Operation: Bring home Naruto

III. Dressed to kill

Tree.

Tree.

Tree.

Cow.

Tree.

Tree.

Horse.

Tree.

Tree.

Tree.

Mud hole.

Tree.

Man, this was soooo boring!

The steam engine rolled along the iron rails clanking and shaking past monotonous scenery much too slowly to suit Naruto Uzumaki. He wanted to be home—Now!

He'd been away from the Hidden Leaf Village for over a year. That was the longest he'd been gone since he was 12 and trained away from the village with Jiraiya for almost three years. He should have been used to being away, but it seemed like the older he got the more he missed the damned place even when he was on a short time mission. It didn't matter that he lived alone, had no family, and no close friends—there were plenty of people he cared about and missed seeing on a regular basis.

There was his old teacher Iruka Umino. He wasn't really old. He hadn't been old when he'd taught the genin classes, but he was the first older person that Naruto had looked up to. He was the first person who took an interest in Naruto, liked and encouraged him. He was the first person who ever treated him to ramen noodle dinners just because he wanted to. He was too young to be a father figure so, Naruto thought of him as he would an older brother.

There was Tsuande, the fifth Hokage with whom he enjoyed verbally sparring. Now she was old, but she didn't look it. She looked even better than the sexy jutsu he often used to befuddle his male teachers. He liked her even though he'd had hopes of being the fifth Hokage. He'd liked the third Hokage, too and even though he'd been really really old, Naruto thought he'd have plenty of time to earn the rights to the title of fifth Hokage. Now he was shooting for sixth Hokage, and made no bones about his ambitions to number five.

There were some of his fellow classmates. They'd been taught together, trained at the same time and gone through the chûnin exams together. He hadn't actually been friends with any of them, but after his three year absence they had welcomed him back by talking to him more and hanging out with him a little. He thought maybe he could be friends with some of them. He liked Kiba, Shikamaru, Lee and Choji, anyway. He wondered what they'd been up to since his absence. Bet he missed out on a lot of barbeque and pool.

Then there were a few of his teammates that he missed. First his teacher for the chûnin exams and beyond, Kakashi. He'd been mad at Kakashi for deserting him to train Sasuke, but that had actually worked out pretty well. He and Jiraiya were a good match. He'd learned more interesting jutsu stuff from Jiraiya than he probably would have from Kakashi. Plus he had the advantage of being trained by Kakashi's favorite author. He really enjoyed teasing him about the ending of the Make out Paradise trilogy which Kakashi still hadn't finished.

Last but not least, he missed Sakura Haruno, the prettiest, sexiest kunoichi he knew even counting the Hokage. By now she should no longer be pining for Sasuke so he should be able to get some quality attention from her. Just the thought of Sakura made him even more impatient to get home. Man, he couldn't wait to see what sexy ninja outfit Sakura would be wearing now.

He leaned back in his seat. No one sat beside him, so he stretched out his right leg as far as he could, crossed his left leg until left ankle met right knee, leaned back, and stacked his hands behind his head. He now felt as comfortable as he could be on the flat vinyl cushions of his train seat.

He'd been on the road (and ocean) for what seemed like forever, but had in reality only been about a week. He'd left Jiraiya not in the hospital as they'd messaged the Hokage, but heading toward a tropical island spa with a simple fractured wrist and a big yen to watch as many hotties as he could in his pretend recovery getaway. Until their mission had been accomplished, Jiraiya had been stuck in the city with little opportunity to conduct his literary research—watching semi-clothed babes. Now that the mission was completed, he'd sent Naruto back home with orders to embellish the story of his injuries to the fullest, while he took a little time off for himself. What the Hokage didn't know—the Hokage didn't need to know.

Naruto had known Jiraiya long enough not to argue. He didn't care what Jiraiya wanted to do as long as it didn't involve him. He just wanted to go home—and he especially wouldn't let a pervy sage try to stop him with a pervy vacation.

As he relaxed, he thought about everything and everybody he missed, but especially he thought about Sakura. He wondered what she'd been up to while he was gone. Did she miss him? He'd only felt a momentary feeling of guilt about taking on a mission outside of his team. Neither he nor Sakura had taken to Sai, Sasuke's replacement on their team. He was a much stranger teammate than the arrogant, aloof Sasuke had ever been. He was just plain weird. But Naruto hadn't given a single thought to how Sakura was dealing with him until now—and he was feeling a little guilty. Sakura was scary when she was mad.

He just hoped she had forgiven him for deserting her. To help that feeling along, he'd bought her a small gift from his travels—a gold, charm bracelet. Jiraiya had assured him that any woman would love it. Since Naruto had little to no experience with women, he bowed (after much argument) to Jiraiya's age and he hoped superior experience. Anyway, it was expensive so Sakura should like it, and following that logic, she should like him, too. He thought this could be just the ticket to getting her to finally agree to a date with him. He must have been the only guy from their class (except Choji and the absent Sasuke) who hadn't gone out with her yet. Maybe she was just saving the best for last.

He chuckled aloud at that thought, and settled back even more comfortably. After his initial boredom, he'd gotten so comfortable and relaxed on the train that the intense gaze of the man of average height, average weight and nondescript coloring and appearance three rows back and across the aisle watching his every move hadn't made a dent in his awareness. He was too immersed in his Sakura fantasies to notice the menacing threat too close behind him.

Hinata stood nervously on the platform awaiting Naruto's train. She'd arrived an hour early mostly because she had nothing else to do. She'd been in the city for two days following the strategy she and the Hokage (mostly the Hokage) had worked out. There had been extension preparations to make before Naruto's arrival—preparations to confuse and confound his enemies. The least of which was her personal preparations to give the impression of a fluffy, ineffectual, unconcerned girlfriend.

She tried to quell her nervousness by studying her reflection in one of the glass windows ranging the outside of the station. She tossed back her head as she'd seen Sakura do, flipped her hair and smiled at herself. Even in the weak, shadowy reflection of the clear glass, she barely recognized herself. To her it was as if some strange girl were looking back at her. It was amazing, fantastic and disorienting all at once. She wondered what Naruto would make of the change in her appearance.

She squelched her errant thoughts of Naruto. That would only make her nervous again. Instead, she thought back over the past week—a week she would never be likely to forget no matter what the final outcome.

She'd thought that the first tea party with the Hokage had been the most shocking day of her life, but there had been many more shocks to come after—from her date with Kiba to her shopping trip with the Hokage. Since she'd decided to postpone how she would deal with Kiba's misinterpretation of their evening together, she thought about the shopping trip instead.

The fifth Hokage was amazing. She'd been in awe of her before just because she was the Hokage and beautiful, but now she was in awe of her as a strategist and as simply a woman. She could fully understand Sakura and Ino accepting her as a role model and Tenten wanting to be her equal. After what she'd done to transform Hinata into a quality girlfriend, she also saw the Hokage as a miracle worker.

They hadn't begun their day by shopping. Instead, the Hokage had taken Hinata first to her favorite salon. It was bright and chic with silver chrome and glass everywhere. The Hokage had been greeted warmly upon her arrival.

"Miss Tsunade, welcome. We didn't expect to see you back so soon," the professionally coiffed, manicured, and elegantly dressed receptionist greeted her.

"Today's appointment is not for me. It's for my friend, Miss Hinata," she stepped to the side and gestured to Hinata who had been lurking slightly behind her.

"Of course, welcome Miss Hinata. How will we be serving you today?"

Hinata blushed at the attention, looked shyly down at the floor pushing her index fingers together as was her nervous habit.

"We want the works, Misaki. Manicure, pedicure, mud bath, massage, sauna, hair styling and makeover. I'll supervise the hairstyling and makeover, but if you can fit me in for a massage and sauna, I'd be very grateful."

"Let me check our schedule, but I think we'll be able to accommodate one of our favorite customers," Misaki assured her.

After that everything had moved so quickly it was almost a blur in her memory. In three hours she was clipped, buffed, beaten, rubbed, soaked, sweated, brushed and painted with incredible results. She couldn't wait to do it all over again.

Hinata had been whisked away for a manicure and pedicure first. The Hokage had decided red to be her color. She'd approved a cherry-red nail polish for both hands and feet. She was given artificial nails that could be peeled off when necessary. She hadn't realized how elegant even her small hands could look with colored nails.

Next she had a massage.

At first it had seemed to hurt. She was told she was incredibly tense. But after a few minutes of kneading to the muscles of her neck and shoulders she began to melt. It felt wonderful and when it was finished her entire body felt like jello on the insides. She definitely wanted more massages in the future.

Her next stop was the mud bath.

She was told this would be fantastic therapy for her skin and pores. At first she grimaced at the thought of being entirely covered with slick, gooey mud—it sounded a lot like a shinobi mission, but once again she was brought around. The cool, wet mud hadn't felt slimy at all. It had felt like a healing coating. Once she was out of the bath and had rinsed off the mud, her skin had felt cleaner than ever. It was a strange oxymoronic experience.

Next stop on the trip—the sauna.

She had felt very shy about the sauna until she realized that she could keep her towel wrapped around her. There were a few women who lay or sat around nude. Hinata found that rather awkward. She found it even more awkward when one of those women turned out to be the Hokage. Thankfully, the Hokage was talking to another woman and simply smiled and nodded to acknowledge Hinata's presence. That left Hinata alone to close her eyes and pretend never to have seen what every man and boy in the village had been ogling over for years. She would never tell.

The last part of her transformation was the hairstyling and makeover.

Her hairstyle itself wasn't altered significantly. They only gave her a trim, but she was shown how to wear her hair in other ways with hairpins, hair ribbons, braids and a curling iron. It was amazing how little things could change her look completely. Nothing she could use as a shinobi, but definitely things she could use on her next foray into the world of dating—and most decidedly on her undercover assignment.

For some reason, the makeover had scared her the most. Makeover was such a drastic word. It seemed to call for drastic change. She was afraid of drastic change. She didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to herself. She didn't have the self-confidence to pull off noticeable to others change.

However, in this case, makeover hadn't meant anything drastic although the results might fit that description. Even the Hokage hadn't wanted her to rely heavily on makeup. She didn't want her to look cheap. She wanted her to look classy. So she was given instructions on the use of makeup to give her subtle enhancement. She was shown how to emphasize the uniqueness of her eyes or deemphasize them if she'd rather. She was shown how to enhance her coloring and make her mouth appear lusher. The strangest thing to her was that the more subtle the effect, the more different types of colors and shades you needed to use. Nothing was applied with a broad brush. There were no large clumps of any color. Everything was drawn or stroked lightly with tiny brushes and pencils, blending and shading until even Hinata saw herself as pretty when the final results were revealed.

However, no matter what Hinata herself thought, the important thing was that the Hokage was satisfied. When they finally left the salon to do their shopping it was mid-afternoon. The saloon had provided them with lunch during treatment, so the Hokage said they wouldn't stop for any other refreshments until they were completely finished with their shopping.

She took Hinata to an exclusive dress shop she patronized, so once again the Hokage was greeted warmly and given favored client treatment. Shopping turned out not to be nearly as fun as their morning's activities. It wasn't very enjoyable taking clothes on and off and parading in front of a very exacting and critical Hokage. She must have tried on a hundred dresses before the Hokage narrowed her choices down to ten, then five, then three, then two and finally, the winner.

At the end of a grueling two hours, Hinata found herself in a cherry-red faintly white patterned silk dress with a flared skirt. It exactly matched her nail polish. It was sleeveless, with a v-neck that dipped much lower than she'd ever worn before, a gold-chained belt that accentuated the curve of her hips, and a short-sleeved, round-edged, little white jacket that was absolutely useless for warmth. The skirt fell mid-calf with a slit up one-side stopping a few inches above the knee. As she walked the shirt continuously exposed just the one leg. She found it very distracting, and when she told the Hokage as much, she'd laughed and said, "I hope so—for everyone."

Satisfied with this part of their purchase, the Hokage next had her try on shoes with the dress. There weren't as many to try on as there had been dresses, but Hinata was exhausted by the time the Hokage chose a pair of red sandals with thin red laces that tied at her ankles. There really wasn't very much to them, but they showed off her pedicure and drew attention to her tiny ankles. The Hokage liked that feature.

They left the shop with one very pleased Hokage, and one very exhausted Hinata. She'd never realized it was such hard work looking beautiful. She admired the Hokage even more for her exacting efforts.

"Let's stop for tea before we head back. I know a wonderful little shop with tables outside. I like to sit there after a long day, relax and watch the people walk by."

While they were sitting outside the Hokage's quaint, little teashop, another shocking thing happened to Hinata.

Sakura Haruno saw them and came over.

"Hokage! Hinata! What are you doing here?"

"We're having tea," the Hokage told her casually.

Sakura flushed. "I see. I'm just surprised to see the two of you together. I wouldn't have thought—that is—I'm just surprised."

"I've been introducing Hinata to the wonders of salons and shopping. She's led a very sheltered life. Would you care to join us for a cup of tea?"

Sakura quickly accepted the invitation, and then turned to stare intently at Hinata studying the makeover still enhancing her features. "You look really good, Hinata. I've never noticed before how pretty your eyes are."

"Thank you." She blushed at the attention.

"Didn't I see you at the Dragonfly the other night with Kiba Inuzuka?"

"Yes, we were there."

"Are you guys dating?"

She blushed again. "Not really. We're friends."

"Maybe we could double-date sometime. Kiba's a nice guy. He and Lee should be friends."

"Maybe," Hinata didn't want to tell her the truth. It was so surprising having Sakura act friendly towards her that she didn't want to squash everything by confessing that if they did double-date, she wanted it to be Naruto with her not Kiba.

"Great." She looked down at their packages. "What did you buy?"

Hinata looked at the Hokage for guidance. "Hinata wanted a nice dress, and asked my advice. I decided to give her more that just advice and take her to my favorite boutique."

Sakura was wide-eyed as she looked back at Hinata. Shopping with the Hokage was awesome. "Did you find something nice?"

"Yes. A red dress."

She nodded her head. "You'd look really good in red."

"She does. Red does wonderful things for her complexion," the Hokage agreed.

Hinata sat still listening to them talk about her. It was unusual, incredible and wonderful. She could get used to this.

The Hokage and Sakura continued with their girl talk until finally Sakura said, "Well, I've got some errands to run for my mother. I'd better go. I'll see you, Hinata. Good-bye ma'am," and she reluctantly left.

The Hokage laughed when Sakura was out of sight. "You've won some points with Sakura today, Hinata. This could be the beginning of a friendship—if you want it to. Now why don't you tell me about this date you had with Kiba before we get down to our strategy session."

Hinata cherished that moment when Sakura thought she was someone double-date worthy. Even if it never happened, she knew it could have happened. It was truly amazing how her circumstances in life were changing so radically with just the acceptance of one mission.

As she stood reminiscing, she smiled and relaxed looking like the pretty, carefree girl she wanted to be—only to tense again the moment the train pulled into the station.

Naruto didn't wait for the train to come to a complete stop. Nor did he bother with the steps leading down to the platform. Instead, he jumped down landing solidly on both feet. He put his hands in his pockets, and idly followed the train down the long platform, hard to miss with his bright orange jacket, ruffled sunny hair, and engaging blue eyes.

As he walked down the long platform which was a longer walk for him than most of the passengers since he hadn't waited for the train to come to a complete stop, he saw a very pretty girl in red walking towards him. She wore dark glasses and her dark hair which was pulled back with a red silk scarf swung attractively around her face as she walked. He was fascinated by the way more of her left leg was exposed as her skirt swayed with her walk. She had nice legs. He allowed his eyes to travel from figure to face. She looked vaguely familiar and yet he didn't think he'd ever seen her before. Behind the glasses, it seemed like she was looking right at him, right into his face, with a slight knowing smile on hers that widened as they drew closer. She certainly acted like she knew him.

He grinned at her just because she was pretty and he was convinced she was looking at him.

His grin seemed to rev her into action, because she suddenly ran forward and threw herself at him, her arms meeting tightly around his neck. He braced himself to stop her momentum from knocking them to the ground, withdrew his hands from his pocket and held her at the waist ready to push her away.

"Whoa," he said, and had planned to say more when he felt her warm breath and heard her soft voice in his ear.

"Pretend I'm your girlfriend," she whispered urgently.

"Wha--,' he started to protest then changed his mind, "Okay." He turned his head and lifted her up closer. Her face was still turned towards him and her lips were pursed as if she were ready to say more. With his mouth only a breath away from hers, he closed the distance covering her lips with his—and then he kissed her.