Paradise Found

CHAPTER 3

1.   Chapter 3

A/N – Happy Friday and Jummah Mubarak, I hope you all are doing well! There's another small, teeny-weeny AN at the bottom with an explanation and translation for something, just fyi.
 
A huge thank you to those who are taking the time to review, I love you all and cherish your words~
 
(Minor cursing in this chapter, Kyohei has a potty mouth.)
 
.

.
 
Inuzuka Kyohei was bored out of his mind.
 
At first he'd felt smug that he beat out ANBU Hawk, that smug bastard of a Hyuuga, as the Hokage's preference to conduct such a sensitive mission. But now, as he repositioned himself in the tree that allowed him the perfect vantage point of the woman he was surveilling while she sold her vegetables, he was beginning to wish his teammate and rival would have been selected instead.
 
He was scowling, not that his mask allowed the twisting of his facial features to be shown to the world. It was his fifth week of trailing the woman while Hawk, Stag, and Rat watched over the Jinchuuriki on their own. At this point in time, he would have given the world to be re-assigned back to guarding the blonde-haired brat again.
 
At least the kid was amusing.
 
Kyohei was of the opinion that the trouble maker would have made a good Inuzuka. Uzumaki Naruto reminded him quite a bit of his first-cousin, Kiba.
 
The little prankster never failed to make his long shifts of guard duty pass with ease. As an ANBU member, he was not to be seen or heard, and that meant that Kyohei was granted a front-row seat to all the shenanigans that the little kid pulled on a daily basis without needing to intervene and discipline him.

It was perfect really, and Kyohei would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy watching the trouble that the boy caused. Sure, he preferred field work to a position that was basically a glorified babysitter, but he wouldn't complain.
 
He admired the little devil and his guts, to a certain extent, and he adored observing the host of the Nine-Tails drive Umino Iruka to an early grave, he had never cared for Umino in the first place. The man had a 'higher-than-thou' attitude and was only a mediocre ninja who gave self-righteous speeches about the Will of Fire and their duties and shinobi, even though all he did was play with snot-nosed brats all day. He and Iruka had gone to the academy together, and Kyohei had developed a distinct distaste for him early on.
 
So yeah, he liked watching the kid push all of Iruka's buttons until the man blew steam from his ears.
 
It was always interesting to see what new stunts Naruto would pull on any given day, and it turned a task of observation that, at times seemed quite mundane, into an everyday comedy show that he received free admission to with front row seating.
 
Of course, Kyohei regarded his work highly and realized that he had been selected for the serious task for both his skill and discretion. The seasoned Jonin and ANBU member might have been a rowdy Inuzuka to the core, but even he realized how important this guard duty was.
 
Having a Jinchuuriki within the village could always pose an extreme danger, and threats from rival villages or rogue shinobi were always prevalent. The power that resided sealed away within the belly of Uzumaki Naruto was tantamount, one that they couldn't afford to lose.
 
A village with a Jinchuuriki was a village with power, a village both feared and revered. And if they lost that power to another village, they would not only lose face, but military prowess and allies.
 
It was vital that their host was well-guarded at all times until he was powerful enough to do the job himself, but until then it meant that it was up to Kyohei and his squad to keep a keen eye on the boy, ready to strike at any threat in any given moment.

He supposed it was only natural that, as the leader of his squad, he would be chosen to trail and scrutinize this young woman who the young Jinchuuriki had become so attached to, despite her meager attempts at redirecting his affections. Not a single thing she had tried worked, only seeming to make him stick to her harder and with more determination. She had eventually given up and accepted his friendship, even if half their conversations were her berating him on his lack of manners or scolding him to eat healthier. Uzumaki didn't seem to mind, however, and continued to stick around both the woman and Umino.
 
It was like some sort of boring, sappy, slice-of-life novel. And he hated it.
 
The last week had been somewhat interesting, especially after the events that lead to Uzumaki's graduation. But that had been the highlight of it, and he hadn't even been able to get a taste of the action. He'd been stuck at his post, watching the woman drink tea and clean her apartment that night.
 
The woman was a model citizen. Proper, kind, and hard-working; though she seemed somewhat meek and a bit air-headed at times, and was quite naïve to a fault.
 
Her cooking made his mouth water, to a point where he was surprised she was not married yet. Most civilian girls married in their late teens or early twenties, the majority of the time through arranged marriages.
 
The first week or so had been interesting, as he trailed her and watched her go about her daily life. But he would be damned if this wasn't the single most boring mission he had ever taken.
 
He had watched the woman for weeks now, giving daily reports to the Hokage on all the boring tasks she performed; her boring interactions with her boring friends, selling her boring vegetables to boring civilians with that infuriatingly mild and boring smile that seemed to never leave her face. Even Kyohei could tell the smile was fake, and he was surprised she had fooled the others around her so easily.
 
But he didn't really care about her fake smiles and proper mannerisms. Kami, he was so bored.