After three days, the plan was going rather well Naruto thought to himself, apart from one or two minor issues. At the end of the first day he had cancelled his clones in one go, once they had all returned to his flat from their day's work, which given he had created over 50 of them was quite a few memories to deal with. That had lead to him collapsing into a pained stupor for almost two hours as his brain almost shut down due to the sudden influx of, what was essentially, stuff.
Since then Naruto had learned to disperse only a few clones at a time if he wanted their memories. An added bonus of this was to save his poor head from further migraines, due to the reduction in the amount of time he had to spend sifting through the memories, to try and ensure that he remembered the useful information as opposed to the background stuff. They also learned that there was a method to stop him receiving clones memories, but that seemed to involve a rather violent dispersal to ensure it happened. And it didn't always work, so he stayed away from that line of thought for now, that purple haired woman's kunai was sharp.
His pained noggin aside, he had learnt an awful lot of interesting data in the last few days. The market had been a hubbub of information for those that knew what they wanted to know, like the hike in the cost of different types of rice's and other foodstuffs, due to the recent wave of bandits and missing ninja in Rice Country.
Then there was the lack of caravans coming from Wave country to the south, except for those by Gato Corporations, whose members had refused to comment on the situation in the country at all when questioned about it, threatening to take their products elsewhere when pressured too much for gossip or information. The most talked about topic of the last few days was the economic decline of Suna in Wind country, which Naruto knew from Iruka's lessons contained the sand village, one of the 'top 5' biggest ninja villages of which Konoha was also a member.
The Artisans district had been interesting as well, just by posing as small animals he had managed to observe the crafters at work, allowing him to get a basic understanding of how to forge metals and craft wood. Despite this knowledge, Naruto knew that such a basic understanding would need a lot of work before he was able to do anything beyond the most simple of tasks, if he ever had the materials or the need to. There had also been some tailors that he had seen at work, but they had worked far too delicately for him to get a good understanding of the processes, he would have to work on that another time.
This was where his clones had some overlap, after two years of failing class and therefore knowing 3 different graduating classes, there had been a surprising number of girls around his age that he actually knew. Most of those girls, that hadn't passed the shinobi tests had gone into their family careers, meaning that he had essentially observed them from two different angles all three days.
He was mildly surprised how much each clone missed about what was going on, though he supposed it was to do with the fact he had sent them out to look at two very different things about the people they were shadowing, so it was natural they would focus on some bits and not others.
One girl that had interested him the most was a girl that he remembered from last year, who had gone on to become a full genin, but still worked at a blacksmiths in her spare time. Noting the girls name down, Tenten he thought it was, he determined to try and get back in touch with her at some point soon. She was obviously talented and passionate about blacksmithing, if she had manage to acquire and keep such a job whilst being an on duty ninja.
'And the way she swings that hammer, as Jiji said once, it's like poetry in motion.' In addition from what his clones had noticed during her daily routine, she didn't have many close friends outside of her genin team, probably due to her lack of socialising time and her rather serious training regimes.
'Probably scared or intimidated by her, idiots. You'd think that her being a skilled blacksmith would mean people would realise she could help them with repairs and stuff at least.' This minor hiccup didn't deter Naruto in the slightest, anyone who was prepared to work that hard on multiple jobs was a good friend in his book. It certainly classed as unique amongst all the girls he had observed, most of whom worked the minimum required time for their shift and then went to spend all their hard earned money on clothes or makeup.
Filing all of those thoughts away with a shake of his head he turned back to the plan, and finished his decisions regarding his 'masterpiece', as he and his clones had jokingly started calling it. He had immediately disregarded the girl being more than a year and a half younger than him, he knew that anybody of around that age would be 'requested' to join the academy, even more so if they were an orphan, as his girl would have to be.
Naruto had decided in the end that her being half a year younger than him, born on the 16th of April would be for the best, as it would then be reasonable for her to look up to him without seeming to be doting. He had from that information then created her look and features, everything from shape and size of nose, to length and colour of her hair.
The finished product was a girl who was slightly taller than average, with hazel eyes and shoulder length black hair, common enough in the elemental nations, and what had become clear as a rice country build and a fire country face, which she would claim was her mother's heritage, as their village was near the border between the two countries in Naruto's fictional past for the girl.
On Rice Country, he had had the clones fetch some books on the place, so that if questioned the girl would know enough information about her home of origin. The current stuff was easy enough; he had a clone follow a caravan out of Konoha to get an idea on the lay of the land. He had heard back that morning, when bandits had attacked the caravan with military precision, before being beaten off by Konoha patrols, who didn't pursue the bandits when they had fled beyond the border into rice country.
This failure just went to show that the ninja had their limitations in how much they could protect the caravans, and that even in fire country, you weren't completely safe from attack, regardless of the propaganda around the village about fire country being the safest place in the whole of the elemental nations. Next was family background, and what had happened to them to cause the girl to appear by herself at the entrance to Konoha, which he created a new sheet for the purpose and began to work on solving this new problem.
In his concentration, Naruto failed to notice that in the corner of his now rather cluttered apartment, hidden under a rather complex Genjutsu technique that focussed on all of the senses rather than just one, was a masked ninja in ANBU clothing and armour...
Persona Change: Ne agent
The masked face took everything in without reaction or emotion, the plans, the gossip and the intentions of the young ninja in training had towards the village. After all, he mused as he scratched the 'NE' mark on his mask idly, Danzo-sama had asked to know everything that the Bjuu container was up to. This was especially true when the had come up with a scheme such as the one he was working on now, bordering on brilliance in several ways and complete foolishness in others
It was 1 am when the ninja felt it safe enough to shushin out of the boys apartment, onto one of the nearby roofs, to meet his replacement for the next 12 hour shift. After a wordless update that was transmitted using hand signals, he had jumped off down into the streets of Konoha, slipping off quietly to one of the secret entrances that the Root ninja used to get to their HQ, so that he could report and then grab some shut eye.
The entrance was in one of the quieter training grounds, and after pressing several seemingly random points in the ground in order, a small opening appeared, allowing him to drop almost 5 metres to the tunnel floor below. He hurried through the maze of passageways, doubling back on himself twice, so as to ensure he wasn't followed, as was procedure for NE agents who were at place in the city.
After several more minutes quick walking, he arrived at a much better maintained and lit set of tunnels, which led to the various training areas and bunks required by the group. Following the same old path he soon found himself outside the heavy oaken doors of Danzo's office, which he knocked quietly on twice.
Waiting for a moment, he heard the coded command to enter, thanks to his sharpened hearing, and entered quickly, not wishing to waste his boss's time. The room was remarkably Spartan, with nothing but a map of Konoha on the wall behind the chair and desk of probably the most informed man in Konoha, including that idiot Jiraiya.
The man in question was sat in his desk, looking over papers involving various mission details and financing details. The man certainly did not strike you as imposing or even commanding, at 5'6 he was one of the shortest male ANBU in history, and that isn't including the obvious detriments of his crippled arm and eye, or his age, a tender 72 that year.
As the 'war hawk' looked up with a calculating look however, the air of ease and authority that seemed to wash over the Ne as he was examined in a mere moment, it was clear the man's strength were his weaknesses. People civilian and ninja alike often did underestimate him for his injuries, and he would use that at the most vital moment against them, whether in combat or during meetings and negotiations.
"Your report on the boy and his recent actions agent, your last report was not very clear on what the boy was planning." No pleasantries, all business, which was how Danzo preferred to operate whilst on duty.
With easy precision the scroll was exchanged silently and Danzo began reading whilst the Ne agent stood there, awaiting the verdict. What he did not expect was the raspy chuckle that erupted from the old man's lips as he continued reading, which persisted for quite some time throughout the analysis. Finally Danzo sat back, his face a rare sight of him grinning with amusement.
"Amazing, what one boy's determination and inability to admit defeat can do. He had no help with this from anyone?" The Ne agent shook his head.
"As far as we can gather, it is all Naruto's own work, other than his shadow clones that is." Danzo nodded.
"Excellent! This, if anything, is exactly what I need to prove to Sarutobi that we have got too lax and peace like in recent times. If one boy, barely a genin, can infiltrate our defences with a mole and then leave her there. Then I'm sorry, we should give up and ask to be invaded now." The Ne agent said nothing; he knew that if his input was required he would be asked for it.
"So, the question is now, what do we do with this information? Any Ideas, Agent?" As the agent opened his mouth to speak, he was cut off by the voice that was clearly female.
"Let him run with it Danzo-sama, he isn't doing anything against the law at this point. Even after the infiltration, all he has essentially done is infiltrate himself into his own village, which cannot be a punishable offence surely?" Danzo nodded then looked at the Ne agent, who was trying to subtly work out who that voice belonged to.
He couldn't see her in the shadows without turning his head, and the voice reminded him of someone from somewhere, though placing it right now was beyond him. The agent decided to give his own input, now it had been asked for, which was the only formality Danzo usually insisted upon.
"I think we give him a bit of a hand Danzo-sama. After all, if this is to prove a point, we want it to work to its greatest extent. I must also admit the idea that spawned this, if the kid pulls it off…" The Ne agent shook his head in disbelief for a moment before continuing with his last observation
"There's a reason he's the luckiest person in the elemental nations, there's no way this would work for anyone else." Danzo nodded in agreement, if any other ninja had presented him with this idea as a way to test Konoha's defences against infiltration, he would have easily come up with a dozen different ways for it to fail.
These would have ranged from the fact that the shadow construct was too flimsy to survive the Konoha village environment to the reasoning that the chuunin guards would be able to detect the large amount of chakra present in the bushin. But Naruto, in an odd case for the orphaned container, seemed to have thought of ways around this, planning on creating the girl clone with a 100 other clones at the same time.
That would dramatically reduce the output of the clone, to the point where the guards would not be suspicious of its chakra. And the fact that he was having the infiltrator become a civilian meant that it would not be subject the roughest parts of Konoha's life, shadow clones were fairly weak it was true, but they could stand the hassle of a market street as long as no one hit it too hard. Humming, he made a decision in regards to the boy.
"Keep tabs on him, I want to know exactly what he does and why he does it. But we will not give him any help yet, only if it looks like he will fail will we step in and change things up. Otherwise, we do what we always have done and that is sit in the shadows and wait for the boy to do what he does, and that is surprise everyone." With a nod of assent from both of the present characters, he then waved his hand dismissively.
"Well, get out of here, I expect the next report in four days from your replacement as you are on leave, as that is when he is planning on doing his infiltration." With another nod, both nodded and vanished in shushin jutsu away from the area.
Sighing, Danzo looked down at the paperwork he still had to complete before he could go home, it was going to be a long night.
A/N; in case you guys haven't realised by now, I am slowly working through this story to iron out all the terrible writing that I did at the start of my past time as an author, so if there are still errors please let me know.