Naruto Fanfic - Prisoner of Nightmare

Chapter Forty-Four[XLIV]: Red Waves - V

   Uzukaze Naruto placed on his mask and flipped up the hood of the worn black cloak Tsunami lent to him, allowing his arms to slip beneath it, fingers brushing against the pouch now attached to his left thigh. He glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, who had a brown cloak that Naruto knew belonged to Kaiza without having to be told from Inari's angry frown.

   "Remember the plan," Sakura said from next to Kakashi, pouring over an old map of the town that was sure to have a few mistakes. Well, they would fix that soon.

   Naruto nodded. "We'll meet up with anaki when we're finished." He was careful not to say anything about Kenko as Inari still didn't know he was in the area.

   "Get going, we don't have all day," Kakashi said, flicking his hand toward the door.

   "Hn," was all Sasuke said in response.

   They exited the house silently and headed toward town with their heads down, following the dirt path despite the fact that jumping through the trees would be faster; a small price to pay for being discreet. Once they reached the more populated area of the town they immediately split up, Sasuke turning right to head towards Ichiba Chiku and Naruto remaining on the same path to get to Kanrakugai.

   The five of them had talked extensively about what they should do and they all agreed that more surveillance was necessary, they needed to narrow down all the maybe's they had if they wanted to gain the advantage. Roughly, they had about a week and half to do this, as that's how much time it will take for Momochi to "recover" and take his revenge. 

   Of course, this guaranteed nothing about the other mercenaries or even Gatō himself, but having a deadline made planning easier even if it didn't work out completely as they wanted. Tomorrow it would be Sakura and Kakashi's turn to go around town, then Kenko's the day after that and then repeat until they either got what they needed or ran out of time.

   Naruto knew from experience that Kanrakugai was a treasure trove of information if one had enough money, there was nothing he couldn't get with money. Originally, Sasuke was to go to Kanrakugai and him to Ichiba Chiku, but they all collectively realized that Naruto had infinite amounts of experience with the inner workings of Kanrakugai and he would be able to blend in much easier.

   He honestly didn't mind the change, Naruto generally felt more comfortable in places like Kanrakugai because he knew they wouldn't bother to attack him, or even glare at him for that matter. The only thing people cared about over there was money and food, if one didn't have either, then you would be left alone or kidnapped by desperate people who thought you looked like an easy target and would be worth something if they sold you.

   Let Naruto just say, people knew not to try to abduct him in his sleep or as he walked around anymore. He smoothly avoided the small, dirty hand about to reach under his cloak to steal the money inside of his pouch and turned, looking down at the malnourished little boy with dirty light brown hair who appeared no older than eight. The boy froze up and looked up at Naruto with large, wary hazel eyes that were more aware of the wrongs of the world than some adults. 

   The boy had Naruto's eyes and that made him uneasy. 

   People walked past both of them, paying them no mind whatsoever. Naruto continued to stare for a moment before speaking, "Who are you trying to protect?" The boy jerked in surprise and took a step back. Naruto reached back and grabbed the even smaller hand reaching toward his pouch again, gently pulling a little girl forward who had a sticking resemblance to the boy in front of him and seemed to be about two years younger. "Her, perhaps?"

   "Eri!" The boy stiffened, watching as the little girl began to panic and pound her free hand against Naruto's hand in a useless attempt to get free. "Let her go!"