Dream Team (NaruHina)

#40 The Art Of Deception

"Do you see anything?" Ryujin asked once more as Lia searched the streets for the yellow cross, Naruto had mentioned. Setting the binoculars down the redhead smiled, as she stretched out.

"We have to go to the small restaurant that opened last year." She stated, jumping down from the gate.

"How do you know?" Yeji asked as the two sisters landed next to their teammate.

"The logo is literally a giant yellow x." Laughing the trio realized as they remembered the large font on the facade of the barbecue restaurant.

Walking into the small store the trio sat down, looking around. The only other customers were a couple, giggling with each other as they ate their meal on a corner booth.

"What can I bring you to drink?" the waiter asked as he gave the girls the menus.

They all chose water, and looked through the different meals, while trying to figure out what they were supposed to do from there on.

"I'll go to the toilet, just get me the fried chicken with a side of rice." Ryujin said, standing up from the table. Her sister nodded, as the brunette walked towards the counter to ask where the toilet was located.

On her way there she looked over the various sake bottles the place had on display. One of them sparked her interest, as she stopped, looking at it again, before turning around and walking back to her teammates.

"You were fast." Lia remarked a confused look on her face.

"I didn't go. There is a sake bottle on display, with a yellow x on its neck." The girl said, throwing a look back at the counter.

"You think, we have to steal it?" Lia asked, her voice silent as not to attract any attention.

"I don't know, I mean I could imagine it being the thing we have to get, but we have to make sure that we don't overlook something. I don't want to steal something and have it be the wrong thing, you know." Yeji stated, taking a sip from her drink, thinking about their mission.

"I think we should first eat something and see if we find anything different that could be the information we need." The leader of the team said, seeing that they still had almost two hours to complete their assignment, and didn't know when or if they would get a chance to eat for the rest of the testing day. Her two teammates nodded in agreement with Ryujin standing once more. Seeing the confused looks from her sister and friend the brunettes chuckled.

"I wasn't lying, I really need to go." She stated, turning around and walking towards the counter for the second time.

"How do you think they will get the bottle?" Hinata asked as she sipped from her drink.

"I have no idea, but at least they saw it at all, I was honestly a bit worried that they would miss it. But it seems that Ryujin has noticed it, since she turned back to the table after looking at the bottles on display." Naruto admitted as he watched Ryujin walk towards the back of the restaurant.

"I guess we will see what they plan on doing." Hinata stated as Lia and Yeji discussed possible ways they could acquire their target.

"I mean if the bottle really is the thing we have to get, it will be tricky. We can't buy it because we aren't chunin or adults yet, so we would need to steal it." Yeji thought out loud. They stopped talking as the waiter approached them and took their orders.

"Yeah, but stealing it will be even harder, because we can not get caught under any circumstances. And for that we have to somehow distract the waiter and the two other guests." Lia stated, as Ryujin sat back down on the table.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, taking a sip from her glass.

"How we would go about stealing the bottle." Lia answered.

"But we aren't even sure if the bottle is what we are supposed to get." The brunette argued.

"Yeah but it won't hurt to have a plan." Her sister stated.

"I guess, so where are we at?" Lia was about to answer when the waiter came and brought them their food. The trio smiled at him and dug in, temporarily putting the mission on pause as they enjoyed their food.

"When do you think they will make their move?" Naruto asked his girlfriend as they watched the genin talk, their plates clean.

"I have no idea, but it has to be rather soon. They only have an hour left." Hinata answered as she sipped on her water. The pair leaned back, discreetly watching, as they fed each other the pie they had ordered for dessert.

They saw Lia call out to the young waiter. When he came to their table the red haired girl talked a bit with him and apparently made some kind of advance as the face of the young man flushed and he quickly made his way back to the counter with haste.

When the man came back he had their check in hand and another note in the other. Naruto and Hinata felt the small chakra spike as Lia smiled at the young man and took the two pieces of paper, lingering her hands on his longer than necessary. Quickly dispelling the genjutsu, Naruto and Hinata watched as Yeji made her way to the counter and went around it, quickly grabbing the bottle. She put the bottle into a small storage scroll, before putting the scroll back into her pocket and swiftly dispelling the genjutsu. Lia continued talking with the young man for a few moments, before Ryujin and Yeji stood, apparently urging their friend to finish it up. An apologetic look and a smile and the waiter nodded, a similar smile on his face as he went back to his duty, his eyes watching Lia as the three genin left the restaurant.

When the door closed, he looked to the only other occupied table, only to find it empty and a few bills pinned between the table and the plate on which he had served the pie.

Getting to a small alley the three genin huddled together in a small circle.

"We did it!" Yeji celebrated as she took out the storage scroll and unsealed the bottle. The three inspected it closely as there was nothing apparently wrong with it.

"Do you think we are supposed to open it?" Lia asked, causing Yeji to hold it up against the sun.

"Yeah, you see, there is something inside." The girl was right, something was definitely floating inside of the dark bottle. Opening the kork Yeji let the alcoholic liquid pour onto the ground.

"I still can't get it out." The leader of the trio groaned as she tried to pinch the paper with her fingers.

"I think we need to break it." She admitted, resigning in defeat against the thin neck of the bottle. Faster done than said and the squad was looking at a small piece of paper, detailing some kind of defensive plan.

"What do we have here?" The trio winced, as they turned around to look at the couple they had seen in the restaurant.

"Stealing a bottle of sake and then breaking it? I think we need to report this to the Kage. Shinobi should really be better than this." The woman said, shaking her head. The genin had horrified expressions, as they hung their heads. Then they heard laughing. Looking up, they saw Naruto and Hinata standing in place of the unfamiliar couple, both having bright smiles on their faces.

"Congratulations, you passed the second test. Don't worry about stealing the bottle, we had it arranged with the owner, he knows that it will be gone by the end of the day. Although I am a bit sad that you didn't think to use a senbon to get the paper out of the bottle with destroying it." Naruto said after the pair had stopped laughing. The genin still had shocked faces but were slowly coming out of their stupor. Yeji slapped her palm against her head at the mention of senbon, obviously not having thought of that.

"Don't worry about what the paper says it is way outdated information, you won't need it. Now, you finished this mission with half an hour to spare, so for the next one you have two and a half hours. The timer starts as soon as you enter the training ground. Your objective is to secure Naruto, who will pose as a civilian hostage. You don't know how many enemies you will face nor do you know where on the training ground he will be kept. Have fun and good luck." Hinata explained, taking the paper before disappearing with Naruto in a flash.