CHAPTER 4

"All right, let's see..." Sarutobi said as he started to look through his papers in search of the next mission for Team Seven. They were on duty two months already and they weren't happy – it turned out that their job was to do D rank missions, which were just glorified housekeeping jobs like babysitting, grocery shopping, painting fences and so on. As Kakashi happily explained, these D ranks were meant to improve their teamwork by letting them to know each other better. Not one of his pupils cared to do exactly that, so it wasn't really working. Naruto didn't care either way and Sasuke's pride made him loathe the blonde with passion and Sakura followed his lead like a good fan girl. Kakashi did suspect something happened between Naruto and Sasuke, considering Sasuke's pained face on their first day of being officially on duty. Sasuke just brushed him off saying he fell badly the night before. Whatever happened Sasuke wasn't willing to talk about it so Kakashi let it pass, but he did observe how his team worked. Mostly it was Sasuke who lead with his fan in tow, and Naruto seemed indifferent. He just agreed with Sasuke and smiled. Like he knew a joke and the others were victims of it. Kakashi wasn't really interested as long as he was doing his job.

One of the worst jobs for genins was to hunt down the cat named Tora. It belonged to the wife of their local lord and she was the devil incarnate. The cat would always run from her owner and it knew how to hide and run; some genin swore she could use chakra. For Team Seven it was not so, somehow Naruto would always track the beast and catch her. Tora was very obedient when Naruto was around. Nobody knew why. It was simple for him to use the Force to track the animal, seize control of her and give her orders to be nice, or else...and it worked each time. After a while Tora learned that Naruto would always find her so she stopped running so much. She was one smart cat. Better to suffer in hands of her mistress than to face the scary genin who threatened to flay her on the inside with just one look. That evil eye he gave her made her shudder at nights.

"Ah, I've found one-how about walking some dogs?" Sarutobi said knowing Naruto wasn't very liked by clients, but animals seemed to be quite tame in his presence. Maybe they sensed the Fox somehow and knew he was the boss.

Naruto pursed his lips in thoughtful manner. "I don't know old man, I heard that Team Ten was sent on their first C rank yesterday. Could we get one?"

"Naruto!" Iruka said from his position next to the aged Hokage, "Hokage sama decides when you can go on a C rank, not you. There is a good reason it is done this way. Be respectful."

"Hn, we're more than ready." Sasuke said, not because he supported Naruto. He just didn't think it was good for him to do these chores while some fat ass like Chouji got his first C rank. No way, he was an Uchiha!

"Yeah!" Sakura piped up automatically agreeing with her idol. She was really well trained that way. The years of habit coached her to agree with Sasuke without even thinking. Kakashi grimaced below his mask, that girl needed a hard dose of reality, pronto. She was the reason he was holding back two powerful genin form any serious jobs. But he saw now it was inevitable. Either Sakura would come to her senses or she would get her team killed someday unless he booted her of the team. Which was still an option.

"I think my team needs a mission better suited to their skills Hokage sama. I'd like to request a 'hunt'."

Sarutobi raised his eyebrows high, and Iruka looked a little shocked. The so called 'hunt' was a mission reserved for fresh genin to have their first taste of blood and killing. Usually it was reseved for the first generation shinobis, because those from old ninja families and clans were too well trained to falter on such a mission anyway. Sakura definitively needed to see whether she can kill or not. The 'hunt' usually involved tracking down bandits and destroying them utterly. Although the Fire Country had it's own armies and police forces, the bandit problem was rampant in less populated areas. There was too much space to cover and protect. But they mostly did manage to reduce the problem. And some cases were always left for Fire's ninjas to deal with, just for this purpose.

Sarutobi saw Kakashi glance at Sakura and understood his problem. The girl was visibly weak, with her too thin frame and non developed musculature. She was very smart, but that was useless without practical experience. Tsunade of that age was quite different, but she was the granddaughter of the greatest ninja of modern age. Haruno Sakura was a civilian with low chakra level, without proper mental attitude and what not. He was in agreement with young Hatake-the girl had to show spine or she was going to be dropped form the corps. So he took a special scroll and handed it to Kakashi.

"Here it is Kakashi, and good luck."

"Was that really necessary Hokage sama?" Iruka asked when Team Seven was gone. He was reluctant to spoil their youth.

"I'm afraid so Iruka, young Haruno is showing a disturbing lack of fortitude. This is her final chance."

"I see," Iruka bowed his head in shame. She was his student and therefore his mistake.

"No need to do that Iruka, nobody questions your teaching skills. You've done your best and sometimes it just isn't enough. Trust me, I know." Sarutobi said with gentle smile to Iruka who bowed again. "Arigato Hokage sama."

Team Seven was crouched in the darkness while observing their targets. The bandit camp was set about eight hundred meters away at the bottom of the small valley between high hills. Team Seven was tracking them for the last three days through the wilderness. Kakashi taught them a lot of tracking tricks, many of which weren't taught at the academy. Like how to tell if the prey moved fast or slow, how much weight caused such and such tracks which in turn told them if the target was male or female, or if he was armoured and so on. There were about thirty heavily armed bandits in the camp and they were smart. In distance several fires were glowing which meant widespread formation to avoid being caught en masse. Also it made difficult to count their exact number.

Kakashi evaluated the situation and already sighted the best way to deal with these vermin. But this was a mission to let his pupils show what they were made of. "Any thoughts?"

Sasuke shrugged. "There's about thirty thugs. We can take them. But the horses are problem, they have to be dealt with beforehand. We don't want to let them escape."

Kakashi nodded, Sasuke was right on point. He eyed Naruto who looked just as unconcerned as Sasuke. Sakura looked nervous. She really wasn't expecting to start killing so soon. Kakashi sighed internally, he felt sorry for the girl but it had to be done. Kami forgive him, but this was it-the girl joined ninja corps of Konoha for wrong reasons. Now it was time to see if she could really do what has to be done.

"So what's the plan? Come on, show me some brains you three." Kakashi egged the trio.

"We can do two things, " Naruto said. "Either we kill them in one massive assault or we make them run and pick them off one by one from ambushes. Personally I prefer the second option. It's not like we have to risk ourselves unnecessarily."

"Good idea Naruto." Kakashi said approvingly. He looked at the rest of the team. "Anyone against that?" Sasuke just hned as usual and Sakura nodded in agreement. Kakashi was pleased, they were cautious. " Okay, Naruto what's the next step after we get rid of the horses?"

"I could send a group of my clones to make them run and scatter. You guys can take your shots as you want and stay hidden as much as possible. They will run and we will follow. Sooner or later we will win by sheer stamina advantage."

"All right. You know the deal. Take care of the guards and then chase the horses away. Naruto will raise a small group of clones to start the fights and you two will kill as many bandits as possible while staying hidden. Let's go!"

Team Seven slunk off in the way where their targets sat unaware of the impending death and pain.

Sasuke crawled on his fingertips and toes , his body parallel to ground, invisible and silent as shadow. He was calm, he knew is job and was confident of his success. He already selected his targets and knew exactly what to do with them. A few well placed shuriken would suffice.

Sakura moved silentlyaround the south side of the valley until she reached the high rock from where she observed her targets- a group of three guards loosely positioned on the rocky slope below. Their job was to spot anyone trying to sneak up from south, and to prevent their horses from wandering away. Sakura swallowed spit and she felt the bile rise in her throat. She gagged slightly as her palms started to sweat, her hands shook as she prepared for the attack. Three kunai in each hand, held by the rings on their handles. They were a gift from her mother for graduating at the top of the class. Her family wasn't too keen on her chosen occupation, but they were proud to have one Haruno clan member in the ninja corps. Every clan or family considered it a mark of honor to produce another ninja for their glorious Konoha. Sakura was suddenly very much aware what this glory and honor were-blood and flesh gouged away by her thin, innocent hands and sharp eyes that were now moist. But she wasn't stupid, not when she was alone and not trying to impress Sasuke kun. This was her test-either she could do her job or not. She envied both boys on her squad-they were so calm and professional. She and Ino had a promise between each other as kunoichis-not to let boys outshine them. But most of all she didn't want to see Sasuke's sneer when he realized she wasn't strong enough...her hands clenched and relaxed, just as she was taught by Iruka sensei. She forgot about the targets and her feelings-only breathing mattered. She waited, slowly inhaling and exhaling. And when the noise started far away, her hands snapped automatically. She closed her eyes as she waited for the sign of alarm from below. Nothing came, just the sound of horses whining and galloping. She peered down and saw three shadows lying still in the grass. She struck home, just like in the academy. Funnily enough, Sakura thought only one thing at the moment-Iruka sensei would have been proud of her marksmanship. She waited for the noise to start. Soon enough, there would be more targets. Tears trickled as she drew more kunai.

Sakura's eyes were trying to catch everything in their sight as Team Seven was walking towards the office building where Onyogato's Mayor was residing. Onyogato was a mid sized city in the northwestern region of the Fire Country. It sat on the crossroads of two rivers and so it became one of more important trade spots and ports. Merchants owned much of the city and trade was good, thus the whole region prospered. But like every major city even Onyogato had it's bad side-it's prosperity attracted crime. But legal and illegal citizens coexisted just fine, there was more than enough wealth to be quietly spread between them. While regular folk took care of public and legal venues, the criminal world took care of gambling, red lights districts, massage parlours and so on. Nobody made excesses to draw the attention of the Fire's authorities. Until now. Someone had crossed the line and the Mayor had to call for discrete help. That's where Team Seven came in. In case of suspicious activity amongst Fire's officials, only loyal ninjas were trusted to investigate.

The matter was brought to Team Seven's attention via courier animal in the local city where they took pay for the finished mission. They were the closest team available. It seemed that somebody thought it would be nice to kidnap young women from streets of Onyogato so they could be sold as slaves. Not in the Fire Country where such a thing was a capital offense (not because of civilisation of the land, but simply because lords of the land couldn't ensure that people wouldn't rebel if such practice was allowed.), but somewhere else.

Kakashi led his pupils across rooftops of the city, silently and invisibly to the civilian population. They saw the mayor in his office from the adjacent building's roof. He was expecting them so he wasn't surprised when four ninjas with Konoha's headband appeared in a large cloud of smoke.

"Finally!" Mayor Ofuda Kei said with relief. He was tall, thin man with gray beard and bald skull. His skin was still smooth, despite the obvious advanced age. "I've been waiting for some time."

"Have you now?" Kakashi spoke in neutral voice.

"Yes." Ofuda nodded sharply not bothering to ask about his company. He didn't need to know the identity of Fire's ninjas. He would forget them as soon as possible if he valued his career and position. Ninjas were sort of untouchable when it came to these matters. They were after all Fire Lord's extended arm.

"We are informed about the situation here," Kakashi explained. "We're here out of formal courtesy. And to warn you that we will be using any means available to resolve this situation."

Ofuda swallowed, he understood that morgue might be lacking storage capacity in the next few days. Oh well, it had to happen sometime. Chief mortician will have to be creative. And silent.

When Team Seven left the office, back on the rooftop they came from, Kakashi eyed his students. "Well, any smart ideas?"

"Umm..." Sakura hesitated a little."We could visit some criminal hangouts to question some people for clues and rumours."

"That could take a while." Sasuke noted calmly. "Also it would alert the guilty party to our presence."

"Then we have to go with the 'bait and capture' approach." Naruto said. "We can follow these kidnappers to wherever they deliver the victims. "

"I suppose Sakura is the bait?" Kakashi asked unecessarily. Naruto smiled and Sakura shivered. But she knew she had to be the bait-she was a perfect picture of the kidnapping victim.

Naruto was right in the end. Sakura's exotic appearance caught someone's eye very soon, not even a day after she checked in at the local hotel with Naruto who played the role of her cousin. And they were good, Sakura didn't even get to scream as rough hands pulled her in the dark alley and stuffed a bag over her head. She smelled a sleeping agent and soon she was down for the count. Sakura was genuinely afraid and it showed in her brief struggle, so her captors wern't suspicious. They moved quickly through the maze that were dark streets and passages of the city, but when a nin dog was on your trail you can't shake him. And Pakkun, Kakashi's favorite tracker summon was able to follow them too easily.

Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke frowned as they watched Sakura's kidnappers use the boat to reach a large ship docked at the other end of the local harbour.

"Crap, that's a foreign boat sensei." Naruto said.

"Mhm, from the Grass Country. See the flag?" Kakashi pointed at the green flag on the tallest mast of the vessel. It was a large river boat, nearly as big as one of sea cargo ships.

"Aren't they our allies?" Sasuke asked.

"They are." Kakashi nodded. "That makes it tricky. We must bust this slave deal. Ally or not, they can't be allowed to get away with this."

"No wonder that Mayor called for the help, this is international politics." Naruto scoffed.

"Of course. We, and he, know where our citizens are , but we can't do anything legally. The ship is protected by peace treaties and it's crew decided to take advantage of that. I'm pretty certain that someone on our side started this to earn extra money. That's the only way this vessel could've passed the border without real inspection." Kakashi explained to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Are you saying we should let them go?" Sasuke scowled. He wanted blood.

"Officially, yes. I'd rather burn the ship." Kakshi said. "We'll let our spies and official people to deal with this. It's not worth starting the war"

"Too bad, because I'm pretty sure we could take the crew quickly and save Sakura. Not that she won't escape by herself." Naruto said. It was true, even Sakura could escape from non ninja captors easily enough.

"What makes you so sure?" Kakashi asked curiously.

Naruto grinned. "I know Kage Bunshin and I can make more than thirty clones."

Kakashi looked at the ship and chuckled. Yes, that was another thing entirely. "Ok, change of plans. We will swim to the ship and attach ourselves to it's hull. Use henge to blend in. When we're far from the city we attack. Kill everyone on board but the captain. I'll make sure he is alive. The rest are expendable."

As it was, the ship from the Grass moved out at dawn and soon it was going upriver, towards the Grass Country. Kakashi gave the signal three hours after the ship started it's journey, thus ensuring there would be no witnesses. Sasuke and Naruto had to keep the crew busy while Kakashi took care of the captain who was certainly the man with the right information.

Naruto moved first. He used his kunai to climb up the ship's hull and to get rid of the guard. He leapt over the rail and made a handseal to create a hundred clones. Sasuke and Kakashi didn't need to worry about stealth anymore. A giant of the sailor rushed Naruto, bellowing and waving his saber. He died with a shuriken in his brain. Another two suddenly stopped breathing because their lungs couldn't work properly with metal inside. Naruto's clones created a massive combat zone, where bewildered crewmen were defending themselves from the army of blonde boys who vanished when struck once. Still, most of them managed to kill or maim their targets which was bad for defenders-half of them were gone in five minutes.

Naruto himself weaved and dodged attacks and returned them with deadly precision. His ninja-to flashed like a silver mirage, spraying blood and limbs in it's wake. Men screamed or gurgled, depending on their injury. Naruto moved like a ghost, nothing could touch him. He was using the Force to see all around him, to predict the danger. He suddenly bent at a slight angle, letting a knife sail past his ear. A little nudge with the Force sped up the projectile and bent it's trajectory. The knife killed a man in front of Naruto who replaced himself with a newly made corpse and stabbed a guy next to him in throat. He jumped of his shoulder, made a somersault over the next guy, landed crouched and swung behind himself-he cut that man's legs and grabbed him as he fell. The man made a nice shield form the sword slash of his buddy who followed Naruto from behind. Naruto turned ,stabbed him in the belly and twisted savagely-he let his innards spill out. He used them to blind the new attacker and jump kicked at his head. He broke his neck. He turned quickly and slashed with his blade, deflecting three knifes in a single move. Two were sent to stab one of Sasuke's oponents in the back, one was flung away in the river. Naruto laughed and flashed at the trio who used those knives, they died quickly being no match to the young Sith. He paused, his clones were almost exhausted but they took care of the majority of crew. Sasuke was handling his part rather well, so Naruto went on executing the wounded and those his clones missed. He didn't miss.

Kakshi emerged with pale Sakura in tow. Naruto noticed blood spattered on their clothes. Obviously they 've dealt some death too.

"Not bad," Kakashi said as he surveyed the massacre. He took note that Naruto handled his sword rather well. Sasuke did good too.

"Did you get your man?" Naruto was interested.

Kakshi nodded, his eye made that U shape when closed. He was happy. "He was a talkative little fellow. I've gotten the necessary information on this slave business. We're done for now. Legal authorities will deal with the rest of the gang on our side of the border."

Sasuke looked around the ship. "We can burn this thing now?"

Kakashi nodded. "Go on, practice your katon jutsus. We'll wait with our kidnapees on the coast."

The return to Onyogato was a nice cool down excercise for Team Seven. The Mayor was happy to hear that there would be no kidnappings any more and he had a message for Kakashi who grimaced as he read the thing.

"What's going on sensei?" Sakura asked, now much calmer. She had to kill some men again, but this time she didn't hesitate. They were molesting some of the girls whom they saved.

"Tem Ten is in trouble." Kakashi said with cool demeanor. "Asuma san is injured. We are to help them if we can get there on time. And we will."

Sorry for not updating quickly folks, but personal matters took precedence. Also, I apologize for my grammar mistakes. My English is not the best and it is noticeable. Still, I hope you will be able to enjoy this chapter. Thanks for all the support so far, and reviews are most welcome!