THE REINCARNATION OF KYUBI

CHAPTER SIX

THE FIRST TRUE MISSION

Konohagakure: The Hokage Tower: a few days later

Maito Guy stood proudly before his Hokage while, exuberantly, requesting a D-Rank mission for his team. Now his team, being a realistic bunch, didn't expect much, maybe delivering a packet of documents to a neighboring town, or to guard a farm for a the harvest or something, what they got was "Ah, here's one! On second thought no, since you're the first one's here, I don't think I'll give you Tora. Hmm, how about this, we have a big field that needs to be cleared of trash!" As all three members of Maito Guy's Genin team jaws dropped as Guy enthusiastically took the mission with the promise of it will be done or his team will scale the Hokage Monument while only using their teeth to do so.

Konohagakure: Team Nine's training ground: after their mission

"Yes! You have completed your first mission admirably! Now on to our training!" Guy shouted out with an air punch.

"You, you can't call that a mission! That was a parks and recreational job!" Chitose screamed at her Jonin instructor.

"Hmm, did you not know?" Gai asked them with a slightly tilted head "All D-Ranked Missions are pretty much along the lines of that one. They are meant to build up your teamwork. While you do not need that as much as most Genin teams I will admit, the fact is it does help do so, and it is required to do a certain number of them before doing a C-Ranked Mission." Gai then nodded and said to his Genin troop "Do not fear my little ones! When I deem you ready, we will have better missions! That I promise you!" He said going into his eye-blinding 'Nice Guy' pose, complete with the eye searing flashing of his teeth.

While all of the gathered Genin were blinking their eyes to get their sight back, a semi-blinded Lee shouted out "Yes Gai-Sensei! We can wait!"

"Just not too long" Chitose grumbled, to which Hinata then nodded furiously as a sign of her agreement.

"Ok then!" Gai shouted with a clap of his hands, instantly getting their attention. "This is going to be our first Team Practice, for it will be the three of you versus some opponents I have gathered for you!" Gai shouted. And then, with a snap of his fingers, nine Chunin came out of nowhere and Gai shouted out "This is no holds barred, till the last man, or woman, is left standing. Begin!"

Konohagakure: Team Nine's training ground: after the sparing exercise

"I am disappointed in all of you." Gai said in an exuberantly harsh tone of voice. "Now while I did not expect you to WIN that skirmish, I DID expect you to cover each other just a LITTLE better. Now technically you did win, as Chitose was the last one standing, but it was at the cost of both Lee and Hinata. That is NOT expectable. If you are to truly WIN, then ALL of you must remain standing. Lee went down WAY too fast do to poor coverage from both Hinata and Chitose, and then they managed to close in on Chitose when Lee went down, and thus separated the two of you from each other." He then glared at them and asked "So, any thoughts on how you could have done, a little better?" Gai asked. Their discussion then lasted for a few hours more.

Konohagakure: Chitose's house: early evening

"So, how was your day kids?" Anko asked while she sat at the table with them, waiting for Kakashi to finish cooking dinner. While Kakashi was a great cook, Anko, well she could turn cooking water into molecular acid. It was the only way Kakashi could explain how she utterly melted a cooking pot by trying to just fill the thing from the tap. So she did not cook for them, he did.

"Well we first learned that D-Ranked missions suck ass." Chitose started, and then Hinata continued with

"And then Gai had an exercise for us that we did not meet his expectations for." Hinata said while looking down.

"Ah, it's ok Hinata, everyone has their off moments." Anko told the girl. "So what was the exercise?" She then asked.

"Gai pit us against nine Chunin and the team with the last one standing won." Chitose said.

"And he expected you to win?" Anko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually, no." Chitose said "It seems the test was to see how well we could cover each other. But while we did win according to the rules of the spar, Lee was taken out way to quickly due to Hinata and my not being able to properly cover him, and then once he went down, the remaining Chunin managed to separate me and Hinata. After she went down, I um, well, I lost my temper I guess. I was the last one standing, but Gai said that wasn't the point of the exercise. It was to see how long we could last while covering each other, which wasn't very long." Chitose said sounding embarrassed.

"Gai said he'd have us try it again after some more 'Teamwork Cohesion Exercises'" Hinata then said while still looking down.

Kakashi then came up to the table with a big pot of seafood noodle soup and asked of them "Well, then you learned an important lesson today, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Chitose said.

"Yes." Hinata agreed.

Konohagakure: The Hokage Tower: a few weeks later

There was the picking up of the trash in the parks. There was the weeding of fields. There were the milk runs and other deliveries. There were the home repairs. And then finally there was, brr, Tora the cat. The suckage that was D-Ranked Missions had taken its toll on the three normally happy Genin and they looked ready to murder Gai and the Hokage if they were assigned one more single slice of Hell commonly known as a D-Ranked Mission. When to their utter relief and surprise, Gai told the Hokage after saluting him, "I humbly request a C-Ranked Mission for Team Nine Hokage."

Sarutobi the Third Hokage blinked in shock and stopped his hand that had been on its way to gather up another D-Ranked mission, as he counted off in his head the number of D-Ranked Missions that Team Nine has preformed and after reaching the number asked Gai "Gai, you d realize that you have only preformed that bare minimum number of D-Ranked Missions required to receive a C-Ranked Mission, don't you? While I will not argue with you if you truly think that they are ready for this, I still do feel I must inform you of this particular fact."

Gai then replied to that statement with "Thank you my Hokage, but I do realize this fact. But all D-Ranked Missions are for is to build up a team's team work, and I feel that my team has been operating at an extremely expectable level of team work before I even was assigned them. They have nothing to learn from D-Ranked Missions in my opinion, other than how to deal with high levels of frustration that is!" Gai said with a laugh. Then going back to his creepy serious mode, he said "I do feel that they are ready to try one of the more, less strenuous, C-Ranked missions." Gai told the Third, subtly hinting that he did not think they were quite ready for an advanced C-Rank Mission yet though.

The Hokage said "Hmm." And then reached for the pile of C-Rank Mission scrolls. Looking over the first few, he said things like "Hmm, no." and "No." And "Not a chance." And "Hmm, that's a maybe." As he would put a few scrolls a side. Suddenly there was a "OH HELL NO! HOW THE HELL DID AN S-RANK MISSION GET PUT IN THIS PILE!!!???!!!" Suddenly looking up at his company, Sarutobi nervously chuckled and said "Um, opps?" then shaking his head he put the offending scroll into a drawer in his desk while muttering "Note to self, have a few words with my soon to be ex-secretary." And then he was back to looking through the pile of scrolls for a suitable mission for Team Nine.

Finally, the Hokage thought he had found the perfect first C-Ranked mission for Team Nine, considering what he knew of them, the idea behind their team, and finally the hint he had gotten from Gai to make it one of the lower tier ones. Holding the mission scroll in his hands, the Hokage said "Well, this one looks perfect for your team to wet their teeth on Gai. It seems that a pack of wolves have decided that some sheep outside our village are mighty tasty, and they want a team of Ninjas to eliminate them."

"Hmm," Gai said "Don't the sheep farmers usually just eliminate any wolves themselves?" He asked of the Hokage.

"Yes, they normally do." The Hokage said with a nod. "But these wolves seem to be quite large, and are in quite the large pack. Even so, the sheep farmers did try to stop them themselves, but about half the wolf hunters were either injured or even killed by them. So they have asked for our help in the matter."

"I see. So these animals are very large and extremely dangerous. Very well, I accept this mission on behalf of Team Nine." Then turning to both Chitose and Hinata Gai said "Please return to your home and pack quickly. Lee and I shall do the same. We will meet in two hours time at the gate. If we leave then, we should be able to get to the sheep herding station by dark or a little after. We may, that's may, even be able to clear this up for our client by tonight if we are lucky. If not, we still will probably manage to get a few of the wolves at least."

Both Chitose and Hinata nodded, and then they left for there home, hoping someone would be home for them to inform.

Konohagakure: Chitose's house: A little later

Chitose and Hinata were in luck, for Anko was at home. "What are you girls doing back here so soon?" She asked of them.

As Hinata went to get their packs, for Kakashi had told them soon after they made Genin to always have a pack with basic supplies ready incase of a sudden C-Ranked Mission that required them to be out of the town for a few days, Chitose answered her mother's question.

"We got our first C-Rank Mission today, and we'll be out of the town for at least a day or two."

"Oh, really? What's the mission?" Anko asked.

"Nothing much. A large pack of rather large wolves have been attacking some sheep herders. They tried to take care of it themselves like normal, but half their wolf hunting party was either injured or killed, so they asked us for assistance. Gai thinks that even if we don't finish the mission tonight, we should be done with this in a few days or so." Chitose told her mother.

As Hinata carried out both her and Chitose's pack, Anko said "Well, looks like your team got themselves a nice mission to wet their feet on. Tracking and combat. Sure, they're just animals, but they sound slightly dangerous, so you'll need to be on your toes not to get to hurt. But still, they're just animals, so you won't be in as much danger as you would be even if you faced some bandits." Anko then smiled and said "Well, good luck girls! See you when you get back, and I'll be sure to tell this to Kakashi."

After a quick "Thanks!" both girls were out the door and off for the gate, eager to go on their first 'Real' mission.

A few miles outside of Konohagakure: at the sheep herder's sheep stations sheep field: very early on the next morning

It was a little after one in the morning and all the Genin of Team Nine were quite bored with wait for the wolves to show up, when Lee suddenly noticed some movement to his right. Signaling his team mates and his sensei over to him, for they each had a section of the field to cover, after they stealthily made their way over to him, he pointed out just what had to be the biggest wolf he had ever even heard of, let alone seen. It was quick followed by many more wolves of its size, if not of even greater size.

"I think we can take them, though it will have to be very quick." Lee muttered, to which Chitose replied

"Wait Lee. There's something…, wrong about those wolves."

As both Lee and Hinata turned to Chitose upon her saying that statement, Gai suddenly sighed and said "Unfortunately, Chitose is right. Those are not normal wolves."

"Then, what are they sensei?" Lee asked in a whisper as he looked upon the wolves.

"They are summons." Gai said seriously. All his students gave a small gasp at that, and he continued with "Yes, that means there are enemy Ninja out there, and judging by the size of that back, more then one, all with the wolf summoning contract."

"What do you mean Gai? My dad could summon this many dogs on his own, and my mom could easily summon a lot more of her snakes, or few really big ones." Chitose asked of Gai curious as to why he felt that there had to be more then one enemy Ninja out there.

Gai then sighed and said "Chitose dear, your father is an ANBU level Jonin, and is a Ninjutsu specialist to boot. Thus he has vast Chakra reserves. And besides, dogs take much less Chakra to summon the wolves, especially wolves of this power. As to your mother and her snakes, while you may know some about summoning, you obliviously did not that out of all the summons in the world, the snake summon is considered to be one of the best and the strongest. And your mother also has vast Chakra reserves as well, enabling her to summon a multitude of snakes. If it is just one Ninja summoning these wolves, then he would have to be a Jonin of your father's caliber. And while I will not cross that idea out of my head, it makes more sense that it is two or three Chunin all with the wolf contract signed by them, for I truly do not see the reason why a Jonin would be assigned to taking out the sheep of this station." Gai then scratched his chin in thought and said "Unless he was a missing nin. But even then, this would be so fat beneath his or her skills, unless they were truly hard up for cash." Sighing, Gai then said "Well, this has now become at least a B-Ranked mission. If there is a Jonin, it will be an A-Ranked one, though I truly doubt that happening." Then Gai motioned for his students to pay very close attention, and said "Ok my little Genin. I need you to be a distraction for me. You three will engage the summoned wolves, while I try to find, and hopefully confront, our mystery Ninjas. Now remember, as summons, they are not truly alive, or even on this plain of existence, which means that when you strike what would be a death blow on one of them, they will just disappear in a puff of smoke, so do not be surprised by that. Now I'm going to sneak towards the woods they came from. When I get to the tree line, I wish for you to engage the summoned wolves at that time. If for some reason you finish with them before I have found my target, I wish for you to make for the woods, entering at the exact point that the wolves left the woods from, so you can help me search, while still giving the impression that you do not truly know what is going on, ok?" His three students nodded as a response, and the Gai was off like a rocket, although it was a stealth rocket.

As soon as Gai hit the tree line, Team Nine stood up and attacked. They went with there previous plan, the one that they had when they thought these were nothing more then real, if slightly large and dangerous, wolves. And that was for Chitose to hit them with one long range and wide spread area effect Ninjutsu, and the for all three of them to engage the wolves in hand to paw combat while they were disoriented from the first attack.

Spring to her feet and calling out "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" Chitose breathed out a rather large ball of fire at the summoned wolves, taking three of the twelve out of the fight right then and there, as they poofed back to wherever summons go to when they are unsummoned. As Chitose had been doing that, both Hinata and Lee had been running towards the summoned wolves, and just moments after the three summons were forcefully ejected from this plane of existence, they were each taking a wolf on with Taijutsu.

Then Chitose was running towards the summoned wolf pack, while both Lee and Hinata were on there second wolf. She was a little over three fourths of the way there, when Hinata, whom was now engaging her third wolf, was being sunk up upon by another wolf. Seeing as Lee was also busy taking care of his third wolf, Chitose started doing some hand seals and then shouted out, while still running towards the fighting. Calling out Doton: Retsudotenshō she got some of the surrounding rocks to pelt the wolf, sunning it momentarily, and allowing her to make it to the wolf with enough time left unsummon it by giving it a swift and brutal chop to the neck. In that time, both Lee and Hinata had managed to take out all the other wolves.

Looking around themselves, Chitose muttered "You know, I thought they'd be tougher then that, seeing as they're summons and all."

"YES!!! You did very well my little Genin!" Gai shouted as he came out of the woods a few moments later. "Surprisingly, there was only one Chunin level Ninja that had summoned these wolves!" Then looking at Chitose, Gai shouted "Never doubt that your flames of youth can quickly burn your opponents!" Then settling down for a moment, Gai said "The main reason though that you had such an easy time with these summons was the fact that I had very quickly found and neutralized the enemy Ninja, and while it is surprising that they did not immediately become unsummoned, they were quickly losing their hold on this reality, but" Gai said with a mad grin on his face, "You quite easily managed to burn them all with your flames of youth before they had expired! I am so proud of you my little Genin!"

As both Chitose and Hinata rolled their eyes at this and thought about how, Bi-Polar, their sensei acted at times, Lee was shout out with joy evident in his voice "Yes! Our flames burn brightly with youth! We…" And then Chitose shut him up with a smack to the back of his head and a low growl combined with a fierce look saying "Stop it or I'll cut you off." Needless to say, Lee shut up.

Ahh, the power of being the female in a relationship.

EAN: Ah well, this first mission was supposed to be an easy one. Maybe it was a bit too easy, so far that is. You don't think this mission is done yet do you? Hell no, it's just getting started! HAHAHAHA!!!

But yah, this first part was way too easy. And that was on purpose. See you next time I update, I hope.