The Mission

Naruto was running through the village towards the Hokage's office, ever since the destruction of Konoha by Suna and Oto, team seven was always assigned to fetch and run missions. The one mission that was a highlight was when Naruto and Jiraiya were sent to fetch Tsunade, ever since he returned with Tsunade he has only been on delivery missions.

But not today, today was going to be different; even if he had to storm into Tsunade's office and demand a more challenging mission!

When Naruto and the rest of team seven assembled inside the Hokage's office Tsunade took a breath in and was about to speak, but was interrupted "come on grandma Tsunade, why don't you ever give us challenging missions I thought I proved how strong I was when I helped defeat Orochimaru and…"

By this point Tsunade's attitude was quickly deteriorating, just as Naruto was about to finish Tsunade yelled "Will you shut up you annoying brat I wasn't going to give you anything like that, now if you keep this behavior up I'll have you chasing dogs and cats for the rest of your shinobi career!"

Naruto thought about it for a minute then shuddered deeply before he quieted down. Tsunade smiled, as she turned her chair around to look out the window said, "Now listen up everyone!" As she turned around to face them "your mission is to escort a high paying client named Daisuke to the border between the land of fire and the land of rain."

"Now let me make this clear, there is no room for any errors in this mission; Daisuke is a high valued client, your mission objective starts here in the land of fire and ends at the border of the land of River," Tsunade said as she turned back around.

Kakashi asked, "What makes Daisuke a VIP if we knew we could better plan for what we might be up against."

"Daisuke became the boss of several gold mining operations, throughout the elemental nations after the third ninja war," Tsunade replied as she closed her eyes and went into thought.

Tsunade opened her eyes and commanded "Now you are all to protect him from bandit attacks, or assassination attempts on his life. Now go you will find him waiting at the north gate."

They all made it to the north gate within five minutes to see a man with short dark hair, and a goatee; who was leaning against the wall. When they got there the man said, "Are you the ones assigned to protect me?" Kakashi simply nodded before Daisuke simply said, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance everyone, I am Daisuke; I am optimistic you will do well as my bodyguards."

After that they immediately headed out towards the land of rain; two hours into the trip Sakura asked,

" While we were being briefed on our mission lady Tsunade said we would need to protect you from any assassination attempts on your life, but who would want to assassinate you just for owning a few goldmines?"

Daisuke looked at Sakura and replied, "It is not just because I own several gold mines, that in of itself isn't enough to make me want to higher shinobi as guards;I recently had to cut several business partners out of the operation, most of them were getting far too greedy; they were thinking of ways to increase the profits and cut the payment that our workers from other nations receive."

Daisuke started walking forward he looked back and said in a solemn voice, "Also, it is not just a small amount of gold mines, in each of the five great nations I own at least two gold mines; not to mention they were spoils of war, which makes me a high valued target for kidnapping or assassination."

*Two days later, near the border*

It was early morning, and Sasuke was standing on top of a tree; he was overlooking a large gorge if his expression indicated anything it was that he was bored.

"Its length stretches further than my eye can see, and the length of the gorge seems to be fifty yards." He said to everyone over the intercom, seconds later there was a response from Kakashi, "Roger, do you see if there is any way we can make it across the gorge?"

"There is a single bridge in the middle of the gorge, There is no point in trying to carry him down the gorge; at the bottom, there is a river; its current is too strong for us to walk across."

Naruto was standing at the base of the tree, his focus was aimed towards the camp, he thought to himself "Ugh, why did grandma Tsunade lie about the difficulty of this mission; I thought it was a C class." Naruto looked at Kakashi and yelled,

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi glanced away from his book for a moment to look at Naruto "Hmm, what is it Naruto?" Kakashi replied lazily.

"When are we going to be over with this mission it has been too easy the entire trip," Naruto said with a voice that held frustration.

Daisuke was walking behind Kakashi and said, "Well once we make it to the middle of the bridge your job is officially over and we should come across the Ninja from river country who will be able to escort me the rest of the way."

Sakura walked over to Naruto, her attitude and the tone of her voice showed how irritated she was "Naruto for the hundredth time, we will make it to the bridge by the end of today." Naruto was about to reply but Sakura cut him off "

Honestly, why are you always so impatient, you should be more like Sasuke; calm, cool, and collected. "

Naruto looked over at Sasuke, but he only grunted at Naruto's stares and continued on with his day; on the outside, it would seem like he didn't care either way how the mission was going; but on the inside, he was saying

"Naruto does have a point; this mission is way too boring and uneventful for being ranked at C class."

The group continued their trek for two hours, they were going along the main road, when the group was half a mile away from the bridge. Night time was starting to set in leaving the surrounding foliage-shrouded in shadows, the bridge and the road, however, were being illuminated by the moonlight.

Kakashi raised his hand "We stop here." Was all Kakashi said before he started moving off the trail into the forest.

Naruto openly showed his annoyance "Sensei why are we taking a detour; we are almost at our destination!" Naruto growled as he followed behind Sasuke. When they were t the edge of the forest staring at the bridge Kakashi stopped abruptly "Alright we will rest here for now, and look for any signs of an ambush."

Naruto had almost bumped into Sasuke when that happened he said, "Watch where you're going Sasuke."

Sasuke only grunted and said, "Whatever loser, just make sure you don't get us killed with that carelessness."

Sakura was silently observing their fight "Naruto would you stop fighting with Sasuke you started the whole thing."

Naruto was about to say something but was interrupted when Kakashi abruptly said, "Alright everyone this is the plan."

They all stared intently at him as he begun "Now the four of you are going to stay hidden in the forest; Naruto I need you to make two shadow clones and transform them into Daisuke and me." He took a moment to make sure Naruto was listening.

when Naruto nodded his head Kakashi said, "These two clones are going to be the ones performing the handoff; if the rain ninja turns out to be disguised assassins and kill the clones we will know who the enemies are, and Daisuke will be able to stay out of harm's way."

Kakashi burrowed into the grounds as Naruto's shadow clones transformed, the clones moved out of the underbrush and towards the bridge. Naruto and the others were observing intently, as the clones and rain ninja slowly made their way to each other; until both groups finally met up in the middle of the bridge

One of the ninjas broke the silence "Daisuke I presume?" Daisuke's clone stepped forward his face filled with delight "I am" Daisuke replied. Well, this is where we part ways, maybe the trip into river country will be as easy as it was here. I'll be at my destination in no time and can continue the business" Daisuke said eagerly, as he followed behind the shinobi to the other side of the bridge.

As Daisuke was walking away, Sasuke and Naruto were simultaneously thinking "This entire mission was boring; I wish there would have been at least one attempt on his life I would have gotten to fight something." The outcome of this mission clearly annoyed the two of them.

Just as the Kakashi clone was about to turn around it was stabbed and dispelled. Suddenly someone standing right where the clone was. Daisuke suddenly turned around in shock and fear; the two ninjas in front of him didn't seem surprised, one turned around and said, "Took you long enough." Before he ran up to Daisuke and promptly slammed the back of his kunai into Daisuke's head. Daisuke fell to the ground limp as he hit the ground he dispelled in a puff of smoke. The assassins at first a little shocked from the decoy recovered and headed closer towards Naruto and the group.

Naruto was watching them come closer 'Alright time to test how far I have come with my training!" he said joyfully, Sakura punched his head

"you idiot our goal isn't to engage these ninjas in combat it is to draw them away" She growled, as she started dragging Naruto the other way.

As she was doing so "Running away isn't an option today." Kakashi said as he was jumping out from the earth. Everyone gave Kakashi a puzzled look before he said, "I was trying to get information on who our enemies were but they have a sensory ninja."

"Well, then what's the plan?" Naruto asked as he was staring at the ninja enter the forest. Kakashi looked at Naruto before he pointed to the last ninja to enter the forest. "We need to pick them off one at a time, otherwise the four of you will not have very good survival chances."

"Okay everyone I need you to head north along the forest line when you draw the attention of an assailant try to lure them away and I'll take care of the rest."

Kakashi jumped into the trees and hid his presence. Moments later a ninja jumped in the middle of them and yelled "Earth Style Seismic Shock." The earth started rumbling for a second before it started to split open, Naruto nearly fell in but was caught by Sasuke. Just as he was doing the hand seals for another Jutsu, Kakashi jumped down and stabbed him in the neck. Though Kakashi got the kill the man managed to get off a Jutsu that revealed their location.

Kakashi looked at the dead ninja "Keep moving north!" he commanded, as he jumped back into the trees.

The group continued north, while on route Kakashi had to dispatch two more assailants; after they came across the second one Kakashi was locked into a battle with him as the group had to continue forward. As they went onwards the mountain edge started to slowly decline until they were ground level with the ravine. The group was panting a bit Sasuke looked around "We can only stay here for a minute to rest." Sasuke said. Just as they were about to move out enemy ninja surrounded them. The ninjas began shifting their positions readying themselves to kill team seven if they showed any signs of weakness or openings, as Sasuke Naruto and Sakura were trying to discern which one would strike first. one of the ninjas in the front noticed a blind spot she pulled out several shurikens from a pouch on her left side and threw them towards Daisuke.

Kakashi was finally able to catch up to the group to notice the attack aimed at Daisuke and jumped forward blocking the shuriken with a mud wall, while the rest of the squad adjusted their positions around Daisuke to cover most of their blind spots.

Within moments of assuming defensive positions they were surrounded, one of the ninjas stepped forward and said, "Hand over Daisuke and we will allow you to leave with your lives." Naruto was still excited that the mission wouldn't end without an exciting fight, Naruto yelled, "As if we would hand him over to a bunch of petty thieves and murderers like you!"

Kakashi gave a glance back to Daisuke and said, "When you have a chance to slip out run northeast for two miles and you will reach a border patrols camp when you do send assistance." Daisuke nodded, he decided he would stay put for now, as he was in the safest place currently.

The Rain ninja began to slowly push the group close to the cliff edge Kakashi decided to act and gain some fighting room. He said, "Earth Style Rockslide Jutsu." Large earth spikes started shooting out of the ground, all the enemy ninja were forced to jump back.

Team seven could advance forward and avert being pushed off the cliff. Two ninjas were in front of Kakashi while one member moved to block Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's escape route.

The ninja who was directly in front of Kakashi grinned "I was hoping you all would have more fight in you." He said before shifting his position so that his legs were slightly bent and a kunai in his right hand readied, he yelled, "Kill them all, we'll handle the jonin you three should be able to handle some genin."

The ninja who was fighting Kakashi were both wielding kunai, the one in front just dropped to the ground as a giant fireball flew past him aimed towards the group. Kakashi pulled his headband off his eye to reveal his Sharingan, as the fireball was nearing closer he completed the hand seals and said, "Water style, water wall Jutsu." Water from the ravine below was pulled up in a giant sheet of water which fell to the ground soon after the fireball hit it, causing the mist to spread across the ravine. The assassin jumped towards Kakashi Swinging his kunai in an upward arc, aimed at slicing his jugular, Kakashi blocked the attack with his kunai and attempted to kick him in the face. The ninja blocked his kick and tried to punch Kakashi's face with his free hand Kakashi noticing his attack coming blocked with the other hand. The ninja jumped back and growled, "Kakashi the copy-cat Ninja, I thought I recognized you from somewhere." Seconds later a man began doing hand seals Kakashi noticed this and copied his movements just as the ninja finished his hand seals and shot a fireball at team seven Kakashi fired his own fireball, the two fireballs collided causing an explosion which blew all the mist away and caused smoke to rise off the bridge for a few minutes. The two ninja took the time to conceal themselves inside the smoke, seconds later the two jumped out of the smoke and attempted to catch him off guard, one went for his left aiming to stab Kakashi in the heart while the other went for his right side trying to stab him in the floater's rib.

They both made contact and hit Kakashi at the intended spot, they both jumped back and smiled as Kakashi fell to the floor, their smiles were short-lived as Kakashi exploded into smoke and turned into a log, Kakashi instantly appeared behind the leader and attempted to cut his throat before he could the other man shouted, "Fire style, Phoenix flower Jutsu." The fireballs were headed towards Daisuke, Kakashi stopped his assault and used the body flicker in front of Daisuke and said, "Earth style, Earth wall Jutsu!" The earth wall did its job of holding against the fireballs but would have been destroyed had the fireballs been more powerful.

Sasuke was having to deal with a large man who wielded a staff, Sasuke was unable to get anywhere close to the man, as he was doing everything in his power to make sure Sasuke didn't get close enough to land a blow. They were exchanging blows constantly trying to get through the other's defenses. Sasuke ducked under a strike meant for his neck and fired off a Fireball that would have nailed him on target if it wasn't for him using a substitution. The man attempted to hit Sasuke in the back of the head, but Sasuke ducked under it, Sasuke noticing the man was closer than he normally was attempted to kick the man in the stomach but the man used his staff to propel himself backward's before Sasuke could land his blow. The ninja pulled out three bombs and threw them towards Sasuke, Sasuke was about to dodge them but they began rolling past him towards Daisuke. Sasuke noticed this and jumped back kicking several of them off into the river, the one that didn't get kicked away suddenly exploded in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke being unable to see or hear his opponent at this point closed his eyes and began focusing for any disturbance that he could hear.

All was quiet except for the battles that were raging on with his teammates he could hear the man moving past him towards Daisuke "Shit!" Was all Sasuke thought as he moved towards Daisuke before he could the man turned around and hit Sasuke in the stomach with his staff launching him further away. He ran towards Sasuke aiming to hit him in the head, he had almost hit his mark until Sasuke blocked the staff with his two arms. The man was about to kick him but another Sasuke appeared behind him, the man ignored it at first until that Sasuke stabbed him in the arm causing him to groan in pain. The ninja turned around to dispatch the clone but when he did he found it was nowhere to be found, nor was his arm wounded anymore. He turned around and yelled "Shit!" as he was kicked in the face and lost grip of his staff, Sasuke picked up the staff and threw it off the ledge of the bridge and pulled out a kunai, the ninja did the same and they began a battle of close quarters combat.

Sakura was fighting a woman who used a katana, the two of them were standing on the river facing each other. Sakura was looking around trying to find anything she could use to win the fight, Sakura attempted to use a genjutsu on the woman, Sakura had a slight smile on her face as it seemed like the woman was affected by the genjutsu. Sakura ran up to her and kicked her head attempting to knock her into the water, just as she made contact, her body turned into a puddle of water. "Nice try but you're going to have to do better than that!" She exclaimed, just before she rushed towards Sakura kicking her backward's. Sakura was knocked onto her back several feet away she tried to get up only to realize the woman was behind her and about to cut her in half.

Sakura attempted to move out of the way but the woman brought her sword down cutting Sakura's head off, just as Sakura's head hit the floor it exploded in a cloud of smoke and turned into the remains of a log. Sakura came up behind her and punched her in the back with her right hand while bringing her left around to stab her in the back. The woman was unable to block both attacks or get away in time so she settled for taking the punch, she was sent three feet forwards before flipping back up and throwing shuriken at Sakura, Sakura leaped out of the way just to find the woman below her and ready to skewer her with the katana. The ninja had a triumphant smile as the sword pierced Sakura's Abdomen, her smile was short lived as Sakura substituted for another log, the woman's sword was lodged in the log as Sakura came from above ready to stab her through the skull. The woman rolled out of the way and kicked Sakura in the chest launching her onto her back. "If all you can do is substitute then this fight has already been settled, little girl." The ninja said with a confident smile. Sakura knew she could not win against this woman with just Taijutsu alone and her skills in ninjutsu were not that great either. She needed to keep her busy and hope that someone would finish their opponent off and assist her. She summoned several clones and tried to get behind her opponent and kill her. The woman knew she could not just attack each clone individually, next thing Sakura knew was the ninja roared out "Fire Style, Fire Ball Jutsu." The flame engulfed all the clones and knocking Sakura back causing burns to show up across her body. Sakura groaned from the pain and stood up, she began looking around for anything she could use to give her the advantage. The ninja didn't allow her to have a moment longer of rest as she continued the assault.

Naruto had gotten the worst matchup out of everyone, the woman he was fighting used a lot of ninjutsu that was supported by her insanely high chakra reserves, and her skill with taijutsu was better than Rock lee's. Naruto weaved the seals for shadow clone Jutsu, just as his clones were summoned the woman yelled, "Oh no you don't water style water whip Jutsu." Just as the clones began rushing her she flung the whip around lashing all the clones destroying several on contact but throwing the rest of them off into the water. Naruto yelled "Shadow clone Jutsu again throwing more of them after her. She used her whip to do the same thin over again "Feel like giving up yet… Boy?" she taunted as the last of Naruto's clones were destroyed. "If all they teach you at the academy is shadow clones then you can't hope to beat me within a thousand years, maybe if you apologize now I'll let you live as my pet." She taunted. Naruto gritted his teeth and yelled, "No way am I giving up to you, that goes against my Ninja way to never give up!" Naruto rushed at her, he attempted to throw a kick at her which she easily blocked with her arms, she did a backflip and threw a kunai at his chest which he leaned backwards to dodge by the time he got back up she was In front of him again and landed a punch to his stomach shoving him to the ground she was about to land a punch on his jaw when Naruto launched his legs up kicking her in the chin launching her backwards the ninja caught herself on her hands and did a back flip landing into a crouched position staring at Naruto with anger "Brat you are going to pay for that." She said as the killing intent was leaking out of her.

Naruto was not affected by this at all instead he only readied himself, seconds later Naruto yelled "Shadow clone Jutsu." When he was finished with the Jutsu fifty clones appeared and began charging at the woman, after a few seconds she smirked and said, "You never learn do you boy?" she started weaving the hand signs and yelled "Fire style Fire Bombardment Jutsu." Suddenly she started spitting large fireballs out of her mouth, at first it would seem like a normal fireball Jutsu but inspecting it closer would reveal that it looked more solid than a normal fireball. When the fireballs hit the ground, they exploded into a fiery mass that destroyed all the clones in her path. She looked down onto the ground where Naruto was standing he was coughing violently and laughing. "What's so funny has the damage started to affect your cognitive function?" She snarled. Naruto slowly stood up and said, "Remember this day as the time I beat you." Not a moment later and clones began to jump out from the river, they caught her off guard and managed to hold her down, seconds later a yell was heard as a Naruto holding a Rasengan was coming closer to the ninja just as the clone made contact he yelled "Rasengan." The orb hit her center of mass launching her across the river,

The ninja who was using Ninjutsu on Kakashi got distracted for a second as his teammate came flying past him overhead. The distraction was enough to cause him to lose focus of Kakashi who threw a shuriken at him, he was hit in the throat by the shuriken and soon collapsed from lack of oxygen and blood loss. The other one he was fighting was looking at the situation at hand, they were now outnumbered by one and they were slowly losing ground. He gritted his teeth his teeth in frustration and said, "This is pathetic we are losing to one jonin and a bunch of genins," just as he said that he had to block a kick from Kakashi which knocked him back a foot before he flipped backwards and threw shuriken at Kakashi hoping to hit him, but to no avail. Kakashi rushed forward trying to slice his chest but the man blocked it with his own Kunai, they locked eyes for a second which was all Kakashi needed before he stuck him under a genjutsu the man fell to the floor and began twitching every few seconds.

Sasuke was handling his opponent expertly, he noticed the man was barely using any ninjutsu or genjutsu after he lost his staff he was skilled in taijutsu but Sasuke's was better and more refined. The man knew he didn't stand a chance against Sasuke who was outclassing him in taijutsu he began thinking to himself "Shit this kid is good at taijutsu and everyone else seems to be losing their fights, I need to figure a way to escape this cluster fuck." The man threw down some smoke bombs which covered half the bridge. He began making his way to the mountain face on rain country's side where he would climb up and try to escape. Just as he began to move up the mountain, he found that his body was unable to move it was trapped in ninja wire. The smoke began to clear, when it did he saw that Sasuke was holding a long piece of ninja wire that was wrapped around him and one of the rocks hanging overhead. He knew he was beaten but he would be damned if he got captured, the man tried to fight out of the wire but found himself unable to. Sasuke smirked at him "Can't escape, now can you?" he said as he walked over and hit him in the back of the head.

Sakura was barely holding up the ninja was outclassing her, she could not fight the woman in taijutsu she was no match for her swift strikes. Just as she was rushing forward she put out a simple genjutsu that managed to make her stop for several seconds before she released it, after she did she noticed Sakura wasn't in front or behind him. She looked up but saw nothing, the next thing she knew a kunai was lodged into her thigh. She tried to swipe at Sakura with her kunai but Sakura jumped back before she could hit her, the ninja groaned from the pain before attempting to stand up. When she stood fully upright she was hit with a punch to the abdomen that sent her onto her back.

The last assassin looked around her, all her team was either dead or incapacitated. She looked around and noticed Sakura dropped her guard for a second. She acted on it and slipped behind Sakura holding a knife to her throat.

She yelled, "Nobody move or the girl dies!" Everyone stopped and stared at her, the ninja started moving towards the path that led to the bridge. The rest of team seven followed her as she made her way up the dirt path.

Finally, the woman stopped when she was on the bridge, she looked at Kakashi "Bring me Daisuke and you can have your genin back." She growled, as Kakashi stared into the fearful eyes of Sakura, he sighed for a moment before saying, "Naruto go get Daisuke from the border patrol camp." Naruto was about to interject but Kakashi yelled "Now!" Naruto was turning around, as he did Sakura managed to squeeze the woman's injured thigh causing her to drop the knife and release her hold on Sakura enough for her to escape her grasps.

The three genin and one Jonin stood before the woman who was holding Sakura hostage. she was the only one conscious currently and they needed answers for why they were attacked. The ninja, "Fucking hell we had one job one bloody job, and that was to kill the mark yet we lost to a bunch of genins." She looked at all of them and laughed manically before she set her hands up in a tiger seal. Everyone went wide eyed when explosions started going off all over the bridge, Kakashi yelled at everybody to get off the bridge, they all began running towards Konoha's side of the bridge. Naruto was running with all his might, he knew he was durable and did not die as easy as other people, but he did not want to chance it with explosions. He was just about to make it off the bridge when he noticed that Sakura was falling behind, the injuries she had sustained from the previous fights had caught up to her. He ran back towards her and grabbed her hand, he was pulling her along trying to go as fast as he could. He realized the explosions were coming closer, in a final effort to save her; Naruto threw Sakura towards Kakashi who caught her in his arms. Naruto began running as fast as he could; but just as he was ten feet away from getting off the bridge an explosion happened just below him, engulfing him in flames and launching him off the bridge. The last thing Naruto did as he plummeted down was smile at his last good deed.

Everyone was shocked by what had just happened Sakura screamed out "Naruto!" Sakura's scream fell on deaf ears, she began crying. Kakashi after watching Naruto get blown up was bombarded with memories of the past and how Obito had sacrificed his life as well. Kakashi looked around before he said "Summoning Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, his hounds appeared. Sasuke's was left stunned at his friend and rival being blown up.

This is my first fan fiction, leave a review on how I did.