Chapter IV: First Mission
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha was a shrewd man, during the second and third shinobi wars; he led his home to victory through subterfuge and his sheer intelligence and strength.
That was then, as they say people change, if you were the few survivors that knew him then you would have said so as well.
People(*cough* Danzo *cough*) called him senile behind his back, they say age has made him soft, his old teammates were now nagging him to call in a successor, but he couldn't, Naruto Uzumaki was just not ready yet.
Besides with his 68 years he could still do this for at least 5 more years, by then he hopes that Jiraiya or Tsunade would be there to succeed him if Naruto was not ready yet.
Speaking of Naruto, I wonder where he and Anko are now; they were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago.
As soon as he finished the thought, the said duo burst in the room.
"Hey Jiji! What did you want us for?", Naruto asked.
"Naruto-kun, Anko-chan, you're late", Sarutobi mused.
Naruto didn't reply but sheepishly rubbed his head, unbeknownst to Anko the blonde was actually pointing at her.
The old Hokage smiled but did not comment; he picked up a scroll from under his desk and turned back to the duo.
"Well, I trust you two had a good month's training, so as per our agreement, in which you stated that you two could complete any missions I give you, from C-ranks to A-ranks with back-ups, I agreed, so for your first team mission, you will perform an inspection of our Kiri border, Misutī-machi(Misty town) has reported small bandit activity within the area", the Sandaime paused for breath and continued,
"Your mission is to eliminate any threats that is nearby, but be careful where you engage them, Kirigakure is very sensitive in dealing with foreigners right now, with the civil war just ending a few months ago".
"Hai Hokage-sama! For the village and the Will of Fire!", they chorused.
The old Hokage smiled, and before Naruto closed the door the Sandaime said,
"Remember, even if the town generates much income for the village do not cross the border, for any reason, the last thing we want is trouble with Kiri".
Naruto nodded and closed the door.
As the duo excited the Hokage Tower, Anko led them to the shinobi library.
"What are we doing here, Anko?", Naruto asked.
"I want to look at the map archives before we leave, wanna help?", she asked.
Knowing that Anko would've made him help either way he nodded.
"Good boy", Anko said as she patted him on the head.
Pouting, Naruto just went on to study the scrolls.
Anko must have had studied the maps earlier for a few minutes later she stood up and told Naruto to pack his things for the mission.
They agreed to meet at the village gates in an hour; they then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Naruto, had already packed days ago, he was now annoying Kyu-bi to let him have some ramen and the fox was getting ready to relent.
XXX
Naruto and Anko met an hour later at the gigantic gates of Konohagakure.
"Anko", Naruto saluted his superior.
Anko just nodded, she was nervous for Naruto, the kid, as powerful as he was now, was still naive, he was too trusting, it will become his downfall, she thought, but not while i'm alive.
As they were walking Anko took out a list and asked,
"Did you remember to pack everything I said?"
"Yup, all of the important things are in scrolls in my pack", Naruto replied.
"You sure?",
"Yes, sempai", Naruto replied, a little annoyed.
"Don't get snippy with me, gaki", she said, her tone daring Naruto to disobey.
"G-gomen, sempai", Naruto replied quickly as not to anger Anko.
With a smirk they returned to silence, for about 5 seconds until Naruto couldn't hold his questions about missions anymore.
XXX
"Hey Naruto, we'll camp out here for tonight", Anko said as she watched the sun set.
"Sure thing Anko", Naruto replied.
"Give me your tent scroll, I'll set it up while you get us water and firewood, alright?", Anko asked.
Naruto nodded, and he tossed her the scroll.
When Naruto was out of sight, Anko felt his chakra signature split, knowing instantly that he summoned clones, she just smiled and said,
"Cheater",
Expecting Naruto to be coming out of the thicket since he had made clones to work on his chores, she went back to her work.
After un-sealing the tents and putting them up, even collecting stones for the fire pit, she was surprised that Naruto hadn't returned yet, feeling a bit worried, she tried to find his chakra signature.
'Seeing' that he was close by she flickered to the tree branch behind him.
She watched him for a few minutes analyzing how different he was a few hours ago, now he was quiet and content. Anko almost jumped when Naruto called her.
"Anko-sempai, you can watch the sunset with me if you wanted to, you know", Naruto quietly stated before returning to his sunset.
Complying, Anko leapt and sat beside Naruto and they both watched the sunset in silence.
Anko just smiled at the mature Naruto beside her, she wanted to know why he was like this, before she could ask however, he said,
"Sunsets are one of the smallest luxuries of mankind, it's sad to think that most people take it for granted, I won't be like them though,", he paused and took a deep breath, "I can't even if I tried, this is something too special to me to take for granted", he paused again and looked into Anko's eyes, "It's one of the last beautiful things those haters can't take away from me", he just smiled, turning back to the barely-there setting sun, he finished with, "Although I haven't shared any of these with anyone else, so thanks Anko-sempai". Naruto then stood up and reached his hand to Anko, offering to help her up.
Anko stared at the blonde in front of him, not really believing what she experienced, but smiled, since she liked it, accepting Naruto's hand she stood and walked beside him back to their camp, where the clones had been cooking dinner for them.
XXX
Anko kept watch that night, even after Naruto argued that his clones could do the workso that she could rest, but Anko turned him down saying it wouldn't hinder her be a better ninja than him anyway, he pouted at that, secretly she liked that pout, it made his face look innocent.
Naruto was awake inside his tent, he thought about the month that Anko and him covered, he was now strong, perhaps as strong as a rookie chunnin but, needed to be stronger so that he can help Anko more. In the month that they covered, Naruto grew to trust Anko, more than he trusted Iruka-sensei and Sasuke even, he wondered what that meant, as he fell asleep.
XXX
They reached Misutī-machi(Misty Town), after five days of travel, without much trouble, if you don't count Anko tying Naruto up with her snakes, on the third day for complaining (very loudly) about not having ramen for three days.
Misutī-machi, is a large town, having abundant streams, rice fields, and forests around them another factor was that the next village inside Kiri territory was a port town, the road out of there leads directly to them, merchants stop by their village to trade for land of fire goods before going to other countries or returning to Kiri or the Land of Seas.
They walked to guards, so that they could inform their village head's of the arrival of the hired nins, and that they needed a meeting with him.
They waited by the gates for a while.
"Sempai, these guards, they can use chakra too?", Naruto asked.
"Yes, around the Land of Fire, large villages or business towns like these usually have ninja's guarding them, their level ranging from gennin to low chunnin, never higher, since higher nin are much more expensive in upkeep", Anko explained.
"Then, why are we here?, I mean f they already have ninjas why would they need us?".
"Well it usually means, the village can't send them out against the bandits for a number of reasons, ranging from the enemy is stronger, they can't afford to lighten the village's security or that they are outnumbered.", the Toku-jo said.
"Oh, so we can really kick-ass here right?", Naruto asked pumping his fists.
"We'll find that out later, the mission is a C-rank so I don't think we'll meet any ninja here, but even so, you need to be on your guard alright?", she said.
"Hai!", Naruto saluted, and brought out a jutsu scroll that he was studying before they left Konoha.
After a few minutes, the guard returned,
"Shinjio-sama, would like to see you now", and motioned for the pair to follow him.
The guard left them directly in front of the chief's door. They knocked and entered, Anko bowed to show respect while Naruto copied her.
"You don't need to do that ,child", Shinjio, said with a grandfatherly tone, not unlike the Sandaime's when he talked with his ninja. He told them to sit and asked if they wanted anything, shaking their heads, they went on to business.
"Now, you must be wondering why we requested you here, no?", he asked.
"Yes, we would, Shinjio-sama", said Anko.
"Well, here's the problem, two weeks ago, bandit attacks have been more frequent, though, none were reported to be killed, they have been stealing a great deal of our produce and trade, more specifically spices from The Land of Seas, and special sake, from Kirigakure, usually we would let our own hired nins do their job, but since we do not know how many bandits there are, I am reluctant to send them out since, I fear that they might be able to overcome us outside these walls, and also, we have not seen the entirety of their force, I feel that they have more things in store for us", Shinjio said.
"So, what would you have us do, Shinjio-sama?", Anko asked.
"Well, my men have tracked the bandits, to a small encampment in the forest, I feel that there are more though, since when they had a count of the bandits in that camp, there were less than the reported attackers, I would like you to assist some of my more talented ninja in eradicating the bandits, and sniff out any remaining stragglers",
"When can we meet them, sir?", Anko asked, Naruto kept himself from talking, since, it was rude to speak before your superior, and the last thing he wanted was to seem disrespectful, and he didn't want to embarrass Anko.
"Tomorrow perhaps, I sent them to our eastern post and they will be relieved and free then, in the mean time, please enjoy the sights around the village, and do not worry about accommodations, I have taken the liberty of reserving two rooms in our best Hot springs resort, I will personally pay for it", the old man smiled.
"Arigato Shinjio-sama, but you did not need to pay for them, I could have easily done that", being single and working B-ranks and A-ranks since she got promoted to Chunnin, she was easily wealthy enough.
"No, I insist, you are guests here in Misutī-machi, albeit we did pay you, do not worry about trifle things such as money, this village and I have more than enough", He said and dismissed the two ninja.
XXX
Anko went to check out their rooms while she told Naruto to check inventory on their ninja tools.
Seeing that they did not seem to need anything new, Naruto walked around town, as one of the lessons he learned from Anko was that you should always have a basic knowledge of your surroundings.
He couldn't continue much however as he found a ramen stand, few blocks away from the Hot springs.
Before Kyu-bi could stop Naruto he had already ordered three bowls, of miso ramen and beef slices.
Devouring them at an unfathomable speed.
After Naruto's third bowl though, he found that he could not eat any more so he paid the waiter, and stopped by a Dango stand and got Anko three orders of the sweet stuff.
XXX
After asking for the keys and directions from the receptionist, he went to the rooms.
"Sensei?", Naruto called as he knocked at Anko's door.
Not hearing an answer, he used shunshin(Body Flicker..I think) and appeared inside the room, finding a table he prepared the dango on a table, shut the windows so that no flies would hover around the treat and proceeded to the hot springs.
While walking he was reading a small book about chakra control, hoping to improve to a respectable level. He was too busy reading the book in hand to notice the door he was opening, soon enough as he opened the door a dangerous voice greeted him,
"Well gaki, what do you think you're doing here?",
"A-Anko?",
Naruto's eyes went wide as he saw his towel-only clad sensei, fearing for his life Naruto shouted,
"GOMEN SENSEI!", and ran out of the room and rushed to the correct male part of the Hot spring.
XXX
Knowing that his previous actions were unacceptable, in truth, Kyu-bi watched the exchange and scolded Naruto about it many times over. Now he was knocking on his sensei's door, with a box of Dango as peace offering.
"Come in", Anko called, she was currently hunched over maps and details of their mission, although a small part of her was still irked at what happened a couple of hours ago, even if she did know that Naruto didn't mean to barge in on her like that, the kid was too innocent to do that.
Anko's train of thought broke as Naruto started saying something,
"Umm...sensei, about uh...that umm...thing two hours ago, I'm really sorry about it, about barging in on you I mean, I was just distracted by this book I was reading and I didn't notice that I was in the women's part of the onsen, I swear, please forgive me", with that he bowed and presented the dango he brought with him.
All seriousness was forgotten though as he heard Anko chuckle at him,
"Don't worry about it, gaki, I'm not that mad and it's alright, now c'mon, stop apologizing and sit with me, I won't be able to finish all this dango you've been bringing me all by myself", patting the couch beside her and smiling at Naruto they made peace.
As Naruto sat down he said, "I'm really sorry sensei",
"Quit apologizing Kohai, or I'll think that you didn't like what saw", Anko replied with a teasing smirk.
"What I-I, No, I mean, yes I mean, AAAck!", Naruto just did the right thing and shut up as he turned a very deep shade of red, with Anko laughing at him.
Though appreciating his formal apology, that didn't stop Anko's playful attitude and teased Naruto up into the night.
As they finished with their planning, Naruto stood up and stretched and made his way to exit the room intending to rest after the long day. Before he could leave or before Anko could stop herself though she said,
"You don't need to go Naruto-kun", she teased and finished with a suggestive wink.
Naruto just turned another bright shade of red and quickly exited the room, intent on taking a cold bath before going to sleep. As he closed the door Anko was still chuckling.
Anko didn't really understand her playful mood today, or the fact that she just made a pass at her 13 ½ year old apprentice/Partner. Dismissing it as an after effect of the sweet dango she'd been eating non-stop she went to bed.
XXX
Naruto awoke at 5:30 and accomplished his morning traditions before getting some warm up exercises done. Donning his usual attire he went to see if Anko was awake and if she wanted to eat breakfast with him.
Before he could knock though, the door opened revealing an already dressed Anko,
"Hey Naruto, I was just about to wake you, c'mon let's have breakfast before we get some light training, alright?",
"Sure thing sensei, and umm...Good morning to you", Naruto stammered remembering her teasing last night.
"Good morning to you too", she just smiled and led the way to the food stand outside.
XXX
Chapter Break-
So whatcha guys think?
In this chapter we see how Naruto is maturing slightly, and they are both learning to really understand each other and memorize some of each others' quircks...
Sorry if this was a little late...school is coming up and I had to enrol and everything...
Anyway tell me what you think..and if you have ideas please feel free to share them, who knows I might end up using them...and if you have any questions feel free to ask...
Next chapter will have a lot of sneaking around so stay tuned...
Ja'ne
