25"Bored bored bored bored bored bored bor—"
Satsuki's fist crashed against Naruko's cheek, causing her to go flying back. Then the Uchiha blinked, yawned and went back to sleep.
Naruko, having landed on a heap of limbs and the fabric of her coat, pouted as she disentangled herself and stood up once more, moaning as she rubbed her afflicted chin. "Satchan is mean," she said, frowning and then shaking her head. "Well, she was really, really tired last night and she hasn't had breakfast yet. I know, I'll cheer her up by making her favorite!"
Of course, 'favorite' for Satsuki would mean she had to find some way to cram tomatoes into breakfast. Not too difficult, since while Naruko wasn't a gourmet cook, she did own a cookbook. That she had stolen from Satsuki at some point. But that was wholly irrelevant, it's not like the last loyal Uchiha would ever protest it, even if she knew Naruko had stolen it. Not when it had made her a world of good in the hands of her teammate.
With this in mind, Naruko left Satsuki's apartment, avoiding the random bits of dried sweat that had once been clothes, absent mindedly making a note in her head to pick them up when she came back from the roof. Without missing a beat, she used the key she had also stolen from Satsuki to close the door behind herself. It only closed from the outside, as it could still be opened from inside in case of emergency, but Naruko had always been taught to keep the door closed at all times, and as a Shinobi, paranoia was not only healthy, it was vital.
Naruko, bored as she was, decided not to just walk up the stairs and instead made the trip by leaping up them. The first time she tried, she slipped when she landed at the top of the first flight, causing her to scramble to regain her footing before she went down, possibly hurting herself. "Well, this hasn't been a good day," she muttered, frowning as she reminded herself that she'd been rudely woken up when she'd fallen off her bed, striking her forehead against the floor. Even worse, she was in her own bed. A result from collapsing after too much training under Tenten, who didn't know Naruko disliked her own bed.
Shaking her head, reminding herself that luck was something only other people complained about, she continued her journey, leaping up the stairs. To stop herself from slipping, she applied chakra to the soles of her feet, to improve her traction.
However, she seemed to forget to unstick herself before taking another step, and she tripped, hitting the floor hand first, barely preventing herself from hitting her dainty nose against the unforgiving concrete just a few centimeters away from her. Once more, she shook her head and continued forward.
Finally, she reached the topmost floor and opened the door that would lead her outside. Or, at least, she tried. It did not budge, even as she tried different keys, thinking she might've forgotten which it was. But no, she had it right the first time, and the door was just stuck. Removing a kunai from one of her coat's pockets, which she had lined with strong leather for just such a purpose, she sighed and stabbed the knife into the keyhole. With a bit of wiggling, she got it into place and began to turn it, the strong steel of the kunai easily resisting the pressure she put it under.
For all of two seconds.
It snapped in two pieces soon after, though, and Naruko was then reminded that the Hokage had decided to replace all the locks in the house with reinforced ones that couldn't be picked so easily. For security, he'd said. The wood of the door was similarly strong, made from the first Hokage's trees. Far be it from the Hokage to put two high profile, important people such as Naruko herself and the last Uchiha in a building with no casual fortifications on it. Admittedly, they helped, since they kept the odd pervert and burglar at bay, but Naruko never really understood what the point was.
They were ninja, they could defend themselves. Even if some creep tried to sneak into their building… unless it was a stronger ninja, she supposed.
With a frown on her face, Naruko decided to instead go for a window, and climb up.
She had to descend a floor, once almost slipping down the stairs once more, to find a window. It was locked, but the lock worked right and she could open it. Naruko then began to use the age old technique of jumping off a window to the closest building and then bouncing against the wall of that one so she can jump higher, building speed and height. It only took two jumps to reach the roof, the first and the bounce, and then Naruko had to sneak into the makeshift greenhouse at the top of the apartment building she called a home.
She ignored the window closing itself after she left. Shoddy craftsmanship meant that it didn't stay in position as it ought to. She'd have to bring it up with the Hokage later, so they could get it replaced. He was kind of anal about not leaving any good openings to the building.
The greenhouse wasn't protected against intrusion, mostly because a certain ANBU frequented it, either to check upon Naruko's progress in gardening or to check up on the plants that he himself kept on it. She was glad he swung around when he could, since he'd had her look after his plants and thus she could use him to watch hers. Everything was looking good, and she grabbed a pail to water a few plants. She frowned. "I didn't have white lilies before, did I? I wonder if Tenzo's bringing more variety around… don't know if I can take care of so many," she said, shaking her head before she shrugged and watered them regardless.
While the greenhouse DID have an irrigation system, mostly through ceiling sprinklers, some plants required a bit more water than others, and sometimes the water just didn't hit some right, which meant that she had to make a pass around the greenhouse, see what needed watering, trim a few unsightly growths and pick the ripe fruits if there were any.
Once she was done with all of that, Naruko went to the last objective of the gardening day.
Some part of her thought that it was unsurprising when she found there were no tomatoes to be picked that day. Which was odd, because she was certain that there were a few ones that would be ripe for the picking around these days. And yet, all the ones she could see were immature and green, not yet that nice red color that Satsuki liked so much.
With a frown, Naruko decided she'd have to go to a grocery store to get some.
It wasn't a good thing, but she had to go to the market to restock on other things anyway, so it didn't matter too much, but both herself and Satsuki liked their home grown fruits much more than what they could buy. A pity.
With a sigh, Naruko decided to go back downstairs. She had forgotten that the door was still locked and wasn't really thinking about it when she tried to push it open while at the same time walking forward.
She struck the immobile door face first, causing her to fall flat on her butt, clutching her aching nose and groaning in pain. With an angry shout, she struck the door in anger, but it didn't give a satisfying cracking sound.
It only caused her more pain, as she now had to cradle her aching hand, ignoring her nose.
Once more, Naruko was forced to take route B, though since the windows couldn't be opened from outside, she was forced to go all the way to the ground, and through the front door. When she approached it, she discovered she had, as a matter of fact, forgotten her keys inside. Naruko blinked, looking at her empty hand, almost as if declaring it a betrayer.
Then she remembered the tumble she'd taken from Satsuki's punch. Her keys had probably fallen off her pockets then.
While this normally wouldn't be an issue, as she knew who kept a spare key of her apartment, she had no idea where to find Sakura at this moment in time, and Kakashi had told them this was a free day because he had a high ranked mission, for the Daimyo himself apparently, which meant he was most likely gone from Konoha and wouldn't be back soon. Satsuki wouldn't be awoken by the doorbell, she'd had her room soundproof a long time ago, because the district they were in could be very noisy at night, being close to the bars that young civilians liked to drown their sorrows in, and even closer to a large plaza where parties and festivals were often held.
If Naruko's wallet weren't inside, she'd have just gone and come back later, when Satsuki would be awake and likely training.
"Guess I'll have to ask the old man for a loan, then," she concluded, before turning around and starting to stride towards the Hokage Tower.
She ignored the odd look, and when prompted, she explained that yes, she was wearing fuzzy bunny slippers. Just about nobody questioned it. She was a ninja, after all, and they were allowed to do and wear weird things if they wanted to. Fortunately, she was otherwise fully dressed, which kept the annoying lawninja from making an appearance to scold her.
Seriously, she just could never understand why people got so hung up on her manner of dress. The amount of times she'd heard old women talking about the length of her skirt, or girls calling her a slutty whore for her outfits… she liked them, she liked the freedom that they afforded her, and she saw no reason why she should stop wearing comfortable skirts that didn't hinder her movement. Plus, every time Satsuki saw her panties, she'd blush in an adorable fashion, so of course Naruko would do it time and time again.
Considering that certain movements could cause Hinata to faint, Naruko wondered if she could find a way to do the same to Satsuki. Yeah, there had to be. She'd just have to find out how to do it.
Silly girls, she mused, thinking of what could possibly lead to such reactions.
"Oh, hey, Naruko!" someone called, and Naruko turned as she heard the sound of the voice of one of her oldest supporters and friends, one Ichiraku Ayame by name, as she came running by, holding a large white bag between her two hands. Naruko mused that the bag must weigh something along the vicinity of six or eight kilograms, and Ayame was struggling to carry it well… sometimes, she loved being a ninja, because she knew she could lift it with no problem. "What are you doing in the market this early?"
"Hi, Ayame-nee!" Naruko called, nodding and smiling, "I'm on a breakfast run! I didn't have supplies at home, so I thought I might as well restock," she said, ignoring the true tale of that morning's events, deciding it was irrelevant to the conversation. "Well, I'm actually going to the Hokage Tower, since I don't have any cash on hand, and I'm going to ask the old man for a loan so I can get food."
Ayame felt like she should have a large drop of sweat running down the back of her head. "Didn't you go on a high ranked mission recently? Where did the cash reward for that go?" she asked, frowning.
"It's still at home, but I got locked out since I forgot my keys, and I don't want to break the front doors down. So, I'm taking a loan that I'll repay as soon as I can get into my apartment," Naruko explained.
"How do you plan on doing exactly that, if you don't have your keys?" Ayame asked, before gesturing to a nearby bench. She was clearly tired, and carrying a heavy load around probably wasn't doing her stamina any favors.
Naruko shook her head. "I'll take my time, so Satsuki-chan is awake when I'm back," she said, before accompanying Ayame to the bench and helping with the bag as she did.
Deciding she had time to kill, Naruko spent a few minutes chatting with Ayame, but then the older girl looked at her clock, and had to excuse herself. With a smile and feeling a little better, Naruko said goodbye herself, and then continued on her journey to the Hokage tower.
It was an uneventful trip, from then on, and she soon found herself standing in front of the secretary that would usually just wave her in without even looking at her. That was how well she knew Naruko. This day, however, she'd stopped Naruko from going in. "Hokage-sama is in a very important meeting, Naruko-chan, so he can't receive you right now. He'll be done in about an hour. If you'd come in a few minutes earlier, he could see you immediately, but…"
Naruko frowned, but nodded. Well, she had an hour more to kill, she guessed.
As such, she exited through the closest window and decided she might as well visit the training grounds that the other teams used and see if anyone was up to some light sparring or maybe a game of hide and seek or something to kill an hour's worth of time. Her first option, Team 8, had yielded no results, as they weren't on their usual training grounds. She decided to look around for a bit, and did, in fact, find them.
Doing a D-Rank, painting a rather massive manor's front. Apparently, they were maintaining the Senju Estate in case Tsunade ever returned, a normal D Rank. Unfortunately, Naruko could only chat with Hinata and Kiba for a few seconds before the taskmaster that was leading the three Genin Teams tasked with the manor's maintenance ushered them inside, as the front was completed. Naruko couldn't follow them inside, as she had no authorization to do so.
With a smile, as she had been slightly cheered up by her interaction with Team 8, mostly by seeing Kiba's reactions to the different things Naruko did to get Hinata to blush and the delightful way Hinata flushed when Naruko grabbed her breasts just so, Naruko waved goodbye at them, ignoring their questions about the amount of free days that she had, and continued forward.
She didn't really get along that well with Team 10, as they were mostly just partners in crime at best. Shikamaru had never really been a talker and Chouji ignored most things to concentrate on eating. When they'd cut class together, Naruko mostly spent that time napping or sometimes playing some sort of game with Akamaru and Kiba. Tag, most commonly.
Still, she had decided to go and seek them out, maybe they could have fun and it would bring them closer, so they could actually be friends.
Of course, she didn't find them. Anywhere. She mused they must have gotten a C rank, and thus why she couldn't find them.
With a sigh, Naruko gave up her search, and instead turned to look for her weapon arts teacher and her team. Tenten was nice, if a bit strict and unfun. Lee was much more fun, but sometimes Naruko thought that he wasn't aware that he was funny. Neji was kind of a prick, and she didn't like him very much. Their teacher, Gai, was an animated fellow. She was sure she could rope them into a game of hide and seek or tag or something, if she caught them training.
Which she did. Except their training, unlike her team's mostly ninjutsu-oriented training, was mostly physical oriented, and she had caught them as they were winding down from the day's exercises, as they were getting ready to tackle a few D Ranks to earn themselves some money. This meant that they'd had to politely refuse her, and go on their way.
With a pout, Naruko was left on their emptied training ground, with no idea of what to do to pass the time.
Having nothing else to do, Naruko merely decided she might as well work on a few of the Naginata katas that Tenten had taught her, and which she had refined a little with Kurenai. She still found the oddly shaped Naginata a bit difficult to work with, but she was getting used to its weight distribution a bit more every day. It was much more comfortable than a sword, though, and she believed that when she got bigger and her arms got longer, the awkwardness of some of the movements she had to do would most likely disappear.
Because she wouldn't have to compensate for them, mostly.
Finally, the thirty five minutes that were left on the clock until the Hokage was free were up, and she dashed to meet him as soon as possible, lest his time be taken up before she could take his money.
This time, the secretary waved her in without a second thought, and Naruko entered the old man's office without a care in the world. "Old man! I need money!" she yelled as she went in.
"Of course you do. You never come here to just visit. You always need something," the Hokage said, frowning, "Can't you just visit an old man for the hell of it, Naruko?"
"Of course not. I'm a material girl, and you know it, you'll have to buy my affection," Naruko said cheekily, jumping on top of the Hokage's desk and sitting cross legged on top of his papers instead of on the provided chair. She knew he didn't mind, it wasn't as if he would have anything actually important on top of his desk anyway. "So, give me your wallet!"
"What for?" Sarutobi asked, raising an eyebrow, but putting his hand in his robe's inner right pocket anyway, knowing she probably had a good reason, most likely.
"I forgot my wallet at home! So I don't have any money on me, but I can't go back in because Satchan is asleep, since Gai-sensei kept her up until late. There wasn't anything to make breakfast from at home, so I thought I could go to the market, but then I forgot my keys, so now I'm locked outside without money," Naruko explained. "That and I think I'm going to start charging for my presence," she said, nodding at her own genius, "Since you've always told me I make your day when I drop by."
"You did when you were an affectionate and cute little girl," Sarutobi said, dryly, "One that didn't ask me for something every time she comes in."
"Details, details," Naruko said, waving her hand, "You know you love me anyway."
Sarutobi chuckled. "Okay, take my wallet. Just don't lose it. Replacing my identification card is a mess of paperwork I'd rather not deal with," he said, fishing out his wallet and throwing it straight up into the air, in the space between his face and Naruko's. She snatched it out of the air and shoved it into her coat's left inner pocket, nodding.
"Great! Hey, this is filled to bursting! Did you give yourself a raise recently?" Naruko asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Won a bet, actually," Sarutobi confessed shamelessly. "Asuma took a C rank earlier than Kurenai, but not earlier than Kakashi, so I won the full pot."
"You have betting pools over that?" Naruko asked, genuinelly surprised.
"We have betting pools over much sillier things. Danzo's wallet is a lot lighter these days because of it," Sarutobi admitted, shamelessly once more, "But he's not as bad as Homura. I think he might file for bankruptcy soon if he keeps losing like he has recently."
Naruko laughed. "Well, I've always said that you geezers can't see a winner even if it beats you over the head. So, what's the current pool?" she asked.
"I cannot tell you," Sarutobi said, seriously.
"Why not?" Naruko asked, pouting.
With a laugh, Sarutobi shook his head. "It's confidential. You've got to be a jounin before you can be in on the pool," he said. "I guess it's some more incentive to make it through the ranks quickly, huh?"
Naruko frowned, but jumped off the man's desk, knowing that she still had errands to run. "Okay, then. Should I give Tenzo your wallet when I see him, or will you come pick it up?"
"I'll drop by your apartment later tonight," Sarutobi said, knowing it was an invitation to drop by for dinner.
It wasn't as if there was much reason not to.
"I'll bring Konohamaru along," he added, remembering that Asuma wasn't around to watch his nephew.
Naruko nodded. "I'll buy for four, then," she said, stretching a little.
"See you tonight, then. By the way, when Kakashi comes back, there's another C Rank lined up for you guys. It's on the higher end of danger for those, so you might want to get yourselves ready for it tomorrow. Don't do heavy training today."
"Okay!" Naruko chirped, before she turned around and left the office behind.
Not long after she left, though, a kid dressed in rags bumped into her, his hand going into her coat's outer left pocket as he did.
He cut himself on the kunai she kept there, and she was forced to take him to the hospital. The kid was shipped off to a juvenile correctional facility, and she herself continued on her journey.
While a relatively short distraction, as the hospital was close, it would only be an omen of things to come as Naruko left the hospital, the market being her chosen destination.
Today was not her day, at all.