Naruto could hardly believe his luck. He was going on a mission with Sakura-chan! His long time crush since he was born! Dattebayo! With her cotton-candy hair which looked just as soft, he was itching to run his fingers at least once in those tresses. His hair was dry and itchy most of the times. Sarutobi-ojiisan doesn't give him enough money to buy shampoo or hair oil. But at least he can buy lots of ramen and milk! A growing boy needs to drink a lot of milk! Ayame-chan told him so!
He sighed dreamily as he watched the pinkette run a hand through her hair. Maybe he could just ask to touch her head or feign an accident which would result in him touching her hair. But Sakura-chan wouldn't like that. She would immediately see through his tricks. Not to mention, she punches really hard and he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of her fist. Sakura-chan seems to be very polite, the type of girl that Iruka-sensei would pick as the most well-behaved in their class.
Not like Ami. Ami has a bad personality. She is a narcissistic (Sakura-chan would be so proud that he could use big words found in the dictionary!). She always picked on Sakura-chan when they were younger. He had wanted to help her but he hesitated. A lot of parents didn't want other kids around him. He was afraid that her parents would chase him away if they saw him with Sakura-chan. Plus Ami would bully her even worse if Naruto came to defend her.
Ami is cute though, but not like Sakura-chan. Her hair looks soft too and her clothes are always clean. She has curves in the right places, exactly as described in that book that Kakashi-sensei always reads. Sakura-chan is flat compared to Ami but he likes Sakura-chan more. Ami smells nice too. Ami is good at taijutsu and throwing kunai. Kakashi-sensei said he was going to get her a kenjutsu teacher who could teach her. She's one of the few girls who can tolerate him and sometimes, she invites him over to have dinner with her family every weekend. She's also nice to hug. She hugged him when they came back from their mission from the Land of Waves and vowed to grow stronger so that they can protect each and defeat bad guys.
Ami has a crush on Sasuke-teme and she's always fawning over him! What's so great about that douchebag anyways? If it weren't for the fact that she was always trying to get Sasuke-teme's attention, he would have liked her too. But not like Sakura-chan.
"Naruto, are you paying attention?"
He snapped out of his internal musings to find Ami staring at him with a disappointed expression. "Sorry, did you say something?" he asked as he scratched his head. Ami rolled her eyes and out of the corner of his eye, Sakura did the same. "I said do you know where Yukie-san is? Our client, the one we're supposed to be protecting," she asked in an all too familiar tone that she used whenever he did something stupid. "No. I lost her. I followed her for like, three hours, but her attitude is terrible. I couldn't keep on following her without her acting like she was better than me, dattebayo. I figured we could just find her later and bring her back together," he replied as he put a finger in his ear. He ought to clean his ears soon.
"Naruto you baka! What's the point of the mission if you're not going to protect the client?!" the purple-haired genin screeched as she grabbed his ear and pulled really hard. "Oww, that hurts!" he yelped. "A-Ano, Ami-san, I don't think that's the right way to chide Naruto-san. He looks like he's in a lot of pain," Sakura spoke nervously. Ami immediately let go of him and he breathed a sigh of relief as his teammate rounded on the pinkette. "Then how do you suppose we get him to do as he's told, Sakura-chan?" Ami replied, stressing on the suffix more than necessary. It was probably to irritate Sakura and Naruto noticed that she succeeded. Sakura-chan's face always pinched, especially around her eyebrows and forehead whenever she was irritated or mad.
"Forget it," the pinkette retorted as she turned away from Ami and walked away from them, her shoulders rigid with barely contained contempt. Aww, too bad. He really wanted to talk to her but he doesn't want to risk being sucker-punched in the face.
"I should have known that coming here was a bad idea, shannaro," she muttered to herself as she walked away from the genin team. Of all the teams that Asama had chosen to hire, he had to pick them. Ami was her worst nightmare, Naruto coming in second with his horrible crush on her and Sasuke was a painful reminder of the Uchiha graveyard which made her cry terribly every time she visited. Urgh! She should've listened to her mother.
"Sakura-chan?"
It was her boss. "Asama-san," she tried to appear cheerful but failed miserably. "Is everything alright?" he asked her as concern laced his tone. "Yes," she replied almost immediately. But his expression said he didn't believe her. "When your parents signed those affidavits, they gave me power to act as your guardian on their behalf. It would be folly of me to fail you when we haven't even departed," he stated. They took a seat on a free bench as the crewman continued to carry the equipment. "I noticed your interaction with the shinobi and you didn't seem too pleased. Are they giving you any problems?" he asked in a fatherly tone. Sakura contemplated whether she should tell him or not. But after all the effort that he had gone through to make sure that she was on this trip, it felt like she was spitting in his face if she didn't tell him. He was, after all, her parent for this journey.
"Well, it's them specifically, not that they're ninjas. I've known Ami-san's team for quite awhile. We grew up together, though we weren't friends. I felt uncomfortable with them since we're not on good terms, especially with Ami-san," she replied honestly. Asama looked at her before he looked ahead, nodding his head slowly. "Whilst I understand that you may not be friends with everyone and I want you to enjoy this as much as possible, sometimes, you have to put your own needs aside to get the job done. You might not like them but when danger comes, they're more than capable to protect than you could protect yourself at the moment," he told her. "I know! I have to do whatever gets the ball rolling. I just didn't expect it to be them," she stated as frustrated tears burned behind her eyes. "I'm sorry. You put a lot of work for me to be here, I don't want to ruin this trip for myself or anyone else. I promise I'll behave," she said as she wiped at her eyes.
"Thank you for understanding. Maturing is realizing that even though you don't have to like everyone, you should learn to get along with them especially when you know that they'll help you," Asama replied. She nodded her head in understanding. Nothing was going to ruin this trip for her.
"Sakura-chan! We're going to get Yukie-san with Kakashi-sensei. Do you wanna come with us?" Naruto shouted over to her as she looked out at the sea from the deck. Their ship was going to depart in an hours time. She turned around to find the blonde and his teammates watching her. Well, it was mostly Naruto as Ami was too busy ogling at the Uchiha. She needed to establish a working relationship with them if she was to enjoy this trip. She plastered a fake smile on her face as she nodded in agreement. The Uzumaki cheered in return.
She hurried over to them and the four teens made their way to meet their jounin superior. Naruto began to rant about his teacher. "You're gonna meet Kakashi-sensei. He's so cool! He knows a lot of jutsu and has the Sharingan, he can literally copy any technique. He's so much better than Sasuke-teme at using the Sharingan even though he's not an Uchiha-" "Dobe, shut up," Sasuke growled, speaking for the first time since she saw him. "What? It's true. That's why he's your teacher and spends more time with you than me and Ami because he's the best Sharingan user in the village!" Naruto shot back.
"Ano, Naruto-san. Sasuke-san is the only remaining Uchiha in the village. You can't compare him to your sensei since he's more experienced and much older than Sasuke-san. It's rude to say that especially considering there are no Uchiha left. Well, not including Itachi Uchiha since he deserted the village a long time ago and is now an S rank missing nin," Sakura stated. The book she read also said that Itachi Uchiha had joined an organization called the Akatsuki which housed famous S rank missing nin. But it wasn't necessary. Anyone who knew the name Itachi Uchiha knew that he was a traitor to the village, it was more than enough information.
She felt three pairs of eyes looking at her. Naruto was halfway between embarrassed and shocked, Ami looked mortified and Sasuke was downright angry. The Uchiha marched over to her and grabbed her by front of her dress, heaving her up as his hands trembled slightly with unadulterated anger. His gaze was murderous as he glared at her. "Don't speak about my family as if you know them. And don't talk about him, you know nothing," he ground out through gritted teeth. Sakura felt fear course through her veins but somehow, she found courage to speak. "That's what the books say. And it's true, isn't it? Itachi Uchiha slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan and deserted the village, he's a traitor," she spoke as she struggled against his grip. "Shut up, you're just a civilian. You don't know anything," he sneered as he squeezed tighter. "I know enough. It doesn't take a g-genius to know that he was a traitor. W-Who kills his entire clan in a single night including his p-parents?" she was quickly running out of air and her vision was becoming hazy. She thought she saw Sasuke's eyes flash red before the pressure disappeared at once.
Sakura was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, the gravel biting into her skin as she took large gulps of air. She would've suffocated if Sasuke hadn't let go. She was still confused. Why would Sasuke be angry at her? She was just stating facts and also defending him. Why would he react violently? Urgh, this was why she hated shinobi, acting like they had harder lives than everyone just because they could use a little magic. She coughed several times before she finally found the strength to stand up.
"Maa, Sasuke. I taught you better than that," a very familiar voice spoke. She knew that lazy drawl, even if she had only talked to the man once. It could only be one person. She raised her head and found certain jounin standing in front of her. "Hatake-senpai?" she called out to the man. "Ahh, Sakura-chan, a pleasure to meet you. Our client tells us that we'll be travelling together to the Land of Snow and then come back to Konoha too," he spoke as he gave her a small salute. She didn't reply as the man had already turned back to Sasuke who was glaring daggers at her.
"It's all her fault sensei. She was talking about that man, Sasuke-kun doesn't like that," Ami sneered at Sakura. "Yeah but it's not like she knew that Sasuke-teme would blow a fuse. Please don't send her back or punish the teme," Naruto, surprisingly, pleaded to their sensei. "Is that so?" the silver haired ninja asked monotonously. "Get out of my way. Let me deal with her, next time she'll know better than to go off yapping whatever nonsense that comes to her mind," she heard Sasuke growl. "Now now, Sasuke, that's not how we deal with such issues especially with civilians. She could press charges against you for physical assault and you could be stripped of your genin title before you can even participate in the Chunin Exams. Oh, and you'll be taken off active duty for a year before you can continue being an ninja. You'll have to start at the Academy all over again," Hatake spoke in an all too cheery voice.
"B-But I didn't even hurt her or anything!" Sasuke blurted out, disbelief evident on his face. "Actually, you did. You almost choked her to death. Ask her yourself, she was about to pass out before I intervened," the jounin replied. "You can't be serious sensei! I mean, she's just a civilian-" "And that's exactly the point," the exposed part of his face darkened immediately as he glared at his three genin. "You're right. She is just a civilian and that should be enough reason to restrain yourselves from attacking her, even if she angered you. If you so much as lay a finger on her without her consent, I'll make sure to report you myself," he warned.
"That's not fair sensei! She's the one who-" "Who do you fight for Ami-chan? Isn't it the duty of a ninja to protect the defenseless, the civilians?" Ami immediately clamped her mouth shut, turning to glare at Sakura instead. "I expect this to be the last time hearing this. You do not and never will attack a civilian of Konoha or any other village under any circumstance unless it's for a very good reason. Do I make myself clear?" he barked. "Yes sensei," they all chorused.
Hatake turned to Sakura. "Let's go on to meet Asama-san and fetch Yukie-san," he said with an eye crinkle. Sakura's gaze drifted to the three genin who giving her the stink eye. "S-Sure," she stammered and they began walking. The three genins were walking ahead of them, whispering amongst themselves with an occasional glare from Ami and Sasuke. Sakura was a little ways behind them with their sensei.
"You never told me that you had a genin team," she spoke as she eyed Hatake out of the corner of her eye. "I didn't think it was important for you to know. They're just my cute little genins who sometimes lack proper etiquette," he replied. "Naruto-san called you Kakashi-sensei. I didn't know that was your name. You're the famous Copy Cat Nin, Kakashi of the Sharingan aren't you?" she asked. "That's me," he said with a casual shrug. "I don't know how I might've missed it when you told me your surname. You're the only remaining Hatake in Konoha, the rest are scattered all over the Land of Fire," she stated. "That's true. My clan mostly came from the Land of Water but most of them are gone and have integrated into other clans and villages. Though I wonder how you were able to get a hold of such confidential information," the man retorted eith a single eyebrow raised in question.
"I read it from the library. I swear I didn't visit the restricted section of the library!" she panicked as her heart began beating frantically. "Maa, I'm just teasing Sakura-chan," the jounin spoke with a chuckle. "Oh, sorry," the pinkette replied sheepishly. "Come to think of it, the books didn't mention anything about another Hatake in the village. Sukea..." her voice faded as she looked at the silver-haired ninja in a new light. "Wait! Sukea doesn't exist!" she exclaimed. She deadpanned immediately. "You placed a genjutsu on me the first time I saw you, didn't you?" she spoke with an accusing finger pointed at him. "Now, why would I place you under a genjutsu? Do you even know what a genjutsu is?" Hatake asked her with feigned innocence. "Of course I know what a genjutsu is and how ninjas use them to fight," she snorted.
"It makes sense. You're the only Hatake in the village, there's no way that you would have a cousin who looks exactly like you. I should've known that Sukea wouldn't have a Sharingan, the only Sharingan users left in the village are you and Sasuke-san. Also, you don't usually display the Sharingan for everyone to see if the pictures in the Bingo Book are anything to go by. Even if Sukea had a Sharingan, he would be a pretty dumb ANBU to have it exposed like that," she rambled. "Plus I have a pretty sharp memory. I don't and never forget almost anything. The night that I met Sukea is fuzzy, there's no other explanation. You changed your appearance to remove your headband and also exposed you ANBU tatoo and Sharingan. Because in my memory, sometimes I see you without a headband with a glowing red eye and sometimes I see you with a headband covering your eye. Genma-san was confused when you introduced yourself as Sukea. I understand why he was confused because you're not Sukea. Also, when I met you with Genma-san for the second time as Hatake-senpai under my alias Mizuho, you emphasized on cherry blossoms which happen to be my namesake. Also, I noticed that both of your voices sound exactly the same-"
"Okay, okay. I hear you. Yes, Sukea is indeed me," he admitted only to find Sakura glaring at him. "Why'd you put me under a genjutsu?" she asked him. "I figured I couldn't introduce myself to you as Kakashi Hatake since you fit the exact description of the girl Naruto is always talking about. So I created another alias who would interact with your alias. And if I had to engage with Sakura 'who has cotton candy hair' by Naruto's description then I would talk to her as Hatake-senpai," he explained cheerily. "That wasn't nice. I don't being lied to, you deliberately altered my memories for your own personal gain," she sneered at him. "I'm not the only one who lied, Sakura-chan. Or should I say Mizuho?" Kakashi teaser her. "I had to change my appearance and operate under a different name for obvious reasons. I needed information," she defended. "Uh huh, and you needed to go to a pub filled with overgrown men for that. You know this thing called testosterone, it exists in pretty much all males. Now imagine a beautiful young lady who decides to drink water in a pub filled to the brim with men whose testosterone levels sky rocket at the sight of any pretty face. What would happen?" Kakashi asked her. He hoped that she would look underneath the underneath and take his warning that her 'idea' of information gathering was a terrible one, considering she's just thirteen years old and isn't on any official mission to use seduction as a means of intelligence gathering. Though he had to applaud her, it took a lot of guts to do that.
"First, thank you for admitting that makeup made me look and appear more older and beautiful than what I actually am. Two, you just gave me a brilliant idea! I've always been wondering which type of business I can venture into that can cater to the needs of shinobi and you just answered one of the many options I had!" she exclaimed, almost giddily. "And that is?" he asked flatly. "A brothel, obviously," she replied, not caring that she just admitted to the idea of running a whorehouse. "You want to start a brothel for shinobi?" he asked her incredulously. "Yes," she retorted. "Plus, it's also good for information gathering, am I not correct?" she added with a smug smirk.
Kakashi could hardly believe his ears. This kid, who looked just as frail as her namesake, wanted to start a brothel. She wanted to run a house which would be full of different men and women in various degrees of nudity. "Why would you do that? Isn't it going against every moral code? It's kind of like you're supporting adultery," he tried to reason with her. "Please, don't make me laugh. It's not like people are faithful anyways. I know for a fact that men have more than one sexual partner, it's just how it is. Who says I can't make a little money out of it?" she replied nonchalantly. "Besides, when it comes to real information gathering without using your superpowers, it comes down to the one thing that no person can ever refuse, whether straight or homosexual. That is sex," she added.
Kakashi was at a loss of words. He didn't know whether he should be proud or disappointed. It took him a while before he was completely open to the idea of intimacy, especially for intelligence purposes.
"I meant what I told you that night," she spoke without looking at him. He didn't reply. "As Mizuho," she added. "Oh," he hummed noncommittally. "I want to become a business tycoon. And I mean it. I want to have the power of a Kage or a Daimyo. I want to protect both civilians and shinobi, even if it means using the most underrated means. Because they're the most effective," she admitted softly. "I spend a lot of my time reading books. On anything. Some dating even before the founding of Konoha. So I sometimes stumble upon things I shouldn't be reading. But they're my only source of information. Being book smart isn't terrible if you know which books to read and how to use them effectively," she stated.
"I suppose there is a semblance of truth in what you've said," Kakashi finally spoke. "Just admit it. It's brilliant, isn't it? Even Jiraiya-sama, the famous Toad Sannin disguises himself as a pervert when he visits brothels, when it's all part of his spy network. He's the one who writes those Icha Icha novels you're always reading. He's the one who also wrote the Tale of the Utter Gutsy Ninja," she preened at him. "How do you know all this?" the jounin asked in shock. "The library," came the smug reply.
He ought to pay a visit to the library.
Yowai knew that the moment his handmaid hadn't returned with his milk, something was very, very wrong. She had been very busy these past weeks, especially with her new job as someone else's servant. Just the mere thought of her serving another master who wasn't him left a bad taste in his mouth. It was bad enough that she thought he was a female cat yet he was actually male. At least, she pampered him and made sure that his fur well-groomed.
He stretched himself on her bed. She had been given a room she would be sharing with that blasted actress. The actress's scent alone made him want to hurl. She was very drunk when they dragged her to her bed earlier the previous night. He ought to have left a hairball on her bed or in her mouth as she snored. She was very loud. Sakura, on the other hand, was a quiet sleeper. Plus her body was very soft and served as an excellent cushion for his weary limbs, despite having no curves.
He narrowed his eyes as he stared at his paws. He had a broken nail. Where was his maid when he needed her the most? She better have brought his golden nail cutter because he would not be resorting to anything less than his special nail cutter he had borrowed from an expensive jewelry shop down the street. His stomach growled in hunger. He hadn't eaten anything since they left that village named after plant parts. He had seen a rat every now and then but he would not be resorting to such barbaric practices. He would rather starve to death than be found eating those disgusting and vulgar mammals. That's why he had his handmaid, of course.
It was the reason why he hadn't slit her throat when he saw her at that damned district. Her scent told him that she bathed quite a lot and paid meticulous attention to her hair. Her chakra, though civilian, was definitely nonthreatening and lacking malicious intent. He always sensed her since she had started coming there for the past two years but found no reason to engage with her. But she seemed worthy to serve him. She would do good.
And so he had smiled at her. No one could resist his charm especially when he smiled. And it worked because soon enough, he found himself lounging at her apartment for the past two and a half years.
His stomach growled again. Where was she?
The door to his bedroom flew open and the actress burst into the room. She froze as her gaze landed on him and he gave her a cool look in return. "What?" he asked, his words garbled since that damned Uchiha disrupted his vocal chords. She screeched and scampered out of the room. He could smell her fear from where he was atop of Sakura's-his bed. Good for her. This was his throne room after all and he would not be sharing with a commoner.
A hurried set of footsteps caught his attention and soon enough, his maid was standing by the door, glaring at him. "Peasant, my nails require attention," he spoke as he raised his broken nail at her. "Don't you dare raise your paw at me, Yowai. What are you doing here?" she almost shouted as she marched over to him. "Is that relevant to our conversation? I said my nails require attention," he replied as he narrowed his eyes at her. "I am not cutting that broken nail. Do it yourself. Now, you are going to behave because somehow you managed to get onto this ship without my knowledge-" "Actually, I was in your suitcase this whole time-" "Don't cut me whilst I'm still talking!" she snapped. "What are you gonna do? Pull my ear?" he asked haughtily with an invisible eyebrow raised in question.
His left ear, the one which was pierced three times and was supposed to have different earrings, was pulled viciously by the banshee. "Hey, let me go, you pest!" he screeched at her as he swiped his paw at her. She grabbed his broken nail and ripped it off. He howled in pain. "You imbecile, are you trying to kill me?!" he made to jump at her but she dodged and grabbed him by his other ear which was pierced five times. He thrashed violently as he struggled to get out of her grip. "You ungrateful scumbag! Is this how you repay me after giving meaning to your miserable existence?!" But the pink-haired devil wasn't hearing him. She continued to look at him with disinterest.
"I swear by my ancestors and that deceased clan that I'll get my revenge on you. I will not forget this disrespect. Just you wait!" he shouted as he swiped his paws at her. Oh, the shock was too much for him! The absurdity of it all!
He fainted immediately.