personal-0004

Chapter 8: An ordinary village

That first day went really well.

There was no sign of trouble. Shizuku performed the opening ceremony to a loud chorus of cheers. She then performed a few other ceremonies before returning to the shrine with Naruto and Kakashi.

"I want you two to remain here at the festival for the rest of the day and enjoy yourselves," Kakashi said.

"You mean it sensei!" Sakura said excitedly.

"What about the mission?" Sasuke asked. "How can it be all right for us to waste time when there's a job to do?"

"This is part of your mission," Kakashi said. "Go through the festival and see if there's anything unusual going on. See if there are any unusual characters about."

"You mean besides us?" Sasuke asked dryly.

"Oh come on Sasuke-kun it's a reconnaissance mission!" She put her arm through his. "And we can pretend it's a date!"

Before Sasuke could freeze her solid with a just a few words Kakashi cut him off. "That's a fine idea! You two pretend to be a couple enjoying the festival. Don't return to the shrine until it ends." Kakashi chuckled as he fled.

I really wish he would be more serious about things! Sasuke thought. He turned to see Sakura still holding on to him, her eyes somehow filling most of her face. "Don't get any weird ideas Sakura; I'm only doing this because it's part of the mission."

"I understand Sasuke-kun," she said. Cha! My very first date with Sasuke-kun! Just wait until I tell Ino-pig she'll be so jealous.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi caught up to Shizuku and Naruto who were surrounded by a wide circle of twenty clones. As usual he had his little orange book out and was reading it.

"What kind of book is that?" Shizuku asked.

"Eh?" Kakashi looked up from his reading material.

"What kind of book is that?" Shizuku repeated. She squinted her eyes a bit. "Come, come paradise? That's an odd title."

Having an eight year old questioning him about what he was reading was a bit embarrassing. The fact she was an actual priestess made it worse. "Ah, well, you see…"

"It's a dirty book that he reads all the time," Naruto told her matter of factly. "Kakashi's just a huge perv."

"Thanks Naruto," Kakashi said wryly.

"What? You are aren't you?"

Shizuku shook her head sadly. "Shouldn't a teacher set a good example for his students Kakashi-san? It really isn't good to immerse yourself in impure thoughts, that can lead to immoral behavior… as well as hairy palms and blindness."

"Hey," Naruto said. "Is that how come you only have one eye?"

Kakashi sweat dropped and put his book away. I'm really losing a lot of face here.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Here you go kids, enjoy." The vendor handed each of them an ice cream cone.

"Arigato!" The little blonde girl said.

"Thank you," an unhappy dark haired boy said. They both had henges on to appear like ordinary children. A place of this size there was no way people would know everyone.

They walked away from the vendor and along the crowded street. It was sunset now and the crowds were a little sparser, many people had gone off to eat or rest. After the sun went down there would be music as various bands would begin to play and couple would dance to the music.

"This has got to be the all time best mission ever," Sakura said. In one hand she had her ice cream and in the other she had Sasuke's arm. And if that wasn't perfect enough they were in the middle of a festival. How could anything ever top this?

Sasuke looked at her and at her hand on his arm. Though he didn't really like the closeness he let it be since the alternative was to have her weeping and miserable. That would draw attention, at least this way they just looked like a couple kids enjoying themselves. "Just so long as you don't forget this is a mission Sakura."

"Oh I haven't forgotten Sasuke-kun, but I haven't seen anything even a little suspicious. Have you?"

"No."

She giggled a little. "You sound disappointed."

"This is our first real mission Sakura," he told her sternly. "Our first chance to do something with our skills. I want to succeed, and succeed brilliantly. There's no way to do that if we can't even find the enemy."

"But what if there's no enemy?" She asked. "Or what the enemy gave up as soon as they saw their target being protected by ninja. I mean look around, these are just normal people. I'm sure most of them had nothing to do with the murders. There were probably just a few sickos among them. So long as we keep our eyes open I'm sure Shizuku will be safe."

Sasuke did look at the people around them. Children and parents, grandparents, and young couples walked past oblivious and happy. These people weren't any different from the civilians back home. They wouldn't be any sort of threat to real ninja. "I guess that's possible."

"Yeah! Which means you can take me dancing!"

"Dancing?"

Sakura laughed and hugged his arm. "It's part of the mission, right Sasuke-kun?"

He let out a defeated grunt. Worst mission ever.

XXXXXXXXXX

That night Kakashi, Naruto, and Shizuku had dinner bought at the various stalls by Kakashi. The food already in the shrine's small back kitchen had been unceremoniously thrown away. Since the last victim had been n poisoned the possibility that the food could already have been doctored had to be considered.

"I wish we had ramen," Naruto complained as he had some fried squid.

"Raman isn't very good for you niisan," Shizuku said primly. "I mostly eat rice with some fish and vegetables."

Naruto made a face. "I hate vegetables."

"You should still eat them, they are good for you." She looked at Kakashi. "Tomorrow could we get some vegetables to eat too?"

Kakashi nodded. "Sure that's no problem at all. I've actually been trying to get him to eat more than just ramen myself."

"He comes by my apartment sometimes with bags filled with green stuff," Naruto shivered.

"They're good for you niisan."

"But I hate them!"

Kakashi ate his dinner quietly and listened to the byplay between them.

Following dinner a couple of Naruto's clones cleaned up as Shizuku began her evening prayers.

"Naruto, come and take a walk with me for a bit, there's something we need to discuss."

XXXXXXXXXX

Outside the shrine the two of them strolled along. Naruto had already set twenty of his clones to act as guards and hidden them in the nearby trees and shrubs. Even while he and his sensei were off talking she remained under protection.

"So what's going on sensei?"

"Naruto," Kakashi said in a low voice. "I think you're getting a little too involved with our client."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"A ninja's first and only true loyalty should be to his village Naruto," Kakashi said quietly. "While on a mission we are loyal to our client. We will do everything in our power to protect our client, even lay down our lives. But when the mission is over we return to our village. For people like us Naruto it's very dangerous to make attachments outside the village. We care about our village and about our comrades, but we can't care too much for the people we are sent out to protect."

Naruto came to a halt and looked up at him. "Why not? Shizuku is a really good person and I like her! Except for jiji she's been nicer to me than anyone I've ever known!"

"I agree that she's a very nice person Naruto, and that she is very kind to you. Never the less you can't afford to care too much."

"How come?" Naruto demanded.

"None of us can know what the future holds Naruto," Kakashi told him. "Someone we protect today could be a target tomorrow." Seeing a look of outrage Kakashi waved his hands signaling him to relax. "Not that I expect there's any chance of that in this situation, but it's not a good idea to get into the habit of becoming really close to people outside the village. A ninja should never have divided loyalties. He should always know exactly where his loyalties lie."

"I know who I'm loyal to," Naruto said. "I'm loyal to the old man!"

"And what would you do if the Hokage ordered you to come back here one day and assassinate her? Hmmm?"

"The old man would never do something like that!"

"But what if he did?" Kakashi asked. "Killing people, even innocent people, is a regular part of a ninja's life. As a leaf ninja you must be ready at any time to carry out any mission given to you, even one that involves people you already know. As a matter of fact you might get the mission because you know them and can get closer to them more easily. So if the Hokage were to order you to kill her someday what would you do?"

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and glared up defiantly. He did not answer.

"That's about what I thought," Kakashi said. "It's fine for now, like I said I can't imagine the scenario where anything like this would ever happen. But remember what I told you for the future."

"Don't care about anyone outside the village, got it."

"Don't care too much. You'll meet a lot of people during your career and the connections you make can be very valuable to you. Making friends with your clients is just fine, as long as you understand your loyalty belongs only to the village."

"So I should be ready to betray any friends I make who aren't from Konoha?"

"That's a rather harsh way of putting it Naruto."

"But that's what you mean right?"

Kakashi nodded. "More or less."

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke and Sakura returned a little after ten. Other than Sakura gushing about what a marvelous dancer Sasuke was there was nothing for them to report. So far as any of them could tell there was nothing out of the ordinary about Hikedo or its festival. The first full day of their mission had gone well.

XXXXXXXXXX

The trouble began late that night.

Long after they had put out the lights and gone to bed five figures dressed in black moved through the woods. With blades in hand they approached the shrine.