Mending The Past To A Better Future

Chp.10 Short Stacks And Hags And Treaties {Part-3}

Naruto's chakra sensing had allowed her to pick up on Misumi's whereabouts. They traced her back to room 316C. Rin had said that she didn’t want to get in trouble with Miriam so Naruto let it slide, albeit reluctantly. Kakashi had refused to help her, and she hadn't told Minato of her plans.

He'd just said they'd be leaving in the morning, and had left them to their own devices.

Naruto crept outside their door, and listened to the voices of Niko, Hayami, Misumi, and the final lady she'd never gotten the name of chatter away, frequent giggles and high pitched shrieks permeating the air. Grinning wickedly, Naruto reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a small orange sphere. Quick as a flash, she knocked on their door loudly before throwing down the sphere, letting the ball burst and a swell of neon smoke fill the hall.

The door was wrenched open and Niko came bustling out, a spring robe covering her. As her eyes adjusted to the smoke, she clamored for her friends' attention. "MISUMI! KAYA! HAYAMI! WE HAVE TO GET OUT NOW! A CHEMICAL SUBSTANCE HAS ERUPTED INTO THE AIR!"

There was a shuffle inside of the room before Hayami came out grumbling, "What is it Niko? And stop- OH MY GOD!" she screeched as loud as Niko had. "KAYA! MISUMI! LET'S GO!"

Naruto watched with thinly veiled amusement as Misumi and Kaya came stumbling out of the room and into the hallway behind Niko and Hayami, their footsteps thundering on the carpeted floor as they made their escape.

Naruto snickered to herself. The smoke was by no means harmful. It just made it hard to see, which had been the intention when she'd created it. Once she was sure they were gone, she slipped into their room and nearly threw up at the amount of bedazzle the room had. Every square inch of their beds were covered in pink and red clothes, heels littering the clothes and a small chair in the corner by the window draped in makeup supplies.

Naruto tip-toed into the room, and nearly squawked in horror when she stepped on a... on a... was that a bra?

Naruto gingerly picked up the black fabric and for a moment, she was unsure if it was even a bra. Did it even cover anything? It seemed so small, and it was covered from top to bottom in transparent lace. Kunoichi didn't have to wear bras - they had chest bindings that they were taught to wrap from a young age. It was comfortable and it kept everything in place. Shuddering, she let it drop back to the floor before stepping over what looked like a wardrobe that had exploded. She stepped into the bathroom and examined the small shower before landing on what she had came there for.

The bathroom smelled good, like coconuts and vanilla and spring breezes mixed with freesias and peaches. Eyes on the prize, she pulled out the purple bottle of shampoo and conditioner resting on the edge of the bathtub. Smiling, she unscrewed the tops and dumped in the small packets of powder that she kept supplied in her weapons pouch.

She covered them back down and shook the bottles lightly, waiting until the powder was no longer visible in the shampoo.

Then she waved a chakra coated hand over her storage seal, pulling out her string and a paint bucket filled with orange paint. She'd give them a reason to wash their hair if they didn't have one.

Uncovering the top of the can, she walked up the walls, her feet sticking thanks to the chakra in her coils. She balanced it precariously on the ridge on the door before attaching a lone string to the handle of the can. Tying it to the door knob, she adjusted the door so that when they finally shut it after coming back in, the can would be pushed off the ledge and dump the paint onto their heads.

Really, her genius wasn't given enough credit sometimes.

Cackling evilly to herself, she left their hallway before making her way back down the stairs and let Minato let her into their room.

"What are you so happy about?" he arched a blonde eyebrow, his face suspicious.

She strode past him and patted him on the shoulder. "Nothing at all, Sensei."

He didn't look like he believed her but he let her go without further questioning. Rin looked away when she saw her, and Kakashi shook his head.

+*+*+

Are we ready to go?" Minato asked, checking his gear over one final time. The three team members nodded, and they were settling off onto the dust road, ready to make the run back to Konoha. According to Minato, the peace conference had went well with the exception of the Kumo nin, and now, a contract was in the works of being drafted up for signing by the four nations.

Naruto tried not to smile too hard when there was an echo of the clip clopping of heels following them, backed up by muted curses.

"Hey! Hey, you, brat!" Kaya shrieked from behind them. Minato glanced at Naruto, and he gave her a look that just uttered; Why?

Kakashi huffed and Rin kept a straight face, but Naruto was trying so hard not to laugh even if she hadn't turned around and looked at them yet.

Then, clawed hands were turning her around, and Naruto was met face to face with Misumi. All four of them had hoods of their head, but Naruto could see a peek of coral pink hair reaching into their sweaters.

"Ne, something wrong, Misumi-chan?" Naruto asked innocently, giving them big doe eyes. In sync, they pulled down their hoods, and Naruto couldn't help herself - she bellowed out in laughter, head thrown back at their furiously red faces. She couldn't stop herself, and she wasn't even sure she wanted to. "Gee, Misumi-chan, were you trying to match your hair to your face? Cause I think you could've gone a shade brighter with your hair." Naruto let out another fit of giggles, tears leaking from her eyes as Misumi's glare intensified.

"SHUT UP, brat!" Niko shrieked. "We know it was you!"

"Me? I would never!" she feigned hurt.

"Of course it was you," Misumi sneered. "No one else would use smoke bombs and paint in such a gaudy orange color. Obviously, you didn't grow up knowing what style was!"

Naruto snorted - as if she cared about style. But still, "Hm, maybe you should critique your own fashion choices before you come at mine. After all, I'm not the one with bright pink hair, am I?" she pointed out, taking pleasure in how steam seemed to be leaving their ears. "Oh, dear. Are you running a fever, Hayami?" Naruto asked. She turned to Rin. "She looks like she's running a fever, doesn't she? She's a bit red in the face." Rin didn't reply, not that Naruto had expected her to.

If looks could kill, Naruto might've been dead ten times over already.

Minato stepped forward, taking charge of the situation. "Sorry, ladies, but we don't know anything about your.. uh.. debacle. And we'd love to stay and chat but we really have to get going." And then he picked Naruto up by her waist and slung her over his back like she was a koala, and leapt off into the air, Kakashi and Rin on his heels with the four girls wailing their complaints and threats in Naruto's direction. She was still laughing as they disappeared from sight.

Once they were at a far distance, Minato turned back to Naruto, his side eye meeting hers. "Did you really have to antagonize them?" Minato asked, sounding exasperated.

"I absolutely had to," Naruto replied firmly. "They called me short stack! They were asking for it, Sensei!"

Kakashi snorted, “Well they weren’t lying.”

Naruto glared at him, “Watch it, “Kaka-Baka-kun. Or you’ll be next.”

“Kami, Obito would never let that nickname go,” Minato muttered so only she would hear.

“Whatever you say, short stack,” he wiggled his eyebrows at her and Naruto cursed, wishing Minato didn’t have such a firm hold on her so that she could go over there and smack her teammate upside the head.

But then she smiled when Minato held out a fist bump. Without hesitating, she clenched her fist and met his.

It was a good day, even if her head was pounding.