hello, Akari here!

i am sorry for not updating for quite some time, next chap might be a little late too, im busy with my university works :)

anyway, hope you guys enjoy this.

Disclaimer: i don't own Naruto


Previous chapter.

Kakshi had appeared, and he was pissed.

They gulped.

Chapter 9.

The sky darkened and lightning cracked. His single eye was dangerously narrowed and ha was emitting killing intent. All three wannabe gennin were frozen to their spots.

"What did i telly you?" he thundered. Even his voice was making the hairs at the back of Naruto's head stand up.

"W-we..w.."

"We..we w-were..."

Gulp.

"You said yourself that we have to work together! So its teamwork in a way!", screamed Naruto, getting rid of some of the KI.

Sasuke and Sakura after a quick glance at each other nodded.

"True, he is our teammate, no matter what, we won't leave him" stated the Uchiha, his eyes closed.

Sakura nodded.

"Hai! We are a team three as one!"

They held their breaths.

"Three as one eh..."

The KI vanished, the sky cleared and all they could see was the smiling eye of the jounin.

"You guys pass"

Que group sweatdrop.

"Huh?" Naruto voiced what the others were thinking.

"You guys are the first ones to not listen to me. All the others just dumbly followed my orders, never thinking of the others in the team. You on the other hand did it. The first ever team i passed, who would have thought..."

The three cheered. Naruto quickly used the rope escape jutsu and freed himself. All of them were grinning.

"I want you to remember one thing. My closest friend taught me the this. In the shinobi world those who break the rules and regulations are trash, however, those who don't care about their friends are worse then trash"

Those words were met with absolute silence. He eye smiled and with a wave disappeared in a poof.

"Teme! I gotta learn that jutsu! 'ttebayo!", the blonde grumbled and cursing no one in particular, he left, leaving a dumbfounded Sakura and a staring Sasuke.

When did the dobe get this strong?

He didn't have time to muse too much about it. He left in a hurry to avoid a sticking Haruno on his arm.


"Pinky at point A, im ready"

"Raven point B, ready"

"..."

"..."

"Blondie, point C, i am ready to capture the target."

"You are late Naruto"

"Gomen a black c..-"

"Urasay! We have to catch that damned black cat first shannaro!"

"Alright, on the count of three...one...two...THREE!"

Three figures sprinted from the trees towards an unsuspecting black spot. Said spot suddenly moved, tuning out to be a black cat, a very fast black cat.

They surrounded her and Naruto jumped, catching the feline in his hands.

The thought why Sakura or Sasuke didn't do that wasn't occupying his mind at that moment. It should have.

"OW, get off off me, you stubid b..-"

"Target confirmed, red ribbon on the ear, its Tora" came the monotone voice of the stoic Uchiha.

"Can we..ooof GET A MISSION THATS NOT LAME!"

"AND NEXT TIME I"M CHOOSING THE NICKNAMES SHANNARO!'

Needless to say, one Hatake Kakashi had to regain his hearing for quite some time.

Holding the struggling cat in arm length, Naruto, along with team 7 entered the hokage tower.

"Aw, Tora chan, you are safe!"

The cat jumped into the hands of her owner, who promptly started squeezing the life out of the cat. Team 7 was eying the scene with sickly grins. Kakashi sweatdropped.

Why did i deserve this?

After the daimou's wife left, the hokage cleared his throat.

"Now team 7, your new mission is...do grocery shopping, walk the Inuzuka dogs, babysit the..-"

"No! Give us a real mission hokage jiji!" yelled Naruto.

Kakashi sighed. He had been expecting this. They had been doing nothing but D ranks for the past month. Oh well, he was going to get it from the hokage later. He put his hands in his pockets while Sakura bonked Naruto on the head.

"Naruto! You are still a gennin! The lowest rank! its normal for gennin teams to complete D ranks!" yelled Iruka.

"Naruto, do you know of the mission rankings and she shinobi ranks?" asked Sarutobi in a tired voice.

"Hai. Gennin, chuunin, special jounin, jounin, ANBU, sannin and Hokage. D ranks are for gennin. C-ranks-gennin and chuunin, B- ranks a chuunin and jounin, A ranks jounin. S ranks.."

Kakashi put his hand on the blondes head, shushing him.

Damn the boy really does read a lot.

Iruka was impressed. Who knew his student hid so much intellect?

He looked at the hokage and Kakashi. They didn't even bat an eyelash. So they knew.

"Alright, i'll give you a C-rank."

Kakshi knew that his team was ready, but he still didn't expect a C-rank so fast. Gay would pester him about it now. Sigh. Not what he needed currently, but it couldn't be helped, the flames of youth shined eternally in his friend.

Gah! Tell me i didn't think that! NO!

Team 7 was surprised at first, but soon the surprise turned into slight worry, a confident smirk and a full blown smile.

"Hontou?"

"Yes Naruto, it will be a simple guarding mission."

"Who will be guarding? A princess? A cute redhead princess with long red hair..."

He stopped his rant when he noticed everyone was looking at him weirdly.

The hokage chuckled. It was normal for a boy to ah like a girl who looks like his mother. All boy modeled their perfect match after their mothers after all.

"Bring in Tazuna"

After a few minutes an old man enetered the tower. He was dressed in worn white and grey clothing, with a straw hat. Naruto screwed up his nose. The man was drunk. He had a bottle of sake in one hand and could barely move.

"These are the ninja who will protect me? But they are just nosy kids! Plus the blonde looks like a total idiot.", he stated in a drowsy voice.

Kakashi grabbed Naruto's white collar to keep him in place. The boy looked murderous.

"You can't kill the client Naruto", he whispered in the boys ear, as if knowing the blondes thoughts.

Said blonde grumbled, but joined Sasuke in glaring at the man.

"Dont worry, i am a jounin, besides they can handle a simple bodyguard mission" said the white haired jounin.

The client squirmed. This didn't go unnoticed by one grey eye.

"Yosh team, we meet at the gates in one hour, don't be late!"

And he disappeared in a poof.

Naruto grumbled something about how it was unfair that he didn't know the awesome poof jutsu when he felt small killing intent.

It was Sakura.

Glaring at him.

Like a tiger watching his pray.

"Don't you dare be late!"

"H-hai..."

Gulp.


Naruto appeared at the gates in 2 hours.

So did Kakashi.

Funny they came at the same time.

"Sorry i wa slate, uh you see, there was this little old lady..."

"beacuse of the black cat i had to go back and take another route, when i tripped..."

Sakuras vein was popping.

Naruto backed away.

Sasuke was visibly annoyed.

"Maa, maaa, lets move out."

He received looks from his three adorable students. 2 heated glares and one thankful. Oh well, the joys of being a teacher...

Tazuna all the while was wondering if the weird bunch would help him.


I know im making naruto more like cannon, but look at it logically, he cant be a genius fighter more powerful, then the hokage at 12! it will change once we get to the chuunin exams, he will gradually become stronger. plus, this naruto is much closer to the real one. he is powerful, will be more in the future, but i want to keep the ignorant and slightly dumb side of him when it comes to girls. and even in the cannon, those few days were funny for real, so its no big deal. next chap enter haku!

Review please.