Miko had set everything up so that she wasn't a lynch-pin.
She didn't want everything depending on her, which was why she made sure the Art Institute and The Police Force could be self sustaining-so she could focus on other things. Like Tenten.
She was hopping in place waiting for Itachi to get there. She had already filled Sasuke in with rushed English. He had deadass rolled his eyes at her and turned away into his book, one Sakura gave him to read about Chakra.
When she saw Tenten approaching in the distance, she jumped for joy, waving both hands around her head rapidly.
When Itachi came not a couple minutes later, he was attacked with choreographed doe-eyes. Tenten was wide-eyed walking to the clan head's house. They lived in the richer parts of Konoha- a far cry from Tenten's run down apartment. Itachi went in ahead to ask permission and she was left there with ants in her pants. When he came back and nodded, she all but dragged Tenten inside.
Introductions were pleasant enough, but she needed to get down to business. With a thank you, she dragged her new friend to her room and showed her all her cool ninja stuff. Tenten was impressed. They cornered Itachi and he showed them a couple ways to throw kunai then coached them for a bit. Tenten was good before, but now she was so good she impressed her father when he walked past, Fugaku giving both of them an approving nod. And she was better than her, and while she didn't like that she could live with it.
And that was all good.
But when she befriended Tenten she had an ulterior motive in mind.
When Tenten told her her innermost secret(How she wanted to be just like Tsunade) She knew it was time to make her move.
Her parents were out again-another multi-clan meeting of their own invention. Sasuke was out with Sakura petting her new kitten, and Itachi went for a therapy session. Just to be sure, she checked her senses. It was just them. She kept it on, for she could see fluctuations when someone was lying and needed to hear what Tenten had to say.
She eased into the conversation, asking cloaked questions about her time in the orphanage.
She learned about things she already knew, and things she didn't. But still no missing kids. She learned about adoptions and listened closely-but nothing suspicious. She was just about to give up when Tenten got really quiet, and her chakra curled up as small as possible.
"Some of the kids...we were told they were adopted, but, you'd always see adopted kids around the village, or see their new parents coming to pick them up. But I never saw Misa again. She was my first friend, and always so smart-just like you." Tenten whispered.
Jackpot.
She listened in for another hour as these repressed thoughts and feelings rushed out. Rumors spread through the orphan community, that if you misbehaved, the boogeyman would snatch you up at night and you'd never be seen again. Kids were terrified because there was actually truth to this.
This Misa girl wasn't the only kid Tenten knew of who went missing like that. A couple of others had. It was part of the reason so many orphan kids joined the academy-you were harder to kidnap when you were on record.
She thanked Tenten, let her know she always had Miko, and walked her home with one of her cousins.
If only there were records of the kids. Ones that weren't tampered with by the government, cause you can bet whatever is being recorded is being screened by Danzo. Even after the third war. She needed reliable records taken independently from the-
She dropped her glass.
Oh my god.
She ran to her uncles house, the one who was in her living room the day of the cat-ban. The one who was in charge of the charity that passed out clothes and food to orphanages.
The one that she knew kept records.
She knocked on the door, trying not to be frantic about it.
"Oh hey, Miko!"
She explained her situation to him, going under the guise that she had orphaned friends and wanted to know who got some of the clothes. He had welcomed her in, showing her to the backroom. The backroom with boxes of beautiful records. It was a Saturday, and she had all night long baby.
She scanned the files and after an half hour at it, noticed kids who suspiciously dropped off the map, ghost children who were there one day on the list of children who had received, then suddenly gone on the next list, no check marks saying they were adopted. On the bottom left corner of page three she spotted Misa's name-with no check mark saying she was adopted.
Fuck she was going to nut.
Just kidding.
She adopted a confused expression, then called her uncle over.
"This is so strange, uncle! Look at these kids? Where did they go?"
His face darkened into a serious expression, muttering how it was impossible to tamper with these files, as he himself put jutsu's on them. Instead of putting the files back, he put them on his person, proclaiming he would look into it, and then check the Villages.
When her father and mother got home later, she launched into the usual retelling of her day, except, not cheerful or peppy. She said 'Why isn't that strange what Tenten said about the boogeymen, father?' and 'Tenten had a friend named Misa...' or 'I wanted to know which of my friends got clothes, but me and uncle noticed something funny, father...' and 'Why do you think this is happening, father?'
By the end of it, his face was shadowed, listening and digesting every word she said.
If the next day, her Uncle and Father went straight to the Hokage files in hand...
Well, that had nothing to do with her, really.
And if the police force was suddenly turning the village upside down looking for ghost children, she was lost.
And if they were asking her to get her friend, Tenten, well...
She had no idea why.