[X] Three plans are much more fun... workin' together as one! (Anyone else remember the Blue's Clues movie? :3)
The bunshin smirks with self-satisfaction as you leap into the fray, henge'd into a Monkey ANBU. You snatch Parrot's wallet, empty it (twenty, and you bet a hundred? C'mon, man, don't be that guy; nobody likes that guy. I know, I've been that guy.), and return it to his pocket. Then you run out the door, throwing out handsigns related to getting backup.
=
If a record had been playing, the needle would have scratched across it the moment you walked back in.
"Good evening," you say pleasantly to the bartender - one of Chouji's young aunts, you think. "Warm shochu, please."
"At once, Hokage-sama," she replies immediately, stressing the title ever-so-slightly.
Abruptly, Gaara drops two of the guys he's been wailing on.
"Well," he says brightly to Sasuke, "looks like we're having a little sleepover downtown."
"I'd like to request that we be tried separately," Sasuke mutters to one of the recently-dumped jounin.
A captain bows to you. "Sir-"
"Hello, Crocodile. I see your team and young Sasuke-kun have been showing our guests the best in Konoha hospitality. Thank you," you add to the bartender as she places your order before you. You take a sip, and smile serenely at the masked man. "Perhaps next you can show the young man the hotsprings. It is Thursday, is it not? I'm sure the matrons of the Allied Mothers' Force's discount night would be greatly interested in the outcome of this free spar."
No one says anything.
You spend a pleasant few minutes finishing your drink while the people around you try to clean up without attracting your attention. Finally, you smile, pay for the drink with Parrot's money, tell the bartender to keep the change, stand, and walk out.
Just as Chouza is walking in.
"Hokage-sama-!" he says, the bottom dropping out of his voluminous insides. "What a pleasant surprise," he follows up, not missing a beat. "I trust everything was to your liking?"
"Delightful as always, Chouza." You pray that the Hokage refers to all the clan heads by name. He calls your Dad Inoichi, but...
When you've gone a few blocks, you finally dispel the henge and turn back-
Jesus H. Jumped-Up Christ!
"Seriously?" you say, trying to get your heart rate back down, glaring at the fuckin' ghost that followed you. "What the hell is wrong with my sensing lately?"
"Oh?" Hatake Kakashi says mildly. "You're sure it was your sensing?"
"So what are you doing following me instead of your student, sensei?" you ask cheerfully, still buzzed from the successful caper. You remove the fake hat and mask, and shrug off the robe. "Don't tell me I'm gonna have to bail out Sakkun and Gaara."
"Not just yet. I believe Sasuke would benefit from the valuable life experiences a broadened social circle can provide," Kakashi says.
Your eyebrows rise.
This guy is wasted on Sasuke.
"Can I take that to mean I'm not ending up in there beside them?" you ask, giggling.
"That depends."
"On what?"
He pulls out a mission scroll. "On whether you accept."
You frown. "A C-rank?" Now? Of all times?
"B. Infiltration, in the capital, two weeks with the potential for a long term extension. If you complete it successfully you'll be promoted to chuunin automatically when you return."
Holy crap.
You know what this means. Assignments like this are never given to genin. If they're offering this kind of deal to you, they've got their eye on you for jouninhood in the near future. Maybe there's a position opening up with Jiraiya's spy network! Or they want you to be Konoha's Woman in Suna or Oto!
[X] Accept.
[X] Decline.
[X] Write-in (Like a thief!)
