Rock steady. Quieter than a shadow. Completely focused on their mission, Team 7 was as they hid behind their target.
"What's the distance to the target?" Came their instructor's voice through their headsets.
"Five meters." Sasuke responded. "I'm ready anytime."
"So am I."
"Me too."
"Ditto."
"Ok…GO!" In the blink of an eye, the team was rushing at their target.
"UURRRAAA!" Naruto yelled as he pounced on it. His teammates surrounded it, stopping any attempts at it escaping.
"Nnnyyyaaa!" The cat screeched as it felt Naruto's arms wrap around it's belly. It got over its shock quickly, however, and began furiously scratching Naruto's face. Sasuke, genuinely unfazed by his teammate's anguish, brought his hand back up to his headset.
"Ribbon on the left ear, are you sure this is the target, Tora?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah, we're sure."
"Good. Lost Pet 'Tora' Search Misson Complete!" They took their target back to the Hokage Tower, where the cat suffered more than it put Naruto through.
"Oh, my cute little Tora-chan. I was so worried." Said its owner as she nuzzled the cat's face.
'Gyahaa. In your face, stupid cat.' Naruto thought.
"Geez, no wonder it ran away." Sakura mumbled.
"Now," The Third Hokage said, holding a small paper up to his face. "Kakashi's Team #7, your next duty is…hmm…babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and help with the potato digging." As he read them off, Naruto's frustration rose.
"NO!!! NO!!! NO!!! No thank you!!! I want to do, you know, a more incredible mission!!! Find us a better one!!!" He yelled.
'Wow, for once, I actually agree with the dobe.'
'Geez, how annoying…'
'Aw, I thought it was about time for this…'
"You idiot, you're just a rookie!" Iruka yelled, standing up. "Everyone starts off with the simple duties and works their way up!" The Hokage merely sighed.
"But!!! But!!! We keep getting the crappiest possible duties!!!" Naruto yelled back at him.
"Be quiet, you." Kakashi said, punching Naruto in the back of his head.
"Naruto, it seems I have to explain to you what these duties are all about." The Hokage took his pipe out his mouth as he spoke.
"Listen, every day the village receives numerous requests from babysitting, to assassination. Each request is written down on these lists and divided into an A, B, C, D ranking based on difficulty. This village is…" Everybody in the room paid close attention to the Hokage except Daeka and Naruto, who were thinking about what they would be eating that night.
"You guys just recently became genin. D-Rank missions are perfect for you."
"Last night I had pork ramen, so miso sounds good for…"
"Hey, listen!"
"I-I apologize." Kakashi said nervously.
"Geez, all you do is give lectures like that!" Naruto yelled from the floor. "But you know what?! I'm not the troublemaking brat you still think I am!!!"
'Gah…I'm getting yelled at for this later.' Iruka's look of shock turned to a smile, as did Sarutobi's as they looked down at Naruto.
"Ok."
"Huh?"
"If you want it that much…" The entire team perked their heads up as Sandaime spoke. "I'll give you a C-Rank mission. It's a protection mission of a certain individual."
"YAY!!!" The blond exclaimed. "Who?!! Who?!! A feudal lord?! A princess?!"
"Calm down, I'm about to introduce him. Hey, will you come in here?" Sandaime shouted in the door's direction. The effluvious stench of alcohol filled Daeka's nostrils as the door opened. Daeka watched with narrowed eyes as a man swaggered into the room, a cheap bottle of alcohol in his hand.
"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats. Especially the shortest one with the super stupid-looking face. Are you really a ninja? Hey!!"
"Haha…who's the shortest one with the stupid face…" Naruto chuckled. He quickly caught on and his grin turned into a look of anger.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!!" He tried to rush at the man, but was held back by Kakashi.
"What's the point of killing the person we're supposed to protect? Idiot…"
"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."
"Well, let's--" Kakashi stopped as he heard a choking noise. He looked at Tazuna, who was grabbing at his throat, as though somebody was strangulating him. Kakashi threw a shuriken at the front of Tazuna, hoping to hit whoever was concealing their self, but it was blocked by a kunai. Daeka lowered his kunai to the side of Tazuna's neck as four clones came into view along with him, all of them holding different weapons to Tazuna's vital parts.
'I…I didn't even see him move…' The Hokage thought.
"You insult us and then you demand that we protect you. Do you even know who you're dealing with?" Daeka spoke in barely a whisper, yet everybody heard him perfectly. Sakura shifted uncomfortably from the killer intent that was emanating from him.
"We could kill you in the blink of an eye. If my mission wasn't to protect you, I'd drive this kunai straight through your heart. Now before you go acting like a belligerent asshole, show us some respect for even lifting a finger to help your pathetic tail." With a deadly glare, he dispelled his bunshins and put away his kunai.
"W-wow…" Naruto muttered. Not even Sasuke could hide his look of shock.
"Oh, and change your pants." Tazuna stumbled back, the noisome stench of excrement now filling the room.
"Ok team, meet me by the northern gates in no less than five minutes." Kakashi said, still stunned by his genin's display. They all nodded at him at and ran out of the Hokage Tower.
"Kakashi, keep an eye on those genin of yours." Sandaime called out to him as he left.
"LET'S GO!" Naruto yelled at his assembled team.
"What are you so excited about?" Sakura asked.
"'Cause…I've never left the village before." He said, looking around excitedly. Tazuna looked down at him with a sneer, but bit his tongue as he caught Daeka's eye.
'Go ahead, say something.' Daeka thought, fighting to keep a smile off of his face.
"Let's go." Kakashi said, walking off. They set off, Tazuna staying on the other side of Kakashi away from Daeka.
"Um…Tazuna-san?" Sakura said. "You're from the Wave country, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Kakashi-sensei, do they have ninjas in that country, too?"
"No, not in the Wave country. But, in most other countries, the culture and customs may be different, but hidden villages exist, and so do ninjas." As Kakashi went on to explain about the different countries and Kages, he noticed that there was a puddle on the ground near them.
"…and as you may have guessed, the Hokage is the best ninja in this country, like the Kazekage in Sunagakure."
"Wow, Hokage-sama is the best!" Sakura exclaimed.
'That lame geezer is that incredible? Sounds fishy…' She thought.
"You all just doubted Hokage-sama, didn't you?" Kakashi joked.
"But don't worry, there won't be any ninja combat in a C-Rank mission like this one."
"Then…we won't come in contact with foreign ninjas?" Sakura asked hopefully.
"Of course not!" Kakashi said, flashing his one-eyed smile. Sasuke looked over at Tazuna and saw the look of worry on his face.
'What's with that look?' He thought. As they continued to walk, Kakashi sensed someone appear behind him where the puddle was.
'Oh, damn…I do not feel like fighting right now…' The two ninja launched themselves at Kakashi, wrapping a spiked chain around him.
"What's this?!"
"Huh?"
"One down." The ninja closest to Kakashi said before both of the enemy ninjas jumped off in different directions, dismembering him.
"Kakashi-sensei!!" Sasuke yelled out. The two ninja swiftly moved over to Naruto.
"Two down." The one nearest him said. Naruto, paralyzed with fear, trembled with fear for his life.
'Kuso…' Sasuke sprung into action, throwing shuriken at the shinobi's spiked chain and trapping it against a tree. One of the ninja's claws scratched the back of Naruto's hand as they were pulled back. Sasuke followed up by tethering them with their own chain before they let it go, each of them charging at either Sakura or Naruto.
"UWAAH!" Naruto screamed, still paralyzed with fear.
'He's coming! I have to do it!" Sakura thought, drawing a kunai.
"Sir, get back." She said, getting into a defensive stance. Sasuke swiftly leaped in front of her, blocking the ninja's path. They suddenly stopped as a figure jumped out of nowhere and stopped them in their tracks.
'I forgot he was here!" Sakura thought happily.
"Bah…showoff." Sasuke muttered.
'What the hell?' Naruto thought with a shocked look on his face. Daeka stood triumphantly in front of them, the ninjas on the ground and his feet on either of their chests.
"You guys ok?" He asked his teammates. Seeing Sasuke and Sakura nod, he looked over his shoulder.
"And you, Kakashi-sensei?"
"I'm good." Kakashi said with a small wave.
'I couldn't do anything…Yet he…' Naruto looked over to Sasuke. 'It was his first real battle. Was he not scared at all? He looks as if nothing happened. And, he doesn't even have a speck of dust on him.'
"Hey!!" Sasuke called out to him. "You alright, scaredy cat?" Naruto's look went from shocked to angry.
"Naruto, save it. Their claws were soaked in poison. We must remove it quickly. We most open the wound and release the poisoned blood from your body. Don't move much, the poison will spread." He walked over to the incapacitated attackers and picked them up.
"Tazuna-san."
"What is it?"
"I need to talk to you." He said, tying them up. "These look like Hidden Mist Chuunins."
"Those kind of shinobis are known to continue fighting no matter what." Daeka interrupted. He walked over to them and kicked them awake.
"How did you read our movement--WHAT, DAEKA?! YOU TRAITOR!" One of them yelled, struggling against the ropes.
"How did you two survive?" Daeka asked, pressing his feet against their faces.
"We did what we could to survive."
"So we ran." With a sneer on his face, Daeka slapped them.
"You abandon your village and then you call me a traitor…I need not explain myself to the likes of you."
"But how did he know we were here?"
"You really need to be more observant of weather patterns."
"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days, there's not going to be a puddle." Kakashi explained.
"If you knew that, why did you let the brats fight?" Tazuna demanded.
"If I had wanted to, I could have killed these two instantly, but there was something I needed to figure out. Who these two were after."
"What do you mean?"
"Meaning…were they after you, or one of us. We haven't heard that there are shinobi after you. Our mission was simply to protect you from thieves or gangs."
"Then isn't this now like, a B-Rank mission?" Sakura asked.
"Right. This was supposed to be simple protection until you completed the bridge. If it was known that ninjas were after you this mission would have been set as the more expensive B-Rank. I'm sure you had a reason, but it causes problems when you lie about the mission. We are now operating outside of our duties."
"Kuso…" He heard Naruto say behind him.
"We aren't ready for this mission." Sakura exclaimed, completely losing her head.
"I guess we should return to the village and treat Naruto…" Kakashi said lazily.
"No need…I can do a jutsu that…" Daeka began walking over to Naruto when he saw something that made even the nigh-imperturbable jounin's eyes widen.
"Naruto!! What are you doing?!" Sakura screeched, eyeing the kunai he plunged into his left hand.
'Damnit…I've come too far to turn back now.' Naruto thought as he remembered all the training he did to become a ninja.
"I swear it on the pain in my left hand," He said, watching the poisoned blood drain from his body. "I'll protect the old man. We're continuing this mission!" Kakashi walked over and knelt in front of him, giving him a disturbingly cute smile.
"Naruto, it's good that you're releasing the poison, but any more and you'll die from lack of blood."
"WHAT?!"
In the interim, a tall, lanky mercenary was being berated by a short, stubby man.
"You failed?!! I paid you guys a lot of money because I heard you were very strong former ninjas." The mercenary picked up the enormous sword he was resting on his shoulder, making the short man shirt uncomfortably.
"Quit your bitching. This time I'll go with this head slicing cleaver…and kill them." He said, pointing the sword at the man for emphasis.
"Are you sure? It seems the enemy has hired some skilled ninjas, and with the failure of the Demon Brothers, they'll be better prepared."
"Who do you think I am?" The mercenary retorted. "There's a reason I'm called The Devil of the Hidden Mist, Momochi Zabuza."
'Now it's time to see if he's really the one.'
Daeka walked over to Naruto to examine his hand along with Kakashi. As he looked down, he could literally see the flesh regenerating and healing.
"Um…hey…am I going to be…ok?" Naruto asked, worried at the look on Kakashi's face.
"Eh, you should be fine." Kakashi bandaged up Naruto's hand, doing his best to act unconcerned about the Kyuubi's power.
"Kakashi…" Tazuna said gravely. "I have to talk to you."
