After completing their first mission together the owner of the property had come out to inspect the newly painted fence. When he nodded that he was satisfied he took out his purse and paid Kakashi the mission fee; ten thousand ryu.

"All right team you did very well," Kakashi told them. All three team members had splotches of white paint on their hands, arms, and clothes and looked a little weary. They had been working for four hours under a hot sun. "Oh and Naruto, just so you know, anything you are in possession of when using a kage bunshin will also be copied. That means if you'd had a paint brush with you all your clones would have had one too."

Naruto's jaw dropped, and then he looked absolutely furious. "Why didn't you just tell me that before?! We could have been done in about five minutes!"

"For this particular mission I wouldn't have allowed it. The main goal wasn't actually painting the fence but rather building team chemistry and unity. The best way to achieve that is through shared suffering."

Naruto, Sasuke, and Rika all sent him very flat looks as they imagined using him for target practice.

"And it worked," Kakashi said cheerfully. "You're all united in your hatred of me."

Sasuke grunted. "You have a point."

Kakashi began to divide up the money in his hands. "Now since the mission was successfully completed the client has paid us the fee agreed upon in our contract. For a mission involving a three man squad each team member receives ten percent. The commander receives twenty, and as with all missions the village receives fifty. Here you are." He handed each of them a single thousand ryu note. "You are free for the rest of the day. We'll meet again tomorrow at ten."

"Wait a minute! This is it? This will buy my like three bowls of ramen!" Naruto objected.

"Welcome to D ranks." Rika sighed and just put her payment away. I guess I'll be eating instant ramen and noodles for a while.

"This can't be right! Everybody says that ninja make lots of money! Isn't that the whole reason there are ninja villages in the first place?" Naruto argued. While money wasn't his main motivator he had assumed once he was a real ninja he'd finally be able to move out of his crappy apartment and own some nice things. That only seemed fair given he was willing to risk his life for the village.

"We just painted a fence." Sasuke said dryly. "How much were you expecting to get paid idiot?"

Naruto glared at his teammate. "That's easy for you to say! You're rich mister, 'I have my very own compound in the middle of the village.' I hear you're the only one who even lives in it. What are you too good to share?"

Sasuke looked absolutely murderous for a moment. The reason the Uchiha compound remained empty was because he couldn't bear to have strangers living there. For him it was a memorial to all his relatives who had been slaughtered. Mocking that sounded like Naruto was mocking all those deaths. The only thing that kept Sasuke from knocking the idiot on his ass was knowing he was probably too dumb to understand what he'd just said.

Sasuke instead turned around and walked away.

Seeing the bastard stomp off Naruto was about to say something more but he caught a warning look from his sensei. He also noted that Rika looked a bit uncomfortable. He grumbled quietly not understanding why they were both on Sasuke's side.

"Naruto," Kakashi said quietly. "I would avoid making comments like that to Sasuke. Especially if you're ever someplace with no witnesses."

"Huh?"

"As to your original question about your pay." Kakashi pressed on. "That's standard for most D rank missions. It is true that ninja can make a lot of money, for themselves and the village, but how much a mission is worth is directly proportional to how difficult and dangerous the mission is. You're not likely to be killed painting a fence inside Konoha."

Naruto looked unhappy but nodded. He had to admit that made sense. "So when will start doing real missions?"

"When I think you are ready." Kakashi said with a hidden smile.

"Uh sensei?" Rika spoke up.

"Yes Rika? Nice job today by the way. I can't tell you how good it is to have at least one student who doesn't spend all their time complaining and asking me to teach them something."

Rika opened her mouth and then closed it. "Never mind, I will see you tomorrow sensei, Naruto." She headed off.

Kakashi chuckled.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei," Naruto spoke a bit nervously. "Do you think Rika knows?"

"Knows about what?"

"Well…" He pointed to his stomach. "You know."

"I could ask her, but if she doesn't know I'd be executed for breaking the Hokage's law. She was only two at the time of the Kyuubi's attack. I'd say chances are high she doesn't know."

"Thank kami." Naruto said with a sigh of relief.

"You know the law doesn't apply to you Naruto. You can tell anyone you like. That includes your teammates."

"Are you crazy? Why would I do that? Almost everybody here hates me already."

"You might find your teammates more accepting than you expect."

"Or they might be just like everyone else." Naruto left to head home.

With a sad shake of his head Kakashi set out for the Tower.

XXX

On his way home he saw the looks.

It was just like every other day. The people in the street would have the same ugly expressions. They hated and feared him. They would stare for just a moment and then they would all look away and try to pretend he didn't exist. No one ever hit him. When he'd been a small child it had happened a few times until the ANBU made some examples and then it had stopped completely. No one touched him and it was rare to even have people yell at or curse him.

They just ignored him.

He had never felt as though he belonged. He had always been made to feel alone and an outsider. Before that night with Mizuki he'd never even known why, at least now he had a reason. Before becoming a ninja he'd been able to count the number of people who treated him decently on one hand; Teuchi, Ayame, Iruka, and the old man. Now since then Sakura had become his girlfriend, Kakashi treated him decently, and he had hopes that maybe he and Rika could be friends.

For a long while he'd really wanted Sasuke's acknowledgement, but after the way he'd treated Sakura now Naruto just wanted to be stronger than him. He wanted to force Sasuke to admit he was not as wonderful as he thought.

As he went the people deliberately made a wide space around him even as they turned their eyes away. They did all they could to make him feel like he didn't really exist. And these were the adults! What would happen if he told Sakura or his teammates what was inside him? He knew how unfair most people were.

"Stupid sensei." Naruto muttered and picked up his pace.

XXX

The following day they performed two D rank missions; walking a number of dogs and cutting a dozen lawns.

"Is this really all we're going to do?" Naruto complained after Kakashi dismissed them for the day.

"It wouldn't be so bad if we at least got some training to go along with the pointless labor." Sasuke grunted. "That is part of a sensei's job isn't it? To train his students and make them better ninja?"

"Yeah! You're supposed to make us stronger!" Naruto for once agreed with Sasuke.

Kakashi sighed. "Believe it or not being a ninja is about more than just knowing jutsus. I need to build the foundations before I can even begin worrying about teaching you jutsu. You need to strengthen your teamwork, increase your physical endurance and strength, build up your chakra reserves and improve your control before I can begin teaching you jutsu. Learning jutsus is the last step and you are nowhere close to ready."

"Then help us get ready." Sasuke growled. He was frustrated. He needed to get stronger to avenge his clan and his sensei's lackadaisical attitude wasn't helping him with that.

"Yeah! You need to help us more!" Naruto was frustrated. He needed to get stronger to become Hokage and make the villagers acknowledge him. Kakashi's lazy attitude wasn't getting it done.

"I am helping, these missions are teaching you how to work together and deal with unpleasant activities." He motioned for them to relax. "One step at a time, if you want to do more though you can always train together in your free time." Kakashi hinted.

Both Naruto and Sasuke opened their mouths to argue when Rika spoke.

"Could you reserve a training ground for us sensei?" Both boys looked at her startled.

Kakashi looked pleased. "Training Ground One is general purpose and it's open to all ninja. You can train there any time you like. The only condition is you're not permitted to use destructive jutsus or explosive notes. No burning down or blowing up the terrain."

"What? You mean we could have been training there all this time?" Naruto asked not believing it. "Why didn't you tell us that?"

"You never asked."

All three students sweat dropped.

"Sensei please don't take this the wrong way," Rika asked politely. "But by any chance is there a different Hatake Kakashi in the village?"

XXX

At Training Ground One they spotted several other squads doing basic exercises. The area was two square miles though so they had no trouble finding a space for themselves. Rika shrugged off her jacket and her two swords and loosened up a little. "In my old squad we would begin every morning with stretches then a hundred sit ups, a hundred pushups, and a three mile run. Then we would train."

"Sounds like you had a really good teacher." Naruto said.

"Well Renji-sensei believed in hard work. 'Sweat saves blood,' he liked to say."

"I bet he taught you lots of jutsus."

Rika smiled. "I was with him for a year and a half and he taught me three of them."

"Only three?" Naruto sounded disappointed.

"Jutsus are hard to master. Trying to learn too many may prevent you from maximizing any of them. It may also cause you to hesitate in battle trying to choose, that can be fatal. Most Genin and Chunin rely on only a handful of jutsu. It's mostly just the Jonin who have lots of them."

Naruto looked upset but quickly brightened. "That's okay, I'll be a Jonin real soon and then I'll learn all the jutsus there are."

"No doubt," Rika said politely. "Why don't we start off by sparring so I can get some idea of where your taijutsu is?"

"Sure!" Naruto said.

"Hn." Sasuke was not enthused, but this might be better than training alone.

Rika dropped into a fighting stance. "Well then how about we start Naruto? Come and attack me as hard as you can."

Grinning Naruto threw himself at her needing no encouragement. He launched a wild series of punches and kicks that he was sure would just overwhelm her. Rika was forced to back up a couple steps as she blocked his strikes. Naruto was excited as he had the taller girl on the run.

Then all of a sudden he felt her grab his arm and he was flying through the air. "Wha?"

He thudded on his back and had all the air forced out of him. Before he could scramble back up a sandaled foot stepped on his chest and pinned him to the ground.

"That was just plain horrible." Rika said in a lecturing tone that reminded him of Sakura. "Your forms are sloppy, your footwork is nonexistent, you have no sense of balance, and you're all attack; you don't even think about defense." She removed her foot and offered him a hand up.

Blushing Naruto accepted and quickly got back to his feet. "It's not my fault; the instructors wouldn't ever help me except for Iruka."

Rika didn't know what to make of that. She had been in the Academy class just two years ahead of him. Naturally some of her classmates had been worse than others but the instructors had made sure everyone had the basics down. She didn't understand how one student could be allowed to slide by with such subpar skills.

"Well that's okay; I can help you improve your taijutsu."

"Why would you?" Naruto asked suspiciously. Except for Iruka no one ever wanted to help him train. The few times some of his classmates offered to it had just been as a joke.

"Because I am your teammate and I want you to at least be competent in hand to hand. Someday my life may depend on you and your fighting skills. It's in my own best interest to help you." Why did she have to explain that? Wasn't it obvious?

Naruto considered it and very slowly nodded. "Okay, then I'd be glad to have you help me."

"Good and I'm sure Sasuke will want to help you too."

"I will?"

Rika looked over at him. "Did you not hear what I just said about my life possibly depending on him? That applies to you too you know."

"I'm a lot stronger than he is."

Naruto growled.

"You did pass the Genin Test right?" Rika asked feeling a little exasperated. What was wrong with these two? "A squad needs to work together as a single unit. Otherwise each member ends up fighting alone and vulnerable. You want strong teammates who can help you and watch your back. And besides, the sooner the entire team is strong the sooner Kakashi will probably let us go on a C rank."

Sasuke opened his mouth with a snide comment, but then closed it. What she'd just said was probably true. Sakura's weakness would have held him back. Naruto's was bound to do the same. Even being an avenger it would be faster if he helped the idiot improve. "All right I suppose I'll help him."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, it's just helping myself."

Naruto nodded but couldn't help but think that maybe he wasn't a complete bastard.

"Well I'm glad that's settled." Rika dropped into a fighting stance and faced Sasuke. "How about you spar with me now?"

"Sure."

One minute later…

Rika found herself on her back with Sasuke's foot on her chest and a smug smile on his face. "I told you I wasn't like the idiot."

"No doubt," Rika admitted. He had come in with a straightforward series of jabs and taken her by surprise with a leg sweep. "You're excellent at taijutsu and I can see how you were rookie of the year in your class."

Sasuke nodded. "I am an Uchiha."

"You're also full of openings."

"What?"

With her right hand she grabbed hold of the foot he'd planted on her. With her left she took out his other leg and sent him falling. As soon as his back hit the ground she used her legs to pin down both shoulders. Sasuke suddenly found himself helpless on the ground with a girl sitting there holding both his legs up in the air. He was staring up at her grinning face.

"I didn't tap out or say the spar was over. You shouldn't just assume a fight is done until it really is."

"Those aren't legal moves for a taijutsu match."

"Want to complain to the instructor?"

"There is no instructor." Sasuke growled.

"My point exactly." Rika said.

"You cheated."

"Is that what you're going to say when an enemy ninja does something you don't expect? You plan to cry and say 'you cheated?'"

"Man I wish I had a camera right now." Naruto said.

Sasuke's face reddened, he was not used to being shown up.

"Say you give and I'll let you go."

"No."

Rika raised an eyebrow. "You do know a certain… weak point is exposed and open to being hit right now?" She directed her eyes to that certain spot.

"You wouldn't."

"No doubt, but do you really want to take that chance?"

"I give." Sasuke ground out.

XXX

In a nearby tree Pakkun chuckled. "Kakashi will get a laugh out of this."