What An Excellent Plan
Part 3.2

Naruto
ナルト

"The Kumo border?" Naruto scratched at the back of her head, mind whirling.
Running into Gai had been majorly embarrassing. He'd been just like Lee with Sakura. Frowning at the thought of her old friends, Naruto turned her attention to those that were already alive. Mainly Killer Bee and Yugito Nii. Whilst she had never met the latter before her death, she was quite eager to do so now. And mainly warn the two about the threat of Madara. But how to do that when they were on opposite ends of the war?

Rubbing at her chin and only half paying attention, Naruto nodded along to whatever it was her father was saying, mentally prodding at Kurama as she did so. As usual, there was a low grumble in reply, but even Kurama seemed to have picked up at the mention of Kumo.

'We'll talk shortly brat, when you've got some time alone.'

"-so meet at the gate in ten minutes, okay?"

"Of course captain. Naruto out!" Leaping up from where she'd been sat within the confines of Minato's living room, Naruto made a dash for freedom, jumping through the open window and bouncing from the window-ledge to the nearest roof. The huge grand gate's of Konoha were right in front of her and she took off, rubbing her hands against the scroll hanging from her belt. For the past two months, she'd taken to carrying her 'pack' everywhere, hidden away within the seals up on her scroll. Not only was it a massive time-saver, but convenient too. One never knew when emergency supplies would be needed.

.

Upon reaching the gates, Naruto dropped down next to the gate guard, smiling. Daikoku smiled back at her and Naruto made her way over. She remembered seeing him about the academy, and whilst she'd never personally studied under him, she'd yet to had any run ins with him either. She was completely neutral towards him.

"Hey kiddo, Naruto right?" Nodding her head, Naruto pocketed one hand and snatched up the pen in her other, giving the document that was presented to her a quick once over. The usual leaving of the village form, she didn't even need to look to sign it.

"Cheers," Naruto mused before making her way over to the nearby trees. Some of the roots had clambered above ground and were now twisting about upon one tree-base, creating a rather splendid resting spot for a Genin as small as herself. Resting both hands in her lap, clasped together, Naruto drew in a sharp breath through her nose, letting her mind slowly float deeper into the levels of unconsciousness.

.

Drip.

.

"There's something wrong brat."
Naruto frowned, blinking her eyes open to the sight of Kurama sat before her. He was very much awake compared to the previous day, in which he'd been almost completely out of it. As in, snoring dramatically loud out of it. The fox heard her thoughts but said nothing of it, instead simply snorting, his red eyes scanning the corners of her mind, as if searching out an intruder.

"What's up Kurama?"

"There has been a disturbance."
Naruto paused, blinking ever so slowly before looking over at the fox, tearing her gaze away from the direction that he'd been looking in.

"A disturbance?"

"Amongst the tailed beasts."

"Come of Kurama, you're making less sense than usual!" Dropping back onto the water and folding her arms across her chest, Naruto grimaced, looking over at the fox with her best attempt at a glare. Though secretly, worry had settled within the pit of her stomach. A disturbance could not be good, whatever it was.

.

Drip, drip.

.

The two of them sat there for a moment, Kurama attempting to sense out whatever it was that was bothering him as Naruto desperately tried to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately though, Kurama would always be the better sensor. If he was struggling to pick up the ripples of this disturbance, what chance did she have? None would be the correct answer, but it did not stop her from worrying anyway. Slowly but surely, the foxes eyes slide over to look at her, the tails flickering about behind him a sure sign of his impatience with this current predicament.

"What do you want me to do Kurama?" The fox snorted, rolling his eyes in something akin to amusement, at her helpful attitude or stupidity, she wasn't too sure. Maybe both knowing the fox.

"You can do nothing. Just keep going as you are, and I shall attempt to contact the rest of the Bijū."

.

Drip, drip, drip.

.

"Attempt?" Naruto cocked her head to one side as innocently as she possibly could, raising one eyebrow and offering up her very best smile in hopes that the Kurama would spill more beans than what he usually coughed up. By the narrowing of his eyes, the fox seemed to have caught onto what she was doing too; he laid out atop the watery surface of her mind, head resting in his paws till they were at eye-level. Staring up into the big, rounded red eyes, Naruto offered up a light grin and Kurama snorted. The force of his breath sent her pony-tails whipping back and she stumbled slightly, regardless of how much she tried not to.

"When we came back brat, for whatever reason I have not been recognised as one of the Bijū. Whether this is due to the fact there is another of myself currently resting within this time-period, or simply because I don't belong, I am not sure. Regardless, it is most certainly a problem and I am doing all I can to sort it out. Until then, there is not a lot more you can do, unless you can get your perverted god-father to start looking for any information related to the topic of time-travel."

"I'll ask him," Naruto muttered, fixing her hair before smiling at the fox. "Thanks for explaining Kurama. Good luck."

"You too brat."

Blinking wearily, it took Naruto a few minutes to realize her body was being shaken about in a rather disjointed fashion. Peeking out from beneath her eyelashes, Naruto frowned a bit when she spotted the cause of her discomfort.

"Obito? What's up?"
The raven haired boy stared back at her, eyes hidden behind the deep orange of his goggles and Naruto did her best not to smile because hey, orange. It was a sexy colour. She wasn't going to complain about her team-mates rather awesome fashion sense. Now if only they could stuff Kakashi and Minato into the colour.

"You okay Naruto? You've been out of it for ages. Kakashi even ate your ramen."

"WHAT!" Leaping to her feet, -and consequently pushing Obito from her way as she did so- Naruto rounded on her fellow team-mate, one finger pointing at him accusingly. "You didn't!"

"I was hungry and you left it. Even the wild-life could have helped themselves to it."

.

With an enraged cry, Naruto threw herself forwards, hands seeking Kakashi's slim, mask covered neck. Though there was a slight battle, Naruto's hands finally found her target and closed around it, clamped tight. The two of them hit the floor, Kakashi withering about in a feeble attempt to free himself from the choke-hold, but it was already too late. Naruto had managed to get the boy onto his back, and now she was straddling his hips, cutting off his escape route. The promise of a one-way ticket to hell was all that rested upon her face, fire-and brimstone in her eyes.

"You cough that back up! Cough it up now!"

However, her murderous rampage was cut short in the prime of it's life; Minato had grabbed a-hold of her shirt and pulled her off the silver haired boy who's skin had been taking on a rather magnificent shade of blue.

"Naru-chan, please don't try and strangle Kakashi while we're on a mission. Do it after, that way I won't have to fill out the forms."

"Okay sensei." Dropped back on her feet, Naruto mock glared at Kakashi as Obito snickered away besides her and she tried not to roll her eyes in sheer fondness of her team and their actions.
Mission failed.

"Okay team, we're heading out to Kumo. Let's go go go!"

Kakashi

カカシ

Rubbing wearily at his sure to be bruised neck, Kakashi sent Naruto's form a rather irritated glare. He was as the back of their group, acting as the scout for the rest of them, picking out whatever they could have missed. Between both himself and Minato, Naruto and Obito were bouncing from tree-top to tree-top, ideally chatting away about Obito's baby cousins. It was almost sickening.
Ninja were not suppose to have any form of emotional attachments, they ultimately compromised the mission, which would result in several different, dangerous outcomes. Which could range from the death of a client to all out war. Kakashi did not want to be associated with another traitor of Konoha, his father was one enough. If even one of his team-mates compromised the mission...

He trailed off from the thought in his head, frowning to himself before letting out a long, low breath. He honestly wasn't too sure what he would do.
Naruto was on the same level as himself even if she was a Genin. And even then, that was only because she insisted on taking the Chũnin exams with Obito. Companionship, it sickened him. Yet, he highly doubted Naruto would create a problem completing a mission, she seemed to love Konoha more than anything, what with her whole speech of wanting to be Hokage and break the cycle of hatred or whatever. Kakashi usually tuned her out 'round about then until the word training would pop up in her speech. Then he'd start paying attention.
No, Kakashi couldn't seen Naruto doing anything stupid...

.

Slowly, his eyes slid over to Obito's form, who was hoping along beside the blonde with a cheerful grin spread across his face. Now, Kakashi wasn't cold-hearted, he just didn't feel anything. Or, he felt very little. Though before Obito's attitude had irked him, through the progress he'd made in training these past two months, his gritty determination that was actually starting to amount to something, Kakashi would begrudgingly give the boy his rightly deserved props.

He was trying, - and most importantly- improving under the careful guidance of Minato-sensei, along with the albeit much less careful guidance of Naruto. He wasn't about to complain about a stronger team, but there was a part of him that was anticipating -because worrying would mean emotions came into play, and that was a no-no- a mission gone bad because of their closeness as a team.

He already had that terrible feeling that Naruto had a crush on one of them, regardless of what she'd told Gai. He'd seen grown women deny affections, when there were all sorts of tell-tale signs that they were most definitely lying through their teeth.

.

His pondering was cut short though, as Minato gave a sharp whistle. The four of them dropped onto the forest floor, Naruto crouched over like a feral cat whilst Obito just about managed to land without tumbling over. Both himself and Minato-sensei landed with the seasoned grace of a shinobi, but that was really no surprise. Naruto should have copied them, but had apparently decided to go for a bit of a flare in her landing, coiled and ready to spring the second something moved into sight.

"Camp's about a two minute walk that way, remember, we're not here to fight, but to finish helping the negotiators. We'll be a lot better off if we can get Kumo on our side."
Nodding, because war meant death of useful shinobi, Kakashi adjusted his stance into something a little more relaxed, with both his team-mates following after a moment of hesitation. Obito seemed pretty calm now if the mission jitter were to be ignored, but Naruto was a different book altogether. Whilst she looked at peace, Kakashi could see the tense coils of her muscles as she took of her coat to combat the humidity, the muscles in her back taut. Though whatever it was that was making her jumpy, Kakashi couldn't say he was too sure.

Perhaps being too close to where they were fighting? No, Naruto had already mentioned she'd been on the war-front before; that she'd seen people die before her eyes before. So it couldn't possibly be that. Killer Intent should by proxy, mean nothing to her.

"Kakashi, you okay?"
Frowning because Obito should be asking her that question instead -like Kakashi would worry for emotionally stability of others- the silver haired boy nodded curtly before turning his attention back to Minato.

.

Their blond haired sensei had made his way through the throng of tree's, holding back the rather large leaves so that the three could still see him.

"Camp's closer than I thought."

There was a low growl from in front of their sensei and Kakashi's head snapped up.

"What the hell?!" Naruto made to dash forwards, but hands closed around their sensei and suddenly the blond was pulled rather viciously away from their sight, the only evidence of a kidnapper being the evil cackle that echoed through the clearing.

.

As both Naruto and Obito armed themselves with kunai and charged, Kakashi sighed, following after them.

So, here we go. I told you this chapter would be up quicker, so I hope the lack of length to it isn't too big a pain.

.

Can't reply to reviews, on a quick run. GTG, sorry.

.

The amount of love this story is getting is insane and so unexpected and so happy I just hope I don't disappoint. Thank you all for reading,

Tsume
xxx