Painting Heist (4)

"Let us organize all the information into a single coherent piece."

Shino showed them the note that he had been taking during their entire conversation.

"First, we can safely assume that the painting is still hidden in this town, so we should put our focus here."

The others nodded.

"As Hinata had mentioned earlier, the master painter is an eccentric person who likes to draw everywhere he goes. This is confirmed by the populace's comments. In other words, there's a high chance that he didn't make the Kachou Fuugetsu painting in his studio, but outside.

Then, from the letter that Sir Hyoumaru had read to us, the painter had expressed the idea of 'blending' with his works. This raised my suspicion about something."

"About what?" Kiba asked.

"The answer lies in the result of your search. Kiba, reiterate the places that you have seen so far."

"Hmm... the marketplace, the park, the forest, a clearing, town hall, restaurant, temple..."

"Right."

Shino raised his hand.

"Can we think like this? In order to create a painting, the painter has to see and feel the exact same thing that he wanted to portray. When he was drawing 'flower', he went to the park. When he was drawing 'bird', he went to the forest. When he was drawing wind, he went to the clearing."

Light bulbs went off in everyone's mind.

"It didn't take him a long time to draw 'flower' and 'wind' because those things are always available. As for 'bird', he couldn't predict at what times would the flock of birds appear in the forest, so he could only rely on chance. That's why it took longer to paint than those two," Shino continued.

"B-but, w-why did he take a year for 'moon'...?"

"Probably... because he could only draw at an exact time during each month," Seki commented.

"Yes. Most likely, he could only draw during the night of the full moon."

"Then, the location of the painting...!"

Shino motioned toward the window overlooking the town. Night had fallen, and the street lamps were turned on to illuminate the encroaching darkness.

"Among the places that Kiba had gone to, there should be a place where it was dark enough to see the moon without interference from artificial lights..."

Their gazes were drawn toward a patch of darkness at the edge of the town.

"...The temple."

With that, Shino concluded his analysis.

---

"Yes, yes, the master did visit us regularly, at least once a month."

The small temple's monk greeted them warmly. The old man didn't seem to be bothered that his guests had knocked on his door late at night.

When asked about that, he just replied with a jovial laugh.

"I'm already used to it. The master also liked to visit at night. Bless his poor soul..."

"About that, did the master do anything particular in this place?"

"Hmm..." the old man rubbed his chin. "He never said anything to me. All he did was borrowing our seclusion chamber over there."

He pointed toward the tall structure near the edge of the forest, where he quickly brought them over.

"In the past, monks would seclude themselves in this place to meditate and become one with nature... but these days, young monks never bothered to do it anymore! We still keep this place cleaned up though. I'm thankful to the master for giving it some purpose."

It was a cylindrical tower with carvings of mythological beings lining up the inside wall. There were two openings on the roof where the occupants could see the sky clearly.

"This place is so dark... but at the same time, it allows you to see the moon in its full glory."

Kurenai pointed upward. Although it wasn't a full moon, the light seeping in was still beautiful to the eye.

"So? Where's the painting?"

"Your turn," Shino glanced at Kiba. "Focus your smelling here. If you find any spot with a different smell, no matter how slight, then tell us immediately."

"Got it!"

He began sniffing the ground, then the wall, then the air. The smell of moldy woods entered his nostrils, as well as the scent of the night breeze, a faint trace of turpentine, and...

"Hmm?"

He looked at the ceiling.

"What did you find?"

"There... it's faint, but I could smell fresh paint coming from that place."

Hyoumaru and Seki nodded, and then scaled the wall with a series of nimble leaps. Upon reaching the ceiling, they traced their fingers around the blackened woods until they found an elevated part. With a slight pull, the dark cloth covering it floated down to the ground, while the thing hidden inside left them in awe.

"The 'moon' painting..." Kurenai whispered.

Just like the 'wind' painting, it was a mesmerizing work of art. With the dark ceiling acting as the night sky, it was if they were looking at the real moon.

"We... we found it! Hahaha! This is great!"

Hyoumaru and Seki quickly descended back with the painting.

"To think that the master was hiding it in here... I almost had a heart attack," the old monk sighed.

"Most likely, he decided that it would be a good hiding place, considering not even the monks nowadays stayed inside for long," Shino added.

"Miss Kurenai, the painting," Hyoumaru handed the panel over to her.

"Thank you, Hyoumaru, Seki. With this, our mission is finally done."

"Heheh, should we return to Konoha, Teacher?"

"Not yet. Tomorrow, we'll process the fulfillment of the contract with our client first, and then..."

"And then?"

Kurenai winked at her pupils.

"...How about we have a party to celebrate your first C-rank mission's completion?"

---

The party ended up a bit different from Kurenai's initial plan.

They were meeting up with the client of their mission, the mayor of the town, at the painter's studio. After expressing his utmost gratitude, the mayor left the painting in Tendai's hand, with instructions to hold the exhibition as soon as the other two pieces were reclaimed.

After that, they were about to hit a restaurant when Kiba blabbered about them celebrating their first mission. His words caught Atsushi's attention, and thus Team 8's celebration party was held in the studio instead, with Tendai and the bodyguard team tagging along.

"Here, here, let's open these up!"

The disciple's complexion had recovered a lot after he caught news of the 'moon' piece being found. He brought out the rice wine from his room for Atsushi and the rest to gobble up. Anyway, his master was already gone. It would be better to use them up before they went bad.

"Aaah, I could finally breathe easy!" He sighed after downing a cup in one go.

"Rest assured, mister Tendai. We've been closing in on the murderer. He'll be caught soon, mark my word!" Atsushi joined the festivities, gulping down one cup after another.

In the meantime, the kids just sat on the side, eating the delicacies that Tendai had ordered from the restaurant. Kurenai had prohibited them from drinking, saying that they were still too young.

"Atsushi, is Yoshifumi still on the chase?"

"Yeah. The perpetrator's trails keep on leading us westward. Do you think Iwa or Suna is involved in this mess?

"We shouldn't make assumptions just yet," Kurenai replied while taking a light sip from her cup.

Agreeing with her words, Atsushi nodded vigorously, and then continued drinking.

"Mister Tendai, this amazake is really good!"

"Thank you, I've been brewing them for my master," Tendai blushed a bit, embarrassed by the sudden compliment. "Sadly, his liver didn't allow him to drink anymore. We only found out after I've started brewing them. I was thinking to just sell the finished product or drink it by myself. If it's given to you guys, who are helping master to regain his cherished work, I'm sure that he won't mind."

"Hahaha! Then, we won't hold back anymore!"

The celebration lasted until late afternoon. By that time, Atsushi's team and Kurenai had finally downed all three jars of rice wine. Although they were shinobi with exceptional alcohol tolerance, they still ended up a bit shaky on their legs.

"Then, Atsushi, I'll leave the rest to you."

"Don't worry, miss Kurenai, we'll handle it from here."

The Jonin and Chuunin shared a firm handshake before parting ways.

"How is it? Your first mission," Kurenai asked the three kids following behind her.

"Honestly, it's not as exciting as I thought," Kiba replied bluntly.

Woof! The puppy perched on top of his head barked in agreement.

"It's decent," Shino remarked.

Hinata was the only one who had stayed silent. It seemed that she was drowned in her thoughts, not paying attention to what the other was saying. When Kiba stopped moving ahead, Hinata abruptly crashed on his back.

"F-fuwee?!"

"Oi, why are you daydreaming like that?"

"N-no, it's just..." she bit her lips. "I-I feel like... I don't know... s-something just feels… wrong..."

"What's wrong?" Kiba frowned. "We've already finished the mission. Nobody got hurt in the process. Everything turned out great, right?"

"Kiba, Shino, Hinata."

There was something off with Kurenai's tone. Even though she was smiling, she gave off a tyrannical pressure that forced people to listen to her.

It was the quality of a commander. A Jonin.

"What is the seventeenth rule of a shinobi?"

"""Ma'am! A shinobi must see the hidden meanings within the hidden meanings!""""

"Good. Never forget that. Now, keep quiet and follow me."

Kurenai took her time leisurely walking the kids around the town, before stopping by their inn right as the sun was about to set. They finished checking out right after the night had fallen.

Instead of taking them back to Konoha, she took a detour toward the west gate and then told the kids to hide on the treetop. Only then did she relaxed her pressure, allowing the kids to breathe easier.

"Alright, we can talk now," she flashed them a smile. "Hinata, tell us, why are you feeling uneasy back then?"

"U-um... i-it's nothing..."

"No, I insist. Tell us."

She finally relented after getting stared down by Kurenai.

"F-From what we've heard when we asked around in the marketplace... I don't think that... mister Tendai is s-supposed to be... like that..."

""What do you mean?"" Both Kiba and Shino asked at the same time.

"U-uuu..."

Ah, she retreated back...

Kurenai chuckled seeing their antics.

"How about this. Kiba, what do you think about mister Tendai?"

"Eh?" the boy rubbed his chin while giving it some thoughts. "Well... a regular person? Just normal, I guess?"

"I see. Shino?"

"A disciple eager to see his master's final work," the Aburame responded.

"That's not wrong either. Well... Hinata was the one who had come with me to ask around the marketplace, so it's understandable that she's the first one to notice."

The boys stared at her, clearly wanting more explanation. She gave them a faint smile.

"Tendai was a hardworking disciple, true, but he's actually quite mischievous. He likes to joke around and buy unnecessary trinkets when he was out on errands. Even so, the master and disciple had a very close relationship, akin to father and son."

For a moment, Kiba and Shino had a blank look on their face.

The Tendai that they saw... was he really like that?

"And, there's one more bit of information that's only known by a few people. An old lady was praising Tendai, saying that even when he hates alcohol to the point that he will puke from the smell, he was so filial to his master that he still brew amazake in his room, where it's the dampest. All for the sake of making his master happy, since the master likes to drink after finishing his paintings."

Those words were enough to ring an alarm bell through their head.

"But, Teacher, the Tendai this afternoon is clearly a drinker!"

"Yes."

Kurenai pulled a kunai out of her pouch.

"He misinterpreted the meaning of those jars. It wasn't for mister Tendai to drink, it was solely for his master. Tendai kept brewing them even though his master has a liver problem because he knew that finishing the Kachou Fuugetsu was a celebration worthy enough to risk it. But of course, someone who had only lived with the master for a month wouldn't be able to know that."

She threw the kunai at the dark road below. The moment her kunai landed, a shadow hastily jumped out of the way.

At the same time, Kurenai and the kids jumped down from their hiding spot, blocking the shadow's path.

As their eyes adjusted to the darkness, the shadow's feature turned clearer and clearer.

It was none other than the disciple, Tendai!

"Or should I say, mister murderer?"

Facing the man's ashen face, Kurenai showed him a chilling smile.