Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden in Plain Sight ❯ Dry-run ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: Dry-run

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Today was the fourteenth day. This was it; she had to pass Tsunade's inspection with not a hint of who she really was, otherwise not only would she get caught out and ruin her mission, but she'd have to live under the humiliation of not being able to fool her own teacher when that was the whole point.

She took a nervous breath as she made her way to the hokage tower. She was prepared for this - she would excel. Her disguise was impeccable, so long as she kept her chakra hidden. The only thing she had to be mindful of were her habits and how she spoke. Luckily Tenzou had also trained her - with his ever favorite painful reminders - to speak in a high, wispy falsetto that barely engaged her vocal chords.

Tenzou was already waiting in the hall outside Tsunade's office. He'd wait with her, just as he had with the sixteen previous candidates, and would with the next three as well. The others had no idea why they'd been summoned or been given such odd orders by Tenzou, but ANBU were trained not to ask too many questions. Not to mention they'd surely had odder assignments, even if on this one they were all advised not to speak in anything above a whisper while in the tower.

Sakura stood up straighter when she saw an ANBU operative leaving the hokage's office. (She did her best to try not to think like Sakura either; this wasn't Tsunade's office, or her shishou's, but that of Hokage-sama.) They'd all been given specific appointment times so they wouldn't all be congregating together, and the exiting operative nodded her head in greeting before continuing down the hall. Tenzou squeezed her shoulder before giving her a little push forward. She rolled her eyes but mentally thanked him for the gesture, helping to break her furiously worrying train of thought for a moment, before she entered Tsunade's office and closed the door behind her.

She made sure to keep her distance from Tsunade's desk, standing at attention just a couple of feet from the door. She studied her shishou as the woman scribbled across an expansive piece of paper; she hadn't even acknowledged Sakura's presence yet.

Sakura, however, refused to rise to the bait of letting her impatience bleed through in the form of clearing her throat or making some other noise to draw Tsunade's attention. She'd expected Tsunade would lay out some trap for her right from the get go. Sakura wasn't exactly known for her soothing demeanor and abundance of patience. After a while, though, she came to the conclusion this was starting to get just a bit excessive. The clock ticked by at a crawl and she had to suppress a natural groan when she saw she'd been standing there thirty minutes already.

Besides, ANBU were supposed to go silent and unnoticed. What kind of cover could she maintain if she couldn't even handle this?

Shizune had come and gone twice already, and when she came in a third time - and stayed for more than two minutes - Sakura got her hopes up. It was all for naught though; she went into a corner where Sakura couldn't see her, since she had to remain at attention until acknowledged by the hokage. Being that Sakura couldn't turn to look at her she had no idea what the brunette was up to. For all she knew Shizune was ignoring her altogether and doing her day-to-day job, just biding her time until the interview actually started. More likely though she'd intentionally gone into her blind spot to study her, which of course put Sakura all the more on edge.

Finally, after forty-seven minutes of waiting, she'd had enough. No one could endure being ignored that long. "You called for me, Hokage-sama?" she asked in the high falsetto meant to disguise her voice.

Tsunade snorted. "You made it longer than I thought you would, given how rigidly you were standing. In fact, it was getting so tedious doing all this paperwork that I almost ended it first."

She had to cut back the retort that immediately sprang to her lips. Regular nin weren't much given to sassing the leader of the village to her face. "So this was an exercise in patience?" she asked, hoping that her supposed confusion leaked into her voice. Since the other ANBU hadn't been given a reason for their summons, they'd have no idea what to make of the hokage's strange behavior.

"Hardly, but it's a start. Now," she continued, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands together, "let's begin."

What followed was a series of questions with no discernable connection, which made it difficult for her to follow the thread of the conversation. She hadn't realized Tsunade was so proficient at interrogation techniques, but then again she'd never been on the receiving end before - at least not while in work mode. Tsunade pried into her personal life all the time but that was different.

"What's your name?" From the glint in Tsunade's eye she knew that at least one person had given her true name, either too intimidated by the hokage to refuse or thinking that she was just supposed to, given that it was the head honcho doing the asking.

In that moment she was also extremely thankful that Tenzou had chosen her op name for her, so that there was nothing in it to give her away to Tsunade's discerning gaze.

"Moriko," she replied simply, wondering what Tsunade's reaction would be to the codename. Honestly she hadn't been sure if she, as the hokage, would ask for their names, considering she had to be pretty knowledgeable about what code names were being used. It was in her favor that most of the ANBU names - including the one she'd been assigned - got recycled.

The blonde tapped her nails on her desk and hummed. "Moriko." She mulled over the name then nodded. "Child of the forest. On point yet generic; it's a good name. I'll have to pass my regards along to Tenzou." All names, whether or not they were picked by the ANBU themselves - and many did the same as Sakura and chose to have one assigned - had to be approved. Tenzou had been working his way methodically up the hierarchy and, from what Sakura could tell, was doing quite well for himself and being depended on quite a bit. She felt oddly proud of him.

However, this was followed up by a series of questions that covered everything from math - 'What's two plus two?' - to cooking - 'How often do you bake?' - to basic survival skills - 'How can you get drinkable/potable water from the ponds and muddy streams out in the forest?' Her favorite color, weapon preferences, and even recent town gossip were all covered in the Hokage's bizarre line of questioning.

She wasn't sure if Tsunade was trying to ferret out any hidden mannerisms that she might let slip due to the supposed casualness of the situation, or whether these seemingly frivolous questions were actually giving her useful information.

She did know, however, that she was most definitely overthinking all of this, and even if it wouldn't show to her audience on her face, all shinobi were adept at picking up clues from body language. Well, maybe every shinobi but Naruto.

And then just like that it was over. "All right," Tsunade said, waving her away, "you may go."

Sakura was surprised; the interview itself hadn't even lasted fifteen minutes. And Shizune hadn't hopped in on the questioning at all, as she'd been so sure she would. Then again, she supposed that if either of them was able to identify her because of her disguise not being thorough enough, they'd be able to do so relatively quickly.

That Tsunade had been so dismissive in the end gave Sakura hope. In fact, the hokage had already returned to her paperwork - or perhaps notes on the candidates - and Sakura hadn't even left the room yet. Her heart leaped in a giddy little dance of jubilation. Maybe she'd done it. It would be a huge blow to her pride if she didn't succeed. She'd be letting everyone down - Tsunade, Shizune, Tenzou, and ultimately the whole of Konoha, not to mention herself - if she didn't pull this off.

What would come of Tsunade's faith in her if she failed? Sure, she'd demanded a lot - but that also meant she thought Sakura capable of handling the situation, and she would, couldn't, let her down.

When she left the hokage's office, shutting the door quietly behind her, she couldn't help but beam at Tenzou where he waited in the hall with the next applicant. Of course he couldn't see her smile, but he was adept enough to read her body language, and acknowledged her with a nod and a small - and dare she think it, satisfied? - smile.

Nodding in return to both him and the other operative, she raced from the tower, eager to get out of that stifling mask and back to herself.

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