Shinobi in a Land of Mages
A botched mission sees Team Seven exiled to a foreign land far to the west, a kingdom of warriors known as 'Mages', called Fiore. In order to redeem themselves, the team must complete five tasks set by the council of Fiore. Should they fail any ONE of these, they will be forced to turn in their headbands, status, and overall citizenship, for good.
Chapter 1
The Chairman of the magic council, a man by the name of Gran Doma, was sitting in his office, gazing out of his office window overlooking the city of Era, in anticipation. He had received a letter around a week ago that a group of Hidden Leaf shinobi would be arriving at his office on this day.
Naturally, he first wondered if the ninja had simply gotten more direct and were sending assassins his way, a thought which very much still laid at the back of his mind. Shinobi were well known cold-blooded killers, and relations between mages and shinobi have never been great.
It wasn't until he noticed the signature scribbled down at the bottom of the page that he breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't been the chairman of the council for that long, however, during his first day he was immediately informed of five shinobi who would be sending him mail on occasion that he absolutely MUST respond too. These were the five Kage.
A man named Hiruzen Sarutobi was among them. Known to be an advocate of peace between Shinobi and Mage-kind. Historically, the Hokage would seize every opportunity to improve relations between the two when possible. Conversely, most other kage were much less open to the idea, preferring to remain strictly as trade partners as opposed to actual allies.
The letter also came with a peculiar request. That being, to make use of these shinobi in whatever way the council saw fit for a year. The man had made it very clear that this meant ANYTHING, though it was also clear that the man was simply hoping that the council would be reasonable.
Oh, how wrong he was.
"Just knock, loser," a voice said from behind his office door, breaking the long-lasting silence.
"Don't tell ME what to do, Sasuke!"
"Guys..."
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"
"Why are YOU acting all high and mighty?"
"Guys."
"Why're you so damn stubborn?"
"The only stubborn one here is you!"
"GUYS!"
"WHAT!? O-oh... S-sakura-"
A cry in the voice of the boy who was just speaking was silenced by a resounding pound, and then a crack, followed by the shaking of the very building they were situated in. The elderly man winced at the thought of what had just transpired behind that door.
"Jeez Sakura, what'd you hit me for?"
"For being disrespectful you dunce! You're being loud!"
A series of knocks followed.
"Come... in?"
The door opened slowly, and three heads popped out from the other side. The first thing he noticed about them, was their metallic head protectors. A scowl replaced his confusion as he irritatingly brought a hand to his forehead.
To wear the head protectors signifying one's status as a shinobi, was against the law in this land. The fact that they were here standing before him, and not in a prison cell, told him that they knew this as well. Despite not having any intention of arresting them right there on the spot, the very sight of that spiral-like insignia put him in a sour mood.
"Um, is this the chairman's office?" the girl asked.
"Well duh, Sakura! Look, it says chairman on the plaque right th-" *CRACK*
"I KNOW IDIOT!"
"You children are... shinobi?"
"That's right! Born and raised in the Hidden Leaf, we're the best of the best right guys?" the boy with the large welt on his head proclaimed.
"First off," Grand Doma began, "you will keep your voices to a respectable volume. Second, it is a custom here in Fiore for guests to introduce themselves and I would suggest you do so quickly."
"Well, I'm glad you wanna know my name so ba-" the boy with the bruise was immediately silenced and toppled over by his companions.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Sakura Haruno, the total hotti- I mean my teammate over there is Sasuke Uchiha..." at this, her tone changed. "And the loudmouthed idiot right here is Naruto."
"That's cruel Sakura," Naruto mumbled, picking himself up.
"Stop talking before you get us arrested!"
"Hmph."
"Hmm, you're all much younger then I expected," Gran Doma stated, standing up from his chair and walking over to the trio.
Naruto wearily eyed the man and took a step back upon seeing the man eye him up and down. "Jeez old man, could you get any creepier?"
Sasuke visibly winced at this and Sakura looked about ready to pound the poor boy into submission. However, his comment simply flew over Gran Domas head, mostly due to issues with his hearing.
"Hmm, so, what happened to the fourth?"
"Err... well, funny story..." Sakura trailed off, eliciting sighs from the boys at her side.
One Day Earlier...
The port town of Hargeon saw the arrival of a massive ship, followed by an equally massive influx of tourists and various other folk from overseas. The sun had begun to set, granting the normally blue skies of Fiore an almost ethereal orange light that bathed the town in a unique lighting that made the structures situated along the coastline appear to glow in the distance.
Naruto was the first of team seven to set foot on the docks, proudly shooting his arms into the sky whilst screaming at the top of his lungs. "FINALLY, LAND! SOLID LAND, I'll never take you for granted ever again!"
"Jeez Naruto, could you be any less mature?" Sakura stated before, much to his dismay, clinging to Sasuke's arm. "Why can't you be more like Sasuke?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and quickly shook his arm free. "You're both losers."
Sakura collapsed onto the ground, her head hung low with all color drained from her body.
"Hey, Sasuke, why you gotta be such a jerk!?"
"Hmph."
"THAT'S IT! I've had it up to HERE with your attitude!"
"Honestly," the voice of a fourth, a man in his mid-thirties, began as he stepped onto the pier. "It's the same scene every day. Don't you guys get tired of the same old shtick?"
"What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Nevermind."
Kakashi looked to the town that lay just beyond the pier. "This is it, Hargeon town. Now let's see here... ah, here we go, "Hargeon Town, known for being a thriving fishing settlement, and a fantastic tourist attraction thanks to its fantastic location along one of Fiore's finest beaches," it says. Sounds like my kind of getaway spot."
"Oh yeah, sensei, can I see that brochure?" Sakura asked.
"Hmm? Oh sure. You'll need that more then I will if you want to survive out here."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this. "What do you mean 'survive'?"
The masked man eye-smiled, and with the snap of his fingers, his attire suddenly changed into the most casual wear the trio had ever seen on the man. His vest was now replaced with a button up shirt, his pants and ninja sandals, now replaced with brown shorts and flip-flops. As expected of the infamous copy ninja, his mask was still wrapped around the lower half of his face.
The trio of genin was left speechless.
"Well, I figured since we aren't going home anytime soon... or ever... I'll just take a (hopefully permanent) vacation!"
"WHAT!?" the trio cried in unison as their teacher turned on his heel, and started off into the town.
"Good luck you three! Try not to kill each other before you get your first assignment alright?"
"SENSEI! YOU GET BACK HERE AND HELP US DAMNIT!" Naruto cried, enraged. "HEY! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO GO!"
Sakura collapsed to her knees once more, her expression gloomy and downcast. "We're doomed."
"Just great."
Gran Doma was speechless as he stared at the nervous expressions presented by the young teens in front of him. "Is this type of punishment... commonplace... in the land of Shinobi? Or better yet, what did you even do to get yourselves in this situation in the first place?"
Team Seven exchanged glances before stating in unison, "We got exiled."
"Exiled!? Pray tell, how did mere children manage such a feat?"
"Well... turns out it's pretty easy to do since it happened because we screwed up a D-rank mission!" Naruto joked, his laugh turning into somewhat of a whimper as he recalled the memory. "It uh... wasn't pretty."
"D-rank? As in, one of the lowest forms of mission/job, most often seen as simple gruntwork?"
"Well, it's not so much that we 'screwed it up', more like we each committed our own individual acts of treason ehe..." Sakura finished, trailing off at the memory. 'Or rather what that pig-faced Diamyo considered treason!'
Gran Doma, his interest piqued, leaned forward and asked, "So what happened?"
"Its Sakura/Naruto/Sasuke's fault." the trio said at once, causing an aura of animosity to grow between the three.
"Nuh-uh! It was totally your fault Sasuke!"
"My fault? I didn't strangle the Fire Daimyo's cat," Sasuke finished, sending a glare Sakura's way. "Did I?"
'LOOK WHAT YOU DID NARUTO! Now Sasuke's mad at me!' Sakura's inner self screamed. "D-don't look at me! I mean, who was the one who pressured us into drinking the Daimyo's prized Sake, NARUTO?"
"Hey don't pretend you never wanted to try it before! Besides, I wasn't the one who stuck it in his daughter!"
'T-THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!?' Sakura internally cried.
A faint red hue formed on Sasuke's face. "S-shut up loser."
"ENOUGH!"
The trio of genin went silent.
"So, based on the information given and your current situation, it seems as though you three were sent here to die."
"Whoa, whoa! Hold on a sec there old ma-" Naruto didn't get to finish as he was immediately tackled to the ground by his teammates, resulting in the boy being bound by rope, and gagged with a cloth.
"What our abnormally loud and obnoxious teammate was trying to say was," Sakura began, taking a breath, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE WERE SENT HERE TO DIE!?"
"MMMPH, MMMPH!"
Sasuke sighed.
"Simple. I actually have a series of jobs lined up for you to complete during your stay here for the coming year. Five to be exact."
Naruto, who had somehow, miraculously broken free from his bindings, stood up and grinned. "Only five? Piece of cake!"
A dark chuckle escaped the elderly man's lips. "Foolish optimism will only get you so far in life before you end up in an early grave. These are no ordinary jobs, in fact, we reserve these specifically for our top wizards. I'll keep it short, four of these jobs will take multiple MONTHS to complete on their own, and the chances of you three surviving any one of these are slim to none."
Sakura fainted.
"Psh! You questioning our POWER old man!? BRING IT ON! I'll take on anything you throw at me!"
"We aren't allowed to refuse... are we?" Sasuke asked, being the only one to maintain his cool.
"Sure you can, but you three will remain exiles for the rest of your lives if you do."
Naruto and Sasuke looked at one another for a good long moment before turning to the elderly man and nodding.
"So... are you not taking the jobs or-"
"We accept," the duo stated just as Sakura awoke.
"H-huh? Wait a second! I DECLI-""
Gran Doma grinned. "Fantastic. Meet me here in two days for the details. I will have one of my servants arrange for some living quarters for you three. Please, wait for him in the lobby."
"Wait, why two days?" Naruto asked.
"To get yourselves acquainted with the area you'll be staying in. You three will be staying at the capital, a city called Crocus."
Sasuke nodded. "That all?"
"Yes. Now BEGONE! And don't forget to take your friend there. And clean up that drool! That carpet is worth more then your miserable lives combined!"
The train ride was rather uneventful with the most interesting thing to take from the rather brief trip being that their 'guide' was some sort of mutant frog in a dress. Team Seven stepped off the train and simultaneously turned to the servant.
"Here, I've written down the directions to where you three will be staying for the time being. Remember, in two days you will be given your first assignment, do NOT be late for your appointment!"
"Yeah, yeah, we heard you," Naruto said, taking the parchment in hand.
"Hmph! What a disrespectful brat you are!" the frog stated, eliciting an irritated stare from the blond. "Anywho, I shall be on my way. Oh and do try not to stir up any trouble while you're here ok shinobi?"
"We won't, you can count on that," Sakura said with a bow.
"No promises..." Naruto mumbled before receiving another furious strike to the head, courtesy of Sakura.
"QUIT INSULTING EVERYONE WE MEET!"
Sasuke sighed. "Ignore them. You won't have anything to worry about from us."
"Good."
With that, the frog went back onto the train along with a group of passengers leaving Team Seven, standing amid a barren train station.
"Jeez, what a freak," Naruto said, holding his arms behind his head. "That thing wouldn't even shake hands with us!"
"Naruto! Could you stop being disrespectful for one minute? At this rate, you're bound to get us in troub-"
"I agree. I wasn't too fond of that attitude of his."
"Oh so am I Sasuke!" Sakura squealed out of euphoric joy as her pupils transformed into a pair of hearts. "Hey this place is pretty romantic don't you think? Why don't we ditch Naruto and-"
"Not happening."
"Oh..." Sakura mumbled as she felt the all too familiar sting of rejection.
Naruto didn't even bother trying to catch her on the rebound this time around, mostly due to the fact that he had already received his daily head trauma. There would always be tomorrow, he figured.
"So, where we headed?" Naruto said as he unfolded the parchment. "Let's see he- hey what the hell!?"
"What?" Sasuke asked, glancing over Naruto's shoulder. "Hmm... what language is this?"
"Um," Sakura uttered before peeking over Naruto's other shoulder, "Oh I know this!"
"Wait, you know what this is Sakura?" Naruto asked.
"Lemmie see that," the Kunoichi said before taking hold of the paper. "Hmm, I'm a bit rusty since I haven't had any contact with the language for at least half a year... but if I'm not mistaken, left from the station... right from the fountain... I think I got it!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down there! How'd you-"
"Well," Sakura began, cutting Naruto off, "I used to study this stuff during the summer break back when we were still in the academy. Mage language is fascinating, especially since they speak virtually the same language as we do!"
"Impressive," Sasuke commented, only to immediately regret it when he found himself once again being held by his pink haired teammate.
"I'm so glad you think so Sasuke!"
"Gimmie a break..." Naruto mumbled in disappointment as he watched the interaction go down.
Day 2 -2 days before the first assignment
The trio located their living quarters with relative ease thanks to Sakura's somewhat extensive knowledge on the language and found that the apartment they would be staying in wasn't too far from the station. Currently, the three were roaming the halls, in search of their new homes.
"Fifteen, sixteen... seventeen and eighteen. Looks like this is it," Sakura said.
"Man, this place looks like an even bigger shithole then my old place!" Naruto whined, crossing his arms. "Next time I see that frog, he's dead meat!"
"Could you hold off on saying things like that until we actually get INTO our apartment?"
"Doesn't seem so bad," Sasuke commented, taking one of the keys from Sakura and shoving it into the keyhole for apartment seventeen.
The door opened revealing a sight that made Naruto groan.
"Aww, what the- do all apartments have the same freaking inside!?"
"Well... it has a lot of character?" Sakura said, trying to lighten the situation.
"Hmph," Sasuke said, pushing the door further open, only for the knob to jitter a bit and eventually fall onto the floor. Paying it no mind, he continued inside, moving past the various dents in the wall and cobwebs lining the scattered vintage furniture from a bygone era.
"Yeesh, would it kill em to actually clean this place?" Naruto said, blowing on an old table in the kitchen only to be blinded by a cloud of dust. "GAH! MY EYES!"
"Something tells me we got this one for a reason," Sakura worriedly stated as she left to check out the other room.
"At least the beds look clean."
"Yeah, if by 'clean' you mean infested with dust mites and bedbugs! You're crazy if you think I'm layin on that!"
"Quit complaining."
"Alright, then Sasuke you lay on it then! Go on."
Sasuke looked glanced over at the blanket and bedsheets, noting that the bed was well made despite everything else he had seen thus far. Still, he wasn't going to take the chance and gave Naruto that small victory.
"We need to fix this place up if we're going to stay here," Sasuke said, his eye-catching movement in the corner of the room. "And clear out the pests."
"No kidding. C'mon lets burn these damn blankets and these mattresses already. Just lookin at em makes my skin crawl."
In that moment, Sakura walked in with a nervous smile on her face.
"So how was it?" Naruto asked.
"Pretty nice actually! I'm just gonna take that one!" With that, Sakura hastily grabbed her bag and key and returned to her room, leaving Naruto and Sasuke to stare in a moment of brief confusion.
"Wha- HEY SAKURA! GET BACK HERE!"
Sasuke sighed.
"Dangit!" Naruto cried before resigning to a sigh. "Well, where are you gonna sleep Sasuke?"
A scowl replaced Sasuke's normally blank expression. It was in that moment that a realization, which should've been obvious from the get-go, hit the not-so-bright Naruto.
With that, Naruto marched out of the room and began vigorously banging on Sakura's door, all the while shouting at her to swap rooms. Unbeknownst to him, however, Sakura couldn't hear his screams over the roar of the vacuum she was using to clear out the minuscule amounts of dust on her floor.
Been thinking about this one for a while now! So basically, the story is gonna take place over the span of a year, and as you can see, organized into days, sometimes multiple days per chapter, and sometimes multiple chapters for one day.
Other than that, I went with post wave arc Team Seven because that's really the only time I could squeeze the old Team Seven into the time frame.
Not much else to say so...
Thanks for reading!