Shizune and Mikoto were having the time of their lives, as were a whole bunch of other women, as they had a couple of muscular men dancing for their pleasure. Shizune and Mikoto were both sipping on wine as the girls around them cheered and whistled.

"I can't believe that this is happening," Shizune mumbled with a blush

"I haven't had this much fun since my bachelorette party," Mikoto said, drinking more wine. She smiled at the memory but was soon brought out of her thoughts when someone whistled behind her and shouted.

"HELL YEAH! TAKE OFF THE JOCKSTRAP!" a woman screamed, causing the others to do the same. Mikoto turned around to look at the woman. She was short... like 4'7" short. She had long, dark-red hair, and black eyes. But what really caught Mikoto's attention were her teeth. They were sharp and almost looked like sharks' teeth.

"COME ON! GIVE US A SHOW!" the woman screamed once more as she jugged down a can of beer. Both Mikoto and Shizune looked at her as she was continuing to cheer the men on. When the woman was done, she crushed her can and tossed it into the nearest garbage can.

"She seems a bit too excited, don't you think?" Shizune asked, whispering into Mikoto's ear.

"I think so," Mikoto replied as the two continued to stare at her. It took only a couple of seconds before the red-haired woman stopped cheering and look at them.

"May I help you?" she asked, glaring at them.

"N-No, not at all! Y-You just seem a bit excited is all." Shizune stuttered, raising her hands with a nervous smile.

"You bet I'm excited! First time I've seen something like this in my life!" the woman smirked, opening another beer can and taking a few swigs out of it. She then extended her hand with a small drop of beer on the corner of her mouth. "The name's Ameyuri Ringo, but call me Ringo!"

It was at that moment Shizune was about to have a stroke. She had only heard that name once before in the Bingo Books.

'A-Ameyuri Ringo. S-Rank Shinobi of Kirigakure. One of the Seven Ninja Swordsman! HERE!' Shizune shouted in her head. She was sweating bullets, but not from the hot springs, but from the person who was sitting right next to her. Before Shizune could say a thing, though, Mikoto spoke up first.

"It's nice to meet you, Ringo, my name is Mikoto and this is Shizune," Mikoto said, extending her hand to shake Ringo's.

"Well, Mikoto, Shizune, what brings you two here?" Ringo leaned up against the wall of the hot spring, crossing her arms after she jugged another beer.

"We're refugees," Mikoto stated calmly

It wasn't a lie, nor was it the truth. In every sense of the word, they were refugees at this point, seeking asylum for whatever reason they could come up with. It also caused Ringo to huff in annoyance.

"Of course... whatever you do, don't go to Kiri. Things are bad over there." Ringo said in a somber tone.

Mikoto and Shizune nodded along in agreement. They've heard of the civil war going on in Kiri, even the slaughter of people with bloodlines. It would be safe to say that going East would be a bad idea, especially for Mikoto and Sasuke.

Soon after this conversation had finished, Ringo groaned and stood up, revealing herself to be naked without a care in the world.

"Well, my good mood is gone. I'm going to see if Zabuza and his little femboy are done." Ringo stepped out of the hot spring, grabbed her towel from off the floor, wrapped it around herself, and walked out.

Soon after, Shizune and Mikoto both got out, putting on kimonos.

Shizune put on a purple kimono with butterflies on it, complete with a yellow obi.

Mikoto, meanwhile, put on a light-purple kimono with a light-blue obi.

They stepped out into the waiting area where they saw Garou, Naruto, and Sasuke playing cards, all the while Ringo is having a conversation with Zabuza.

Naruto was dressed in a light-blue kimono, Sasuke in a dark-blue one, and Garou only had a haori on with his regular clothes.

They stepped out into the waiting area where they saw Garou, Naruto, and Sasuke playing cards, all the while Ringo is having a conversation with Zabuza.

Naruto was dressed in a light-blue kimono, Sasuke in a dark-blue one, and Garou only had a haori on with his regular clothes.

"So, how was the water, boys?" Mikoto asked with a smile as she and Shizune approached them.

"It was fine, mom," Sasuke replied, still looking at his cards. "Do you have any twos?" he looked at Naruto, who sighed and handed him 2 of Diamonds.

"That's good to hear, now is there anything you boys would like to do? I'm sure I've got some spare cash." Mikoto said, grabbing her purse and opening it. She looked inside to see just enough money for maybe some more snacks and a few games.

"Really? Anything?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, anything," Mikoto said, turning her head and motioning for Shizune to pull out her purse.

"I-I'll pitch in, let's see what I have." Shizune pulled out her purse... and a small moth flew out of it. It was empty, making Shizune sweat-drop. "Y-yeah, I think I'm just gonna let you cover it, Mikoto."

As they were trying to find out how much cash they had, Ringo walked up behind Shizune and tapped her shoulder. Shizune turned around to see the smaller woman holding up her own purse.

"Here, take it," Ringo stated.

"W-What?"

"Take it. It's just money." Ringo repeated, handing Shizune her purse. The former medical-nin took the purse and opened it, surprised to see the amount of money inside it.

"B-But I can't! This is yours!" Shizune stuttered, trying to give Ringo her money back.

"Eh, I can always get more. You guys need it more than me," Ringo replied, pushing Shizune's hands back. "Now if you excuse me, my boyfriend and I have somewhere to be."

Zabuza shivered as Ringo walked back to him and grabbed his hand. He actually looked scared, holding hands with a woman that was a quarter shorter than him.

Shizune, unable to express her gratitude in any other way, bowed with a smile on her face.

"THANK YOU, MA'AM!" She shouted as Ringo waved it off.

"Now that we have some money, how about we go play a few games?" Mikoto said, turning to the boys, who all whooped, throwing their hands into the air in excitement.

:

Minato reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of aspirin, poured two 2 tables into his palm, and ate them. He then downed an entire bottle of water before slamming his face into his desk.

"Okay, what was that about?" Jiraiya asked, looking at everyone else in the room.

"Sensei is just very... very tired," Kakashi stated, pulling out his orange book, "also, Lord Jiraiya, would you please sign this for me?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure," Jiraiya pulled out a pen and signed Kakashi's book, making the latter squeal like a girl.

"Stupid perverted morons. Hey!! Blonde! What about my pig? What about Tonton?! You gonna go get her?!" Tsunade shouted a bandage over her nose from last night.

"I'm more concerned that the Akatsuki managed to just waltz in here like they owned the place. Thank kami they only took Tonton and not Menma or Naruko," Minato said as he was suddenly grabbed by his hair and brought to eye level with the Slug Princess herself.

"Listen here you son of a bitch. I've only got two reasons for staying in this hole of a village and they're both gone! So you better make an effort to find either of them before I leave this place with your balls in a jar!" Tsunade threatened, but before she could say anything further, she saw the look in his eyes.

His eyes were glossed over and tired. He looked lifeless and it almost scared Tsunade. Releasing her grip on his hair, Minato sighed and cracked his neck.

"I would be scared, Lady Tsunade, but my wife has already made that threat, so I'll take my chances," Minato leaned back into his chair and looked up at the ceiling, "but why the hell would Itachi and his partner want to kidnap a pig? It doesn't make any sense!"

"Whatever the reason, Itachi's got one," Jiraiya explained, trying to feign ignorance about a possible reason.

"Uh, may I make a suggestion?" Kakashi popped in, raising his hand.

"What is it, Kakashi?" Minato asked, looking at him.

"Well, this is just me thinking out loud, but what are pigs known for?"

"Bacon, pork chops, ribs, dried pig ears," Minto said, naming off things that first came to his mind, only making Tsunade angrier with every passing second.

"Yes, those do come to mind... but I'm talking about their sense of smell. Sure, he could've kidnapped a dog from the Inuzuka's, but then he would have an entire clan going after them. So what was the next best thing?" Kakashi explained.

"A pig!" Tsunade shouted as Kakashi snapped his fingers.

"Exactly, so Itachi is going to use Tonton as a tracking pig to and here me out... to find Sasuke and Mikoto."

"My god... Kakashi you're a genius! Taking this one step further, if we follow Itachi, he'll not only lead us to Sasuke, but to Naruto and Shizune as well!" Minato said, his eyes lighting up as he got out of his chair and vanished in a yellow flash. Tsunade and Jiraiya quickly left the room as well, both of them vanishing in swirls of leaves, leaving Kakashi alone.

Kakashi sighed, pulling up a chair and pulling out his orange book.