Finding My Ninja Way: A Naruto Fanfic

Chapter 6:Unexpected Tendencies

Twenty-five kunai knives, thirty shuriken, ten paper bombs, fifty feet of wire, and a canister of food pills.

That's what I would be taking on my recon trip. I kept trying to come up with some way to think that maybe after all this time, Lady Tsunade was probably just losing her marbles over all of this and that this Takihiro guy wasn't bad at all.

He's an Uchiha, I could hear her voice echo in my head. Just to be sure.

If I could list the accurate pros and cons on this mission...well...I'd probably have to ask Shikamaru to help me out with that.

Now that the time had come and I was all set for the day, I tossed Zenomaru a treat and tightened my headband on firmly before opening the front door to our place.

"There's no backing out now," I told my trusty companion. "Let's get this done and see just how far our training has gotten us!"

The only problem was, I didn't know where Lord Fifth was exactly, and I remembered I was supposed to check in with her before heading out. She had mentioned something like that, right?

"Geez, I'm already at a crossroads," I whined, examining my surroundings. "Maybe if I ask around, right Z?"

My partner barked happily, his tail already wagging.

I spent a good 15 minutes asking a couple of Jonin and random villagers on if they had recently seen Lord Fifth around, but it was hopeless. As much as this lady made her presence known, she was also great at hiding when she didn't want to be found.

Of all days, I thought. You would think a former Hokage would be just as prepared as I am.

"Hey, Fang! Is that you?"

I was getting a little used to just being randomly spotted by others, but of all people, I never expected-

"Konohamaru?"

A tall dark-haired shinobi with a blue scarf-looking accessory around his neck exited a tea shop just in time to cross paths with me. I couldn't say I was definitely shocked to see him after so long. When Naruto left to train with Jiraiya, I spent hours upon hours playing hide-and-seek with the guy. He even taught me some harem jutsu that, thank Kami, I could never get the hang of.

"Long time, no see! Where ya been all this time?"

I chuckled lightly. "Eh, around I guess you could say. I'm actually looking for Lady Tsunade. Have you seen her around? Is she with you?"

"Hm? You mean the Old Lady? She's definitely not with me. Maybe she's out trying to jack slots again as usual. That woman is a walking betting machine."

"That's quite alright," I added in. "I just need to find her. I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"Oh! Okay! Well, why don't you go ask Lord Seventh? He's in his office right now."

I gave a thumbs-up. "Brilliant idea! I'll catch up with you later!"

However, that wasn't my next course of action. This plan had a big fat No Naruto stamp on it, and even one little shred of a hint to what we were doing, there was no telling what the repercussions would be.

I clutched my bag tightly as we headed back towards the front entrance gate. Come to think of it, I hadn't really seen her much since she left for Tanzaku Town on the same day she assigned me this mission! Could it be possible that she was planning on returning after the week had passed by?

I sighed deeply and sat on a bench close to the large metallic doors. "Good grief. I can't believe this is happening right now."
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A few minutes passed by and still no sign of her. It was beyond unbelievable that someone of her authority and professionalism would be as late as she was now.
I was about to call it quits and head back to my house when I recognized a cherry-blossomed Haruno leaving a grocery mart.