Chapter 3:

It had been one month since Narutos team graduated and they were running yet another D ranked mission.

"Does anyone have sights on the target?" Kakashi said over the com system.

"Not yet." Naruto replied.

"I t-think I found it." Hinata whispered.

"I see it too." Sasuke said.

"Ok, go on three. One…two…three!"

With that Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata all pounced on the small black figure as it dashed out of the bushes. They chased it into a small alleyway where Naruto was able to get to it, but he immediately regretted the decision as it sunk its claws into the blond genins face.

"I got it!" he shouted.

Being the best with animals, Hinata was immediately able to calm the angry cat down.

"How does she do that? I thought that cat hates everyone." Kakashi thought as he watched the shy girl start to walk away with the cat. "Alright everyone, to the Hokage tower."

They set off to the tower without another word. As they walked Kakashi evaluated his teams' progress. "Narutos ninjutsu is improving rapidly, but his dojutsu has yet to awaken and he is still very headstrong. Hinata is improving almost as quickly, but she still lacks confidence. Sasuke is the most talented of the group, though barely, and is coming out of his shell, but he hasn't completely lost his arrogance."

As they arrived at the tower Naruto waltzed in and called "Hey Jiji! We're done!"

"Naruto! Show the hokage some respect." Iruka said from his seat.

"Its fine Iruka." Sarutobi chuckled.

"So, ready for another mission? Ok well there is pulling weeds, helping a lady clear an old house or walking dogs." Iruka said.

"COME ON! Give us a real mission! No more chores." Naruto said unenthusiastically.

"You're a fresh genin team, you're not ready for a C-rank yet." Iruka stated bluntly.

"Actually Iruka, I think my team is more than ready for a C." Kakashi said, without looking up from his book. "They have far exceeded my expectations."

"Well that's good enough for me, let's see if we can find a good C-Ranked mission."

"But Hokage-sama, you can't be serious!" Iruka exclaimed.

"Kakashi is one of our best jounin, you would be foolish to go against his judgment." The older man explained. "Aha, here it is. You will be escorting a bridge builder to the land of waves. Iruka, go get the client."

"Hai hokage-sama." Iruka said agitatedly. Minutes later he returned with a middle aged mand that smelled of cheap booze. He was talk and bulky, with grey hair and was wearing a straw hat.

"This is my protection? Three kids and a Cyclops?" the man asked indignantly.

The man quickly gauged the groups' reactions. The blond was practically seething, girl with the dark blue hair looked ashamed as she stared at the floor, and the raven haired boy just smirked. The tall Cyclops was the only one he couldn't gauged as he just stared ahead. Hopefully Gato won't send any of his higher-ups, then I would be in trouble.

"Ok, we'll meet at the gate tomorrow morning. Dismissed." Kakashi said as he turned to leave. He's hiding something.

"Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow then Hinata-chan!" Naruto said as he went for the door.

"O-OK Naruto-kun, see you tomorrow." The quiet girl replied with a small blush, extremely nervous about their first real mission. Naruto looked around for Sasuke but he was already gone, having left at the same time as Kakashi.

Naruto decided to get to the gate early, but was surprised when he wasn't the first person to the gate. As he approached he noticed the last person he expected to see. Well, second to last. Sitting on a log just outside the gate was Sasuke Uchiha.

"What are you doing here teme?" the blond asked.

"Couldn't sleep" the raven-haired boy muttered.

"Nervous?"

"Yea…maybe a little, but I was also thinking of the arrangement of the genin teams."

"You're not going to go into a 'weakling' rant are you?"

"No, im actually pretty happy with the arrangements."

"Oh?"

"Yea, you may be annoying, but you're defiantly not as annoying as Kiba or Choji and just thinking about getting stuck with a fan girl is scary enough to be thankful that the teams were put together this way."

Both boys unintentionally shuddered at the thought of being on a team with the blonde or pink banshees. Neither of them wanted that. The two just sat there for about an hour silently until Naruto finally spoke up.

"Hey do you think that someday we could be more than teammates?"

"You mean…wait! Are you gay?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

"WHAT? N-NO! I just meant that maybe we could be friends." Naruto exclaimed.

"Hmm…we'll see…Dobe" he smirked, but Naruto could have sworn for half a second there was a genuine smile on the normally stoic Uchihas face.

It was about half an hour later when the next of their group arrived.

"Hey Hinata-chan!" Naruto called out as she rounded the corner.

"Hello Naruto-kun" the shy Hyuuga heiress replied.

"Guess what! Sasuke-teme is getting soft!"

"Dobe…" Sasuke muttered.

It was still another hour, two hours after they were supposed to leave, before Kakashi showed up with Tazuna.

"Kakashi-sensei! You're late!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke threw the older man a glare and Hinata tried, but failed, to do the same. Girl doesn't have a mean bone in her body does she? Kakashi thought as he noticed the poor attempt. "Anyway it's time we got going don't you think!" and the team set out along the road.

The team fell into a triangle formation. Naruto and Sasuke flanking Tazuna as Hinata took the rear as scout. Kakashi followed the group at a reasonable distance as he noticed a small puddle along the road. Well that's odd. He thought to himself. As they passed two ninja shot from the ground and wrapped a long chain around them.

All three genin grinned and Tazuna looked shocked as Kakashi was ripped to pieces before them. The two rouge-nin then turned to the rest of the group. "Just hand over the bridge builder and no one will get hurt." One of them said.

"Yea right!" Naruto responded as he took a kunai from his pouch. Sasuke fell into his taijutsu and Hinata took the Jyuuken stance.

"It's your funeral." One said as they charged the three. Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata charged forward and threw themselves into a taijutsu match. Naruto flung himself into one of them and they exchanged blows until Hinata attempted to disable him by closing the tenketsu in his knees. Sasuke was battling the other alone. Suddenly the man hit Sasuke with a vicious uppercut, throwing him into a tree and subsequently knocking him unconscious.

The duo then proved to be too much for Naruto and Hinata, quickly overpowering the both of them. Naruto soon found himself unable to move as the demon brothers circled the lone Hyuuga.

"Heh…. I wonder how much Kumo would pay for her eyes." One of the two said.

"Maybe we should just take her alive, then we'll get more" the other responded.

Suddenly a ball of lightning burst from his chest.

"W-w-what?" his brother said as he turned around to see the flaring Sharingan that was previously hidden under Kakashis hitai-ate.

"Y-y-y-you're" the rouge-nin stammered in fear, realizing his mistake.

"You are correct. You should have figured out the situation before you struck blindly" Kakashi responded in a deadly serious tone as he silenced the man with the raikiri.

Kakashi quickly disposed of the bodies so they wouldn't be discovered and picked up the unconscious Sasuke before the group set off again, though more tensely than before. They walked in silence until Hinata broke in.

"A-A-Ano…Sensei?" she asked shyly.

"Yes Hinata" he replied.

"Why was that man so afraid of you?"

"That's a story for another day." The Cyclops-nin replied in a tone that left no room for discussion. But as he said it he reached in his pouch, pulled out a small black book and tossed it to the young Hyuuga.

"Alright, we should set up camp here for the night." Kakashi stated after several hours of walking "We've almost reached the boarder."

Team seven went about setting up the camp, getting water and collecting firewood. Kakashi on the other hand had a few words for their charge.

"Kakashi. What can I do for you?" Tazuna asked.

"First you can tell me why you lied to the hokage." Kakashi said in a harsh tone.

"What do you mean?" Tazuna replied, feigning ignorance.

"C-Ranked missions are for protection from bandits and animals, not rouge ninja. This just became a high B, if not an A ranked mission. This team isn't ready for that." Kakashi said in a voice that border lined a yell.

"They handled themselves quite well." Tazuna said.

"They were absolutely man-handled!" Kakashi yelled, losing his temper.

"It turned out fine!" Tazuna struck back.

"Would it have if I didn't step in?"

"But you did!"

"What happened isn't the point! We're leaving tomorrow morning. You're on your own."

"B-B-But you can't! I already paid."

"That doesn't matter. This is a miss-classified mission and im calling it over."

"Wait… I'll tell you why I lied. My village is living under a tyrant named Gato. He steals from us. Almost everyone is in poverty except him. This bridge is our ticket to freedom. That is why he sent those ninja." The old bridge builder explained. "You have to help us. Konoha is our only chance to get out from under him."

"I'll have to talk to the team and see what they think." Kakashi replied after a moment, though reluctantly.

Naruto and Hinata sat by the fire with the small black book that Kakashi had given them. The first page was labeled Bingo Book.

"I wonder why he gave you this." Naruto thought aloud.

"I-I-I don't know Naruto-kun." Hinata replied as she began to flip through it. She soon stopped on a page with two familiar faces.

Gozu

Chunin

B-Ranked threat

10,000 Ryo bounty

Meizu

Chunin

B-Ranked threat

10,000 Ryo bounty

Known Aliases: Demon Brothers

"Wow! They were that dangerous?" Naruto said, more of to himself than anyone else. Hinata just continued turning until they ran upon an even more familiar picture.

Kakashi Hatake

Jounin

S-Ranked Threat

1,000,000 Ryo Bounty

Known Aliases: Sharigan Kakashi, Copy-Nin Kakashi.

"K-Kakashi-sensei is that strong?" Hinata said quietly, on the border of disbelief.

"What are you guys looking at?" Sasuke asked emerging from the bushes with fresh firewood.

"Just this bingo book." Naruto replied "Take a look."

Sasuke skimmed the page until his eyes fell on Kakashis alias of Sharingan Kakashi. Why would he be called that? Sasuke thought. Suddenly the group heard a rustling in the bushes and snapped to attention, just to see their sensei walk out with Tazuna in tow.

"Yo!" Kakashi said nonchalantly. "We need to talk."

Kakashi quickly explained the situation to the three of them.

"So what should we do?" Kakashi asked.

"A-A-Ano…I think we should help them." Hinata stuttered staring at the ground.

"Yea! We should take Gato down!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

Sasuke remained stoic, though he couldn't help but agree with his teammates.

"Alright then! We'll help." Kakashi said. "Alright, get to sleep. We should get to wake tomorrow." And team seven retired to their tents.

The next day was largely uneventful until they had crossed the border.

"OVER THERE!" Naruto yelled as he threw a kunai into the bushes, only to hit a small white rabbit.

"Dobe…" Sasuke muttered.

Something isn't right. That rabbit has its winter coat. Kakashi thought. He also noticed the fog surrounding them getting excessively thicker.

"S-S-Sensei? What's going on?" Hinata said, her voice trembling in fright.

"Im not sure…activate your Byakugan and see if you can find anything."

Hinata activated her dojutsu and focused into the chakra-infused fog. Suddenly she saw an object spinning at the group.

"Get down!" she cried. Team seven dropped to the ground as a sword flew over their heads and embedded itself into a tree. Suddenly a tall, muscular man landed on the handle of the giant sword and raised his eyes to meet Kakashis.

"Zabuza Momochi…The Demon of the Hidden Mist…"

A/N:

Actually don't have much to say, but I do have a poll open on my profile concerning the Harem part of this story. Im game if you guys want a harem, but it won't be more than four girls (If you think anyone that isn't on there would make a good candidate, PM me. Ill consider it.)