Starting over

#27 Troublesome Mission

Naruto POV

"Let's go home.", I said as we arrived at the temporary camp that Baki and Gaara had set up. "How did it go?", the redhead asked while packing his tent together. "It went smoothly, we had a clone of Naruto henge into a random civilian and he delivered the scroll to the Shinobi guarding the gate to Iwa. That way we could already be on the way back when the clone dispelled.", Temari explained while helping Baki with cleaning up the fireplace. "Clever use of your shadow clones Naruto.", Gaara complimented. I smiled at him before noticing that everyone had finished their respective tasks. "Well then, let's go!", Baki exclaimed before jumping away towards the desert and Sunagakure.

"Ok, now we're going to report to Rasa that we are back and then you have free time for the next two days.", Baki informed us as we entered the village hidden in sand. We nodded and then proceeded to make our way towards the Kazekage tower. Akira who was sitting on my shoulder got a few awkward looks from the villagers while we headed through the streets which were extremely busy.

"Come in.", Rasa said through the door before we even had a chance to knock on it. We stepped in and closed the door behind us. "So I see you have returned, how did your mission go?", Rasa asked putting away a piece of paper. "The mission went smoothly, we managed to defeat the bandits, which were two males instead of the suspected one. We also managed to capture the loot that they had taken from the farmers.", Baki said giving Rasa the two scrolls with the weapons and money. Rasa nodded and put the scrolls into a drawer. "You are dismissed. Naruto I would like you to stay behind.", the Kazekage said. I got confused looks from my team before they left the room. When they left I sent a shadow clone with them who would go through the sword katas I had trained during our information gathering in the Land of Earth. I sighed and looked at Rasa puzzled. "No you didn't do anything wrong.", Rasa answered my unspoken question. "I have received a letter from the Hokage asking us for assistance in the assassination of Danzo Shimura. He apparently is a criminal who had managed to stay under the radar of Hiruzen. Anyways he wants an Anbu squad to join his forces in this mission because it is expected that the target will put up a very hard resistance.", Rasa told me. "Ok, that's all great but what does this have to do with me?", I asked still confused as to why the Kazekage would tell me all of this. "I was thinking about sending you with the squad I'm sending because of your knowledge about the village and it's geography. You would not participate in the actual mission but you would help the Anbu by telling them everything they need to know about the environment around Konoha.", the redhead told me. I still was sceptical about this whole situation. "Ok I understand that, but why can't I just give them the information here? I mean it's not like I am very welcome in the Land of Fire.", I voiced my concerns. "You will get a temporary Anbu-status for this mission. This will ensure that they can not ask for you ID at the gates. Also you will have to wear one of our standard Anbu masks to conceal your face. Your hair is an obvious problem but I doubt that anyone would make the connection, although I would advise you to either dye your hair or cut it to make sure no one notices.", Baki explained. I thought about his suggestion and decided to let someone cut my hair because I liked the blonde colour of it. "Alright I'll do it. When does this mission start?", I asked taking the signature Anbu cloth of Suna's forces which Rasa had put on his table. "You will meet your team later today here at seven o'clock. Your departure is scheduled for tomorrow at sunrise.", the Kazekage told me. "Alright, that was all, you are dismissed.", he continued, going through a stack of paperwork. I bowed slightly and left the office.

I went over the rooftops to the training ground I had sent my clone to and went up to the second me. As soon as he saw me he stopped the exercise he was going through, nodded and dispelled itself. I smiled as the knowledge of him entered my mind and I noticed that I apparently had a good grasp on my mother's kenjutsu style although I was far from mastering it. I looked up into the sky and saw that it had to be almost noon so I went home and got into my room. I got my scrolls and unsealed their contents onto the floor. I then summoned two clones and we got to sorting everything out and counting it. In the end I noticed that I was missing three Kunai and one of my explosion tags had been damaged so I would need to replace that as well. I opened a drawer on my desk and took another storage scroll from it. I pushed a bit of chakra into the scroll and immediately three Kunai appeared in my hand. I smiled and threw them to the other Kunai which were being resealed by a clone. I put the storage scroll back and got my sealing utensils out to create a new explosion seal.

After I had finished that I saw that I still had to find someone to cut my hair, although I already had someone in mind.

I went down into the living room and saw Temari and Gaara were sitting on a table playing shogi. "Hey.", I smiled at them. They both looked up and Temari smiled at me while Gaara had already put his head down and focused at the game. I went towards the blonde girl and sat down next to her. I looked at the board and saw that Temari was only a few moves away from winning. Gaara could only stall the game at this point and I saw in his eyes that he knew it. And as he forfeited I was not surprised. The redhead and Temari shook hands. "Gaara, want to play a game?", I asked, seeing that Temari was a bit tired. The boy looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry but I have to meet up with my father.", he said going towards the door and disappearing into the heated streets of Sunagakure.

"Hey Tema, can you do me a favour?", I asked after Gaara had shut the door. She looked surprised at me and waited for me to continue. "Well I wanted to change my hair up and I wanted you to do it.", I said earning a shocked look from the girl. "Why would you want me to do that and not a trained hairdresser?", she asked still a bit perplexed. "Because I don't trust them enough. But I trust you.", I reasoned looking at her pleadingly. "Alright I'll do it. How do you want your hair to be done?", she asked as we went into the bathroom. "That is up to you, I only want it to be shorter than now.", I said going out again to get a chair from the kitchen.

When I returned Temari had already taken a Kunai out. I took of my shirt as I didn't want to get hairs on it and closed my eyes as I enjoyed feeling the hands of my fellow blonde go through my hair.