Kakashi's Mistake

chapter 3

Chapter 2

...And Nothing is the Truth

After leaving the Hokage's office, Naruto had decided to simply wander around Konoha after slipping back into a henge in order to be able to continue to be unmolested. It was becoming more of a habit as time had come on until he did it as often as possible. That and the liberal use of shadow clones allowed him the ability to get a pulse of the village without anyone knowing the better.

He could see why it was such a useful intelligence tool and one that he was not going to make anyone aware of until he was satisfied he no longer needed it. It's worth as an early warning network to possible threats on his life had allowed him to avoid a handful of the more dedicated attempts to kill the 'demon spawn' over the years.

After checking with his 'contacts', he decided to that he had enough time to grab a quick bite. However, he decided not to go to Ichiraku's, but a sushi bar. He loved Ichiraku's, he loved ramen, but ramen simply could not feed and sustain a growing shinobi, the exorbitant amount of salt and lack of necessary nutrients had quickly reduced ramen to a comfort food over the last couple of years.

Unfortunately, his Uzumaki persona was a textbook case of ramen addiction, which meant he had to eat ramen in public no matter what, in extreme amounts. Any deviation would be noticed and measured. Instead, every single time the Hokage visited him to splurge him on ramen, he always had a Kage Bunshin take his place to do it. It was only times when he was caught flat footed or simply wanted to have a quick bowl of ramen did he eat it. Other than that, it was Kage Bunshin food, not that any of them complained of it.

Instead, he shifted almost completely to healthy and nutritious foods to fuel his necessary growth, which was why he frequented sushi shops more often than not when he didn't cook for himself.

All sudden urges to go and eat died as he stopped, his senses alerting him that he was being followed. It was more than a feeling than anything substantive. But he could not ignored any possible threat, which meant he needed to confirm it without tipping his hand to his possible stalker.

Nearest Kage Bunshin is about a block away checking on the dango shop. He should be positioned at the window, so let's get some eyes on this guy.

Changing directions , he made sure to walk right by the dango shop bringing his hand up to cover his mouth as he yawned before running his thumb over his nose and then finishing with a fist as he finished the yawn.

It was a subtle signal he had worked with his clones to indicate that he was being followed. Now all he had to do was wait.

A few blocks later he got his answer, the Kage Bunshin's memories flooding into his mind. Shuffling through and discarding some of the information, like Anko hitting on the Kage Bunshin, creepy, he found what he was looking for: a young woman following behind him dressed in civilian garb. It was more than likely a Henge, which could do anything other than hide the eyes generally speaking, and the eyes easily gave away his follow because there was no life in them, the telltale eyes of an operative of ROOT.

So you've sent one of your pawns to stalk me, eh, Danzo, he thought derisively as he continued on his walk.

Probably one of the most important things his father had left was a set of journals he had written in over the years. They contained everything, private thoughts, personal notes, even some pictures. Yet in those journals were several entries about Danzo Shimura, the Director of ROOT. Nothing good had been said of him and Naruto had decided to give the man a wide berth.

Of course, he knew full well his display would get back to the mummified shinobi sooner or later. He just didn't expect it within two hours.

Looks like I will have to adjust my visibility accordingly, he thought as he slipped into an alleyway and placed his hand on the wall, activating the seal that allowed him to phase through the wall and into a safehouse. Just as he began to phase through, he summoned a Kage Bunshin and left it at the alley to Hiraishin away as soon as the Root nin came into the alley.