Curiosity Broke the Scissors

Chapter 13

ast Time-

"What can I say, I was feeling charitable and he certainly doesn't need it anymore," Anko said with a giggle before patting Naruto's shoulder. "Alright, I'm all done here, now let's get you all gussied up."

"Heh? Gussied up?" Naruto parroted as his head snapped around to look at Anko in confusion. "Gussied up for what?"

All he got in response was a familiar smirk that sent dread down the boy's spine.

-And Now-

'Huh, that wasn't so bad.' Naruto thought as he and Anko stepped out of a rundown looking clothing shop dressed in new kimonos, the former's being a burnt orange with deep navy trimming while the latter's colored pitch black with violet trimming and, per her usual style, a bit skimpy. 'What the hell were Shikamaru and Kiba complaining about all this time?'

After all the 'horror stories' he'd heard from his two friends from their shopping trips with their mothers, and sister in Kiba's case, the whiskered blonde had been expecting to deal with hours of constant outfit changes and nitpicking. Instead, the pair had simply walked into the shop and browsed the sadly limited stock for a bit, trying on a couple here and there, before settling on their current outfits.

The only real downside had been...

"Don't you look just adorable~!" Anko said teasingly while pulling Naruto into a one-armed hug, smooshing his head into the side of her chest as she scratched the top of his head.

...Yeah, that.

"Will you stop that?" The blonde grumbled while swatting the purplette's hand away before crossing his arms with a pout. "And stop calling me that, I'm not adorable dammit, I am a badass ninja."

"Oh sweet boy-gaki, of course you're a badass," Anko said with a grin, ruffling the boy's hair playfully. "You're my cute little student now after all, which automatically makes you more badass than ever before."

"Ugh, how many times do I have to... whoa..." Naruto started to grumble before trailing off with a stunned expression once he finally looked around. Everywhere he looked people were hard at work, some fixing or cleaning up the run down buildings, others were busy hauling in food and dispersing them to various shops, and even more were busy setting up various makeshift decorations such as hastily made paper lanterns and old string lights.

One thing they all had in common though was the happiness practically bursting from all of them, bright smiles on almost everyone's face and lively chatter filling the air as they worked which completely destroyed the once gloomy and depressed aura covering the town.

"Not bad, these guys work fast, I figured it take at least a day or two before it got this far," Anko said with a low whistle while idly moving them both to the side as a group of laughing children ran by with freshly cooked kabobs before glancing at a cart full of crates another man was pulling along, noticing a certain logo printed on the side. 'So, they raided the midget's kitchen, smart.'

It seemed Gato was as paranoid as he was greedy, or just plain gluttonous, as when she'd been waltzing around his mansion Anko had found enough fresh and preserved food stored in that place to feed him, his army of thugs, and the whole town at least thrice over.

And it was clear that wasn't the only thing the people of wave had taken from Gato's home if the mahogany doors and sandalwood floorboards being used to fix up homes or the expensive silk curtains being sown into new clothing said anything. At this rate, she wouldn't be surprised if the entire mansion was stripped to the foundations by the end of the week.

"Wow, looks like one heck of a party is about to go down," Naruto muttered once he recovered from his surprise as he and Anko walked before glancing up at said purplette, doing his best to ignore the breast squishing against the back of his head. "Is that why you dragged me off for new clothes?"