The meeting after that was the tensest situation most of the young shinobi had ever witnessed. They had to go through several levels of security and multiple inquiries about their identities and 'real purposes' there. Every heavy screening process Taki could run the group through, they did.
After nearly three hours, Taki had finally given the Konoha nin the benefit of the doubt and allowed the possibility that they were actually telling the truth. From that point, they interviewed everyone again in a more comfortable setting. They were asked to follow a group of Taki shinobi to a building, where they talked some more, this time actually treated as guests.
After almost another hour went by, the younger part of the squad was allowed to leave and retire to a resting place nearby, while the older Jonin stayed to persuade the village to accept their help, in the event that they were in fact attacked by Akatsuki.
The organization had already been notorious to all villages, big and small, due to the sheer potential it had with the number of dangerous shinobi it possessed. Also, since it was so hard to acquire any meaningful information about their movements before it lost relevance, and information on certain individuals within the group (like their leader), all villages were wary of them. The question was, were they wary enough to accept another village's help? After all, villages were also wary of other villages.
"Ahhh, finally, some food…!" Naruto complained with relief as the smell of different food shops wafted through the air while the foursome of shinobi walked down a path, followed by another shinobi who kept his eyes on the group at all times.
"I can't help but agree with you; those were long hours of interrogation. I'm not sure if I'd rather have a Yamanaka go through my head or not, just to make it faster…" Tenten looked the most tired of them all, her shoulders slumped and eyes weary.
Lee and Neji were being their usual selves. Although it wasn't easier on them than on Tenten and Naruto, Neji never lost composure, and Lee had just too much energy. Naruto was a hard man to tire, but Lee might be even worse than the blond. The group was about to enter a small family restaurant to eat something, not too far from where their superiors were still talking with the Taki shinobi, when someone brushed against Naruto, almost throwing him to the ground.
Despite his heightened senses and reflexes, Naruto wouldn't usually go out of his way to avoid contact if he didn't feel malice behind it, so the shinobi indeed nearly had an intimate moment with the ground, recovering his balance at the last second and shouting a 'Hey!' towards the offending person.
Said person only spared a look at him before continuing on their way, not even dignifying them with an apology, which made the blond as angry as they come. Naruto shot past the group, placed his hand on the girl's shoulder, and pulled back so she would look at him to hear a few of his words, but they never came out of his mouth.
The girl was, in fact, possibly older than Naruto. She had an athletic figure, tanned skin, and a tomboyish vibe, though she had a scowl on her face that would scare the meanest of thugs. Her hair was short like Shizune's, straight, mint green, and kept out of her face by a hair clip on one side, though her hairstyle was still kind of messy. And her eyes were orange and intense.
"What do you want?"
Despite her eyes being Naruto's favorite color, and him quite liking how her athletic body and tomboyish attitude worked for her, those were not the reasons he stopped mid-rant. No, the reason was that he was very sure he had just found who he was looking for. Or at least, who he thought the Akatsuki was looking for.
"What's your name?" He asked suddenly, all his anger now forgotten.
"W-what?" The girl recoiled in surprise, some color darkening the skin around her cheeks. "You…! Hitting on a girl all of a sudden! Pervert!"
And then she ran off. Just like that, the girl they had all come to protect, the possible (who was he kidding, she was definitely it!) container of the Seven-Tails, was just within his grasp, and she ran away and vanished among the people all of a sudden, and he could see neither hair nor hide of her by now. But Naruto wasn't just any shinobi; he was exceptional in every way and possibly one of the best trackers who was not favored by a Kekkei Genkai nor had ancient techniques perfected through time.
So, as soon as he recollected his bearings, he shot forward, running in the direction the girl went, seamlessly avoiding people and moving at his best possible speed, given the situation. Soon, another shadow appeared right beside him, and one Rock Lee called out to him.
"Naruto-kun! What are you doing?!" His tone belied the worry clear in his wide, round eyes. "We're still on foreign ground, you know?!"
And that brought a stop to his running. He forgot he couldn't just go running after a girl. He neglected his friends, his mission, and the possibility of failing to maintain the cordial relationship Taki had with Konoha. He was, after all, a representative, and everything he did might be taken as Konoha's actions. There were already people following them frantically, noticing his movements and trying to gauge his intentions.
"Ah! Hahaha, I just… you know, I wanted her to apologize; she was so rude." Once those tailers of theirs were close enough, as well as Neji and Tenten, who were running towards them one after the other, he tried to play it off to relax the following Taki shinobi. "Sorry, I got a little angry… I guess I'm still a bit… you know? That was some long-ass interrogation."
"Oh! I understand, Naruto, but it wouldn't be cool to pursue that; she was a lady, after all!" Lee began to lecture him, seemingly unaware of Naruto's intentions.
'Well, Lee isn't usually good at seeing 'underneath the underneath' like Kakashi-sensei says, so… I guess I should have expected this. This, or he's a better actor than I thought,' Naruto thought to himself, smiling sheepishly to play the part he enacted for himself.
After they ate something on the way, the three of them then reached the building indicated by the Taki guard where they were supposed to rest while the Jonin-sensei were being further questioned. There was nothing in the room a receptionist took them to (she apparently knew they were coming, which was expected) except two large beds and two big sofas. Only one window and a plant, trying and failing miserably to add some life to the place.
Making sure everyone was either asleep or distracted, Naruto sneaked out, leaving behind in his place a Kage Bunshin. He knew perfectly how to find the girl he bumped into before; as a chakra sensor, it was all too simple to find her signature, since she A) literally bumped into him and B) was a container to a chakra beast much like himself.
It took Naruto all of five minutes to find a direction to go towards and even less to actually pinpoint the exact location the girl lived at. It was on the outskirts of the village, near a pond and surrounded by flora—not in a good sense, but in an 'overgrown bushes and other things that made the place look inhospitable' kind of way. Behind all that stood a thick, tall tree with large, palm-sized leaves and a large canopy. Against its trunk, a small house built haphazardly stood, the windows and door of mismatched sizes and colors.
The blond ninja approached the house in silence, a shadow moving through grass and foliage without a sound. Nearing the window, he peeked inside and scanned the interior. There was a bed, a small shabby desk and chair, and an even shabbier wooden chest to one side with clothes overflowing from it. No one was inside, though, but the door was closed.
Again, he circled to another side to another window and peeked inside. This time, a head of mint-green short hair was in sight, from the top of an old armchair. From where Naruto stood, he could only see a few things, as he was looking in from the back. There was the head, which was bent down. There was a leg over the arm of the chair, naked at least from mid-thigh and down as far as he could see. And there was a hand, holding a book.
The girl, whom he recognized as the one he bumped into before, was still in place, but sometimes there was some jerking and kicking. It was very slight, but her head would tilt back a bit every now and then too. With a slight smile, Naruto immediately recognized the book in her hands, the slightly worn orange book cover giving away the Icha Icha title.
'Oh ho, so she is masturbating to sensei's book, I see.'
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