Aishiteru
A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! I'll do my best to update faster. :)
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Chapter 9: A Hell 'Lot O' Fun
Naruto sighed as his kage bunshins stood on his shoulder to get the kite...And the kid who lost it, as he attempted to get the kite himself. Shino was positioned at the middle of the tree to make sure that the kid gets down Naruto and brings the kite safely while Ino stood at the base in case the kid falls over. Anko stood on the side seeing how they worked together, she smirked as Naruto's clones muttered little ouches as the kid stepped on their faces and the kite nearly poked their eyes out.
"Okay Naruto brace yourself, this is almost done," Ino called out, stiffling her laughter. Now normally Naruto's clones and himself would just be irritated, and why couldn't he just save him by himself? The problem my friends is, that the kid...Was quite the fatty. (Even bigger than the author herself o.O)
Shino twitched as one of Naruto's clones disappeared when the kid pulled on its hair, but as he caught the kid, another Naruto clone appeared, "Good job Naruto, you should train yourself so your clones will last longer, but your timing is pretty good."
Naruto nodded at Shino and smiled, "Good reflexes, if you didn't catch the kid then he'd probably fall over."
"Um, hello? Naruto? My job is to catch the kid!" Ino yelled, temple throbbing slightly, "Why? You don't think I can catch this kid?"
"Oh no! That's not what I meant Ino, don't you think that it's easier on the kid if he was caught here?" He asked, hoping his response was good enough, 'Also, he might as well crush her...But then again with her strength I should simply trust her.'
"Okay guys, he's almost done!" Anko yelled laughing lightly afterwards, "How are you doing little Kayu?" She yelled, "These guys a big help or what?"
Kayu nodded with a slight blush on his face from excitement, "It's funny watching this guy! His clones are so cool!! I want to be a ninja when I grow up!"
His mother who was standing beside Anko shook her head, "No, no! You don't need that, we're pretty rich and your father has his own two personal ninjas for protection!" And at that moment Ino and Naruto carefully put down Kayu, with him dropping his kite and running to his mommy.
"But MOM!!!" He whinned the three genin regrouping beside Anko as he did, "Ninjas are so cool!"
"Yes, yes they are Kayu-chan but it's a dangerous job!" she explained patting his head ever so gently.
Kayu hugged his mom and then ran to the three genin, "Mom is right I guess...It's a dangerous job right?" The three nodded but Naruto knealt before the kid so he was in eye contact, "You, funny clone person! What's your name?"
"Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto! Future Hokage kid," Naruto exclaimed happily patting the kid on his head as well, "It's cool how you want to become a ninja, but it's a very dangerous job, your mom would be very worried every single day of your life."
Kayu nodded at Naruto, "That's true...Hokage you say? Isn't that supposed to be the head ninja, the most powerful one in the village who protects us all?"
"You know your stuff," Anko commented smirking slightly, "That's true."
"If you're going to become the Hokage, then stay alive, become stronger," Kayu commented pulling out something from his pocket, "Wear this bracelet please!" He exclaimed holding out a black bracelet with a kite charm, "Remember me when you're Hokage, and don't die."
With that he ran to his mommy who thanked them and started walking away. Ino, Shino and Naruto all looked at the bracelet, Anko yawning and holding another request paper. "Why are you all staring at it? His mom probably bought it for him randomly and as a thanks the kid wanted to give it to you, no surprise. Now, for another mission."
"Don't die eh?" Naruto began saying, making sure the bracelet was on tight enough, "I promise, to that kid, that I won't die until I have at least become Hokage!"
"Yeah, yeah, that's the spirit, whooohooo, now let's complete these other D-Ranked missions so we can have some real fun," Anko complained waving the paper around Naruto's face.
"Fun as in fighting bandits?" Shino asked, eye brow raised, arms crossed, "Come on, C ranked missions aren't that much better than D-ranked."
Ino and Naruto nodded, "Even though I did ask the old man for C ranked, I know we can't have any realy fun unless its a B ranked and higher," before continueing on Naruto got a bump on his head. Holding onto it with both hands he growled and looked at his sensei, "What the hell was that for?!"
"Kid, C ranked can always be a surprise, sometimes they are boring, but believe me, some people are too poor to afford higher ranked missions so they make the missions seem like a D ranked or a C ranked so they will get rid of the problem and won't have to pay too much," Anko explained as they walked towards wherever their next D ranked mission was.
Naruto tilted his head slightly, his necklace tilting over as well, "Well...What are the chances of that?" He asked, putting his arms behind his head.
"Pretty high now..." Shino said, "My father told me about this, several places are in danger, and they're too poor. The Hokage is way busier now..."
Ino looked at Shino with curiosity, "So the Hokage knows that some could be higher ranked? Wouldn't that mean that he has to stop genin from taking missions?"
"No," Anko replied stopping over a field of weeds, "He's busy because of the feuds in a lot of places in the fire country and others. He can't really tell whether a mission is dangerous or not. You know that the mission is altered once you meet with that person. All of us senseis are reading the descriptions carefully in case of potential changes."
"Then why haven't you just given us a harder mission yet?" Naruto asked slightly pouting. He rose his hand to scratch behind his head and Anko let out a small sigh towards him.
"You three are genin, GENIN. I may be more skilled than most jounin, but that doesn't make things go by smoothly. I'll keep on getting us the simpler missions seeing how you three cooperate, and I want you three to continue training on your own and with me. Tomorrow we'll have a quick training session, that along with what I see today will show me whether you're ready for a harder mission."
The three glanced at each other for a second or two, then looking in different directions, they faced their sensei and nodded their heads. Her response was a little smirk, and told them to get to clearing the field of weeds. And so the day continued, they went through four other D ranked missions, getting all of a woman's groceries, returning a lost bird, playing with a families' two children and entertaining a family of 8.
Naruto wiped the sweat off from his forehead before he settled himself down on the grass. It was night and the sensei had already parted her ways with them. Nibbling on the dango Anko bought for him and his fellow genin he panted, "I can't believe that kid wanted me to juggle my weights while running in circles as fast as I can...I almost tripped like 6 times..."
Shino let out a heavy sigh after nibbling on his own dango, "I had to do...Bug art...What a disgrace..." he said as his bugs made a frowning face in the sky. As they returned into his coat the wind blew again, hair swaying the the side. Shino sat himself upon a tree stump and Ino lay herself on the grass with her head resting on Naruto's stomach.
"I had to do many acrobatic things...And the guys suggested other things, but I slapped them in the face..." Ino commented getting herself comfortable on the grass and facing her fellow teammates. They looked at each other, finishing their dango then letting out a sigh. "Oh man I wonder what Anko-sensei has in store for us tomorrow," Ino added closing her eyes, "Maybe we can go on our first more than one day mission as Team 6...That sounds like fun." Shino and Naruto nodded in agreement and the day ended with them going into their respectful homes and sleeping.
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Naruto awoke early that day and made a quick stop at Ichiraku ramen making sure that he got himself a good ramen breakfast before whatever his sensei had in store for them. Untying the sweater from around his waist he quickly put it on and ran towards the regular training spot. Surprisingly, not even Shino was there. Looking at the nearby sun dial he nearly fell over, "What the?! My clock in my room is wrong?!?! I woke up one hour more than I was supposed to...No wonder why the old man at the Ichiraku stand was anoyed at my presense...Man I'm lucky it was open at all..."
He decided to lean against the near by stump and closed his eyes. In a matter of five minutes he felt a weight on his shoulder, "Hmm?" He spoke softly and turned his head to see familiar blonde hair. Smiling he rested his head on hers, "What brings you here this early?" he asked as she turned to him.
"I...I saw you so I thought my clock was wrong and I didn't want to be late. But now that I saw the sun dial I got pissed because I woke up earlier for nothing..." she muttered closing her eyes, "You baka..."
Naruto laughed slightly, a yawn following afterwards, "Gomen-ttebayo..." was his response as she fell asleep on his shoulder.
Anko met up with Shino as she walked towards the training area. This my friends is an hour and 20 minutes after the two blondes fell asleep. Finally in the main area Shino couldn't help but smile at the sight her saw. Naruto was lying on the floor next to the stump and Ino was in his arms. Anko was slightly annoyed, "YOU TWO! WAKE UP!"
Ino was the first to awake. Looking at where she was, she felt her cheeks go red. Shooting herself up instantly she continued to blush as she saw a smirking Anko and a smiling Shino, "Sorry..." she muttered sighing. She turned to the peacefully sleeping Naruto who was, until that moment smiling. At first he twitched, turning over he stirred slightly until Anko launched a kunai near his face. Getting up he threw a kunai as well almost hitting Anko.
"You brat!" she yelled and they went into a chasing frenzy around the stump. Ino greeted Shino as her blush faded and Shino simply nodded at her. Finally Naruto stopped running and had a kunai stuck in his butt. Sighing he stood beside Shino and looked at Anko for instructions.
"Okay guys, quick training. Let's see how you can adapt to the environment. First I'll give you each 60 lbs of weight for your feight and 15 lbs for your arms. I want you to run a lap then from there run to me." Throwing them their weights, they struggled a bit to secure it on. She stood upon the stump, wtaching closely to how they moved.
Now Naruto and Ino had additional weights. But its didn't really seem like it since they were pretty used to the other ones. Shino didn't seem to have too much of a problem. He stood well and his walking was only a little unstable. The expression on his face constantly changed though, he worked hard and so did the others.
"Look! I could do this easily!" Naruto exclaimed running as fast as he could. Unfortunately he tripped over a rock, "Ah! These weights hurt..." he muttered attempting to get up.
"Baka..." Ino muttered offering to help him up, "Don't rush, or you'll trip and fall. Focus on completing the task, not showing off," and with that she got him up and started to jog towards the end. Naruto watched her go and his eye twitched at how she was doing. She was going a little slow but there was no showing struggling or pressure. Shino waved at him as he passed by. Naruto began to run as well eventually catching up with Shino.
"How are you dealing with this Naruto?" Shino asked, panting just slightly, "I'm doing okay myself, but Ino, she's something different with this."
"I know eh? She's got amazing strength...Which I almost doubted. hah, myself, I'm doing well. But my arms are aching slightly from falling over. I'm thankful that Ino helped me up."
Shino nodded at this and got a bit ahead of Naruto, "It's good though, we need to stick together and make sure no one is too behind."
Hearing this Ino turned around, "Speaking of behind!" she yelled sticking out her tongue afterwards, "You two are slow!!! Come on we're almost there!" She continued to tease which got Naruto to steam a bit. Shino kept on trying to slowly increase his pace. Naruto, he sprint and ran past Ino and made it to the end.
"Aha!" he exclaimed about to laugh at her. But he held onto his arm for it was throbbing, "Oh...Crap..." and he fell over. Anko sighed and lowered herself to inspect Naruto. Removing the weights that she gave to him from his arms she checked his face.
"He's sleeping..." she muttered, eyebrow twitching, "WAKE UP!" she yelled and he got up quickly. But he winced at the pain in his arm and frowned. Ino and Shino came afterwards and removed the weights from their arms as well. Anko turned to the two, "Keep the leg weights, it increases your speed." Shino and Ino simply nodded and checked on Naruto who continued to wince.
"See Baka, that's what you get for rushing..." Ino commented wrapping it up with a bandage. Shino simply shook his head and Anko prepared herself to announce something.
"Okay guys, I believe this is enough training...If we survive this mission, and come out pretty good, we'll continue taking C ranked," she explained holding the document with their mission details. The three looked at her for details and she gave them, "So here's the thing, a girl, claimed to be named Shihiro Mizuho. She is about your age and needs you to bring her back to her village. That village is the sand village. Now our relationship with them should be pretty strong, but no one knows for sure except for the Hokage. I expect something major here because we're going there, and I believe that Mizuho is the name of an important priestess, a kunoichi one for that. She probably used a jutsu to make her look younger, but that's just my theory. Don't be disappointed if it isn't the way that I thought it would be."
"Hai," they all responded in unison.
"Okay, you have the rest of the day to train. I have some work to attend, so get ready, we meet at the gates tomorrow morning at 8 am." With a smile and a salute she departed, "Ja!"
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A/N: Ah, the joy of writing fanfiction instead of doing homework. Congratulations to me, I'm going into highschool September people!
Translations so far:
Ninpou: Shuiro Kouchuu - Ninja Arts: Scarlett Beetle
Ninpou: Kibaku Kouchuu - Ninja Arts: Exploding Beetle
