Chapter 116 Break Your Own Locks

Ren arrived at the academy’s east service entrance the following evening shortly after the instructional staff had gone home.

The courtyard was quiet except for a delivery cart waiting near the exterior gate. Pakura stood nearby, watching the entrance with a critical eye. The cart carried ordinary supplies, the paperwork looked pristine, and the woman posing as the delivery driver wore a convincing contractor’s badge. She even had the daily verification phrase Kurenai had restricted to the test team.

The only thing missing was Kurenai. Ren stopped beside Pakura and looked around the quiet courtyard before asking, “Where is she?”

Pakura nodded toward the delivery cart, making Ren look at the woman beside it again.

The woman standing beside it had dull brown hair, forgettable features, and the sort of face his eyes would normally slide past without a second thought. Then she turned toward him with such a familiar irritated look that the disguise stopped fooling Ren.

Ren walked closer and took his time looking her over. “Not bad.”

“You’re supposed to be checking whether the disguise fools the guards,” Kurenai said. Even her voice had been altered enough that a stranger probably wouldn’t recognize it.

“I am checking,” Ren replied, letting his gaze linger another second. “Thoroughly.”

Pakura held the fake invoice out toward him before Kurenai could answer. “Inspect the paperwork, Ren.”

Ren accepted it with a sigh. “No one respects management anymore.”

Kurenai turned back toward the cart, but he caught the small movement at the corner of her mouth before she did.

Kurenai pushed the cart toward the entrance while Pakura moved far enough down the street to watch without influencing the guards. Ren followed at an easy pace behind the cart. His instructions for the evening had been simple: cheat whenever he saw an opportunity.

The first guard handled the delivery properly. He checked the company name against the approved list, asked Kurenai for the day’s verification phrase, examined the contractor badge, and then told her to remain outside while he went to fetch the clerk responsible for receiving the supplies.

Ren waited until the man disappeared inside before walking up to the second guard. “She’s with me,” he said, gesturing toward Kurenai and the cart. “Let her through.”

The guard hesitated, his eyes moving from Kurenai’s unfamiliar face to Ren and then toward the corridor where the other guard had disappeared. “Lord Ren, we’re supposed to confirm every late delivery first.”

Ren met the guard’s uncertain look and let the silence answer for him.

After another few seconds, the guard reached for the lock and opened the gate.

Kurenai pushed the cart through without comment. She waited until they were well down the east corridor before dropping the illusion, her brown hair darkening back to black as her real features returned.

Kurenai turned toward Ren with open satisfaction. “Congratulations. You managed to break the security system before we finished the first test.”

Ren glanced back toward the entrance. “Technically, he opened the gate.”

“On your order,” Kurenai reminded him.

Ren gave her a look. “Details.”

The guard was still standing near the entrance with an uneasy expression when Pakura came around from the adjoining corridor.

She spared him a glance before joining Ren and Kurenai. “Don’t blame him too much. Put a senior instructor in your place and he probably makes the same choice. A company manager, a village official, someone he recognizes…”

Pakura’s attention shifted toward Kurenai as the last traces of the illusion disappeared from her face. “Or someone who only looks familiar.”

Kurenai looked back toward the entrance. “Then the verification phrase isn’t the real problem. The problem is letting someone important cancel the verification phrase.”

Pakura nodded. “Exactly. If the procedure disappears whenever the right person says ‘trust me,’ then it’s decoration.”

Ren sighed when both women looked toward him. “I already dislike where this is going.”

Kurenai changed her appearance again before they reached the first interior guard. “Again. This time, don’t tell them who I’m supposed to be.”

The guard refused to answer her questions until she produced the contractor badge. Kurenai gave him an approving nod as they moved deeper into the building.

At the next station, Kurenai changed tactics. She hooked her arm through Ren’s, leaned comfortably against his side, and approached the guard as though standing beside the academy’s owner was identification enough.

“Which way is the west staff room?” Kurenai asked in her disguised voice.

The guard glanced once at Ren before pointing down the corridor. “Second turn, first door on the right.”

He never asked for her badge.

Once they rounded the corner, Kurenai let her real face return while keeping her arm linked through Ren’s. She looked up at him as Ren’s hand settled against her hip. “You’re becoming the security problem.”

“I’ve been told I’m a valuable company asset,” Ren replied.

Kurenai leaned against his side. “Those aren’t mutually exclusive.”

Pakura caught up with them a moment later and glanced once at the way Kurenai was still pressed against Ren’s side. She went straight back to the notes. “No verbal overrides. Not from senior instructors, managers, village officials, or you.”

“I own the school,” Ren protested.

Pakura looked at him as though that proved her point. “Which is why you’re the person most likely to convince a guard to ignore his instructions.”

Kurenai was already writing the change down. “I’m putting it in the manual.”

Ren looked between the two women. “This partnership has become hostile remarkably quickly.”

After two more attempts at the exterior gate, Pakura was satisfied enough to leave the remaining interior checks to Kurenai. She still had reports waiting from two of Ren’s warehouse routes, so she handed over the fake contractor paperwork and told Kurenai to put the revised override rule into use the following morning.

“If our visitor comes back, he gets to discover the changes himself,” Pakura said. “If he doesn’t, my people will keep listening for anyone asking the same kinds of questions. We don’t need his employer’s name tonight to stop making his job easy.”

Kurenai tucked the paperwork beneath her arm and told her, “I’ll run the inside route once more before we close.”

Pakura started toward the corridor, then paused when she noticed Ren’s hand still at Kurenai’s waist. Kurenai met her gaze and remained tucked against Ren’s side.

“Finish the test,” Pakura said.

“That’s the plan,” Kurenai replied, which made Pakura look directly at Ren.

“The security test.”

Ren gave her an offended look. “Your lack of faith in my professionalism is becoming insulting.”

“I’ll survive,” Pakura said as she continued down the corridor.

With Pakura gone, Ren and Kurenai took the fake paperwork through the inner corridors one final time.

At the last checkpoint, the guard checked Kurenai’s badge, demanded the phrase, and ignored Ren when he tried to wave her through.

Kurenai waited until they were around the corner before smiling. “Keep that one too.”

Kurenai changed her appearance twice more as they crossed the empty academy, testing whether the remaining guards relied on recognition or followed the new procedure. The second disguise lasted halfway down the next corridor before she dropped it and caught Ren still looking at her.

“Your entire job tonight was cheating, remember?” Kurenai asked as she continued making notes.

Ren smiled and kept walking beside her. “Professional cheating.”

“Of course.” Kurenai shook her head and added another line to the report.

She was still making notes when they reached the staff room again. Kurenai dropped the fake contractor forms onto one corner of the desk and pulled the report in front of her, while Ren stayed close enough behind her that his chest brushed her back whenever she leaned over the page.

Kurenai kept writing for several seconds before glancing over her shoulder. “You’re doing that deliberately now.”

Ren slipped an arm around her waist. “Yesterday you told me to multitask.”

Kurenai set the brush down before he could knock her hand into the wet ink. “I told you to multitask quietly.”

Ren tightened his arm around her waist. “I was quiet.”

Kurenai turned inside his hold until the backs of her thighs met the desk. She rested against the edge and looked up at him. “You keep testing how much I’ll let you get away with.”

Ren kept his hand at her waist. “And how am I doing?”

Kurenai answered by catching the front of his jacket and pulling him closer. “You haven’t reached the limit yet.”

She kissed him before he could make another joke, one hand sliding to the back of his neck while Ren’s arms closed around her waist. When he drew her tighter against him, Kurenai pressed closer in return and kept him there until he eventually broke the kiss.

“Still testing?” Ren murmured.

“Shut up,” Kurenai said, pulling him straight back into another kiss.

She shoved his jacket from his shoulders between kisses, only for one sleeve to catch around his wrist. Ren laughed quietly against her mouth while Kurenai yanked it free and dropped the jacket beside the desk before dragging him back toward her.

Ren’s hands slid up her sides as they kissed again, one briefly cupping her breast through her top before moving lower. Kurenai pressed into the touch, then caught his wrist and guided his hand toward her hip when she wanted him somewhere else.

Ren’s hand slipped higher beneath her skirt, his fingers rubbing over her pussy through the thin fabric between them. Whatever answer Kurenai had prepared died in her throat, and her fingers tightened at the back of his neck when he pressed harder.

Ren watched the change in her expression and smiled. “And now?”

Kurenai stared at him for a moment before dragging him into another kiss. ” Now the report can wait,” she said against his mouth, shifting closer to the edge of the desk as Ren continued touching her, slipping his fingers beneath the fabric and rubbing over her wet pussy until he found her clit.

Kurenai hooked one leg behind his waist, breathing harder against his mouth as his fingers worked over the sensitive spot. Kurenai let him continue for a little longer before catching his wrist and pulling his hand away. Her other hand went straight to his belt.

Kurenai opened Ren’s belt herself and pushed his pants down far enough to free his cock. She shifted closer to the edge of the desk, pulled her underwear aside with one hand, and caught the front of his shirt with the other before drawing him between her thighs.

The head of his cock pressed against her wet pussy before Ren pushed slowly inside. Kurenai’s breath caught against his shoulder as he entered her, her fingers tightening sharply in his shirt until he stopped partway and looked at her.

“Why did you stop?” Kurenai asked, already tightening the leg around his waist.

“Checking,” Ren said.

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m fine. And if you start treating me like glass now, I’m throwing you through that window.”

Ren actually glanced toward it, earning an irritated look before Kurenai caught the back of his neck and kissed him again. She pulled him closer at the same time, taking the rest of his cock inside before he could make another comment.

The desk creaked when Ren began moving. Kurenai glanced down at the wood beneath her. “If you break academy property, you’re paying for—”

Ren drove into her harder before she finished. The warning broke into a sharp gasp, and Kurenai recovered just long enough to glare at him.

“You did that on purpose,” she accused.

“Prove it,” Ren replied, which earned him another hard pull on his hair.

Kurenai matched his pace, tightening her leg around his waist and moving against every thrust.

The report beneath her elbow slid farther across the desk as their rhythm grew rougher, and when Ren tried teasing her again, Kurenai dragged him into a kiss until he stopped talking.

Their breathing filled the otherwise empty room along with the repeated scrape of the desk against the floor. Kurenai still tried to mutter something about charging him for damaged furniture, but another thrust cut the complaint short and left her gripping his shoulders instead.

Kurenai’s breathing broke into short gasps as her thighs tightened around him. The hand tangled in Ren’s hair loosened its grip and settled at the back of his neck, holding him close.

Her pussy clenched hard around his cock when she came. Kurenai buried her face against his shoulder and held onto him through the contractions, breathing roughly against his neck until they eased.

Ren kept moving through the last of them before his rhythm broke as well. A few thrusts later, he pulled Kurenai tightly against him and came inside her, remaining pressed against her until both of them went still.

After a moment, Kurenai leaned back and looked down at the desk beneath her.

Kurenai fixed her underwear and smoothed her skirt back into place while Ren pulled his pants up and fastened his belt. He retrieved the jacket Kurenai had dropped beside the desk earlier as she ran her fingers through her hair, then she pressed one hand against the desk and felt one of its legs shift slightly.

Ren looked down at it. “It survived.”

“Barely.” Kurenai pressed against it once more and watched the leg shift. “If that breaks tomorrow, you’re paying for it.”

Ren stared at her. “I already paid for the desk.”

“Then you’ll have experience doing it again,” Kurenai replied with a small smile as she slid off the edge and reached for the security sheet they had shoved aside earlier.

She picked up the brush and started another line beneath the existing rules. Ren watched for several seconds before asking, “You’re seriously doing paperwork now?”

“You broke my security three times tonight. Yes, I’m doing paperwork,” Kurenai said without looking up.

At the bottom of the page she added: No verbal access override. Even from the owner.

Ren leaned over her shoulder, read it, and frowned. “You added me specifically.”

“And underlined it,” Kurenai said as she signed the bottom of the page.

They left the staff room together a few minutes later. At the exterior gate, one of Ren’s evening messengers was waiting for them in the cool night air.

The man stepped forward. “Lord Ren, Itachi asked you to come by the compound when you return. He said someone made a request through the wrong chain.”

Ren’s hand went still against Kurenai’s back.

She glanced at him. “Wrong chain?”

“Apparently,” Ren said, looking down the street toward the Uchiha compound.

Kurenai looked back at the academy once. “Busy week.”

Ren snorted and started toward the compound. “Very.”

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