Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I would be screaming my lungs out in exultation and thus die from a lack of oxygen, rendering the act of updating this crazy fanfic an unaccomplishable feat.









CHAPTER 5: A SWITCH OF VANTAGE

His teacher's hair was even messier than it normally was, something that he had thought impossible up until this point. There was also a distracted look in the Jounin's eye that immediately put Sasuke on a higher alert. Though Kakashi usually gave the impression of being a totally unreliable flake, Sasuke was one of the few who've witnessed Kakashi's skills first-hand and understood just how powerful the lazy-eyed Jounin really was.

So if something had managed to disturb him, it wasn't good sign.

"What is it?" Naruto and Sakura asked at the same time.

Correction: if the likes of Sakura and Naruto also noticed that Kakashi was disturbed, then it REALLY wasn't a good sign.

"Did you find out what place this is?" he asked his mentor.

Kakashi replied no, and continued on to say that they should probably take the clothes here in order to blend in with the local civilians. That immediately roused up a bunch of complaints from his teammates, especially Sakura, who, always having been a stickler reluctant to break the rules, found it hard to disregard the illegality of Kakashi's suggestion.

"--we need to fit in," said Kakashi in a tone that allowed no arguements. "And to do that, we'll have to take the clothes here. Think of it as 'borrowing', if it makes you feel better, but you should know that as a Shinobi, one must always be prepared to take drastic measures in drastic situations...and the first thing I noticed outside was that the clothes people wear here are drastically different."

As a Shinobi, one must be prepared to take drastic measures in drastic situations? Though it was a statement he could well agree with, the context Kakashi used it in as an attempt to justify the "borrowing" of the civilian clothes reduced the maxim's meaning down to nothingness. Though Kakashi was said to be talented in many fields of the Shinobi arts, apparently, the art of making up excuses was not one of them.

As with many times in the past, Sasuke was torn between feeling respect for Kakashi's skills and exasperation at Kakashi's absurd mannerisms.

To his left, Sakura sank to the floor with a defeated sigh, the look on her face suggesting that she was echoing Sasuke's thoughts. To his right, Naruto was whining in his loud, obnoxious voice.

"What? So are we just gonna be changing HERE?" Naruto complained, but his eyes kept darting to Sakura.

Stupid move. Sasuke thought. Sakura wasn't that imperceptive, and would probably beat the crap out of Naruto for doing that.

As he predicted, Sakura turned bright red at Naruto's lewd comment and bonked the vulgar blonde boy on the head, then proceeded to choke him mercilessly.

Sasuke sighed. When he first tumbled into the room he had taken a quick look around, scanning for signs of danger--during that cursory examination he had taken notice of a small, curtained-off section in a corner. Apparently, he was the only one out of the three to have noticed it. He opened his mouth, about to point it out, but then decided that it just wasn't worth it. Naruto and Sakura always argued, and most likely as not they'd start another arguement as soon as he ended this one.

Meanwhile, Kakashi just stood there, his calm composure regained and leaning casually against the clothes dryer they tumbled out of. That brought Sasuke's attention back to another point.

He was out there for an entire five minutes and that was all he discovered? That the people here dress differently? That can't be it. "Did you find out anything else while you were out there?" he asked Kakashi, a frown on his face.

"...No, not much..." the gray-haired man said after some hesitation.

"Hn..." It was obvious to him that Kakashi wasn't telling all he knew, and he didn't like it that the Jounin was hiding information from them like they were incompetent ninjas. He narrowed his eyes at his teacher, trying to decipher some clue to what the gray-haired man could be hiding. However, Kakashi caught his gaze and stared back at him unblinkingly, until he was forced to give up and look away.

Hn. He was grumpy to begin with when Naruto forced them all on this wild goose chase, and now Kakashi was hiding something from them and he didn't know what. It didn't help improve his mood. Not one bit.

So it was that he didn't even notice the approaching presence until it was already at the door. He was tired. He was annoyed. He was grumpy. He didn't think. The last two encounters they'd had with the people who came in from that door were not friendly. The person at the door about the step in right now had been suspiciously quiet and stealthy in their approach.

Thus, the second he registered the presence that stepped in the room, instinct took over and he flung a kunai right at the head of the shadowed figure.

She had stepped into the room to witness a sight she was sure to remember for as long as she lived.

Now, it seemed that wouldn't be very long.

Not even having enough time to get over the shock of seeing Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi (of all people!) in the Community Laundry Center (of all places!) stealing laundry (of all things!), the sharp blade flying towards her was another added shock that, combined with the previous factors, utterly paralyzed her. She couldn't move, couldn't even think, couldn't do anything other than stare horrified at the kunai seeking her life. This is it. It's over...

Kakashi barely managed to sense the intruder before Sasuke did, and thus didn't have time to prevent the boy from attacking. However, he knew the second Sasuke threw the kunai that they had made a grave mistake.

His suspicions were confirmed when they got a good look at the person who stepped in.

It was a girl, no older than eighteen from her looks, carrying a large white wicker basket. It was pretty obvious that she wasn't a foe, or even a minor threat. He saw her eyes widen in shock and felt rather than saw Sasuke curse frantically at his mistake. But the boy, having realized his blunder, did not possess the means to correct it; he wasn't that quick or that agile, not yet.

During the same moment when Sasuke had thrown the kunai, Kakashi had crouched down, tensed up against the wall behind him. Now, sure that it was an innocent civilian and not a potential enemy, he put all his speed behind him and sprung forward, hoping he could reach the poor girl in time.









A/N: WHOO! Finally! Another chapter. This one took me awhile.

Wow, people read. Thanks for those who reviewed, I wasn't expecting that. I will continue to write as long as you read....
And yeah, the shirt Sasuke was lookin' at does exist. You can find weird shirts like that worn by all different kinds of people in Japan.
On a side note...I've been studying Japanese for about two years now, so I know "something" about the language. However, I'm no way an expert so if you find any errors, please email me about it so I can correct it...doumo arigatou gozaimashita (THANKS).

Special thanks to mara-chan for reminding me of the proper Japanese spelling for neechan and niichan, and for pointing out the horribly stupid mistake I made of uploading the same chapter twice by accident. Arigataki shiawase de gozaimasu! I still can't believe I did that....