A/N: My first Naruto fic! I actually wrote this for a Langauge Arts class as a short story, but figured I should post it. Thanks for reading!

Naruto; The Failed Mission..!!

The fifth Hokage, Tsunade, sighed tiredly as she blinked her eyes in the dim candle light. She pushed her chair back and stretched before returning to her desk. She brushed a stray hair out of her eyes as they quested over the large scroll before her. Scanning a section her attention was drawn by an interesting illustration. In the right corner of the scroll was a small depiction of a shuriken stuck in the corner of a large gold bar. The drawing was titled, "Shuriken No Okane (or the gold throwing star)." Tsunade leaned in and began to read.

The next day Naruto was up bright and early. Last night Konoha's #1 ninja at suprising people had received a mission from the Hokage herself. Now he was on his way to the mission debrief before setting out on what was sure to be the most awesome mission ever! Naruto punched the air excitedly, he wasn't going to fail this mission! BELIEVE IT!!!

Our favorite pink-haired girl wasn't so excited. Sakura absent-mindedly curled a lock of still damp hair between two fingers. The notification had come late last night (rousing her from overly romantic, sappy dreams about Sasuke)too late for her liking, and the debrief time had been set so early that she hadn't even had time to blow dry her hair before being ushered out of the house by her mom. They could have at least chosen a decent hour, the sun was just barely showing over the horizon! She frustraitedly brushed her hair back from her face before securing it with her headband.

The next thing either of them knew they were standing before the Hokage's extremely large desk. Tsunade looked more exhausted then either of them and irritated enough to hang them both by their ankles from the ceiling. Due to this, and the fact that neither of them had eaten breakfast, the room was silent.

Naruto finally broke the silence with a large yawn and a grin. He glanced over at Tsunade, trying to judge from her expression whether it was the right moment to speak before he said, "So what are we doing?"

Tsunade twitched. No one should be that happy this early in the morning. She glared at him for a second before replying, "You are going on a quest."

Sakura broke in, "What kind of quest?"

Tsunade paused a moment before saying mysteriously, "A special quest."

"What kind of special quest?" Sakura repeated, slightly annoyed.

Tsunade grinned, "One that involves money, lots of it!"

Naruto sneered, "This wouldn't have anything to do with your infamous love of gambling would it?"

Tsunade (know in he past as the "Legendary Sucker") paused to rub the kanji for "gamble" that was carefully embroidered on the back of her shirt before chipperly replying, "Of course not!"

"THEN WHAT WAS THAT PAUSE FOR?!" Naruto yelled, taking a step forward. Sakura put her hand out, ready to restrain Naruto when Tsunade coughed to get their attention.

"Anyhow, the mission debrief." Tsunade stated calmly, though the vein twitching in her forehead told Sakura that she was nearing ultimate anger.

"You will need to locate and recover the Shuriken no Okane."

Naruto nearly fell over, "THAT'S A BED TIME STORY YOU OLD HAG!!! And here I thought I was going on an action packed adventure!" Naruto pouted, crossing his arms.

Sakura sighed, "We're supposed to find this thing right? Do you have any idea where it is?" She was really disappointed and partially agreed with Naruto.

Tsunade slammed her fists down on the desk (which instantly erupted into splinters), "NARUTO! WATCH WHO YOU'RE CALLING AN OLD HAG!!!" She then turned her attention to Sakura,"We have concluded that it is located in a region close to Konoha, this should be a very easy task."

"If its so easy then why are we doing it?", Naruto asked sullenly, rubbing the newly inflicted bump on his head.

Tsunade sighed returning to the remains of her desk, "There are two reasons for this actually, the first being that because of Orochimaru's attack on Konoha our economy has been basically nonexistent. People are spending the majority of their money on repairing their houses and shops. Due to this and a few other factors Konoha has gone into a bit of debt. As I am the new Hokage I really don't want to start off in debt. This shuriken has the ability to turn anything it cuts into gold, this would eliminate all of our debt, a good strategic move."

Tsunade turned towards Naruto, "And secondly, HAVING YOU RUNNING AROUND THE VILLAGE WITH NOTHING TO DO IS GETTING TO BE A REAL ANNOYANCE!"

Naruto gulped and backed up a few feet.

Sakura nodded finally understanding, "So all we have to do is retrieve it?"

Tsunade smiled, "Yes." She bent down and picked up a few papers, then glanced up annoyed, "Well if you understand then go!"

Naruto and Sakura slid out the door, and as soon as they were clear of the hallway, ran for their lives.

Tsunade's assistant, Shizune, chuckled, "You were really harsh with them today, anything the matter?"

Tsunade sighed and placed the papers on the sill before leaning forward to gaze out the window, "No, nothing in particular, and I guess I was a little harsh to them... and the desk."

Shizune glanced down at the ruins of the table, "You're going to need a new one."

Tsunade laughed, turning away from the expansive view, "I suppose you're right."

Three hours later Sakura and Naruto met at the village gate, packed and ready to go. With a last glance back at the village they set out.

As expected Naruto started acting annoying about halfway through the first hour. He talked excitedly about his favorite flavors of ramen, occasionally getting in arguments with himself about which was the best. Most of the time he just threw kunai (throwing knives) at anything that moved.

Soon the forest ahead parted to reveal a small glen. As they approached they realized this place was the scene of a recent battle. Sakura shivered, for some reason this place frightened her.

She tugged on Naruto's sleeve, "Let's move on quickly, battlegrounds are bad luck."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, this place gives me the creeps." Sakura walked a little faster, eager to get away when Naruto suddenly stopped. He had spotted a gleaming object on the ground. He reached down and plucked the shuriken from the dirt. He tucked it in his ninja tool bag and yelled for Sakura to wait up.

A little while later the sun was high in the sky, with no town or building in sight. Sakura sighed and wiped sweat off her brow, as tired as she was presently, this journey seemed pointless.

There was a rustling in the bushes next to the side of the road, and without thinking Naruto threw a kunai. There was a yell and several curses then three people fell out of the shrubbery. Naruto and Sakura jumped back expecting a trap, and were quite suprised when one of the men moaned and started rolling about. Regaining themselves the slowly rose to there feet and immediately struck a pose.

"YOU!", yelled the man in the front pointing at Naruto.

Naruto scratched his head, "Me?"

The man twitched,"YEAH YOU! YOU DISGRACED US, THE SMOKE NINJA FOR ALL ETERNITY!!! Now we're here to defeat you, regain our honor, and... get back in our village..."

Naruto suddenly laughed,"I remember you! You're the idiots we stole clothes from back when we were trying to get Kakashi-Sensei to take off his mask! Man, you're losers!"

All the Smoke-nin's faces fell and Sakura sweat-dropped.

"THAT'S IT!!!" The lead Smoke-nin cried,"WE'RE TAKING YOU DOWN!!!" They then proceeded to charge. Naruto laughed again as Sakura pulled out a kunai.

"Leave it to me Sakura-Chan! TAJUU KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!!!" (Mass shadow replication teqnique)Naruto shouted, crossing his fingers to form a hand seal. Thousands of Naruto appeared, forming three complete circles, each with a Smoke-nin in the middle.

At Sakura's signal 4 clones dove into the middle of each circle, sending four kicks into each opponent. With each kick a syllable was spoken, "U-ZU-MA-KI!"

As the enemy was sent flying into the air one clone in each circle jumped higher than the rest to deliver a powerful kick downwards with the final phrase, "ULTIMATE NARUTO RENDAN!" (Ultimate Naruto Barrage)

All three Smoke-nin slammed into the ground, immediately knocked out. The clones disappeared into clouds of smoke, leaving only the real Naruto to tie the three together and lash them to a tree.

Soon Enough the lead ninja came to, and Naruto wasted no time in attempting to put him out again. To his suprise Sakura caught his arm by the elbow.

"Naruto you idiot! We need to know if they know anything about the shuriken!" Growled Sakura, obviously irritated.

Naruto just shrugged and turned towards the Smoke-nin again, "OKAY!!! Tell me everything you know about the Okane No Shuriken!"

A second ninja in the back (who looked like he would have been better off selling pork buns on some street corner) spoke up, "What if we don't tell you?"

Naruto shook his fist menacingly, "I'll beat you up again!"

"What happens if we do tell you?"

"I'll beat you up."

"So it really doesn't change things either way?"

"No not rea-- IT DOESN'T MATTER JUST TELL ME NOW!!!" Naruto yelled.

A skinny ninja in the back quivered before finally giving in and squeaking,"We don't know anything!"

Sakura sighed and calmly, quietly slapped Naruto upside the head. Naruto made a face and was about to walk away when he fell flat on his face.

Sakura knelt beside him and frowned, "Yep, looks like you're completely out of chakra!(energy used for ninja moves) You would have been fine if you hadn't over done it again! Now what am I going to do with you?!"

After a few miles of Naruto being carried by Sakura they stopped to rest by a steep river bank that was shaded by a large elm. Sakura literally threw him on the ground before collapsing herself. Naruto gulped. Sakura looked like she was ready to eat him alive.

After a few hours of rest and his miraculous healing powers, Naruto was back on his feet in no time. Just as he was standing up Sakura froze.

"NARUTO! There's an explosive tag behind you!" She cried.

Instinctively Naruto plucked a shuriken from his ninja tool bag and tossed in the general direction Sakura had indicated, then dove for cover.

"Ha! That's what you get for making me carry you for six mi--" Suddenly Sakura stopped, eyes widening.

Naruto groaned, "Sakura that wasn't very nice! I landed in a thorn bush and now -- hey what's wrong?"

Naruto followed the direction of her gaze -- and almost fainted. The shuriken he had thrown was fixed to the tree. And the tree -- was gold. He slowly walked towards the tree, removing the shuriken. He then turned back to Sakura.

"You mean... this entire time... you had the shuriken?!" Sakura clenched her blistered hands into fists, "NARUTO I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Naruto took a precautionary step back -- to find that the riverbank had ended. He quickly summoned chakra to his feet and with a slight jerk he fixed himself to the side off the bank. Unfortunately that slight jerk was enough to knock the shuriken out of his grasp. He watched with horror as the shuriken plummeted into the water where it was forever entombed in a fast spreading river of solid gold.

He winced as he heard Sakura yell,

"NARUTO!!!"

A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it! Please reveiw, it makes me happy! XD