Naruto had finally become a true ninja, or at least a true ninja in training. He had passed Kakashi's test (whatever that was). Finally, people would respect him.

Or they would if he wasn't stuck doing such lame ninja missions like helping a cat get down a tree, which is what he and his two teammates were currently trying to do. Somehow, it was taking the whole day.

"Here, kitty," Sakura called sweetly, but the cat only climbed further up the tree. Sasuke voted that they hack the tree down, but Naruto voted against it. Actually, he liked the idea, but he would never agree with Sasuke.

"How did this happen?" Naruto sighed as he recalled the events that led up to the current day.

After having to spend the whole night tied to the tree stump, Naruto finally managed to wriggle his way out of the ropes. Anger sharpening his mind, Naruto dashed to the Hokage's house to complain. Once inside, Naruto was surprised to discover Kakashi was already talking with the ninja leader.

"Ah, good to see you, Naruto. We were just talking about how all three of you passed the test." Naruto decided to skip being angry about being ditched in the forest, and instead asked a question.

"So, does that mean I'm finally ready to take on some big-boy, no-nonsense, lethal ninja missions?" Kakashi winked, and Naruto couldn't help but cheer. Finally, he would be respected.

"Your first mission," the Hokage intoned seriously, "is of great importance. You must locate a missing cat and bring it home." Naruto could feel his excitement literally turn into dread and despair.

Naruto was jolted back to the present when the large tabby jumped on his yellow hair and began scratching.

"GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!" Naruto couldn't help but cry fearfully. Sasuke and Sakura sniggered openly. Grumbling under his breath, Naruto grabbed the gray cat none too gently and tossed it in the sack that Kakashi had made then bring.

"I just had a thought: where the heck is Kakashi? Aren't the teachers supposed to come with their students on missions?" Naruto never bothered to read instruction books, but he was 85% sure that this was true.

Sakura nodded. "Oh, he probably just didn't want to admit that this was a dumb mission. I don't care though; it means I get more quality time with Sasuke!" Flipping her pink hair, the girl turned to the object of her affections – only, he was already walking away from her, and towards the direction of the Hokage's house, where they would inform the higher ups that they had accomplished their task.

Holding the sack with both hands, Naruto kicked the doors open. He had to fight the urge to laugh when his eyes met with the sight of a middle-aged lady wearing the gaudiest clothing ever.

"Princess!" she shrieked, running towards Naruto and snatching the sack from his hands. Naruto almost gagged as the perfumes she had no doubt bathed in overtook his nostrils. Through the corner of his eyes, he could see Sakura cover her mouth, and Sasuke turn slightly away from the lady.

"Oh, my darling," the lady cooed as she rubbed her cheek against the nonplussed cat. The large lady fished a small, pink bow out from her purse and placed it on the tabby's head.

"Isn't that cat a male?" Naruto whispered to Sakura. She nodded, and the two had to once again cover their mouths, this time to hide the giggles. The oblivious lady raised her nose, and pranced out of the room as if she was the queen of the world.

The moment she left the room, Naruto ran over to the Hokage's desk and fell to his knees on the dirty ground. He bowed his head hard enough to crack the floor.

"Hokage, I beg of you to give us a mission worthy of a ninja, and by that, I mean a mission that a kindergartener couldn't do!" The Hokage didn't have any mercy in his withered eyes, and the fact that Sasuke and Sakura weren't bowing didn't help any.

"You want a real mission so badly? Fine, then you can have a really dangerous mission! But not too dangerous, I swear! This will be a C-rank mission!" The Hokage clapped his hands, and two figures entered the room: Kakashi, and someone Naruto didn't recognize. He was an old man with glasses, and a wide hat to block the sun. He was also carrying a bottle of booze, which explained the beer belly.

"This man is Tazuna. He has hired us to protect him," Kakashi helpfully explained to his confused audience.

"Does he have a last name?" Sasuke asked, folding his arms. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head.

"I don't know, but he says that we can call him Tazuna the Bridge Builder if we have to." Sasuke grunted, staring at the ground. Before Kakashi could say anything else, Tazuna shoved him aside.

"These kids will be protecting me? I dun believe it! They look like a gust o' wind could blow them over! HIC!" Tazuna took a large gulp of his bottle before tossing it at the Hokage, who ducked just in time to avoid getting splashed in the face.

Naruto felt his face heat up, along with his stomach, although the latter may have been due to the spicy ramen he ate that morning. How dare Tazuna say that he was just a kid?

"Look here, grandpa, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Write that name down, because one day you'll beg me for favors! Don't underestimate me! Power of friendship! Believe it!"

"Enough with the clichés, brat," Tazuna growled. Giving Naruto a swipe on the head, the surly man turned to face Kakashi.

"I am building a really large bridge. It would have been done years ago, but I keep firing all my workers. To make things worse, an assassin seems to be after me. How do I know? Because I keep getting letters in my mailbox that say I'm going to die! I've been getting them for years, and I'm freaked out!"

Kakashi placed a calming hand on Tazuna's shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll protect you." Tazuna gave the younger ninja a glance.

'What about them? Can they help protect me too?" Kakashi chuckled nervously, not sure how to respond to that question.

"Of course I can! I'm the best ninja ever, believe it!" Naruto didn't care if that catch-phrase was annoying. He liked it, so he would keep saying it.

"Just don't get in my way," Sasuke said darkly in his rival-like way. Sakura swooned, but Naruto wasn't impressed. He could say cool things too.

"We're leaving immediately," Kakashi ordered, walking out the front door without looking back to see if his orders were being followed.


Hours later, Naruto was already sick of the mission. It wasn't the long walk that bugged him (the summer scenery, with the trees and tall, green grass was pleasant), but Sakura's whining.

"Are we there yet?" she asked for the umpteenth time. Naruto was shocked that Sasuke hadn't cracked and slapped her yet. The sun was bearing down on them hard, and the heat made everyone irritable.

"You know, I was only half-listening. Where are we going again?" Naruto felt he had to ask for the sake of the team.

"We're heading to the Land of Waves, where beach parties are an everyday occurrence, and where 90% of deaths are drowning-related." It sounded fun to Naruto, mostly because Konoha had no swimming pools. There were a few bathhouses, but they were free to the public, and the last thing Naruto wanted was to take a bath with Sasuke.

"Oh, that makes sense," Sakura said in awe. "With all that pesky water, a bridge would be completely necessary." Sasuke sighed.

"But then why would someone not want you to build it? Even assassins need bridges to cross the ocean. It makes no sense. I must brood on this." Sasuke closed his eyes, and began to hum. Naruto and the others quickly walked on ahead.

As the group continued walking down the hot path, Sakura halted to a stop. "I was just thinking…if we come across this assassin, we'll have to fight. I've never been in a real fight before!"

Naruto slung his arm around the worried girl, and gave her a confident grin. "I'll pulverize any villains we meet, believe it!"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, I expect that we'll only come across weak bandits and lame homeless ninja. Most likely, these will be opponents that we could face on a D-rank mission." Sakura placed a hand over her heart and sighed in relief.

With the speed of a cat scurrying from an iffy situation, two ninja draped in dark cloaks dashed out of the bushes. With blinding agility, they surrounded Tazuna.

"We are elite chunin from the Hidden Mist Village. Prepare to die!"

"You were saying, Kakashi?" Sakura looked disgusted at her teacher. Rounding on Naruto, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him like a rag doll.

"Naruto, you said that you would pulverize them! Go beat them up!" She shoved Naruto towards one of the Hidden Mist ninja. Naruto took one glance at the poison-dipped, metallic claws attached to the evil-doers hands. With a gulp, he froze-up.

"LOL, you're a pretty wimpy kid." One of the Hidden Mist assassins stabbed Naruto in the hand. The yellow-haired ninja fell on the ground and began rolling in pain.

Meanwhile, the second assassin dashed towards Tazuna, who quickly grabbed Sakura as a meat-shield. Fortunately, Sasuke jumped in front of the astonished girl. As the assassin edged closer, Kakashi dove in and punched the evil ninja hard enough that his armor broke.

"Sorry Sasuke, but I want to get all the credit," Kakashi said calmly, ignoring the intense flames in Sasuke's eyes. Not wanting to be shamed, Sasuke tossed a grenade at the ninja staring at Naruto. Absently, the Hidden Mist creep caught the bomb, before exploding.

"Sasuke, Sakura, good job and fast thinking. Naruto, I'm disappointed that you froze up when you finally got to go up against an adult ninja who was trained in the art of killing. Even though you are only twelve, I still find your fear to be pretty silly."

Sasuke smirked at Naruto. "What's wrong, you chicken? Do you need me to hold your hand?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out, before getting an idea. "Oh, you'd like that, SasuGAY." Kakashi and Tazuna burst into laughter, and Sakura got a nosebleed from the mental image.

"At least I'm not bleeding," Sasuke shot back. Naruto looked at his hand, which was a mistake. It was bleeding heavily, causing the plucky ninja to grow nauseous.

"Kakashi, HELP I'M GONNA DIE!" The sobbing ninja didn't understand when Kakashi simply shook his head, and began to walk once more towards the Land of Waves, followed by everyone else. Sniffing, Naruto glanced down at his hand, which was already healing for some reason.


Zabuza Momochi was lounging on the ratty, hole-filled couch in his run-down shack. The constant mist in the village had long ago worn all the wood that his home was made of, but that was just how he liked it. So what if people called him a sewer rat?

Unfortunately, his door had broken down months ago, which meant that just any old loser could come waltzing in, which is just what was happening now.

A small man (more of a mouse, really) had waddled in, followed by a posse of butt-kissers. The man's name was Gato, and he was a rich gangster who hired assassins to do things that he couldn't do himself. What he lacked in stature, he had in money.

"Zabuza," Gato squeaked, his voice about as high-pitched as a whistle, "I am disappointed. Those two assassin brothers that you sent are apparently dead. I don't like failure, not one bit. And I am paying you a boat-load of cash! Isn't that incentive enough?"

Angered, Zabuza swung his over-sized sword at Gato, stopping with the blade only inches from the tiny man's neck. Gato gulped.

"Gato,I don't take orders from midgets like you. You hired me to kill the bridge builder, and I will. However, I don't appreciate your tone." Zabuza grinned, although Gato wouldn't be able to see it, as the whole lower half of Zabuza's face was covered in mummy-type bandages.

Lifting the front of his sword close to Gato's mouth, Zabuza smirked. "Now suck, if you know what's good for you. C'mon, baby." Whimpering, Gato began to lick the blade.

"And next you can lick my sandals!"


Author's Notes:

Oh, Zabuza, you dirty rat! I remember watching the anime and going, "Huh?" when Naruto went on that cat mission. Surely the Leaf ninja have better things to do...