Well, I'd have to say I'm very happy with the reviews I got for chapter 18.
Not too many of you like the new story twist I threw in. I know you all
think it's overused, and cliché and all those other horrible words, but I
figure if I can pull this off without you hating it... maybe I can pull off
the rest of the fic, too. Please bear with me, and point out anywhere you
think I'm screwing up. Trust me, those reviews saying "How the hell is she
going to pull this one off?!" was exactly the challenge I needed to find a
way to pick this story up. I took into account that a lot of you didn't
like the direction I was taking and I'm honoured that you think my writing
skills are above that (even if you're probably wrong... I'm not gonna
complain) I couldn't see any other way to get the desired effects in this
story...
To Alriadne (and everyone else) this section is NOT about how Sasuke reacts to Naruto's new... circumstances. Personally, I could care less about the lying son-of-a-b... anywho... I'm more interested Naruto's character development... and how it ends, cause it leads into other things... and I promise... *thinks for a second* most if not ALL the rest of the fic is ORIGINALLY MINE!!! But you never can tell these days.
Chapter Title: 19. Shiya-chan, A New Point of View!
Tsunade and Naruto waited patiently on the top of the tower... Tsunade patiently, Naruto... wasn't patient at all, she'd started to pace. She wasn't comfortable waiting for her sensei out in the open, and her present gender problem wasn't helping much either. Not to mention Kakashi's habit of being late all the time. Tsunade sat on the ledge and sighed exasperatedly as she watched the girl walk back and forth.
"Must you pace?" She asked. The blond girl stopped and shot her a withering glare, but didn't reply. Tsunade sighed again. "We're going to go shopping after Kakashi gets here, okay?"
"Hai, demo.I don't have much money left over from the missions." She stopped and looked to the Hokage.
"That's okay, think of it as my personal gift for you defeating Orochimaru." The young blonde shuddered in memory. She still didn't like thinking of the day the Kitsune almost broke the seal.
"Fine, then." Naruto had given up refusing Tsunade's help a long time ago. It just wasn't worth the hassle. The Hokage seemed to have had over 50 years worth of stubbornness worked up, and he blamed it on her obsession with gambling.
"Ohayo, Tsunade-hime." A voice sounded from behind them. "Naruto-chan." The girl turned around at the obvious smile in his tone and bit her tongue to keep from retorting rudely. The teacher came up to them looking both amused with her newfound predicament and annoyed at her earlier pranks.
"Ohayo, Kakashi-sensei." She mumbled, biting her tongue. She knew she had no right to berate her sensei for his lateness after the pranks she pulled on him in the morning, but she still wanted to hurt someone for the 'Naruto- chan' bit.. Tsunade stood up and went up to meet him.
"Hai, morning, Kakashi-san. Thank you for coming so quickly. That is for Naruto over here." She nodded to the piece of cloth in the silver-haired jounin's hands. "He's been sealed in his jutsu for a little while, no longer than a month and that should be enough to keep her identity a secret, while she completes her missions." Kakashi nodded and handed the young girl one of his facemasks that had been lucky to escape from Naruto's pranks. Naruto took it reluctantly, holding it up with her nails and keeping it as far from her body as possible.
"Ew... why do I need to wear such a ratty old thing?" She looked to the Hokage for an explanation.
"You need to hide your whiskers, ne?"
"Hai, but how can you be so sure this wasn't just lying behind some couch beside an old ramen cup?!" She protested. Tsunade rolled her eyes.
"That would be where you would find it in YOUR house, Naruto-chan."
Growling under her breath, she pulled the fabric over her head and made sure it was in place in a similar fashion to Kakashi's.
"How do you breathe in this thing?" She growled under her breath, but Kakashi ignored her veiled insults. Tsunade smirked and untied Naruto's hitai-ate.
"Here, put this around your waist like that Yamanaka girl." Naruto looked up at her like she had three heads.
"Why?"
"Because we're going to get you new clothes and if you want to keep some of the effects of that jutsu, you're going to have to show a little midriff, and that means using something to cover up the seal, ne?" The young blond narrowed her eyes and pulled her shirt up just to be sure and frowned when she found that Tsunade was right. The jutsu did nothing to hide her seal, which seemed to remain on her skin as evidence of the chakra that had been used for both the jutsu and the seal.
"Fine." She sighed and wrapped the protector around her waist. "Is that it?" She was starting to get a little frustrated.
"Hai!" Tsunade crowed cheerfully. Naruto glared at her and mumbled under her breath about the emergence of her sadistic side.
Kakashi held up his hand to stop them. "Chotto... what about a name?"
"What about it?"
"You don't honestly expect to get away with living as 'Naruto' for the next how-ever-many weeks, do you?" Naruto frowned again. She'd been doing a lot of that, lately. "Don't you plan on staying with team 7 and completing missions with us?"
"Well, then... how about... Naru-KO!" She proudly exclaimed. Kakashi smiled patronizingly at the girl.
"No."
"Nani yo?! Why not?!"
"It's even stupider than keeping the name Naruto. If Sasuke and Sakura can't figure out who you are from that name alone, then they deserve to be fooled." She folded her arms across her chest and huffed.
"Ne, how about something like the name of your favourite colour, or food?" Tsunade offered. Kakashi grimaced, wondering if the Hokage even knew what she was asking.
"Ramen?" He snickered. Tsunade looked at him confused, before realising what she'd just suggested. She shrugged her shoulders and tapped her chin trying to think of another idea.
"Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. The silver-haired jounin looked at him, confused.
"Yes?"
"No! I mean make up a name from someone else's name!" Kakashi nodded for him to go on. "Well, how 'bout my three sensei."
"Iruka, Kakashi and Jiraiya?"
"Hai! I.Ka.Ji... Ikaji!"
"No." His present sensei blurted almost immediately. Naruto blinked in surprise before growling under her breath.
"WHY NOT?!" She yelled, clenching her hands into fists. When she got no reply, she tried another name.
"Ru... Ka... Ra?" Tsunade sat down on the ledge and her expression mirrored the jounin's. Terrifically unimpressed.
"Iie." Tsunade chuckled under her breath, attracting both sets of eyes. "Why don't we just leave her with Naruko?" She offered. "If Sasuke and Sakura don't figure out who she is from that name then they deserve to be tricked by the jutsu." Naruto frowned at her mocking tone, but kept trying.
"Kashii?" Kakashi laughed.
"Those don't even sound like real names, much less girls' names. Try the last syllables in each of our names; it might sound a little better."
"Ka... Shi... Ya? Kashiya?" He nodded and looked to Tsunade for her approval. She smiled fondly.
"I like it." She agreed. 'Kashiya' sighed in relief.
"Ne, Shiya-chan, if you're going to do shopping, you better hurry. We're supposed to have a mission later in the afternoon." The silver-haired man turned to leave.
"Don't call me Shiya-chan." Kashiya snapped, but Tsunade put her hand on the girl's shoulder to calm her down.
"Well he can't very well go around calling you Shiya-kun." The young girl's shoulders sagged dejectedly under the woman's palm. She knew they were both right, it was just annoying that they had to be right so often.
"SO now that you have a new name, Shiya-chan, you need some new clothes." Shiya looked up, and grinned. She figured that with an entirely new identity she could do some major payback for Sasuke's all-too-convincing rendition of Naruto's specialty. She nodded before something else dawned on her.
"I'm Kashiya now, ne?" She asked tentatively. The Hokage nodded. "Not Naruto?"
"Of course you're still Naruto, it's just to everyone else you're a new person." The young blonde's eyes lit up at that revelation. She had an entirely fresh start. No one would look down on her. No one would treat her any differently because of the Kitsune. She slapped a large goofy grin on her face and hugged Tsunade tightly. Suddenly, she had the freedom she'd always dreamed of.
***
Throughout the entire village, Shiya noticed not a single person gave her a second glance, much less the barely concealed glares Naruto had always been used to. Some of the common villagers even smiled at her as she passed. Maybe life stuck in Oiroke no Jutsu wouldn't be as bad as she'd originally thought.
"Konnichiwa, Konohamaru-kun!" Tsunade greeted, the boy just as he was running by. Shiya froze in her steps, but the boy merely looked up and offered a smile and kept going as if nothing were out of the ordinary. He didn't even mention the girl's presence. Even Ebisu, who they met seconds later (chasing after the young boy), had forgotten about Naruto's current condition. No doubt, he thought it would only last for a couple of hours and nothing more.
When they got to the dressmaker's little hut, Tsunade knocked twice before opening the door. The little shop was cluttered with all sorts of sewing needles and zippers and pieces of unused mesh. Even the little register was buried under bolts of green and blue fabric. The tiny bells on the door sounded merrily as the door shut behind them.
"Tsunade-sama!" The dressmaker exclaimed, appearing at their side almost immediately and ushered them inside. Shiya shrunk back, knowing this woman had usually been one of the angrier villagers when Naruto used to wander the streets, but she just smiled fondly at her. "What can I do for you two today?" Tsunade nudged the nervous girl forward. Now that there was no one around her, she became self-conscious, and the mirrors didn't help.
"This is my... ano... niece, Shiya-chan." She said, introducing the girl. "Could you help us with a suitable outfit? I was thinking something conservative, but accentuated her best features." She grinned. The woman nodded and began rummaging through her drawers and shelves for the perfect fabrics.
"Colour?" She asked, and Shiya almost giggled seeing the small woman burying herself under pounds of multicoloured fabrics, but slapped a hand across her mouth just before the sound could escape. Naruto had never giggled before in his life. She shuddered at the thought, and kept watching the woman looking through the piles.
"Ano... her eyes are a beautiful sky-blue. Why not a slightly darker shade to bring them out a bit more?" Tsunade offered. The woman peeked out her head and gave Shiya another head-to-toe glance before nodding in agreement.
"Hai, if her hair had been any other colour it might not have worked. Good call, Hokage-sama!" She smiled and disappeared again. Shiya blinked, not entirely understanding the problem with colours. Women never ceased to confuse him completely, and the broad grin on Tsunade's face only seemed to make Shiya ever the more edgy about the whole new outfit thing.
***
By the time Tsunade had finally finished with the store, they had enough clothing to last Shiya for a good couple of years, something she was hoping, no *praying* wasn't a precaution and just Tsunade's money habits. The Hokage had gotten her a normal outfit to wear on the missions, but kept having to smack the girl's hand for trying to pull the shirt down to cover her stomach. The navy skin-tight shirt bore her entire midriff and left her shoulders bare. Kakashi's facemask was so similar in colour that it appeared to be attached to the shirt. The shirt alone wouldn't have been much of a problem for her, except the moment she pulled them on, she could have sworn her shorts were exactly the same as Sasuke's, only dark blue. The idea of wearing Sasuke's shorts; along with the too tight, too small top; and the arm-bands that looked similar to Ino's (Naruto had always wanted to try them out), made her slightly self-conscious.
When she tried to bring it up with Tsunade, the woman merely brushed it off and said it was a good thing and it would help her remember who she was. She was no longer Naruto in body, but a finely dressed young woman.
"I'll make sure your clothes get back to your apartment, if you want to go ahead and meet with Kakashi, early before your mission. He should be by the bridge." Shiya nodded and left Tsunade with all of her bags, walking slowly to the other side of the shops. She could have sworn it would give him a great excuse for being late.
***
When Shiya showed up at the bridge, her sensei was no where to be seen, no surprise. She pulled herself up to sit on the bridge's railing, and slouched over in a big sigh. She rested her elbows on her knees and cupped her chin in her hands, getting comfortable. She didn't have to wait as long as she thought, as she felt a presence beside her.
"Girls don't normally sit in such a masculine pose." Kakashi stated. Shiya turned her head to find her sensei crouched beside her on the railing. "They usually keep their legs closed. Men might see it as an invitation to 'other' things." He grinned lecherously, beneath his mask.
"HENTAI!!" She screamed, jumping backwards and snapping her knees together. "Why are you late!!?" He jumped gracefully to the wooden planks and thought to himself for a moment.
"I was helping carve the third Hokage's head into the Hokage Mountain."
"Usotsuki." She growled under her breath. "Are you late on purpose just so you can use those lame excuses?"
"Maybe." He replied, noncommittally. "After all... you're the only people I get to use these extremely creative excuses on!" Shiya rolled her eyes.
"No they're not. The Third's head's been on that mountain since before I was born, baka!" She yelled. Kakashi turned to the mountain.
"Ha ha... What do you know? You're right!" He laughed and put a hand behind his head thoughtfully. "Guess I'll have to scrap that one, ne?" Shiya rolled her eyes again and sighed.
"Let's just go meet Sasuke and Sakura, I'm dying to see what I can and cannot do in this body." She started walking to where they were supposed to meet his two team mates. "I better be able to do something, or that bastard is dead!" She growled to herself.
***
"You're late!!!" Sakura screeched when Kakashi finally showed up.
"I was waiting to pick up the Hokage's niece!" He explained, waving his hands in front of him.
"USOTSUKI!!"
"Kakashi-san, couldn't you be on time for once in your life?" Sasuke asked bitterly. He was dressed in long black jeans and a very old, 'Naruto- styled' orange t-shirt with a big black spiral in the front. "It's bad enough having to deal with Naruto's pranks all day long. I had to dig up this shirt after searching through ten different PINK closets."
"Hai, and my hair will never be the same thanks to that idiot." Kakashi turned his attention from Sasuke to look at Sakura, noticing that her hair had been trimmed extra short and still had traces of the bubble gum.
"Well, that idiot is out on a solitary mission for the next month or so. Tsunade sent him out to do some reconnaissance outside of the village, nothing too risky. And I wasn't lying when I said that I was waiting for someone. Sasuke, Sakura, meet Kashiya, Tsunade-sama's niece." He motioned the blond girl to step forward.
Biting her lip and trying to remember she wasn't Naruto to them anymore, she bowed politely in greeting.
~~~~~~~
So... how am I doing with the cliché-ness of it all? Don't hesitate to bash me if I let even one toe out of line... I hope the name thing was satisfactory... I can't stand people who are so unoriginal and name her NaruKO. *shudders* It's exactly as Tsunade says... only a really big idiot wouldn't notice who he was right off the bat... face mask or none. (sorry if I offended anyone with that remark... even though I meant every word).
To Alriadne (and everyone else) this section is NOT about how Sasuke reacts to Naruto's new... circumstances. Personally, I could care less about the lying son-of-a-b... anywho... I'm more interested Naruto's character development... and how it ends, cause it leads into other things... and I promise... *thinks for a second* most if not ALL the rest of the fic is ORIGINALLY MINE!!! But you never can tell these days.
Chapter Title: 19. Shiya-chan, A New Point of View!
Tsunade and Naruto waited patiently on the top of the tower... Tsunade patiently, Naruto... wasn't patient at all, she'd started to pace. She wasn't comfortable waiting for her sensei out in the open, and her present gender problem wasn't helping much either. Not to mention Kakashi's habit of being late all the time. Tsunade sat on the ledge and sighed exasperatedly as she watched the girl walk back and forth.
"Must you pace?" She asked. The blond girl stopped and shot her a withering glare, but didn't reply. Tsunade sighed again. "We're going to go shopping after Kakashi gets here, okay?"
"Hai, demo.I don't have much money left over from the missions." She stopped and looked to the Hokage.
"That's okay, think of it as my personal gift for you defeating Orochimaru." The young blonde shuddered in memory. She still didn't like thinking of the day the Kitsune almost broke the seal.
"Fine, then." Naruto had given up refusing Tsunade's help a long time ago. It just wasn't worth the hassle. The Hokage seemed to have had over 50 years worth of stubbornness worked up, and he blamed it on her obsession with gambling.
"Ohayo, Tsunade-hime." A voice sounded from behind them. "Naruto-chan." The girl turned around at the obvious smile in his tone and bit her tongue to keep from retorting rudely. The teacher came up to them looking both amused with her newfound predicament and annoyed at her earlier pranks.
"Ohayo, Kakashi-sensei." She mumbled, biting her tongue. She knew she had no right to berate her sensei for his lateness after the pranks she pulled on him in the morning, but she still wanted to hurt someone for the 'Naruto- chan' bit.. Tsunade stood up and went up to meet him.
"Hai, morning, Kakashi-san. Thank you for coming so quickly. That is for Naruto over here." She nodded to the piece of cloth in the silver-haired jounin's hands. "He's been sealed in his jutsu for a little while, no longer than a month and that should be enough to keep her identity a secret, while she completes her missions." Kakashi nodded and handed the young girl one of his facemasks that had been lucky to escape from Naruto's pranks. Naruto took it reluctantly, holding it up with her nails and keeping it as far from her body as possible.
"Ew... why do I need to wear such a ratty old thing?" She looked to the Hokage for an explanation.
"You need to hide your whiskers, ne?"
"Hai, but how can you be so sure this wasn't just lying behind some couch beside an old ramen cup?!" She protested. Tsunade rolled her eyes.
"That would be where you would find it in YOUR house, Naruto-chan."
Growling under her breath, she pulled the fabric over her head and made sure it was in place in a similar fashion to Kakashi's.
"How do you breathe in this thing?" She growled under her breath, but Kakashi ignored her veiled insults. Tsunade smirked and untied Naruto's hitai-ate.
"Here, put this around your waist like that Yamanaka girl." Naruto looked up at her like she had three heads.
"Why?"
"Because we're going to get you new clothes and if you want to keep some of the effects of that jutsu, you're going to have to show a little midriff, and that means using something to cover up the seal, ne?" The young blond narrowed her eyes and pulled her shirt up just to be sure and frowned when she found that Tsunade was right. The jutsu did nothing to hide her seal, which seemed to remain on her skin as evidence of the chakra that had been used for both the jutsu and the seal.
"Fine." She sighed and wrapped the protector around her waist. "Is that it?" She was starting to get a little frustrated.
"Hai!" Tsunade crowed cheerfully. Naruto glared at her and mumbled under her breath about the emergence of her sadistic side.
Kakashi held up his hand to stop them. "Chotto... what about a name?"
"What about it?"
"You don't honestly expect to get away with living as 'Naruto' for the next how-ever-many weeks, do you?" Naruto frowned again. She'd been doing a lot of that, lately. "Don't you plan on staying with team 7 and completing missions with us?"
"Well, then... how about... Naru-KO!" She proudly exclaimed. Kakashi smiled patronizingly at the girl.
"No."
"Nani yo?! Why not?!"
"It's even stupider than keeping the name Naruto. If Sasuke and Sakura can't figure out who you are from that name alone, then they deserve to be fooled." She folded her arms across her chest and huffed.
"Ne, how about something like the name of your favourite colour, or food?" Tsunade offered. Kakashi grimaced, wondering if the Hokage even knew what she was asking.
"Ramen?" He snickered. Tsunade looked at him confused, before realising what she'd just suggested. She shrugged her shoulders and tapped her chin trying to think of another idea.
"Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. The silver-haired jounin looked at him, confused.
"Yes?"
"No! I mean make up a name from someone else's name!" Kakashi nodded for him to go on. "Well, how 'bout my three sensei."
"Iruka, Kakashi and Jiraiya?"
"Hai! I.Ka.Ji... Ikaji!"
"No." His present sensei blurted almost immediately. Naruto blinked in surprise before growling under her breath.
"WHY NOT?!" She yelled, clenching her hands into fists. When she got no reply, she tried another name.
"Ru... Ka... Ra?" Tsunade sat down on the ledge and her expression mirrored the jounin's. Terrifically unimpressed.
"Iie." Tsunade chuckled under her breath, attracting both sets of eyes. "Why don't we just leave her with Naruko?" She offered. "If Sasuke and Sakura don't figure out who she is from that name then they deserve to be tricked by the jutsu." Naruto frowned at her mocking tone, but kept trying.
"Kashii?" Kakashi laughed.
"Those don't even sound like real names, much less girls' names. Try the last syllables in each of our names; it might sound a little better."
"Ka... Shi... Ya? Kashiya?" He nodded and looked to Tsunade for her approval. She smiled fondly.
"I like it." She agreed. 'Kashiya' sighed in relief.
"Ne, Shiya-chan, if you're going to do shopping, you better hurry. We're supposed to have a mission later in the afternoon." The silver-haired man turned to leave.
"Don't call me Shiya-chan." Kashiya snapped, but Tsunade put her hand on the girl's shoulder to calm her down.
"Well he can't very well go around calling you Shiya-kun." The young girl's shoulders sagged dejectedly under the woman's palm. She knew they were both right, it was just annoying that they had to be right so often.
"SO now that you have a new name, Shiya-chan, you need some new clothes." Shiya looked up, and grinned. She figured that with an entirely new identity she could do some major payback for Sasuke's all-too-convincing rendition of Naruto's specialty. She nodded before something else dawned on her.
"I'm Kashiya now, ne?" She asked tentatively. The Hokage nodded. "Not Naruto?"
"Of course you're still Naruto, it's just to everyone else you're a new person." The young blonde's eyes lit up at that revelation. She had an entirely fresh start. No one would look down on her. No one would treat her any differently because of the Kitsune. She slapped a large goofy grin on her face and hugged Tsunade tightly. Suddenly, she had the freedom she'd always dreamed of.
***
Throughout the entire village, Shiya noticed not a single person gave her a second glance, much less the barely concealed glares Naruto had always been used to. Some of the common villagers even smiled at her as she passed. Maybe life stuck in Oiroke no Jutsu wouldn't be as bad as she'd originally thought.
"Konnichiwa, Konohamaru-kun!" Tsunade greeted, the boy just as he was running by. Shiya froze in her steps, but the boy merely looked up and offered a smile and kept going as if nothing were out of the ordinary. He didn't even mention the girl's presence. Even Ebisu, who they met seconds later (chasing after the young boy), had forgotten about Naruto's current condition. No doubt, he thought it would only last for a couple of hours and nothing more.
When they got to the dressmaker's little hut, Tsunade knocked twice before opening the door. The little shop was cluttered with all sorts of sewing needles and zippers and pieces of unused mesh. Even the little register was buried under bolts of green and blue fabric. The tiny bells on the door sounded merrily as the door shut behind them.
"Tsunade-sama!" The dressmaker exclaimed, appearing at their side almost immediately and ushered them inside. Shiya shrunk back, knowing this woman had usually been one of the angrier villagers when Naruto used to wander the streets, but she just smiled fondly at her. "What can I do for you two today?" Tsunade nudged the nervous girl forward. Now that there was no one around her, she became self-conscious, and the mirrors didn't help.
"This is my... ano... niece, Shiya-chan." She said, introducing the girl. "Could you help us with a suitable outfit? I was thinking something conservative, but accentuated her best features." She grinned. The woman nodded and began rummaging through her drawers and shelves for the perfect fabrics.
"Colour?" She asked, and Shiya almost giggled seeing the small woman burying herself under pounds of multicoloured fabrics, but slapped a hand across her mouth just before the sound could escape. Naruto had never giggled before in his life. She shuddered at the thought, and kept watching the woman looking through the piles.
"Ano... her eyes are a beautiful sky-blue. Why not a slightly darker shade to bring them out a bit more?" Tsunade offered. The woman peeked out her head and gave Shiya another head-to-toe glance before nodding in agreement.
"Hai, if her hair had been any other colour it might not have worked. Good call, Hokage-sama!" She smiled and disappeared again. Shiya blinked, not entirely understanding the problem with colours. Women never ceased to confuse him completely, and the broad grin on Tsunade's face only seemed to make Shiya ever the more edgy about the whole new outfit thing.
***
By the time Tsunade had finally finished with the store, they had enough clothing to last Shiya for a good couple of years, something she was hoping, no *praying* wasn't a precaution and just Tsunade's money habits. The Hokage had gotten her a normal outfit to wear on the missions, but kept having to smack the girl's hand for trying to pull the shirt down to cover her stomach. The navy skin-tight shirt bore her entire midriff and left her shoulders bare. Kakashi's facemask was so similar in colour that it appeared to be attached to the shirt. The shirt alone wouldn't have been much of a problem for her, except the moment she pulled them on, she could have sworn her shorts were exactly the same as Sasuke's, only dark blue. The idea of wearing Sasuke's shorts; along with the too tight, too small top; and the arm-bands that looked similar to Ino's (Naruto had always wanted to try them out), made her slightly self-conscious.
When she tried to bring it up with Tsunade, the woman merely brushed it off and said it was a good thing and it would help her remember who she was. She was no longer Naruto in body, but a finely dressed young woman.
"I'll make sure your clothes get back to your apartment, if you want to go ahead and meet with Kakashi, early before your mission. He should be by the bridge." Shiya nodded and left Tsunade with all of her bags, walking slowly to the other side of the shops. She could have sworn it would give him a great excuse for being late.
***
When Shiya showed up at the bridge, her sensei was no where to be seen, no surprise. She pulled herself up to sit on the bridge's railing, and slouched over in a big sigh. She rested her elbows on her knees and cupped her chin in her hands, getting comfortable. She didn't have to wait as long as she thought, as she felt a presence beside her.
"Girls don't normally sit in such a masculine pose." Kakashi stated. Shiya turned her head to find her sensei crouched beside her on the railing. "They usually keep their legs closed. Men might see it as an invitation to 'other' things." He grinned lecherously, beneath his mask.
"HENTAI!!" She screamed, jumping backwards and snapping her knees together. "Why are you late!!?" He jumped gracefully to the wooden planks and thought to himself for a moment.
"I was helping carve the third Hokage's head into the Hokage Mountain."
"Usotsuki." She growled under her breath. "Are you late on purpose just so you can use those lame excuses?"
"Maybe." He replied, noncommittally. "After all... you're the only people I get to use these extremely creative excuses on!" Shiya rolled her eyes.
"No they're not. The Third's head's been on that mountain since before I was born, baka!" She yelled. Kakashi turned to the mountain.
"Ha ha... What do you know? You're right!" He laughed and put a hand behind his head thoughtfully. "Guess I'll have to scrap that one, ne?" Shiya rolled her eyes again and sighed.
"Let's just go meet Sasuke and Sakura, I'm dying to see what I can and cannot do in this body." She started walking to where they were supposed to meet his two team mates. "I better be able to do something, or that bastard is dead!" She growled to herself.
***
"You're late!!!" Sakura screeched when Kakashi finally showed up.
"I was waiting to pick up the Hokage's niece!" He explained, waving his hands in front of him.
"USOTSUKI!!"
"Kakashi-san, couldn't you be on time for once in your life?" Sasuke asked bitterly. He was dressed in long black jeans and a very old, 'Naruto- styled' orange t-shirt with a big black spiral in the front. "It's bad enough having to deal with Naruto's pranks all day long. I had to dig up this shirt after searching through ten different PINK closets."
"Hai, and my hair will never be the same thanks to that idiot." Kakashi turned his attention from Sasuke to look at Sakura, noticing that her hair had been trimmed extra short and still had traces of the bubble gum.
"Well, that idiot is out on a solitary mission for the next month or so. Tsunade sent him out to do some reconnaissance outside of the village, nothing too risky. And I wasn't lying when I said that I was waiting for someone. Sasuke, Sakura, meet Kashiya, Tsunade-sama's niece." He motioned the blond girl to step forward.
Biting her lip and trying to remember she wasn't Naruto to them anymore, she bowed politely in greeting.
~~~~~~~
So... how am I doing with the cliché-ness of it all? Don't hesitate to bash me if I let even one toe out of line... I hope the name thing was satisfactory... I can't stand people who are so unoriginal and name her NaruKO. *shudders* It's exactly as Tsunade says... only a really big idiot wouldn't notice who he was right off the bat... face mask or none. (sorry if I offended anyone with that remark... even though I meant every word).