On the way to their destination, Kabuto suddenly decided that they would be staying in a town they had past by for a few days. When Yukimaru asked why they were staying here, he was simply told that there was something important that he needed to pick up here.
Within the place they were staying, Yukimaru sat looking at the window, staring up and down at the people as they passed by, wondering the same question that always seem to be on his mind. The question was something related to 'homes' and where his might be.
His thought were interrupted by Kabuto who got his attention away from the window.
"I want you to stay here in this room until I get back. Is that understood?" he told him to which Yukimaru simply nodded in response before Kabuto left the room.
A couple of minutes later within the town….
"Greetings. Welcome to Namiashi Bookstore. How may we be of service to you today?" a girl said pleasantly before bowing at him. Her co-worker did not say anything and had a blank expression on her face but she bowed along with her.
"Ummm…yeah, my name is Shigure Gashira. I have come to pick up the book I ordered," Kabuto said as he gave out the fake name he used to order his book.
"Of course, just one moment please," the girl told him as she moved to hold books that were lined up on the shelf behind them.
"Is there usually two of you behind the counter like this? There only one register for this store, so why the need for two cashiers? Also, this girl does not exactly look like the one you would want ringing people up," Kabuto asked as she simply stood there staring ahead at nothing seemingly.
"She's being trained at working with the register and we both work part time here; but I have been here longer, thus I teaching how to work the machine," the girl said as he placed the book in question on the counter.
Once again her co-worker did not speak nor did her expression change as she simply nodded her head 'yes' in response her trainer was saying.
"Here you are. Our last copy of Ich…" the trainer bookstore girl said before she was cut off by the gray haired man.
"You do not have to say it out loud! Now here the money!" the sound nin said as he gave her the exact amount and left the store.
"I get the feeling that we have met before. Have we?" he asked stopped at the entrance to address this concern.
"I am sorry, sir, you must have me confused with someone else," the girl responded. Kabuto shrugged and continued out the store.
A few minutes later, another person came into the store requesting a book but was soon to be disappointed.
"I am so sorry, Mr. Hatake. The last copy of the latest Icha Icha series has been sold out with the last copy going to Shigure Gashira who reserved it a few days ago," he was told by the girl behind the counter.
Kakashi then left the store depressed and disappointed as the latest volume of Icha Icha series came out so fast because it was to be considered short stories and one shots that never developed into full volumes.
Before he left, Kakashi turned to the girl and asked the same question Kabuto did before he left early.
"Have we met somewhere before? I am sure I remember seeing you from somewhere," the Copy Cat Ninja asked.
"I must look like someone very popular since you are the second person today to mistake me for someone else," the girl said and the co-worker simply nodded in response to what her trainer said.
"Okay then," he said before vanishing.
Once she was sure he was out of sight, she slumped her shoulders and let out a deep sigh.
"This sucks," the girl then said as her voice which once been tone polite and refined was now more tomboyish.
"Is the disguise failing or what? Maybe I should change the way I look," she said made her way out the backdoor with her companion and towards a carriage.
"So did you find out what you wanted?" Sazanami asked he driver of carriage she and her friend had got on.
"Yup, this stop was simply a waste of time for them. Though, seriously, are all people that wear glasses secretly closet perverts? First Ebisu and now Kabuto," the girl sighed as a puff of smoke revealed that she was actually Naruto.
Thus the girl, he claimed was his co-worker, was really Sakura who simply responding to Naruto's thoughts whenever a question was directed at her.
The real employees of the bookstore were on break and had been placed under a genjutsu, that once cancelled, sent them back to what they were doing, unaware that Naruto and Sakura pretended to be workers at the store.
"So are you going to keep following them or what? This could be dangerous. What if Kabuto seeing the new you cause him and Orochimaru to be added to list of people after your head?" Sazanami asked.
"To find out, deal with this Yukimaru kid. It might be worth the risk," Naruto said while looking at Sakura.
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Elsewhere in campsite location outside the village….
"So, Kakashi-senpai, did they not have the all supplies that we needed?" Hinata asked as the masked ninja arrived back their campsite.
"They had them all," he told her as he placed them down on the ground but they could all tell that he was still depressed over something.
Hinata was about to say something else when Kiba stopped her.
"I bet he could not get the last copy of Icha Icha. That's why he was so adamant about stopping to pick up supplies here, not somewhere else. We could have kept going without those supplies for a few more days at least," Kiba whispered to her.
Shino, who had been quite up until this time, just nodded in response then his bugs alerted him to familiar chakra being nearby.
"Kiba, do you or Akamaru smell anything nearby?" he asked.
"Yeah, this scent is definitely something that I remember smelling before; but the two others with them, I cannot place exactly. What about you, Akamaru?" Kiba asked.
His companion and possibly oldest friend shook their head as he could not place the two other either.
Just then, despite this being wooded area with a beaten path for travel, a carriage past being controlled by person that Hinata and Kiba both recognized.
"Sazanami-san, is that you?" the Hyuga heiress asked.
"Yeah," he responded though mentally added 'This is not good! What if they recognize Naruto and Sakura through their henges?'
"Sazanami-san, should we keep going? We should really get out this forest before it gets too late," a girl with long black hair and blue eyes said as it could be seen that she was one riding in the carriage along with one other girl that had long blond hair and brown eyes.
"Is there something the matter?" the girl asked as Kiba and Shino both came up to her and giving her the once over.
They were about to ask her something when the blond stood up, went over to where she was and pushed them out the away from her.
"I am sorry. My friend is very protective of me," the black hair girl said as the shorter girl stay in front of her.
"Well, we should really be going. It was really pleasure meeting all of you," she said as she waved goodbye while her friend was holding on to her while looking at Hinata.
After Sazanami and the two girls with them were long gone and they were all about to go to sleep, Hinata brought something that had been bugging her.
"That girl with black hair for some reason I got the feeling that Naruto-kun was nearby and then girl that was called protective of her gave off the feeling of Sakura. I was curious so I used my Byakugan to see that neither one of them have normal chakra pathways," she said.
"Same thing here. Those two gave off familiar yet strange scents of cherry blossom wood and foxes," Kiba said.
"We should report this to Tsunade-sama later but for now we need to focus on our current mission," Kakashi told Team 8. That mission being a reconnaissance to confirmed the location of one of Orochimaru's hideouts.
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Meanwhile, in another one those locations that can not be found by anyone else unless they knew exactly what they were looking for, Naruto dropped his and Sakura's henge and plopped down on couch that located in this hideout.
"Great, of the team we had to run into, it just had to be Hinata's Team along with Kakashi-sensei," Naruto sighed as then felt Sakura began to massage his shoulders.
"Thanks, Sakura," he told her even though she could not hear or respond to him.
"I think Sakura might have some feelings for you and it might just be my imagination but she seemed jealous of Hinata," Sazanami told him as he run in within Hinata again around a year and half after they first met and that when he learned of her crush on Naruto.
"You think so? Maybe, but I wouldn't be too sure. Sakura probably just sees me as nothing more then friend," Naruto said as Sakura then stopped massaging his shoulder and kissed him for the third time while she was in this state.
"It appears that you might be wrong about that. Sakura is supposedly acting subconsciously to your thought thus her actions are coming from her subconscious which might have view of you that is different from her actions around you both she was turned into a human puppet" Sazanami told him.
"Maybe, but that means I just have to keep my thoughts in check even more so she does not end up doing something I would not want to her while she like this," Naruto said as Sakura stopped kissing and was now hugging him.
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I would like to thank:
King Hawke, QueenThayet12990, and RANMACAT for reviewing this story
Areai Moonlight and Nepaliguru for adding this story to their Story Alert List
