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Pet Retrieval

Summary:

"Do you have anything with animals?" she asks next time the Hokage gives them their pick of D-ranks, before Naruto can even ask for 'something cool' like usual.

 

"Oooh," Naruto says, "there're ones with animals? Why weren't we doing those ones all along?"

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Even without her extra knowledge, Shikako would know all about D-ranks. She has scores of older relatives who've complained about them within earshot. It's dish cleaning, babysitting, lawncare and landscaping, that sort of thing. She and Shikamaru once asked their mom about D-ranks and she said, "Well...the ones with pets were always my favorite."

Shikako thinks that those will be her favorite, too. Who doesn't want to pat a dog and get paid for it? She won't get to see Akamaru very often anymore, and it will probably be awhile before Kakashi-sensei introduces them to his dogs, so she'll have to take what she can get from D-ranks. And walking dogs will be easy, even big dogs — she has chakra in this life.

Even catching that cat shouldn't be a problem.

"Do you have anything with animals?" she asks next time the Hokage gives them their pick of D-ranks, before Naruto can even ask for 'something cool' like usual.

"Oooh," Naruto says, "there're ones with animals? Why weren't we doing those ones all along?"

"There is...one animal-related D-rank," the Sandaime says, and then hesitates. He glances at Kakashi-sensei and they share a long look.

Then Kakashi-sensei shrugs, and the Sandaime sighs.

"Very well," he says, and hands Kakashi-sensei a scroll. "Good luck."

They go outside. Kakashi-sensei opens the scroll, flicks his eyes over it, and nods. "Good luck!" he says cheerfully as he hands it over to Shikako with a pat on the head.

Shikako is left holding the scroll and trying not to shiver from the ominous chill that's suddenly come over her. She'd just wanted to pat a dog, or maybe a cat. Kakashi-sensei definitely wouldn't leave if it were going to be dogs. He probably wouldn't even leave if it were cats.

What does that leave?

Naruto crowds close to Shikako's left, resting a hand on her shoulder, saying, "Well? What is it?"

Shikako unfurls the mission scroll.

Sasuke stands on her right, just barely not touching her. "Geese aren't pets."

"It says 'pet retrieval' at the top," Naruto says uncertainly.

"If the Daimyō's wife says it's a pet, I think it's a pet," Shikako says. She rolls the scroll back up. "How hard could it be to find a goose?"

They head to the park where the scroll says the goose was last seen.

"Huh," Naruto says. "That's...a lot of junk."

Sasuke nods.

Shikako peers closer at the pile of stuff dumped into the ditch. Dango sticks, kunai, two swords, a sign Shikako recognizes from the gates into the Academy courtyard, senbon, a civilian umbrella and one of those needle-flinging Land of Rain umbrellas Shikako has only read about...

While they're watching, the goose waddles up to the ditch dragging a garden gnome. With a good deal of complex maneuvering, it forces the gnome over the edge and tumbling down the muddy slope. It honks triumphantly and flaps its wings. Then it starts to waddle back in the direction it came from.

"I love this goose," Naruto whispers. "It deserves to be free."

Sasuke bumps Naruto's shoulder with his own. "Don't be stupid. The daimyō's wife wants her goose back."

"She should get a cat or something! Let's just catch a cat—"

"—the scroll says 'goose'—"

"—we'll tell the old man that those dumb chūnin misheard her mission order—"

"—she's going to know that she had a goose—!"

"Someone will kill it if we don't catch it," Shikako interrupts.

"Oh." Naruto looks devastated at the idea. "We can't let anyone murder the goose. Let's go!"

"Murder," Sasuke repeats, looking put out by the application of the concept to water fowl, but they go.

How hard could it be? It's just, after all, a goose.