I Can't Be Your Friend
Chapter 1: A New Mission
It was the first day of the summer. Team 7 was meeting on the bridge, and, as was usual, they were expecting their sensei to be late. Naruto kept tossing glares at Sasuke, who was just plain ignoring him, which he found to be very annoying. Sakura stood between them, leaning against the railing, watching them. She sighed in exasperation and shook her head from time to time, as though she wanted to say, 'I can't believe you two are still doing this!'
"Good morning!" The trio looked up at this cheerful remark. To their surprise, Kakashi was walking toward them.
"Kakashi Sensei! You're early today!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Well, I am early sometimes." He said, closing his one visible eye in the expression they had learned meant he was smiling.
Naruto frowned, giving him a look that clearly said, 'Are you kidding? Since when?'
"Alright," Kakashi started, "are you ready for your new mission?"
Naruto perked up, his attention now fully on his teacher.
"Is it going to be good? Is it going to be hard? We haven't had anything tough in such a long time!" He said gleefully, a huge grin on his face.
"Take it easy!" The sensei cried out. "It might be difficult for you."
Naruto looked like he just wanted Kakashi to point him in the right direction, and he'd get the job done himself.
"Do you even want to know what you have to do?"
Naruto nodded enthusiastically. Sakura was listening intently. Sasuke's expression remained the same. Uninterested.
"For this mission…" Kakashi started, Naruto leaning forward in anticipation. "You have to travel to a distant village. Once there, you must collect six scrolls from a local family. Then return home and give those scrolls to the Hokage."
Naruto looked outraged.
"What!" He exclaimed. "That's it? That doesn't sound dangerous! That doesn't even sound interesting!"
Sakura glared at him.
"Shut up, Naruto!" She yelled. She looked about ready to hit him over the head.
"Settle down," Kakashi said. "I wasn't finished yet." Naruto looked back at him, interested again. "The six scrolls will be delivered to a family in the village, at different times. Some may be there already, waiting to be picked up. But it could take over a month after you get there for the rest to arrive." He paused, waiting for another interruption from Naruto. There didn't seem to be one coming. "It is highly possible someone might try to steal these scrolls from you, so you should always be on your guard."
"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed. Sakura gave him a withering look.
"Oh…" Kakashi said with a small laugh, "I almost forgot to mention…instead of your normal three person team, you will be on a two person team."
"What?" Naruto and Sakura cried.
"One of you will be staying behind." He looked at their faces for a moment. "Well, I think Naruto has already voiced his opinion, and wants to go. Any other volunteers?" Sakura was shaking her head, trying to be as small as possible. "Okay. Thank you for volunteering, Sasuke. Now our two man team is set."
Sasuke's eye twitched.
"What!?" It was the first thing he had said all morning.
"Oh, right. You can get your exact details a little later, after you get ready to go."
Naruto's mouth had dropped open.
"How can…what…why…" His outrage was evident, due to his inability to formulate a sentence. Sasuke had regained his composure.
"He said I was your partner. Get over it, dobe." He turned, walking away.
"Where are you going?" Kakashi called after the dark haired boy.
"To get ready to go." He called over his shoulder, without stopping. Naruto also turned away and started walking.
"So am I!" He announced.
Kakashi scratched the back of his head, glancing at Sakura.
"I was expecting more of a fight." He said to her with a shrug.
She only frowned.
"I guess it's a good thing I didn't tell them everything."
"What!" Naruto cried.
The two boys had quickly gathered the belongings they were going to need. Then they'd returned to the bridge and rejoined their sensei. From there, the three went to the Hokages office. This was clearly going to be an important mission, they had thought. But now…
"That's inhuman!" Sasuke said. The two boys looked at each other, disgust evident on their faces.
"I hate him!" They both said bitterly. Tsunade sighed.
"This is the signal that the family requested. We can do nothing but obey. Well, we could just not get those scrolls. But that is out of the question."
They were still glaring at one another.
"We could get another team to do it. That shouldn't be too difficult." Naruto tore his eye's away from Sasuke.
"No! I want to go on a tough mission. I just don't want to act like I'm…in love…with…" Naruto looked back at Sasuke. "with…him."
Well? What do you think so far?
The next chapter will be called 'Endangering The Mission'.