Kiriko looks up from the walls of scrolls on either side and nods in satisfaction. Turning the placard to open she settles behind the counter and opens the latest book of a mystery series she found on her journeys. 

Among the items she brings back on these shopping trips are books and tv shows that might not have made it to Konoha yet. And no, she doesn't mean that *dreck* that fool Kakashi reads. The bell over the door rings and she looks up, slipping a bookmark in the book to save her page.

Ahhh, speak of the man and he shall appear. She glares at that screaming meemie bitch Sakura when the pink banshee opens her mouth and she gulps and closes it. She knows the other woman will knock her on her ass without a second thought and get away with it. Kakashi starts to glare at her and she growls. He quickly shuts up. Sasuke starts to complain and she grabs him by the collar and backhands him across the face. "Keep a civil tongue in your mouth while in my store or lose it fool. I don't have to put up with your whining. The fools on the Council can kiss my ass. Konoha needs me, I don't need you."

Sasuke sulks the whole time he selects his scrolls of supplies and brings them to the counter. He starts puffing up at the total and she tosses a kunai at him. He gulps at the five strands of hair that fall to the floor, pays his total, and heads outside.

"I. . .I need one of your special scrolls." Sakura whispers when she comes up to the counter. Kiriko nods and pulls a scroll out of a special box by her foot, sliding it across the counter. Dropping the bills in the box she smiles as Naruto comes over. In addition to the supplies for their mission he's got other scrolls.

"New ramen scrolls?"

"Not until next week. Teuchi and Ayame will be working on new batches over the next couple of nights."

Naruto nods and brings a handful of scrolls out of his pocket. Kiriko nods and drops them into another box behind the counter.

"Naruto?" Kakashi asks quietly.

"Dishes from the meal scrolls. You can either bring them back or keep them. The meal scrolls come in six, twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four meals with silverware. If you bring them back after washing them you get a discount. Ichiruko's makes two batches of each of his dishes every month, one for Naruto." She quickly reaches over and ruffles his hair, getting a complaint. "And the rest of my customers."

"Only Ichiruko?"

"No, I employ many clan females, and a few men, to cook meals for me." She waves a hand at the other wall and Kakashi looks over at the wall of shelves, each labeled with restaurant or clan name, meal, meal number, and price. "The more paranoid shinobi only buy the meals from their clan members, many people buy from other clans to see what their food is like." The bell over the door chimes and a shinobi comes in. "Kiriko, did your. . ." Kiriko holds up a hand and ducks under the counter, bringing out another scroll that she opens. "Oh, thank you. And thank Shuishi for me too." He puts the weapons back in the scroll and hands over his money. The money goes in a separate envelope she slides in her clothes.

"You sell weapons?"

"One of my clan members is a blacksmith. He does special orders."

"Why are you not a Kunoichi? You are obviously trained."

"Do you know my clan? The Izuno. If you do, you know why I am not."

"Oh." he slumps. Naruto looks at his sensei, the shopkeeper, and back. "My clan is one of the lesser known ones Naruto, because we don't have a kekkei genkai or use flashy jutsus. While we serve Konoha, most of our clan members do not become chunin until they are adults. And we have *no* jonin in our clan. While those clan members who *have* attended the academy teach the others, most of the clan have other jobs."

"I chose not to attend the academy when I was old enough to enroll."

"You would have been a fine kunoichi."

"At the whims of a teacher who may choose to fail me because of no fault of my own? Depending on team mates that may or may not be useless or have agendas of their own? Having my chakra bound if I am failed because of my teacher or team mates? Through no fault of my own?" Kiriko pointedly looks out at Sasuke and Sakura through the windows of the shop. "Used only as a weapon by whoever is in charge? No, I have too much self-worth to do that. Especially since the town sees my clan as nothing because we don't have the flashy gifts. I have a gift for sealing, my clan encouraged that gift."

Kakashi shakes his head as he leaves, how many students lives had been turned upside down through no fault of their own? How many lives did he ruin by failing teams year after year after year? In the store a man ducks in from the back room and Kiriko hands her father the scrolls Naruto had brought back and the money for Shuisui.

"The council will complain about how you treated their puppet Sasuke." He snorts.

"The council can blow it out their asses. If a civilian can easily slap him, an enemy will kill him." Her father sighs but nods, opening the scrolls in the back and running the bowls and silverware through the commercial dishwasher and putting everything away to be reused.

"You're getting low on dishes."

"Yes, I planned on buying more next month when I go off. Is Tio in the back? Send him off to our regular customers and tell him I plan on going next month, get me their lists and money in two weeks." He nods and ducks in the back, a youngish looking boy going out the front door and visiting a number of establishments, including those on the seedier part of town.

Naruto comes in three weeks later, filling his arms with scrolls from the other wall. At the counter Kiriko's father nods and starts running up the total, Naruto handing over a handful of bills and accepting the large storage scroll holding the other ones. "Kiriko?"

"Left last week on her biyearly shopping trips. She's got lists from most of the other stores and some of the other areas." Naruto lives in the bad part of the village, he knows what Kiriko's father is not saying. "Did she get in trouble for slapping Sasuke? I know he went whining to the council."

"Not hardly, the Hokage told them that if a civilian could take him down as easily as she could he needs more training. I heard rumors that he's in trouble?"

"Yeah, he went off on our mission and nearly got Sakura killed. Kakashi was not happy and beat his ass every night for the three days it took us to get home." Naruto shakes his head. 

Kiriko walks into the store two weeks later. Naruto leaps off the stool behind the counter and hugs her. She raises an eyebrow at him. "Your brother had an emergency and asked me to cover the counter."

"What? He eat his own cooking again?" Kiriko snorts.

"Ha ha ha." He says as he walks into the building. "Thanks for covering the store Naruto. No, the Hokage has a special order for Shuishi. Where's the rest of your team?" He asks Naruto.

"Sakura is on medical leave for another six weeks and Sasuke is on punishment detail for another six months. The old man isn't happy with what happened on our last assignment. So I'm at loose ends. Your dad's been paying me to work here." he looks at her. Kiriko waves a hand. "Go ahead, I'm going to be busy the next couple of days delivering everything I brought back for the others." She tosses her brother a handful of scrolls. "Supplies for the back."

"Oh good, we're down to a box of everything with filling meal scrolls." he sighs and opens them in the back room, putting everything away. The back door opens and their father sighs. "I heard she was back. We're first stop?"

"Yes, she's going to be delivering everything else over the next few days. Naruto's out front covering the counter."

"It's good money for him. I hear that his team might be breaking up?"

"For gods sake, why?"

"Because his teammate Sasuke is a little shit who needs his ass beaten ten times a day? And his female teammate was a stupid fangirl *before* she was hurt. She might not be able to return to active duty."

"Shit." 

"Oh yes." 

Kiriko tosses Shuishi a scroll later that night, a female clan member being tossed a second. Both are opened and barrels of supplies from the scrolls inside for his blacksmith building and the soap, cosmetics, and lotion making buildings being put away.

"Who else did you deliver to?" her father asks as the supplies for the main building are put away.

"Ichiruko's and the working women." Kiriko yawns. "I'll deliver to the other clans tomorrow and the rest of the stores the day after that. Are we officially hiring Naruto?"

"I was thinking about it. His female teammate is on medical leave for another six weeks and the medics don't know if she can return or not. Sasuke is on punishment for another *six* months and might not be allowed to continue too. Kakashi is being grilled over the coals for not teaching the other two and kissing that little fool's ass."

"Why? Everybody else praised the little fool." One of the women snorts. "I remember his parents. I would just as soon have killed them as look at them. His whole family was insufferable assholes."

"Too many people kissing their asses and nobody kicking them." Kiriko's father sighs. The others nod. "One of the reasons our clan was seen as failures, we have no special gifts."

"No, we work for everything we do. But that's not good enough for a lot of clans. Fuck, half the civilians in the academy the last few years were only there hoping to catch Uchiha's eye. That twit Haruno case in point."

The others in her clan nod. Once a week they get together and talk about things going on in the village. People gossip around ordinary civilians like they wouldn't shinobi and if somebody hears something they make sure that information gets back to the right people.

One of the women turns to look at Kiriko. "Did you hear anything about the ANBU?" 

"That they might be hiring us to cook for them since they don't have a cooking crew anymore? Yeah, the Hokage is trying to decide one way or another." Kiriko waves a hand. "If we get the order I'll head off again and get in more supplies." The others nod. "If I have to, I can buy the building next to ours and hire the new genin to clean the building, move the supplies, and set up the cooking areas."

Naruto looks around as he and Kakashi arrive at the Izuno farm outside town a couple days later.

"Okay, what do you need us to do."

"We've got three fields of potatoes that need to be dug up and stored in the potato cellar." Naruto looks at him and the head of the farm chuckles. "These are potato hills. Pull these up and pull the potatoes off, then check and make sure there's no more potatoes in the soil. Dig deep and to the sides. Toss the vines in the pile, we'll let them sit and in a couple years we'll put them on the ground when we plant again. The potatoes go in that building, then when we're done with these, the beans, corn, and rice are next."

"That's a lot of work."

"You're looking at three weeks of steady work."

Naruto sighs as he slips into the hot water of the baths. A cough has him opening one eye.

"The Izuno farm." Kiba says.

"Yeah, you've worked there before?"

"Yeah." Choji says, sliding into the water. "Our Dads sent us off to work there during the academy to get used to the work. It's a rite of passage for a lot of clan kids."

"Yeah, my mom went me off to work with them because Ino had a fit about getting dirty." Kiba snickers. "She got to deal with the pig pens. Her dad was not amused by the fit. What were you doing?"

"Potatoes, then the rice, corn, and beans."

"OOOOOhhhh, not hard hard work but long hours." Shika says from where he just slid into the water. "What's the latest on Sakura?"

"Can't return to the field. She's going to be training at the hospital because she's got such good chakra control. She'll be limping for the rest of her life."

"And Sasuke?" Chino asks.

"Now on permanent punishment detail and will not be returning unless he gets a serious attitude adjustment." A male voice says as Inoichi Yamanaka slides into the water. He looks at the boys who turn their attention on him. "This is not to be repeated boys. Naruto, I know you're down two teammates, the Hokage is planning on having you working with the various teams for extra training and will find you a team that needs an extra member when its time for the chunin exam. He also says if you want to work permanently with the Izunos, you have his blessing."

Kiriko sighs as she leans against the door. She looks over at Tio. "We have the ANBU job. I just got done talking to the people cooking and passing along information and copies of the meals they want, including some special ones." Their father comes in from the back room and nods. "It's not to start until the first of the year so I have time to get in the supplies needed. I stopped at the Tower, brought the building next door and one of the builders will be coming over to link the buildings after the new genin have cleaned the building top to bottom. I put in an order for more furnishings, they will arrive and be set up after the building is clean." 

"But *why* do they have such a big building?" A councilor whines in a meeting.

"Because Kiriko hires clan women and men to cook the meals she sells? They need a large building to do that work. And no," Sarutobi says as the fool woman opens her mouth. "I will not demand they stop selling the meals. It's good money for them and I agree, their clan has been looked down on for years since they don't have a kekkei genkai."

"We can stop them, we're the civilian council." She says smugly. "Can't we?" She whimpers, looking at her fellow council members.

"Their authority comes straight from the Daimyo. We have no authority over any of them." One of the others says. "They have pulled the store from Konoha before when we tried shutting them down. It did not go well for the civilian council. I am the only survivor of the council from that time. And I only stayed on the council because I was new and not part of the vote."

She blinks and howls until one of her own council silences her. Before one of the shinobi in the room can gut her.

"Grow up fool. Bother them and they will cheerfully destroy you." Tsume Inuzuka snorts. "All members of the clan train whether they attended the academy or not and can and will kill you as look as you. So mind your own business and but out of theirs."

"She'll bother them, won't she?" One of the others sighs as she runs out.

"Yep, and she'll get her ass handed to her for her stupidity. Depending on which one she annoys, she'll be killed. Or just beaten within an inch of her life."

"Okay, who's got the betting book started?" Ino's father laughs after the official meeting is over and the ninja council has settled in a room to get drunk and play cards.

"What set her off anyway?"

"Her daughter's a newbie and is one of the teams cleaning the building. She's coming home dirty and exhausted."

"Isn't that part of the job? Coming home dirty and exhausted after an assignment?" Another man snorts.

"She's seeing the glamour, not the real job. She planned on her daughter being a ninja to propel her to bigger and better things." The head of the civilian council says, having been invited along for beer and free food. "Needless to say, she failed. One of those damn fools who will go running telling her daughter she can't be a kunoichi anymore."

"If she's who I think she is, it's not that big a loss." Tsume snorts. She looks over at Shika. "Short, kinda mousy brown hair, always trying to hit her one teammate. A repeat of the Haruno girl except she's actually turning into a decent mednin after nearly losing her leg." 

Shika nods. "That is her. And it's very much a repeat of the Haruno situation. The mother trying to get on the civilian council because her beloved daughter graduated the academy."

"Troublesome."

Kiriko looks up as Hinata and a younger girl who can only be her sister walk into the store along with another girl and two boys. "This is where most of the shinobi and kunoichi in the village come for their supplies." She tells them. "In addition to the camping supplies they have packaged food ready for cooking over a fire, pots, pans, dishes, and silverware." Hinata shows them to the wall of mission ready supplies. "In addition Kiriko sells ready made meals from clans and Ichiruko." She lead them to the other wall and shows them a scroll.

"These. . .aren't the normal scrolls." Moegi says slowly.

"No, I created them. They're first in and first out, do you see the check marks along the side." Kiriko says. They nod they see them. "When an item is removed, it's marked off on the scroll so you know how many you have left. In addition the weapon scrolls have special features so you can bring out as many or as few as you need at one time."

"You created them?" Konohamaru asks.

"Yep, your grandfather saw I had a gift for sealing and got me books and in contact with a sealing master." She tells him.

"Girls, there is another scroll you will want to be familiar with when you are older and it is that time of them month." Hinata says, taking her sister and Moegi to the counter.

"I keep them under the counter." Kiriko says. "It's not a secret but most men never think about that time of the month unless they have a partner or in the case of younger ones, have sisters. Or have a female team member who grows homicidal." Moegi snickers despite herself. "Ahh speaking of homicidal female team members." A shinobi comes in and takes three scrolls, handing over the money with a sigh. "Bless you for creating these."

Hinabi looks at the items and nods in understanding. She's seen many women in the main and branch house with such things. 

"Yep." The bell over the door rings and Kiriko grins as Anko comes in. She starts grabbing scrolls from the wall of meals as Kiriko reaches under the counter and brings out three scrolls. Anko grins when she sees them and heads for the counter with her haul, going back to the walls twice more. She pulls out a handful of scrolls she drops on the counter, paying the bill and taking the special scroll. Hinata and the others look at it.

"You've never seen the larger scrolls? I use them for customers like Anko and Naruto who buy multiple scrolls at one time. Each one is marked so they know what they have when they return home."

"That wasn't the special scroll."

"No, that was Anko's dango. I keep it under the counter so nobody else buys it before she does." Kiriko chuckles. "Dad, make a bank run. Anko was just here. Tio, get the dirty dishes." 

Both men come out of the back, Tio grabbing the scrolls and going back in the back. Hinata looks at first him then the shopkeeper.

"Each meal scroll comes with dishes and silverware. You can either keep them or bring them back for a discount. We have a commercial dishwasher in the back where each will be washed again, sanitized must like the restaurants, and reused when we make more batches of food."

"How often do you make the food?'

"Monthly for the clan meals unless there's more demand. Ichiruko's makes two batches every month, one just for Naruto." Hinata snickers despite herself. She's seen how many bowls of ramen he eats. "Yep."

"Those aren't family meals." Konohamaru asks.

"No, they're individual portions for single people who don't have the time to cook, don't have the time or room to cook, or those who can't cook without poisoning themselves. I'd been thinking of bigger meals but it would be more work and more money."

"While most families do their own cooking." Moegi says. The others nod.

Kiriko reaches over and shoves the shoulder of a familiar figure. Shizune startles then relaxes when she sees who is there. She looks at her, it's not time for her usual trips.

"Special trip. I got an order for more meals. I'm getting more supplies and stocking up on some stuff we don't normally have." She yawns. "Oh come on, rain already. It's making me sleepy." Shizune chuckles as Tsunade comes over with tonton.

"Heya brat."

"Heya yourself, you old bat."

"How are things in Konoha?" Shizune asks later that night after Kiriko has done her shopping for the day and settled in a hotel.

"Quiet, now. I ended up buying the building next door and turning it into a larger place to cook since we got more orders. Some old bat on the council had a fit about that and came after me. Because her newbie genin daughter was tired, and dirty, and sore after cleaning the building."

"Ooooooh, how awful. The fool never thought that's what happens on assignments?" Shizune says sourly. A shadow has the two kunoichi stiffening. Kiriko just snorts. "You're late. . .grandfather."

"Did you *have* to tell the women I was peeping?" Jiraiya complains as he comes in the window.

"Yes, yes I did." She says, rolling her eyes. "Bad enough you write that dreck that Kakashi reads all the fucking time. I didn't need to deal with you while I'm trying to relax after being on the road for days. And it was only civilians, if you can't get away from them its time to retire and turn the spying over to one of the others in the family. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the little fool came after me with her claws out and I kicked her ass up one side and down the other. Then her daughter came after me for hurting her mommy and I beat her ass, then dragged her over my knee and tanned her hide. I'd have left that to her sensei but Mommy told her she couldn't be a kunoichi anymore because she didn't get what she wanted."

"Oh dear god." All three ninja moan. 

"Yeah." Kiriko snorts. "Needless to say, she lost her position on the Civilian Council and is now facing charges. Her daughter has had her chakra bound for that little stunt and was sent off on one of the gangs off cleaning buildings, picking up trash, sorting out trash. . ."

"I'd say this is why they shouldn't allow civilians to be shinobi but there are some good ones." Jiraiya sighs. He catches the scroll Kiriko tosses him, Tsunade and Shizune being handed their own.

"Can one of you *please* come home and teach the kunoichi? The academy got rid of all the sexual classes for the girls. The working women are teaching them now about the different types of body assignments, how to seduce men or women, and sexual areas." Shizune whimpers as Tsunade swears. "They never learned what to do if a target likes their own sex, likes both sexes, or like me is totally uninterested in either sex."

Jiraiya moans. The two females swear. "Yeah, the academy is still recovering from all the dumbing down the former teachers did to keep Naruto from graduating. Not to mention kissing the ass of the last Uchiha, fucking bastard." They look at her. "It's in the reports but short story is, he pulled some shit on their team's last assignment that nearly caused their female member to lose her leg. She's now training as a medical nin because she's got good chakra control and can't return to the field. He's on permanent punishment detail so Naruto is training with the other teams to learn what that fool Kakashi should have been teaching him and Haruno from the beginning." More swearing. "When its time for the chunin exams, the Hokage will find him a team that needs another member."

"How long are you going to be here?"

"Another couple days. I've got more supplies I need to pick up for the expanded orders, buy the booze for next year, barrels as well as bottles, do some more shopping, and hit the casinos."

A week later Kiriko slides into a window at the Tower. The ANBU stiffen until they see who it is and relax at Sarutobi's wave. She reaches into her blouse and pulls out a scroll she tosses on the desk. "Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Shizune's reports."

"Thank you my dear. Did you get everything you needed?" He waves a hand and she drops onto a chair.

"Yes, the supplies for the ANBU meals, including the special spices. The booze for next year, including the barrels and bottles. Hit the casinos and have enough money for decades, even with all our expenses." He sends off a courier and the bank president arrives at the Tower with an escort, counting the money and taking it to the bank after giving her receipts. "Asked one of them to please come back and handle the kunoichi training, they weren't too happy about hearing the working ladies are doing the training but they'd be the ones who know what to do." The ANBU in the room sigh but nod.

An hour later she leaves the Tower as quietly as she comes.

"I agree with Kakashi. She'd be one hell of a kunoichi." Cat says, dropping into the seat she vacated.

"Yes, she would have been. But like she said, she had other plans. And her clan is still looked down by too many for not having flashy jutsus and actually working for what they achieve."

Tio smiles as she walks into the shop an hour before it would have closed for the day. She tosses him a scroll and he goes next door to put everything away. The last of the new appliances had been installed and they're just waiting for the extra supplies to start working. 

"Bank?" Her father asks, coming out of the back room.

"Already deposited my winnings, the Hokage sent for the bank president with an escort." She hands him the receipts for the clan records and he nods, putting them in his clothes. "Liquor?" She hands him another scroll and he heads off.

Tio and Kiriko lock up the buildings and head off, taking to the roofs until they hit the gate and nodding at the guards who mark them going out. Taking to the trees they soon arrive home. The women in the clan hug her and usher her off to the bathing rooms after traveling all day. And there's enough clan members to cover the store for the next few days.

"I saw grandfather." She says at dinner.

"Tell me you didn't yell about him peeping." Her father sighs as the others snigger.

"Of course I did, and it was only real civilians. If he can't get away from them, it's time he stopped spying and let somebody else handle it." 

The following Monday she unlocks the door of the store, looking around and nodding in satisfaction.