Chapter 42: Caught Off Guard

Minato had an anchor inside the shop—he'd set one under the front desk when they first investigated the vase—but that's not the seal he latched onto at that moment. Even if he didn't have Fugaku with him, it'd be best to scope out the situation before jumping straight in.

So instead he took them both to an empty house across the street, into a room their small investigation had claimed and set up as a lookout. It was actually right next door to the building where, just a few months ago, the ANBU surveillance team had been based.

Technically he wasn't supposed to know that. Realistically, however, given how much time he'd spent in the area—of course he noticed.

They reappeared in an empty room on the second floor.

Minato quickly sidled up to the window but didn't look out, instead focusing on his chakra sense to picture the scene across the street. There were three people near the front of the room—two whose energies felt like annoyed reprimand, and one other practically vibrating with guilty, apologetic nerves.

Fugaku needed longer to orient himself after landing, but not by much. After a moment, he joined Minato by the windowsill.

And frowned.

"Unprofessional," the police chief murmured, a critical eye watching what little could be seen of the commotion in the store.

Minato moved to look through the window himself, after recognizing from tell-tale red that Fugaku had a genjutsu set up to keep anyone from spotting them through the glass. He could only see part of the shop from this angle, of course, but it lined up with what he'd sensed.

"I'll need to speak with them," Fugaku remarked, scowling.

"Hold that thought for a sec…"

A small and familiar chakra signature rounded the side of the smithy, stomping—in as much as a dachshund can stomp—up to the front window. Dach stood on his hind legs for an unsteady moment, trying to peer inside, before having to give up and drop back to four paws. He huffed what was no doubt a very disgruntled woof.

Keeping his chakra sense wide open, Minato watched the dachshund walk down the street, turn, go out of sight… and then double back toward them in a much stealthier manner.

"Incoming," Minato murmured with a small smile.

Dach was muttering to himself quietly as he made his way up the stairs. The door at the back of the room had been left ajar for just this reason, conveniently allowing the short dog to nose his way inside.

"I can't believe they kicked me out," he grumbled with snarly undertones, "seeing as I live there. What'd they think I was gonna do, pee on the evidence?"

"What happened?"

Dach came up to the window beside them: too short to easily see over the sill, but his ears were pulled forward and focused. "I was guarding Axel's room, you know, when I heard the commotion downstairs. Didn't see it personally, though of course I went to check it out." He paused for a moment, then continued, "Apparently an officer knocked the vase over. The guy was apologizing by the time I came down… and I think he was being genuine."

Which was a definite possibility, given the prior use of genjutsu to manipulate bystanders: setting up just enough of an illusion to cause one of the officers to stumble into the desk wouldn't have been too hard.

Minato nodded, and from the corner of his vision he could see Fugaku scowl at the shop across the street.

"Akaiko is checking over the area," the dachshund provided, preempting his next question. He briefly dipped his nose to the floor for a confirmation sniff. "Headed out as soon as it happened, as far as I can smell."

After setting up the trap the previous day, their small group had arranged shifts to make sure somebody always had eyes on the shop. Call it an inordinate amount of caution, perhaps; Minato could get there nearly instantly, after all, but even that bare moment could make a difference.

His students had been eager to take shifts watching the shop—too young to yet know the tedium of a long stakeout. They had been added to the rotation, but Minato also made sure to work out other things to keep them occupied.

Obito had, of course, been with him at the Uchiha compound. Rin and Kakashi both accompanied Kushina to report to the Hokage, seeing as it was his students who first saw through the genjutsu on the vase. They would be a great help with that part of the debrief, though it did mean that Kushina would need to talk around some of the more… worrisome implications.

"Where is Akaiko now?"

The dachshund scented the air again, focused on the building across the street, and then pointed off past it with one paw. "She went a bit roundabout, but I think she's behind the house now."

It took Minato a moment to find her chakra signature; it was skillfully hidden against the surroundings and he lost it quickly when he stopped focusing on it.

"Found her," he said, "I'll look in the area opposite."

Fugaku was still all but glaring at the shop across the street, red eyes swirling. "I'll approach the officers directly—I need a closer look at that vase, anyway. Send the dog if you find something."

And, with a small scattering of leaves, he left in a flit of shunshin.

Dach's ears were pulled back, plainly a bit annoyed. "I have a name," he muttered to himself. "A nice, good name."

"Sorry, he can be a little… uh, prickly." That's an understatement, really. He gave the dachshund an apologetic pat. "We'll do proper introductions later. You keep an eye on things here, alright?"

Dach growled quietly to himself, disgruntled to be left simply monitoring the situation, but somebody had to—and as good as his nose is at tracking, he's not exactly the fastest dog around.

Despite his annoyance, the dog nodded. "Yeah, sure. And you don't even need to 'send the dog'," he sniffed, "I'll just fetch the cactus for you, if you run off."

Already standing by the door, Minato gave him a thankful smile. "Good idea."

The dachshund startled, glancing between the shinobi and the spot by the window where he had been just an instant earlier.

"…Curse these stubby legs," the dachshund grumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!" he barked, though he did keep his voice down, "Absolutely nothing, now scram!"

Even now, with tensions running so high, Minato found he couldn't help but smile at that self-conscious snap—which just seemed to annoy Dach even further, as he turned back to the cracked window with a huff. Taking the obvious dismissal, Minato quietly slipped out the back and onto the roof.

And was reminded, as the slippers he was wearing shifted awkwardly on the tile shingles, that he had left his proper shoes behind at the entryway of the Uchiha household. Maybe he should just go barefoot instead.

Whatever, he could deal with the slippers—even if they weren't exactly ideal.

Continually scanning the area with his chakra sense, he lightly leapt to the next building over. Akaiko, last he'd noticed, was behind the shop to the left. As such, Minato moved to the front right to start his circuit opposite from her position.

He spotted Fugaku just down the street, walking briskly toward the shop—as if he were simply stopping by for a routine observation, and coming across the current scene was mere happenstance.

"What's the situation here?" he called, stopping just outside the front window of the store.

"Uchiha-taicho!" The officer straightened to attention so fast she nearly tripped over herself. Another officer scrambled to push the window open. "We, uh, we weren't expecting you, sir."

"That doesn't answer my question."

Minato made a low jump to the next building over, still half listening.

"I'm sorry to report that one of my officers has damaged some of the scene," a gesture to something out of sight on the floor, "when he knocked over this vase."

"I swear I didn't mean to, I thought I saw—"

"I don't care what you thought, Hattori!" she snarled back. "You need to be more careful when you're at a crime scene!"

From the way she had put that, Minato assumed this sort of thing wasn't actually that unusual for 'Hattori'. The younger officer shrank back, bright pink with shame and embarrassment.

Letting the unfolding verbal smack-down fade to the background, Minato focused more fully on the ambient chakra as he slowly continued his chosen route around Axel's shop. He should be able to find some small traces of the genjutsu, left behind like cobwebs.

Granted, Fugaku is the expert in that area and directly on the scene—no doubt he'd be able to find clues much more quickly. Still, he might as well check for himself.

And sure enough, while he was still delicately poking about, he noticed a muted thrum of realization in his ally's chakra. Minato turned his metaphysical attention in that general direction. It was faint, but he thought perhaps there may have been…

Akaiko flipped up to the roof from the back of the building, landing silently. "I found someone, follow me."

And then she was off.

Palming a kunai, he leapt after her.

Okay, now that he was actually moving at-speed… maybe he should have just left the house slippers behind. But, well, it's too late now.

It took a few jumps for him to zero in on the target Akaiko had found. They weren't moving that fast, honestly, but they were moving deliberately; staying out of sight and hard to spot, with their chakra signature blending into the surroundings.

The kunoichi signed a quick question to him as they followed, starting to hash out a plan of attack, but Minato shook his head. There was no need to move for capture immediately, not yet, not when they might be able to learn valuable information simply by trailing their target for a while.

Interrogation could take hours—maybe even days—to pry out anything useful, and getting a location out of their target would take time. But if they just follow… well. They might have an answer in minutes.

Soon.

Minato could feel tension coil up his spine, in his hands, his feet, with every leap from rooftop to rooftop, branch to branch. After days without any leads, they were finally getting somewhere.

Until, suddenly—they weren't.

They had just reached an unkempt training ground when they abruptly lost track of their target. Minato landed in one of the trees, scanning the area closely as he tried to find any sign that might point them in the right direction.

Nothing.

He bit back a curse.

This training ground was overgrown, though not in the totality of some deeper into the mostly abandoned district. To the keen eyed, there were signs of at least somewhat regular use: a hint at paths from tree to tree in the shape of the branches, nicks in the bark that were a tad too recent, and so on.

Landing on the branch beside him, Akaiko gave the area her own once-over. Her hands folded into a question, and he shook his head. Neither of them could find any trace, it would seem.

This was his fault.

It had been his idea to just… follow.

And look where that took them: just an old, empty training ground.

Minato was halfway through a gesture suggesting that they spread out to keep looking, when something—a feeling, just the slightest misalignment in his picture of the area around them—had him swinging to the underside of the branch.

A palm-set of needles thudded into the wood where he had been standing, spread in such a way that they both would have been hit.

And he knew what it meant—a chance.

Minato immediately pivoted, a kunai already thrown; the attack had outed their target's position, and he was not going to lose their only lead. Not again. He was here to find answers, after all.

He had no intention of leaving empty handed.

Motion in his periphery was all he needed to know that Akaiko obviously shared his sentiment. With a focused smile that distinctly slanted towards vicious, already adjusting his plans in the bare instant between sight and action, he vanished.

And before their opponent—their target, their quarry—could even start to fold fingers into a hand sign, Minato was there.

They leapt back almost on pure instinct—

Directly into a nest of entangling cloth strips, as Akaiko caught up a moment later. The ribbons shimmered with a fresh flow of chakra, coiling and folding themselves around their captive until they'd been thoroughly cocooned from the neck down.

It was over in less than a second.

Minato lightly caught the bundled shinobi before they crashed into the ground, set them down, then retreated to a safer distance. A moment later Akaiko dropped to the grass beside him, breathing a bit hard and still holding her end of the binding cloth taut.

"I knew you were fast, but damn," she remarked with a low whistle. Then she blinked, glancing at his feet. "Wait… where're your shoes?"

He flushed pink. "I was in a rush, okay?"

"In house slippers even, sheesh." That bit was just muttered to herself, so he elected to ignore it. Akaiko continued, "Whatever, you noticed how they moved, right?"

Minato nodded. "Neutral, nothing we can use to narrow down affiliation."

She grimaced, giving the strip of fabric a testing tug. "I would agree, but..."

"You noticed something?"

"Maybe." Gesturing with her one free hand—more miming what she had seen rather than adding anything else—she said, "Some of the motions looked... that is, it reminds me of what ANBU learn."

"Deliberately neutral," Minato murmured again. He glanced up at the needle-studded branch overhead, judging angles. "And that attack wasn't lethal, it was an attempt to pin us down."

"Not a typical courtesy from escaping infiltrators."

"True."

A whisper of familiar chakra, and Minato smoothly stepped to one side as Fugaku landed in a crouch to his left. Despite the dark lenses of the white mask, he was fairly sure he could see their captive's eyes widen.

"I thought I spotted you earlier, Fugaku-san," Akaiko remarked, greeting him with a slight nod. "Pretty sure you showing up spooked 'em from the woodwork, so thanks."

"Looks… like we… missed the action." Dach was panting, plainly having run full-tilt in order to not slow the shinobi down: the dachshund was apparently out of practice.

The kunoichi snorted. "Too bad, short stuff."

The dog mustered up the energy for a scolding woof.

Fugaku knelt beside the bound shinobi and removed their—her, apparently—plain white mask. Gray eyes looked back at them all, just a touch of defiance coloring her otherwise emotionless expression.

"An illusion was used on an officer at—" for any other store, he probably would have given its name there. Instead, he simply said: "the blacksmith's shop, and I have received reports of another genjutsu tied to an object at the site. Do you have anything to say about that?"

Staying resolutely mute, their captive simply held his gaze.

"Yes," he sighed, "that is what I thought you might say."

Rather than continue the ineffectual questioning, dark eyes swirled red with a pulse of chakra. The kunoichi fell unconscious in moments, slumping in her bindings. Setting aside the mask, Fugaku tilted her head back and peered into her mouth.

At her tongue, Minato belatedly realized, which was marked with…

"That's—!"

"A Root secrecy seal." He let go of her chin.

Akaiko grimaced, no doubt seeing the same tangle that Minato did.

If Root really was involved, then that could mean one of two things—neither of them good, unfortunately. Either the Hokage had been complicit in vanishing one of the village citizens—an odd-ball one, sure, but the fact remained—or…

Root had gone behind the Hokage's back.

And given there hadn't been any quiet orders to let the investigation drop, he had the uncomfortable feeling that it was the latter.

Which is… not good.

Very not good.

"We can't bring her to T&I," Minato said, grim. "Not yet, anyway. If Root is involved in this…" He shook his head, then turned to Fugaku. "If this was done at the Hokage's order, I'd think you would have been informed of it in some way."

Fugaku nodded. "If this had been done with Sarutobi-sama's approval, the case would have already been closed. Forcefully." Frowning at the thought, he added, "In all honesty, it probably would never have been opened."

"I love my village," muttered Akaiko, "so I hate that you have a point."

"Given that, what shall we do with her?"

"We'll need to move fast," Minato replied, ignoring the nerves brought on by the chief of police unexpectedly looking to him to take the lead. "This agent is obviously going to miss their check-in, and they'll know we're on to them."

"Looks like the time line has just been accelerated," Akaiko chimed in, sounding particularly grim.

Not that Minato was concerned that the organization would retaliate—either against him directly, or, more worryingly, against Axel. That gnawing feeling heavy in his gut was just… paranoia. Nothing real.

After all, despite his personal anger at the situation, Root was still a sanctioned branch of Konoha shinobi. Presumably there had been a reason for doing all of this, even if it was one with which he could never agree.

Although, regardless of justification, the Hokage should have been informed.

Matching that with the unsettling patterns they had noticed—how this operation had pieces that seemed to line up with the missing children, small details matching with reports of stray animals that had vanished off the streets… Suffice to say, it made for an alarming picture.

Root had to have wanted something from Axel, though; it was the most plausible reason to go through the trouble of taking him. If they wanted information, or to use him as some kind of leverage, then killing him would be counter productive—his friend might be hurt, but he'd still be alive.

(Please, Axel. Please be alive.)

Unfortunately, there is always the—admittedly, very likely—possibility that what had caught the interest of Root had been the man's unique biology. In which case…

No.

No, Minato would not allow that outcome. He refused to consider it further, beyond simply acknowledging the grim potential.

It was Fugaku who spoke up, breaking the uneasy silence.

"I'll take the captive into police custody," he said. "We should be able to hold her for a few days, at least—certainly long enough to inform the Hokage."

"Which I'll handle," Minato offered, already turning his attention toward the Hiraishin seals he had positioned across the village. He could be there in seconds, despite not having an anchor in the administrative building itself.

Turning another loop of the chakra-imbued fabric over her hand, keeping it tight, Akaiko nodded. "Then I'll help Fugaku-san."

Plan decided, the two shinobi lifted the captive between them and left for the police headquarters. Minato moved to follow through with his part, already halfway through his jutsu, but then he paused.

"Are… you going to be alright, Dach?"

The dachshund was flopped on the grass, still panting hard. "Just get a move on." His tail wagged once in reassurance, and he had a wicked smile on his muzzle. "Don't stop now, not on my account. We're getting him back."

Minato returned the smile, just as sharp. "We will."

It was a promise.

(One they were finally—finally—making progress on.)

Author's Note:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Man, talk about finally making progress—oh my goodness, this chapter took ages. Can you believe that some of this has been written since February?! I've been agonizing over it for literally over half a year, augh!

I kept changing my mind over what the outcome should be: whether they should successfully capture the agent, whether the agent actually attacked or not, even whether or not they try to subvert and release the agent to keep the organization from learning that they were onto them.
So much indecision!

Honestly, I'm so happy to have it out there now!

I almost certainly won't have a chapter ready for October 15th, though I do know the gist of where this is going… unless another batch of options and alternate routes comes up. Which, uh, hopefully not. It's cool to think of all the ways things could go down, but boy it causes havoc on being able to get a chapter down.

That said, I am still writing every day—but on this story, on Under the Veil, and on various original works. I'm not abandoning either of my fanfics, ever! Just… working through delays, sorry.

As always, thank you so much for all the support!

Feel free to visit the Discord server to chat about whatever (or get updates on chapter progress).
Here's the invite code: m3CFXnC

Also, to the reviewer Keme: I hope you got a good sleep all those days ago. Rest is important!

Stay safe out there, and I'll see ya on the flipside, everyone!