"So that's the mission," says Shisui, looking stunned. "I accidently got the perfect mission to keep me away from Lord Fugaku."
"Are you going to change out of your pjs any time soon?" asks Neji, crossly. "I feel like I'm about to go blind."
"But…" Shisui stammers, looking mortified. "I didn't bring anything else!"
Arashi smiles. "It's alright, Naruto is a walking arsenal, so he has spare weapons you can use, right Naruto?"
"Yeah," says Naruto, grinning. "Me and Iruka-nii have got plenty of weapons to share with you, 'tebayo."
Arashi turns to look back at Shisui and instantly regrets his decision. He bursts out laughing because of how ridiculous Shisui looks: tousled bed head, bright pink duck onesie and bare feet. He does not look like a ninja.
"Ah, my eyes!" says Naruto falling over and pretending to be blinded by the sight of Shisui.
"But I didn't bring any clothes!" whines Shisui.
"That's okay," says Arashi, smiling. "I'm sure we can scrounge up something for you to wear between us."
This proves easier said than done, as both Naruto and Neji are too small to donate their spare clothing toward the 'Get Shisui Out of That Eyesore' cause, and Iruka and Arashi are different sizes to Shisui.
After trying and failing to fit into most of Iruka and Arashi's spare clothes, Shisui whines, "Don't you have anything, anything at all, that will fit me?"
Arashi didn't want to have to do it, but he has no choice. He sighs and says,
"There is one outfit I have that might fit, but it's not really mission clothing."
"I don't care," says Shisui desperately. "So long as it's not going to blind everyone around me!"
Arashi is reluctant to let Shisui borrow this particular set of clothing, but anything is better than having to look at that pink duck onesie. Arashi takes a deep breath and fishes in his bag, which was sealed into a scroll in Naruto's pocket. He pulls out the clothing in question and hands it over to Shisui.
Shisui takes the clothing and stares at it. "This isn't much better," he says doubtfully.
"Grandpa clothes or pink onesie," says Iruka sternly. "Choose."
"I...I'll just change real quick," says Shisui, and changes faster than he runs from Lord Fugaku. Soon he is wearing a blue beach shirt with big, gold flowers on it and tan plaid beach shorts. "I honestly feel just as conspicuous."
"But at least you won't burn anyone's retinas now," says Neji, glaring at the offending onesie with his byakugan activated.
"I still don't have any shoes though," says Shisui, who is very barefoot.
"There's a shop just down that road," says Iruka, grinning. "I think they sell shoes. We can get you some there now that you are dressed like a normal person."
"I don't feel normal," grumbles Shisui, for once acting his age rather than Arashi's.
Naruto laughs. "That's because you're not normal. Normal people don't annoy the Chief of Police by knocking up his underage daughter then admitting they've been having sex for the past two years."
Neji holds out a water bottle to Shisui.
"What's that?" asks Shisui, frowning at Neji.
"Some cool water for that burn," says Neji.
"I think we just became best friends," says Naruto, grinning at Neji.
"Yeah," agrees Neji, grinning back and exchanging a fist bump with Naruto.
"Alright," says Iruka, pulling out a scroll. "Let's get you equipped. What do you need?"
"Kunai, shuriken and a tanto," replies Shisui.
"Naruto?"
Naruto pulls out a scroll and opens it. A second later, a tanto appears. "Here you go," he says, handing it to Shisui.
Shisui takes the tanto and straps it to his back. Iruka tosses his scroll to Shisui, who catches it. "What's in this one?" he asks.
"Kunai and shuriken," says Iruka. "One seal for kunai, one for shuriken. I'm sure you can figure the rest out yourself. Now let's get you some shoes."
Arashi grins as he watches Iruka seal everything they pulled out in the effort to make Shisui look human back into sealing scrolls. "You should get some undies at the shop too, if they have them," suggests Arashi. "You can't wear the same undies for the whole trip. That's unhygienic."
Shisui sighs. "You sound like my Mum," he mutters.
Iruka leads the group down a nearby road to a roadside shop, where they sell all sorts of things that travellers might need, including food.
"Hey Grandpa, can we have second breakfast?" asks Naruto eagerly.
"Sure, why not?" agrees Arashi, who feels a bit peckish himself.
"It's first breakfast for me," says Shisui.
"Oi, you!" says the shopkeeper, waving his broom at Shisui. "Can't come in here unless you have footwear on! We don't want people sneaking out with our merchandise."
Shisui looks down at his bare feet sadly. "Why didn't I do a transformation?" he sighs.
"Don't worry," says Naruto. "We'll just get you some shoes and then you can go in." He takes a wad of money out of Arashi's pocket darts, into the shop grabs a pair of jandals, pays for them and is back out of the shop before Arashi can even react to having his money nicked.
"That was fast," comments Iruka.
"It runs in my blood," says Naruto, holding up the jandals for Shisui to take. "These are for you."
"They're orange." Shisui looks surprised for some reason. Of course Naruto got orange ones.
"You don't like them?" asks Naruto, his face crumpling into a mournful pout.
Shisui takes the jandals and says, "I like them!" he insists. "I'm just surprised you found orange-"
"WHY?" ask Iruka and Arashi simultaneously.
Shisui blushes and puts on the jandals. Then he takes them off again, removes the labels and puts them back on. "Well, they fit nicely, thanks Naruto."
"Where's that bird of yours?" asks Neji suddenly. "He was with us when we left the village."
Naruto looks around. "Sparky?" he calls. "SPARKY!" Naruto runs off, yelling for Sparky.
Arashi wonders where Sparky disappears to all the time. "Maybe we should get that bird a leash," he suggests.
"He used to have one," says Iruka. "But it mysteriously vanished one day. Ironically, that was right before he started vanishing for days at a time."
"Let's get a leash," says Arashi, heading into the shop. "Naruto will be gutted if he loses Sparky on this trip."
Naruto returns with Sparky held tightly in his arms. "Grandpa, why does Sparky keep running off?"
"Maybe he's looking for something," says Iruka, herding Naruto, Neji and Shisui into the shop. "But we can't have him wandering off and getting lost, so we are going to put him on a leash on this trip."
Sparky freezes and Arashi suddenly feels cruel. But he buys a leash and harness anyway and tries to put them on Sparky. Sparky struggles, trying to beat his wings, and squawking loudly.
Naruto responds to Sparky's distress by stepping backwards and getting teary-eyed. "Do you really have to put a leash on Sparky?" he whines. "He doesn't need one, does he?"
"Naruto, it's just for the trip," says Arashi. "Sparky is obviously trying to go somewhere, but we can't afford to lose him. If he gets caught by the wrong people bad things will happen to him. I'm sorry, but this is necessary. We can help him get where he wants to go later, okay?"
Naruto unwillingly takes the harness and leash and puts them on Sparky. "Sorry Sparky," he says. "But I don't want anything bad to happen to you." Thankfully, Sparky allows Naruto to put the harness on him. Naruto loops the end of Sparky's leash around his wrist and starts sulking.
Arashi sighs and buys some food to cheer them all up.
Once they are finished eating, Arashi and his bodyguards head back to the path they are supposed to be taking to the first of the four storage archives: the Temple of Steve. The Temple of Steve is remarkably close to the Hidden Leaf, and is used to store artifacts and weapons. Arashi is looking forward to seeing it.
After walking for some way, Iruka calls a halt and says, "This is where we leave the road."
"Is there a path to the archive?" asks Shisui.
"Of course not," says Iruka. "We don't want anyone knowing where it is." Iruka leads them through the forest, with Sparky sitting dejectedly on Naruto's shoulder. Every so often, Iruka stops, checks their surroundings and changes direction slightly. "Neji," says Iruka, stopping suddenly. "Scan the terrain due West."
Neji activates his byakugan. "I see 40-50 people camped close by," says Neji. "If we keep heading west we will run into them."
"We need to get past them," says Iruka. "And we can't afford to be spotted. Whoever they are, they are between us and the Temple of Steve."