Author's Notes: Yeah, hopefully this chapter's up to par. Thanks to all my lovely reviewers, you guys are really helpful!

So, quite a few of you have asked something along the lines of 'where the heck's Kushina?' or 'when's Kushina going to come in?'. Kushina will arrive in Konoha at her own time, so be patient!

Hmm...Kishimoto really didn't give us a proper example of a C-rank mission, did he? Oh well, I just had to make do with what I had. Enjoy!

Anyway, onto the story.


Whatever melancholy that seemed to have taken over Jiraiya throughout the previous day seemed to have dissipated in the morning. Team Jiraiya's white haired sensei was back to his cheerful – not to mention slightly annoying – demeanour as they had a quick breakfast before speeding away towards the bandit camp's supposed location.

"And then I saw her – beautiful and all, just waiting-" Jiraiya's in depth description was just starting to grate on Kasumi's already tense nerves.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted, although her voice was moderated slightly so as not to give away their location to any eavesdroppers. Jiraiya paused mid-sentence, and gave Naruto and Katsuo – who were looking on with a little exasperation – a sly wink before turning back to Kasumi, a hurt expression on his face.

"Don't you appreciate my glorious descriptions, attention to detail and undeniable appeal to ladies?" he asked, sounding injured. Kasumi didn't buy it for a minute, twisting and leaping off a tree branch as she snorted. "You're undeniably mentally retarded," she answered back. Jiraiya wiped an imaginary tear away as Naruto and Katsuo chortled away.

The company travelled in much of the same way for a few hours until Jiraiya pulled out his map and checked their location. "We're close," he said softly, putting the map back in his equipment pouch. The team's happy disposition turned serious as Jiraiya pulled out wireless radios and distributed them.

"Kasumi, go north. Minato, south, Katsuo west and I'll go east. See what you can find and keep an eye out for anything strange."

The three genin nodded and were about to leap away when Jiraiya stopped them. "Oh, and don't get yourselves killed please," he said, smiling at them brightly.


"I've found them," Katsuo's voice crackled over the team's various headsets. "I can see campfire smoke from here."

He shifted slightly in his position on a tree and peered out through the foliage. There was a slight cracking noise as he shifted, but Katsuo disregarded it. A few indistinct voices wafted up to him and he strained his ears to hear before Jiraiya's voice cut through his concentration. "Stay where you are," he commanded. "All of us are going to come over and form a perimeter around the camp. Where are you?"

Katsuo reported his coordinates, his voice clearly projecting his location to Jiraiya, Naruto and Kasumi. "Hang on, sensei," he said after revealing his location. "Where are you going to-" Katsuo was cut off as he heard the loud snap of a twig from below him and a curse of a man. His companion looked at him curiously for a second before gazing at the trees above him.

Cursing in his mind, Katsuo pressed himself against the trunk of his tree, hoping that he hadn't been seen and that the greenery around him would cover his position.

"Did ya hear somethin'?" the second man asked his buddy, who had tripped over a small broken tree branch on the floor. The first man swore again before glancing at the trees as well. "Nah," he replied, cracking his knuckles. "Reckon it's just a bird or somethin'."

His partner nodded in acceptance and they were about to turn when the branch Katsuo was balanced on made a sharp 'crack' and shivered ominously. Katsuo froze and looked down. A hairline crack in the tree was visible and slowly expanding.

The two thugs had stopped and turned around again and Katsuo felt a chill shiver down his spine as the branch groaned again.

"There's someone 'ere," the second man muttered, while the first one rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Well, no shit," he replied, staring at the tree. He drew a serrated knife and grinned. "Come on out!" he called, cracking his knuckles again.


Naruto could spot the caravan filled with merchandise from where he was crouched amongst the thick green shrubbery. The two innocents, Hikari and Kenshin, were nowhere to be seen. He felt a stab of fear as Katsuo's voice was cut off suddenly.

"Katsuo? Katsuo!" he spoke into his headset worriedly. "Ero-sennin! What's happening?"

"I don't know, Minato," Jiraiya replied in his ear. There was a slight rustling sound as Naruto's earpiece picked up noises from Katsuo's end.


Kasumi was running a little behind schedule as she raced amongst the trees to her assigned coordinates. There was a small noise behind her, and Kasumi's heart skipped a beat before she sighed in relief as Jiraiya appeared beside her.

"What happened to Katsuo?" she asked, concern evident in her features. "Is he alright?" Jiraiya shrugged and handed her a small leather bag. "I don't know," he replied. "I sent a shadow clone to check on him, so I'll get the info soon."

Kasumi chose a spot on the leafy ground and jumped off a branch, concentrating chakra to her legs at the last moment so she could land safely. She held the bag up to her eye. "What's in here?" she asked curiously, undoing the drawstring. Jiraiya grabbed her hand before she could do anything else.

"I would advise you not to take a whiff of that thing," he told her, shaking some of the contents of the leather bag onto the palm of his hand. It contained finely ground white powder. The Sannin grinned. "This here," Jiraiya said, gesturing towards the powder with his free hand, "Is a powerful knock-out agent that will put our dear bandit friends to sleep in a matter of minutes."

Kasumi stared at him. "And what are we using this for?"

Jiraiya sighed dramatically. "How could you be so dense?" he wailed, waving his arms around wildly and nearly emptying the entire bag. Kasumi carefully turned her teacher's hand around again, tipping the sleeping drug back into the drawstring bag.

"You have the most important job out of us all," Jiraiya said seriously as soon as the last particle disappeared into the sack. "Katsuo is disabling the perimeter guards, Minato is finding the two hostages, Kenshin and Hikari, I'm going to help him out by taking out any alerted bandits, but you are going to do the most important job. You're going to sneak into the camp and distribute some of this to their entire food source and water. Don't worry about if they hunt for food, I've already checked and they already have their lunch ready. When Minato and I get Kenshin and Hikari, we'll be counting on you to have knocked out most of the bandits so no one tracks us while we're attempting a getaway. This way, it's much safer."

Kasumi considered this for a few seconds. "How much do I use?"

Jiraiya beamed at her. "Finally, she asks a smart question!" he exclaimed. Kasumi scowled and punched his arm. "Well?" she asked.

"Just a pinch will do," Jiraiya replied, before glancing up at the sky. "Anyway, I've got to go and find Minato. See you!"

The white haired pervert winked at her before poofing away in a cloud of smoke. Kasumi looked surprised. 'So that was a clone as well,' she thought, before creeping a little closer, slipping the bag full of sleeping powder into her equipment pouch. She surveyed the encampment and made a few calculations.

Kasumi's hands briefly flicked into seals. 'Let's see if this works,' she thought before whispering, "Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu."

Kasumi sank into the ground, smiling as she used the jutsu in a completely different way. Once underneath the ground, she dug a small tunnel forwards until she was sure she was in the middle of the camp.

She emerged from the ground silently and ducked behind a nearby tent as a few men went past, and thought back to her early academy days.

"Henge no Jutsu!" she whispered, transforming into the visage of a nondescript looking bandit wearing drab greys and browns. If you're going to sneak around, do so in plain daylight. Enemies rarely suspect an attack from the inside.

Mustering up her courage, Kasumi stepped from behind the tent and walked as confidently as she could around the entire camp, spotting the painted caravan almost immediately. Kasumi was tempted to approach it, but stopped herself forcefully. Minato and Jiraiya would be taking care of that. Meanwhile, she had to get to the 'kitchen' of the camp.

Kasumi spotted a thin column of smoke wafting from behind another tent to her left and started walking towards it. Next to the tent was a small creek, a viable water source for any person who could think. The wafting smoke probably signified where the cook would be stewing the entire camp's food.

The cook had her back turned to her as Kasumi approached, and the black haired kunoichi felt an ounce of pity for the poor woman before she quickly knocked her out with the metal ring on a kunai. The cooking woman fell without a sound, being caught by Kasumi before she hit the ground. Kasumi quickly dragged her body to the edge of the stream and hesitated.

By throwing the body, Kasumi would be getting rid of any evidence. However, was it worth it? She looked around. There were no convenient bushes or shrubs nearby that she could hide the cook's body in. Kasumi made up her mind.

Great reluctance dogged her movements as Kasumi pushed the body towards the river. Even with her mind made up, Kasumi found it hard to just rid the world of a human life just like that. Just like that.

The sound of steadily approaching voices broke Kasumi out of her reverie. With one final look, she pushed the body into the river. There was a small 'splash', and she was gone. Kasumi dragged in a deep breath and released her transformation, before redoing it, this time turning into the appearance of the cook she had just murdered.

"Oi, Kaede," an olive skinned man called in Kasumi's direction. She turned her head towards him.

"When's there gonna be lunch?" he growled, crossing his arms. "Me and the others are all getting hungry here!"

Kasumi tried not to swallow and plastered a nonchalant expression onto her face. "Have some patience," she replied, turning back to the pig on the roast. The man sneered at 'Kaede' once before stomping away, muttering angrily to himself.

Looking left and right, Kasumi quickly reached into her pouch and brought out the bag of powder, quickly sprinkling some onto the pig and in the boiling water. Sighing, she stepped back as she finished, glancing around her again. She tapped her microphone piece.

"Jiraiya-sensei? What do I do now?"


The branch completely snapped under his weight, but Katsuo was already prepared for that. He quickly latched onto the trunk of the tree with his chakra, watching the useless log tumble towards the ground. It landed with a loud thump. There was a small silence, and then the second man spoke.

"Tha's one heckova heavy bird," he mumbled to his partner, who snarled and threw his knife towards the tree. Katsuo's eyes widened and he jumped scant moments before the knife embedded itself where he had previously been clinging onto.

The air whistled past him as Katsuo hung in midair. Then gravity caught up to him and he fell, using chakra to cushion his landing. In front of him, the two men had sprung into action, drawing an assortment of wicked looking weapons.

"Die!" the first bandit shouted, charging at him. There was no time to think. Katsuo dodged on instinct, tripped him over and drew a kunai, plunging it into the base of the man's neck expertly as he toppled forwards. There was a vicious arterial spray from the bandit's external jugular vein as Katsuo slashed his throat.

Whirling around, Katsuo pulled out his kunai in one move, flicking his hand and sending the already bloodied blade to the other man. It lodged itself in between his ribs, piercing his heart. The man choked out blood before he keeled over, dead.

Katsuo looked at his red hands numbly as he walked over to the dead man and extracted his knife, flinching at the horrible squelching noise it made as it came out.

'I guess those medical books on vital points in the body helped,' he thought, wiping the kunai clean on the bandit's clothes.

Standing up, Katsuo grimaced at the blood all over the place, hiding the two bodies as best as he could.

"Katsuo." The voice belonged to Jiraiya. "What happened here? Are you alright?"

Katsuo looked blankly up at his sensei, the reality of his first two kills finally hitting him.

"Yeah...I'm fine. I'm..." he paused staring at the spot where the two bodies were hidden. "I'm okay."


"They're all having lunch now," Naruto noted as he reached the caravan. Beside him, Jiraiya nodded. "Kasumi's on her way," he informed Naruto as he flung open the doors. "And hopefully, all of them will be rather drowsy in a matter of moments."

"Who-who are you?" a voice croaked from the inside of the caravan. A grimy, dirt smudged face peered out at Jiraiya and Naruto.

"Relax," Naruto told him, his voice taking on the professional tone he had used as a jounin. "We're shinobi from the Leaf. We've come to rescue you and Hikari."

Kenshin shivered and Naruto took the time to look inside the small, darkened caravan that was barely more than an enclosed cart. The young man was tied to the caravan itself, a piece of rope tight around his legs and fastened to a sharp metal stake, which in turn had been driven into the wood of the cart.

"Hikari's around the back," Kenshin muttered, pulling agitatedly at his rope. "She's been tied to a tree. At least...at least those bastards haven't touched her yet. Can we get out of here soon?"

Jiraiya took a kunai out and motioned for Naruto to find the woman. "Yes we can, Kenshin. As soon as we meet up with the rest of our teammates, we can leave."


"Kaede, where're you going?" an obviously drunk man slurred, gesturing in her direction. Kasumi wrinkled her nose, both at the smell of alcohol on his breath and the obvious insinuation in his voice. She was glad to see that the other women in the camp were equally disgusted.

"None of your business," she snapped back at him, marching off. There were a few titters from the other people and the drunken man flushed an angry red, but made no move to stop Kasumi. Once away from the rest of the rabble, she sighed in relief and looked back. Hopefully the sleeping powder would be kicking in soon, and all of the bandits would be fast asleep, unaware of their prisoners escaping.

She spotted Jiraiya and Naruto at the caravan she had seen earlier, and moved towards it, glad to see a familiar face. "Hey guys," she said as she reached the two males. "Have we found them?"

Jiraiya nodded distractedly as he cut away the rope binding Kenshin to the stake. "Yeah, and Minato's round the back freeing Hikari-chan," he replied, putting away his kunai. Wobbling, Kenshin emerged from his makeshift prison, his eyes closing as the glare of the early afternoon sun hit him. Even so, he managed a narrow eyed glare at Jiraiya.

"Hikari-chan?" he asked Jiraiya dangerously. Thankfully, the jounin was saved from answering by a slightly scratchy female voice.

"Kenshin, is that you?" Hikari asked, emerging from behind the caravan, Naruto trailing behind her. Kenshin turned around and grinned at her, before enveloping her in a hug. "Hikari! I'm so glad you're safe," he exclaimed.

Kasumi turned towards Jiraiya. "Where's Katsuo-kun?" she asked, noticing his absence amongst the team.

"Katsuo will be on his way," Jiraiya replied, at the same time meekly shying away from Kenshin, who was once again looking at him with murderous intent.

Naruto slipped his kunai away. "Did something happen to Katsuo?" he asked as he adjusted his kunai holster. Jiraiya closed the door to the caravan.

"He killed two people with a kunai," he replied casually. Naruto's eyes narrowed in understanding as Kasumi took a sharp breath inwards. "I...I killed a woman as well," she whispered, remembering the creek. Naruto moved over to her, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. Meanwhile, Hikari seemed to have realised who she was standing with.

"You're...you're kids!" she exclaimed in realisation. Naruto cocked an eyebrow as if to say, 'you just realised?' and Jiraiya looked at her, an unusually serious look on his face.

"No, they are ninja," he answered. "Now, I left a shadow clone with Katsuo, and he'll meet us on the path back to Konoha." Then he looked at Kenshin and Hikari.

"I'm afraid you two will have to leave your caravan behind," Jiraiya said, looking at them both to make sure they understood. "It would be far too slow to take it with us, and the bandits would notice its disappearance from the moment they woke up."

The two looked at each other for a minute, and then nodded in understanding. "I know," they replied in unison. Jiraiya looked at the small group assembled before him and smiled. 'Now that wasn't too hard,' he thought to himself. "Let's get going, then!" he called, striking a pose and flashing a dazzling smile towards Kenshin and Hikari.

Kenshin took a moment to sweat-drop, but he followed nonetheless.


The return trip had been uneventful, if long. The slow pace of Hikari and Kenshin made sure that the group was delayed by a whole half day. By the time they reached the Konoha north gate, it was late afternoon. They had immediately gone to the Hokage Tower, where Hikari and Kenshin were greeted by an ecstatic Yuri.

The Third Hokage congratulated the team on completing the mission, and gave Katsuo, Naruto and Kasumi their mission pay before dismissing them. Jiraiya stayed behind.

"How did they do?" Sarutobi asked intently, lacing his fingers together. Jiraiya affixed him with a strange look.

"Katsuo completed two kills – a kunai to the neck to one man and a thrown kunai to the other to the heart. Kasumi had one. She first knocked out the woman, and then tossed her into the river. All of these kills weren't terribly efficient in terms of skill, but at least they got it done."

"And Minato?" Sarutobi asked intently, leaning forwards. Jiraiya scowled at his former teacher. "Sarutobi-sensei, I thought you weren't going to play favourites anymore," he reprimanded. Sarutobi had the decency to look slightly abashed.

"My apologies, Jiraiya-kun," he replied. "But I am rather curious as to know how he did on the mission."

"Truthfully, I put him in a position where it was unlikely that he would have to disable anyone," Jiraiya admitted. "But that was because I wanted to see how Kasumi and Katsuo would do under stress. Minato is...he has the calmest disposition I've ever seem amongst genin, sensei. I have no doubts that he would have been able to commit a kill with little effort."

"And Katsuo and Kasumi? Did they show any signs of distress after the mission?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "I believe they were trying to keep up the facade of being completely in control in front of Kenshin and Hikari," he answered. "I haven't gotten a chance to see if either of them has truly been affected by their kills, but I'll know soon enough."

"That is satisfactory," The Hokage said, a smile tugging on his lips. "You have a fine genin team, Jiraiya. Would you consider entering them into the Chunin Selection Exam?"

Jiraiya considered it. "They're rookies, Sarutobi-sensei," he replied. "Although no doubt about it, they are skilled. There are still a few months left before the exams. I can probably teach them quite a bit more in that time. Are the exams being hosted in Konoha this time?"

Sarutobi nodded, smiling. "They are," he affirmed. "Now would be a good time to enter Team Jiraiya, I think. Not only is it safer here, but we can indeed keep an eye out for any possible...events in the future."

"I understand, sensei," Jiraiya said, hearing the cautious undertones in his teacher's voice. Then he beamed. "But you have to admit, my genin are kick-ass!"


Author's Notes: Well okay, the beginning of this took a while to actually write out. I think I had a mild case of writer's block here! Anyway, about the random powder? That's all made up crap. There are just some things that you just don't research. And I appear to be quoting Jamie Oliver here...

Yes I know I'm twisting around the Headhunter thing a bit here, but hey ninja are ninja, and they're supposed to be able to use dirty tricks, right?

Reviews, constructive criticism, corrections and suggestions are as usual, welcome.

-Dream Keys

Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu: Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu

Henge no Jutsu: Transformation Technique