Naruto was the first to leave Tsunade's office
Naruto was the first to leave Tsunade's office. His face was extremely serious, his eyes were stern, but yet held some warmth as Sakura turned and looked at him.
"How long do you think we have?" Sakura asked rapidly.
"I'm not sure, but knowing Sasuke he won't willingly bow down to Orochimaru's demands until he is certain that he has learned all he can from him, which, according to our last encounter, he hasn't yet," Naruto said uncharacteristically. Sakura looked at Naruto a little shocked, she had never seen Naruto this serious, maybe the three-year learning trip with Jiraiya did prove some worth.
Naruto turned to Kakashi, "Will Jiraiya be coming with us, he always knows where to go to gather information?" Kakashi looked at the blond haired boy and wondered whether he had learned anything about Jiraiya in all the time they were together, even Sakura and Sai were looking at him a bit weirdly.
"No Naruto he won't be coming with us, and Jiraiya isn't really that good at retrieving information, he always gets side tracked to strip bars and places like that." Kakashi explained.
"Yeah that's where he finds his information," Naruto said just before his eyes flashed wide with understanding, his respect for his old sensei just suddenly took a nosedive.
"Right, I want you all to stock up on the things you need for the mission, I suggest that you pack about five different sets of clothes, because the mission might take a while to complete and you don't want to smell you've just fallen into a swamp, and so that if we are seen by enemy ninja it will be harder for them to find out where we are from, you wont be wearing your headbands on this mission, it's not an official mission. Also you've got to admit that wearing the same orange suit for every mission makes it incredibly easy for the enemy to identify you and where you are from." Kakashi said pointing at Naruto's clothing.
"So will you change your clothes as well?" Naruto asked.
"Of course I will, a Konaha Jounin's uniform will be far too revealing, so I will be in normal civilian clothing as well."
Naruto chuckled to himself; Kakashi would have to remove his facemask as well, because that was renowned in the world of the Shinobi.
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Shortly after leaving the company of his team, Naruto briskly walked around the different clothing stalls on the Konaha market. Naruto giggled to himself in excitement, he had not changed anything in his wardrobe since the arms fell apart on his old jacket, and even then his image did not change too dramatically, he still basically looked the same.
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Two hours later
Naruto was till looking around the different stalls, he had discovered he had absolutely no idea what normal people his age actually wear. The third Hokage had always picked out and paid for his clothes as a child, and when he was growing up, due to him not having any parents to do it.
He was on the verge of a mental breakdown as a thought popped into his head. Ino was always the fashion queen in the academy, maybe she could help him.
All he knew was that if he did not get help he would end up looking ridiculous and suffer even more mental blows by Sakura.
Naruto left the market at full speed, heading towards Ino's mother's flower shop.
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Yamanaka florists
"Come on Ino I really need your help?" Naruto pleaded.
"Of course you do, barley any lads know anything about fashion!" Ino pointed out.
"So will you help me?" Naruto asked, desperation seeping from every syllable.
"Sorry Naruto I can't, my mother is out so I'm in charge of shop." Ino said apologetically.
"Oh, it's ok Ino, I'll just pick and choose and hope I don't get it too badly wrong." Naruto said boisterously, with his trademark smile appearing across his face.
"I'm sorry I can't help you, but why don't you ask someone else, preferably a girl." Ino mention to Naruto as he turned and left the shop.
Naruto was once again walking towards the market, without his previous enthusiasm. He looked up from his feet and noticed Hinata looking in a shop window at the latest ninja accessories, and remembered what Ino had said. Naruto hurried over to Hinata.
"Err, Hinata," Naruto said to get her attention, she physically flinched and turned to see Naruto's warm blue orbs looking directly at her, and she automatically blushed, and managed to prevent herself from losing consciousness.
"Oh Naruto what do you want," she asked in a very quiet voice just barley audible.
"Well I have to change my image for a mission, and I have absolutely no idea where to start, so I was wondering if you could help me?" Naruto asked nervously as he peered into her blushing face.
"Ohh yes, yes of course!" Hinata said rapidly and a lot louder than normal.
"Great!" Naruto said joyously, "You have no idea what this means to me Hinata, I'm hopeless when it comes to clothing."
"So what colours do you like?" Hinata asked, coming out of her shell a little bit.
"Well orange is my favourite colour, but Kakashi sensei has forbidden me from wearing any orange as it is too familiar to what I normally wear." Naruto answered.
"Well what other colours do you like?" Hinata asked, enjoying talking to Naruto so openly.
"Well I'm not to bothered about wearing any colours really, apart from pink, I don't think I could pull myself to wear something pink." Naruto said honestly. Hinata giggled as she tried to imagine Naruto dressed in pink.
"Ok then, why don't we just look around, I suppose we should find something that you like that is suitable for a mission."
"Ok then." Naruto agreed, happily allowing Hinata to take control of his image shaping.
"What about this?" Hinata said as they passed the first stall, she held up a plain white tight fit tank top. "It could serve as a good base for your new outfit, it would look really nice with a good jacket," She explained,
"It'll be a little tight don't you think?" Naruto asked looking at the top.
"Well does it really matter you've obviously got the skinny frame that could pull that type of look off," Hinata murmured as her face turned a deeper shade of scarlet.
"You think so, I've never really noticed, with me always wearing thick jackets that completely surround me." Naruto said.
"Yeah just buy it and we'll keep on looking." Hinata urged, and they set of once again.
"Oh these will be good," Hinata said as she stopped again picking up a pair of grey cargo pants with four deep and thick pockets, perfect for housing kunai and other sharp objects. "This is perfect, but a little wide around the waist, you'll need a belt." Hinata said as she stuffed the pants into Naruto's arms, her shyness towards him disintegrating by the second. She rushed of to the other side of the stall looking at the belts, picked one out and came rushing back. "How about this one?" she asked holding up a black cotton weaved belt with a bold metal buckle.
"Yeah that looks fine." Naruto said as she threw it into the increasing amount of things piling up in Naruto's arms.
"Now all we need is a jacket," She said looking around the nearby stalls. Her eyes widened and she rushed to a stall three down from where they were currently standing, and Naruto struggled to keep up with all the items he clutched in his arms.
"It's perfect!" Hinata blurted just as Naruto reached the stall. It was a black long sleeved leather jacket with three buckles that matched the buckle on his belt.
"Come on then, lets get going to your house so you can try them on and see if you like them." Hinata said confidently, her face was almost her natural skin colour, which was extremely rare around Naruto.
"Err, actually would you like to go and get some ramen first, my treat." Naruto said, he was nervous for some reason and he had no idea why.
Hinata smiled, "I'll love to." And they both walked side by side towards the ramen restaurant.
As you've probably noticed i have decided to make this fic a Naruto/Hinata paring. so what do you think, and before you start complaining, i wanted to give Hinata a little more confidence around Naruto so that the pairing could work more easily, so thats why she isnt so shy in this chapter.'
Please read and review!