A/N: Okay, I am very surprised at the reaction that the last chapter elicited, and I say that in a very good way. Two particular reviews are the ones that caused me to hurry a little with this next update, and I would like to thank iFrix for both his review and his reply to my reply to that. I realise he has a point about the tone of the last chapter in place of the first few that I have posted, and as i imagine many of the readers will have noticed this and been as confused by it as well, I will clear a few things up that iFrix brought up in our little conversation.
1. This is not going to be an Exiled Naruto fic: I now see that the end to the last chapter could give that idea, but Naruto is not going to leave for two reasons. Firstly, Naruto realises it is his own fault that the Hokage thought this was not a harsh punishment, very much a case of trying to be nice by lying coming and biting him in the ass. Secondly, Naruto is unaware that until he passes Kakashi's test he is not a shinobi, and therefore thinks that if he leaves the village to avoid the fine he will be labelled a missing nin, something that he knows would not turn out well for him considering how important the Kyuubi is to the village.
2. This story being first a romantic comedy then a dark emotion filled hate fest in one chapter: Well, its just how it pops together in my head. I honestly don't like trying to fit my work to a genre but I don't mind if you guys do. But I like to think this story's layout is somewhat similar to real life in that the downs can come quite quickly and unexpectedly after the ups. But i promise that this is not going to be a emo Naruto fic, he is still Naruto and will recover from this one way or the other.
Now I've cleared that up, the last thing is that whilst the Shadow Clone Deception is the underlying theme that I will be using to alter things in the Naruto universe, naruto is still a ninja, he is still one of the more powerful ninja's in his generation (he not only reached the finals to the chuunin exam on his first go, but then effectively won it by beating Gaara, who was the invasions secret weapon for god sake.) All this means that whilst Ms Umi will feature and be one of the more prominent characters in the story, Naruto will be doing a lot of other things than simply trying to get Sakura through his little scheme, and therefore it will develop quite slowly.
Right, apologies for the uber A/N, but felt it would be best to make sure that I hadn't managed to lose to many of you with the change of pace. If you do have stuff you want to say about the story, please tell me, I love the feedback as you can tell above. Now, on with the story Ja Ne!
Previously on The Deception, Gone Awry:
If they did so, they would risk the wrath of the fire lord, who was a just defendant of civilians in Hi no Kuni, whether against his samurai or Sarutobi's ninja. He was stopped by Yugao's sob, an action he never would have predicted possible from the woman, even as she spoke her final piece. "Going after him now won't help; if you do all that will reveal is that I have broken his wish and his trust in me, and that will just make it even worse, as then he will not trust any of us. And you can't repeal the punishment; you stamped it with your seal straight after you got his acceptance and gave him the official copy, so it is legal and binding even to you."
Sarutobi sank back down, eyes shifting to confirm what his mind already knew, that Yugao was correct and he had stamped the paper with his seal, which the moment Naruto became a full genin would signal the start of his punishment, and he would have three months to pay the fine and to work off the debt. And another weight settled on Sarutobi's already burdened shoulders as he finally came to terms with what he had just done to a boy who had hidden the worst of his life from him, in an attempt to make an old shinobi's life less worry some. Though he knew there was nothing more he could do without making the situation worse for both himself and the boy, and could only hope that the boy would still turn up to the graduation class as he was meant to at 2 pm the next day.
The last two hours had been exhausting, she had been accepted into the village, and the administration people had even given her 5 and a half thousand ryo to get accommodation, from a fund that was given to refugees from the fire lord's own coffers. Of course she could not carry that amount of money around on her along with her few meagre belongings so it was in the form of a bankers draft in her money pouch on her waist, one that was only usable in Konoha, a method they had devised of ensuring that their enemies wouldn't try and bleed them dry by sending in refugees and then having them leave. Despite this incentive however, none of the letting in the main village areas had had rooms available within anything approaching her possible budget, and had refused to allow any form of bargaining or pleading, something they obviously looked down upon due to their dealings with Ninja and their subterfuge.
As such she found herself traipsing piteously down towards the more suburban areas that were less well-kept and shadier districts, judging by the type of person that travelled down the streets with her. Her feet ached, her joints were stiff and at that moment her stomach clenched once more in hunger, reminding her that she had not eaten since the night before. Spotting a small ramen stand that seemed to be open, she ran to it, heading inside and plonking herself down on a chair. The waitress walked to her with a welcoming smile on her face that instantly made her feel at home. "Hello, I am Ayame, what would you like today?" Looking up at the board, Umi took a moment before deciding finally on a bowl of the mixed meat ramen. Noting it down the waitress turned and headed into the back to pass on the order. It came quite quickly and was the nicest thing Umi had ever tasted, and she quickly tore through it, ordering a second one with a giant grin on her face. Ayame giggled and shouted back to where obviously the kitchens were for a second bowl, a man's voice replying affirmatively a moment later.
Reaching backwards to get money from her pouch, Umi suddenly froze as she felt space where it should have been, and frantically began feeling for it, her shock turning to despair as she felt the cut ties on her belt that would have held the money belt in place. Tears came unbidden and she knelt forwards in her seat, her head in her hands as she began to cry, not understanding what she must have done wrong to have earned such a terrible day. A moment later something was placed heavily on the bench in front of her, and opening her eyes, she found herself staring blearily at her money pouch. Looking to her left, she found the same blonde shinobi from before stood there, smile gone and solemn expression on his face.
"How? Why?" Was all she could mutter through her sharp breaths of relief and he shook his head before speaking in a defeated tone. "I had a couple of clones follow you, as your new I thought you might have some trouble, so they alerted me when the thief stole your pouch, and I couldn't not go and retrieve it for you." She leapt at him, engulfing him in a hug even as she saw the waitress look at the shinobi with a smile. "Ohayo Naruto-kun, shall I get the Naruto special cooked for you." Umi released him from the hug and looked up to see sadness on his face, something that she didn't expect seeing as he was obviously popular enough here to have a meal named after him. The waitress hadn't expected it either if the speed at which she cleared the bar and was in front of the boy was any indication. "Naruto, what's happened? Is it to do with today, because if someone has been causing trouble I will…"
She quieted when he handed her a piece of parchment with a heavy sigh, and she looked over it quickly, her eyes widening as she glanced to the bottom before locking eyes with Naruto once more. "He didn't, surely he would know…" Naruto shook his head even as a elderly man poked his head out of the curtains, giant grin on his face. "Ayame, did you say Naruto was here…" He trailed off as Ayame handed him the parchment across the bar. Teuchi took a moment longer to read it, squinting at the smaller writing, before his hand formed into fists after placing the paper down in front of Umi, who read it as quickly as she could upside down. Naruto's voice echoed around her as she absorbed the words, surprised at what had happened, both in character and as a shadow clone, none of them had anticipated that this would be an outcome to today's events. "Of course he doesn't know, how could he with the way I have kept it secret all these years? I imagine he thought that the fine would be easy enough to pay off, if I actually paid normal prices for anything. I suppose if I sell the apartment block…" Ayame seemed to be caught between anger and crying, and judging by the creaking of her pencil in her hands, the former was winning out at this point.
At this point Umi made a decision, not as a shadow clone seeing a way out for his master's problem, but as a young girl who had been raised to repay her debts no matter the personal cost, as the backstory to her character had been. She reached into her money pouch and pulled out the bankers draft she had been given, standing suddenly and walking determinedly over to Naruto, placing it in his hands. He looked at her questioningly for a moment before looking at what she had given him, his eyes widening in shock even as he tried to force it back into her hands. "I- I can't take this…" Ayame came up to his shoulder, and her surprise was even more obvious at what was in Naruto's hand as Umi took a step back. "Naruto, what is it?" Teuchi asked confusedly, and it was Ayame that answered. "It's the girls money, 5 and a half thousand ryo, that must be almost all the money you own, why are you giving it to Naruto?" All three of them, even Naruto at this point, was looking at her with confused expressions, and though she felt the urge to blush or shy away, she stood her ground whilst replying. "If it were not for Naruto, this money would be in some thief's pocket anyway, and my parents always taught me to pay my debts to my friends. I think this is a suitable way to repay his kindness to me and a way to help him in his time of need."
The next second was a blur and she panicked before realised that Naruto had picked her up in a lifted hug and was swinging her round with joy. "Thank you, thank you so much Umi-chan, you are a literal life saver." Ayame was crying, though the smile on her face showed that they were of joy as opposed to anything else, whilst Teuchi had disappeared into the back once more, muttering about celebration ramen for the lot of them. Ayame seemed to understand him better than Umi had and rushed to the front of the stand, switching the sign from open to closed and pulling the curtains too around the eating area.
After a few more moments Naruto put her down, his expression serious once more, but it was Ayame that asked the question that Umi had expected. "But seriously Umi-chan, this is all of your money, how are you going to pay for wherever you are staying?" That brought the girl back to reality and she realised that she had in fact shot herself in the foot by helping Naruto, with no money, the best she could hope for now was that one of the inn owners would take pity and let her stay there and work for the rent money. She saw Naruto's face transform into a smile however at the thought and he spoke up. "Hey, Umi-chan, I think I know somewhere you can live if you are still looking, no rent either." This sounded brilliant to Umi, wondering of where Naruto was thinking of.
The shadow clone then had to spend a second reminding itself that it knew where he meant, this acting thing was starting to get weird. Composing herself once more Umi smiled gratefully at him "Really Naruto-san? Where would that be?" He grinned at her, putting his thumb up in a gesture that caused Umi to blush slightly. "Why, at my apartment block of course, it is the least I can do after you gave me your money like that." The old man reappeared with a giant pot of ramen in his arms. Placing it on the counter, he then dealt out four bowls, one for each person present. Ayame gave Umi a hug of her own, a giant grin on her face. "Welcome to an Ichikawa supper Umi-chan, it's on the house for helping Naruto-kun tonight as you have done." And as the other three members of the small group dug into their food with gusto, Umi couldn't help the feeling of satisfaction and belonging that came with the simple but warming gesture.
Persona Change: Yugao Uzuki
Above the stand, Yugao Uzuki listened in with a small smile as she heard about what the young refugee had done for the boy who she had only met for a few hours. Such selflessness and kindness was rare in the elemental nations, and almost unheard of amongst shinobi, whose very code insisted that emotions and kindness were weaknesses to be purged. Looking down, she perused the cheque she had written out for the boy she had met all those years ago, first as his silent bodyguard, then as an infrequent acquaintance, and then finally as teacher, helper and friend to a good but lonely soul in a village full of misguided hatred.
She thought about tearing up the cheque, after all, it was a good portion of her available money that was not tied down in her accommodation or savings, so leaving it as it was was risky, the number of people who were proficient at pickpocketing and forging made it a liability, especially as she had signed it. But she decided to keep it as it was for now, after all, just because the girl had given him enough money for the fine, that did not mean that he would be living easy until the work hours were paid off. She stood, ready to leave the four to their private moment, when she noticed a shimmer out of the corner of her eye, she almost ignored it as she gave it a second glance and sensed nothing, until she felt the light manipulation of her chakra flow that was an indication of a genjutsu. Instantly on guard, she altered her chakra flow and with a muttered "Kai!" she was confronted with a short black cloaked figure, who had obviously also been listening in on the proceedings in the ramen stand beneath them, only to shift their attention to her when she had started getting suspicious.
She was across the rooftop in a flash, her tanto drawn and locked with the figures katana that had been hastily drawn to defend themselves, deflecting her attack away with one hand, leaving her free to press the attack. The next second however, her vision was clouded with smoke and noise that disrupted her senses for a few seconds. The figure was gone by the time her vision cleared, and she was nowhere near a good enough sensor to try and track the infiltrator by herself. As she went for her pouch to grab an ANBU flare to alert the patrols nearby to an intruder, the rooftop suddenly became filled almost to the brim with Naruto clones, each of which was armed with kunai and ready for a fight. The nearest one relaxed at seeing her , and waved the other clones off as he asked almost jokingly "Neko-chan, what are you doing here? what was the smoke and noise for? if you wanted my attention you could have just popped your head in." Yugao was about to ignore him when she realised that the number of clones he had just summoned could be useful.
"Naruto-san, i am in pursuit of a cloaked figure that was spying on you, and possibly has been doing for quite sometime. Can you have your clones spread out and search for a black cloaked figure with a katana? And also alert the nearby ANBU should you encounter them that this is a level 3 emergency, authorisation Neko." All joking was gone from the young ninja now as he saluted his order from a superior officer and began directing his clones into search patterns with the beginnings of a grace that only comes from directing the actions of dozens in seamless fluidity. She was surprised that he was also numbering the clones off in numbers and letter combinations as a clone was stood sketching a map of Konoha on a small scroll with little kanji noting search areas for the different groups.
In less than 20 seconds the groups had all dispersed and the original Naruto was stood next to her with a radio in his hand with the same clone stood nearby him with the scroll. He looked over at her his face questioning even as he spoke. "So Neko-chan, what were you doing here when you noticed the intruder? Not that i don't appreciate you scaring him off or anything, its just that last time you turned up..." He trailed off and Yugao only just resisted pulling the pour boy into a hug. Instead she decided to maintain her composure and allay his fears. "I was here about that Naruto, but not in an official sense, I heard what happened and well, this is for you." She held out the cheque which he predictably shook his head and hands at before he even looked at how much she was offering. "Neko-chan, you know i can't accept that, it wouldn't be right at all, you've already given me 6 and a half thousand ryo over the years, anymore and i will never be able to pay it back." The fact that he had logged how much money she had given him shouldn't have been surprising but it made her feel that she was correct in looking after him regardless.
The refugee girl called up from below and Naruto turned to respond to her, giving Yugao the chance she needed. She slipped the cheque into his pocket with practiced ease and then activated the handseals for a shushin, grabbing the Naruto clone as she finished the last seal. Appearing on a rooftop not too far from the ANBU headquarters, she turned to the Naruto clone who was looking at her confused at the sudden departure, but cut it off before he could start gabbling. "You are my point of contact for the clones now, your boss deserves a night off. Now, tell me what your clones have found..."