Banks are Boring

Mission details here

Sadame sat patiently and watched people as they walked in and out of the bank. Observing human beings was considered to be an interesting pastime for some, but Sadame didn't really think so, unless she was unseen, and could monitor their activities without their knowledge. Of course, there were many that would consider this to be a perverted thought from a perverted mind, but Sadame believed that her inclinations were purely academic. People always put on their best behavior when under scrutiny, but when they felt no one was watching, that was when one could actually determine their true colors.

Today, watching was the mission. It was interesting how just when Sadame thought that a particular thing could not show up as a legit shinobi mission, such a thing did. She never thought she would get paid watching people and doing little else. Some would say that it was a good job, because you did next to nothing, and got some ryo for it, but the amount paid was nothing special, so she could use the time for something more productive, such as training. Since this somehow classified as a mission, she was expected to sit through it, and as one who did not like to disappoint, that was what she was going to do.

Naturally, the bank was a rather active place, somewhat rowdy what with the number of customers that milled about and walked to and fro. It was a good thing most of them were not actively talking, as human beings liked doing, since that would eventually result in an unbearable din. People talked, but the level of noise was much better than the marketplace. Sadame idly wondered why she still found it fun going to the market, despite all the noise it promised. Maybe the lure of a good bargain overcame the self-preservative act of staying at home and avoiding it all. Come to think of it, the bank itself was a marketplace of sorts, but the transactions were a little different.

As the young Uchiha watched the bank customers, she considered that there could be a jutsu developed for this kind of mission. Perhaps a sealing technique that would record all the activities of the day, and then could be somehow played back to watch all the things that went on. Maybe one of these days, it would happen. Sadame didn’t know whether there was such technology that could monitor a certain space audio-visually, and find a way to relay it to whoever wanted to use its monitoring capabilities. She huffed. That sounded ingenious, but people would probably call it perverted again.

Her eyes focused on a man in a trench coat. He had been in the bank for quite some time, but did not seem to be doing anything at all, other than watch certain people. Surely, he couldn’t be another monitor, could he? If the bank manager had employed someone else, he would have let her know. The man leaned against a corner, his eyes scanning the bank customers. At length, he looked at her. She held his gaze, her expression more or less inscrutable, but if there was anything anybody could glean from her, it was suspicion. The man frowned and turned away, then glanced back after a while to see if the girl was still looking at him. She was. He tried ignoring her for a while, but she just sat there, focused on him. He probably was planning on doing something nefarious, which was why he looked so shady, and had not done anything of use ever since he had entered the bank. When the man saw that she was onto whatever it was he was doing, he pushed himself away from the wall, muttered something incomprehensible, fixed a hat on his head, and left the bank. Sadame shook her head slightly. People were sure strange, and yet he was acting like she was the one behaving amiss.

She ensured that he was gone, before taking her gaze off to check on other people. Occasionally, though, Sadame would glance at the door, half expecting to see him hanging around outside, but she never saw him walking in through those doors. And beyond that, there was little else that was of any incidence, as far as customers moving in and out of the bank was concerned. Learning to wait could be tasking, as it seemed a very boring thing to do, but always, she recalled her grandfather telling her how the most insignificant tasks could prove to be invaluable training for a ninja. After a relatively long wait, in her opinion, the work day was over, and it was time for customers to be on their way. Sadame took her day’s report and submitted it to the bank manager.

”So, nothing unusual happened today, I hope?” the man asked as he received the bunch of carefully written notes from the girl. ”Not really, sir. There was this one man, though, who looked just a little creepy. He was dressed in a trench coat, stood by a corner and was watching people... more or less like me, except that I don’t suppose he was in your employ?” Sadame replied.

The bank manager shook his head. ”No, he’s not employed by the bank, but I know of whom you speak. I’ve seen him every now and then. He claimed he was carrying out some... what did he call it... social project or something?”

Sadame had no idea what sort of social experiment the man was up to, but he could have always walked over to her and told her what he was up to. ”Well, today, I think I spooked him. Sort of. I stared at him, then he grumbled something, wore a hat and walked away.”

The man chuckled and gave a dismissive wave of the hand. ”Well, I don’t think he’s dangerous much... at least, he hasn’t been proven to be such. Thank you very much, Uchiha-chan. I’ll be sure to go through these reports. You’ve done a good job.”

That meant mission accomplished, and another client was happy. A happy client meant a happy Sadame.