Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 10
Emergency Mission, Back-Up Team 7
After treating some of the wounded hostages, Anko instructed Naruto to escort the women back to the village to make sure they get there safely. Naruto created one clone per women and carried them to town so they won't have to walk in their weakened condition.
They started with the clean-up duty by piling all the dead in the middle of the camp and torched them with a Katon jutsu. The stench of burning flesh made Naruto sick a bit but he just clamped his disgust down and went back to work.
They both cleared out the camp of all valuables and sealed them inside the scroll to check out later. It was part of the shinobi code to make sure that you clean up any camp you attacked, not leaving any incriminating evidence and packing up the spoils for their own use. Making handy use of the clones, Naruto and Anko sealed up weapons, documents, even some money scattered around and from the dead bodies.
When the deed was done, they both planted exploding tags all over the camp including the cave system to clean up the area and not flaunt it to be used by budding bandits who plans to make a living terrorizing the nearest town. They left the clearing and detonated the explosives with a small surge of chakra.
They were greeted by a welcoming sight when they came to town the next day. The mayor was there to congratulate them for a job well done while the townspeople were cheering them like the heroes they are. Naruto blushed when the women he saved hugged and kissed him on the cheek commenting about how heroic he was for saving them and how he looked so cute and furry as a werewolf.
Naruto promptly, yet respectfully, excused himself from the group and ran towards the hotel, booked a room quickly from a respectful receptionist and ran to the room. He already discussed it with Anko that they would stay for a day or two to get his bearings straight after what he experienced from the mission so his sensei will just have to find the correct room since he had no plans of leaving at the moment to avoid unwanted attention.
He sighed and immediately went to the bathroom. A shower would be so welcome right about now. He took off his clothes and saw that he wasn't really that dirty except for a few drops of blood on his clothes since most of it was in his wolf form. He turned on the shower and found the temperature of the water to his liking, slid into the stall, and let the hot water soothe his troubles away.
His mind strayed towards the mission and was disgusted with himself at killing so many of them brutally under the throes of rage. However, the memory of the dead woman gave him a form of peace, thinking that the people he killed are criminals and a lot of people will be safe with them gone. He sighed again and washed himself down. He shifted into his Wolf Soul as well since he realized early in his life that whatever dirt he got in his wolf state will still remain even if he transformed. He didn't want to scare some poor bloke by turning into a blood covered werewolf in the middle of a mission though the thought did made him chuckle.
It took him almost an hour to get both forms cleaned up. He had trouble with his wolf form since it was too big for the shower and had to crouch low just to make sure that the water hit him. What he wouldn't give for a cool flowing river or stream right about now like the ones in the Forest of Death that he often used to take a bath in after training with Anko. He changed back when he removed all the dried blood from his fur.
He toweled himself dry and exited the bathroom and saw Anko writing something on the mission scroll.
She noticed Naruto exiting the shower and grinned at him. "How are you gaki? You didn't have to run out on those women you know. They were just showing their…appreciation." She added the last part with a lecherous grin that made Naruto blush.
"Shut up, Anko-sensei." Grumbled a blushing blonde as he brought out a green scroll from his dirty clothes and unsealed a fresh batch with a poof of smoke. "What are we going to do now sensei? Are we going back to Konoha?"
Anko shook her head. "We will be leaving tomorrow morning. I'm going to be spending the rest of the afternoon with the mayor discussing the payment for the mission. I have decided to give them the money we got from the camp as a form of compensation for the women. Is that ok with you?" asked Anko, already knowing what Naruto's answer would be but decided to hear it from his own mouth.
Naruto shrugged as he walked back towards the bathroom with fresh clothes to get dressed. "I don't really care about the money sensei. It is a good idea to give it to them since that should help them get over the situation." He pursed his lips in thought. "However, I want the weapons since I can melt the metals and I can reuse them for the shop."
Anko nodded in agreement thinking it was a good plan since metals were expensive to begin with and getting materials without having to pay for them has always been the preferred method when it comes to shinobis.
"Ok gaki. I'm going out for a bit to meet with the mayor. We can talk later when I get back and have dinner in the restaurant." She left the room not waiting for an answer.
Naruto shrugged and simply changed right there and then since his sensei was out.
Anko and Naruto left the town they just saved followed by a lot of cheering. Naruto's cheeks burned with embarrassment when the women hugged him and kissed his cheek one by one. Anko wasn't any help to stop the stampede of women and kept on giggling.
When they got out of town, Naruto asked if she wanted to go the same way they came. Anko said no and wanted to dash all the way to Konoha as a form of training. Both enhanced their legs with chakra and ran all the way back to their home village, leaving dust in their wake.
They were a few miles from the village when Anko called for a halt and made camp, wanting to get rested up before going back to the village in the morning. Both of them spent the night talking about the mission, Naruto bearing his hearts out to Anko who in turn gave some advice to the blonde. Naruto slept with a light heart that evening thanks to his sensei's words.
They made it back to the village at a sedate pace since they were near enough anyway and want to conserve their energy for the day ahead. The Chunnin guards let them in after explaining the success of their mission and walked towards the Hokage Tower for debriefing.
They entered the Hokage's Office and told him everything about the mission, giving them their separate perspective to make sure that the Hokage knows the whole story. The old man didn't reprimand Naruto in showing his transformation to the women of the town and praised him for a job well done with the planning and execution. Anko sported a proud grin for her apprentice when Naruto got praised by the Hokage.
Both of them left after the Hokage told them to pick up their pay from the Mission Office downstairs and take a 2-day off before going to another mission. Naruto and Anko left and promised to meet again in 2 days in the Hokage's office for another mission to add to the blonde's experience.
The next day, Naruto was rudely woken up by a loud knocking on his front door. Grumbling about the unfairness of it all, he blearily made his way towards the door and opened it, revealing one of the Hokage's ANBU guards.
"Uzumaki-san. The Hokage requests your presence immediately for an emergency mission." said the masked ANBU. Naruto grunted then nodded that he will comply before the messenger disappeared in a puff of smoke and leaves.
Knowing that emergency missions usually meant serious business, he quickly took a quick shower and donned his mission clothes and grabbed the already prepared scrolls for potential missions. He took two of each just to make sure that he didn't need to come back to restock. He quickly used shunshin and appeared in front of the Hokage's Office, knocked, and went in.
"Yo Hokage-jiji, Anko-sensei. What seems to be the problem?" asked Naruto when he saw the two occupants in the room with grim looks on their faces. The atmosphere screamed 'serious' for the blonde Genin.
"Thanks for coming Naruto-kun. A few days ago, I assigned a mission to Team 7 for Wave Country to protect a bridge builder named Tazuna. However, a message scroll arrived this morning from Kakashi requesting for back-up since the mission was more than a simple C-Rank. They encountered the Demon Brothers of the Mist, both C-Rank missing-nins, en route to Wave. They were quickly dispatched and interrogated." The Hokage stopped, taking a long pull from his pipe, exhaling the smoke before continuing again.
"From the interrogation, it seems that Gato of Gato Industries hired a group of missing-nins to help him kill the bridge builder. From what Kakashi found out, the group includes the Demon Brothers and an A-Rank missing-nin, Momochi Zabuza, along with his masked assistant. Your mission is to rendezvous with Team 7 who is currently camped out a few miles east of Konoha and protect the bridge builder." He passed a scroll to Anko. "Anko, I want you and Kakashi to take command of the mission while Naruto-kun here will be the second-in-command just in case both of you are indisposed."
Naruto was shocked of being given such a designation in the team. "Uhhh Hokage-jiji. Are you sure you're going to put me as a second-in-charge? I mean, I just became a Genin and just had only one mission so far under my belt."
The aged leader smiled and nodded. "Yes Naruto-kun. The position suits you well. After all, it was your plan with a little help from Anko that made you successful in your prior mission. I have full confidence in all your abilities. So any questions?"
Both shook their heads and immediately headed out since both were already packed for such a situation. But before they could leave the office, the Hokage said something that made Anko and Naruto grin.
"Naruto. I think its fine time that the rest of Konoha to know about the Golden Wolf, don't you think?"
Both nodded with glee and shunshined out of the office towards the gate.
Naruto and Anko arrived at the east gate via shunshin.
"So sensei, shall we go?" asked Naruto, ready to be off.
"Sure thing gaki. We need speed so you know what to do." said Anko with a grin, excited at revealing the only secret of Team Chimera.
Naruto gave a wolfish grin and shifted right there and then to the amazement of everyone present to his large wolf form. He released a large howl before crouching down on the ground, ready to be off. Anko jumped off and landed on Naruto's back and sat down comfortably before Naruto shot out of the gate with a speed that would make Maito Gai blanch.
Those who saw Naruto's transformation to his wolf form answered a lot of question being circulated around Konoha, especially the mysterious howls that echoed around the village from time to time. It didn't take long for the revelation to spread towards the village and those who already knew the secret just grinned.
Kakashi, Team 7, and the bridge builder Tazuna was currently camped out in the woods besides the main road waiting for the reinforcement coming from Konoha. They were all lounging around, relaxing, when a large blur jumped off from the forest behind them and landed in the middle of the camp.
Kakashi immediately jumped in front of the frightened bridge builder who was surrounded by Team 7 in a defensive stance and faced a frightening scene that made them almost piss themselves.
There in front of them was a very large golden werewolf with a grinning Anko sitting on its back. The wolf released a loud howl that scared everyone, including the animals, in the area.
Anko saw the faces of Team 7 and Kakashi and almost cackled with glee. She controlled herself and jumped off the wolf who howled before sitting on its haunches, showing off its fangs and claws for everyone to see.
Naruto and Anko already talked about what they would do when they meet up with Team 7 and decided that Naruto stay in his wolf form before being introduced by Anko.
"Yo Kakashi. Hokage-sama sent us here to be your back up for the mission." said overly cheerful Anko.
Not taking eyes off the grinning wolf, a bit defensive and nervous about the large razor-sharp fangs and claws it was sporting.
"Uhh Anko. What's THAT?" said Kakashi, almost hysterically, while pointing at the large creature behind her.
"Oh him? He is part of the back-up." She turned towards the still grinning Naruto and smirked, a signal that they both worked out before entering the camp.
Naruto saw the smirk, he stood up on his hind legs and released a VERY loud howl that made Kakashi gulp, Sakura screech, Sasuke piss his pants, and Sai jump in fright. The blonde werewolf grinned and stretched out a bit showing off his huge looming presence before slowly resuming human form to the shock of everyone in the clearing. He committed their expression to memory for later before breaking them out of their shock.
"Yo. Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, Sasuke, Sai, Tazuna-san. How're you guys doing?" he greeted them while showing off his canines in a large grin.
Everyone except Anko and Naruto fainted and the two blew up in laughter.
Naruto was tying the unconscious Demon Brothers on the back of a large 3-tailed messenger wolf when Team 7, Kakashi, and Tazuna woke up. Anko was eating a stick of Dango which she dutifully stashed in one of the storage scrolls in her pouch.
Anko saw Kakashi up and awake. "Yo Kakashi. Nice of you to wake up. I suggest you get your cute Genins up and operational since we will need to break camp so we can get the client back to Wave and guard him while he finish that bridge of his. The sooner he gets it done, the sooner we can go back to Konoha." she finished tossing him the mission scroll they got from the Hokage.
Kakashi caught the scroll and read the missive. He was surprised that the mission is no longer just under his command and he will be sharing it with Anko. What surprised him; however, that Hokage-sama gave Naruto second-in-command status. He looked at Naruto who was giving the wolf some last minute instructions before it sped off towards Konoha to drop off the baggage.
"Naruto, where did you get the wolf?" asked Kakashi.
"Hi Kakashi-sensei. That was one of my wolf summons. Anko-sensei told me to bring one out and have it deliver the Demon Brothers to Konoha so Ibiki can interrogate them." explained Naruto as he walked back towards the group. He saw Team 7 looking at him. He smirked. "Yo Sakura, Sasuke, Sai. How you all doing?"
"Naruto, how in the world did you turn into that…that…wolf?" asked a clearly afraid Sakura. The blonde got the fearful tone from Sakura's question and frowned.
"That was part of my bloodline. I came from a tribe with the ability to shapeshift into a half-man/half-wolf hybrid. What you saw earlier was my wolf form. Since Anko-sensei wanted to get here as fast as possible, we decided to go 'wolf' to speed up our travels." answered Naruto and sat down beside Anko who offered one of her Dango which he gratefully accepted.
The answer seemed to satisfy everyone though the three Genins keep giving him apprehensive looks. Naruto didn't care since his precious people already knew and accepted his secrets so he didn't care much what others think about him.
Kakashi spoke to everyone in the group. "Ok team. Team Chimera is our backup consisting of Mitarashi Anko, Tokubetsu Jounin and Uzumaki Naruto, Tokubetsu Genin. The rank was because of your bloodline right?" he asked Naruto while giving him an eye-smile. The blonde boy just returned the smile and nodded before going back to his Dango.
"The mission parameters have changed. This is no longer a simple C-Rank escort mission. Due to the large possibility of encountering more missing-nins in the future, this will become an A-Rank bodyguard mission. Our directive is to get Tazuna-san safely to Wave and protect him until he finishes the bridge. Team Chimera is tasked to take care of Gato during the course of the mission. Anko and me will be in-charge. Second-in-command will be Naruto. Understood?"
Sai and Sakura agreed though the latter had an apprehensive air about her. Sasuke, however, decided to voice out his concerns. "How come Naruto gets to be second-in-command? This is our mission not theirs."
Kakashi shrugged but chose to answer him anyway. "It's not up to us to question Hokage-sama's orders. We just have to follow them. According to the mission scroll, it explained that Naruto already have experience in terms of missions similar to our own so it was wise of Hokage-sama to put him in charge in case me and Anko is incapacitated or indisposed."
Sasuke just grunted and turned back towards the tent to pack, followed by the rest of Team 7. Anko and Naruto saw Sasuke's expression and frowned.
"Your Genin is going to be a problem Kakashi. Haven't you beaten the arrogance out of him yet?" asked Anko, eyes not leaving the Uchiha who was pulling down their tents.
Kakashi sighed and sat down in front of Team Chimera. "I don't think that 'beating' the arrogance out of him is possible at this point. His attitude is already ingrained into him due to the ex-council's interference. I was even forced to just to avoid giving Hokage-sama a headache when the civilians react to failing the Uchiha. "
Anko just grunted and made a note to watch the Uchiha throughout the mission and gestured for Naruto to do the same who just nodded that he understood the silent instruction.
It didn't take long for Team Chimera and Team 7 to get back on the road towards Wave. Tazuna informed them that a friend of his will be waiting at a remote beach to take them to Wave through the mist to keep their passage hidden. They set up a defensive formation around Tazuna, Team Chimera bringing up the rear, Kakashi in front, Sakura with Tazuna, and flanked by Sasuke and Sai. They reached the aforementioned beach without any problems though something came up regarding their passage.
The boat was just too small for them since no one informed Tazuna's friend in regards to their changed numbers.
Anko solved the problem by informing Team 7 and Kakashi to take the boat while she and Naruto will keep guard beside them. The one-eyed Jounin was shocked at this since Naruto already knew Water Walking but he didn't bother to say anything and motioned for his team to board the boat.
When the boat pushed off, Anko was about to follow them towards the water when Naruto stopped her.
"Anko-sensei. I want you to ride my back to conserve your chakra just in case we encounter stronger enemies ahead." instructed Naruto.
Anko looked at Naruto and raised an eyebrow. "I can water walk to and from Wave without problems gaki. You don't have to worry."
Naruto just shook his head. "Sensei, if we encounter Momochi Zabuza later, we will be in deep trouble without you at 100%. I don't think I can hold him off while you rest up. Besides, with my chakra reserves, going to Wave in my other form would be easy. Please sensei?" pleaded Naruto, almost coming out as a whine.
Anko grudgingly agreed; silently proud that Naruto was already thinking ahead. Besides, who was she to question to travel in style. She giggled at the thought which caused Naruto to sweatdrop at his sensei's eccentricities.
Naruto shifted to his wolf form and Anko jumped to his back and made herself comfortable. He channeled chakra to his hands and legs before bounding off towards the boat since it was already ahead of them a ways.
Team 7, Kakashi, Tazuna, and the boatman were shocked when they saw a large wolf with a grinning Anko running towards them. The latter was about to shout a warning when Tazuna silenced him by putting a hand to his mouth. Said wolf and Jounin simply slowed down and took position beside the boat, senses open to check for incoming threats.
It took a while for them to reach Wave, around 2 hours, since they have to move silently to avoid detection. Bored, Anko decided to take a nap since Naruto's fur was both warm and comfortable. Her light snoring made Naruto snort but continued to check the areas with his senses so they won't get ambushed while within the mist.
Kakashi, on the other hand, was impressed at Naruto's chakra capacity since they have been walking for almost 2 hours now. No Genin can hope do so since the chakra requirement for water walking is large compared to tree walking and the deeper the water, the more chakra is needed.
The one-eyed Jounin also observed Naruto's form while they were slowly making their way to Wave. From the looks of it, Naruto's wolf form is purely for combat judging from the bulging muscles, razor-sharp claws, and fangs. He gulped at what those things could do to anyone who messes with the kid.
The rest of Team 7 was also pondering the recent addition to the group.
Sai, who has his own mission with the team itself, just gave Naruto's form a careful eye to report it to Danzo later since new bloodlines are always welcome in Konoha and such power that Naruto's form possessed was greatly coveted.
Sakura, on the other hand, was torn been awe and fear. Naruto's large frame in his wolf form is definitely something to see. And all those furs, bushy tail and ears made her fingers twitch to scratch them with blind abandon. She also felt fear since wolves are known to be ferocious but she decided right there and then that this was the same Naruto that he knew from the Academy judging from the way he introduced himself earlier that caused them to faint.
Sasuke was glaring at the golden wolf beside them with envy. It was clear that the blonde was strong even if he already knew that since they kept up spars while they were in the Academy. He needed to be stronger so he could avenge his clan. He thought of pestering the blonde about his bloodline and to teach him his skills but he realized that the changes and power that Naruto have was deeply integrated into his DNA that he couldn't even hope to even learn what he is capable off. With a sigh, he went back to brooding, eyes in front of him, lost in thought.
When they got to the shore in Wave Country, Tazuna exchanged a few words with the boatman before disembarking. Tazuna leading the way to his house.
Instead of stopping, Naruto simply walked out the water following Team 7. Anko shot Naruto a questioning look but Naruto spoke before she could.
"I think it would be best if I stay in this form sensei. My senses are at its peak and I can easily sense anyone coming our way. Besides, this form might be needed just in case Kakashi-sensei and Team 7 needs back-up."
Anko nodded and gesture for Kakashi to come over. She explained the situation and told the cyclops that she and Naruto will be hidden in the woods following them in case of an ambush and will come out just in case they are needed. Kakashi agreed to the plan and told his team to set up defensive position around Tazuna before leaving Team Chimera to their own tasks.
When they left, Naruto and Anko separated and dashed to the woods, scouting the area for ambushes and traps while following Team 7 and the client at a distance so they can reach them easily in case something serious came up.