Chapter 18 – Fruit of the Leaf
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me
Previously on Secret Keeper: Team 7, working hard, managed to find five of the seven items – before the other teams! And, with access to the Village Library on the line, they hope to give a good showing...
"Sooo...which do we check first?" Sakura frowned, eyeing up the carved heads.
"Well, only the Second and Fourth Hokages are really known for speed?" Naruto shrugged.
"We're running out of time." Sasuke glared at the offending stones. "Besides, there can't be that many places up here to hide a fruit, right?"
Sakura hummed consideringly.
"Personally, I'd hide it among the hair spikes." she grinned.
"Right." Sasuke nodded sharply. "How much is left in the tank, dobe?"
Naruto glared.
"What, getting tired, teme?" he retorted, before creating enough clones to cover the heads in question.
Almost immediately a cry came from the Yondaime's head, before a clone hurried over, clutching three oranges.
"Yatta! Take that, teme!" Naruto cheered.
Sakura groaned, face-palming.
"Naruto, you baka! Don't tell me you've used up most of your chakra reserves just to prove Sasuke-kun wrong?"
"Huh? Why would I do something like that, Sakura-chan? I'm not an idiot." Naruto frowned.
Sakura blinked at him, before sighing.
"Never mind. We should focus on the last item."
Sasuke smirked.
"Way ahead of you. I reckon it's at the Hokage Tower. That's where we're meant to finish, so that would make it the last place to visit." he shrugged.
"Brilliant, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura beamed, before taking off towards the Tower.
"So, what are we thinking?" Sakura asked as they hid on a roof, watching the Tower.
"That the Village Council are idiots." Naruto hummed, while scanning the Tower's guards.
Sasuke nodded absently.
"That we should make a list of gear and various jutsus we need."
Sakura huffed.
"I meant about the Tower, and finding the blue item? We have no idea of size, or if it's inside or outside..." she trailed off.
"Oh, why didn't you say so in the first place?" Naruto frowned. "The guard patterns have changed." he added.
"Anything useful in that?" Sasuke asked, eyes narrowing as he tried to spot whatever it was Naruto had seen.
Naruto nodded.
"They've left the window to the Mission Room wide open." he grinned.
"Could be a trap?" Sasuke frowned.
Naruto shook his head.
"It's only obvious if you already knew the patterns. Besides, the Mission Room's one if the few places in the Tower most genin have been in."
"Well, if you;re sure?" Sakura frowned, before grinning. "Say, Naruto, you don't happen to have anything in your prank kit that'll cause a, relatively, harmless distraction?"
Naruto grinned.
"Give me a moment."
Opening his pouch, Naruto quickly obtained brush, ink and paper. Several skilled strokes later, and Sakura was handed a tag with a rather elaborate design.
"Use chakra on the small seal on the back to stick it to a wall, then pump chakra into the main seal until the ink changes colour. You'll have about ten seconds before she blows." Naruto explained.
Sakura nodded.
"How long do you need in there?"
"Not too long, they should still be distracted." Naruto grinned.
Sasuke nodded sharply.
"If not, we'll handle it."
Naruto saluted, before dropping down onto the street, Sakura following, before splitting up. Sasuke remained behind in their vantage point.
Darting across the street, Sakura quickly followed Naruto's instructions, before returning to Sasuke on the roof. A moment later, the street below exploded in a cloud of blue smoke and a shrill whistle. More than enough to draw the attention of any nearby shinobi. Even the Hokage & Co came to investigate!
Sasuke smirked, before holding up a leaf between two fingers.
"We should have Naruto make a batch of those for emergencies." he hummed, before letting go of the leaf.
Just before the leaf hit the roof, it disappeared in a puff of smoke, before Naruto appeared, grinning, with a blue bead between each finger, his left hand in the one-hand seal for Kawarimi.
"All set?" he asked, tossing beads to his teammates.
Sakura nodded happily.
"Let's blow this joint!"
Sasuke hummed, before glancing down at the street, which was still emitting blue smoke, although the whistling had now stopped.
"Think they've worked out what happened?"
Naruto shrugged.
"Maybe. I haven't actually used that particular prank yet, though, and the tag should have disintegrated once the whistle stopped."
"Handy." Sasuke nodded, before crossing the roof and dropping down into another street. No point in turning blue, like the Hokage and anyone else currently in the affected street, after all. Maybe another time...