"Now then, Kakashi's Team 7's next mission is... " the Hokage said, looking at his papers, "babysitting Yojyu-sama's boy. Grocery shopping at the neighboring town. Helping dig up potatoes at- "
"No! " Naruto suddenly exclaimed, folding his arms in a big X, "no thanks to all of those! I want to do a more exciting mission! Choose something else! "
Even though Naruto was acting out of order... Sasuke kind of agreed with the dope on that one. There's some truth to that, he thought, since he was also bored by the stupid missions they'd gotten lately. Sakura, tired of Nartuo's endless complaining, thought, what a troublesome guy, and glared at the blond. Yuuki agreed with Naruto. She was also tired of chasing the feudal lord's wife's cat or babysitting small, noisy kids. Recently, Yuuki had done a lot of training at night instead of sleeping, because the missions they were doing weren't challenging at all. Kakashi sighed, thinking: I knew he was going to do this soon...
Iruka-Sensei got up, scolding Naruto for his words, saying he was still a novice ninja and that he needed experience before he could take on bigger missions. That's how it was: Everyone started at the bottom. Naruto kept complaining, though Kakashi soon stopped him by hitting the boy on the head.
"Naruto. " The Hokage said with a serious tone (when was he not serious? Yuuki wondered. ), "it looks like I need to explain to you what missions are. "
"Listen, " the old man said, "a lot of clients come to this village every day. They request things from babysitting to assassinations. On the request list, a variety of requests are listed on it and they are separated in ranks. A, B, C and D according to difficulty. In this village, we separate the people into Jounins, Chunins, and Genins according to their abilities. We higher officials assign the missions the ninja with the appropriate abilities, and if we complete the mission, we receive a fee from the client. "
"You have all become Genins just recently, so D ranked missions are best for you, " the Hokage said, showing a scroll with D-ranked missions. Yuuki could not help to notice that he referred to all of them, as if she too had recently graduated from the Konoha academy, though that was not true. Naruto wasn't listening to the lecture at all though, instead, he was wondering what to get for dinner today...
"LISTEN! " Sandaime said, glaring at the boy.
"I'm sorry, " Kakashi mumbled from beside the boy, who was still sitting on the ground. Naruto turned around, facing the Hokage.
"Ahh... you always lecture me like that, pops, " he said, "but I'm not the kid who used to pull pranks anymore! " Naruto then turned around, sulking. Kakashi, embarrassed by his subordinate, sighed and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, thinking of the scolding he had coming later... Though, it did not seem that either Iruka-Sensei or Sandaime was mad, in fact, both of them were smiling.
"Okay, I understand, " said the Hokage, gaining everyone's attention, Yuuki, Sasuke and Sakura's included, "if you insist... I will allow you to take on a C ranked mission. It's to escort a certain person. "
"Really? " Naruto asked, already excited. " Who? Who? The feudal lord? Or a princess? "
"Don't get so hasty, " the Hokage said, "I'll introduce him now. "
"Can you please com in? " The Hokage said louder, talking to someone outside the room... Everyone turned around, all excited to see the client. Although...
"What? They're all kids! " Said a drunk, old man with a rope around his head as he stepped into the room.
"Hey, is the smallest one there with the idiotic face really a ninja? " The man said, referring to Naruto sitting on the ground. Naruto laughed, until he realized that he himself was, in fact, the smallest one with the idiotic face. Kakashi had to hold him back, so that he would not punch the old man, saying, "Don't punch the man you're going to escort, idiot. "
"I am the bridge building expert Tazuna. Once I have returned to my country, I will have all of you protect my life with yours while I complete the bridge. " And with that, team 7 had received their first C rank mission.
~ Time skip ~
Yuuki, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto and Tazuna all left the village shortly after that. Naruto was yelling with excitement, though no one else seemed to have the same energetic spirit as he did. And honestly, Naruto was acting like an idiotic child who was seeing the world for the first time... Which was because he had, in fact, never left the village.
"Oi, will a kid like this really be capable of this mission? " Tazuna asked, pointing at Naruto.
Kakashi laughed.
"I, a jounin, will be accompanying you. There's no need to worry... "
"Oi, Geezer! " Naruto yelled, pointing at the old man, "don't underestimate ninjas! I'm a great ninja! I'm the elite ninja who will receive the title of the Hokage one day. The name is Uzumaki Naruto. Remember it! "
Tazuna and Naruto continued to fight, and once again Kakashi had to hold Naruto back to keep him from hitting the man. Yuuki flinched, for a moment thinking that they were being watched, though neither Sasuke or Kakashi seemed to notice, so it might just have been a bird. She shrugged it of, but stayed on guard... The group continued their way through the forest - they were headed towards the Land of Waves - and while they walked, Sakura asked if there was any ninjas in the Land of Waves. Kakashi told her that, no, there weren't. Yuuki already knew that... Kakashi explained further...
"There are Five Great Ninja Powers: The Land of Fire's Hidden Village of Konoha (leaf). The Land of Water's Hidden Village of Mist. The Land of Lightning's Hidden Village of Cloud. The Land of Wind's Hidden Village of Sand. And finally the Land of Earth's Hidden Village of Rock. "
Kakashi further explained about the Kages, though both Sakura and Naruto had a hard time seeing the Hokage as one of the 'Great Five Kages'. Kakashi sensed their doubt and patted Sakura on the head, saying, "Don't worry. We won't have any ninja battles in a C ranked mission. "
Sakura sighed, relieved and said, "then there's no worry about meeting foreign ninjas. " Kakashi laughed again and the group continued their journey.
