DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto.
WARNING: This chapter contains extreme shyness and ridiculousness on my part.

Chapter 10: First Mission

Where is everyone? That was my first thought as I scanned Tsunade's office, which only Tsunade and Shizune were inside of. What's up with that dressed-up pig Shizune's always carrying around, anyways? No one else was there.

"Wow," Tsunade remarked, "You really come fast when you're called, don't you?"

"I've always found myself to be the speedy type!" I replied with a cheerful smile, "Fast healing, fast response, fast fighting style, you name it!"

"Indeed," Tsunade said, "That's a nice change, too! Most of the people get here in about double the time that you did, and you don't want to know how late Naruto gets here."

"I can take a pretty good guess as to how long AND as to why. I'd say about half an hour to an hour late because of…" I paused for a little bit, then said, "Maybe because of eating ramen?"

"Pretty much," said Shizune, "Either that or he's training by himself. He actually works hard when it comes to training, surprisingly enough."

"She's right," Tsunade said, "Naruto probably puts some of the best effort into being a ninja that Konoha's ever seen, excluding Rock Lee, of course."

"That guy would kill just for training!" I remarked.

Tsunade chuckled a little, and then said, "I see you have some sort of sense of humor."

"Don't tell me your ninja are slow AND humorless!" I said.

"Nah, we've got many humorous or sometimes just flat-out silly ninja in Konoha," Tsunade said, "So, while we're waiting I might as well get a status report from you. Finding your way through Konoha alright?"

"Yeah, I've been doing pretty good, seeing as though I've practically been given a second chance at life!" I remarked, "Anyways, Konoha is HUGE! I'm telling you, it's at least five times bigger than The Village Hidden in the Sparks, not to mention the people are friendlier, ramen prices are tons cheaper and everything! This place is the best!!!"

"Glad you like it," Tsunade said, "Found any of the other Genin team members yet?"

"That's what I was in the middle of doing before Sakura rushed over to tell me that I was to be sent here."

"Which ones have you met?"

"Well, I've met all of my original team, meaning Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei. I also met Ino Yamanaka tending to a flower shop, and Rock Lee was training at his dojo when I met him. Other than that, I haven't met anyone else. If my calculations are correct…" I did some mental math, "…I still have seven left to see, not including their sensei."

"Got that right," said Shizune, "and that means you're going to meet a couple other Genin during this mission. Their names are Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuga."

Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuga, I repeated in my head. Wait a sec…Hyuga? Didn't I come across an entranceway to something named "Hyuga" a few days ago? Might as well ask about it now. I asked Tsunade, "What exactly is this 'Hyuga' thing? I came across something named Hyuga on my map a few days ago, and I wasn't sure what it was."

"That," Tsunade started, "is probably the entrance to the Hyuga clan's section of the town that you saw on your map. Konoha's residential districts are divided up by clan, and the Hyuga clan is one of the bigger ones in Konoha. Each clan has their own bloodline trait, for example, the Hyuga clan usually has pure white eyes with no pupils or anything, and they have an ability called Byakugan which allows them to see things from hundreds of yards away, detect chakra flow anywhere, have almost 360 degrees of vision, use special Jutsu, see through normal objects AND allows them to use the Gentle Fist style Taijutsu."

"Uhh…that's a lot." I said, "I really hope this Hinata person isn't mean or anything, or else I'm screwed for life! That's almost scary!" For the first time I'd seen, Tsunade actually laughed heartily. Shizune laughed too, and even the pig gave off something that resembled a laugh. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing!" said Tsunade, "It's just that the prospect of Hinata being a bully or something is so…out there! Needless to say, she's not mean at all! You have nothing to worry about!"

"You've probably never met a Hyuga before," said Shizune, "so now that we've warned you, don't be alarmed by Hinata's eyes. It's totally normal."

"Erm…okay?" I was still a little confused, but I just decided to let it slide. "So, what's Kiba all about?"

"Kiba's a good guy. He's got a dog named Akamaru that he takes into battle with him, and they work well together," Said Tsunade, "I think you and him will get along just fine!"

"I hope so, cause if the guy's a jerk-"

"What guy are you calling a jerk?" said a voice from behind me which I strongly suspected was Kiba.

I turned around to see a person wearing a sweater with his hood on. He was about as tall as me, and he seemed friendly enough at first sight. He had some weird red marks on his face. Probably something to do with his clan. Sweater Man held his hand out to shake and said, "I'm Kiba Inuzuka, and you must be James Moretto."

"That's me!" I said cheerfully. I shook his hand firmly and asked, "I heard you had some sort of battle dog, did you bring it?"

"Who do you think I am?" said Kiba with a grin, "I always bring Akamaru, pretty much everywhere I go!"

Just then I heard a high-pitched bark. A small, white dog poked out of Kiba's hood, really cute like. Awww…How could something as cute as him fight in a battle? "I like your dog!" I said to him, "Can I pet him?"

"Sure!" said Kiba. I went ahead to pet the dog, and the dog actually smiled and wagged its tail under Kiba's hood, making the back of his hood wiggle back and forth. "He seems to like you." Said Kiba.

"That's good," I said, "I'm usually not mean to anyone, so I don't see any reason why he wouldn't like me!"

"Um…sorry I'm late." a small voice from the entrance said. A girl emerged from half-hiding in the background outside of the entrance.

I freaked. First times with me are always the times where I go overboard with my reactions, be it the first time meeting people, first time training, and the initial pain that goes through you when you get hurt. This was no different. Upon seeing this girl, I immediately gave off a (arguably) girlish screech, panicked for a half a second, and the other half of that same second was used up by me crouching under Tsunade's desk so the girl couldn't see me. "What the hell!?" Tsunade almost yelled, "We WARNED you not to get freaked out by her eyes! Besides, they aren't that scary!"

My face was turning extremely red, and I stuttered, "Is-s-s-s th-th-that H-h-h-inata!?"

Tsunade let out a breath of frustration and said with a restrained voice, "Yes James, that is Hinata. She isn't all that scary; she isn't going to beat you up or anything, so get out of my desk."

"I won't hurt you." said Hinata, and upon hearing her voice I went into a kind of paralyzed state. I just kinda slumped over and went partially limp.

No one got it. I wasn't scared that she would beat me up. The fact of the matter is she was one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever see. I'd never expected it, and my initial reaction was to freak and hide. I'd reached an all-time high on the shyness scale, so high in fact, it transformed from shyness into a kind of fear, which is why I hid. Don't ask how that works, it just does. Then after hearing her voice for the first time, I basically went into some weird state of ecstasy. This is what was going through my head at that time, or at least the intelligible parts, and trust me; there are some parts that I've decided to cut out just because even I can't decipher them:

OMIGOD! That is one of the most cutest people I've ever seen. Beautiful, medium length dark hair, almost bluish, those freakin' cute white eyes, and my god that voice! That voice'll probably make me melt for the next hundred times I hear it. What do I do, what do I do!? I'm freaking here, what do I do! Alright James, calm yourself down. You're acting pathetic. You're going to get up from behind Tsunade's desk, say that it was nothing and introduce yourself to her. Got that!? Okay, take a deep breath, exhale as you stand. Breathe…one…breathe…two…breathe…THREE!

I got up from Tsunade's desk as calm as I could, facing opposite of Hinata and Kiba. I exhaled and turned around to face Hinata. I held her gaze for a couple of seconds, and then I let out some kind of "KEEEE!" sound and ducked under Tsunade's desk again. So much for that…I CAN'T DO THIS!!!

Apparently Tsunade had reached her limit of patience. She grabbed me by the shirt, lifted me up and lobbed me all the way across the room, out the room and into the entrance's wall yelling, "SHE'S NOT THAT DAMN SCARY!!!" I think that knocked me out of my state of panic real good, because I got up and forced myself to keep calm. I didn't want to get thrown all the way across the room again!

I said to Hinata (with great difficulty, admittedly), "I'm James. Sorry for that, I'm not af-fraid of you or anything, ok-kay?"

She smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about something like that," in that amazing voice of hers. That was a hair away from pushing me over the edge and making me lose my cool again, but somehow I held on to it. Good thing too; I never wanted to experience Tsunade's Throw of Doom again!

"Now then," said Tsunade, "If you'll step into the room again, I'll brief you on the mission…"

*

"What the hell kind of mission is this?" I asked Kiba as I pulled a fifth weed from the garden, "Seriously, I thought it would be at least guarding some unimportant caravan or something, but this?"

"Get used to it," Kiba replied, "This is the kind of work all of us Genin get commonly. You'll be doing this kind of thing for a long time. We get some cool missions, but most of them are basically just chores that people don't feel like doing on their own, so they hire us to do the work for them. I don't like it either, but that's the way it is." Akamaru let out a bark of agreement.

"So how long have you had that dog for?" I asked

"As long as I can remember." he replied.

"Wow," I said, "You two must have a strong bond."

Kiba laughed a little, and then said, "You don't know the half of it. I go everywhere with him, and he goes everywhere with me. You won't see us apart, ever!" He pulled another weed out of the garden.

We had been assigned to basically do yard work for some elderly person. Granted, he probably would not have been able to do it himself, but that didn't make it any less boring. Hinata was on the other side of the garden pulling weeds there (and I guessed that she was over there because of how I acted a couple of hours earlier in the Hokage's office.) I pulled a weed out – This place is loaded with weeds!– and paused to admire Hinata from afar. She was…perfect. There's no other way for me to describe it, she was just perfect. Needless to say, all thoughts of Sakura being cute were completely diminished from my mind. There was a slight breeze that caught her hair, which made her look only more beautiful.

"Um…are you okay, James?" Kiba asked. I didn't hear him. "Jaaames! Wake up!"

"Huh, wha?" I said as I came out of my trance-like state, "Oh, sorry."

"Why were you staring at Hinata like that?"

"Daaa…umm…I…well…I was just thinking about…um…thinking about…how she's from the Hyuga clan and all…and…and how…um…powerful she might be!" I emphasized those last words.

Kiba just looked at me for a few seconds, then laughed and said, "You are one of the worst liars I've ever known!"

"I'm not lying! I-it's just that I-I was curious a-about-"

"Dude, come off of it. I know you like her."

"Wha? I-I do not!"

"It's not a bad thing or anything! I won't tell her." Kiba said.

"Bullcrap you won't! You'll probably tell her just to humiliate me!" I realized what I just said basically confirmed that I liked her for Kiba. "Um…I mean, I don't l-like her like t-t-that!"

"Hey man, it's alright! I won't tell anyone." Said Kiba.

I paused for a little bit, then asked, "You promise."

"Yes James, I promise I won't tell anyone," said Kiba, "But seeing as though you're so pathetic around her, I won't need to tell anyone! Even Naruto should be able to figure that out!"

"I didn't realize that I was THAT bad."

"Dude, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but you are THAT bad!"

"I guess so." I said. I took the last weed in the garden, gave it a good yank and forced it out of the ground. "That's the last of them, I think." I said.

"Good job!" the elderly man that hired us said, "Thanks so much!"

"That's all of them?" Hinata said from the other side of the garden.

Her voice made me melt inside again, and apparently it was showing on the outside too, because Kiba said, "You look a little red. Man…you really are pathetic!" I didn't hear a word he said.