A Razor's Edge

Chapter 3: Chores

By: T.E. Rose

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters much to my great displeasure

A/N: I would like to take a moment and apologize for the extended wait it was not my intention for it to take this long to have this chapter out but here it is now. Also I am going to apologize for any spelling or grammatical problems you may encounter. I have tried to minimize them but I am sure that I missed some. I am only human after all.

Publishing Date: July 19, 2011

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Naruto woke up early the next morning. He had had trouble sleeping he was so excited. Dressing in his usual outfit with the addition of his forehead protector, which he hung around his neck, he exited his bedroom to make himself breakfast. He knew that normally a forehead protector was worn, as the name would suggest, around the forehead the way he saw it was his throat was significantly softer and could use the added protection.

After a quick breakfast, peanut butter toast and a glass of milk, a quick stop in the bathroom to take care of the necessities and he was out the door. Exiting his run down apartment and locking the door he was on his way to the Shinobi Affairs Administration Tower, otherwise known as the Hokage Tower, for his meeting with the old goat. An old goat who also happened to be keeping his seat warm.

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The Hokage tower was divided into a number of different areas, there was the ANBU Liaison Office, the Military Police Headquarters, Civilian Liaison Offices, Shinobi Council Offices, Administration, Record Keeping, Code Breaking and the list goes on and on most of these things one would never see unless you were in the unit but they were there.

Naruto however was there to speak with the Hokage who, even this early in the morning, was likely already in his office.

Walking into the tall red tower he was surprised when he didn't see any of the other students from the class he had graduated with waiting to speak with the Hokage. Surely some of them must have passed the exam. Resolving to ask the old man about it when he saw him Naruto continued on his way up to the venerable old Hokages office.

Just outside the office was an ANBU guard with purple hair, their face obscured by a Neko mask, though whether it was a tiger, leopard, ocelot, lynx, panther, cougar or some other kind he had never heard of he was not sure. Naruto knew they were supposed to be frightening but personally he didn't think they were all that scary.

As he was rather fond of his hand he resisted the urge to reach up and stroke the ANBU's luscious looking purple mane and say "good kitty" he instead knocked on the office door. After a moment he heard the Sandaime's somewhat gravelly voice bid him enter.

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Poking his head in, which was quickly followed by the rest of his body he turned and closed the door with a gentle click as his surrogate grandfather greeted him jovially.

"Ah! Excellent! Naruto-Kun just the young man that I wanted to see." came the genial voice of Sarutobi.

Naruto crossed the room and took the same seat that he always did when he stopped in, or was called or hauled in, to see the Hokage. "Morning Gramps."

"Good Morning Naruto-Kun." Responded the wise old ruler as a warm smile stretched across wizened face as he settled back into his chair. A comfortable silence settled over them for several moments before Sarutobi breached it. "Now I suppose you are wondering why it is you are here this morning?"

Naruto nodded his head once before speaking. "Actually I was. Where are the other's who graduated with me? Surely I wasn't the only one to pass?" asked the confused young shinobi.

This solicited an amused chuckle from the Sandaime. "No Naruto you were not the only one to pass. The others are at the academy, or will be, awaiting their team assignments."

Naruto was confused. If they were getting team assignments at the academy then what was he doing here. He must have looked as confused as he felt because the next thing the Hokage did was explain.

"There was an odd number of graduates this term. As Genin cells consist of three Genin and a Jounin we couldn't just stick someone in somewhere as it would have unbalanced the teams. Thusly you were chosen, by me, to be placed on Active Reserve. Which means you will not be joining a team. Rather it means you will fill in on a number of teams when they have injuries or need one more person to fill a specific role." The Sandaime paused to examine the young man in front of him.

Naruto didn't know what to make of this development. He had expected to be placed on a team like anybody else and was slightly disappointed that he wasn't going to be. Why could nothing in his life be normal?

"Now I know you might be disappointed by this, but it does have several benefits. You are still going to be able to do missions. D-rank you can do by yourself and there is a slim possibility that you could even be sent on a C-rank sooner than most of those who graduated with you to become Genin. I trust that you find that acceptable?" Finished the Hokage looking expectantly at the young man sitting in front of him.

"Of course I do." Naruto declared adamantly before continuing. "Its just not what I was expecting." Admitted the blond somewhat lamely.

"No. I do not suspect that it was." Admitted the Sandaime kindly. "If you come back at nine the mission's office will be open and you can select your first D-rank mission to take on."

Naruto cheered up a bit at that. He would be there just as soon as the doors opened.

Seeing the boy perk up a bit at the prospect of a mission Sarutobi repressed a chuckle. "Very well you are dismissed."

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While he was waiting for the mission distribution center to open Naruto went to find a place to train until it was time for him to go back so he could get his first mission. This proved far more difficult than he had anticipated though. As training ground after training ground was filled with Genin cell's, Academy Students who had the weekend off and still others were being used by seasoned ninja. Eventually though he did find one.

Deciding that he needed to practice his moving accuracy Naruto took off running in the woods surrounding the training grounds. Drawing his kunai from his pouch he picked targets as he went. When he ran out of kunai he switched to his throwing knives, which he carried instead of shuriken, when he was out of those he retraced his steps and collected his weapons. Some he had to search for a bit in order to find them but he did eventually manage to find all of them.

With his steel collected he found his way back to the clearing at the center of the settling down he removed a whetstone from his supply pouch. His supply pouch was attached to his kunai holster and contained a very few items other than the whetstone. There was a small collapsible brass telescope about an inch in diameter, a compass, a set of lock picks, a small medical kit and a matte black cigarette lighter.

With the blades of his knives honed to a razors edge Naruto replaced them, throwing knives in his hip pouch, three in the sheath on his arm and kunai back in his leg holster. The whole exercise had taken him a little more than an hour and factoring in the amount of time it had taken him to find an empty training ground he only had about twenty minutes to get back to the Hokage Tower if he wanted to be there right when the doors to the Mission Distribution Center opened.

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Naruto made the journey back to the tower as quickly as possible while taking as many side streets and shortcuts as possible. Avoiding the major roadways as much as possible. Early in the morning when the streets were empty he didn't mind using them but when the city woke up he made a habit of avoiding them. People seemed to be ruder to him than they were to others, not to mention the looks. Glares, people staring down their noses at him sneering at him like he'd killed their first born. Insults and jeers and all that were things he could do without. He had some hope that now that he was a ninja that would change things for the better but didn't feel like testing it if he could avoid it.

He made good time despite taking as many detours as he did. He was there almost as soon as the doors were opened and then a few minutes later he was standing in the mission room staring at the Hokage in open disbelief.

"You can't be serious old man!" exclaimed a rather stunned Naruto. Earning rather annoyed glances from several of the other ninja present, amused grins from a few others and a chuckle from the wise old leader himself.

"Not what you were expecting I take it." responded the Hokage, a grin twitching at the corners of his mouth threatening to spill onto his careworn face as he held a mission folder out to a scowling Naruto.

"Of course not! How can you call this a mission!" snatching the folder Naruto glared at the old man who he'd once seen as a grandfather though at the moment he was having trouble not seeing him as a clown. Because this had to be a joke of some kind, some kind of Genin hazing ritual. "Look Old Man I know I played some pranks when I was younger but this is no time to get back at me. So what if I tie-dyed your robes."

This time it was the Hokage's turn to glare. "I had forgotten about that. But this isn't a punishment Naruto. These have a purpose." Pausing he watched as Naruto lean forward as if he were about to divulge state secrets. "I tell you what as soon as you figure out the meaning of these D-rank mission's I'll arrange for you to go on a C-rank mission. Do we have a deal?

Naruto glared suspiciously at the Hokage. Before sticking out his hand for the old man to shake. "Deal. Have my C-rank ready by this afternoon."

The Sandaime chuckled at the young mans confidence before shaking his hand to seal the deal.

Taking the file Naruto left the Mission Hall determined to figure out the hidden meaning in these chores. He refused to call, mending a fence, a mission.

After a quick review of the details he left to find the client who had hired him for this farce.

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The client as it turned out was the proprietor of a small but very popular ramen stand. Naruto had been in several times, and while he enjoyed the ramen it was the waitress who had kept him coming back, well her and the fact they treated him like they would anybody else. If he was honest with himself he had a bit of a crush on Ayame, which she doubtlessly knew about but very tactfully pretended not to.

"Excuse me sir the Hokage sent me to fix your fence." Said Naruto as politely as possible while looking up at the client, who was already hard at work, a rather large cleaver clentched in his hand as he chopped up bits of pork for a customs order. The mission dossier had specified that this was where he was to meet him.

Several of the stands patrons turned when he entered staring at him, their eyes lingering for a fraction of a second on the hitai-ate hanging around his neck before turning back to their meals.

"Naruto-san I see you graduated. Congratulations." Said the old man jovially while smiling at him from behind the bar. "My daughter is going to escort you to the house and show you were the fence and materials are." Then quite suddenly the genial old ramen chef disappeared and took on a far more ominous air. "and no funny business." Then quite as suddenly his threatening manner had appeared it was gone and he was back to being the same old genial ramen chef he always was.

Apparently Ayame wasn't the only one who knew that he had a crush on her.

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Several minutes of moderately embarrassed silence stretched between the two as Ayame led the way to her fathers home on the outskirts of Konoha. It passed quickly enough though and he was back to clumsily flirting with the young ramen waitress who giggled prettily at the blonds attempts while gently turning him down. Which only served to encourage him more, for some reason.

Far to soon, for Naruto's liking anyway, they had arrived at their destination and Ayame set about showing him what needed to be done and where the supplies were being kept. She had stayed for a bit to watch him but said that she had to get back to work leaving him to finish his first mission by himself.

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It took him the better part of the morning to replace the several broken planks that were missing form the fence, one fifteen foot section had been completely destroyed but soon enough he was finished and on his way back to the Hokage Tower. He made a quick pit stop at Ichiraku to inform the old man that he was finished.

In thanks the old man had practically forced a bowl of pork ramen on him. Not that he minded all that much it was lunch time and it gave him an opportunity to flirt some more with Ayame. It also gave him think about the meaning that the Hokage had hinted at behind the D-rank missions. A meaning that for the life of him he couldn't puzzle out. What he did know was that he wouldn't want to do a mission like that by himself again it would have been easier if there been at least one other person to help him.

Sighing Naruto made to pay for his meal but was waved off by the kindly old man who ran the stall. "Not this time Naruto-kun, you did me a great service by fixing that fence today. Now I don't have to do it." finished the old man with a laugh.

"Well thanks. It was my pleasure." responded Naruto, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

With that Naruto took his leave. Walking at a sedate pace back to the Hokage Tower trying to give himself a few extra moments to attempt to figure out the meaning behind D-Rank missions. It however continued to elude him. "Looks like I'm going to have to wait a few more days for my C-Rank. He wasn't relishing telling the Old Goat that he'd failed to discern the meaning behind these missions but he wasn't going to give up.

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"Alright you Old Goat, I need a couple more days to figure it out but I will!" Naruto declared the moment he was allowed to speak to the Hokage. He'd had to wait when he first arrived as a silver haired Jounin was already speaking to him. Naruto thought the man seemed rather odd. He had his hitai-ate slanted down across his face completely obscuring one eye and the rest of his face was blocked by a mask of some sort. Actually the only thing visible on his face was his right eye.

When the silver haired nin had left he'd stopped and looked at Naruto for a brief moment before the skin around his eye crinkled slightly, Naruto wasn't sure if he was smiling at him or not but felt compelled to offer a small grin in return before taking his place before the venerable old leader of Konoha.

"Well I'm glad to hear you're not giving up. To be honest I would have been shocked if you had figured out the reasons for them after only one mission. Now why don't you tell me about your first assignment as a ninja of the leaf."

At the Hokage's invitation Naruto proceeded to tell his surrogate grandfather all about his first assignment right down to how many times he'd accidentally smashed his thumb while trying to hold a board in place and nail it down at the same time. It had proved, for a relatively straight forward task, much more complicated than he'd anticipated it would be to do it by himself.

"Now. Old Man. Can I get another mission today or is their a limit or something?" questioned the blond eager to get another mission. It would give him another chance to figure out the meaning behind them. The more he did the more data he collected.

"You can do as many D-rank's per day as you can fit in. Keep in mind that the Mission hall closes at 3 in the afternoon." That said the Sandaime sifted through the various files on the table between him and Naruto before selecting the blonds next assignment. "Alright Naruto here you are."

Naruto took the file and left determined to this time figure it out. Though he wasn't sure what painting over graffiti would illuminate in terms of a meaning.

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The graffiti took him significantly less time to deal with than the broken fence had but after he'd painted over it the wall had looked bizarre with one patch of it painted white and the rest of it red brick. After staring at it for a few moment's he'd felt compelled to paint the whole wall, so in the end it took him a couple of hours, same as the fence.

After returning the supplies he'd procured from City Maintenance Naruto made his way back to the tower to collect his payment for his two missions hopeful that he would have enough to buy a book. He wasn't sure what he'd be in the mood for when he got to the bookstore whether it would be frivolous or practical.

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As it turned out he choose a happy medium. Something that was somewhat frivolous but also had a practical application. A book on shoji that came with the game itself. It had cost him a sizable chuck of his payment for his missions but he wasn't to worried about it he could just do more missions tomorrow.

Taking his new book Naruto went to find an empty training ground intending to begin his perusal of it. He knew that most people would go home to read but he hated his apartment. It was quite rundown and his landlord made no effort to fix the problems that cropped up, leading Naruto to attempt to fix the ones he could. He'd taken care of the peeling paint and the leaking faucet but the leaks in the roof he couldn't fix and other things he couldn't fix because he didn't have the money.

In short he didn't like spending more time there than necessary so he found an empty training ground in which to peruse his new purchase. A task which proved just as difficult in the early afternoon as it had been in the early morning. He did eventually find one though.

Entering the training area he walked over to a large flat topped rock to one side of the field that had afternoon sun shining on it. Deciding that was as good a place as any Naruto jumped up onto the rock and settled down to break in his new book. He had only read the first few pages which mostly just detailed the rules and a few basic scenarios, when he became distracted.

Before he could get into the real meat of the book he could hear voices drifting over to him from the edge of the training ground closest to the road making him stop. Folding over the corner of the page he was on he looked up to find four academy students making their way onto the grounds. Not moving from the rock on which he was sitting he took a moment to observe them before they noticed him. Or at least before they openly acknowledged his presence.

Unless he was very much mistaken they had all been in the class that he and Lee had inadvertently interrupted.

One of the four boys was carrying a puppy, leading the blond haired Genin to conclude that the boy was in all likelyhood an Inuzuka. When they entered the training ground the boy had set the pup down letting it run around and sniff at the various new smells and scents around the area.

Of the other boys Naruto was fairly sure that the biggest of them was an Akamichi based on the boys red hair and if it was indeed an Akamichi then the boy who had his hands behind his head while staring at the sky was likely a Nara, their clans were quite friendly due to the relationship between the clan heads. They had been on the same Genin team together during the last "Great Shinobi War" and made quite the names for themselves. The last boy he wasn't sure about but if he'd had to hazard a guess he'd say the boy was an Aburame. Based solely on the fact that he appeared to be staring rather intently at the tip of his pointer finger, which upon closer scrutiny had an insect of some sort perched upon it.

It wasn't until the pup noticed him that the others looked at him. The pup was whining scratching at the rock.

The other boys had stopped part way across the clearing when the dog had brought him to their attention.

"Oi. Are you training here or can we use the field?" the Inuzuka asked blunt and to the point like the majority of his clan.

"No. Go right ahead." was Naruto's simple reply. Cracking his book back open he returned to reading.

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The four had waited more than a minute for other boy to leave but he didn't seem to have any intention of doing so despite the fact that he had said they could use the field. Shrugging Kiba turned to Choji.

"Oi, Choji. Want to spar?" Kiba asked in the same rough manner he'd asked Naruto if they could use the field.

The other boy who had happily been munching on a bag of potato chips gave his friend a puzzled glance before agreeing. "What's up with you lately Kiba. All you want to do is spar?" inquired the red headed boy frowning slightly as they took up their Taijustu stances and their friends took seats off to the side.

"I want to wipe that smug ass smirk off the Uchiha's face," Growled out the Inuzuka before charging at his friend. "and the only way to do that is to get better." He finished as he closed the distance between the two of them.

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Naruto had tried to keep reading his book. He must have read the same passage more than thirty times now but he hadn't taken in a word of it. Giving up on his book for now he turned his attention to the escalating brawl between the Akamichi and Inuzuka. It wasn't a very good fight.

The Inuzuka was wild and sloppy with his technique though admittedly very fast. The Akamichi on the other hand had a good grasp on the form and if the sounds of impact were any indication was strong as well the problem was he was slow.

Apparently the other two concurred with Naruto's assessment of the fight as neither of them seemed to be paying the slightest bit of attention to the match. The Nara was now laying on the ground staring at the clouds as they passed by slowly over head. While the Aburame was sitting staring idly at the bug on his finger.

When the Akamichi finally called it quits and went to sit down beside the others clearly exhausted. The Inuzuka on the other hand looked as if he wanted to keep going but knew that none of his friends would want to so he turned to the only other person in the clearing aside from them.

"Oi, you wanna spar or just stare at me all day?"

Naruto just sighed and set his book aside before hopping down from his perch. Stretching for a moment he dropped into his Taijutsu stance. Waiting patiently for the other boy to perform the same headlong charge he had on the other boy. He didn't have to wait long.

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Kiba closed the distance between the two of them quickly but unlike Choji the blond seemed up to fighting at this pace. His first punch, a wide arching right hook, was neatly dodged as was the follow up knee. When his foot came back down he used it to propel himself forward again. Hoping to catch the other boy off guard. He wasn't.

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Naruto ducked under the other boys punch and pivoting on his right foot slightly was able to drive his elbow into the Inuzuka's stomach knocking the wind out of him. When the other boy was falling Naruto brought a knee to bear on his ribs before adding a sharp strike to the back of the head that sent the boy sprwaling.

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Tiny lights were going off in front of Kiba's eyes. As a searing pain raced through his body. This other boy was making a complete fool of him. Growling to himself he made to get up from the ground and continue their fight. That is until he felt a knee settle itself on his back between his shoulder blades forcing him back to the dirt before the cold steel of a blade pressed lightly against his throat.

He'd stopped moving when he felt it but it was removed after a few moments. Rolling over Kiba looked at the blond haired boy, a tanto clutched lightly in his hand which he re-sheathed after a second sliding the razor sharp implement back into its black lacquered scabbard.

Then the boy insulted him by turning his back on him and returned to the rock from where he retrieved a brown paper bag which he stored his book in.

Kiba, slightly embarrassed wasn't one to let his pride be wounded so easily. So he did something rather stupid as the boy made to leave the clearing. He attacked him again.

Drawing his fist back he prepared to deliver a rather punishing blow to the back of the young blonds head. The problem was the blond had heard him coming.

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Dropping his bag he pivoted, crouched, drew a kunai and exploded from his crouched position. Having gotten under the Inuzuka's guard rather easily due to the reckless nature of his attack when he'd come out of his crouch and driven the ring of the kunai into the other boys solar plexus with a tremendous amount of force causing him to crumple to the ground Naruto on top of him only adding to the troubled breathing of the young man.

If it had been a person from another village who had just done that Naruto would have used the blade rather than blunt ring at the end of the handle. It would have been a lethal attack. Retracting his arm from the strike Naruto flipped the kunai around so that point was pointing up into the air. Moving it between the boys eyes Naruto watched as his eyes crossed trying to keep the tip in view Naruto then brought the flat of the blade down sharply between the boys eyes.

Standing Naruto replaced the kunai back in his holster and watched momentarily while the other boy grabbed his face whining in obvious pain. Retrieving his bag Naruto walked over to the boys friends who were all watching him with rapt attention now. Kneeling Naruto smiled at them briefly before speaking. "Hello."

It was the Akamichi who returned his greeting so Naruto turned his attention to the boy. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto." said Naruto introducing himself.

"I'm Akamichi Choji." responded the young Akamichi courteously before looking at the others. Neither of whom made to introduce themselves so Choji did it for them. "This is Aburame Shino." he said indicating the young man who appeared to be in deep, though mute, conversation with the bug still perched atop his finger. "That is my best friend Nara Shikamaru."

Said boy waved a hand in acknowledgement before replacing it behind his head as he continued to stare at the clouds before Choji continued. "And that is Inuzuka Kiba." He said finishing while indication the boy who was still on the ground.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." replied the blond cheerfully before adding. "I imagine that you remember me from yesterday when I interrupted your class."

Frowning Choji did in fact recall Naruto now that he mentioned it. Curious he decided to ask the blond about what he had been doing there. "Why were you there anyway?"

"Oh. I was taking my graduation test." With that he indicated his hitai-ate daggling from its silk wrap from around his neck. "When do you all graduate?"

"Six months." replied the Akamichi pleasantly still munching away on his potato chips.

"Well good luck with your exams. Also you may want to take your friend home now he's going to be quite sore and while I don't believe he will have a concussion it would be best that you warn his family he may. His head struck the ground quite hard at the end there." Finished Naruto smiling before standing and taking his leave of the group.

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Two days after his encounter with the Inuzuka and his friends Naruto was personally requested for a D-rank mission at the Inuzuka compound. A situation which made him incredibly nervous. He had after all injured a member of their clan.

Approaching the street which lead to the neighborhood the Inuzuka Clan called home. He slowed considerably as he grew closer before coming to a stop completely. Taking a deep breath and continuing on his way and soon enough he was standing outside the Inuzuka kennels. He was supposed to clean them out. Given how many dogs he'd seen since entering the neighborhood it was going to be a long day.

Taking a deep breath he walked into the kennel to find a pair of women talking. They both had brown hair and red triangles on their cheeks. A bell over the door rang signaling his entrance and causing both women to pause in their conversation to turn and look at him.

"Hello?" Naruto was a little worried both women were rather feral looking. The older one in particular.

"You must be Uzumaki Naruto?" asked the younger of the two women while taking in Naruto's appearance.

"That depends…" Naruto replied warily. "What are you going to do to him."

Both women grinned at his response, in a manner Naruto found unsettling on an instinctual level. Backing up Naruto groped behind him for the door knob while keeping his eyes fixed on the two women in front of him.

"Ya know if you leave before your mission is finished you'll default. How's it going to look to the Hokage if you fail a d-rank mission." stated the older of the two this time.

Resigning to the fact that they were right he stopped his slow back peddle. "Alright so what do you want…"

"Well that is the question isn't it." intoned the younger of the two Inuzuka women as she continued her approach looking very much like a starving dog salivating over a fresh steak to Naruto.

Naruto had a very bad feeling about this…