Naruto sighed as he adjusted the collar of his shirt. Scowling at his reflection, he turned away from the mirror he had dressed in front of. He would have to get used to the outfit however, since he'd be wearing it for three months.

Due to some legalistic bullshit, he had to take at least one mission for Konoha per year during his training trip or he'd be considered "retired" and be forced to go through the unique hell that was reenlistment when he got back to Konoha. He'd heard horror stories about people who'd been forced to reenlist because they had taken a "break" and gone more than a year without taking so much as a D-Rank to stay current. There was a very stringent and exacting vetting process for "Adult Enlistees" that everyone who was reenlisting had to go through, and if you had one single piece of paperwork out of place or answered a single question wrong, you would have to start all over again as many times as it took until you were either given "Provisional" ninja status or gave up and resigned yourself to life as a civilian and took a civilian job somewhere.

The mission he was preparing himself for was his mission for the year. The mission that would stave off the possibility of being forced to go through the dreaded reenlistment process for another year. He just wished that he'd been given some mission other than this one which had to be Tsunade Baa-chan's idea of a joke or possibly revenge for every time he called her Baa-chan, any other mission.

He would bear it however. He had to. The alternative was unthinkable.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto decided to just get on with it and get it over with rather than dilly-dallying in the dressing-room of the clothing store he and Ero-Senin had stopped at in order to get the clothing he would need for his mission.

Unlatching the door to the dressing room, Naruko-chan plastered a smile on her carefully powdered face. By this time tomorrow, "she" would be a student at Fire Country's premier all girls boarding school where "she" was supposed to look after "her" client's daughter Hazuki Kimiko and make sure nothing happened to her until her wedding at the end of the school year.

Looking at the smiling, beautifully made-up girl in a school uniform that exited the dressing room of the clothing store that dealt exclusively in uniforms which was located in the shopping district of Fire Country's capital city, one would be hard pressed to believe that she was one Uzumaki Naruto, or even that she had originally been male.

"Hold still a sec Naru- Naruko, I need to get a picture for your I.D." Jiraiya said as "she" made her way into the store proper, wending her way through the racks of uniforms that belonged to the various private schools that were located in and around the Fire Country capital.

Based on the lecherous look on the man's face, that wasn't all he was trying to get a picture for. There were times when Naruto had absolutely no idea as to why he put up with the pervert.

In a rather well-appointed office that was nestled in a beautifully appointed home in one of the slightly less fashionable areas of one of the Fire Country capital's wealthiest districts, a minor nobleman sat at his desk perusing the missive that had just arrived. Konoha had answered his request, and the ninja he'd hired would be arriving soon. That ninja wouldn't be the only ninja taking on this mission however, nor the best. They'd just be the more obvious, and therefore the one his enemies would be working to get around without realizing there was a better and stronger opponent waiting in the wings. A much stronger opponent who would make short work of his enemies who would see him die of disgrace if they could.

With Konoha being a bit weak at the moment due to the invasion that had taken place during the Chunin Exams a year ago, he had decided to hedge his bets. His daughter's marriage to a member, albeit a somewhat distant member, of the Daimyo's family was the best deal he had ever made, and nothing could be allowed to go wrong with it, especially considering the face he would lose and everything he would lose with it if the marriage fell through. That's why he'd hired a member of an organization that hired out S-class ninjas at bargain basement prices as an insurance policy.

Minutes earlier, right before he'd received notice from Konoha, he'd received word that his ringer would be arriving shortly.

In an inn near the border of Fire Country, Deidara scowled into the mirror one last time as he finished fixing his hair into something approximating the style it would be kept in for the next three months. Seeing as his hair was still in that in-between stage it tended to be in when he was in the process of growing it out again, it wouldn't be all that petty, but it would be passable. After smashing the mirror, he went into the other room and modeled his partner Sasori's latest creation, a creation that wasn't made out of a dead body for once, glad that it was just the two of them. It was bad enough that he was the youngest and newest recruit in the Akatsuki and was therefore stuck with the sucky tasks as some sort of hazing ritual, but he wouldn't be able to live it down if the others could see him now.

The only reason he commanded any respect at all in the Akatsuki was because he had the bodies to prove that he was S-Class like the rest of them to his name, if only just. That modicum of respect would all fly out the window if they started mentally associating "little Deidara" with the skirt he was currently being forced to wear due to the strictures of his assignment. His assignment which was so far beneath his dignity it wasn't even funny, but that he was forced to do if he didn't want the Akatsuki out for his blood along with every Hunter-nin and Bounty Hunter he came across.

It wasn't like he had his own village full of twisted experiments and missing-nin to protect him...

Coming out of his musings on how and why he had to do this mission despite how much it would suck and what would happen to his reputation if he were seen like this, he noticed the considering movements Sasori was making as the puppet-bodied puppet master critically examined his latest creation. A creation that was about as much beneath Sasori's considerable skills as it was Deidara's dignity.

"You don't need to make any more alterations, it looks fine un." Deidara said as he spun on the spot, displaying his new uniform which looked just like dozens upon dozens of other uniforms belonging to the students of a particular school, but had been subtly tailored to give him a more feminine appearance, especially when the rest of his disguise was put in place.

Two days from now, he would be enrolled in Fire Country's premier boarding school for girls, where he would be protecting one Hazuki Kimiko aged 16 until it was time for her wedding. Apparently, someone had threatened to pop her cherry or something along those lines, and her dad needed it intact for the big day.

"The skirt should be shortened another half inch." Sasori said after a few minutes of deliberation.

Screaming in frustration since they'd been at this for days and Sasori always found some new alteration that needed to be made, Deidara tore off the uniform and went to get his clay pouch. A half inch? A half inch? He'd show Sasori-danna a half inch!

Edited 4/28/13

Edited 12/31/15