Well, here's another chapter! :) Hopefully, I'll be able to update soon, but until then,

ENjoy!

Chapter 4: The First Mission

It was a bright, sunny day at the Uchiha Mansion. After a celebration for their achievement, everything seemed more relaxing and calm at the home. The sun was shining down causing a bit of more heat during the day. Both Uchihas were already up and prepared to meet up with their teams and start their first D-ranked mission. Sure, it may not have been the most amazing misson ever, but what could you expect from some newly graduated genin?

Team 4 was to meet up on top of the hospital building, while Team 7 would meet up with their sensei at the old academy room. Both Uchihas went to their own destinations, wishing each other the best of luck. Their parents watched as they both went into different directions and they were again reminded of how fast they were both growing up. Haku made his way to his meeting spot and saw that all the members of the squad were already here.

"Good……we're all here. Now I'm sure you are all well-acquainted with each other, so I don't believe introductions are necessary. My name is Mizuki-sensei and I'm your teacher from now on. Our first Team mission will be at the nearby river where we will be collecting trash. Let's head out!" Said Team 4's sensei. But little did they know they were off to have another test.

Uchiha Katara finally arrived at the academy and quickly stepped into the room. She saw that everyone was here except her sensei, which was oddly strange to her. Hyuuga Keiko was currently just looking out the window, while Takahashi Koji was calmly leaning on the left wall with his eyes closed. Truth be told, she was a little nervous because even though she knew who they were, she never really talked to them. Feeling a little brave today, she said "Ohayo" to both of her teammates. Both of them turned towards her giving her their full attention. Katara was a bit uncomfortable, but said "Umm……I just wanted to say hi and I'm glad I'm on the same team as you guys."

"Hey, no need to be shy. We are all on the same team, so we should all learn to get along and I suppose we can become friends!" Keiko happily said with a kind smile.

"Yeah, I suppose." Replied Koji "By the way, anyone know where our sensei is? He's about an hour late already."

The door to the classroom suddenly opened and all three children saw their teacher; no one other than Hatake Kakashi, the copy cat nin. "Sorry guys, I was helping an old lady cross the street." He sheepishly replied. But all three students could see through his charade, but ignored it; they just wanted to finish their first mission. "Come on, let's head up to the roof to introduce each other." Said Kakashi as he led his students to the top where they sat down on the ground, while their teacher stood up. "So tell me about your selves." The copy nin just stated.

"Well……….what would you want to know? And maybe you should tell us first." all three of them said.

"Your name, dislikes, likes, dreams, and stuff like that. I guess I'l start then; Alright, I'm Hatake Kakashi, I don't really feel like telling you my dislikes, likes, or dreams, so there you go." Replied their sensei. In truth, going through all three of their minds was 'he really only told us his name' as they all sweatdropped. "Alright let's start off with you" he said as he pointed to Keiko.

"Oh, well my name is Hyuuga Keiko; I dislike people who purposely hurt others; I like to help others out and train and my dream is to be able to rid the Hyuuga clan of its curse mark on the Branch members."

"Next is you, in the middle." Kakashi said as he pointed to Koji.

"Takahashi Koji; I dislike annoying things and I like training and my hobbies are watching the sunset, swimming and many others; my dream is to make my clan proud of me and do my best."

"And last but not least, the Uchiha." Said the sensei.

"Uchiha Katara at your service! I really don't dislike anything unless it's someone who tries to hurt people who are close to me; I like my friends, family, and to train; my dream is to share the leadership of the clan with my brother and if possible I would like to be the next hokage!" yelled the Uchiha.

"Alright, enough with introductions, but based on my analysis, I'd have to say you three are a well-rounded group. There's no mission today, but I want you three to meet me tomorrow at the training grounds at 5:30 am." Said their sensei.

"Wait, I thought we were suppose to have our first mission today?" asked Koji.

Chuckle…… "Wait, what's so funny, Kakashi-sensei?" questioned the Hyuuga.

"If I told you, you wouldn't like it." Answered the copy nin.

"W-why?" stuttered the Uchiha as she was afraid what she was going to hear next.

"Well, according to the rules, after you've graduated the academy, we, as teachers, are suppose to give you another test to see if you're capable enough of being Genin." Replied their sensei.

"WHAT?!" all three members of team 7 yelled.

"But, didn't we just take an exam to get to where we are now?" asked Keiko.

"That was only, how'd you put it, a practice exam. Out here, I'll see if each and every one of you will be able to pass. So, just be ready for tomorrow, and just one more thing. Don't eat breakfast…………..OR you'll puke." Their sensei sinisterly said as he disappeared.

"Well, that was a little awkward, but I guess we have a free day today, so did you guys want to hangout to get to know each other more?" asked the shy Uchiha girl. But in the back of her head, she was a bit worried with what her sensei just told everyone, but that quickly slipped her mind as she came back to reality and overheard Keiko say:

"Sounds like a plan!"

"Sure." Said Koji.

Team 7 jumped from building to building until they landed on the nice, solid ground of the village. It was now the afternoon and it was about time for lunch, so with a suggestion from Keiko, all three teammates arrived at Ichiraku Ramen. Keiko ordered miso ramen; Katara got the miso chicken ramen and Koji got the beef. All three were happily slurping away and tried to start a conversation. Even though all three kids had different personalities, they had common interests. For starters, they all found out they had kekkai genkai and strangely enough, Katara noticed all four names started with the letter K. The three kids quickly bonded and enjoyed each other's company; it felt like they knew each other since they were born. After lunch, they all decided to go to a meadow and lay down to watch the clouds. "You know, I'm glad I met you guys; I grew up alone and no one usually wanted to play with me. My brother always got invited to hangout, but he always never wanted to leave me alone, but things got better." Katara said as she began to open up to them more.

"That must've been awful. I've lived alone for a few years now. I lost my family about 5 years ago when the dragon demon attacked. I've been alone ever since." Koji said and he felt somewhat safe with his two teammates.

"Yeah……..life could be hard. Let me show you something….." Keiko took off her headband from her forehead and her teammates saw a strange mark. "You see, this is the curse mark we are forced to have. I've been a caged bird ever since I got this mark when I was four. Sometimes I dislike how the main branch does not have to deal with this kind of pain. The branch family serves the main branch and this is our destiny, but I sometimes want to breakaway from it and form my own path. I don't want to always be a caged bird, and someday, I'm going to get rid of this tradition."

"Wow……we all have difficulties huh? I just want to tell you guys one more thing………….you know that attack from the nine-tailed dragon? My great-grandfather saved everyone, but gave up his life and sealed the demon inside of me……………I'm a Jinchuuriki." The Uchiha heiress sadly said as she was hoping that her teammates wouldn't turn away.

Shocked faces were turned towawrds the Uchiha as she had just opened up about her most deepest secret, but suddenly, Keiko soothingly said, "Hey……..it's alright. From what I've seen today, you aren't a monster………..not even close to one."

"I agree." Said Koji.

"Arigatou." The Uchiha softly replied. They stayed watching the clouds and the sunset until all three went their separate ways to their homes. Katara arrived home and saw her brother and she quickly asked him about his day. "It was fine……….you know just picking up cans from the river." Replied her brother but truthfully, he had just taken the test to become a fully-pledged genin and his team passed; he had to promise not to tell anyone. Katara felt a hint of untruthfulness in his tone, but decided to just brush it off. She went off to bed early and had a nice, sleep.

Uchiha Katara always seemed to be the early-bird. She always seemed to wake up before anyone in the household. Today, she had woken up at 4:00 am, still seeing that it was a bit dark outside, until she saw the brilliant sun rise on the horizon. She always loved watching the sun rise and set. She quickly prepared for her meeting with her team. She put on a long-sleeved red shirt with a black skort. Just in case, she decided to have an apple before she left and said goodbye to her grandfather, who was the only one up. She was running towards Team 7's training grounds with all her gear discovering, that she was the first one there. After waiting for about 5 minutes, the heiress saw both her teammates were coming to the designated spot. They both looked a bit tired and Keiko was trying to stifle a yawn. All three genin were too tired to stand, so they all sat down on the ground, with their backs to each other. An hour had passed, and their sensei was nowhere in sight. Team 7 was getting a bit impatient and they just concluded that this was a regular routine for their teacher. Hearing a poof from nearby, all three members turned their heads to see Kakashi and they were all giving him the death glare.

"Hello guys……….Sorry I'm late, but I just got lost on the road of life." He said as an excuse, but none of his students bought this.

"Yeah right…….and I'm the hokage." Koji joked.

Chuckling as he scratched the back of his head "Alright, let's get started, shall we? Now, today we have no missions, but this is your genin exam. All newly graduated students take this test, and if you fail, you'll go back to the academy."

"What?! But that's not fair,; you never mentioned this consequence to us. I thought we already went through the whole academy to become genin." The Hyuuga shockingly yelled.

"Well yes, you did go through the academy to get here and now here's the test……….." their sensei said as he pulled out two bells. "You have to get these bells from me and you have until noon."

"But there are only two, and there's three of us, so how does that work?" asked the Uchiha heiress.

"Well, obviously, the one person, who does not get a bell, will be sent back to the academy." Replied Kakashi. All three students gulped and hoped that they weren't that one person who would get sent back and at the same time, they all went wide-eyed at the fact that one of them would have to fail. "A little hint, come at me like you're going to kill me………….your test starts right now!" said the copy cat ninja as all three students jumped off to conceal themselves.

'They've hidden themselves well………this might get interesting.' Thought Kakashi. Shuriken were thrown at the Jounin and managed to hit him, but it turned out that he had used a substitution jutsu. 'Uh oh, I lost track of him…………' thought Koji. He began to run and try to find their teacher before he could find him.

'This doesn't make any sense……………there are only two bells, but three of us. There has to be a catch.' Thought Katara as she was hiding under a bush. 'WAIT! That's it! This test isn't really about getting the bells, it's about teamwork. It any situation, teamwork is the most important tool during a mission, so there were only two bells because he wanted us to put aside our differences or else we would never be able to defeat him.' After her discovering, she quickly went off to find her other two teammates to tell them her plan and her discovering before it was too late.

Takahashi Koji finally spotted Hatake Kakashi in a clearing. Their sensei was currently reading his book, not paying any attention to his surroundings. More kunai and shuriken were thrown at the teacher, while Koji leaped out from his spot. He quickly turned on his Amarasugan and saw Kakashi's chakra network. Koji came in with a roundhouse kick, which was deflected by Kakashi, but he also knew that he couldn't read while fighting this kid, so he put his book away before a punch was about to land on his shoulder. Kakashi did a backflip to avoid the hit and Koji quickly made the handsigns for one of his special genjutsus: Mirrors of Darkness (1), which trapped Kakashi in an illusion where he saw dark monsters and his past. Kakashi quickly made the handsign to get out of the genjutsu, but before he knew it, Koji managed to get a slight cut on the teacher's shirt. When Kakashi landed on the ground, he noticed that vines coming from the earth were coming at him. Out of the bushes came Uchiha Katara controlling her vines to get their sensei. Kakashi was trying to avoid the vines, while also avoiding Koji's powerful punches and kicks. The vines were acting on their master's command, so Katara also joined in with her own ninjutsu attack, Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu, as a fireball came from her mouth, directly at their sensei, who dodged the attack. He was still keeping his guard up, but then felt that someone had hit one of his chakra points. He was right, behind him was Hyuuga Keiko with her Byakugan on and she continued to hit the chakra network more, but before she could fully block him, he managed to get away, but then Katara's vines managed to grab him. And before you know it, they caught their sensei and got the bells.

"Hm……..well done." Said Kakashi. "But could you let me go?" "Oh, sorry." Replied the Uchiha as she called her vines off. "Well, I've got to say that no one ever passed my test. So congratulations, you passed." Kakashi said with a smile under his mask. "And we have our first mission together today. The mission details are that the feudal lord's wife lost her cat and we are to find it and retrieve it. The cat is a brown with a bow in its left ear. Let's go!"

"Hai!" replied all the genin.

After hours of searching in the intense heat, the three genin were beginning to sweat. They were all still searching with their bloodline limits, while Katara also was trying to sense the different chakra vibrations in the earth. At the same time, Katara felt the signature of the cat when Keiko spotted the animal at a clearing a few meters from where they were at the moment. The three genin weren't really enjoying their first mission, but I guess it couldn't get any worse. They were finally a few feet from their prey as Kakashi's voice was heard through their headsets, "How far are you from the target?"

"About 25 feet" replied Koji as he was talking into his headset.

"Are all of you guys ready?" asked the Hyuuga. "I'm ready." "So am I." All three genin pounced onto the target and Keiko managed to grab the cat.

"Mission was a success." Repied Koji to Kakashi.

"Come on, we better return this cat's to its owner." Said Katara.

Team 7 arrived at the mission building where they found the Feudal Lord's wife waiting for her cat. When she saw him, she screamed in delight and paid for the mission. From the looks of it, the three genin could see why the cat ran away. The Feudal Lord's wife was a bit fat, and she was currently squeezing the life out of her pet. In all their minds, they were thinking, 'Wow…………….I don't blame the cat for running away.' A voice suddenly broke them from their thought, "Alright, time for our next mission. We're going to the horse ranch to help out. Let's go" Through their minds, they had a feeling that they were wrong, it could guess worse, but this was their start on their wonderful journey to becoming true shinobi.

Thank you so much for reading, and I'd gladly appreciate it if you reviewed!

Until next time, Ja ne!

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