Inochi was now halfway through her plan.

"Ohk.. Now I just need to train hard for the mission plus give instructions to those two about what to do" Inochi was thinking to herself as she headed towards Kakashi's apartment. She and Kakashi were supposed to be coming up with the points on which Inochi could spy upon about the jinchuriki without giving away any important information.

As Inochi reached Kakashi's place, they both sat down immediately to continue with their plans. However Inochi was a bit out of her mind as she was thinking about her own scheme. Kakashi noticed it, but before he could enquire Inochi, she put forward her own thoughts.

- "Will you watch over Naruto when I am gone?"

-" What type of question is that? Of course I will" Kakashi replied, frowning a bit at the question.

- "No offense, but you and him aren't exactly close" Inochi said while crossing her arms." What was the reason again? for you being so distant to him?"

-" Its not that I wanted to stay away" Kakashi sighed "but the Hokage asked us to not let him know of his true identity"

-" That's just bullshit you know. What harm could it have possibly done?" Inochi was pretty doubtful of the decisions by the Hokage. She respected him a lot, but again in many matters, she thought that better decisions could have been made. "The jinchuriki of the sand is also of Naruto's age and he knows his parents" Inochi took a pause before jumping over to her next thought "Why is it always the kids who are burdened with such great responsibilities? It is so unfair" Inochi said while being annoyed at the ignorance by the Kages. She truly hated the way Naruto was treated although he was an accidental jinchuriki. She had heard stories of even Kushina being ostracized in her childhood days for being one, that too out of order by the then Hokage.

Kakashi looked over to Inochi, who was already lost deep in thought. He thus interrupted her rant to bring her out of her mind,

- "Don't overthink things Inochi. Right now its best if you just complete the mission. ANBU requires you to be emotionless" Kakashi said in a cold voice. He had been on twice as many missions as Inochi but had never been assigned a mission with a kid involved, so he was unable to give her any advice.

-" I understand" Inochi said in a low tone, as she also knew that morals and ethics were probably the most dangerous things that an ANBU shinobi could have. The moment one is accepted in the ANBU they are to be prepared to face excruciatingly dark missions, which normal shinobis won't be able to handle. Inochi did not want to lose her mind over something as trivial as a spy mission which did not involve any kind of violence that normal ANBU missions did. But the timing of the mission, and the avoidance by the Uchihas were brewing up loads of doubts in her mind, that she just couldn't let go.

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Inochi followed a fixed schedule for the following two weeks to keep herself calm and quiet. She would train in the morning, report to the headquarters to discuss about the mission, head back to train Naruto and finally return home. It only changed in the last week when she started with the last stages of her personal mission.

Inochi met up with Izumi, who with much excitement, told her everything she had gathered about Itachi. Inochi had faith in Izumi but still the analysis that Izumi gave her came as a shock, as Izumi had not only found the place where Itachi and Shisui trained but had also made a chart on when they went to train, what they ate in between, where they ate and what type of training they did each day. Inochi was so impressed that she let out tears of joy, being happy that she chose Izumi for the job. Izumi on the other hand was thankful to Inochi for letting her be a part of the mission as she got to spend more time with Itachi.

Inochi spent the whole morning with Izumi chit chatting about their lives after which she headed out to meet Tenzo. She made a small stop at her training grounds, to bring the person Tenzo was supposed to work with for the plan. Tenzo was already waiting near the waterfall, which was the place that Inochi had assigned as the rendezvous spot for the mission. Inochi soon emerged out of the trees with someone who looked quite similar to her, but had an attire of a guy.

- "Yo, Senpai" Inochi waved to Tenzo who was sitting on a rock, daydreaming.

As Tenzo noticed the person behind Inochi, he got his guard up. He decided to not let a guy who would be taking his chakra deceive him in any way.

- "Senpai, you don't need to be so serious. I have known him since we were kids. He won't do anything I swear" Inochi said while trying to persuade Tenzo to let his guard down. If anything, Inochi did not want Tenzo to look deep into the person's background, as he had none.

-" Inochi, I know I agreed to this plan, but I think I need to be aware of the person who would be taking my chakra" Tenzo said in the most serious tone.

-"Oh well" Inochi let out a sigh "This is Kenta" Kenta's appearance seemed to have a resemblance to Inochi, but Tenzo could not put a finger on it. "He will be the one helping me with my mission. The chakra I gave him should last for two weeks so you two can start with the plan after that. Senpai, which day would be preferable to you?"

- "Thursdays usually. But if I am assigned a mission it can change"

- "Ok, for that all you need to do is carve out the date on which you will be free on this tree. Kenta will be visiting here daily so he would be well informed about when to meet you. Oh and if the mission needs to be cancelled, Kenta would just send you a letter"

- "Hmm.. Ok, sounds easy. I hope it works out nicely" Tenzo said to Inochi and gave his hand out for a handshake. He did so with Kenta too however he noticed something bizarre. Before he could ponder over it for long, Inochi cut his train of thought and said

- "Oh, and Kenta cannot talk so, he will just write to you if he needs to say something"

-" Oh, ok" Tenzo took a last look at Kenta. He had brown hair and the majority of his face was hidden behind a pair of sunglasses and a mask. "His get up is a bit more rough than Inochi, but it is probably because of the padded jacket" Tenzo speculated. Before getting lost in his thoughts again, Tenzo waved Inochi and Kenta goodbye.

Inochi left out a sigh of relief but quickly readied herself as she still had one person left to acquaint Kenta with, and that was Shin. Inochi went to the headquarters and asked Shin out for lunch. She introduced Kenta to Shin just outside Ichiraku ramen shop.

-" Shin, this is Kenta. He will be the one helping me with the mission"

- "Oh hello. I am Shin, Yama chan's friend" Shin shook Kenta's hand.

- "Oh, he cannot talk, Shin. He will communicate with you through writing" Inochi said as Kenta went on scribbling something on a piece of paper.

- "Oh is that so? I am sorry the-" before Shin could complete her sentence, Kenta handed her a piece of paper on which it was written "I am Kenta, nice to meet you. I will be in your care for this mission."

As Shin read it, she immediately got redness in her cheeks. She was excited to work with another person who she could potentially befriend. However her plans were in vain as Inochi had already made out the details for the mission.

- "You two are not supposed to meet too much. Kenta will write a letter to you only when he wants to convey some message to me. Otherwise if someone finds out that you two are meeting periodically, it can lead to some suspicion. If Kenta wants to meet up, he will ask you out on a date with the place and time mentioned. It's the best cover we can have for the meet up"

- "A d-date?" Shin knew it would all be just a farce but could not hide her excitement over the mission.

- "Don't get so worked up Shin. We cannot mess this up. You two can get mushy after the mission ends okay? Before that please don't do something stupid" Inochi said in a teasing tone. She knew nothing would happen with Kenta in the scene, but still did not want Shin to get any weird ideas.

After lunch, Inochi waved Shin goodbye and the three of them went their separate ways. Inochi headed out to her training grounds to start with her afternoon training session.

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Till the day before the mission commenced, Inochi trained herself for both the missions separately. Even though both of them were spying missions, they were vastly different from one another. Her plan to spy on the Uchihas was nothing extravagant. It was just a basic outline that even a six year old could have come up with, which was why she was wary of its failure. She did not have a plan B but kept in mind on how to handle the situation if the plan failed.

On the last day, Inochi spent her whole time playing with Naruto. She was sad for obvious reasons but did not want to make Naruto upset too. Naruto ,on the other hand, held back his complaints and spent his time with Inochi with as much enthusiasm as he could. At night, as Inochi put Naruto to bed, Naruto asked her a few questions

-" Why don't you have any luggage packed, neesan?"

- "My luggage will be provided by the headquarters"

- "Everything? Even clothes?"

- "Yes. I too don't know why it is so, but that's the rule for such a mission"

- "When will you leave tomorrow?"

-" 5 am"

- "Just 7 hours left then"

- "That was a very quick calculation, Naruto. In seven months when you enroll into the academy, I am sure you will amaze every teacher with your brilliant mind" Inochi pinched Naruto's cheeks.

- "You won't be there though.." Naruto's face drooped. Seeing Naruto being that sad was Inochi's breaking point. When she took in Naruto she promised to not let Naruto be alone ever again, but she had to break that promise. "This is just a mission Inochi, why are you so sad?" Inochi mocked herself. She hated being over emotional but again, she did not want to dismiss Naruto's feelings by being stoic.

- "I know Naruto... But I swear I will be there when you graduate. I will be there when you are promoted to genin, chunin, jounin and atlast when you achieve your dream of becoming Hokage. I promise to be there every time alright?" Inochi cupped Naruto's small face which now held the brightest smile ever. Inochi knew how to console Naruto. He was the person who taught her how to care for someone. "You are probably the only person who looks up to me Naruto" Inochi thought while being unaware of what the future held for her.

- "Wake me up before leaving neesan" Naruto said to Inochi before turning to the other side.

-" Of course Naruto". Inochi kissed Naruto on the forehead before going to bed.

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- "So.. are you ready?" Shin asked while handing Inochi the necessary stuff for the mission.

-"Yes, I guess I am" Inochi replied as she looked over to her new belongings. A bag with clothes, medicines, some sheets of paper and an application. "Is this all?" Inochi said while being skeptical of the amount of things she would need for the mission.

-" I mean, we cannot give you any high level weapons. So your katana and daggers are out of bounds. Shurikens and kunais are allowed but only a few aa you are not supposed to be a ninja"

- "Without my daggers I feel empty" Inochi whined. More than the katana, it was the daggers that were her choice of weapon. Inochi used to say that they were like katana and kunai at once, which was why it was her favourite. She only chose Katana too as it looked good but she rarely ever trained with it.

Shin just ignored Inochi's whining as she was busy cross checking all the applications. One mistake in them and the sand officials would declare war on the leaf.

- "The applications are okay. Hope you have a safe journey" Shin said while adjusting her spectacles.

-" Yeah. I hope the missions go well" Inochi and Shin did a personal handshake that they came up with in the three weeks and then went on with their own work.

As she left the headquarters, Inochi saw that she had an hour left to depart. In that hour she visited Rin's and Obito's grave and then Kakashi's apartment. To Inochi's surprise, Kakashi was up but was soon disappointed to see that he was only awake because he was reading his Icha Icha Paradise. After a quick squabble, Inochi hugged Kakashi goodbye and returned home to wake up Naruto.

Naruto was all too sleepy before realising what was happening. To Inochi's shock, Naruto started sobbing a bit, asking Inochi to have a safe mission. Inochi asked Naruto to freshen up as he would have to come back alone from the village gates to the apartment. After he put on fresh clothes, Inochi gave Naruto a piggy ride to the end of the village gates, with her shadow clone carrying all the luggage.

At the gates, Inochi crouched down to Naruto's level,

- "Eat your vegetables alright? If you get into trouble just go to the Hokage" Inochi said with all seriousness. "Don't overuse the jutsu I taught okay? If you run out of chakra you will faint" Inochi started ranting about all the do's and don'ts to Naruto.

- "Don't worry neesan! I will be be alright! I will write to you lots too! Believe it" Naruto said with a bright smile.

Inochi and Naruto hugged once again before parting their ways.

"I am way too excited for a spy mission" Inochi chuckled while calming herself down. As she took a step into the forest ,a crow feather fell on her head. Without looking back, Inochi just waved goodbye being completely aware of Itachi's presence.

-" I don't know if you are in any trouble, Itachi, but if you are then I will absolutely solve it" Inochi muttered to herself as she headed out to Sunagakure.

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It took Inochi three days to reach Suna, the desert being the most difficult terrain to travel. Before entering the gates, Inochi stopped to catch her breath. "Ok! Here we go!"

-"Name?" The gateman asked.

-"Nagisa Kumimono" Inochi replied.

- "Age?"

-"13 years"

- "Reason for entrance?"

- "I am here to apply for the babysitter's job" The two gateman gawked at her for a moment "For the Kazkage's son" Inochi continued.

As the two gatekeepers and the surrounding shinobi heard that, they audibly gasped. Inochi took a look at all of their faces, being completely confused.

-"Wait a minute.. You mean the jinchuriki?" One of the gatemen asked.

- "Yes" Inochi wanted to keep the answers short.

- "Huh?? Why? That's extremely dangerous you know.."

- "Dangerous..why?" Inochi was completely aware of what it meant.

- "Why you ask? That child is a monster!!"

As Inochi heard the word monster ,her mind drifted back to the time when Naruto was chased by a mob being called the same. Naruto would have been critically beaten if she had not intervened at the right moment.

However, something else ticked her off even more. Naruto was the Hokage's son, but Minato died when Naruto was born. This jinchuriki on the other hand was being called a monster, in public, inspite of his father being the current Kazekage. "Does the Kazekage have no influence over the villagers?" Inochi thought.

- "Hey... what happened?" The gateman snapped his fingers in front of Inochi to grab her attention.

- "Aah nothing. So do I have the permission?"

- "You still want to babysit that child?"

- "Well I won't know unless I try" Inochi wanted to be allowed to enter as quickly as possible. The more questions asked, the more the possibility of her identity getting compromised.

- "Ok then, you should go see the Kazekage immediately. The registrations are going to start soon. Good luck"

- "Thank you Sir" Inochi bowed to both the gatemen and entered the village.

- "She is gonna be dead meat isn't she?" One gatekeeper asked the other.

- "It doesn't look like she belongs to the wind nation. Those blue eyes are not common here are they?" The other gateman said while observing Inochi who was already getting mixed up in the crowd.

- "Who cares? She is sweet you know. I like her." The gateman said jokingly. For him it was like any other day.

- "Shut up stupid" The other gateman was still in doubt of Inochi's identity but was too exhausted from the heat to consider checking her background. Afterall, danger wasn't something new to the inhabitants of Suna. If things went awry, they knew their Kazekage would take care of it, even if it took sacrificing his own soul.