Umi Kaitoma ran towards Konoha, away from the burning caravan that had been kind enough to give her transport and shelter as they moved into the land of fire. Outside of character the shadow clone of Naruto Uzumaki, reinforced with chakra to improve his rigidity and life-likeness, cursed his bad luck and of those he had been travelling with.
He had snuck out of Konoha through the gates at about midday, under the guise of a merchant, getting almost a mile from the wall before breaking his henge and creating the shadow clone. The clone took a good portion of his chakra to make, and was the product of almost three days' worth of experimentation with the shadow clone technique.
It was hardier, stronger and faster than his other clones, nothing compared to himself of course but nothing to be laughed at. The clone had then moved off to the main road on the rice country border whilst the original returned to Konoha, this time under a different guise.
Reaching his destination he had transformed into the characterised Umi, ensuring that his clothes looked muddy and well used. Another result of the experimentation was that each of Umi's clothes could be removed and not be considered part of the original clone, something that had been an obvious flaw quite early on in the development process.
She had taken less than an hour to encounter a caravan, headed towards the centre of Hi no Kuni, that would pass by Konoha on the way to their final destination. She had been instantly mothered by the head of the caravan's wife, after explaining tearfully that her family's farm had been burned by bandits, and that her father had told her to run as fast as she could and to get out of Rice country.
Umi claimed she had heard that Konoha was a safe place to live, and she really wanted to try and do something other than farming with her life. And as it would only take two days to reach Konoha, there was only the charge of one hundred Ryo to be paid, which the clone managed with the money the original had given him. With their emotions primed due to the story, and their pockets lined with her money, the caravan people saw no reason not to let her accompany them.
Things had then gone to shit, when only 10 miles from Konoha's familiar wooden walls bandits had leapt from the trees, the bandits numbers enough to quickly overwhelm the few guards the caravan had hired to defend them. The caravan leader had told her to run for Konoha and get help, and that was what she did. Umi did her best to ignore the sounds of screaming and jeering from behind her, as some of the bandits gave chase to her.
The bandits had stopped chasing about twenty minutes beforehand, probably to return to the looting and pillaging. She hated feeling weak, but the best she could do in her current capacity was go for help as fast as she could, and hope that they would be able to rescue any survivors before they were taken away somewhere horrible. The gates of Konoha came into view very quickly and as she approached she saw two chuunin who were sat in the booth by the large gates, playing some type of game.
"Help, please help! Bandits are attacking my caravan!" She yelled out to them desperately.
In an instant the chuunin were on their feet, one talking into his earpiece, and the other sprinting towards her. Strength gone, she felt her legs give out and she began to tumble to the floor, only for the Chuunin to catch her and help her back to her feet. The gates opened slightly and a squad of black clothed ninja poured out a great speed, shooting off down the road that Umi had come from, a blur to her vision.
"Ms, don't worry, you're okay now." Umi nodded, but knew she had to get the message out, otherwise it was all for naught. Forcing herself up, she managed to speak unsteadily to the one who had caught her.
"Please, bandits attacked the caravan…" The man nodded in understanding before tapping his ear in a complicated pattern.
"Do not worry miss; my men are on their way to help your caravan." He then brought out a small container of water that he raised to her mouth, pouring a little inside, which she swallowed quickly in order to soothe her parched throat.
After drinking most of what would have been inside the container, she struggled to her feet with the man's help, who helped her to the side of the road where there was a guard booth set up. Setting her down in chair, he channelled chakra into the pot on the surface top, which used seals to convert the chakra into heat energy for boiling water to serve tea.
Electric versions were available, but it was cheaper to have someone heat their water with chakra on guard duty, one of the many money saving schemes that had been implemented by the council since the Yondaime had died. After pouring a cup of hot tea, which she nursed carefully, having observed his simple heating of the water with his chakra in obvious awe.
This was more due to the fact that the original did not know that such devices existed, as opposed to Umi trying to act, they would have been so useful. Once she had taken the third sip of tea, the chuunin obviously decided that the time was right to ask some questions, before she fell asleep or got too comfortable that she lapsed into shock from what had happened today.
"I am afraid I must ask you a couple of questions now, Ms…" she replied quietly.
"Umi, Umi Kaitoma Shinobi-sama. I just wanted to come to Konoha to live quietly I swear, after mama and papa were killed…" She cut off in what she hoped was a believable moment of sorrow, and it seemed to work as the man shifted uncomfortably before continuing.
"I am sorry to hear that Umi-san, my name is Izumo and there is no need for the sama I assure you. Were your parents with you on the caravan here? Do they have your documents with them?" Umi shook her head sadly; this was where Naruto's backstories paid dividends to her entry plan.
"We had them on our small farm on the other side of the border, just inside Rice country, and that was all I knew. Papa wanted me to take over the farm when I grew up, even though I was a girl, or he wanted me to find a local boy to marry, so they could look after it instead. But then, then the bandits came, and papa was screaming for me to run, and I did, I did it all night until I reached the main road, which is where I met the caravan… It wasn't the bandits that were following me that attacked the caravan was it?" Izumo shook his head reassuringly in an attempt to sooth her, she was acting quite frantic now, as the thought that such a thing could have happened if Umi's backstory had not been entirely fictional.
"No, I highly doubt it Umi-san, they would not risk attacking a caravan in fire country for the simple reason of trying to stop you escaping, and this was just an unlucky happenstance. If you do not have your documents due to their destruction, I will call a ninja here to take you to the administration buildings, where they will ask you some more questions and create you some new documents for you to use whilst you settle here." Umi couldn't help the shocked grin that spread over her face as she hurriedly placed her tea down and ran to hug him gratefully; the plan was working better than they had thought it would.
"You mean I can stay?" Izumo nodded, smiling fondly at her reaction.
"Of course, Konoha welcomes anyone who comes with the correct intentions, and you need somewhere to stay after your horrible past. The administration boys have the last say, but I don't think they will have any objections at all." It took ten minutes for the ninja to arrive that would come and escort her to the offices, but they had flown by as Umi had jumped between worry for her caravan friends and joy for having got past the first stage of project Shadow.
Now as she walked with her escort through the streets of Konoha, she was counting down the seconds before stage two began. The signs of it were already present, with people covered in tar, feathers, paint, or a weird mixture of the three. The chuunin with her was obviously trying to ignore the sights that she was looking at, mumbling about annoying brats under his breath. Suddenly tar fell upon him from the rooftops, followed by feathers floating down to stick atop of the liquid substance. Looking up, Umi saw Naruto grinning down with two empty buckets in hand.
"Uzumaki!" The chuunin yelled, and was about to give chase when he remembered his charge, and seemed torn between his duty and his revenge on the blond haired brat. Naruto noticed this, and to sweeten the deal, decided a bit of taunting was not pushing the prank too far.
"What's the matter? Are you too chicken to come after a future Hokage! I knew I was awesome, but to be scaring chuunin like you already, you must really be pathetic…" That seemed to work, as the chuunin leapt at him with a roar, Naruto back flipping easily.
He was then off along the rooftops, running away with a cheeky grin on his face as the chuunin charged after him, the two leaving Umi alone in the supposedly unfamiliar city. Before she had to act too worried about being alone, a voice called out from behind her, causing her to jump and spin round, the clone's nerves still on edge from encountering the bandits and having to run for her life. She calmed a moment later when she saw Naruto, the original she assumed at any rate, stood there leaning against the side of the pavement she and her escort had been walking on.
"Hi there, noticed you looked a little lost, and as I've not seen you around here, are you new to Konoha?" She nodded, a little warily, the ninja who had been leading her didn't seem to like this boy, even before he had pranked him.
But at the same time the boy seemed friendly enough, and wasn't avoiding her like the plague, which the other villagers were doing. His grin increased in size and he stepped forward, bowing slightly.
"I am Naruto Uzumaki, genin level ninja, pleased to be your first friend in Konoha." This bit had not been a planned by the clone and master before meeting.
This was because they could not be entirely sure which ninja she would get as an escort, and whether the plan would be able to distract the ninja would work, to allow for Naruto to arrange the first meeting. As such, the clone had no script to work off, and had to improvise. She bowed back to him
"Umi Kaitoma Naruto-san, and yes I am new here, I was on my way to get some new documents, as mine were lost when bandits burned my parents farm…" She trailed off, her voice having gotten quieter and more downtrodden as she carried on. Naruto sensed that the clone was more than acting with her actions, and therefore reacted with genuine concern in his response.
"Did something happen to you Umi-chan? I will show you to the administration building, they can sort you out." As they walked, Umi's story came out of her quickly; the events still fresh in her mind.
Naruto's face grew stormy as they reached their destination, and he seemed to anticipate the arrival of the dozen masked and black cloaked men around him, one of which was spattered with multicoloured paint that Umi did not have to guess the origin of. One of them, obviously female with long purple hair and a mask painted to look like a cat, strode forward and held out a hand to Naruto as she spoke calmly with only the smallest hints of humour at her companion's misfortune.
"Naruto-kun, you know why we are here. Hokage-sama wants to see you to explain that, just because you have had a week off from the academy, does not mean you repaint Konoha in your favourite shades of the rainbow." The ANBU with the paint on his cloak, his mask looking like an ox, growled at this and there was a chuckle from one of the remaining ANBU, though you couldn't tell which one. Naruto nodded sombrely, his face set in stone as he reached out and grabbed the ANBU's hand.
"Good, I knew he would want to see me, and now I have my own discussion to have with him about events outside the village." He turned to face Umi, who was playing the part of confused newcomer very well.
"Well, the building in front of you is the one where you will get your documents, and I am sure I will see you around the village soon enough. If you need a hand in the future, just ask around for Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage!" And with a shake of the cat masked ninja's head, they all disappeared in a flurry of leaves leaving Umi alone once more.
She shyly looked around and slightly overawed by the whole flurry of events related to her arrival, and it was very meekly that she walked up and knocked on the large oak doors that signified the entrance to the civilian administration buildings, even more worried and unsure of her future now than she was when she had arrived to the village hidden in the leaves.