Thanks again to my Beta Reader bigbro56.
I do not own Naruto
The Awkward Mission (Part 2)
-x-
"Aw this is so boring! I thought Hokage-sama said that we'd encounter enemy Shinobi on this mission? So far all I've seen are trees."
"Enough Konohamaru, You're a Shinobi of Konoha, start behaving like a Chunin should, stay quiet and vigilant," replied the Squad leader.
"OK, OK, Ebisu-Sensei I get it. I just…thought we'd see at least something more interesting, even if this is just river patrol," Konohamaru pouted.
"Konohamaru not all missions you undertake will be as you call it interesting, but as Shinobi whether it's a simple supply drop or a routine patrol you must always remain ready. You never know when the enemy could sneak up on you," snapped Ebisu.
"Take right now for example," said a new voice directly behind Konohamaru which resulted in Konohamaru falling of the branch he was standing on and hitting the ground face first.
"The enemy! The enemy!" Konohamaru shouted picking himself up, his eyes darting to the branch he recently departed. There on the branch was not an enemy Shinobi but instead a blond haired Leaf Shinobi.
"I expected better from you Konohamaru, letting your guard down like that is no way for a further Hokage to be caught out," he said with a big grin.
"Boss! Tch . . . only you could catch me like that, you are my rival," Replied the young Chunin as he began to focus on wiping the dirt of his face and clothes.
"Oh I had no doubts about that Konohamaru," Naruto replied as he landed next to him placing a hand on his shoulder, "Trust your Sensei's words. Always keep your guard up, and remember, these missions should not be looked at from the perspective of a warrior, but that of a protector of Konoha. Battles are not something to hope for," he smiled, Konohamaru hung his head in shame.
Naruto patted his shoulder turning to Ebisu, "Long time no see Ebisu, I'm here under the orders Baa-Chan to relieve you of your patrol. You're free to return to the village."
Ebisu landed next to Naruto along with Udon and Moegi, "thank you Naruto, it's much appreciated. As you can see the young do tend to get restless when faced with little battle."
"I can't talk Ebisu, I wasn't much better," Naruto grinned scratching the back of his head, "I take it you haven't seen this threat yet?"
"No Naruto, it's been quiet since we relieved the last squad three days ago. That said, the chances of our enemy attacking," Ebisu said while he scanned the tree line.
"Thank you Ebisu. Please don't feel like you're required to stay around for small talk. Go home, get some rest you have all earned it," Naruto smiled
"Thank you Naruto and I must say it was good seeing you again," Ebisu said returning the smile.
"You to Ebisu and Konohamaru when I get back we need to meet up, I have a new Jutsu to show, then will get lunch on me ok," Naruto waved as the squad took off into the trees.
"Looking forward to it boss," Konohamaru yelled as they disappeared.
With that Naruto turn and walked over to the river bank and knelt down by it. He watched his reflection in the water. He looked tired and worn. Not liking the new look Naruto placed his hands in the water and splashed water on his face. He had moved at swift pace to get to the rendezvous site, not resting at all along the way. After the last flash, he found running flat out help keep his mind clear. Also the opportunity to have a proper mission again really got him excited. The past few months had gotten quiet for him. Matters that require a Shinobi of his caliber were few and far between, so he devoted most of his time to training which resulted in some powerful new techniques and increased control of his Chakra. What he really needed now was a challenge to test his new Jutsu's.
When Tsunade summoned him to her office he expected it just to be another meeting with the village council or her to lecture him on his consideration of the Twelve Ninja Guard… or both. Instead …
-X-
Late Last Night (Hokages Office)
"You wanted to see me Baa-Chan?" Naruto said as he closed the door behind him.
"Yes Naruto come in, take a seat, can I offer you a drink?" Tsunade grinned with the bottle in her hand.
"You know I don't drink that stuff Baa-Chan. When will you stop trying to turn me into a drunk," Naruto asked returning the grin.
"Probably as soon as you stop calling me 'Baa-Chan', Gaki. Well since you won't join me for a little social drink, I guess its straight to business," She said putting the bottle down.
"I thought that's how you preferred it Baa-Chan straight to business. I do recall how angry you used to get when a certain young Genin used to come into your office and complain about the lack interesting missions he was getting from you only to be kicked out . . . physically. I'm just trying to keep the peace," Naruto said while pulling out a scroll, "Oh and while it's still fresh in my mind, I have the latest reports from Ero-Sennins spy network."
Tsunade sighed while taking the scroll, "Lighten up Naruto, I'm just trying to have a little fun with my favorite knucklehead. We rarely speak personally. It's all business and while I'm on the subject of business I must ask yet again why you keep calling it that old perves network, it's yours now. You have made improvements and expanded it in ways Jiraiya could never think possible. Jiraiya would have wanted it this way."
"I'm sorry Baa-Chan, but it will always be his. He laid its foundations I simply added to it. Anyway he was the master spy I'm just trying to fill his shadow, its part of my way to honor him," Naruto smiled warmly
Tsunade returned the smile, "You honor him every day Naruto, in what you have done and the man you have become. Anyway if I can't persuade you I suppose it's onto business I have a mission for you."
"Baa-Chan, please not another meeting with Feudal Lord. I'm sick of him softly dropping hints about how his daughter is still single and how if I join his Ninja Guard we can get to know each other better. I swear if he keeps it up the Ninja Guard will be as appealing to me as vegetables," Naruto said scrunching his face at the thought.
"You're in luck Naruto," answered Tsunade amused by his expression and also slightly annoyed that Ninja Guard hadn't slipped his mind yet, "It's an S-Rank mission in the River Country."
"These unknown Shinobi I presume?" Naruto said turning serious.
"You are correct, even though we have left a bare minimum of two squads on the boarder to deal with them, it hasn't stopped. If anything the attacks have increased in both frequency and intensity. It must be stopped now before anymore caravans or nearby villages are attacked," she said standing up and walking over to the map on her wall.
"What would you have me do?" Naruto asked following her to map.
"First thing I want you to do is to go to this point here," Tsunade said pointing to a red marker at the western border, "At this moment in time there is a Chunin squad patrolling the immediate area, I would like you to relieve them by noon tomorrow and guard this area until that evening. I will be sending two squads to this point here," she pointed to an area of the map slightly south of his destination, "at this moment in time a member of the Anbu Black-Ops is relieving another Chunin squad in this area. Two squads by noon tomorrow will leave the village and then first meet up with this Anbu and then rendezvous with you at your location. From there the ten of you will proceed into the River Country and eliminate this treat. Am I clear?"
"I understand Baa-Chan, but I have to ask is Ten Shinobi really necessary? I mean please don't think I'm trying to be arrogant or anything but I think I can manage it by myself. There is no need wasting that much man power where it's not needed," Naruto said as he leaned in closer to examine the map, he then pointed to an area in the river country where a deep valley was located, "In the scroll I just gave you is a report on increased activity around this Valley. It's incredible close to what's left of the Akatsuki base, where they took Gaara. I bet my headband on this being there base of operations, I know the area well. I can have the squad relieved and be at this valley before noon if you'd allow it," Naruto finished not taking his eyes off the map as he noticed it was also extremely close to 'Don't think about it' he shouted mentally before turning back to Tsunade.
Tsunade rubbed her temples as she let out a sigh, "Naruto normally I would agree with you. By the way this has been unfolding; I'd rather not leave anything to chance. Believe me I don't think your arrogant in your comment, I know full well that nothing in that valley will be a threat to you and that you would complete this mission fine by yourself. But something in my gut, call it intuition, says it wouldn't hurt to have some back up on this mission. I'm sure you can agree with me that in this world after all you've seen nothing is certain or impossible," she finished as she chuckled lightly.
Naruto returned the chuckle with one of his own, "Your right Baa-Chan, I understand where you're coming from. I am truly happy that you are letting me go on a mission, it's been too long. Also it would be nice to work with a squad again; I haven't been in one since . . . Team Kakashi," Naruto finished a little sheepishly. The thought of his old squad was never a pleasant one.
Tsunade as if reading his mind, understood he was starting to regret his comment so decided to forget the last part of it, "You see there's a bright side to this as well," she said returning to her desk and started to write on some paper. Thinking that he was dismissed Naruto turned to leave, "Naruto one more thing about the Ninja Guard?"
Naruto let out a reluctant sigh he knew he shouldn't have mentioned it but still she would have probably have asked either way, "I haven't really put more thought into it Baa-Chan, at least not yet. I promise I will let you know plenty of time before hand no matter what my decision is, so can we please not get into it now."
Naruto with his back still turned away from her, closed his eyes, praying to Kami she let it go.
"Fine," the Hokage answered reluctantly, "Oh, Naruto one last thing, a message was received from the Kazekage today."
Naruto turned and smiled, "Really? What about?"
-X-
Present Day
In his excitement at a new mission, he had forgotten to ask Tsunade who were the two squads that would be joining him but he quickly decided it didn't matter. What he really wanted now was a challenge in combat. Since the end of the war, few agreed to spare with him besides an overly enthused Lee and Guy Sensei. His new fame resulted in him being quiet bored and based on how poorly these approaching Shinobi were masking their arrival, he guessed they would not give him the challenge he was looking for. A small smile appeared on his face as he drew out his kunai.
-X-
Back in the Konoha a Silver haired Shinobi sat in the tree's close to squad sevens old training ground. Like always he had a book in his hand and from time to time a dirty little giggle seemed to escape his mouth.
"I thought I told you to stop reading them damn books!" a voice from below bellowed.
"Oh . . . hi . . . honey I didn't hear you coming well you see this book . . ." he replied leaping down to his wife's side, as he kept his distance fearing a beating would soon be on the way.
"Those books are perverted and besides how many times can you read the same two books over and over?" Shizune questioned.
"Ah that's the thing honey; this is a new book in the series," Kakashi smiled as he produced a new book with dark blue cover, "I just got it today."
"But these books were written by Master Jiraiya. How would this book be made without him?" Shizune questioned as she took the book from Kakashi and flipped to the back page where the author was normally presented. On the Back page was a picture of the Legendary Sannin and under it was text regarding it.
This book is written in dedication of the Legendary Sannin Master Jiraiya the Toad Sage. To honor Jiraiya and his achievements in life as a world renowned ninja and novelist. This book was written in the hopes that his Dreams of Peace were achieved and was written by an author who choices to remain anonymous in the goal of making sure Jiraiya's work is recognized as the motivation that lead his world to peace.
Shizune could only smile as she read the text over and over. She then handed the book back to her husband, "You'd think this book would be a big deal in all the shops in the leaf, after what Master Jiraiya has done. Did you get this in the book store?"
"No, it wasn't meant to be released yet, it came in the mail for me this morning with no returning address or mention of the sender. All that was on it was this message behind the front cover," said Kakashi as he flipped to the front to show her the message.
I know he would want you to have the first copy of this book. Enjoy and congratulations on the baby.
Shizune again smiled after reading the message her husband had received. Though now a renowned perve in his own right was still loved by her, the village and who ever sent him the book, "I've just come from Tsunade Shishou's office and asked if I could help in anyway regarding Naruto."
"Oh and what did she say?" asked Kakashi with at a smile of his own.
"Something very sweet and a good idea but it's a decision for both of us to make," Shizune replied.
"What's the idea?" Kakashi asked his interest peaked.
-x-
Back at the Boarder the two squads plus Sai arrived at the second rendezvous site. They were really late at this point as the sun had already set and they were all feeling the fatigue after playing catch up.
"So where's our number two?" asked Ino as they all landed next to the river bank.
"According to Hokage-Sama he should have been here by noon today. He might have gotten bored and went to do some scouting. After all we are about four hours late," replied Neji.
"Punctuality, zero," chuckled Inner Sakura, "I would have been quicker."
Sakura rolled her eyes.
"There are signs of battle here," stated Shikamaru which caused everybody to jolt with surprise. In the dying light it was hard to make out but upon a more closer look it all became clear. The ground beneath their feet was scattered with signs of footprints, while kunai and shuriken lay scattered as well.
"Are back up must have encounter the enemy and was forced to engage," stated Sai
"I hope he's ok," added Sakura.
"Neji," said Shikamaru.
Neji activated his Byakugan. He instantly pointed to just beyond the tree line. "Over their bodies," he stated. They all waked over expecting to see bodies in disarray lying where they fell but instead found three bodies lying next to each other perfectly with their arms crossed as if someone had lay them there for burial. They where wearing a mix match of clothes and no headbands.
"I guess that answered the question on whether the enemy were rogues or small time village," stated Neji.
"Yeah, but I wonder where our Jonin friend is?" stated Lee.
"He could have been injured in this fight," replied Sakura.
"He wasn't," said Shikamaru with a smile not taking his eyes from the bodies. This resulted them all to look at him in surprise as to how he came to that conclusion. "You're late," He said simply still his eyes fixed on the bodies.
"Speak for yourself," replied a new voice from above them.
Everybody jumped and snapped their heads up in surprise of new arrival. There on the branch above stood a very tall and handsome Blonde Jonin who was identical to the Fourth Hokage.
"Naruto," they all said in unison.
"Long time no see," he said with his infectious grin as he jumped down from the tree's to join them.
He took them all in one at a time. Shikamaru care free and lazy, Ino and Choji man how good they looked together, Neji extremely serious and mature yet a smile on his face, Tenten, Lee as overly enthusiastic as ever, Sai still writing ever social interaction down and . . . Oh Crap . . . is all he could think when he saw her. Naruto had to pause for a quick second wanting to a double take to make sure it was real but fought the urge. She was still as beautiful as ever if not even more so, she was slightly taller still as slender but well toned in all the right places and her pale skin still held that flawless image. But he shrugged it off momentarily to turn to the mission leader.
"Where have you been? You were all supposed to be here over four hours ago?" he said to Shikamaru not letting his grin slip. He was trying so hard to show that her present was not affecting him. But Kami help him she was, he had fought infamous shinobi of the Akatsuki, Pain, Kabuto, Sasuke and even Madara on his own without flinching but in the presents of her, he crumbled. Lucky Shikamaru brought him out of his train of thought.
"Tch . . . sorry Naruto we got held up we . . . had to take care of some things before we could leave. We tried to make it as quickly as possible," Shikamaru replied as he and the rest of the two squads avoided eye contact with each other hoping Naruto wouldn't notice their awkwardness due to that afternoon's conversation.
"Yeah . . . sure," Naruto said unconvinced but decided not to press the matter.
"What about you? Run into trouble?" Neji then butted in hoping Naruto wasn't going to enquire further.
"Nothing I couldn't handle. The four of them needed to really train in team work and stealth tactics," Naruto replied setting his eyes on the dead Shinobi's for the first time.
"Four? . . . but there are only three here, where's the other one?" asked Tenten quickly glancing around the immediate area for the fourth body.
"Oh he got away?" Naruto said as casually.
"What? Naruto how could you allow that, a Shinobi like you. That's very unyouthful of you," Lee stated and the rest nodded in agreement all except Shikamaru who smirked.
"You let him get away on purpose didn't you," stated Shikamaru as he looked at Naruto with his own grin as the rest looked up in surprise at what he said.
"Why would you think that?" he chuckled, "Yes, I tagged him with a tracking seal and with any luck, he'll take us to his base of operations and we can nip this in the butt by tomorrow," he finished as they all smiled at Naruto's genius once again.
"Well then we better get going, standard formation again. Sai you follow Team Guy as cover, Naruto you behind us and when we get close, Naruto let us know. Which way did he go?"
"North West toward the Canyons," Naruto said adjusting his pack.
Through this entire conversation Sakura hadn't heard a single word of what had been said. She was too busy taking him in. It had been a year and Kami how he had changed. He was taller much taller then she remember standing at about 6'2" as she looked up at him from 5'6", his hair cut much shorter then it use to be but it suited his thinner face. He was broad and muscular but not overly bulky still supple for speed and reflectivity. He no longer wore his orange jumpsuit instead he wore black sandals with the standard black shinobi pants with his ankles taped up and he wore a T-Shirt version of his father's white cloak, which had the red flames along the bottom, the high collar and on the back the Kanji for Uzumaki. But the most startling thing to her was his whisker marks were gone. As she continued to look on she took notice that his smile never left his face at least in that way he hadn't changed. 'Kami how handsome has he got?' she thought to herself. She was brought out of it when she realized he was staring at her in fact everybody was staring at her. She blushed.
"Need alone time?" chuckled Inner Sakura with amusement.
"Shut up!" shot Sakura.
"Sakura you ready to go?" Shikamaru asked which must have been for the third time.
"A…a . . . Yeah of coarse sorry just kind of trailed off. . . sorry," it was all she could manage, as she saw Ino smirk clearly aware of where her thoughts were. She then blushed when she saw Naruto smile softly at her, his smile Kami, she missed it… and him.
"Just like old times Sakura," he smiled and her heart sank a little as he left the "chan" off her name,but tried to hide how it affected her. She truly had messed up but determination fueled her to fix it.
"Ok, let's move," Shikamaru stated and they all started moving again.
Naruto and Sai took up positions behind their respective squads but before they departed Naruto handed Sai a three pronged Kunai and smiled at him saying, "Just in case," which Sai smiled in return, knowing the meaning of it.
"Great I bet you planned this didn't you Baa-Chan. Trying to talk me into staying by teaming me up with my friends again and Sakura-Chan too. Hoping I'd be persuaded from leaving. I'll give it to you, it was a smart move, worthy of the Hokage but at the end of the day nothing will persuade me to go or stay I'll see when the time is right. But for now I'll focus on the mission," Naruto thought to himself.
-X-