AN: HEY everyone! I know it's been years but a lot of personal shit happened and I only recently got back into writing fics. I also kinda forgot this story existed.

- Anyways, now that I found it again.. The concept was too great to ignore and my brain began spinning again. Spitting put ideas left and right so... Here we are!

UNTIL NEXT TIME!

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The three remaining in the park stood staring blankly at the spot their teammate had been standing in. None of them could process what had just been said. The information seemed to violate the very laws of nature. Naturally, as team leader and sensei (not to mention former loudmouth), Obito spoke first to address the situation even though he didn't fully understand himself.

"D-did, he just...say...he h-had a job?"

Sasuke and Sakura both nodded dumbly. Obito stepped out in front of his students, gazing in the direction the blonde had taken off in (picking his ear).

"Good, thought I was hearing things. I take it you two don't know anything about it?"

They shook their heads, still clearly in shock.

He adopted a contemplative stance. This was unexpected information. Naruto, the dead last loudmouth, was actually a bit more responsible than people guessed. It made sense in a way, he was alone in that apartment with very little in the way of income. Seemed like the obvious thing to do...but most people hated him. Who even gave him a job? What was that job? Was is dangerous on purpose so he'd get hurt? And why expect him in on today of all days? There was only one way to find out.

The students were suddenly shook from shock when their sensei's face turned mischievous. He was definitely planning something not entirely on the level. They were of two totally different minds about this change.

Sakura didn't like it. The look was too similar to Naruto when he planning a prank. It served to reignite her doubts on this man's relation to the boy next to her.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was almost excited. He could guess pretty well what was going through his cousin's head and found the idea exciting.

Obito turned his head to them and spoke.

"Sasuke, Sakura, what do you two think about getting a jump on your training? I was thinking we'd start with stealth, recon, and tracking. Luckily, you're teammate has just provided the perfect training sim."

Now, it may have been the man's behavioural similarity to a certain blonde that made her react on but, Sakura (of all people) stepped up to defend Naruto's privacy. Obito was caught off guard by this and his smile fell a bit.

"Sensei! We can't! That sounds-"

She was cut off unexpectedly by the boy next to her.

"-Perfect."

Surprisingly, he was grinning predatorally. No mistaking it, he was 100 percent on board. The pink haired girl could only drop her head in disappointment, she'd been out numbered. She expected Sasuke to at least think it wasn't worth his time if not agree with her. Their sensei brought back his prankster grin full force.

"That great! First objective: Locate the genin known as Naruto Uzumaki. Now follow and watch and learn."

With that he took off, careful not to go too fast. Looking back, he saw his ward hit on his heels and Sakura...she was trailing a bit. Guess her heart wasn't into it. He'd have to work on that later but for now, he had a lesson to teach. When they reached the village he immediately got into teaching mode (trying to imitate his own sensei).

"Lesson 1: tracking isn't some mystical mumbo jumbo. Especially not urban tracking. All we have to do is establish a visual without altering our target. So, what do we know?"

Sasuke immediately answered.

"He left the training grounds in a hurry. He's not going to be attentive to his surroundings."

Obito nodded his head.

"Excellent work. No Sakura?"

She needed a second.

"Um, we know what he looks like and have an idea on where he's going?"

Obito considered the information for a bit before responding.

"Hmm, good points all around, both of you. However, out in the field, visual information might not be the safest thing to rely on considering the amount of ways to disguise ones self or the environment. Both of also forgot to consider his social standing. Almost nobody likes him, much less would be willing to hire him. Therefore it's reasonable to assume that the standard markets are automatically eliminated. Thus narrowing down our search."

He paused to give his students time to digest his lesson.

"Okay now-"

He had their attention again.

"- seeing the majority of the civilian population hate him, we can assume it's a ninja run business. Correct?"

A round of nods.

"Who were his friends in the academy?"

Sakura answered first, seeing as Sasuke simply didn't care at the time.

"Choji and Shikamaru."

Obito smiled.

"Excellent Sakura. That means Akimichi and Nara. Now, we all know that the Nara prefer to tend to their deer themselves and wouldn't hire outside help. Right?"

They both nodded.

"Okay so the Akimichi do own a restaurant so problem solved right?"

Sasuke looked hesitant. Something about the way his cousin said it made it feel off.

"You seem to be getting the picture, Sasuke. I happen to know for a fact that the Yamanaka clan head holds no ill will towards our target... And they run a flower shop."

Now Sakura was especially surprised at this new information.

"B-but.. Ino hates him!"

"But Inoichi doesn't. In fact the man was great friends with his father."

He mumbled under his breath.

"Kunisha was another story."

He spoke back at normal volume (completely ignoring the twin looks of confusion).

"Now, I say we try the flower shop first. Then we try the restaurant after. Agreed?"

They nodded again.

"Good, let's go."