I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 1: C-ranked Mission

Neko Unari of the Neko clan, a clan based on cats, woke up from a long nap. The Neko clan of Konoha was one of those clans in which the ninja members of the clan fought with animal familiars. The Neko clan was not particularly famous, being overwhelmed in fame by the Inuzuka and Aburame clan in the category of clans that utilized animals. Unari sighed and looked at her clock. Two o'clock in the afternoon. Stretching her daily stretch, Unari extended her legs, performing a complete split. Not wincing one bit, Unari hopped back up and continued to stretch her other muscles, such as her hamstring, deltoid, and quadricep. Unari grinned widely, the genin's blue eyes gleaming with opportunity. The ten-year black-haired girl had only recently graduated from the academy, and she had been completing tons of tedious D-ranked missions ever since, although they seemed to build muscle strength. However, finally, she could do a C-ranked mission! The Hokage, Tsunade, would be assigning her team a C-ranked mission at six o'clock. Furthermore, if the mission was a success, then her team would be assigned consistent C-ranked missions, which was what Unari was really aiming for. Preparing and gathering all of the needed weapons and items instantaneously, the eager genin departed her house, waving good-bye to her parents.

Kyousei Keikoku, one of Unari's teammates, was quietly reading at the designated place to meet, which was a mere field of grass with a few trees scattered around the small field. Keikoku was a quiet boy who enjoyed reading, not fighting, but despite this, was an excellent ninja, excelling in jutsu, strategy, and stealth. Furthermore, he was only eight years of age! His birthday would be in two months. Keikoku's overall appearance was quite ironic when compared to his age. He was as tall as Unari, who was about four feet nine inches, somewhat muscular, and looked ten. The brown, spiked haired boy's brown eyes were usually focused on whatever book he was reading, but even if he did not look like he was not obtaining the information if being lectured or spoken to, the information would actually be processing in his mind, and Keikoku would still comprehend it. Barely glancing at his digital wristwatch, which read 1:58, Keikoku slightly glimpsed away from his book again to look around to see if any of his teammates or his sensei was coming. No one was coming, so therefore the boy resumed to read his book.

"YEAH!" shouted a little boy, at the age of ten. As he ran across the village, the wind barely blew his short (about a centimeter a strand), orangey hair back. The boy, named Ikasu Haipa, had humongous wide green eyes that showed others that he was thrilled. No one needed to see his magnificently enormous grin to realize Haipa was enthusiastic about something. In fact, Haipa was always eager and hyperactive for some odd reason. "YEAH!" shrieked the boy once more, jumping up with his eyes closed, and his smile wide open, but accidentally encountering a wall. "God…" Haipa muttered, rubbing his nose repeated to heal the pain. "That hurt!" Haipa blamed, glaring at the wall. After no response, Haipa shrugged, hopped up and ran towards a green area. "Whoo, Whoo, Whoo!" Haipa cheered repetitively.

"I'm there!" Haipa arrived at the planned place and suddenly frowned when he noticed Keikoku had arrived before him. "You…" he glared jokingly. "I'll get you some day!"

Keikoku continued to read his book until the end of the page, turned the page, swiftly taking out a bookmark as if it was a shuriken, and placed it in the book. Packing away his thick book in his backpack, the calm boy stood up and merely murmured, "You are here." It was loud enough for Haipa to hear, but too soft for Haipa to comprehend completely.

Haipa was about to ask, "What?" but was interrupted by the appearance of Unari. Haipa stared at her, smiling, but Unari didn't really notice.

"Hey Keikoku," waved Unari. After Keikoku's response, which was a slight wave, Unari proceeded to Haipa, who shook his head to look cool. "Hi Haipa!"

"Uh, yeah, hey, yo, right," Haipa responded quickly and nervously monosyllabically. "Wh-what's up U-Unari?" Haipa's energy altered into nervousness. "Yeah, yeah, right."

"It's all fine," Unari giggled, as Haipa's nervousness reverted to a slight smile.

"It looks like Taishita-sensei has arrived," noticed Keikoku, utilizing peripheral vision.

"Hey guys," smiled Taishita Sakka. He wore a standard Konoha flak jacket, and his headband was located around his neck. He had gelled down his slightly long brown hair like always. Sakka's dark brown eyes were directed at the genin. "You guys ready for the mission?"

They all said, "Ready," but the volumes of their voices were totally different. Haipa had loudly croaked it out, Unari said it in a medium voice, and Keikoku mumbled it.

"Right, then first, we must train for it," instructed Taishita. Taishita took out three tiny scrolls from his left pants pocket. Flinging out the scrolls towards the students, Taishita explained, "These scrolls are the schedules for today. Read them carefully."

The three each opened their scrolls. They read:

2:30-3:00 – Taijutsu Training
3:00-3:30 – Kunai and Shuriken Training
3:30-3:45 – Short Rest
3:45-4:00 – Brief Mission Information
4:00-4:30 – Ninjutsu Training
4:30-5:00 – Genjutsu Training
5:00-6:00 – Chakra and Stamina Training

"Let me tell you guys something," informed the sensei. "Make sure you realize this: this training isn't just any ordinary training. We're doing a C-ranked mission here. A C-ranked mission! And we have one eight-year old and two-ten year olds who only recently graduated from the ninja academy. This mission will be incredibly tough for you guys, but the Hokage believes you guys can ace it. And because of that, we'll be doing some extremely intense training." The sensei's voice suddenly deepened. "Got it?"

The genin responded, "Got it."

"Perfect, now let's start with taijutsu," stated Taishita cheerfully.

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Taishita Sakka will be referred to by his surname. I will do this again later on with a different character.