"Naruto, Sasuke!" Lee called out. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other and sighed before walking towards the yelling. "What did you find Lee?" Sasuke asked cautiously. The two boys turned to see what Lee was so excited about. "No! No way Lee." Naruto said turning to look at Sasuke who looked like he had seen a ghost. "A little help here would be nice." Naruto cried out to an unresponsive Sasuke. "Lee, I swear to god if you buy that thing I will… I'll… I…" Naruto stammered trying to figure out a way to prevent Lee from turning into a miniature Guy. "Do not worry Naruto, I know what you are thinking." Lee said with a grin. "Oh thank god!" Naruto breathed out as Sasuke came back to life. "I think green is a bold choice, but have no fear if anyone can pull it off as elegantly as sensei I believe it is I." Lee declared causing both boys to drop their heads in shame knowing what their team will look like come tomorrow. "I don't even want anything anymore can we just go home?" Sasuke asked Naruto. "Yeah, this place is kinda ruined for me." Naruto said as they began to sulk their way through the store to head home. "Goodnight sir." Naruto and Sasuke chorused. "Goodnight kids, and call me Takeshi." The man said waving before turning to Lee to complete his purchase.
The next morning
"Good morning stu… Lee you look so… youthful!" Guy shouted way to loud for so early in the morning only to be rivaled by Lee's exclaims of youth and will of fire for what seemed like hours.
"So, I took the liberty of selecting a mission for us. We will be patrolling the Grass country border in response to increased activity along the perimeter. Remember we will be leaving Konoha so you must be on guard at all times. Understood?" Guy said in such a serious tone Naruto and Sasuke wondered if it was the real Guy. "Understood Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted standing at attention. "Understood." Naruto and Sasuke said snapping out of their thoughts. Just when they were beginning to wonder what happened to their sensei and teammate they started rambling about youthfulness and how Guy was lucky to have such an eager student at his disposal. But before they could continue Naruto spoke up. "Umm, sensei when do we leave?" Guy turned to look at the two boys while placing a hand on Lee's head. "Aah yes, you should meet me at the gate in three hours. It will take about four days to get there and then we'll set up a camp. Pack enough for a month." and with that the three boys set off for their respective homes and packed enough for a month and a half. It never hurt to be over-prepared.
-Border of Grass/Fire-
"Ugh, we've been here for two weeks and nothing's happened. I'd rather be chasing Tora than walking around the same path day in day out." Naruto said in frustration. "Should I schedule extra exercises since you seem to have so much energy?" Guy asked with a wide smile. Naruto and Sasuke went wide-eyed for a second at the thought. In the two weeks they've been there they've trained harder than ever before. They've actually improved quite a bit under the regime of Guy.
For all of his eccentricities Guy was a genius. Everything he had them do had a purpose. For every bizarre rant he went on you understood some of it more and more. It was kind of scary.
Another week of whining, boredom, and threats of torturous exercises passed by before Team 9 saw the first sign of life that wasn't a guard at an outpost. For the last three weeks they've walked the same path in varying patterns to not get predictable. The path was about 20 miles long and it was a stroke of luck that they were able to spot a figure speeding past the border. The three boys flashed smiles of excitement and looked to their sensei who nodded at them before they began their pursuit. They weren't sure if the person they were following was aware of them, so they decided to lag behind and keep a safe distance to see where he was headed.
They stopped when their target reached a clearing and entered a nearby cave like structure that didn't look too natural. They could see he was a ninja from Grass, but they didn't know why he was sneaking across the border. They waited in the trees until something happened. Hours later the man they were following exited the cave dressed in Konoha gear. From the look of his gear he was a chunin. "So… a spy. Do you recognize him sensei?" Sasuke asked from his perch. "I do not." Guy replied "We will take him down and send for a recovery team to take him into Konoha custody." Guy said about to jump down from his tree when Naruto grabbed his arm. "Can we take him? We could use the practice." Naruto pleaded. He was excited about finally fighting an opponent as a full fledged ninja. Guy took a second to think, but decided to let them try and he'd step in if it got too dangerous. The boys discussed a plan amongst themselves before spreading out across the clearing leaving no avenues of escape.
One second the spy was putting objects into a storage scroll and the next he was dodging strikes from from a green blur that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Then, the blur was gone. The spy turned to grab his scroll and retreat when he had to block another flurry of strikes another source of attack. Sasuke was throwing everything he could at the man when he finally found an opening and landed a sweep, sending the man towards the ground. The spy backflipped trying to create space when in the middle of his flip he was caught with a kick to the stomach knocking the wind out of him. Lee and Sasuke stood over the man before Sasuke knocked him out. All of a sudden Lee and Sasuke heard screaming that sounded like a battle cry that was cut short. When they turned around they saw another man dressed in Grass country attire still in the process of falling after Naruto chopped him in the back of the neck.
After Guy sent for a retrieval team he and his students resumed their patrol without interruption. On their last day they practically sprinting to Konoha desperate to get away from the boredom of border patrol.
After handing in their mission report the boys decided to get some Ichiraku before going to pick up the weapons they ordered from Takeshi before they left for their mission. On their way they talked about their training plans, and how C ranks were no better than D. When they arrived they took their seats and waited for their order to be taken. "Ah, my three favorite customers. Finally back home huh?" asked Teuchi "Only for the ramen old man." Naruto answered smiling.
After 10 minutes of Naruto waiting for the other two boys to finish their meals they headed towards Takeshi's shop. When they got to the weapons shop Takeshi was sweeping his store. "Hey Takeshi." chorused the three boys as they entered the store. "Hey boys, I have your orders ready if you want them now." Naruto and Sasuke nodded and Takeshi went to the back room to get their orders.
A couple minutes later and Takeshi brought their orders to the counter. "First we have an order for Sasuke Uchiha." said Takeshi as he moved Sasuke's order to the front. Sasuke removed the blanket-like cloth that was covering the weapons. Sasuke smiled as he picked up his uchigatana. He was surprised at how light it was considering it was almost as big as him. He admired the blade and touched the edge. It was perfect, on one side he had the Uchiha fan, and on the other side it had the Yamanaka crest. After the years with Naruto and the rest of the Yamanakas he felt closer to them than he ever did with his clan. With the exception of his mother and Itachi. He cringed at the thought of Itachi. Sasuke's mood quickly turned to anger, then he snapped out of his thoughts when Naruto slapped a hand on his shoulder. "You should show your sword to my mom and dad, I'm sure they'll love it." Naruto said with a smile that took Sasuke's thoughts away from that night. 'This is my family now' Sasuke reminded himself. He didn't know where he'd be without Naruto, and how Noriko and Inoichi treated him like a son. He'd find a way to repay them.
Sasuke went back to admiring his sword, it had cost him nearly all of their D rank earnings. Blades that can infused with chakra didn't come cheap. The sword was definitely perfect to him. "Okay Naruto your turn."
Naruto uncovered his weapon and his eyes went wide. "They're beautiful." Naruto cried with 'manly tears' as Lee and Guy like to put it. Naruto picked up one of the two weapons he bought. It was a gauntlet with 6 inch, chakra fusible blades to go on his right hand. The gauntlet itself was black with the Yamanaka clan crest on the backside of his palm. The four blades on the gauntlet were silver and incredibly sharp. His second piece of equipment, was a 22 inch wakizashi. Again with a 15 inch chakra fusible blade, and a 7 inch metal handle covered in black dyed shark skin. "We need new clothes." Naruto said while Sasuke nodded in agreement. "Let's go home first I'm beat." Sasuke said "Okay." confirmed Naruto "See ya later Lee!" Naruto yelled as Sasuke echoed while they started running home.
A/N Ugh life does not want me writing. I just started working ridiculous hours so it took me a while to find the time to write more. I'm going to try to upload another chapter tomorrow or Tuesday. Short chapter this time I'll have some training and another mission. After that I might go into the next graduating class and my take on the Wave mission. Hopefully it'll be completely different than any others you might have read. Someone asked a question about the 8 gates that got me really wondering. I'd like to know what you guys think about teaching Naruto and Sasuke the 8 gates. I want them to learn it, but I also want Lee to have something special for himself. I'm trying to come up with some really cool stuff for the new weapons. Hopefully sleep will bring inspiration.
Thank you guys for reading you guys are awesome. I'm really sorry for the slow update I'm gonna try to be less sporadic.
Til next time.
