“Hey, come back here!” the man yelled.

The little brunette only turned back to shoot the man a grin, before continuing on with his run. The man would have given chase, if doing so would not have involved leaving his apple stand alone on the side of the street. Apples were expensive in the Land of Earth, due to the dry land being unable to support a variety of plant growth. They could easily be stolen should he even take his eyes off of them for a single second, what with him being in a ninja village and all that. Then again, he doubted people would want his appleas now. They were all painted orange and covered with poop. But he could save them. Hopefully.

Watching from opposite the street was a pink-haired man, who had undertaken the mission to catch the prankster wrecking havoc in the town. Hiroto looked left and right, trying to find the perpetrator of the cause, not knowing that said perpetrator had just escaped from right under his nose. Instead, Hiroto's eyes had been glued to the apple in his hand when the prank had been committed, so he did not catch the boy doing it and had lost the target of his mission in the process. Not that he was going to eat the apple. Ten seconds later, he had returned it to the apple grocer, knowing he couldn't afford them.

“Oh, what happened here?” Hiroto asked, seeing the cart in poor condition.

“The boy! The brat was back! You should've been catching him!”

“Boy? I didn't see no boy,” Hiroto said, tilting his head. “Well, if it's anything I'll go take a look around the neighbourhood. See ya, old man.”

With that, Hiroto left the stand and continued down the street. The moment he turned a corner, his eyes noticed a small disfigurement in the pavement and realised it was probably a camouflage. For a trap, most likely. The way it was camouflaged told him it was done by either a Genin fresh out of the Academy, or by an Academy student. Either way, it didn't matter. It was a trap, and while it was set up quite poorly, a trap was a trap nonetheless.

Oh well. Guess he would trigger the trap, then. It was clearly laid out for him, since there was no one else on the street. The street he had turned into was a relatively empty one, but he figured a boy would prefer to hide here, or at least make his headquarters somewhere there weren't many witnesses to exploit his position. The perfect place... Of course, Hiroto had never expected the place to be so big, what with it spanning several dozen blocks, so he was glad he found the trap.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a small figure on the roof of a building. He was particularly well hidden, and it was only because of the slight giggle that Hiroto had even managed to pinpoint the boy's location. The small shadow in the sunlight was gone quickly, however, as if the boy knew he was onto him and was trying as hard as he could to keep his position secret.

Hiroto deliberately stepped on where the trap would be placed, and his foot sunk into the ground. He realised it was some sort of sticky goo, having difficulty pulling his leg out. A small snap sounded above him, and Hiroto looked up just in time to spot a bucket of green paint dropping down onto him.

Sighing, he made a hand seal and vanished into thin air with a Substitution Jutsu...

… Reappearing behind the boy on the roof of the aforementioned building.

“So, kid, is there a reason why you were trying to prank me?” Hiroto asked. “Wait, you're the kid who's been pranking all those people, aren't you?”

“No!” he denied.

Hiroto gave him a look, before shrugging and turning around, deciding to look for the prankster from the rooftops. He heard a small shuffle behind him and turned around to see the boy throwing a water balloon at his face. Hiroto's fingers quickly intertwined again, and he disappeared from view using the Body Flicker Jutsu, appearing behind the boy and grabbing him by the collar.

With a grin, Hiroto said, “So it is you! Finally found ya'. People are getting real mad about all those pranks you pulled. Let's get you back.”

Word Count: 760

Chakra 135/150: