The air was cold, with the stars illuminating the night sky. Just a week removed from being promoted to a Chuunin, Niko was still being handed work he considered was petty. Knowing his combat skill was great enough to challenge many elite opponents, operating a stakeout during the late hours of the night wasn’t what he thought was a test or showcase of his ability in a bout. Staring down at a weapon’s shop within the Market District of Konohagakure, he became quite bored, even after a few minutes.

This was his third night in a row of having to keep a vigilant eye upon the establishment. A string of burglaries had plagued the Market District recently. The shopkeeper of this ninja tool store became paranoid and requested the services of a Leaf shinobi to watch over the area and detain anyone suspected of robbing the man of his goods.


Laying down on top of the roof he used as a vantage point, Niko wondered whether the culprits of the recent thefts would turn up or not. This task was becoming another waste of time within his mental log of activities to do. He could be training in some fashion, becoming a stronger shinobi somehow. The least he could take away from this mission is the fact that he was mentally training. Practicing patience and awareness would serve a purpose down the road.

The aforementioned reasons were probably why he was assigned to this task, so his mind would be fitting of a shinobi. Unbeknownst to the officials at the Administration Building, Niko deemed himself as an already capable shinobi, mentally and physically. Very shaky in the spiritual sense, yet the Hatake would work on this aspect at some point.

Hearing a rustling noise across the street, Niko focused upon the source of the sound. A lone man emerged from the alleyway where the Chuunin was staring at. He dusted himself off and walked towards the front door of the shop. Wearing a hood and large coat, Niko couldn’t establish whom this person was. Taking out a small pin, they began to unlock the shop’s door. Was he a burglar… or someone who worked for the establishment? As the door was opened, it seemed as if Niko had to go find out for himself.

Silently dropping down onto the street, he slowly walked into the weapons store, scanning the area for the person who entered the building a half a minute before he walked in. No one seemed to be present. That person must’ve somehow seen or heard Niko and hid in order to conceal their identity. Walking silently and slowly around the store, nobody was still yet found. Deciding to take a gander at the back room, he began to walk over towards the door.

Stopping for a moment, giving a quick shout saying “Hello. Is anyone here?” to see if anyone would respond. Returning to silence, no one else responded at all to his words.

Continuing towards the back room door, Niko considered the possibility that the person in hiding was waiting for the time to strike upon him. Behind this door, someone could be waiting to deal with Niko. Only time would tell…

...and a short second or two later, his hypothesis was somewhat confirmed. A girl, not much older than Niko himself, was cowering in fear behind the door. She was trembling slightly, probably in fear of the boy who had just opened the door. She swung rampantly at the shinobi out of frustration and fear for her life, yelling at him to get away and to leave her alone.

He attempted to calm her down “Hey, relax… I’m not here to hurt you.”

Grasping her wrists to stop her from attacking him, he impulsively embraced her tightly, to make her feel safe. Calmly, he assured her of her safety “I’m not here to hurt you or steal from the shop. My name is Niko Hatake, and I am a ninja who was assigned to watch over the shop the past few nights.”

Thinking back about his recent actions, he usually never did anything of that nature to appease someone. Yet, it seemed to actually have an effect on her. She relaxed and continued to embrace him.


After a handful of moments, they let go and she introduced herself, somewhat shaken up by her previous nervousness and fear.

“Well… I’m sorry about that… my name is Yuna… I work here in the shop for my grandfather, and I came here to get something I left during my shift today.”

“Why did you come here so late? It’s dangerous for you to be waltzing around in the early morning hours.”

“I have an awkward sleeping schedule… Me and my family all work here, so one of us has to be here at all times during the open hours...”

A sudden creak of the front door put Niko on edge. He grabbed the woman and dropped down to the floor. Before she could verbally respond, he gave her a silent hand sign with his fingers. Assuming the worst, Niko didn’t want Yuna to get hurt at any cost by the possible thief.

The store sounded like it was being ransacked. Looking around the door of the back room to see what the ruckus was about, he saw two men with open bags, dumping weapons into them quickly, not caring about the noise being made. Everyone in the immediate area was probably sound asleep at this time of night, so the burglars were fine with a quick, yet loud, snatch and grab.

Nodding to Yuna slightly, he came out of the back room and stood firmly in front of the intruders.

“Who are you, kid?” one of the robbers asked.

Not responding to him, he decided to let his actions speaks volumes of exactly who he was. Dashing at the man quickly, the man erratically searched within his bag, his hand emerged with 3 kunai knives. Throwing them at Niko, hoping to incapacitate him, it would be a futile effort. Grabbing each knife, and tossing them aside as they came at him, he finally reached the man who spoke a moment earlier. Jumping slightly in air, he gave him a nice clothesline to the neck. Falling onto the ground hard, he was definitely unconscious.

His partner in crime, who seemed to be a coward, dropped his sack and rushed over to his comrade. Having a problem picking him up, it took about a half a minute to actually place him over his shoulder. Slowly walking out of the store’s door with his comrade unconscious over his shoulder, he proclaimed “We’ll be back soon, and this time we’ll bring our entire gang!”

FOUR DAYS LATER…

With this being the seventh day in a row of keeping watch over the store, Niko became accustomed to this routine. If only that bastard didn’t proclaim that he’d come to take his revenge upon the shop, then there’d be no reason to watch over the store anymore. The weapons store owner wanted to keep Niko stationed near the store for the rest of the week, just in case the burglar’s threat came true.

The past couple nights, Yuna came back to the store during the late night to check upon the store and whatever else she may have been doing in there nightly. Niko wasn’t one to pry into another’s business. Hopefully, the gang member’s threats were false, so the shop wouldn’t be harmed anymore, and that Yuna would be out of harm’s way if she potentially came once again tonight.

Recalling the way they had first encountered, Niko was a bit befuddled as to why he reacted in such a way to calm her down. Maybe, it was his instincts kicking in and reacting to the situation in what seemed the best way possible. Had the Hatake begun to go soft? He never acted so warmly to another without a large amount of time passing, except for his father. Regardless, of this, it had worked. No reason to dwell over it anymore.

Snapping back to reality, he noticed a woman strolling down the street from the west. Brown hair flowing in the cool breeze,sitting atop a head which rested upon a body with a slim figure. A simple tank top, shorts, and sandals. It was Yuna from earlier in the week, coming once again late at night to do something within the shop.

With a few minutes passing, a large commotion was heard coming from inside the store. He thought “Something bad is going on… she never acted so loudly on her own since I started to watch her family’s store.”

Niko dropped down into the street, running up to the door. Opening it quickly, he scanned the area to analyze the situation. The man who Niko had injured a few days ago held Yuna aggressively, with a kunai knife to her neck. Four other men were stand alongside him, all with weapons from the store in tow. Two of the men were filling similar looking bags from their last robbery attempt with weapons from the store. The other three looked at Niko smugly, especially the one who was holding Yuna hostage.

“So, you little bastard, you finally show up! I knew you were still assigned to watch over this damn store!” Looking down at Yuna, he continued his dialogue “We have this girl here as insurance, in case you try something funny. So, let us rob the place and beat the living shit out of you, then we’ll be on our way.”

Glaring at the man for a moment, Niko then gave a smug look at him. Once again, he remained silent, allowing his movements to tell his response to Yuna’s captor. Walking slowly to towards the burglars, he looked at Yuna and gave her a slight nod, assuring her that she would be unharmed.

Continuing to walk towards the group, Niko decided to give them a quick beating so that Yuna wouldn’t have to experience something horrible. Turning to the left, one of the men previously filling his bag up with armaments dropped it, with around 5 or 6 shuriken in hand. His affiliate across the room with a bag of his own dropped it as well, with kunai within both of his hands. At the same moment, the ninja tools darted across the room at Niko. Grasping each of the tools as they approached him, in similar fashion to the last fight inside the store, after a few moments, all of the thrown tools were within his possession.

Now with the tools to accomplish his objective in-hand, the Hatake jumped into the air to get a better view of his opponent’s bodies. He threw a couple of the shuriken rapidly at the group. Aiming for their legs, he hoped to injure, yet not seriously damage them. The four shuriken aimed at the men’s legs who assisted Yuna’s captor hit their marks. With all of them seeming to not be any type of shinobi at all, Niko deemed this bout to be decided swiftly.

Dashing at Yuna and the man holding her hostage, dropping the remaining two shuriken that were in his left palm. Using the now free hand to grab upon the right wrist of Yuna’s captor, he struggled to get the arm that controlled a kunai away from Yuna so she would remain unharmed. Quickly placing one kunai in his mouth, he dropped the others and took his now available right hand, which attempted to free Yuna from her assailant’s grasp.

After a moment of wrestling for the woman, Niko sidestepped and distanced the two. Jumping backwards with her in his possession, he slid across the shop’s floor towards the front entrance. Releasing her, he quickly stated “Go outside while I handle this guy real quick.” She followed his command without rebuttal.

Niko stood face to face with the man who had just held her hostage. Sprinting towards him, and jumping over the shop’s counter, he landed low to the ground. Rising upward along with his fist, he planted a nice punch under the chin of the robber. His cranium hit the ceiling and he fell towards the ground, once again unconscious.

Dusting off his tank top, he exited the store to make sure Yuna wasn’t shaken up “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am…”

Beginning to sob slightly, she embraced Niko tightly, looking for comfort.He decided to follow suite. Seeing as this was how she became relaxed last time around, he held her so she would feel secure. The question of whether Niko had turned into soft rang within his head for a moment, yet he tossed it aside as it didn’t matter to him. If she was being comforted and benefiting from this, that was all that really mattered.

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