The steam in the bathroom was growing thicker, curling around Yugao's athletic frame. She took another step forward, the kunai held in a reverse grip. Water dripped from her purple hair onto her collarbone, tracing the tense muscles of her neck.
She slashed out, the blade slicing through the empty air just inches from my chest. She was tracking the slight displacement of the steam, her ANBU instincts operating on pure muscle memory.
I sighed internally. The view was spectacular, but getting gutted by a naked, highly-trained assassin wasn't on my to-do list for tonight.
As she pulled her arm back for another blind strike, I moved.
I didn't use any flashy jutsu. I just reached out and caught her wrist firmly, stopping the lethal blade dead in its tracks. My grip was like a vise, completely halting her momentum.
With my other hand, I pulled the Invisibility Cloak off my head, letting the fabric pool around my shoulders.
Yugao gasped, her dark eyes widening in sheer shock as I seemingly materialized out of thin air right in front of her.
"You're a bit jumpy for someone off the clock, neighbor," I said smoothly, flashing her a cheeky grin.
"Kenji?!" she hissed, her shock instantly boiling over into lethal fury. "You little pervert! How did you get in here?! I'm going to slit your throat and throw you in the river!"
She tried to wrench her arm free, her free hand already forming a half-seal to cast a jutsu.
"I was just making sure the neighborhood was secure," I lied effortlessly. "But I can see you've got things handled. Nice tattoos, by the way."
Her face flushed a brilliant shade of crimson, realizing I had been standing there long enough to take in every detail of her completely bare body. "I'll kill you!"
"Catch me first!"
I let go of her wrist and instantly shot a strand of sticky chakra at the bathroom ceiling. With a sharp yank, I propelled myself backward, flying out of the shattered shower enclosure. I hit the bathroom windowsill feet-first.
"Get back here!" Yugao lunged, throwing the kunai with deadly precision.
I tilted my head. The blade buried itself into the wooden window frame right next to my ear, slicing off a few strands of my hair.
"Maybe put some clothes on before you chase me!" I laughed, throwing the Invisibility Cloak back over my head. I dropped backward out the second-story window, vanishing into the night air before I even hit the grass.
I vaulted the fence and slipped back into my own bedroom, locking the window tight and drawing the blinds.
****
[Yugao's House]
Yugao stood by the open bathroom window, the cool night breeze blowing in and clearing the steam. She was gripping the windowsill so hard her knuckles were white, her chest heaving with a mix of adrenaline, exhaustion, and pure outrage.
She glared at the house next door. The lights were off. It looked completely innocent.
"That perverted brat," she gritted her teeth, reaching up to yank her kunai out of the wood.
She turned back to her bathroom, grabbing a large towel and wrapping it tightly around herself. The initial spike of murderous intent began to fade, replaced by a cold, unsettling confusion.
She walked into her bedroom and sat on the edge of the mattress, staring at the floor.
How had he done that?
She was an ANBU Captain. Her house was rigged with perimeter wards, tripwires, and subtle chakra alarms. Even in her exhausted state, her sensory perception was sharp enough to detect a Jonin trying to sneak into her yard.
But Kenji Sato—a twelve-year-old Genin—had bypassed her wards, opened a locked window, and stood mere feet away from her in a dead-silent room. She hadn't sensed a single drop of chakra from him until he physically grabbed her wrist. He had completely erased his presence.
"Was it a jutsu?" she muttered, running a hand through her damp purple hair.
She thought about her colleague, Hayate Gekko, and his signature Transparency Jutsu. It bent light and suppressed chakra, making the user nearly impossible to detect. But even Hayate left a faint trace in the air—a slight ripple, a subtle scent, a minute displacement of killing intent.
Kenji had left nothing. He was just a void until he decided to show himself.
"Does he have a stealth technique on par with Hayate's?" she wondered aloud. "No... it was better. It was absolute."
She remembered the cheeky grin on his face, completely unfazed by the fact that a lethal weapon was pressed against him. He wasn't scared. He was playing a game.
Yugao's eyes narrowed, a fierce determination replacing her exhaustion. He might be a genius, and he might have a terrifyingly good stealth technique, but he was still an arrogant kid who thought he could play peeping tom with an ANBU.
"You think you're clever, Kenji?" she whispered to the empty room, tightening the towel around her chest. "Enjoy your little victory tonight."
She stood up, her dark eyes flashing.
"Because next time we cross paths, I'm going to teach you exactly why you don't mess with a swordswoman."
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