Yo! Here is the third chapter! Apologies for taking way too long on it. Hope you enjoy! It focuses more on Team Seven in this one and leads into the first real arc of the story, the Land of Waves!

4 Months Later

Sora P.O.V.

Amegakure

Focused, eyes locked on the target, adrenaline pumping through his veins as his body moved. Each movement was precise, quick and efficient, his form near perfection. His arm lashed out and his body going with it, providing more momentum. The kunai was launched at the apex of his throw, the projectile reached the target in less than a second. The kunai then continued to fly across the room and embedded itself deep into the wall.

"Sora, I don't like this form of training." Tobi called out.

He wiped the sweat from his brow and went to collect the kunai that was lodged in the wall.

"Why? It's perfect, any attack thrown at you can't hurt you, training with moving targets is better than stationary ones." He responded as he yanked the weapon out of the wall.

"You were aiming for the hole in my mask! I could lose my eye!" Tobi cried.

"And what a throw that was, right on target."

"When you asked me to be your training partner, you abusing my abilities isn't what I had in mind."

The sound of footsteps interrupted them, Itachi slowly moved towards them.

The Uchiha took in the surroundings, all the destruction that he had caused with various jutsu and weapons. He raised a brow but mentioned nothing of it.

"You've been summoned." Then Itachi left as quickly as he came.

Strange, why would Itachi show up just to deliver a message? Pein could just as easily summon them through their rings.

"Well, Tobi, we'd better hurry. We'd hate to keep our leader waiting." He said already leaving.

His partner grumbled about being left behind as he ran to catch up with him.

Pein surprised him, he didn't expect it for a mission, or more rather, this particular mission.

They were to head to the Land of Waves and meet with the shipping tycoon, Gato.

And Kakuzu was to accompany them. Most interesting, the Akatsuki have never expressed an interest in Gato before, or at least it was never made known. Though it made sense that Kakuzu would join them, he was in charge of funding and he loved money. Especially since they would be dealing with Gato, being one of the richest men out there.

"Kakuzu will be in charge of this mission, you will secure funding for the Akatsuki." Pein said and then dismissed then, staring out at the rain that poured down upon his village.

"Let's go." Kakuzu didn't even wait for them, he immediately turned and went on his way.

'Certainly not one to waste any time. Especially with money involved.' He mused

Being under Kakuzu's command, this would be a very interesting mission.

Not to mention the possibility of running into Team Seven, there was a high probability of things turning south very quick.

They might even end up capturing Naruto.

'How interesting. I look forward to meeting you Team Seven.'

Kakashi P.O.V.

"Are you sure about this?" The silver haired Jonin asked.

Hiruzen was proposing something unorthodox, he wanted another Jonin put on the team.

Training Team Seven was going well, he enjoyed watching them perform mundane and tedious D-rank missions.

And watching them try to capture the infamous cat, Tora, it was the cherry on top.

But he felt it strange to have another Jonin on the team.

Hiruzen nodded, "I know it isn't normal, but I believe it would be very beneficial for all parties involved. I'm doing this for her benefit, Cobra's not taking the encounter well. Taking part in training a Genin team could help. You were also a former ANBU operative, you could provide her with help."

He sighed, he had heard of battle where an ANBU team fought the S-rank shinobi, Shinsei Sora.

The surviving team member was left rather traumatized from the fight. Those shinobi were using and testing unique chakra based weaponry, and they were rather good at it too. But a low A-rank team would hard pressed to bring down an S-rank shinobi, there was a reason not many shinobi held the famed S-rank title, their were on another level altogether from A-ranks, the gap was immense.

He didn't want to admit it, but the Hokage had made a mistake only sending one team. But no one could have anticipated just how fast Sora was, stories circulated about his unbelievable speed, speed that rivaled or even possibly exceeded the Raikage. They knew he was fast but to that extent? They thought the rumours exaggerated.

Cobra was a young ninja, having only recently joined the ANBU, she was twenty years old. ANBU wasn't for everyone, some agents have seen and done horrible things, you had to be made of stern material to handle the dark side of ANBU operations, he knew that all too well. ANBU agents generally also died gruesome deaths.

"If you say so, when will she be joining the team?" He said.

"Today, she is outside now actually, I'll leave her in your care." Hiruzen said.

Kakashi turned and left the Hokage's office. Sitting outside was a very beautiful woman, sea blue eyes, small pink lips, delicate facial features and small freckles that dotted her cheeks and nose. But even still, he found it strange that this woman would give Sora pause, shinobi's don't hesitate or rather they shouldn't.

She stood and bowed slightly in respect.

He returned it and held out his hand.

"Hatake Kakashi." He said even though he was sure that she was well aware of who he was. Everyone in Konoha knew him, as he was one of their most elite shinobi.

She shook his hand, "Asami."

He raised a brow. 'No last name, interesting.'

He gestured for her to follow with a small flick of his head. She fell into step beside him.

'Time to introduce her to the team.'

Naruto P.O.V.

How he hated doing D-rank missions. They were so degrading. He just wanted to learn awesome jutsu and go on kick ass missions.

And the worst part, his Sensei was always late! He never arrived at the specified time he told them to meet at.

He knew that Sakura and Sasuke were annoyed with it as well, though that bastard Sasuke was annoyed at anything. He really needed to lighten up and stop being a broody prick.

They've been sitting at the training grounds for hours now, just… waiting. And he was driving him mad.

"Stupid Sensei." He grumbled to himself.

"That's not very nice." He leapt up into the air in fright. He spun around and to his horror, his Sensei was standing right there with a bored expression in his eye.

He snapped his finger out and shouted, "YOU'RE LA-" He stopped as he finally noticed that Kakashi wasn't alone, a really beautiful lady was standing beside him, she had the most stoic look on her face.

"Who's that, Sensei?" Sakura said.

"This here is Asami, she will be a part of team from now on. She will help train you three." Sasuke eyed her with the most critical gaze possible. But he sported a big goofy grin, extra training? It was too good to be true, now he could learn even more about being a kick ass shinobi. He rushed up to, not paying attention to the blatant violation of her personal space.

"Cool! Are you going to teach us awesome jutsu?!" He said, just about jumping from the excitement of learning something cool. She stared at him with an uncomfortable expression.

'This lady is weird.' He suddenly had a mouth full of dirt and pain shooting through his head.

"Naruto! Don't be so rude!" Sakura growled, scolding him.

"Did I say that out loud?" He groaned as he rubbed his head and spat dirt out of his mouth. Sakura could hit damn hard. He wondered what her punches would be like after they become Jonin, the mere thought sent shivers down his spine.

"Ignoring what just happened, no, she won't teaching any jutsu just yet. We'll be getting to know each other just for now. Right, name, likes, dislikes and dreams for the future, you first dirt face." Kakashi said.

He grumbled, not really a fan of being called dirt face. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like instant ramen, I love all the different flavours of ramen and I hate how ramen takes two minutes to cook, I also dislike Sasuke. My dream is to be Hokage!"

She seemed to smile slightly, though he wasn't sure if he had missed it or not.

Sakura introduced herself and got all giggly over the emo, it made his blood boil, what was so special about Sasuke?

Asami let out a sigh when Sakura finished. He knew that sound, disappointment. He knew it because he had experienced it himself, his lacklustre performance when executing jutsu for the Academy exams made him feel disappointed and angry at himself.

Sasuke then introduced himself and his part about having an ambition and killing someone, blah, blah, stupid bastard trying to act all cool and disinterested again.

But he didn't think on it long, it was Asami's turn.

"I like rain, the dark clouds and the roar of thunder. I like gazing at the stars. I dislike… weak wills, inaction, I HATE the man who murdered my closest friends and team and it is my dream that I shall take the life of my friend's murderer and that one day, I may lay my weapons down and enjoy peace without constant bloodshed."

He was left in awe, and out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Sakura and Sasuke were also enraptured, giving her their full attention.

They all snapped out of it when Kakashi clapped his hands. "Fantastic, we all know each now. Now, time to get into a bit of training. After that, we'll grab a mission."

He loved training, it kept him focused, he would get to grow stronger and become an awesome shinobi, one worthy of respect, one that would be loved by the entire village.

They didn't really do much training, some exercises, chakra control techniques and some sparring.

They run through the usual that Kakashi usually did and while he focused on trying to control his chakra, Asami and Kakashi silently discussed something off to the side, they both looked very serious. What could they be talking about?

Kakashi called an end to their training. "Alright kids, this is a little unconventional, you would usually learn the tree walking technique first. But Asami wants to teach you a jutsu."

She instantly had everyone's attention.

"I believe that all Genin should have and at least try to master this one Water Release technique." And she slowly went through the hand seals, he took careful note of every one.

"Water Release: Gunshot." And a huge blast of water rocketed out of her mouth and slammed into a nearby tree. It didn't really do much damage, it stripped the bark off but that was it.

"That was… disappointing." He grumbled, he didn't really care for a jutsu that just splashed his enemy.

"Hm." Even Sasuke agreed.

"I don't see how that is useful." Sakura hesitantly chipped in.

He frowned when even Asami and Kakashi agreed with them. Why on earth would they learn this jutsu if it was useless?! How would this help them become better, kick ass shinobi?!

"Indeed, it was weak." Asami said.

"Why would we learn a useless jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"A dull kunai needs to be sharpened."

Sakura's eyes lit up in understanding, "I get it, you showed us how to do it, but we need to make it stronger."

Asami smiled a little. She looked better with a smile on her face he concluded. She should smile more, she was pretty, though not as pretty as Sakura.

But enough of that, he had a jutsu to master! He would master it and make it strong!

'Curse that damn jutsu!' He growled. They spent an hour on it. Sakura took to it well, she made it look easy, though it wasn't very strong and she couldn't make much water before she was exhausted.

Kakashi reckons it is because she doesn't have a lot amount of chakra or experience molding elemental chakra. He figured that having a huge amount of chakra, he would blitz it, but all he ever got was a few droplets of water! He couldn't get it and mold the chakra right and it made his blood boil!

At least Sasuke also had trouble with it, he could spit out a mouthful of water. But he too had a dark scowl on his face, not being able to master the jutsu.

Kakashi seemed to enjoy watching them fail and he kept mentioning how they should have done the 'tree climbing technique' first, whatever that was. He also said something about affinities but he

And now after that disappointing training session, they had to capture some stupid cat. And they've been at it for ages! Cursed cat was faster than what it should've been and had scratched him all over.

Although he'd chased it down an alley, and now it had no where to go.

The demon hissed at him and his eyes twitch.

"Got you now, bloody cat!" He growled and surged forward to grab it. He only just managed to catch it and prevent it from slipping by him again.

It went wild and flailed about his hands, ripping into his skin constantly.

He had to do everything in his power not to kill it.

Kakashi was suddenly by his side and gave him his signature eye smile.

"Well done! Now to the report in for a successful mission." He said, the rest of the team waited at the end of alley for them, Sasuke and Sakura both glared at the cat, it had scratched them everywhere as well. Asami grinned slightly, damn chick was a sadist, relishing in their pain.

They made they way to the Hokage's tower where the old man and Iruka dished out missions for the Genin teams.

Giving the demon 'Tora' back to the fat lady and seeing it get crushed as she left made him feel a sick sense of pleasure.

"Congratulations on a successful mission Team Seven." The Hokage smiled.

He groaned, "I'm so tired of these D-ranks."

Sasuke grunted in agreement and Sakura nodded.

"All Genin teams do D-ranks at first, Naruto, sometimes for a few months even." Iruka said.

He paled, one word floated around in his head more than any other.

Months.

MONTHS!

"NO! I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE OF THIS CRAP! I want a better mission old man! I'm a shinobi dammit!" He shouted.

"NARUTO! Show some respect!" Iruka shouted, somehow managing to enlarge his head to impossible proportions.

"It's quite alright, Iruka. Kakashi, do you believe you team is ready for a C-rank?" Hiruzen asked.

Kakashi nodded, "I'd say they are ready, especially now that we have Asami on the team, I think they can handle it."

"Well, we do have one C-rank available. Iruka, please call in the client." Iruka left and came back with a drunk old man who could barely keep himself upright.

"What is this, I asked for shinobi. Not a Scarecrow and his trio of brats. Though the lady is a welcome addition." He drawled.

"Why you, I'll beat you into the ground!" He roared and rushed to hit the old twat.

Sakura had to hold him back.

"I'm Tazuna, I need escort and protection from bandits while I build a bridge in my homeland."

"Tazuna, believe me when I say that my team and I are more than capable of protecting you."

Kakashi turned to them, "Alright, we leave tomorrow, gather your supplies and meet at the main gate by 6am."

Although he didn't really like the old drunk, he was super excited to go on his first real mission.

"See you tomorrow guys! See you Kakashi, Asami" He said, they all responded. Though strangely Asami had been rather quiet, simply staring at Tazuna. She was weird, really silent, didn't say much. But he liked her, didn't look at him with hatred and she even taught him a jutsu, that made her alright in his book.

He was first to the gate in the morning, the excitement of finally leaving the village and seeing the world made it difficult to sleep and he could hardly wait.

Sakura showed up ten minutes later and he waved in greeting.

She returned his wave with a small smile, "Morning Naruto. Sasuke not here yet?" She said, looking around for the Uchiha.

"Morning! Hey Sakura, you excited to see the world?" He grinned.

She smiled a little, though it looked to be a nervous smile, "I'm a bit scared." She admitted, "Though I am looking forward to it."

Soon, they were both met with a sight that surprised them and left them in disbelief.

Sasuke showed up walking beside Asami, talking with her a little. That was weird, Sasuke never voluntarily walked or talked with anyone, he actually tried to avoid such things.

Sakura quickly got over her shock, "Morning Sasuke! Asami! You ready for our mission?"

"I was born ready." Sasuke smirked.

"Sure you were." Naruto said, there Sasuke goes again, trying to be all cool.

"More ready than you ever will be, loser." He bristled at that. Prick.

Asami chuckled, "Ah, how I've missed team banter."

"If you don't mind me asking, what was your team like, Sensei?" Sakura said curiously.

Asami fell silent for a few moments. She smiled sadly.

"We were an experimental ANBU team, we used new weapons to field test them often. We were of differing ages but we got on well. Python liked playing with his fire jutsu, trying to master his signature move in order to seem like a 'badass'. Viper loved tending to his garden, growing the most beautiful flowers and most delicious vegetables. He also like talking about his..." She stopped, her voice chocked and her eyes filled to the brim with tears.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bring up painful memories." Sakura quickly apologised.

Asami wiped the tears away and smiled as she ruffled Sakura's hair.

"No, you don't have to apologise for anything. The wounds are still fresh, I'll talk about my team more another time."

Soon Tazuna popped up and then they waited, and waited some more… and even more.

Tazuna frowned, "Where is the other Jonin? He should be here by now."

Didn't he know it, lazy Scarecrow. It had nearly been three hours.

"Yo!" He leaped into the air, Kakashi had appeared right behind him!

He and Sakura both screamed "YOU'RE LATE!"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well, you see, there was this old lady who needed help with her shopping bags. I couldn't refuse to help."

"...Lair, such a lame excuse!" He shouted. Did he really expect them to believe that?

Kakashi shrugged and greeted Tazuna. They left shortly after. It was time! A real mission and a chance to see the world! This was perfect! What could go wrong?

What did you think?

Just to put it out there rather quickly, no, this won't be Asami x Naruto, Asami way too old, just in case you thought that from the writing. I was trying to show that Naruto reckons she should be more expressive, that's all. And it won't be Asami x Kakashi either, no pairings for her.

There is also a hidden agenda for Asami being on the team, it was hinted at.

Although, speaking of pairs, I reckon Sora x Temari, they are actually around the same age at the moment, the Sand siblings are quite old when they enter the Chunin Exams. Temari is probably one of my personal favourite characters, I really like her design. thoughts?

Edit: Actually, i think no pairings might be best. I'll continue to think it over, but for now, I think no pairings is best for an Akatsuki story.

I was unsure of using honorifics, I think I'll just continue without them, do you guys prefer them?

Anyhow, 'till next time!