AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.

Proofread by: Author and Kyluxia

Oh boy. This chapter had been a bit of a challenge to write and even ate into the time intended for the next chapter. Hopefully, it won't be too delayed. I am feeling much better now, thanks to those who asked. Hopefully, it won't be happening much more in the future.

Chapter 43: Team fourteen

Things turned out to be even worse than what they had imagined. As it happened, all three of the Shinobi turned out to be Chūnin, only one of them wearing their Chūnin-vest. Normally, they wouldn't have all been sent out on a simple C-rank mission together, as Genin were more ideal for such mild missions and had the benefit of a Jōnin supervising them in case something went south.

Team fourteen, however, had all moved on to Chūnin rank early in their career and had only stuck together until they all reached that rank. Taking a simple C-rank together had apparently been an intended, paid vacation of sorts for them, where they could catch up with each other on the daily, and take a break from more strenuous missions, as well as their current assignments in different areas of the Shinobi forces.

Introduced by Jiraiya, the tallest of them all, and the supposed leader of the group was a young woman by the name of Aiko. Her hair was a hazelnut brown color and cut short and a bit disheveled, giving her a fairly tomboyish look, if not for her bright, pink undershirt, visible through her mesh shirt. The boys, Hizashi and Udon looked like twins, nearly identical with their black hair, freckled faces, and huge grins. The only way to tell them apart was by their eyes, both of them had Heterochromia, only that the colors were mirrored. Hizashi had a blue iris in his right eye, and a green iris in his left eye, while the opposite was true for Udon. While no one seemed to believe them, they insistently claimed that they weren't actually related, despite looking like twins and sharing a last name. Not even Aiko seemed to know or simply refused to ruin their fun by telling anyone if they were actually serious or not.

Together, they had all revealed the offer they had gotten from Jiraiya, and how they had agreed to help him.

Apparently, while planned to be a sort of vacation, the original mission had actually required the presence of more experienced Shinobi than mere Genin, as a result of another mission taken by another team. A group of bandits had been deemed too dangerous and possibly using the services of a missing-nin. For the safety of the people in Inaho Village, the regular C-rank mission had been deemed a B-rank mission instead, bordering on A-rank, despite the low chance of actually encountering any missing-nin.

As it turned out, the warning of missing-nin had been proven to be a false alarm in the end, and they had been left with the regular C-rank mission they had expected it to eventually become. Unfortunately, they had severely underestimated how long it would take them to catch up during the mission, and the novelty of once again working together like in their Genin day's had quickly worn off, leaving them with little to do but going through the motions of their mission. Not that they were slacking off, as that would have painted a very poor picture of not just themselves, but also Konoha as a whole, which would have led to trouble for them either way, they just found themselves bored out of their mind.

As a result, Jiraiya's offer for something else to do to spice their time in Inaho Village up had been eagerly accepted, and Jiraiya had informed them of the rules. He had explained that there would be Genin in the village using the transformation technique. It would be team fourteen's job to keep an eye for them, note down when and where they noticed them, without interfering with them, while continuing to perform their regular duties.

Granted, while the likelihood was low, the possibility that this resulted in a hostile Shinobi using a henge get away undetected wasn't an impossibility, so Jiraiya had worked out a system for the three Chūnin to alert him whenever they spotted someone using a transformation technique but found themselves unable to tell who it was. Jiraiya also took on the duty of checking their notes to make sure that they aligned with Naruto's and the Haruno twin's routine that day, just to be safe.

The entire exercise and the effort Jiraiya had put into it, without them noticing was astounding, and embarrassing for the twins and Naruto. Team fourteen drew an immense amount of satisfaction from pointing out all the times they had spotted them, and even more satisfaction in pointing out all the errors they made. Although, halfway through, Sakura got over the embarrassment, and instead began listening in and taking notes of the incidental hints the more experienced team was dropping on them. Not only were there hints as to how they could improve their use of the transformation techniques and behaviors they should try to avoid or encourage while in character but there were also a lot of hints on how to spot such mistakes when looking for a transformed individual that hadn't been covered in the Academy.

One of the biggest giveaways was the fact that they had reused several of their transformations. If a transformation was tagged to be a transformation, it was that much noticeable when it appeared again. Sakura had argued that an individual appearing only once, never to be seen again was equally suspicious, which team fourteen countered by pointing out that it was a moot point if the disguise had already been seen through, especially, when the transformation had been made on the spot, showed no familiarity with any of the surrounding individuals, area or customs it was trying to blend in with. Much to Sakura's horror, they even brought up an example where she had used the same transformation wearing different clothes. Sakura and Heikō had thought it had been clever, as few Shinobi ever bothered with creating different outfits for their transformations, and it was more realistic to see a person wearing different clothes from time to time. After all, no one wore their working attire in their free time.

Apparently, this had turned out to be a poor decision in the end. Clothes told a lot more about a person than they had considered, and while their transformation of a person was something to praise, apparently the clothes they had used from time to time had been poorly created in comparison. The difference in quality had apparently been so noticeable that when combined with all the other hints, they stood out like beacons in the sea of people. Although, it was an issue that should disappear with experience and more practice. Something the Haruno twins vowed to keep working on.

However, despite how illuminating their conversation had been, the time was rapidly approaching the time for the exchange of Shinobi meant to patrol Inaho Village. However, neither Jiraiya nor team fourteen seemed to notice. When Sakura reminded them, Jiraiya confused the twins and Naruto by laughing, before explaining that it had been a ruse. While the Shinobi supposed to replace team fourteen would be arriving that day, they would be arriving closer to the afternoon, not the morning as Jiraiya had told them. Instead, they would be spending the entire time waiting for the replacement team together with team fourteen, discussing their training and exchange information, much to the horror of Naruto and the twins.

While highly informative, the embarrassing, and honestly, boring discussion didn't actually last for more than an hour. It had apparently been Jiraiya's idea of a joke, and in the end, the remaining time until noon was actually spent accompanying team fourteen on their patrol routes through Inaho village, while transformed. The reason became obvious once they ran into another Aiko patrolling. After a moment of confusion, Jiraiya signaled something to the other Aiko who then smiled, nodded, and went on her way, continuing her patrol.

"Wait, what was that?" Naruto demanded to know.

"Well, we're supposed to be patrolling right now. However, Jiraiya wanted us here with you to help you out. He offered us a way to do our job and help you three out at the same time." Aiko explained with a smile.

"Technically, we aren't doing our job, but our duties are being fulfilled, and more importantly, people are seeing us do it," Udan added.

"But, how?" Naruto asked, bewildered, which made Jiraiya chuckle.

"Naruto, you if anyone should know, how." He told him, allowing the Haruno twins to immediately realize what was going on.

"Shadow clones!" Sakura concluded out loud, drawing a nod from Jiraiya, smiles from team fourteen, and a look of understanding from Naruto.

"Oh, that makes sense. Although, I thought it was considered a Jōnin technique, aren't you three only Chūnin?" Naruto asked team fourteen.

Hizashi snickered before answering. "We never said they're our shadow clones."

Turning to look at Jiraiya, he winked at them. "I'm doing their job for them until the switch, as a favor for humoring me with you two. And just like they had notes for you two, I got plenty of notes for them as well." Jiraiya revealed, making team fourteen freeze in place for a moment, before exchanging horrified looks, and then look at Jiraiya, hoping he had been joking. All they received in response was a mischievous smirk that had Naruto and Sakura laughing, knowing that team fourteen would suffer the same treatment they had enjoyed subjecting them to.

Eventually, their time with team fourteen came to a close, as it was time to meet the replacement Shinobi. Jiraiya explained that they would be arriving sometime past noon. Depending on the team, they could arrive at noon, or if they were dragging their feet, closer to dinnertime. Either way, the actual switch with team fourteen wouldn't actually happen for another day. The team to replace them would get one day to learn anything important from team fourteen, and then accompany them for one day of patrolling, before taking over completely. Jiraiya apparently knew what team was coming to replace team fourteen, but had remained tight-lipped about it, telling them it would be better for them to see it for themselves. However, Jiraiya also expected this team to arrive late, so until they arrived, Naruto and the twins were free to do whatever, until Jiraiya sent a clone after them to meet the new team.

Considering the time, Naruto immediately suggested lunch, and Sakura was inclined to agree. Even if Naruto practically demanded that they find a place with Ramen, anything was better than giving in to Heikō's suggestion to continue practicing their male transformation technique. She was convinced that she'd manage to get it working properly with just another hour of testing, but Sakura was not willing to risk Jiraiya's shadow clone finding them playing around with that particular transformation.

As it turned out, it had even turned out to be the right choice, as Naruto was only halfway through his first bowl when Jiraiya surprised them, or rather, his promised shadow clone did.

"Oh, you're both here. Perfect. The replacement team is here, much earlier than I expected. I think they'd love to meet you." Jiraiya informed them.

"Oh, come on! I just sat down!" Naruto pointed out, showing the clone his half-full bowl, while Sakura looked down at her own bowl, which had been placed before her not even two minutes earlier. Sighing, she put her chopsticks down before turning to the clone.

"Is it that urgent? Can't we at least finish lunch first? And no, Naruto. That does not mean seven bowls of ramen. One each." Sakura insisted, glaring slightly at Naruto to stop him from protesting, which fortunately worked, as he wasn't willing to annoy them, even when it came to Ramen. Although, it might have been because they at least argued to let him finish his first bowl, rather than leave it halfway through.

Sighing, the clone nodded and gave in. "Fine, just hurry it up. I've already wasted nearly ten minutes looking for you." The clone informed them, and Sakura accepted it with a nod as she turned her attention back to her bowl of pork ramen, intending to neither rush nor drag her feet with her meal. Heikō speculated as to who they were going to meet, and why Jiraiya was so insistent on them meeting as soon as possible.

AN: A bit of a boring chapter in my own opinion, but not that bad. A bit of peer review for Naruto and the twins concerning their skills in infiltration, which honestly? Is poor in Naruto canon. Should Shinobi really walk around in broad daylight, forehead protector out in the open? Sure, their allegiance and presence remain clear to the general population, but considering how Naruto and Jiraiya seemed to travel when Naruto was considered to be in danger of being kidnapped by the Akatsuki, I feel like precautions should have been made. This is therefore something logical I think fits well into Jiraiya's intended curriculum concerning Naruto. Naturally, this doesn't seem to have been something that Naruto, as taught in canon, but you should remember that circumstances around Sakura have shifted a lot of the canon storyline out of proper alignment, and the flaps of a butterfly can have powerful consequences elsewhere. I'd consider this one of them.

Chapter 44 should be posted today as well. If not together with this chapter. If not, then just wait for a few hours, and hopefully, it'll be there with you.