DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, which totally sucks ass by the way. -runs away and cries-
After a while, Sakura ended up finding Tora, and we brought her down to the place where you are assigned your missions. The woman was waiting there to receive her cat and then to pay the village for helping her. I felt sorry for the cat, due to the fact that the woman was VERY fat and when she got her cat back, she squeezed the crap out of it. No wonder it ran away!
Our next mission choices included babysitting the Chief Councilor's three-year-old, or helping his wife do the shopping.
Naruto exploded when the Hokage began to tell him the missions. I was pretty angry too. "NO!" he exclaimed, "I want to go on a REAL mission. Not this little kid stuff!"
Well, Iruka-sensei was not too pleased with Naruto's reaction, and he exploded as well. "How dare you!" he yelled at the blonde-haired ninja, "You're just a brand-new genin with no experience! Like everyone else you start with simple missions to develop your skills and yourself!"
"Are you serious? Babysitting is not a mission, it is just a stup-" but he didn't have time to finish, for Kakashi-sensei hit him over the head. I laughed, though of course I made sure Naruto was okay before I did. Sakura and Sasuke merely stared.
"Naruto." The Hokage began, "It seems you do not understand the tasks you have been given. Listen. Many different tasks come into our village every day, from babysitting to assassinations. They are looked over and then labeled A, B, C, or D, depending on their difficulty. If the missions are successful we receive a tip that supports our village." I rolled my eyes, I had heard this all before. Of course, that was because I have seen these episodes over and over. I practically had them memorized. This would be a great tactic for annoying Sasuke and Kakashi… The Hokage continued, "The new genin are given D ranked missions of course-" but then he realized that Naruto was ignoring him and telling Team 7 what kind of ramen he was planning to have today. "Silence!" the Hokage yelled. Kakashi apologized.
"Ug! You always lecture me like you're my grandfather!" exclaimed Naruto, "But I'm not that little kid that used to pull pranks all the time. I'm a ninja now, and I want a ninja mission!"
Kakashi sighed, and the Hokage and Iruka chuckled. Suddenly the Hokage opened his mouth to speak, but I got there first.
"Yay! We get a C-ranked mission!" I ran over to the Hokage and gave him a big hug, then did the same to Iruka-sensei. The Hokage looked surprised and confused, but shrugged it off.
"Yes, you do, since you're so determined. You will be body guards on a journey." The Hokage informed us.
Naruto's eyes lit up. "Who, who? A princess, or some important councilor?"
I put my hands on my hips and thrust out my hips, laughing deeply, something I liked to do randomly just to make people wonder, which they did. The Hokage arched his eyebrows, and I continued. "Nope, just some bridge-builder!" I exclaimed, "Hokage's bringing him in now!"
The man stepped in as Team 7 turned towards the door. "What the-" the man exclaimed and took a swig of his drink, "A bunch of little snot-nosed kids? And you, the short ones with the idiotic looks one your faces; do you really expect to protect me?" he asked. He looked kind of shaggy and pretty ugly, and his breath smelled of alcohol.
Naruto and I laughed. "Who're the short ones with the idiotic looks on their faces?" we asked in unison, looking around, then realizing that it was us. We stood still for a moment, just staring at him, the thought registering slowly in our minds. And then Sakura and Kakashi were holding us back in order to keep us from attacking him.
After Naruto and I calmed down, I walked over to him. "This is Tazuna-san, a master bridge builder from the Land of Waves! He's building a bridge there that will apparently change our world. So, we need to get him there safely, even if it means giving up our own lives. But that won't happen! I just know it!" I exclaimed, "And even if you don't know it yet, he's hiding something from us, so don't let your guard down!" I told them, making extreme hand motions to emphasize what I was saying.
Tazuna looked surprised. "How'd you know who I was? And I'm not hiding anything! What made you think that?" he asked, ready to hit me in the back of the head. By now, I was actually used to people doing that. It in fact seemed really normal now to me… I wonder if that's how Naruto felt…
I shrugged to Tazuna. "Whatever. Let's just do this. I can't believe it! My first C-ranked mission!" I exclaimed, probably a little to loudly, for Tazuna covered up his ears and tried hit me on the back of my head. I stuck my tongue out and ducked away, dodging his attack and scampering over behind Naruto.
When we reached the village, Naruto and I did a little happy dance that I had made up a while ago. It was kind of a mix of the Chicken Dance, the Electric Slide, YMCA, and some of my own stupid moves.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Tazuna exploded. "Hey, am I really supposed to entrust my life in these two bakas? They're jokes!"
"Hey! Never insult a ninja; it's a big mistake! And I'm one of the best ninja out there. One day I'm gonna be Hokage and you'll look up to me! My name's Uzumaki Naruto! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Cha! Believe it!" I added, sticking my tongue out once more at that stupid old geezer.
They both continued to argue for a couple of minutes, until I figured out the joys of duct tape.
Later on, I learned a bit on the Shinobi nations, or at least I pretended I was learning. Of course, I knew this stuff like the back of my hand. Suddenly two ninja burst out from behind us, trapping Kakashi-sensei with their weapons. I panicked. I had totally forgot that that Kakashi had been a substitution jutsu. Grabbing my two new swords, which I had named Lenore and Helena (Lenore had a red ribbon around his handle, Helena had a black one), I prepared myself for battle, trying to conceal the fact that I was frightened and nervous.
They ripped Kakashi-sensei into pieces, and I let out a long, loud scream. "Kakashi-sensei! Holy fudge monkeys! Aaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiii!" I squealed. Suddenly the two ninja appeared behind Naruto. I spun around. "Naruto-kun!" I exclaimed, but it was too late to do anything. They swung at him, brandishing their weapons, and I knew that it was over. I shut my eyes and collapsed, refusing to open them for anything. I was afraid. The amazingly brave, stupid, hilarious, sarcastic, number-2 hyperactive knuckle-headed ninja was afraid.
I stayed in my feeble position for another moment, until I heard Naruto shout something. "What? But he-! Kakashi-sensei… used the substitution jutsu?!" Naruto exclaimed in an amazed voice. I felt a hand on top of my head and a voice chuckle.
"It's okay Nikki-chan. You can look now." I opened my eyes to see Kakashi-sensei above me smiling. My heart seemed to race, and I blushed, feeling like a little kid hiding from the monster in the closet. I felt so stupid, but at the same time, relieved that it was over and that Kakashi-sensei was okay. I was such an idiot; I should have seen it coming. I mean, I had seen the show a billion times. How could I not remember? I frowned, but didn't think about it long, turning to focus my attention to the others.
He praised Sasuke and Sakura, leaving Naruto to sit there, and jealousy overwhelmed the blonde-haired genin. He was about to tackle Sasuke, when Kakashi stopped him.
"Naruto, those ninja have poison in their claws. Don't move around, or the poison will spread." That was when I noticed the cuts on his hand. After Kakashi-sensei gave Tazuna a lecture about how the bridge builder hadn't bothered to mention that there were ninja after him, and saying that they should cancel the mission, Sakura spoke up.
"We're only genin. We're not ready for these kinds of missions. And I think we should get Naruto-kun to the hospital as soon as possible." She said. Kakashi agreed, but Naruto glared at him and took out a kunai. I gasped when I realized what he was about to do, but realized that it was for the best. Naruto jabbed the kunai into his wound, shocking the rest of Team 7 and Tazuna-san. Naruto groaned and turned, his back to us.
"Why am I so different?" he muttered, "Why do I always… I worked so hard to get here. Pushing myself until it hurt. Anything to get stronger, to reach my dream. I will never back down again and let someone else rescue me. I will not run away, and I will not loose to Sasuke-kun. Upon this wound, I make this pledge. Believe it. Bridge builder, I'll continue this mission and protect you with this kunai knife." Naruto turned, and I approached slowly, giving him a small quick squeeze. He smiled at me, and then turned and smirked to Sasuke and the bridge builder, and I nodded, knowing that it was true. He was a piece of work, that Naruto-kun. "Don't worry, I'll be okay."
Kakashi cleared his throat. "Naruto, that was really cool and all how you took the poison out, but if you loose anymore blood, you'll die…" he told him with a straight face. I had always wondered if that was true, or if he was just trying to mess with him. Naruto's face turned purple, while Kakashi bandaged his hand, noticing that the wound was already starting to heal, wondering if the power was from the Nine-Tailed Fox. But no one else noticed this, for he said nothing. As Kakashi fixed it up, I sat there next to Naruto, making sure he didn't leave my side, trying my hardest to comfort him without making it seem like I pitied him. I didn't want him to think that at all.
The mission the continued, and we were heading off down the road again, our journey nowhere near complete.
A/N: This one was kinda short, compared to some of the others... this makes me sad. Ah well, this took a while to write cus I was just dying to write about the Land of Waves and Zabuza and Haku. So I had to dig up my Naruto DVDs (cus I never buy the manga anymore, I read online... .") and watch them, then write a bit of what they say, cus it annoys me when I get the lines wrong. But thank you for waiting. I gives you Haku plushies. Cus Haku is adorable! XD
