Declaimer: The characters used in this story belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Chapter 1: The New Mission

A true ninja must conceal his (or her for that matter) presence carefully from the target's wandering eyes. If spotted, the entire outcome of the mission is in jeopardy. When the time is at last right, a ninja must strike swiftly and soundlessly so that if the enemy has comrades hidden from view, you are less likely to get ambushed.

Some ninjas choose not to follow these rules.

Others forget them.

"HRAGGHHHHH!" A battle cry rang through the forest. The ninja who had let out the cry dove forwards, his cerulean eyes glistening dangerously through the darkness. He gritted his teeth as he extended his arms; preparing to seize the enemy with his bare hands.

Not the best way to approach a rabbit.

It bounded off leaving the ninja sprawled on the forest floor with his arms still outstretched. His hair was matted and he had torn his sleeve in the process of diving out of the bushes. While skidding on the ground, his weapons pouch had snapped open, pouring out its contents.

Meet Naruto Uzumaki; The Number One Knuckle-Headed Ninja in all of Konoha. Naruto, the determined and feisty ninja, scored the lowest out of his whole class on the graduation test. He had spiky, blonde hair and his trade-mark orange track-suit. Across his forehead, he proudly bore his ninja forehead-protector with the symbol of his country engraved in the center.

Naruto lifted his head just in time to see two sets of feet land before him. "You idiot," said the owner of the feet on the right. Naruto slowly looked up. White shorts, navy blue shirt, raven locks, onyx eyes, a devious smirk… This could only mean one thing. It was Sasuke; the Uchiha heir and prodigy who made all the girls go bonkers. Sasuke Uchiha, on the contrary to Naruto, had the top score in his whole ninja class. Despite his tragic family history, Naruto envied Sasuke. I don't mean that Naruto wanted to be like Sasuke- I mean that Naruto wanted to beat him. In everything. This dangerously intense rivalry brings us to the third member of the team: their sweet, little cherry-blossom.

Now meet Sakura Haruno, the peace-keeper and Sasuke-stalker. She's incredibly brainy- the smartest in her class, in fact. But overall, her team-mates always left her in the dust- trailing behind- striving to keep up with Sasuke and even struggling to keep up with Naruto. She wore a red dress with slits on both sides and black leggings. Her eyes were shining emeralds and she had unusual pink hair. She was fairly shy while in the presence of an adult or stranger, short-tempered with annoying people like Naruto and very giddy whenever Sasuke was near. Although it had taken a lot of work, she had somehow managed to gain both of her team-mates respect.

"You were supposed to lure the rabbit over to Sasuke, not dive out and scare it! We'll be stuck out here until midnight because of you!" Sakura lectured.

"You'd better not keep me out here, because I have extra-circular training to do in the morning," Sasuke growled, cracking his knuckles.

"Hey! I'm not doing anything to keep you from leaving! How about you go home and leave me and Sakura be?" Naruto retorted, smoke steaming from his ears. Sasuke frowned. Although he acted like the others were so far below him, Sasuke considered teamwork a top priority.

Sakura stood between them, facing Naruto. "Don't you dare use that tone with Sasuke!"

"Aw, why do you always take his side, Sakura?" Naruto moaned.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Just drop it Naruto."

"Hey! You're the one who started it!"

"Lay off Naruto!"

"But he started it!"

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

"Maybe I will!"

"Are you three trying to wake up all of Konoha at this ungodly hour?" said a new voice. "And did you finally catch the bunny?" In the middle of a cloud of smoke, Kakashi appeared. Kakashi Hatake was the team leader and teacher with slanted grey hair, a mask covering half of his face and a Jonin vest.

"Naruto blew it," Sasuke said with a sigh.

"I did not! I was just coming up with a plan of my own! Believe it!"

"Settle down you two. I didn't ask for you to point fingers. I asked for the results. So did you catch it or not?" Kakashi asked.

"No we didn't, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura answered guiltily.

"Alright then! Hop to it! Ha ha! Do you get it? Huh? Hop to it! You know, rabbits hop so-" but Kakashi was interrupted by three groans. "Ok, ok, come back to me when you're done. I'll be waiting here." Kakashi sat down and crossed his legs, leaning his back against the tree behind him. He reached into his weapons holster and pulled out and orange book entitled, "Make-Out Paradise".

"He is so disgusting!" Sakura huffed just before she and her two team-mates sprang off to find another rabbit.

Kakashi giggled, either because he knew that with Naruto around, the mission was a guaranteed failure, or because of the material in his book.

Naruto had successfully scared away three more rabbits. But luckily, soon after, he had fallen asleep- giving Sasuke and Sakura an opportunity to finally capture a rabbit properly.

They made their way back towards Naruto, Sasuke holding the rabbit by the ears. In turn, it was thrashing around and squeaking, trying to free itself from his firm grip. "Shut up, will you?" Sasuke yelled, giving it a shake.

"What are we going to do with Naruto?" Sakura asked. "Should we just leave him here until the morning?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Nah, he'll probably be eaten by a bear or something. We should drag him along." Sakura, who would never ever question Sasuke's word, grabbed the back of Naruto's collar and pulled him along against the uncomfortable, forest floor.

"We're done, sensei!" Sakura called.

"Well done squad 7!" Kakashi replied, snapping his book closed and stuffing it into his pocket. "You finally thought of a strategy, did you?"

"It was all my idea! Believe it!" came Naruto's booming voice. Oh no. He was awake. His two team-mates decided not to protest and let him "believe it" for once. "Hey sensei, we should be going on bigger missions, huh? I mean, now that we've mastered catching animals and stuff, we should be out there hunting down people!"

Sasuke shivered with pleasure. For once, he had to agree with Naruto, because his brother was still out there (the brother who had amusedly murdered every member of their family besides Sasuke himself). Although Sasuke spent the majority of his time toying around on these pointless missions, he was hoping that eventually they would enable him to reach a strength that would surpass his brother's. "He's right," Sasuke said. "I mean, the Chunin Exams were much harder than this. We're definitely capable of handling another mission like the one to The Land of Waves."

"Er…" Sakura said lamely. "I'm not saying that it wouldn't be fun to go on big missions… but, humans aren't colour-blind, so I'm always an easy target." Sakura pointed to her bubblegum-pink hair and twirled a strand around her finger.

"Then why do you keep dyeing it?" Naruto asked.

"I-"

"She doesn't dye it," Sasuke said. "It's a blood-line trait."

"It's-"

"No way! No one has hair that colour!" Naruto's voice began to rise.

"It's probably a trait that is unique to her clan!" Sasuke's voice also began to rise. "In my clan, nearly all of the male members have a scar on either side of their nose!"

"Well, you don't. Does that mean that you aren't a male?"

"Say that again and taste my fist!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" Sakura screeched. "And just for that, I'm not going to tell either of you why I have pink hair!" Sakura turned on the ball of her foot and stalked off in the direction of the village. As she paced further away, her muttering could be heard: "Boy's are so stupid…the nerve of those two…"

"See what you did Sasuke? You hurt her feelings!" Naruto said with a frown.

"No, it was you," Sasuke grumbled.

"Boys, be quiet and listen to me!" Kakashi whispered sternly. He had endured just about enough of their continuous bickering. "Look here, how about we make it a mission? You know, to find out why she has pink hair?" It could be a way for them to work on their team-work…

"That's stupid," Sasuke said with a groan.

Naruto's eyes flashed mischievously. "If it is a blood-line trait," he said slyly, "I'll give you one hundred tomatoes." Sasuke twitched. "But if she is using hair-dye, you have to buy me fifty bowls of ramen!"

"YOU'RE ON!" Sasuke exclaimed, a creepy, fiery look in his eyes.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Alright, and just to make sure that the two of you don't get into a fight," he said, "I'll tag along."

"Ok! We'll meet on the bridge tomorrow at nine o'clock! Don't be late, sensei!" Naruto said, waving an accusing finger in Kakashi's face.

"I'll try not to get lost."

"I'll be there. No sweat."

"Believe it!"