Hi! This is my first attempt to make a Naruto fanfiction. Don't ask me where the idea came from, though. This fanfic has no character pairings. No flames, onegai (please). I'll put the translations of words at the end. Please review when you're finished!

Disclaimer: What? Do I look like I own Naruto? I only own this plot, nothing else.

It was early morning, and Team 7 was getting ready for a mission. Kakashi and two out of three of his students showed up. Both Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, who were never late, and no one ever had to wait for them.

Naruto Uzumaki, on the other hand, always had his teammates waiting for his presence. He was almost always late.

Naruto awoke so late, in fact, that he had to skip breakfast that morning. His stomach growled as he ran to the Academy, but he ignored it.

---

Kakashi Hatake, Team 7's instructor, patiently awaited the presence of his missing student, while reading Icha Icha Paradise.

Sasuke was getting impatient, but kept his cool. He knew Naruto wouldn't skip a mission, and would be there soon enough. He was getting used to the blonde's lateness.

Sakura was angry. What's taking him so long? She thought to herself, while her inner self screamed it. The kunoichi tried calming down many times, but stopped when it had no effect. He's gonna get it for making us wait! CHA!

A while later, they finally saw Naruto. As soon as he got to them, it was fist-meets-face.

"Ahh, Sakura-chan! What was that for?" He asked while putting his hand on his cheek. "You should know." the pink-haired girl answered.

"Now that Naruto's here, shouldn't we start the mission?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, right. Follow me, then."

---

As they neared the place where they were to begin their mission, Naruto started to complain.

"Sensei, I'm hungry. Is there any place around here that we could stop at?"

"Naruto! We're almost there! You can eat after the mission!" a ticked off Sakura said.

"I didn't have anything to eat today..." Naruto pretended to sound sad.

"Dobe." the Uchiha boy mumbled. "Grrrrr... What did you say?"

Kakashi stopped walking, causing Naruto to bump into him. "Kakashi-sensei, why did you stop?"

"We're here."

---

Naruto stared in awe at the building before him. A palace. It was huge. The biggest building any of them had ever seen in their life.

"Uh, sensei, what is our mission about?" Sakura asked curiously. "Ah, that's right. I guess I forgot to tell you." Kakashi's students faceplanted. "In this mission, we have to protect a princess that lives in that palace."

"A princess?"

"Hai."

"Why do they need ninja for such a task?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, a servant from another palace found out that ninja from an unknown clan were planning on capturing princesses. The servant didn't know why, so I can't tell you either."

Sakura spoke up. "How do you know this is true?"

"It's true, Sakura, because the princess from that palace was gone the next morning. No one found her.

"That same servant came to this palace and warned all the people, including the princess."

Kakashi sighed and spoke again. "That's all the information I have. Now, let's go in."

They all nodded in agreement.

---

After a servant invited them in, Naruto hesitated before stepping inside the large palace. They all took off their shoes, and were led into a room. Inside the room, there stood the princess and the headmaster of the palace beside her.

As the headmaster told the three young ninjas more detailed instructions, he mentioned that they had to protect valuable things in the palace as well.

The headmaster was told that the foreign ninja were after scrolls. Not just any scrolls, however. They were after the rare ancient scrolls, that were now only found in that palace.

Three scrolls were scattered throughout the palace. And each of them, when used by a ninja, had a different element within them.

One was a fire element, another was a wind element, and another a water element. The strength of each depended on the rank of the ninja. A Genin would not get much of the element, and a Chuunin would only get half of the full strength. Only Jounin and Kage can get the full power of the element.

---

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were at their posts, guarding the scrolls. But if the ninja came to steal one, they would have to fight them alone, since the three scrolls were in different parts of the palace.

There would be a problem, though. If one of the Genin got injured and called to get help from another, the other ninja would either leave the scroll unprotected and fail the mission to help their teammate, or leave them wounded and stay at their post.

Both choices were risky, but they all knew that decision would come.

With Naruto guarding the water scroll, Sakura defending the wind scroll, and Sasuke protecting the fire scroll, all they had to do was wait for the enemy to come.

That's the end of the first chapter! Did you like? Ah, right. Translations.

kunoichi - female ninja (I think...)

dobe - uhhh... I'm gonna have to ask you what this means. Someone tell me, please?

hai - yes