The First Mission
Jiro got out of his bed, put on new cloths, and tied his headband to his forehead. "Today I have my first mission."
It was said that every exercise, every jutsu, every waking moment of a students life was devoted to the preparation for his mission. Jiro wondered what it would be, what kind of monumental task would require a man to devote everything he had to merely begin to pretend he could accomplish it. Then he reminded himself that he was a Genin, and would likely be doing nothing more difficult then rescuing a cat in a tree. Still it was a paying customer's cat in a tree, and was therefore worth more effort than he was giving it.
He took a look at his clock, "Oh no, I'm late!"
He rushed out of the house and onto the street, hoping against hope to get to work on time.
XXX
"Hey you, stop!"
Jiro did as he was told, though was frustrated by doing so. He was a mere ten feet from his destination, and still couldn't afford the delays.
"Aren't you that bastard half-Hyuga?"
Uchihas, he really didn't need this right now.
"Yeh, so what?"
"So this, you aint going no where!"
Jiro turned around to face his enemy, to find that he was facing three drunken Uchiha, who didn't even have head bands.
"Are you three even ninja?"
"Hah," said the first, walking towards him with a swagger, "shows what you know! I'm the great Sasuke Uchiha, leader of the Uchiha clan, smiter of Hyuga!"
This man was so drunk; he didn't even know who he was. Then again, he is an Uchiha. He might know how the whole mess started; now let's see if I can get it out of him.
"And why do they call you that, oh glorious Sasuke."
"Because I killed a Hyuga brat! It was so damn easy too. It was over in the blink of an eye!"
The man obviously knew nothing. After all, Sasuke couldn't have killed someone, could he?
"And I'm going to do the same to you."
The drunken man launched a Taijutsu attack against the young Genin, one that he was barely able to doge. How is he doing that, is he a user of the Drunken Fist style?
He launched attack after unpredictable attack, each one only barely dodged, until he finally struck his mark. He hit the young boy's chest, and a resounding clang sounded through the air.
"Ow, what the hell was that?" The pain in his arm appeared to have snapped him out of his drunken state, disarming him of his Drunken Fists.
"It's armor, or weights if you want to get technical."
"Who the hell goes around wearing an armored vest under his shirt?"
A voice came from behind the three Uchiha. "Who the hell goes around punching people in the chest?"
It was Hayato. "You could stop someone's heart doing that you know."
"I should be so lucky."
"Byakugan!" Hayato activated his special ability, and proceeded to use Jyuken to obliterate his opponents.
"What is this? I can't move!"
"And I wouldn't try if I were you, could damage your organs. Wouldn't want that would we?"
"Bastard!"
"That's what you get for hitting my friend."
"Jiro, Hayato, get going!" exclaimed a voice from the roof of the tower. It was impossible to tell who it was, as it was barely audible at all. "You two are over an hour late!"
"Sorry," yelled Jiro. "My alarm didn't go off, and then I was attacked by these Uchiha."
Hayato stopped outside the door. "Jiro, do you always wear that armored vest under your shirt?"
"Not always, why?"
""Because, I felt it during our fight, and thought it was for protection. Hurt my fingers a little, but physical barriers can't stop the Jyuken, so I ignored it. But just now, I decided to take a look at it with the abilities I learned in our fight with Masato. I saw the label of its weight."
"Hayato, I-"
"You didn't go all out when you were fighting me!" Hayato accused with a mighty roar. "Without those weights holding you down, you would have wiped the floor with me! Well I refuse to let that happen next time, after this mission, you and I are going to spar again. And this time, you better not hold back."
Jiro smiled, he knew it would be a friendly competition this time. "Ok, deal."
XXX
"Now that everyone's here," said Naruto Uzumaki, "let's start the debriefing. In the former country of the Sound, a faction of unknown individuals has used the chaos of the civil war to start an illegal slave trade. We have very little information on this organization, except that there are three founders, and at least one of them is supposedly a missing-nin, although we don't know which one or from what village, or even if there is one at all, or only one. We don't know how large the organization has become, we don't know how many ninja have been recruited, and we don't even know where they are. Therefore, while on your main mission, we request that you also gather information on this organization.
"A family of refugees was recently separated from their only daughter while trying to flee the country. As their daughter did not disappeared while in the middle of a battle, but instead on a relatively peaceful afternoon, the family believes her to be in the hands of the organization. They contacted us by means of a carrier pigeon, their letter asking us to except a mission to reclaim their daughter from the organizations 'vile clutches.' They enclosed enough money for a C rank mission. Your mission is to retrieve the girl without getting yourselves killed, understood?"
Wow, this seems pretty hard for a first mission.
Hitomi apparently thought so too. "Shouldn't you send a squad at least the Chunin level for something like this?"
Sasuke, who was standing behind Naruto's shoulder, spoke out at this. "We choose Squad 15 because you have two expert information gatherers, one analyst, and a Jonin leader who we believe to be more than capable of defending you against the most likely threats, as long as you don't do something stupid enough to bring upon the wrath of one of the founders, who might be a Missing-nin of unknown strength."
Hayato laughed, "Sounds like fun!"
"Fun has nothing to do with it, you need to go in, get the girl, and get out. If you can get some info on the organization, then we would appreciate it, but you are not to engage them in combat unless necessary, do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, sir."
"Dissmissed."
XXX
"What's with sensei, he's an hour late!"
Hayato was fuming over a correct fact; their sensei was an hour later than the time they were supposed to leave the village in getting to his students. They were waiting by Konoha's main gate, facing north toward the former rice country, longing to get going. Then Jiro remembered something.
"Hitomi, did you get that information I asked for?"
"Oh yeah, I got it memorized, pretty astonishing. Masato came to the village two years ago, with no memory of who he was, other than his name. After the discovery of his special talent, it was explained to him what a ninja was, and he was offered a chance to become one. After a crash course in basic Jutsu, he was promoted to the rank of Genin, and given his own private sensei! After a series of D and C rank missions, it was decided that he was of great enough skill to go on missions alone. He rose to the rank of Chunin within four months of his inauguration as a Genin, and became a Jonin within a year! But that's not the most astonishing part. Get this, he has been on a total of 97 D rank missions, 30 C rank missions, 12 B rank missions, and 3 A rank missions all on his own, and has never come back with a signal scratch on him!"
"No way!" exclaimed Hayato. "This is our sensei?"
Jiro was troubled. "That seems a little off to me. The Masato I know from yesterday got caught by our incredibly simple ambush. He has less analytical skills than a grapefruit, but he came back from these missions without a scratch? There has to be more to this story, something we don't know…"
Jiro trailed off at the sight of a man approaching them from the village. Was it their sensei?
No, Jiro did not recognize the man, though Hitomi seemed to.
"Atsushi!"
"Hitomi, what are you doing with these Hyuga? Explain yourself!"
"They're my teammates…"
"What! Your… this is an outrage! I'm going to make sure the Hokage knows I won't stand for this!"
"Father, no! They're more than teammates, they're my…"
"Your what!"
"They're my friends!"
The man was dumbstruck. "What treachery is this? You don't need friends; you need family, power, prestige! Nothing less for my little girl. And most importantly of all, you are not to associate yourself with Hyuga!"
"Dad…"
Jiro looked into this man's eyes with rage, and saw that they were unnaturally red.
Sharingan, and of the third level! But why are the tomoe spinning?
Jiro felt his body begin to relax, felt his mind slipping away into darkness…
"Guys," Jiro cried out, "don't look into his eyes!"
He and Hayato managed to avert their gaze, and immediately Jiro's mind became unclouded, but it was too late for Hitomi.
"Come my daughter, it is time to go."
"Yes father."
She began to slowly follow this man named Atushi back to the village, until Jiro charged at him with his fists raised for a punch.
"What did you do to her you bastard?"
"Hitomi," said the man calmly, as Jiro quickly closed the distance between them. "Get rid of this pest."
Jiro felt an impact at his side, and went flying into the wall of the gate. Hitomi had kicked him.
"Yes father."
XXX
A/n: Next time, what did this man do? How can they overcome it? And most importantly, how can they fight their own friend? For once, Jiro doesn't have a plan.
