Chapter Text
Shinrai knows, intellectually, that Tajima gave the order to kill any shinobi children they find, particularly any Senju children they find. If you can dwindle your competition, why wait until your competition has reached adulthood? He knows the Clan Head had even sent out squads for that purpose when the clan had the forces to spare. But the order has always been a superficial thing. It has never been his problem. His missions rarely involve him encountering any children outside a public place, so why would he bother with it?
Fate, however, obviously has it out for him.
He's running to the rendezvous point when he senses a pinprick of chakra, larger than a civilian's but smaller than an adult shinobi. It's less than a hundred meters from the rendezvous point, which means Shinrai cannot afford to not investigate it.
He has already deduced child shinobi from the size of the signature but seeing the child is another matter entirely.
Shinrai allows his sharingan to flicker to life, taking in the sight before him. The child looks so small, gazing up at him. Brown hair, fearful black eyes, and a rounded facial structure. He certainly isn’t Uchiha, which means…
Putting a finger to his lips in the universal gesture for silence, Shinrai kneels to level sight their eyes.
The child tries to put a kunai in his throat once he’s in range.
A reasonable reaction to an adult shinobi, Shinrai concedes, taking the outstretched arm and pinning the child to the forest floor by his throat. (He’s so small. His neck would snap like a twig.) “If my teammates see you, they will kill you. We’ll be away from here within the hour, so just stay here for a while, okay?”
The child nods stiffly as Shinrai lets go and moves back.
His teammates are nearing the rendezvous point. Shinrai can’t dally any longer.
“Were we followed?” Takumi asks as he arrives.
“No,” Shinrai says. He doesn’t know if the child had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if he had been spying, but the small signature is still nestled where Shinrai had left it, far out of hearing or sight, so he doubts there will be any successful spying. “You have the payment?”
Sasayaki nods, holding up a purse.
“Good,” and the three of them make their way to return to the Uchiha compound.