Tatsuo yawned as the sunlight hit his face. He washed his face in a park water faucet and went on for work.
A man was trying budge his cart of fruits out of the muddy ground, Tatsuo came by and pushed the cart just enough to bring it out.
"Thank you, young man. I'm getting a little weak." The man with a grey beard said, although the second part was most to himself.
"No problem, mind if I take this?" Tatsuo said, pointing at an apple. The man eagerly handed him one, waving him off as he pushed his cart and parted ways.
Tatsuo ate the apple as he reached building Kaiyo Harvest. He entered and went to work.
The day was like the previous, repetitive and boring. He felt barely any exhaustion working for hours, but had to pretent that he did.
Tatsuo sat in the cafeteria and sat down, a small bottle of milk and few eggs is what he got compared to the executives who their own dining hall and several plates of food.
"Shit like this makes me miss Satoru. His cooking is to die for." Tatsuo muttered to himself before eating all his food and going back to work.
Tatsuo saw his superior was eating lunch while sifting through papers. People like her didn't get breaks for eating, and if they did—it was busy.
"Ah, Tatsuo! Take this file to the HR department. The manager needs this urgently!" She said, handing him the file and sending him out again.
'HR department... he's there...'
Tatsuo sighed and did as he was told, handing the file to the manager who was using strange words to speak to some employees.
Tatsuo looked around to see if he could find him, and he did.
Tatsuo saw the man in his office, talking to someone while absent-mindedly looking at at a photoframe. He saw Tatsuo—their eyes met.
He motioned with his fingers for Tatsuo to come to him.
Tatsuo swallowed the lump in his throat as his heart began beating vigorously.
He slowly stepped into his office, moving to the side for an employee to leave the room. The cold air from the AC didn't help with the sweat on his forehead.
Tatsuo looked at an award on the wall, it had an photo of a younger version of the man Tatsuo is with right now.
The employee of the month: Tensei
"Pretty cool right? I got it on the first month I arrived here! My performance was so good that my boss promoted within six months." Tensei said with a smile.
Tatsuo smiled back. It was the kind of smile employees gave to their bosses.
"Why are you working at this time? it's been only ten minutes since lunch has begun." Tensei questioned, leaning back into his chair and opening a soda bottle with a pop.
"I-I already ate my lunch, my senior was pressured so I decided to help." Tatsuo answered with a awkward shrug.
"The next employee of the month will be you, Tatsuo! Keep up the good work." The empty soda bottle was tossed into the can as Tensei took out a stack of papers.
"Here, It's the finalized salaries of the new hires. Take this to the finance department."
"H-how do you know my name? I haven't worn my name tag today." Tatsuo asked, his brow raised in confusion.
"Those papers have your information as well. Thirteen one from the bottom is yours." Tensei casually said, leaving Tatsuo with mouth wide open.
Tatsuo quickly checked the papers, and there it was—His information.
His name, age, qualifications, strengths and weakness—all were based on what he answer in interviews and what alias keiko had him use. All but one.
His address. It was the real one—the place where he lived with Dai, Satoru and Keiko.
"The address is w-wrong. I don't have an official address in Konoha! Y-you should correct it." Tatsuo said, his heart was beating was so fast, it could tear out of his chest at any moment.
"It think it is the correct one...It's the other things that are wrong." Tensei spoke, "Your accent is a pretty big giveaway too. They didn't train you?"
Tatsuo took a step back, fighting back the instinct to just attack and run away. That will ruin everything if it hadn't already been ruined. Tatsuo's life was now entirely in his hands.
"Don't kill me...please..." Tatsuo muttered, his chakra settling down as he surrendered. Tensei smiled, it looked like he derived a sense of pleasure from seeing Tatsuo in that way.
"Why?" He stood up, "You are snooping around in my life. Don't I get to protect myself?"
He had an overdramatic expression, but was clearly enjoying the moment.
"I'll leave. I won't snoop around—if that's what you want. I'll—" He was abruptly interrupted as Tensei flickered behind him, a kunai in hand. "Why should I let you go? What if know too much, or bring reinforcement?"
Tatsuo had no answer to give. He was actually intending to tell keiko and bring reinforcements by telling Konoha. Tensei brought the kunai closer, a drop of blood came out before Tensei stopped.
His eyes fell to the photoframe he was looking at before Tatsuo came, now, facing away from him. It felt as if the photo had rejected him, turning it's back on him.
'Oh, yes...I forgot about that. There's no need to kill him at this point.' He thought, as he let Tatsuo go. Tatsuo in fear, dropped all the papers and ran out of the office.
Tensei stared at the door for a few seconds after Tatsuo left, he started laughing.
A quiet laugh as he leaned back into his chair. "You were interesting so far, I wonder what you will do next..."
He looked at the empty doorway, remembering the fear on Tatsuo's face. The boy should have stayed in the port village. He should have never come here. Yet, instead of leaving when things became suspicious, he continued digging deeper.
Tensei rested his head against the chair and looked at the photo frame again.
A curious smile appeared on his face.
---
Tatsuo sat on the edge of the rooftop, his hands shaking. The sun had already disappeared, but he barely noticed the cold wind hitting his face.
Everything kept replaying in his mind.
The conversation that he had no control over. The kunai that would decide whether he would live or not.
The moment he realized that Tensei knew.
'He knows.' he thought,
Tatsuo grabbed his hair, his breathing becoming uneven. The sweat beads on his forehead fell from his face, the cold wind did nothing to help him.
"He knows..." He repeated,
He had been sitting there for a while, waiting for Keiko, but his thoughts kept getting worse.
'What if he already told someone? What if they are coming to arrest us? What if they know about Satoru, Dai...'
His hands tightened, his fingers dug into his palm till it stung.
This was his fault.
If he had just listened to Keiko and focused on the company instead of following that man, none of this would have happened.
Footsteps approached, making Tatsuo immediately looked up with wide eyes.
Keiko stepped onto the rooftop, expecting to see him waiting normally. Instead, she froze.
Tatsuo looked like he had seen something terrifying.
"What happened Tatsuo?" She asked, walking closer. "Why are you here? Your shift isn't over."
Tatsuo looked at her, his body wishes to speak, but his mouth was too dry. He swallowed before quietly speaking. "We've been compromised."
Keiko's expression changed immediately,
"What?"
"The man...the one I was watching." Tatsuo swallowed, "He knows."
Keiko stared at him with narrowed eyes. She took a deep breath before saying,
"Explain."
Tatsuo looked down as if the weight of his failure was forcing his head to look down.
"It's my fault. It's all my..."
"Tatsuo—" She was interrupted.
"It's my fault!" He interrupted, his voice louder than he intended. "I kept following him. I thought I could find something useful, but he already knew."
Keiko remained silent.
"What does he know?" Fear setting in her.
Tatsuo's breathing became faster.
"He knows I'm a shinobi."
Keiko gulped, "And?"
"He knows where we live."
For a second, Keiko said nothing. The silence was worse than any reaction.
"He knows our address in Konoha." Tatsuo continued, his voice shaking. "He knows where we are from. He knows I lied."
Keiko looked away. She was unsure, how would someone reply to this?
Tatsuo stood up.
"He can tell the authorities whenever he wants. He can send people after us. He can—"
"Tatsuo." Keiko tried to break through,
"He knows everything!"
Keiko grabbed his shoulder. "Tatsuo, calm down."
But the words didn't reach him. Tatsuo kept speaking his thoughts, "He can find Satoru. He can find Dai. He can find everyone!"
Keiko watched him. There was nothing she could say.
The situation was bad. Worse than anything they had expected. If Tensei truly knew their identities, then the mission was probably over. They were exposed.
Keiko slowly released his shoulder, turning away from Tatsuo and took a deep breath.
Tatsuo looked at her, waiting for an answer. Only to get nothing. She simply took out the uniform for her night shift.
"We don't know what he plans to do yet. He let you go...even after knowing everything."
Tatsuo stared at her in disbelief.
"You're still going?" He managed to get out.
Keiko adjusted her clothes. "Yes."
"But—"
She looked at him, her tired eyes didn't even show a sign of despair. "Panicking here won't change what happened."