Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do however own Natsuki and the ninja with her.

Naruto.

Chapter 1. Bad Dog!

"This is such a boring mission! I don't wanna do it!" Naruto complained. He stood with Sakura and Shikamaru in Tsunade's office.

"You'll do what mission I tell you to do," Tsunade replied.

"But, Grandma..."

"Naruto, knock it off!" Sakura hit him on the back of the head then turned to Tsunade and bowed. "We promise we wont fail, Lady Tsunade!"

"Right," Tsunade nodded. "Shikamaru, I'm putting you in charge."

He sighed, "What a drag." The trio left and as usual Naruto threw a tantrum.

"This mission is stupid!" He whined.

"It's an easy mission, all we have to do is deliver a dog to it's owner. Now shut up!" Sakura bobbed him on the head again.

"Oww!" He rubbed his already huge bump. The group walked outside and headed to the home they were picking up the dog at.

Shikamaru knocked on the door. After a long pause, it finally creaked open. A large German shepherd leapt from the doorway and pounce on Naruto. Shikamaru had sidestepped the attack.

"Gaaah!" The dog barked and licked his face. "Ah! N-no! Bad doggie!! Ah!"

"Ginta, sit!" A girl called out. The dog obeyed, but instead of getting off of Naruto, he had sat right on his stomach. A little girl with braided pigtails and a blue dress on came out of the door. "Ginta!"

The dog whined and got off of Naruto, then sat next to him. He stared at Naruto who inched ever so slightly away, smiling awkwardly.

"Please, tell me that isn't the dog," Sakura said.

"Are you supposed to be ninja?" The girl asked.

"Yeah," Sakura said smiling to her. She knelt down to talk to the girl face-to-face. "We're here to take a dog to the next village."

The girl crossed her arms, "I know. That's Ginta," she pointed to the dog. "You'd better take good care of him!"

"We will."

"If I get to my new home before you, I'm not paying you!"

Naruto and Sakura jaw-dropped. Shikamaru put his hands in his pockets and sighed.

"Mayla, that is enough," an older woman came out behind the little girl. "Thank you so much for taking Ginta for us. Ignore my daughter, she's a little upset about being separated from her dog. Here's his leash. My husband is waiting, he'll have the money for you once you arrive. Have a safe journey." She handed Sakura the leash.

Sakura bowed, "Thank you. I'm sure we wont have any problems." The little girl 'hmphed' and went into the house. Her mother followed. Sakura threw the leash at Naruto. "Since the dog likes you so much, you get dog duty!"

"Bu-but...."

"No!" Sakura crossed her arms.

"Fine," Naruto attached the leash to Ginta's collar. Then the group headed out of the village. As they were leaving, three other shinobi were returning. Sakura and Naruto lit up like lamps when they saw the lead ninja. She had short white hair and gold eyes. She was tall and skinny due to a high metabolism. She wore tight black pants and a long sleeved black shirt .She had armor shin guards and hand guards. Two male ninja walked behind her. When she saw Naruto and Sakura, she smiled warmly.

"Hi, Natsuki!" Sakura waved to the woman.

"Hello, Sakura," she replied in a calm, beautiful voice. "Are you leaving on a mission?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "We have to bring this dog to another village. It's stupid." The dog was tugging at the leash.

"Naruto," Natsuki looked at him, "Every mission is important. Don't forget that." She placed her hand on his head and roughed his hair up. She laughed as he pulled away and tried to fix the mess with only one hand. She bent and pet the dog then stood back up while the dog lay at her feet. If it were a cat, he probably would have purred.

"What'd you do? I can't get him to stay still at all," Naruto exclaimed.

"Nothing. I just asked him to behave."

"We should really get going," Shikamaru said bored.

Natsuki smiled, "Since when did little Shi'ru ever want to do anything?"

"It's such a drag when you call me that..." Shikamaru leaned on a tree while Natsuki laughed.

"Natsuki, we should report in," The scary ninja with one eye and a cigaret said.

Natsuki nodded. "Be careful on your mission. You never know when enemies will arrive."

"Right!" Naruto and Sakura said.

"Hey, I should be home before dark. Will you?" Naruto asked Natsuki.

"I'm not sure. Lady Hokage may have another important mission for me," Natsuki replied.

"Oh. Well, see you later, then!"

They parted. Naruto thought about Natsuki for a while as they walked. She had come into his life so abruptly that he didn't know how to react to her. Like Naruto, she wasn't normal. She was part demon, a wolf, and she had saved his butt countless times. Even though he knew he didn't have a real family, he felt she was the closest thing he had to one. The day he met her was ten times better than the day he graduated and became a real shinobi.