Dressing for success

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“Hold still.” Ino admonished as once again she slapped her friend’s hand away, her fingers busy making the small adjustments needed to the dress which she was finishing off. “You’d think you weren’t the one who practically begged me to adjust this for you... just stop fidgeting alright, it’ll be done faster and with less accidental needle pricks if you’d just stop squirming.”

“But Inooo...” Her current charity case whined, she swore the boy was hyperactive or something, his fingers fishing about at his sides as she tried to work on the seam there. His plaintive voice almost as annoying as the fact that he wouldn’t stop moving about.

“No but Ino-ing me Naruto. You asked me to do this and I’m going to do it properly even if it kills you.” The blue eyed blonde girl spoke harshly even as she took the fan which Naruto was supposed to hold with the outfit and smacked his fingers for moving too close to the freshly adjusted seam, pinned up so that she could take it in once they were done, each pin marking where the specific seams needed to be either taken in or let out accordingly.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her but quieted down a bit, before catching the fidgets again.

“You could just have measured him up for it you know.” Shikamaru spoke up from the sidelines, his cloud watching interrupted by the two… uh… chicks… he guessed… screeching before him. Never mind that one of them could definitely pee standing up straight, they both had that quality of ‘chickiness’ about them that permeated their every interaction. Hair tips, skin care, little beautifying techniques, the two of them got together on what had become a fairly regular basis in between the times that they’d both been serving as ninja on their own team, sharing gossip and generally chatting it up between each other.

“Yeah I could have, but it’s never as good as actually doing the pin work.” Ino rolled her eyes at her teammate’s lack of domestic knowledge. “And besides, it actually tends to amount to more work over all, since measurement adjustments almost never fully account for the body contours without a lot of very exacting measurements… at which time you could as well have just done the pin work anyway.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be doing missions right now anyway?” Choji asked, genuine curiosity gripping him even as he ate some more, not that he ever minded the strange blonde boy who seemed to match like peas in a pod with his team-mate, but he did have to wonder why sh… uh he… wasn’t spending more time with his team making them money. They themselves were on what was basically a house sitting mission; stick around, clean the place up, keep an eye on the valuables, keep the seals in working order, and water the plants. There were always a small chain of such to be done, and Shikamaru it seemed was always surprisingly quick to sniff them out and gobble them up before any of the other genin teams could show up to do so.

“Yeah… ow Ino… I’m on one right now. Kakashi sensei insisted on us grabbing four different missions at the same time… ugg... I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with the Daimyo’s wife’s cat. And Sasuke and Sakura have a bunch of me, directing them to do some cleanup work.” Naruto rattled off, wincing at a sudden needle jab due to him shifting under Ino’s work. “I’ve been working my butts off all week, but I think we’re probably gonna set some kind of record for D-classes... I don’t know if that’s a good thing though. We finish one and Sensei always has 2 more waiting for us.”

Everyone chuckled lightly at Naruto’s exasperated huff.

In truth the last few weeks had been dominated by what was becoming a new normal, the cycle of waking up, looking in on the D-class missions available, and in between them taking in some training. For Naruto and team seven this had given them a tiringly breakneck schedule with few moments for rest. Mostly, it seemed, doing community service in as visible a manner as possible. At first they’d all resented it, complaining about how little it resembled the lifestyle which they’d been training to take part in... at least until Kakashi took them aside after one too many loud groans to ask them to stop and think about what they’d been doing. To look underneath the actions and try to suss out a meaning to them. After all, this system’s design at every level was a purposeful, meaningful tool, meant to achieve multiple goals for a buddying young Ninja’s career as well as for the benefit of Konoha itself. He expected that students as bright as they were, he told them, would be able to figure out the meaning behind it all and work out how best to approach it.

It had been a bit of a shaming moment for the three, setting them to brainstorming just why the Hokage would want them doing menial work.

Sakura came up with the answer.

D-classes were ultimately and exercise in getting to know Konoha. Not just to learn how to fight for it, but to understand its people, to get around its places, and to learn to love it for what it was. Alongside of actually getting minor tasks which needed doing done by a workforce of available bodies with capabilities beyond the mundane, it also afforded the population of Konoha a chance to get to know their protectors from their youth and upward, familiar faces rather than distant figures of great power.

Naruto chipped himself, surprisingly, with a revelation as to why the Hokage found himself all over the village, often entering local shops and eateries to pick up things for himself, greeting people as he went and making his presence known.

Kakashi, it seems, had been so proud of them that immediately afterwards they’d celebrated…

… with another three D-Class missions all at the ready for them to finish…

It really put a damper in most of their days, leaving the night time training sessions they had together far less energetic than Naruto would have liked, not really much time left to play around when they were finished training, they’d managed nothing at all like that first night since, mostly just focusing limited energies on learning what they could.

Not that there was a lot even at the Uchiha compound to learn, most of what Sasuke could tell was the Really good stuff was locked away behind personalized seals and techniques which required not only the presence of a working sharingan, but also the projection of complex and precise genjutsu ‘keys’ to unlock the seals. At most they were left practicing academy mandated exercises and the intensely boring complexities of positioning planning and chakra lore which were a few steps beyond what the academy provided. Well, that bit was more because of Sakura, their foray into getting her to act as the strategic leader of the group against Kakashi had emboldened her, the theoretical book-work which she’d put so many hours into having come to new life for her, and despite her initial inclinations to simply follow whatever it was that Sasuke wanted her to do, she’d quickly begun to boss the two boys around, her confidence reinforced by the fact that given a moments notice they both bowed to her whims.

“Working Your butts off?” The question floated between them as Shikamaru raised his eyebrow at the revelation.

“Well yeah, I mean my kage-bunshin helps a hell of a lot.” Naruto replied, Ino lifting his arm to get at the side, causing him to wince at the sensation of pins against his skin before grumbling. “… maybe too much. They just use me now, grab the pack and lead. But I guess the extra free time afterwards is worth… ugg… hold on Ino, can you stop a sec, I need to do something.”

The Uzumaki youth paused, waiting for his friend to step away from him for the moment, then with a short flurry of hand seals produced twelve clone