"You want me to WHAT!" The scream would have sounded across have the city if not for the barriers set into place. It certainly caused the old man's eardrums to ache.
He rubbed his ears gingerly. "You heard me. You're not deaf, and neither am I, so there is no need to shout," The aging sighed. He personally wasn't comfortable with this idea but the daimyo was pressing on him to do something and there was certainly more pros than cons. "Listen, I know it sounds ridiculous, But hear me out, Naruto. "
Naruto frowned, sitting down heavily. He could tell this was a serious.
"The Lightning village, Kumo, is up to something. Whatever it is our spies can't uncover the details, just that the higher ups have been planning something and are more paranoid than ever. This concerns me since we are on very tentative terms with the Kumo. However the village hidden in the Mist, which you know is secretly allied with us. But they openly have peaceful relationship with the Land of Lightning.
Now a family from the Mist village is going to the Kumo for their work. But they don't wish to take their daughter with them. She can't stay at home, since she has no relatives and they have to rent their house. I, of course, will gladly hide their daughter, but then questions will asked."
"So you want me, a boy, to undercover as a girl, just to find out if a village is up to something dangerous."
"I will not lie to you. This mission serves two purposes. The first is, as you said, to find out if the Land of Lightning is planning anything dangerous. The second is to start a sort of student exchange program. The Mizukage and I have wanted to do one for a while, but have been unable. While here, the girl, Anya, will enroll in the school here. When you go there, you will have two months before they move to join their school."
"I'm still a boy, old man."
"But your transformation and acting skills are top notch, combined with the proper seal and you'll be golden. Please, Naruto.
Naruto's mouth settled into a grim line. "Fine, I'll do it, but I am so getting paid for this."
"Of course. I'd expect no less. The family will be here around ten tomorrow morning. I'll see you then." Naruto left the office, forehead lines tight in thought.
-X-
"I really must thank you Hokage-sama, for all your willing to do for us."
"It no problem, really." He replied easily, glancing at the door. Naruto was late.
"But won't it be difficult, Hokage-sama?" the girl, Anya, spoke up. "I know from the academy that holding transformations for long periods of time is difficult, and it's even harder for a fully grown man or woman to transform into someone so small."
The old man smiled at her and said, "Trust me, dear getting smaller won't be a problem, and I have a seal that will stop the transformation from wearing off as long as the user had chakra." In fact, the Hokage couldn't help thinking, the only size problem would be that she was taller than Naruto, despite being two months younger. "I'm just wondering where he is, he's not usually late…"
"I'm here, quit whining all ready."
Naruto drawled out as he stepped through the door, closing it behind him. The family jumped, they hadn't heard the door open.
"Your late," the Hokage pointed out as Naruto yawned. "Late night?" he asked, taking a sip of Stone.
"Actually, yes, I was cleaning my house up." The aging leader nearly choked, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. He also glanced at his cup, making sure it wasn't alcohol. Catching the look Naruto scowled, "What! I clean."
"Once a year…"Was the muttered response.
"Well, I saw something you didn't. If she's staying here for a while she'll need somewhere to stay. She can't stay in my apartment, for obvious reasons, and you can't get her an apartment or hotel room of her own, cause that's going to cost money, from you or them, and people will question where it was going. So I cleaned up my house. It's free, had privacy and no one knows it's mine."
The Hokage tried to find a hole in his logic, but failed.
"Um, what's going on?" the man wanted to know.
"The old farts trying to make it look like I didn't just out think him. He's failing miserably." Naruto replied, showing his lack of authority as he sat on the edge of the Hokage's desk.
The Hokage rolled his eyes. "Anyway, now she has a place to stay, and I've already started documentation to enroll her in the academy. Anything else I've forgotten?" He asked.
Naruto frowned, thinking but it was Anya who spoke up. "If he disappears and I appear, won't that cause some suspicion?"
"Actually, we have a solution for that, "Her father said, "My wife, Ali, and I, told people we were coming here to buy supplies for the move, since they're cheaper here. We've rented our hotel room for a couple of weeks. That way they can both be seen in the village and in the academy for a couple of weeks. Hopefully no one will notice if his disappearance coincides with our departure. Though…" he hesitated.
"Yes?" the Hokage asked, sensing the problem.
"Could we perhaps speak with you alone, Hokage-sama?" His gaze slid to the children.
"Of course," the Hokage took out a pouch of money and tossed it to Naruto, who caught it easily. "I think Anya could use some new clothes to fit in, lighter ones, likely." He had noticed that all the family wore heavy clothing that would be hard on them once the days warmed up.
"Yeah, I get." The boy said carelessly. "You want me gone." He slipped of the desk and walked to the door, waving goodbye. Surprised Anya stood up, bowed and hurried after him.
"Oh, Naruto!" The boy paused before closing the door, "The usual precautions."
Now Naruto rolled his eyes, "Duh!" and slammed the door shut.
Anya's father, Gojei, spoke up. "Hokage-sama, while I respect your judgment, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this. He's just a boy himself.
The Hokage nodded slowly, "I understand your concerns, Gojei, and under normal circumstances would agree with you. But Naruto is far from normal.
"Begging your pardon, sir, I don't understand."
"Naruto is very mature for his age, much like your daughter. He also carries a very heavy past. When I briefed him, I gave him the three reasons I was sending him. On was that I had only two others with the skills for this, and they are busy. He is also to enact as part of an exchange student program and figure if the Land of lightning are planning something against us or are allies. What I did not tell him was that it also serves to get him out of the village for a while. I'm hoping that by doing so, he will relax on a way he never can here."
Ali spoke up quietly, "You "make it sound like there people out for his blood every night and he's always tense because of it."
"My dear, I'm afraid that is exactly what he often deals with and more…Anyway, unless you wish to take back the mission request, he's going." Seeing no signs of them doing he went on, "Good, now onto other matters…"
-X-
Naruto jogged down the steps to the ground floor, carefully putting the bag of money into his ninja pouch. Anya followed a couple steps behind, knowing to keep her mouth shut in such a crowded building, but feeling her curiosity building. It was only encouraged by the dark looks she saw several of the people shoot toward her guide. So instead she waited until Naruto had led her outside and into an alley way. "May I ask you a question?"
He glanced back, "Of course, just wait tell were farther in."
She blinked but followed Naruto past several twists and turns. If it wasn't for her training she would have been lost by the time the young boy stopped. "Okay, Fire away." Naruto said, studying her up and down.
"Are you really a ninja at your age? I heard there were prodigies but…"
"Nah, I'm not a ninja." Naruto interrupted her.
"What…but if you're taking a mission then you have to be a ninja. Civilians aren't allowed to do them, no matter how easy."
Naruto nodded, "Well that's true, but I'm not really taking the mission, per say, I'm simply doing the old man a favor. Of course I am getting paid…I wonder if that makes it a mission." Naruto shrugged, "Well, if anyone asks I'll tell them it's compensation for the danger I'm being placed in." he nodded decisively, smiling brightly at her decision.
Anya shook her at the boy in front of her, "If you're not a ninja, how do you plan to replace me?"
"Oh that's easy, with a simple transformation and a lot acting, anyone can do it, in theory. I just happen to have a lot of experience. I may not be a ninja yet, but I do know that skill. Speaking of which…" Naruto formed a single hand sign and a poof of smoke appeared around him. When the smoke cleared, Anya was looking at someone who could be a sister. Same skin tone and eye color. The transformed hair was shorter than hers, and darker in color, and the clothing style was totally different. She looked a bit older than Anya, but she could deal with it.
"Now I'm your older sister, Gikei, taking you shopping for new clothes."
Anya snorted at the name since the boy, no, the girl in front of her would soon be her gikei.*
So instead she followed her 'sister' out into the street and into a ninja apparel shop. It looked old and unused but Anya didn't question. A moment later she was glad. She had walked into a gold mine, clothing wise. The shopped was cramped with just about every type of clothing possible, basic gear, suits of training spandex, bandages, gloves and shoes.
An old man limped out front, and studied them for a moment. "Can I help you find anything?"
Anya shook her head, "no, we'll look around. Thank you though,"
He nodded slowly, "Just let me know if you need a certain size or color or some such thing." He slowly limped into the backroom.
Anya looked around slowly, picking several different pieces and studying them. It only took her a few minutes to realize something. "None of these have prices on them, "she remarked quietly. Of course, she thought. For such an unused store, he has to charge high to get any profit.
But Gikei leaned down in a conspirator's whisper, "I know he charges based on how much money you seem to make, and how much you're buying, not by the price of individual items. So for a Jonnin he charges high prices then charges cheap for academy students and such. He's a lot of ninja's favorite because of it, though he doesn't advertise it much.
Anya grinned and shoved two pairs of capris in a basket, both with lots of pockets. One was navy green, the other a dark grey. Then she went to look at the gloves.
In the end she bought three outfits, three long-sleeves shirts, all dull colors, and a matching vest to cover them. She also got a pair of black pants, fingerless gloves with a steel plate on the back, also matching her shirts. She ended with a smoke gray pair of sandals Gikei said most leaf shinobi wore.
And Gikei hadn't lied; the man let her off surprisingly cheap, but asked her not to spread the word of his shop. Anya agreed readily and left with two bags of stuff. Without turning she asked, "Where now?"
"Your new home," She replied easily, and started strolling through the crowds like she owned the entire street. Anya was amused to see that the people got out of her way quick, despite not having a clue who she was. Hurrying, Anya caught up as the entered a narrow alley. As they rounded a bend and got out of the eyes of the street, she saw Naruto, back to his normal self, placing a grate on the ground, uncovering a hole that led into the ground.
"The sewers?" Anya moaned. She wasn't the a very weak willed girl, but she had just bought new clothes.
"Nope" Naruto laughed, that's just a disguise.
Anya leaned over and saw he was right. It was really a tunnel, about seven feet deep, with plenty of walking room. She jumped in and Naruto followed, slamming the lid clos as he did so. Anya quickly cracked a glow stick and they made their way in silence for several minutes. On their way she saw several other tunnels join the one they were on and realized they stretched all over Konoha. When they finally climbed a ladder, Anya was surprised to find herself on the outskirts of a clearing in the forest, with a large house in the middle. Through the woods Anya could spot other, smaller cabins littered through the forest.
"Welcome, Anya," Naruto said grandly, beckoning to the area, "To the Namikaze estates."