The Haruno residence once had a rat problem.
Lots and lots of rats.
Some colleague of Edo Tensei, our very muscular legal guardian of Sakura decided to have some fun.
The veteran Anbu operative was having a tough time killing such a huge number of little devils.
And like always, it is Sakura who came to the rescue.
She brought a can full of stinky gas from God knows where and threw the whole thing inside the house.
That gas was so stinky that it drove away all living animals from at least 3 blocks of neighborhood.
She still remembered the fond memory of buying that can of stinky gas from a weird kid who was selling it by the street.
The same can of gas she is juggling right now, which is rather distinctly similar.
He was the one who said " It's best to use something to flush out the filth, instead of scooping it out".
So, that's what she did.
If it's a peeping rat who peeks at naked ladies, then she will use the naked ladies themselves to flush the pervert out.
So, as per plan, Sakura made multiple prints of the sketch Sasuke made and spread them across the red-light district and hot springs.
["Pervert sighted, beware!!!!"] Written below.
And then she waited.
Waited for the rat to flush out.
And trying to remember who that boy was.
He did seem familiar.
So, she drew the vague picture of the boy she remembered and plastered them along with the pervert notice.
With the writing:
[Looking for a weird boy who sells stinky things]
Then she started the wait again...
Let's hope nothing else comes to her bored mind.
Then... something came to her mind as the fresh smell of lemon cloth wash drifted to her nose while she dangles her legs from the roof.
"Oh! I should go see Naruto! He must be worried", she thought.
#######
A man.... an Anbu operative.... in a cat mask feels a bit off.
"Someone watching us", he says to his leader as they watch from the shadows of an alley.
"You sure?", the boar-masked leader asked.
Then he sees something in the distance.
A white girl, pink hair.
She dangles her legs from a roof.
She waves her hands at him with a smile.
The bright and innocent gesture compelled the man to wave back.
A laundry comes loose from the wind.
It flies by flapping in the wind.
Then she was gone.
Like some ghost.
He scratches the back of his head.
"This is way above my pay grade", the subordinate says.
"No shit! These kids kidnapped the fuckin' Hokage!", he concentrates his chakra to sweep the area of any chakra signature.
All he feels is the overwhelming amount of signature as if an army of ants just crawled up his legs.
Literally.....
"Ooohhh.... bugs again?", the subordinate burps.
The Aburame operative ignores his junior as he lets his Kikaichu loose to sweep the area.
They seem too afraid to leave.
This area has a very bad smell going on.... even the crows are going crazy in this part of town.
Bugs are not supposed to smell anything.
What is it they are so afraid of?
"They are in here somewhere ", he says as his shades glisten.
"But where? Can't your nasty bugs tell that much?", the junior asks with disgust .
"No....", he says with a voice so menacing that it made even the old man across the shop shiver.
The junior took it as his cue to shut up.
#########
The Inuzuka clan doesn't have that fancy twirly gate like the other big clans have.
It's just some alley with cramped houses that smells like dogs.
Obviously.
They have cats too though.
Sakura sneaks into the compound with zero resistance.
Most people don't even know what's going on.
Naruto is here.
At least, That's what Sasuke kun said anyway.
But.... why the Inuzuka?
Well, it's for the little basement they have.
A correction facility .
Yes, the glorified pet shop has a correction facility just below this cozy looking alleyway.
Sakura always wondered why such a wonderful place would have such a nasty facility.
Well, it's like an allotment of facilities, Sakura remembers Sasuke's explanation.
The Inuzuka got the correction facility.
The Cho got the fire department.
The Nara got the anti-corruption facilities.
The Yamanaka got the workers' rights and scouts facilities.
The Uchihas had the police.
It belongs to the Anbu now though.
These facilities surprisingly are not given according to any specification.
They all pulled a card out of the box.
Geez, these explanations almost sound like a joke.
But, Sasuke kun does have a tendency to be accurate about these things.
Although, he doesn't know anything not related to shinobi.
Sakura simply hops and skips away through the alley like she usually does.
Dogs from the houses wag their tails and run towards Sakura as the owners smile widely.
"The ninkens simply can't resist her", a young housewife chuckles who happens to be cleaning the sidewalk in front of her shop.
"They say, Sakura might be some lost Inuzuka child, since the dogs love her so much", the local vendor says as his bulldog licks Sakura's face off.
The girl oblivious to the wonders of the locals plays around with the dogs as if she is one of them.
The salty old lady winces at the sight.
"She even smells like the ninkens", she mutters.
A boy comes along.
"Sakura san!!!", he calls as if he just saw a ghost.
"Oh!! Kiba kun!", Sakura smiles ear to ear seeing Kiba.
Kiba almost blushed at the sight.
But then he gets his poker face back and looks around frantically.
Sakura was coming his way anyway, but he stomped in, grabbed her hands and pulled away.
Ignoring all the "woo" coming from the old civilians and the dogs, he pulls her aside.
They end up in the shade of a tree that is somehow jammed between two shops.
A peach tree to be exact.
It has such big peaches ..... Sakura wondered with wide eyes.
"Sakura!", Kiba calls to take her attention.
"I thought you were dead!", Kiba almost screams.
Sakura puts a finger on his lips.
Kiba shuts up with a red face.
"It's a super secret", she winks.
Kiba faces away to hide his blush.
Then he sighs. Probably remembers something.
"You .... you here for Naruto?", Kiba asks.
Sakura's smile dims a bit.
"Is he okay?", she asks.
"No", Kiba says simply. "But... you know Naruto. He can be annoyingly cheerful when he wants to be".
"Where is he?", she asks.
"Oh... he is around here somewhere. Got a D-rank mission to take care of the dogs for a few days", Kiba says.
"D-rank mission? Isn't he an examinee? What about his training?", Sakura asks.
"That.....", Kiba looks away.
"He kind of sort of punched an Anbu when they said you guys were dead".
"That's Naruto", Sakura says as if she was in doubt.
"Yeah.... and that got him disqualified ", Kiba says.
Sakura doesn't give any reaction to that. Only smells the air as if she is looking for Naruto right away.
"If you are wondering where he is.... he is that way", Kiba touches his nose then points at the direction.
Sakura imitates the gesture as well...
"It's a clan thing.....", Kiba says with a chuckle.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to be rude", Sakura sticks out her tongue.
"Oh no no! It's okay!", Kiba waves.
"Really?", Sakura is skeptical.
"Yeah! If it's you, I'm totally okay with it", Kiba gives her the thumbs up.
"Oh? Why is that?", Sakura asks.
Kiba doesn't answer.
"Don't you wanna see Naruto?", he reminds her.
"Oh! Yeah! He must be worried sick!", Sakura knuckles her forehead.
Sakura struts away.
"You know, Sakura... Naruto never admitted you were dead", Kiba says as Sakura looks back.
"He said, you will come find him, when you need him", Kiba says.
"Kiba kun" , Sakura turns to Kiba with hands on her hips leaning a bit towards him in classic school girl onee-chan pose.
"To Sasuke.... it's never about need", she touches her nose.
"It's about fun and it's a lot more when Naruto is around".
"What's it to you, Sakura san?", Kiba asks.
Sakura then touches Kiba's nose.
And then she wasn't there anymore to see Kiba's face turning as red as a tomato.
She vanishes into thin air, like she always does.
But that only lasted a few seconds as if a gust of realization hit his face like wind.
He simply scratches his nose with his spit and walks away.
The gesture which Sakura did accidentally is akin to a proposal.
And what Kiba did was a respectful rejection.
Even though accidental..... his first was taken.
And the Inuzuka boy was surprisingly happy with that.
And he suddenly gets angry.
"What the fuck is up with this Sasuke fucker! What is he? Her boss? Sending Sakura to run his errands?", Kiba kicks a rock.
Maybe he should teach this wanna-be mafia a lesson.
Maybe he should track him down and pay him a visit?