!!!IMPORTANT!!! This fanfic takes place in Konoha immediately after Naruto and Jiraya bring Tsunade to Konoha but before Sasuke leaves, just wanted to clear that up. Also, this chapter isn't able to get too far into the main storyline of the fanfiction without dragging on, so please bear with it till you get to the next chapter which is much better.

!!!ALSO IMPORTANT!!! This chapter is written dumbed-down because it's from Naruto's point of view, so please bear with the weaker grammar and such until next chapter, which will be from a… more intelligent characters view.

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'Blah' – Thoughts

'Blah' – Kyuubi Speech

///////////////////////////////////////////// Point of view change; scene change; or time skip

Chapter 1

////////////////////////////// Naruto's PoV //////////////////////////////

'Stupid Tsunade-oba-chan…' I growled to myself.

Here I was, Me! Uzumaki Naruto next Hokage! Sitting on a training log and waiting for either a mission or someone to come train me! How embarrassing…

'Damn you Kakashi-sensei! Going off to train Sasuke-teme and not me! And Ero-senin has gone off to peek at women too! Kuso!' I messed with my hair and screamed in frustration, I had looked through the entire village! The entire village! "And here I can't find either of those perverts!"

"Oi! Naruto!"

I turned to see Kiba, annoying guy, walking over with Akamaru on his head, "What is it?"

"Tsunade-sama wants to see us about a mission, she sent me to come and get you."

"A mission! Yosh! Let's go!" I shouted and leapt up and ran towards Tsunade-oba-chan's office. I heard Kiba mutter something like 'hyperactive idiot' but I ignored him, I did kick his butt in the chunnin exams!

I ran through Konaha with Kiba and Akamaru behind me, I ignored the glares of the villagers as I did, there were fewer that before I kicked butt in the chunnin matches, so when I became Hokage the would acknowledge me for sure!

I ran all the way to Tsunade-oba-chan's office, going right up to her desk, "Oi! Tsunade-oba-chan!"

A vein throbbed in her forehead, "NARUTO! Must you barge in like that all the time!?" she stood, placing her hands on the desk and glared at me.

"Uh… gomen…" 'Kami-sama she's scary…' I backed up some.

"N-N-Naruto-kun…" I turned and there saw Hinata was standing there beside me in front of Tsunade-oba-chan's desk, her cheeks were pink and she was poking her index fingers together.

"Oh, hello Hinata," I smiled at her, and her cheeks reddened more, 'What a strange girl…'

"Naruto," Tsunade-oba-chan said, this time she didn't sound like she was angry anymore, "You, Hinata, and Kiba," Akamaru barked, causing Tsunade to smile, "and Akamaru are being sent on a mission to escort some very important people from a city I met during my travels back here. Since Konoha is low on shinobi retrieving these two should help lighten the load," Tsunade-oba-chan looked us over.

I was immediately excited, I was going to be doing something important! "Yes! So, who are we going to be escorting, the Feudal Lord? Some powerful ninja? A-"

"You will be escorting a young boy and girl, siblings actually, they are about your age."

"NANI!?!" me and Kiba both shouted, I mean, come on! We were going to be escorting kids!?

"A-Ano N-Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun… I-I'm sure T-Tsunade-sama has good reason to send the f-four of us to escort them…" I looked over at Hinata and saw she was blushing and looking to Tsunade-oba-chan hopefully.

"Thank you for not yelling Hinata," Tsunade said tensely with a small glare at me when she said 'not yelling', "And yes, I do have a reason for sending the three of you to pick these two up. Neji and his team are already away on a mission as is any jounin or chunnin suited to the task," Tsunade-oba-chan held out a mission file which Kiba picked up and began to look over.

Kiba looked up suddenly from the paper and stared at Tsunade-oba-chan with wide eyes, "You're sending us genin on an A-ranked mission?" Kiba asked with some disbelief.

"Nani?" I snatched the paper from Kiba's hands and looked at the mission rank at the top of the page, 'By Kami-sama! She's sending us on an A-ranked mission!' I jumped up into the air,"ALRIGHT!!!"

"NARUTO!" Tsunade yelled and I immediately quieted down, Tsunade-oba-chan sighed, "I'm sending you three-" "Bark!" "-four in particular because there will be enemy shinobi attempting to harm the two you are bringing. With Hinata's Byuukagen, Kiba and Akamaru's sense of smell you should be able to detect any of the enemies that will be coming your way. I would like to be sending Shino with you but he is away with his father on a mission, so I'll be sending you with them Naruto to keep the same amount of offensive strength in the team."

"H-Hai Tsunade-sama… w-where will we be going?"

Tsunade-oba-chan stood fully and pulled down the map by its cord, she leaned some and pointed to a village/small city in the center of a very small country a little ways below Konoha, "The two of them are residing in the feudal lords' house in this country; they will be expecting you and should recognize Hinata. Now, are there any other questions before you four get ready to go?"

Me and Kiba glanced at each other then shook our heads, Hinata however spoke, "A-Ano… d-do we consider these two civilians?"

What she said actually made me think, "Hey! Hinata has a point, are we going to have to protect these kids every step of the way?!" I shouted at Tsunade-oba-chan, pointing my finger at her.

The old woman surprised me though and instead of killing me or punching me through the wall just smiled at us, "Oh, these two are quite capable of surviving a fight, you'll see when you get there," she sat back down, "Now is there anything else?"

This time Hinata shook her head, Tsunade-oba-chan looked at me and Kiba again then nodded, "You four should meet at the south gate at 8:00 am tomorrow to leave in time; it's a three day walk there so be prepared."

"Hai," the three of us said together, we left the building and I could barely contain my happiness, the moment we were outside I shouted, "Yosh! I'll see you two tomorrow!" I ran off towards my apartment to get ready, not really paying attention as Kiba called out a 'see ya', 'Finally! A Mission!'

I was so excited! I was being sent on an A-ranked mission! I rushed into my apartment and began to pack up stuff into my backpack, Tsunade-oba-chan must've finally recognized the fact that I was worthy of these missions! Maybe Sakura-chan would pay attention to me after I came back from this important mission! Because I, Uzumaki Naruto will be the next Hokage!

////////////////////////////// Next morning, 8:30 a.m. //////////////////////////////

I ran as fast as I could towards the south gate, "Kuso! Kuso! Kuso! I'm late! I'm late!"

I finally skidded to a halt in front of Hinata and a very annoyed looking Kiba, "Oi! Naruto! What took you so long?"

"Gomen," I said, scratching the back of my head on reflex, "I forgot to pack my ramen last night and had to do it this morning…"

Kiba rolled his eyes, "Well we'd better get going," he said, while starting to walk off, Akamaru barked in what sounded like a yeah from his shoulder, "It's going to take long enough to get there as is…"

"Yosh! Let's go!" I started to run off, but a soft voice made me skid to a halt.

"A-Ano N-Naruto-kun…" I turned and saw that Hinata was speaking, her cheeks were pink, 'What a weird girl' "…we've got a long ways to go… i-it's still a two day trip for the best of ninja… t-there's no point in rushing in the begining…"

"Eh he he…" I grinned and scratched the back of my head, "Yeah… you've got a point Hinata…"

Kiba gave me a small shove as he walked by, his other hand in his pocket, "Still, we'd better keep walking; it is two days away."

I chuckled some nervously and put my hands on my backpacks straps, walking beside Kiba as Hinata fell into step behind us.

////////////////////////////// Sunset the same day //////////////////////////////

The day was boring and quiet, nothing much happened, no one really felt like talking.

Just as the sun was about to set Kiba stopped in a clearing, taking a quick glance around, "Alright, we'd better set up camp, we're not really in any hurry or anything," he smiled at me and Hinata before pulling off his pack starting to pull the tent stuff out of it.

"Aw! But I'm barely tired! Can't we go on a little bit more?" I pouted, I mean, I really wasn't tired!

"T-There's not really a point in wasting our strength N-Naruto-kun… this place is a pretty good place to camp t-to…" Hinata said, her cheeks a little pink while she helped set up the tent.

I sighed; they did have a point, "Hai, hai…" I set down my pack and helped set up the red tent.

It didn't take all that long to set up the tent, we set up our sleeping bags and everything, after I had got my jacket off and my night cap on, after I lay down I made sure they knew just what I thought about going to sleep this early, "I can't believe you guys really expect me to go to sleep this early. Seriously…" I yawned and closed my eyes.

////////////////////////////// Sometime that night //////////////////////////////

I blinked and sat up, there was an urge that I needed to fulfill and I stated so out loud, "Gotta pee."

I grabbed my jacket and headed outside, finding a tree a ways away from the tent I did my business; then I heard something…

I headed off through the trees some and peeked around the trunk of one of them, and there was a beautiful girl dancing on this small pool of water, she was walking on water and the water droplets were hanging in the air around her! The water was swirling into a rough sphere around her as she held a position on the water.

I had to speak up, I stepped out from behind the tree trunk and stepped towards the girl and the water, "Ano… wha-?" suddenly I lost my footing and slipped into the water with a splash.

I spit out some water as I got up, "My bad. Didn't mean to scare you," I looked up, "Huh?" I stood up and glanced around, "There's no one there?"

////////////////////////////// Next morning, about brunch time //////////////////////////////

I sneezed loudly as we were walking the next morning, man I felt miserable…

Kiba turned and looked at me as we walked, "Hey Naruto, what's wrong? You caught a cold or something?"

I sniffed and rubbed my nose, "Maybe a little…" my hand moved to cover my mouth while I yawned, "tired…"

"Man, after all that sleep you're still tired? You snored the whole night."

"Hey! Something incredible happened when I woke up in the middle of the night..."

Hinata sneezed cutely, "Hey, Hinata, do you have a cold too?"

"Hmm, I'm okay,"

Just as she finished saying this Kiba half glomped me as we walked and leaned in close with a scheming grin on his face, "So then, what was this incredible thing you saw?"

I turned towards him, he wouldn't believe this! "You see, there was this ultra pretty girl at the pond!" Hinata gasped, she must find it hard to believe also.

"And when she moved her hand, the water was like, "ga!"" I spread my arms to show Kiba, "it was awesome."

"And then?" he asked skeptically.

"When I called out to her she suddenly vanished."

"Weren't you just dreaming it all up?"

I sighed, he could be right, "That's what I'm beginning to wonder…"

"What's it with you? Baka."

I looked over at Hinata and saw that her face was really red, "Hey, Hinata… Are you sure you don't have a cold? Your face is really red…" her face got a shade deeper.

"R-Really, I'm fine."

'What a weird girl…'

Akamaru barked from some distance in front of us and Kiba turned to us with a wide grin, "Oi! Naruto! Hinata! The city is just up ahead, we're almost there!"

////////////////////////////// End Chapter 1 //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Okay! Now for the dreaded Authors Notes!!! Unless there is something bold type down here you can usually ignore it if you want. Seriously though, I apologize for how much this followed the episode 148, the next chapter will be more original… This story should get better as it goes on. Anyways! Any opinions will be appreciated greatly!

Till next time,
this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off