"Kami, no," Ino answers with such ire, it mildly annoys Kurenai. "You're not going to tell my parents are you?"
"I'm not certain," Kurenai answers honestly. "How difficult is it to tend to this orchid?"
"Very," Ino simply puts.
"Which means it would likely die under my care," Kurenai reasons. "I need a specialist to avoid killing it. Would you prefer I deal with another florist? As a shinobi, I don't feel your parents would appreciate my taking such a rare prize to their civilian competitor."
"You can sell it," Ino suggests.
"Again, I would need a florist for their connections," Kurenai responds. "Unless you'd like me to stand in the market place trying to convince someone to spend seven-hundred and fifty thousand ryo on an orchid. Do you know what you can buy with that amount?"
"Then" Ino grasps for ideas a couple of seconds before suggesting, "then give it to me and I'll sell it for you. Just please don't tell my parents about that baka."
Again, Kurenai is irked by the casual way Naruto is disregarded, and so assuages the blond. "I will not tell your parents, however, I will not lie to them either."
"Thank you Kurenai-sensei," Ino states with clear relief.
"I also have two conditions you must adhere to," Kurenai adds surprising the girl. With her silent nod, Kurenai declares, "one, you will take and tend to the orchid until I decide whether to sell it or not.
I will, of course, pay you for the work." Though it was a gift from him, Kurenai should talk to Naruto about it. It's a very expensive gift after all and he might have different ideas for it if he knew the price. "For my second condition, you will join me for a little reconnaissance work."
She hesitates to ask, "uh, what kind of reconnaissance?"
"Intelligence gathering," Kurenai answers. "On one, Uzumaki Naruto."
"What?" she gasps. "Why?"
"I have questions that need answering," Kurenai simply states, taking a sip of her tea.
"About that idiot?" Ino asks. "What's there to know that you haven't already heard? There are all sorts of rumors about him, like, stealing, rape, and murder, but, I'm not so stupid to believe that kind of fear mongering.
'Yeah'
'This is one mission I want to change no matter what.'
'What about the future?' Naruto's concern asks, trying to calm down his energetic muscles.'You said it could be dangerous to change stuff.'
'I can still help in other ways; like with training and info on shinobi to watch out for,' Naru-nii assures him. 'Besides, I think we can both agree you're already doing stuff I've never done.'
'Okay,' Naruto agrees with a shrug. 'So what do you want to change?'
'There's a person I want you to try and save,' Naru-nii expresses. 'His name is Haku. You'll know it's him because he looks like a girl and he's got long dark hair. He also pretends to be a hunter-nin.'
'Why's Haku so important?'
'Haku is one of those shinobi who's had it as bad or worse than us. He lost his parents too and he was alone until he met Zabuza.'
'Zabuza?'
'Kiri Jnin. Crazy strong. You'll have to be extra careful around him. He thinks he's a monster, and to some extent he is.
He knows a lot about the dark side of the shinobi world but he's wrong about the things that matter.'
'What's that?'
'Friends aren't tools. Ninja's have feelings. And we're not just fighting machines for the highest bidder.'
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