Read ( +30 ) advance chapters on Patr.eon.
p.atreon.com/wwwpatreoncreativvefactory
....
After giving one final nod of understanding to his summoner, Latios disappeared faster than the blink of an eye, leaving a silent sonic boom in its wake. After the dust cleared from the small explosion, Naruto turned back around, only to be greeted with the frozen, wide-eyed expressions of the four kunoichi.
"...W-What-?" Narumi tried to muster her voice, but was cut off by Naruto.
"We don't have time for questions, we still have a mission to complete." Naruto spoke, not really wanting to talk about his summons right now. It's not that he was still trying to keep his abilities a secret, but a sonic boom just went off from Latios's departure. It was likely that nobody else hear it because of how quiet it was or heard it because of how tall the rock formation they were on was, but they should still disperse as soon as possible so that nobody would be able to sense their presence if they got close enough.
Naruto walked back to the edge of the cliff to assess just how they would divide up the town. They couldn't just scout it out in a large group such as the one they were currently in, their large chakra signatures would alert any shinobi in the area of their presence, especially with two jinchūriki on the team. They would need to divide and conquer just like they had with Orochimaru's hideout.
Even if he was the only sensor-type shinobi amongst them, the kunoichi should at least be able to sense chakra signatures and the presence of other shinobi, even Natsuki and Narumi who had abysmal chakra control and sensing capabilities.
The population of the town was not too large, so locating and investigating their targets shouldn't be too difficult. The town had a population no greater than a few thousand people, most of which were farmers who worked in the fields on the outskirts of town. That meant it would be quite easy to spot someone who wasn't from Hi no Kuni since they would obviously be out of place.
"We'll split up into the same teams that we had when we hit the hideout." Naruto didn't even turn his attention away from the townspeople that meandered through the streets of the town, mainly in the square and the shopping district, but he knew that the rest of his team had their eyes on hm and were vividly listening to his words. "Natsuki and Narumi, you'll take the eastern side of the town. Mikoto-chan, Satsuki, you'll take the western side. Since I'm the only sensor here, I'll take the southern side where the town square, shopping district, and most of the residents are."
He received an affirmative nod from each of the kunoichi after they had received their assignments. Though a few of them furrowed their eyebrows after they had realized that one of the sections was missing.
"What about the northern section?" Natsuki asked with a confused expression making its way onto her face.
Unknown to the kunoichi, but not to Naruto, the northern section was mostly for agricultural usage and where a majority of the farms laid. The only structures in those areas were farmhouses, stables, and silos used for holding grain. There were at most a handful of people in the area at the time. If there were any Suna or Oto shinobi remaining in the area, they would try to blend in, in a much more populated area. If they were to take refuge in the northern sector, they would stick out like a sore thumb.
"The northern sector is used for agricultural usage, any foreign shinobi would standout far too much there. They would take refuge in the more populated areas of the town if they wanted to blend into their surroundings. That leaves the three other sectors which have far more people traveling through them constantly." Naruto informed the group as he finally turned around to face them.
He received a nod in understanding from the girl who had voiced her confusion, after which, something caught his eye.
The Konoha hitai-ate...
That simple piece of metal strapped on in various different places amongst their group would undoubtedly alert the townspeople to their presence, especially since it was so far away from any of the shinobi villages. While the swords strapped to Natsuki's waist, as well as the additional shinobi equipment they carried would also be a give away, they would draw far less attention as opposed to the hitai-ates and the flak jackets that he and Mikoto wore.
"...But before we split up, I've just realized we stand out far too much as it is...These people will be weary of our presence knowing that we're Konoha shinobi, which in turn will make it much harder to keep a low profile." Naruto lectured as he unclipped his hitai-ate that was acting as his belt buckle and took off his chūnin flak jacket, leaving his upper body only in his mesh shirt. "It'll work best for us if no one even realizes were here, but some attention can't be avoided. Our exposure will be limited without us wearing our hitai-ates or our flak jackets."
After hearing Naruto's reasoning, Mikoto and Satsuki began taking off said items and storing them in their personal sealing scroll that held their personal affects, easily understanding the that for a pseudo-undercover mission any clothing that gave away their origin would be out of the question. Actually, villagers way out in the middle on nowhere wouldn't easily recognize clan emblems, but none of the kunoichi here were wearing anything of the sorts anyways.
"Aren't shinobi always supposed to wear their hitai-ates while on missions to represent their village?" Narumi asked incredulously, a bit reluctant to remove her hitai-ate after all the stories her parents used to tell her about bringing honor to their village and how a mark to the hitai-ate was a shinobi's greatest shame, that was why nuke-nins drew a slash mark through their former village's symbol.
Though recently she had started to doubt a lot of what her parents had been telling her, especially through the course of this mission.
The first was when she realized why her parents hadn't even mentioned their favorite form of shinobi art in front of her and her siblings, much less taught them the basics of fūinjutsu. The second was when their current mission had been explained to them in detain in the forest on the first night after they had left Konoha. Her parents had always told her bedtime stories about how shinobi protected their village from all the evils of the world and strove to protect the people precious to them...were all those stories just lies to get them interested in being shinobi? The third was when she found out really how much her parents' neglect of Naruto affected his mental state, she couldn't imagine what it was like to live everyday of her life questioning whether or not if her being born was a good thing. Of course it was, and she was told that everyday!...Though she had never thought people could possibly think that their very existence was a sin. The fourth and final straw was when she had taken her first life in that underground hideout. She may never be the same again after that experience, whether that was a good or bad thing, she had yet to determine.
Yes, Narumi had undoubtedly lost a lot of faith on everything she had been told by her parents up to this point. Natsuki most likely had the very same thoughts running through her head. She couldn't help but wonder why her parents had been keeping so much from her for so long and if there was more that they were hiding.