of the target logs. "I think it's part of that vase Axel kept by the register in his shop."

"What would it be doin' here?" asked Obito.

"And why didn't you tell the police?"

He shook his head slowly, and admitted, "I saw the vase in the shop earlier, and it didn't seem damaged at all."

She blinked. "How is that possible?"

Obito managed a cheeky grin, and teased, "You sure you're not wrong about it being from the vase, Kakashi?"

"Why do you think I'm here," he snapped back. "I'm trying to see if there's any other shards around."

"And are there any?"

Kakashi just shook his head.

"So I guess the first thing we need to do," Rin said, holding up the broken piece, "is find out if this really is from that vase."

"How?" Obito asked, leaning forward to get a closer look.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I guess… we could try to compare it to the one you said was still in the shop?"

"That could work," Kakashi grudgingly agreed, "except that, of course, there's still the whole police investigation going on. How would we get in to look at it?"

"Why not just tell 'em?"

He scowled. "I saw the vase in the shop, undamaged. I doubt the police would take us seriously if we don't have any other information than one shard I found that might be related."

"Fine, that makes sense. Kinda." With another mischievous grin, Obito added, "So, what, we sneak in at night like real shinobi?"

"At night, or whenever we get a chance."

It wasn't much of a plan, but sometimes the simple option is best.

The three of them set up base in one of the empty houses opposite the backyard, close enough to keep an eye on things but hopefully not so close that any officers bother to check. Unfortunately, people were coming and going all day and into the evening.

At that point, they had to put the whole operation on hold.

To put it bluntly, Rin and Obito had not been prepared. For one thing, they hadn't thought to bring gear or food for an overnight stay. For another, apparently Obito's grandmother would be worried sick if he didn't get back home before dark.

Which, naturally, put a damper on the 'break in at night' part of the plan.

So the two of them had to call it there for the moment. They would come up with excuses for their families, and try again tomorrow.

But of course, nobody was waiting for Kakashi.

He had time to investigate for himself.

Despite the fact that the house was technically a crime scene, breaking in was much easier than he had first expected. Likely because the missing individual in question was just a civilian: there wasn't really any highly sensitive information floating around.

That the police knew of, anyway.

Kakashi didn't bother with the lights, choosing instead to carefully look around in the darkness. He may not be able to see as much, but there should be enough moonlight from outside to see basic details.

Or perhaps… not quite.

He stumbled over something in the dark—something that yelped.

"Watch it, kid," a familiar voice barked. "You stepped on my tail."

"Sorry," he said, almost automatically. Then: "Dach?"

"Yeah, it's me." The dachshund stepped over into a patch of light, though he was still barely visible given his black fur. "What're you doing here? Snooping around like your teacher, I take it?"

Kakashi paused. "Minato-sensei snuck in?"

"Eh, a few days ago now."

"Why?"

Dach gave him a level look. "Why do you think? He was worried about him. Seems he had good reason to be, too." The dog turned away for a second, then looked back. "So you're probably running a little investigation of your own, right?"

"Yes, I am."

Though for some reason, he had the nagging sense that something wasn't quite right with that answer: like it was missing something.

"Well, I think you'd probably have better luck in the day, kid." The dachshund gave his hurt tail a rather pointed glance.

He cringed. "Sorry."

"I'll be fine," Dach replied, though his tone sounded a bit like he was considering chewing up all of his socks, given the chance. "Anyway, you should come back tomorrow. I heard the police won't come around until the afternoon."

"…You're okay with this?"

With a snort, the dachshund scoffed, "Should I not be? You're trying to find my human."

"I suppose." He glanced around the room. It really was darker than he had expected, and he couldn't see much at all: so the dog had made a good point about that, too.

Dach made a shooing motion with his paw. "Then get going."

Kakashi stepped back toward the window he'd come in through, but found himself pausing on the sill. He felt like he was forgetting something.

Something important.

He took one last look back into the shop.

With how dark it was, he could only make out the barest details: there were the shelves, the metal tools reflecting what little light reached them, the halls to the rest of the house, and the outline of the vase by the register.

No, he supposed it must not have been that important after all.

"I'll be back tomorrow," he said, and hopped out through the window.

=X=X=X=

Breaking in the second time was just as easy as before, if quite a bit louder.

"You're sure he said there won't be any police?"

"Yes," Kakashi repeated, patience running thin. "I'm sure."

"It's just— What if we're wrong?" asked Rin, second guessing the plan. "Couldn't we really mess up the investigation if they catch us?"

Obito shrugged it off as he fiddled with the latch on one of the windows. "Nah. We'll be in and out, and nobody'll even need to know we were there if we don't find anything."

"Just… be quiet, you two."

Pushing open the now-unlocked window, Kakashi hopped inside. Both of his teammates shared a look before quickly following, though with a bit less skill. Rin stumbled slightly, and Obito tripped on the sill. He nearly toppled one of the sale racks in the process, but thankfully it was just shoved a little out of place.

Other than that new change, though, nothing looked particularly different. The shelves, the register, and the flower vase: as far as he could tell, everything was just where it had been last night.

There wasn't anything noteworthy.

"Alright," asked Obito, dusting himself off. "Now what?"

"Look for anything you don't recognize."

"And don't touch anything," Kakashi added, sharply.

They split up to check over the first floor, going through the kitchen and the shop, and even poking through some of the boxes in the back room. Just as before, nothing seemed to stand out.

But something was still bugging him.

Like he was forgetting something important.

"Let's check the second floor," Kakashi said, heading for the stairs.

Behind him, one hand on the railing, Rin faltered. "Something's… off."

"Huh?"

"Didn't we come here for something specific?" She half-turned back toward the shop, paused again, and sighed. "Other than just looking for clues, I mean. I feel like we did, but I can't remember."

Looking sympathetic, Obito nodded. "Oh yeah, I hate it when I walk in a room and forget what I was doing. It's the worst."

Kakashi blinked, then tried not to roll his eyes in annoyance. Given the three of them had literally broken into a police investigation, they really should have remembered that…

He frowned.

Remembered…

Pushing past them, Obito continued up the stairs.

A suspicion took root in his mind, and, almost instinctively, Kakashi folded his hands into a practiced sign. "Kai!"

With the pulse of chakra, any illusion in his system cracked.

For a second, anyway.

"The vase," he realized, muttering out loud.

"Oh, right," Rin nodded. "You found a piece of it over in the training ground."

Their other teammate stopped on the landing. "What about it?"

"We were going to…" She paused again.

Under his mask, Kakashi frowned. It probably wasn't that important anyway. It was just a vase, after all.

"I don't remember."

With a shrug, Obito continued up a few more steps. "Must've not been that big of a deal, I guess."

That's strange. He had just been thinking that, too…

Kakashi pulsed his chakra again, stronger.

"A genjutsu," he said, while he had the chance. "It's distracting us."

Though she hesitated for a moment, Rin put her hands together. "Kai!" And a moment later, her expression cleared. "That's right, the vase… we need to tell somebody!"

"Tell them what?"

"What?"

"Kai!"

"What do we do?" Rin said. "It just keeps coming back."

Obito looked between the two of them, confused, until she reached up to slap him with a haphazard burst of healing chakra to his system. "OH! A genjutsu?"

"I can't believe that actually worked."

"Of course it worked," she scoffed. "I've been practicing."

"What're we suppose to do now?" Obito asked.

Kakashi pulsed his chakra one more time, knowing that the effect of the mind trick was probably already sinking in again. As much as he didn't want to admit it: "None of us are good enough at genjutsu to deal with this."

"So, what," the other boy scowled back, "we're giving up?"

"No," Rin said, hands still held together. "We're getting help."

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Sometimes, other people might notice things you missed.

Augh, I don't know why I had so much trouble with this chapter. It was mostly done on Friday with just a few gaps, but for the life of me I couldn't get it to stitch together. Sorry for the delay.

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