Naruto is not mine but rather belongs to Hinata. She would hurt me if I said otherwise.

Rise of the Licensed Pranksters

Naruto flinched as he got to finally scratch. His back itched terribly and after nearly a month of healing he was finally able to do something about it. The last treatment from medics had been the day before and like each time they treated his wound, he had thanked them for their efforts on his behalf. Naruto had made many friends among the medical staff. The ones who did not like him had been quietly reassigned to other patients. The doctor and nurses who had been there the day the Hokage had talked to the boy had spread word about the boy and the demon not being the same being and that coupled with Naruto's heroic efforts at the school began to change their mind about him. At one time or another, all the members of the first year class he had saved had come in to visit along with their parents. Naruto quietly accepted the thanks and blushed at the praise he received.

Even his time for moving around had been limited but when he was allowed to walk in the hallway under supervision, he found his way to the pediatric ward. He had received many gifts from villagers and his new female fan club. A good number of the stuffed animals had gone home with smaller children and flowers graced many nurses' desks; all passed on by Naruto. He kept a box with all the cards for memories.

The only sour note had happened when one child celebrated a birthday in the hospital. The candle being lit had sent Naruto into a shivering sweat and he had to excuse himself. The sight of fire still brought a phantom pain to his back and in his nightmares he had flashbacks to the experience of being burnt.

To counter that, he gotten to spend a lot of time sitting with Hinata just talking. Her extra week in the hospital recovering from the attack on her family was spent in his company whenever possible. The shy girl blossomed under his attention as well as from the acknowledgement of her father. The boy actually sat quietly as the girl explained many things he had never learned. Many on the staff saw the pair was what the other one needed. She needed his brash confidence and energy to bring herself out of her shell while in turn her timid serenity got him to slow down and think before acting.

Sarutobi waited while a nurse led Naruto out of the hospital. "Here he is, Hokage-sama." Turning to Naruto, "Now we loved having you for a patient, Naruto, but we can honestly say we hope never to see you in here again."

Naruto just grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "I'll do my best. You never know when trouble will find me in this town." The nurse nodded and bowed to Sarutobi before going back inside.

Sarutobi walked with Naruto back to his apartment. The boy had wanted to drop off the box of cards and letters along with the few stuffed animals he had kept. Naruto noticed that several clan compounds had increased security in the wake of the attempt on the Hyuuga. He also noted some glaring flaws in one that the prankster in him could exploit. "Ah, you saw that hole in their security as well, eh Naruto?"

"Huh? Um, well that clan has never really been nice to me so I tend to, um; I had better shut up now."

Sarutobi laughed and rubbed the young blonde's head. "Actually, I had an idea on that. With the recent breaches of security in Konoha, I think a lot of our security measures should be re-evaluated. Nothing makes a proud clan take notice faster than being embarrassed. Since your 'exploits' in pranks are almost legend in the ANBU offices and you have the uncanny knack for avoiding capture by anyone less than a jonin, I want you to aid us in the security upgrades. My office will pay you to infiltrate a different clan compound each week and play a serious prank on them."

"The purpose will be two-fold. First it will reveal their security flaws and force them to improve. Second, it will give you a much finer training in stealth and infiltration than you have already. You will be provided with a scroll each week from my office to leave at the site of your prank. This will inform them that not only had they had a serious flaw in security but that the prank was authorized by the Hokage."

Naruto was almost drooling now with the idea that he was not only going to be paid to prank, but was being encouraged to do so.

"There are a few other conditions, Naruto. No more pranks outside of these official ones. You have earned a lot of goodwill from many villagers and I would hate to see that destroyed by a stink-bomb in the wrong place. You will do no permanent damage to anything or anyone. I know you have never hurt anyone in the past but there had been property damage by your pranks in a few cases. The downside of these missions is that you will have to write reports on what you saw, what you did and how you managed to infiltrate. Any other observations you make during the missions will be helpful to my office as well. Building layouts, secret passages and even access points a clan might not know about will need to be included. Anything that can be used against a compound will be reported. If you have multiple options on what prank to pull, you should add that in. Also, if you cannot finish within a week, you must still write a report on what they are doing correctly that kept you out."

"That's gonna be a lot of work, Old Man. I mean once I start in on that stuff, everyone is going to know it was me doing it. It's not like it will be a big secret after a few of them happen. Everyone is gonna be watching me like a hawk and take extra care when I'm in the area."

"Hmm, you are right. I'm glad you see the need to keep these missions a secret but I will allow you to bring one other person onto your team for planning purposes only. The actual prank may only be committed by you. Since I can tell by your look that you agree, we can discuss financial terms over ramen."

Sarutobi smiled to himself at his plan. By having Naruto doing paid pranks to test security, he would keep the boy in the village limelight. The boy needed the positive attention that so many in Konoha never gave him. He had spent so many years wasting his skills in mean spirited pranks for negative attention. The boy had skills in certain areas but Sarutobi would turn them toward the benefit of both Konoha and Naruto. Yes, a focused Naruto was a dangerous Naruto. It was one step on the way towards the completion of his plan.

Over the next few months, the assignment to Naruto would make him a legend among pranksters. The pranks on the smaller clans went off with without a hitch. Several of the more renowned clans had some serious embarrassments. The Nara found several prize deer painted according to cuts of meat. The Akimichi found all of their canned food labels removed and the cans made into a diorama of Konoha. One clan that was known for crafting weapons had awakened to find all their anvils piled in the rock garden.

No clan was spared from Naruto's testing but three managed to prevent his pranks. The Inuzuka, the Aburame and the Hyuuga had security that foiled his pranks and the Hokage knew about it. Naruto did however give good critiques on what he did find. If he had been allowed to leave damage or do harm he could have pulled off several plots quite easily. The Inuzuka could have been done in by stink bombs that Naruto provided plans for in his report. The Aburame's bugs could be defeated by sonic attacks and the Hyuuga were vulnerable to eye irritants.

Many clans were outraged at first by the pranks until they found the Hokage's scroll at the site. In each case, Naruto had struck at the one thing each clan did best. Sarutobi pointed out that in each case, Naruto had done something that if it had been an enemy could have done great damage to the prestige of the clan. The Nara deer were prized for the medicines the horns could provide. The Akimichi food consumption was legendary and if Naruto had been an enemy the entire clan could be dead from poison. In each case, the clan head had a meeting with the Hokage. Naruto was in attendance and would apologize for the prank as he had done it under orders before outlining the methods he used to commit them.

After the first round of pranks had completed, Sarutobi had him hit a random guard tower each night as well as try to pull something during the day on the gates. The improved security reaped rewards quickly. Spies and missing nin that tried to infiltrate Konoha found a welcome they did not like and many were captured. Morino Ibiki was almost in tears of joy with the number of enemy ninja he got to 'play' with.

Six months after the first round of pranks, Sarutobi had Naruto do it again. Far fewer missions could be completed and the clans that kept Naruto out began to show pride in their being 'Naruto-proof'. Of course the Inuzuka made sure to mention that they always had been but no one listened to them once Sarutobi authorized a special raid by Naruto. The strong smell of perfume lingered on all Inuzuka for a week afterwards.

During all these months, Naruto had chosen his partner in crime well. No one suspected the shy Hyuuga Hinata as being his comrade in pranks. Naruto had made it a specific point to ask Hiashi up front if Hinata could be the one to aid him. It took a long meeting with the Hokage before Hiashi would agree to allow it. The extra training in planning and infiltration would be helpful to Hinata in the future as it was likely she would be assigned to a recon team. The Hokage also mentioned that the assignment would fuel Hinata's growing sense of self confidence. The stoic Hyuuga leader also enjoyed a good prank so he gave his approval.

Hiashi knew that Hinata had already developed a mild crush on the yellow haired prankster. While the boy was not well thought of in some circles, Hiashi knew exactly who the orphan was. He felt that the boy having ties to the Hyuuga clan in some fashion would be a wise investment for the future. Hiashi offered the duo a seldom used storage cellar in a building the Hyuuga owned in the merchant district as a base of operations. Any supplies they needed would be provided through Hinata so the people watching Naruto would not get too suspicious. Hiashi's only requirement after keeping Hinata safe from harm was that he be provided with a copy of anything the pranksters found as well.

For Hinata, it was like a dream come true. She had always wanted a friend and with Naruto she had a great one. He would not let her retreat into her shy mode when he was around but she also kept him from going overboard with his energy. Since she was no longer worried about being put up against her sister, her juuken ability on forms seemed to increase exponentially and began approaching that of Neji. However she still lacked the needed reach to fare well against adult sparring partners

The weekly prank missions became more than just a fun sideline for Hinata. The work involved took more than simply going in and doing the prank. It took a lot of planning and recon work. The duo drew up a lot of maps of Konoha the first few months they were working for the Hokage. It became almost a game to find out new things around Konoha to make the maps more complete. If something existed, it was added to the growing stack of scrolls for later use. After the first round of pranks had been completed, they had a three dimensional map of Konoha and it's under workings that rivaled and in some cases surpassed that of ANBU. The Hokage and Hiashi both were impressed by the level of detail these maps provided. After a second closed door session, both adults realized they had a potential gold mine of information and acquired a complete copy of the children's cartography.

The Hokage and Hiashi allowed Hinata to join in on the raids beginning with the second round of pranks. With her byakugan she could seem more deeply into structures and underground passages to make the maps greater in detail. Hinata understood what the map making was for but she did not worry the situation greatly. She looked forward to breaking into clan compounds with Naruto. That was her primary interest in the missions now. The planning and execution with Naruto was her main concern. Anything else that made a mission successful was an aid to them. If her father or the Hokage could also benefit from it, she was pleased but not worried.

Her ideas became more and more creative in helping them accomplish the weekly goals. One idea she had was that the clans knew Naruto was behind the pranks so they would be on the lookout for the orange clad boy, he should use a henge to disguise himself during recon. She would use one as well to hide the fact that her Byakugan was active as she and a 'branch member' were out on errands. Hinata even approached the Hokage to have ANBU style masks made for the pair, one of a fox, the other of a rabbit. The pair felt that since they were on secret missions, they needed to look the part. Sarutobi chuckled and approved. She also convinced Naruto to dress more appropriately for night missions in dark colors while maintaining his normal orange strictly for daywear to throw off the clans. One mission in particular was a success solely due to Hinata's ideas.

The Kara clan knew they were going to be raided soon. Naruto had been seen snooping around near their compound. They had stepped up their night patrols immensely and covered the building so well that the pair had been forced to retire three nights in a row without a successful mission. Naruto knew he could finish the prank but part of the game was doing so undiscovered. Hinata looked over all their information on the clan once more and noticed that two-thirds of the clan members were involved with night guarding the compound. Hinata simply asked, what about a daytime raid? Naruto had not done a prank in the broad daylight since Sarutobi asked him to do these security missions. The grin on his face was soon mirrored by one on Hinata as she went to fetch their mission clothing. Fox and Rabbit were soon eating ramen at Ichiraku as the Kara clan tried to figure out how all the swords in their armory had mysteriously found their way onto the roof of the clan house.

End Notes:

One reviewer asked if I would make longer chapters. I tend to post my chapters at natural stopping points for what I have written. I am glad people like what I have written and I am continuing to add more and edit but after seeing a lot of people posting chapters of under 500 words I figured my almost 2000 words in chapter 2 was good enough.

Posted1/29/08 - Edited and Reposted