[open] IT'S A NINJA THING, YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND

[obstinates]

Who: Naruto A MASKED NINJA (sageraging) and anyone who sees him
What: Using Naruto logic, our intrepid shinobi has decided to be a ninja for once and is breaking into purist owned businesses in an attempt to make those business owners paranoid so they will hire Naruto and Kakashi's new security company and then the two ninjas can gather info from the inside

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[cat_proximity]

As she had been, on and off since that little...or not so little, incident, Chen had returned to the food court when it was dark and empty and there was no one to trip over. Following the same path the reanimated harpy had taken, making sure no residual energy remained, and...who was that?

That figure wasn't here before. And it was moving.

...and the face looked like a fox. Huh?

The now cat-shaped nekomata hopped onto the nearest table to get a better look, trilling as she did so. Both of her tails were up at least partway; curious.

[obstinates]

Raiding some restaurants sounded like a good idea at first. He didn't steal anything ever since he wasn't a thief, but maybe he could test out some of the food. Of course, he should have realized that purist-owned restaurants would have some pretty nasty shit to eat.

In any case, he still had to make it look like the place had been rifled through, which is exactly what he was doing. His clone lookouts had reported nothing odd, just an animal or two here and there.

A cat. Naruto didn't get along with cats. They all seemed to hate him for some reason, always clawing his face or worse. Yeah, he stayed as far away from cats as possible. Maybe they hated him because they could sense what was inside him.

Naruto just thought they were all mean is all.

In any case, the cat was of no concern as he sliced open a bag of some sort of space seed and watched it spill to the floor.

[cat_proximity]

The longer Chen watched, the more something tickled at her mind. Something felt...familiar about this figure. Familiar and not, all at once.

Like her master. But this figure didn't have any tails...at least, that she could see from here.

The nekomata hopped down from the table, form changing from cat to child, though with both tails intact. She trilled again as she approached, with no apparent sign of fear.

"What are you doing?"

[obstinates]

The voice made Naruto jump slightly. He quickly turned his head, keeping his body facing the other direction. When he saw the child, his grip relaxed on the kunai in his hand before the spring-loaded wire retracted it back into his sleeve.

How the hell did a kid get past his clone lookouts?

He looked at her from under his mask for a moment before turning to face her completely and shrugging. "Just, uh... lookin' around," was the quiet reply, voice muffled slightly by the mask. He wanted to keep quiet.

[cat_proximity]

Chen's ears perk up and she stopped--one hand held up off the floor as if mid-step. Then one rotated and tilted a bit to the side, followed by her head.

"You smell like master. Almost. Kind of." Ish. It's not precisely a scent; more like a vague feeling of which she couldn't quite put her finger on. It wasn't the shikigami bond; that rather obviously tugged her mind in another direction entirely.

It wasn't quite like Ran either, though it was close. Something dark and old and powerful; like an elder youkai. Something to be wary and respectful of, but not terrifying. At least, not immediately.

[obstinates]

Naruto blinked from behind his mask and crouched slightly to be more on the child's level. "Eh? Like master?" Naruto's own senses were much better than normal for various reasons, but the only thing he could smell on himself was the tear-free shampoo he used and ramen.

Mostly ramen.

He made a quick glance around him to make sure things were still okay before turning his attention back to the child. "Uh, okay, I guess. Anyways, isn't it past your bedtime or somethin', y'know?"

[cat_proximity]

"Kind of. It's a different smell Not really a smell." This was hard for Chen do describe.

...theeeen her expression changes.

"Nya--oh, um. I don't have to sleep so much, as a human would, but--"

She froze up a moment, mentally checking--nope, the shikigami bond hadn't changed directions. Or intensity. The nekomata relaxed, though marginally.

"Don't tell Ran-sama?"

Her face is turned up towards the fox-headed figure with an appeasing (and vaguely) expression. Her eyes are wide and the pupils pinned out and this face how do you say no to it.

[obstinates]

Naruto watched for a moment and leaned away from Chen. "Uh..." He didn't really get what she was saying. She was a weird little girl or something. Actually, this whole situation was weird. He hadn't seen the little girl before, and yet she was here the whole time or something.

Whatever.

As for that face...

"Tell who what? I dunno what the hell I'd tell anyways except that I ran into a little girl outta nowhere, y'know..." he replied, rubbing the back of his head.