"I… have I ever been here before?" Naruko asked, looking around. "I think I took a wrong turn somewhere," she mused. That was odd. She liked to think she knew most of Konoha.
"Oh, hey, Naruko-chan!" someone shouted, and Naruko turned to the voice.
It was… a guy?
"Do I know you?" she asked, bluntly.
"I'm Iruka! Umino Iruka," the man replied, walking towards her. He was a chunin, wearing the green flak jacket of their kind, and his most distinctive feature was the scar across his nose.
"I've heard that before, haven't I?" Naruko asked, tilting her head. "I'm sorry, but all I'm drawing in connection to your name is something about sponges."
"Of course you would remember the sponge incident," the man muttered, shaking his head. "I was your chunin teacher for four years, I thought you'd remember that at least!"
"Oh, right, you're the big head guy!" Naruko said. "You were a funny guy!"
"…Funny!?" Iruka nearly shouted. "I—How—you know what, nevermind," he said, shaking his head. "It's been a while since I've seen anyone from your class! How has ninja life been treating you and your team? It was Satsuki and Sakura, right?"
"Yep! Satchan and Sakura-chan!" Naruko said, rubbing her chin and nodding her head. "Well… I guess it's been normal? I dunno if anything really interesting has happened. We mostly just do D ranks and train!"
"Well, it's better than my experience as a genin," Iruka said, laughing a bit. "I wasn't an Elite," he added. "We didn't get put into teams led by jounin."
"Really?" Naruko asked, tilting her head. "I thought all ninjas did!"
"No," he said, "actually just the top third of every graduating class is given a shot at elite. The others are put through an impossible test to teach them some humility and are then given another year of remedial training before they're inserted into the main forces. They're usually rotated from team to team, under the leadership of a chunin or sometimes a Tokujou."
"…Tokujou?" Naruko asked, tilting her head. "What's that?"
"Oh, right, fresh green genin," Iruka said, shaking his head a little, "it's a portmanteau," and seeing her face he decided to change his tactics, "sort of a nickname for Tokubetsu Jounin. It's shorter and easier to say," Iruka explained.
"Oh…" Naruko said, nodding. "Doesn't make sense if read in the Old Language though," she said. "I mean, the characters wouldn't match up at all…"
"Well, it is mostly used in informal contexts," Iruka said. "I hear the R&D department complain about it a lot, since they study the Old Language enough to be annoyed when we get it wrong and all…"
Naruko nodded. "Anyway, good to chat with you and catch up, big head sensei, but I really gotta go and ask Satchan what it is I'm supposed to be doing right now."
"Good luck with that," Iruka said, waving at her as she ran away. "Well I'm glad they're okay… but… crap, I can't remember what I was doing just now."
***
"Oh, right, Ninja pirate, right?" the shopkeeper asked. "She went thataway. Bought a lovely pair of boots, she did—"
"Thank you, sir," Satsuki said, bowing a little and departing.
Tracing Naruko was… actually easier than one would expect. Her loudness coupled with the brightness and uniqueness of her clothing helped.
Her being an absolute attention whore, however, made it significantly easier than most anything else Satsuki had ever tracked. Admittedly, at least this time she wasn't receiving responses like "oh, yeah, that girl with the skirt so short everyone saw her underwear, right?" In that regard, her adopting the looks of a pirate was certainly a boon.
Still, she continued onwards with her journey. After having eaten a few tomatoes, she was in a much better mood than when she left the house. Every time she saw someone gawk at her clothes, however, she did get an urge to punch Naruko over taking all of her clothes to the washers at the most inopportune time.
A few more questions led her outside of the market. She did eye a hooded parka in a shop for a while. The fact that it would cover the entirety of her upper body was nice. However, she hadn't brought along much money and couldn't purchase it, no matter how much her mind was screaming at her for some modesty. Still…
"Hm… you like?" a boy only a few years older than herself asked.
"I like," Satsuki said, before shaking her head and taking a deep breath. Focus on the mission. But first… "Who are you?"
"The owner's grandson. Name's Yamashiro," the boy said. "And you look like someone we could use as a model. If you just let us take a few pictures to hang on the store to advertise our clothes, we'll let you take it for free."
"Why should I believe anything you say?" Satsuki asked.
"Well, you could ask grandpa. He's just scared of you because you look like a ninja and he's kind of a perverted old man," Yamashiro explained. "So he sent me because apparently I'm expendable."
Satsuki frowned.
On the one hand, she'd have to swallow her dignity.
On the other hand, she'd get to cover herself up some.
On the other other hand, free clothes.
Her parents had always said that there was a time in which people were HONORED to give gifts to the Uchiha! Back then, people would give them clothes and weapons just to be able to say an Uchiha used their wares! This would be one step closer!
Plus… her mother always did say that she should take advantage of the good looks Satsuki would surely inherit from her, so…
Even thinking of what Naruko would say was encouraging her, as she would probably ignore all implications of having her picture taken, so…
"I guess I can do it," Satsuki said, causing the boy to cheer.
"Great! We'll need your guardian's permission to—"
"No, you won't, I am a ninja," Satsuki said, and fished in one of her pockets to grab her identification as such. Anybody could get a Hitai Ate made. Hell, imitation ones were sold at pretty much every festival in Konoha. So the seal cards were devised to provide a real, proper identification.
The boy eyed it a bit and passed it to his grandfather, who had come out of hiding not too long ago. He nodded and passed it back.
"Well, girly, welcome to the world of modeling!" the old man said, grinning in an almost disturbing fashion. Satsuki noted he was missing one of his front teeth.