Day Seven

Naruto woke me up with a displeased look. I think he was still upset that I woke him up late for his watch.

We set off after we cleared up the mess that was our camp and finally crossed the border. Made it to Kusa before lunch time. This round, we settled for the rations in our pack instead of risking the food in the Village.

After that we travelled a short while more before we reached the next border. The fences of Iwa were just visible from where we stood. There, we finally opened the scroll that Tsunade-sama had given us before we went on the mission.

Turned out it was not exactly a normal scouting mission. She wanted us to enter the Village instead of just prowling and observing from the outside.

We had three choices. The first was to enter as two males under either a disguise or a Henge. The second was to enter as two females. The third was to enter as a male and a female. Big difference.

After much debate, we decided on the third choice. The first was out since we did not want anyone to link our alias to two male Konoha ninjas. The second, because it was too conspicuous for two females to travel alone. And also partly I have no interest in becoming a female.

Of course Naruto protested on being assigned the female role automatically but I pointed out that at least he had done it before and so it should be no big deal to him.

I won the argument in the end. But I was not exactly pleased with the result. He insisted that since the Hokage never prepared a solid story for us to follow, he came up with one very believable story himself.

Just how is it believable? Two old man and woman travelling across countries looking for good ramen recipe? Only Naruto could think up of such things.

He even made us start the pretend a good distance away from the actual entrance of Iwa. Backs hunched and feet dragging. Our pace was so slow that we only made it to the entrance just as the sun was setting.

You have no idea how tired and exasperated I was at this time. Instead of any trepidation that the guards at the entrance would recognise us, all I had on my mind was to make it to a hotel and rest my back. Bad posture is a terrible thing.

Amazingly, the guards bought Naruto's excuse since Naruto almost launched into a discussion of ramen when one of the guards looked doubtful.

I wonder if the information of Naruto liking ramen has spread to the other Villages yet. Hopefully not. Otherwise, Iwa might link this ramen couple to Konoha's ramen loving fool.

We finally managed to make it to the inn. The innkeeper was relatively friendly and was all on helping us up the stairs but the way that his eyes keep travelling to the money pouch that was dangling on Naruto's belt, I doubt he was really just being helpful.

The room was relatively small but it was clean and it had a bathroom, so that makes up for the size. There was only one bed in the room and I swear that Naruto's eyes almost dropped out from his head. I had to refrain myself from smirking outwardly then, it would be very enjoyable to engage Naruto in a futile conversation of who-gets-the-bed-and-who-gets-the-floor tonight. Especially when I had no intention of letting either of us sleep on the floor.

We started our reconnaissance immediately, slowly trudging down the stairs and waving to the rest of the people who were living in the inn to keep up appearances.

Anyway, at least something good came out of this disguise. I had a readily available excuse for every time I reached out to hold Naruto's shoulder or elbow. He was a kind old lady and I was his husband who was just making sure that his wife does not trip and fall and injure herself. Of course Naruto made it all the more believable when he let the face of the old lady blush. The people on the street smiled at us when I did this.

After some walking and browsing in some of the small shops, we chose a restaurant that was in the centre of the busy town. There were a large number of eateries in the area but the choice was simple. From where we stood near the entrance of the place, we could already see a bunch of men sitting in one corner and judging from their mannerisms, they looked to be shinobis. That ought to be a good information source. We chose a seat near them and took up our menu as we listened to their conversation.

Since the nature of this mission is classified, there is not much details that I can actually write in here. Just know that they had a relatively loose mouth and were spewing information left, right and centre, even things that concerned the safety of their nation. I guess Iwa-nins had too much faith in their security.

That does not speak much for them, seeing that they let people like us through their gates without suspecting anything.

Naruto ordered some ramen for dinner, claiming that we must at least stick to our story of being ramen researchers. I find it amazing that he had not learnt his lesson from the ramen yesterday.

In the end, Naruto asked to speak to the chef, on the pretext of having tasted the best ramen in his life and wanting to get the recipe. I had to stop myself from hitting him when the chef who greeted us at our table led us to the kitchen.

We got the recipe and even better, we got even more information and gossips about the upcoming Chuunin exams. Naruto was surprisingly smooth and was sweet-talking the chef into giving us a lot of details, acting like the curious old lady that he looked.

Well, for once, ramen is actually useful. Just do not let Naruto hear me say that.

It was rather late when we left the restaurant and we just hung around the market place. The only people on the street were males who were returning home. There were also some Iwa-nins walking around and we discreetly observed their movements as we walked back to our own inn. They seemed far too confident in their own abilities, getting drunk and wasted on the streets.

Or maybe all these are to throw any other spies off their trail?

Well, that does not matter. As long as they are not planning a rebellion anytime soon or plotting an assassination against the kages, they are allowed to keep pretending to be weak.

That is, if they are pretending.

We were back in our room quickly enough and Naruto soon started the argument of removing his disguise. I guess he was uncomfortable with bathing and sleeping in an old woman's body. After much debate, we checked the room over for any chances of being spied upon and set up some genjutsu through the window. Just in case someone decides to look in.

Amazingly enough, Naruto never raised the argument about sharing the bed. Instead he just threw his things on it and told me not to fall asleep before he came out of the bath.

Of course I would never complain about sharing a bed with him.

Oh crap, Naruto came out of the bath and is looking at me with this amused smirk. I think I should put this journal away before he gets the idea to peek. And he better not tease me about having a girly diary.

Signing off.