Naruto was not a happy camper as he punted, quite hard if the yowling screech was any indication, a hog tied cat into the Hokages office. "Twelve times. Twelve times this week we have had to chase and capture that little monster. I swear to Kami I am letting Kikyo use her larger form to EAT the little bitch next time" he growled with a furious twitching eyebrow. "And you Lady Shinji" his head swiveled to glare at the noble "if you want a damn pet to seek affections from you constantly do us all a damn favor, GET A DOG! No genin in the village likes chasing the cat you nearly murder with your hugs. The only reason the cat isn't dead is because no one before me had the balls to say it to your face. Next time my team has to retrieve your abomination run away cat it very well may return dead in a tiny little match box if Kikyo doesnt eat it first. Am. I. Clear." The look on his face and the tone of his voice was daring the noble woman to challenge him.
Kushina was sweating furiously beside Naruko and Satsuki who was hiding behind Minato. As much as it was what they all felt they liked living and not being confined to a dungeon in the darkest basement of the Daimyos palace.
The noble woman looked between the hog tied cat and the blonde genin who dared speak to her like that. "Its about time one of you genin showed some backbone. I much prefer dogs but my husband the Daimyo likes to see you twerps squirm, plot and scream yourselves raw" Lady Shinji said retrieving the money for the mission and tossed it on Minatos desk. She noticed the slack jawed expression of the Hokage and the three women hiding behind him. "What? I despise felines. Mangy things have too many needs. Change a litter box, much more scutinous diet to keep track of and don't even get me started on.." She ranted for nearly twenty minutes before stopping with a huff. "Do what you want with the monster, I don't particularly care." Just like that the Daimyos wife left.
Naruto grinned a bit demonically further scaring the three women as he stalked over the still bound animal. "Oh Kikyo, I have a present for you" Naruto said with a creepy sing song voice. Said winged serpent appeared with a curious look. "Lady Shinji ever so generously gave us permission to do what we want with her former pet. Still want to ea-"
Naruko gulped and steeled herself before darting out to scoop up Tora since she kind of liked the cat and she was the only one the feline never scratched. "You are not letting her eat Tora" she said defiantly. "Shes coming back with me. Hows that sound my little precious kitty?"
Naruto scoffed at the sickly sweet coddling of the mangy cat. "Oh well" he said shaking his head and held up a live mouse by the tail squeaking in fear and futilely trying to escape. Quicker than the women could do anything Kikyo swallowed the mouse whole and curled up happily on Narutos head while the four people could only gawk at him. "So can we get a real mission already? I tire of wasting my time on chores civilians are too lazy to do on their own" he said scowling.
"Uh well thats up to your teams sensei. While you have done enough D-ranks to qualify the decision rest with her if she thinks you as a team are ready for a C-rank" Minato said finding his voice clearing his voice. "Do you think they're ready for a C-rank Kushina?"
"Naruto sends a shadow clone to do the 'chores' and trains independently that hes given Gai a run for his money and won, quite literally" Kushina said with a shudder remembering the sonic boom the two made racing along the village walls scaring the civilians senseless. "Swords skills with his summons weapon are easily on par with Yugao if his spars with her ending in ocassional draws are a sign. Ninjutsu and genjutsu are more than acceptable. Taijutsu has only improved since he started training with Gai." The three women in the room shuddered remembering watching him run a suicide gauntlet of traps through Forest of Death with level five gravity seals and being chased by an enraged Anko somehow giving the purple haired kunoichi the slip to their astonishment. "As for both Satsuki and Naruko they're improving everyday as well, not leaps and bounds like Naruto but at a much faster rate than what I have observed of their graduated and passed classmates" Kushina waid
"Except Satsukis obsession with trying to bed me is getting worse by the day" Naruto said irately.
"Overall, I think they can handle a C-rank" Kushina said pointedly ignoring Narutos words about the Uchiha girl.
"Very well. Maria, send in Tazuna the bridge builder. Its a simple escort mission so you shouldnt run into any problems I expect" Minato said as he pulled out a mission scroll from the C-rank pile and tossed it to his wife.
"Whats this? I pay good money for an escort and you give me children? You must be joking." An older man with graying hair, a large sun hat on his head and glasses walked into the room with a sake bottle in hand.
"Tazuna-san was it?" Naruto asked with an eerily calm smile approaching the man. "Right now I could think of fifty ways I could kill you with a pencil and the only people who could stop me are thing one and thing two over there" he jerked a thumb at Kushina and Minato who were sporting twitching eyebrows "so I suggest you show us the respect that we deserve as shinobi. Escort missions are simple missions so you do not need a squad of say chunin or jounins. At the most we may run into bandits and trust me when I say they will die. Violently. Most likely by my hands since I dont give any value of human life or dignity to low life trash like bandits or mercenaries. Unless you are lying to us about the dangerousness of the mission" he said.
"Naruto stop scaring the client" Kushina said noticing Tazuna shake slightly under her sons gaze. "We'll meet you at the gate in an hour Tazuna-san and dont worry. Even if we do run into bandits I am a jounin so I am more than capable of handling them."
"Hes lying to us" Naruto scoffed once Tazuna was out of the office. "His level of fear and anxiety spiked when I mentioned him lying about the mission rank. Unless I am the only one whose keeping up with current events then everyone should know the recent emergence of a large shipping company based out of Kiri called Gatou Shipping."
"Whats that got to do with anything?" Satsuki asked with a scoff.
"A lot if you let me finish. Where precisely are we to escort Tazuna-san back to Kushina-san?" Naruto asked.
"Nami no Kuni though I dont see where this is going either" Kushina said with her eyes narrowed trying to piece the puzzle pieces together.
"We've been attempted to be had is what" Naruto said swiping a finger across a seal on his wrist grabbing sheafs of paper that appeared after a brief flare of chakra. "Gatou is a crooked businessman that has shady backwater dealings with nearly every criminal faction out of Kiri that is supporting the current Mizukage Yagura that is the cause of the current civil war and bloodline purges in Mizu no Kuni. According to Jiraiyas reports" he laid down the papers in his hands before Minato to look at "Gatou Shipping has a headquarters in Nami no Kuni where he bases a lot of his operations. Drugs, human trafficking, sexual slavery and more shipped out on 'legitimate' export ships to the other great and minor nations. Going further with Jiraiyas reports Nami no Kuni is an island nation who relies solely on imports to sustain itself and Gatou Shipping is the only import vein they have so they get taxed to near death. If Tazuna is worried about 'bandits' attacking him that means theres going to be shinobi attacking and trying to kill Tazuna since if his bridge gets built connecting Nami to the mainland"
"He can no longer drain the country dry and exploit its people" Minato finished clenching his hands. "How did you get your hands on these Naruto?"
"Jiraiya may be as lacking and as prophecy focused as you two dunder heads but he finds my conscious wider world view scarily observant to things outside the village that he unofficially, his words not mine, 'adopts the emo thunder cloud as my spy apprentice'. I showed him a fuckin thunder cloud after that" Naruto growled in annoyance. "Anything of major importance that is not need to know of jounin clearance or higher I get a copy of when he comes through."
"So what are we going to do Kaa-san, Tou-san? Lying about the dangers of a mission is grounds to blacklist the client. But if all these reports are true and they are as bad off we can't no do anything" Naruko said petting a purring Tora in her arms worriedly.
"I should say we tell go the gate and Tazuna fuck off for lying to us" Naruto ignored the incredulous looks at his callous words "but I need a good workout. So I say we take it anyway but add on a secondary objective to kill Gatou. We cut off the head of the snake and transfer the ownership of Gatou Shipping to Nami for legitimate business then they can pay the excess balance of a B-rank mission back to us once they get financially sound again" Naruto said.
"Well... I cant fault your logic on one hand. On the other B-ranks are reserved for seasoned chunins and higher"
"And what am I, chop liver? I spar with jounins on the regular and win roughly 60% of ths time. I spar with Yugao and draw ties with her in armed combat we know thats her specialty for reasons. Plus" Naruto jabbed a finger at Kushina "crazy psycho chakra sucking and suppressing chains, why are you worrying? Worst comes to worst she has to summon back up with your instant back-up summon seal for a squad of higher rank depending on the severity of the opposition."
"Koi, hes right. The pros outweigh the cons in this situation" Kushina said shaking her head. "We'd be no better than that tyrant if we left them to suffer under that asshole. We'll take it and we will be fine. Go pack for a two week mission and meet me at the gate in half an hour." Satsuki and Naruko left via the window while Naruto reorganized the reports and sealed them back up in the seal on his wrist.
"Dont forget your sword Kushina-san, things tell me this mission will be fun. I do hope you remember how to use it though" Naruto said with a smirk before he disappeared in a vortex of fire.
"Should we worried about him? He seems a little too...excited" Kushina said with a worried glance to her husband.
"Maybe.. Its probably just nerves. I hope" Minato said trying to convince them both.