Kakashi finally pulled his book down, "We're just passing Wave. We'll be there early tomorrow and then it's back to Konoha."
"So far so good," Naruto exclaimed cheerfully only to be shushed right after.
The next couple of days went smoothly. They arrived a little early and handed over the small lavish box that they were sent to deliver. It was a jewelry box with some expensive gems. That lovely box was a birthday gift meant for the leader of the town.
With the gift delivered, team 7 spent the night in a hotel and stocked up on any supplies before they began heading back. Not long after leaving they found that dark clouds hovered over them. Thankfully, it just seemed to be overcast because it never really started raining. Despite the ominous clouds they were under they were moving a little ahead of schedule.
"I'm heading to bed." A very tired Naruto said as he went into his tent.
Sakura stopped eating her fish and raised an eyebrow, "An exhausting first trip." She commented as she glanced at Sasuke, who simply nodded in agreement.
"We'll be home in just over a couple of days so no worries! You all will be able to rest soon!" Kakashi said and he, yet again, had his nose in his book so he missed the Anbu eye rolls.
Both Sasuke and Sakura waited for Kakashi and Naruto to get in their tents before going to their own. Only a couple hours later a crack was heard. It was enough to make Sasuke and Sakura silently slip out of their tents.
Sasuke looked at Naruto's tent, but Sakura shook her head. She knew that the zipper never moved. Since Kakashi and Naruto were confirmed to be in their tents the two anbu spread out to see what made the sound. A few trees away they came to a road and their answer, which was in the form of the charred dead body of a short fat man.
Sakura looked closely at the mangled remains, "He was burned up before being ripped to shreds and he was eaten in some spots. We passed this spot only an hour ago." She whispered indifferently.
"Yeah," Sasuke said as he tried to identify the person. "There might be enough left to make an identification."
"Maybe, but this has nothing to do with the decoy so let's go back," Sakura whispered and they silently returned to the campsite.
"You look exhausted, idiot. We were only gone a week. It's pretty pathetic if you get this worn out on a simple mission." Sasuke taunted and smirked at the tired glare the blonde with the grumbling belly sent him.
Kakashi chuckled as they all walked through the gates of Konoha late in the afternoon, "It takes some getting used to. You'll be used to even longer missions soon enough! Bye!" He exclaimed before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
Naruto saw that Sakura and Sasuke had already walked off with the pinkette clinging to Sasuke and sighed, "Yeah … Bye." He muttered and started walking down a different road.
The path he took was very familiar, but a bit nerve-wracking. A few turns took him past all the villagers who sent him nasty looks. Any one of those people would hurt him if the opportunity presented itself. However, he soon came to a safe place. It was the ramen stand named Ichiraku, but right now it was a little noisy.
"I refuse to pay for this low-quality trash!" A grouchy woman squawked furiously as Naruto walked into the stand and sat down. He was close enough to see that the woman's bowl was empty. "I have no idea how this awful place has such a glowing reputation when you half-ass every single thing!"
Teuchi huffed and took the bowl, "I'll have you know I put a full ass in every serving of sass. You're welcome!" He exclaimed with a bit of pop to his hip in the nasty woman's direction.
"Oh?" Naruto muttered. "I'll take a sass pot, please." He said, making Ayame giggle, but the nasty customer glared at him.
"Be quiet, you demon!" She screamed only to get splashed with cold broth.
Teuchi scoffed as the woman spluttered, "It's closing time, you ate everything and I just gave you extra so unless you wish to return what you gorged on then no refund!" He snapped and Ayame came out to clear everything.
When the ramen chefs even went so far as to shut one of the doors the bratty woman got the hint. Once the rude customer stormed off in a broth-soaked flourish, Naruto watched the chefs lock up. Now the three of them were inside the back of the cozy stand.
"And done. Now we have a gift for you, but tell us how it went Naruto?" Ayame asked after locking the large drop-down doors.
Naruto groaned as he sat on a crate of veggies, "It did not go as planned-"
Teuchi paled as he pulled out a familiar set of completely black goggles that were polished from under the counter, "What happened? Did your sensei notice-"
"Dad, let Naruto explain. Obviously, it wasn't that bad since he's not arrested so calm down." Ayame said pointedly and when Teuchi calmed down she urged Naruto to explain.
"But first we thought this would help hide your eyes on missions. I checked. They weren't damaged so you can use them. I just made them look cooler with some paint." Teuchi said and happily handed Naruto the goggles with blacked-out lenses.
The blonde smiled, "Thanks. I'll need them." He took a deep breath, "All of the meals were delicious no matter how terrifying eating in front of them was. I do mean them by the way. It seems my fellow genin aren't genin … Possibly Anbu."
"Shit, but they didn't notice, right?" Teuchi asked and when Naruto nodded he sighed in relief. "Ok … If that went well, what part didn't?"
"The timing," Naruto muttered as he rubbed his temples. "Instead of just letting me eat them at my own pace they insisted I use them up as my first three meals. I got through five days of the trip just fine, but I got hungry." He said, gripping his new goggles firmly.
Ayame saw Naruto tear up a bit and immediately pulled him into a hug, "It's ok, Naruto. You have to eat properly and this explains the latest gossip. The tyrant, Gato, was about to execute someone publicly, but a boulder was thrown at the site. Only Gato's men were crushed and Gato's body was found just two days away. It was burnt and had bite marks."
Naruto nearly sobbed, he was so relieved, "A tyrant? Ok. That's better. I was worried that I killed some innocent person … After a certain point I got so hungry … I couldn't remember anything except the smell of burning flesh and the taste of blood … It smelled good, but I thought … Never mind. Ayame, you were right to put a hidden flap on my tent. I screwed up getting back in, but they didn't hear me leave."
"That's good to know! Now we just need a better method of hiding food and no more evil tyrants will have to die … huh … Just in case I'll teach you how to properly cook an asshole!" Teuchi joked, trying to cheer everyone up. "I bet you're hungry. It doesn't help that you didn't properly cook him." Teuchi said happily as he opened up a trap door on the floor.
While being followed by the light creaks of the stairs the ramen chef went down into a room. The most interesting thing there was a large walk-in freezer. Of course, the next thing he did was open the freezer door and walk in. There, right next to the carrots, was a mutilated frozen body.
"Hmmm … No air-fried puffs left," Teuchi murmured as his eyes lingered on an empty space under the ribs where a set of lungs should be. "No BLTs either." He commented as he saw no biceps remained. Of course, many other things like the eyes, the tongue, and the lower part of the left leg. "Plenty of other muscles left though." He pondered as he looked at the other muscles which had slim pieces trimmed away. Pieces that would be small enough to fit a shell. "How about some finger sandwiches?"
"Sounds delicious," Naruto called from up the stairs.
"Excellent!" Teuchi cheered as he picked up a knife and skillfully sawed straight through the bone and easily removed the fingers on each hand. "While you're waiting for the main course you can have a treat." He said as he picked up the meat and carried it over to a set of two small containers that sat on the shelf in the chilly room. Both the hands and two circular containers were brought upstairs.
Naruto set the goggles down and raised an eyebrow when he saw the containers, "Ice cream?" He said, but laughed when he looked more carefully at the handwritten label.
The label on the first one was 'Bone marrow eyes-cream.' What the blonde found even funnier was the flavor on the second container. It was 'lick-orice' and it did have pink pieces mixed in, which were the same color and texture as a tongue.
Ayame scooped out a small scoop of each type of the homemade ice cream and put it in a bowl, "There. Give this a try." She said as she handed Naruto the frozen treat.
"It looks great." An excited Naruto said as he dried his eyes and took a spoon to try it, but this time his eyes stayed open.
The second the frozen treat touched his tongue the blue in his eyes turned into a whirlpool-like swirl of different shades of blue. A second later the part that was colored blue broke apart and spread across the whites of the eyes. Soon the swirls danced across the entirety of both eyeballs. It was like the pigment was trying to find the perfect arrangement but just couldn't settle in one spot. Only the pupils were unaffected, which would explain why the swirls didn't seem to disrupt the boy's vision.
"It's tasty! I love both flavors!" Naruto said and Teuchi chuckled as he chopped up the fingers with some veggies and sautéed them with some spices.
Ayame grinned, "Perfect! I'll try a blood sorbet next time." She said, but after Naruto finished the treat she noticed an odd look on his face. "What's wrong? Is there anything else?"
"Kind of. I remembered something … I think … I shouldn't have taken the risk, but when Sakura and Sasuke left I slipped out again. I'm sure I saw them find … the body. They were talking and one said 'This has nothing to do with the decoy.' Does that seem odd?" Naruto asked curiously.
Teuchi frowned, "Decoy? Are you sure they meant you?" She asked as her father put out a few slices of bread and put cheese on them.
"I think it makes sense," Naruto said and finally took off his supply pack. He pulled out the folded tent. "On the first night, Sakura did something to my zipper. I can't see it, but I smell-"
"Don't touch it," Ayame warned the second he tried to touch it to show them. "Ninja tricks aren't our specialty so don't play around until you learn more. However, I see your point. Why mark your tent if you aren't the main thing they're meant to watch?" She mused out loud.
"Yeah," Naruto murmured softly as he put his tent away. He sat silently and watched the two chefs toss around theories. Unfortunately, his friends were deliberately tiptoeing around the most obvious solution. "I think I need to go back-"
Ayame put her hand over his mouth, "Not a chance. It's far too dangerous and no one even knows what happened or that you were … infected."
"I got in easily the first time and it's the only secret place we know of so it might have some information on other things. If not I can at least find out what attacked me." Naruto pointed out but paled in fear as Ayame's eyes narrowed on him.
Teuchi sighed as he poured the sautéed fingers onto the flat crispy bread slices effectively making the cheese melt under the heat, "They definitely changed things since then, Naruto. It won't be that easy … but at the same time we need some more information." He said and handed Naruto two toasty sandwiches. "If they're still there and doing research then maybe we can find out more about what happened to you and if someone is calling you a decoy instead of a demon we really need to know what that means. What if they're planning to use Naruto as bait on the next mission and this was just a test? That's something we should know." He explained more to his daughter than Naruto.