"You're home early. With a boy?" Hikari asked the moment he saw his little sister walk through the door. She had a small smile on her face which was a contrast from her usual blank face.
"Yeah," she replied as she leaned against the door frame, waiting for her brother to make a move to get up.
"Who was it then?" he asked as finally stood up and put down his book on the table. He picked up his and Akira's equipment bag from the closet.
"A Nara," she replied keeping her face neutral but failing, her cheeks heating up. "But training is my priority, the exams are coming up soon and I do not want to fail or let anyone get hurt."
"Then we better get going. You better have a shit load of chakra on reserve. I don't want to have to give you some of mine again just so you can wake up," Hikari said as he locked the door to their apartment.
Akira simply rolled her eyes and gestured to her hair which was already half white. "You know that's not enough for training, right?" Hikari chided her, who pointed at his already white hair and tattoo that was spiralling around his neck and arm.
"Fine, I'll get some while we walk. You're so demanding."
"You should really stop stealing chakra from crowds. That's not very nice of you," Hikari stated as they made their way through the streets filled with shops. The siblings manoeuvred through the noon crowd, leaving feather light touches on the random shinobi in the crowd that couldn't feel a single thing.
"As if you aren't doing it right now," Akira rolled her eyes at her older brother. They didn't get enough chakra to the point the ninja would feel the lose, but with the amount of people they were getting from they were able to gather a lot.
"Fair enough. By the way we are going to be joined by a few friends of mine,"
The whole afternoon, Naruto led Hinata to different sites in Konoha. They went to the little shops and stands that people tend to forget. So by the end of the afternoon their stomachs were filled to the brim. They sat on top of the Hokage monument with Hinata's head on his shoulder and Naruto's arm around her. They watched the bustling village below them.
They sat in silence, watching the sunset painting the sky different shades of orange and purple. It was breathtaking.
"We're both going to be really busy and not see each other for the next month, aren't we?" Naruto said breaking the silence as he turned to face her.
"We have no choice Naruto-kun. It's our job as shinobi," the Hyuuga heiress smiled sadly back at him. "We'll see each other on the weekends. I-If you're okay with it."
"I would love to Hinata-chan," Their lips collided. It was even more breathtaking than the view. The kiss was innocent and only lasted a couple of seconds, the way every first kiss is meant to be like. The rest of the night was a blur as he walked her home and left her with a kiss the forehead.
Hinata was changing. She slowly stopped stuttering around the people close to her. She trained way harder than she used, leaving her to the point of exhaustion every night. She started smiling more and people were beginning to take notice of the sudden change in her.
Team 7 was slowly getting better. There wasn't much argument as there used to be on missions and during trainning. Outside of training was a different matter but at least they started bonding the way a team should despite all the fighting.
Sasuke wasn't as cold as he used to be with his teammates, going as far to respond to their morning greetings. Sakura had begun to take trainnning more seriously and had stopped complaining. But she still starved herself to retain her figure, which was clearly hindering her progress. Akira's threats and cussing had toned down to the point that she could hold conversations with her female teammate.
Naruto on the other hand, finally let his personality out in the open for everyone. The boy had also finally got rid of his bright-ass orange jumpsuit. He now sported a long-sleeved mesh undershirt which he topped with a white shirt that bore his signature spiral at the back and he now wore plain black shinobi pants that had a lot more pockets. He carried along with him the standard kunai holster on his left thigh and shurkien pouch. He had also began wrapping his knuckles with ninja tape and kept his headband around his forehead but traded the blue cloth for a black one.
They weren't the perfect team, but they knew the appropriate time when to be bickering and when to be serious. They were slowly grasping what it meant to be ninja.
"I will see what mission I have for you. Please wait a moment," said Iruka who was assisting the Hokage in distributing missions since school was out for a few months. He had already recovered from the incident with Mizuki which was over 2 months ago. He handed the scroll to the Hokage.
"Aha, D-ranked mission. Wait, Iruka-kun can you hand me the new C-rank? That is if you think your team is ready Kakashi-kun."
"Hai, I believe that they are more than ready Hokage-sama," countered the jonin with full confidence. His team had already come so far, and he trained so that can never be caught unprepared. Team Minato was caught unprepared and they lost two comrades that day. He will not let these kids go through the same thing. 'Even if it means giving up my life to save all of them.'
Iruka was genuinely worried for his former students. He didn't think that they were ready to handle a C-rank just yet. But he had no say in this, he just prayed to Kami that they would come back alive.
"Alright, I have just the mission. Iruka please bring in Tazuna-san."
"As you wish Hokage-sama," Iruka returned a few moments later with the bridge builder Tazuna. The Hokage continued on with the mission briefing. As he did Tazuna was judging the shinobi that were supposed to be his protectors.
"With all due respect Hokage-sama, these kids are supposed to be protecting me? They look like they can barely put up a fight. Do they even have field experience? Tazuna said as the Hokage had finished the briefing.
"Tazuna-san, I would be careful about what you say- " Kakashi was cut off by the killing intent that started to fill the small room. It was coming from Akira who was on the verge of fighting with the old man, not caring who the hell he was. The killing intent was getting thicker and thicker as each moment passed. She hated people who judged others unfairly.
"Akira, calm down," Naruto said in a quiet yet commanding voice as he put his hand on her shoulder. This surprised the occupants in the room because none of them had heard him talk like that before. The killing intent died down and Akira remained glaring at the old bridge builder. The bridge builder was left shaking due to the amount of bloodlust in the room mere seconds ago as well as the deathly glares the four genin were giving him. The ANBU hidden in the room made themselves present upon feeling the bloodlust. The Hokage waved them off before the rest of the occupants noticed their arrival.
"Tazuna-san, we will see you at the East Gate at 5 a.m." Kakashi said not minding his genin who were still glaring at the old man. "You brats, pack for the mission. Nothing too heavy. Come on time," he said directed to his genin who finally stopped glaring at the old man.
"Hai Kakashi-sensei," they said in unison. Iruka raised an eyebrow at how put together this team was considering their initial attitude when they were newly assigned.
"Akira and Kakashi, please stay for awhile. We have matters we need to discuss," The Hokage said dismissing the rest of Team 7 and Tazuna. Before leaving Naruto gave her a concerned look, but she waved it of with a small smile.
"I feel like the world is ending. Kakashi-sensei is only 15 minutes late," Sakura said as they saw Kakashi approaching the rest of Team 7. The rest of the team hummed in agreement. The tardy jonin received various greetings from the team, he gave a small smile underneath his mask. This was one of the few moments that the team got along.
'So this is what Minato-sensei felt when weren't being annoying shits, huh?'
They left Konoha and began their journey to the Land of the Waves. Since they had a civilian with them they had to settle with walking. Though they were all on guard, they travelled in a square formation with Tazuna in the centre, Sakura and Akira in the front, Naruto and Sasuke at the rear while was Kakashi trailing after them from behind.
They took breaks every once in awhile to give the bridge builder some time to recuperate. They occasionally spoke as they journeyed but otherwise it was relatively silent. Team 7 was on a mission so they put aside their differences with each other for the time being. But with one comment it could ruin the peace so they all kept their mouths' shut.
"It's so damn hot. I wish it would rain,"Akira complained out loud to nobody in particular. This was odd coming from the young Kojin since she preferred to keep silent when on missions. Sakura gave her an odd look, it was unusual that she would start conversations. Sasuke and Naruto on the other hand understood what she was talking about loud and clear. They noticed that there was a puddle on the ground ahead of them but it hasn't even rained the whole week. Kakashi acted as if he hadn't heard her comment, completely immersed in his book.
"Do you want some water to drink Akira?" Naruto replied playing along, "I think we can stop over some time soon. "
After passing the puddle there was as silent rustle to be heard and two men stepped out of the puddle. With two chains in hand the men stalked the masked jonin, in one quick dash they wrapped the chains around him and pulled, leaving his mutilated body on the floor.
Sakura screamed at the sight of their sensei's dead body on the ground. The two ninja then charged straight for Tazuna, planning to get rid of the genin afterwards. The genin were in defensive positions with their weapons drawn expect for the young Haruno who was still in the state of shock. Sasuke parried the strike of the shorter ninja while Naruto did the same to the taller one. As the boys kept the ninja busy, Akira stood guard infront of the bridge builder.
Naruto was carrying out blows to the taller ninja when he saw an opening in his opponent''s defence. He aimed a blow to the enemy's face, with his right hand which held his kunai. The ninja quickly went to block the blow only to be struck in the solar plexus, effectively knocking the wind out of him. The Uzumaki used that to his advantage and knocked out the ninja with a swift blow to the neck.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu"
Sasuke's fireball was dodged by the ninja by using a substitute. The enemy ninja appeared before the young Uchiha, aiming right for the chest. Sasuke dodged the blow and brought a kick to the enemy's face. They kept exchanging blows neither having significant advantage. Suddenly the ninja slumped forward and landed on the ground, right in time because the next blow was to the Uchiha's eyes.
Behind him was Akira who had somehow traded places with Naruto, who was now guarding Tazuna. He gave a glare to the his teammate, but he was actual grateful for her sudden appearance. He couldn't risk losing his eyes, if he did he would no longer be able to awaken his Sharingan.
Akira went over to the other ninja who Naruto was battling and touched his head for awhile, effectively draining him of his chakra as she did with the one who was battling Sasuke. Her hair was now half white with the amount of chakra she absorbed from the ninjas. Kakashi then shunshined down to where his genin were, having watched over the battle from the tree above.
"Kakashi-sensei!"Sakura exclaimed upon the jonin's arrival. She looked to where his corpse supposedly lay, only to see pieces of wood in his place. He gave her a brief smile which made his eye turn into a U.
"Who were those people sensei?" the young Haruno questioned. This was supposed to be a simple escort mission, so why would people be attacking them?
"They were the Demon brothers, chunin-level missing-nin. They were mercenaries hired to kill Tazuna-san," stated Akira in reply as she handed Naruto and Sasuke some water.
"Tazuna-san, mind explaining why there were after you? And why we shouldn't leave you here for them to kill," the Hatake said with a serious look.
The bridge builder explained the situation of his town to the ninja. That Gato, a well known business man was out to kill him because the bridge Tazuna was building posed a threat to Gatō's control of Wave's economy. Gato's shipping company was just his front for his real business which was smuggling and drug-dealing. He took control of the Land of Waves just for this.
"Please help me save my town."