Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Notes: Alright ya'll it's starting! Yeah! The reason I did this mission was because of its impact on Naruto and team 7 itself. Things will be different, and maybe, the outcomes. Maybe.
Also quick note, 1 meter equals about 3 feet give or take. So like, 13 meters would be about 42 feet more or less. Just in case anyone is wondering. For reference later on in the story. :b
Cowabunga, man! Or Kowabunga, dude! C or K? I don't know!
C-Rank
Trees bustle with life in the forested area I find myself in. The bright sun bathes Konohagakure in heat and light. Few clouds roam in the endless sky to give a small reprieve from the sun's presence. In still silence I sit within a vivacious tree covered by shadows cast from vibrant green leaves.
A wireless radio choker band rests comfortable around my neck while I search the surrounding area for the target with an activated Byakugan. Now 97 meters in range, I watch the small network of chakra dash high and right into a small bush. I report my findings, "Target has moved. Right. 7 meters. Into a small bush."
Hatake, covered within the same tree's cast shadows, responses, "Follow it." Two familiar networks of chakra move toward the target with speed and stealth. The chakra flowing in a chaotic breeze hides 5 meters away from the target, behind one of the lively trees dwelling in the area. Following closely behind the wind affinity chakra, Sasuke moves three trees over.
I sign '5 meters away' to the masked man closely beside me.
Kakashi's voice tunnels through the wires of the radio in a clear voice, "Ready, squad 7?" Clear confirmations come from the two members on the ground. The target has yet to move. "Okay.." A moments pause comes from our squad's leader before he confirms to capture, "Do it!"
Uzumaki and Uchiha move quickly toward the unaware target. In mere seconds Naruto captures the target from behind with a determined yell.
"I got it!" Resounds loudly in my earpiece as the cat, Tora, screeches in surprise and anger. Deftly the cat turns itself in the sunny boy's hands to begin its attack. The orange clothed boy tastes defeat when teeth and claws find their way into him.
Hatake radios for confirmation of the target by its ribbon. Uchiha confirms while Uzumaki struggles against a cat. "Alright," is radioed to the boys while Hatake and I stand within a small patch of grass in the forested area. "The mission to capture lost pet 'Tora' is completed!" Quickly I move and deactivate my dojutsu while the rest of the team begins to move toward us.
I can not risk the chance of Tora catching my presence. Seven steps away and the plan fails, "Isn't there a mission with a greater sense of urgency?!" Is yelled in irritation through the speakers.
Like the man behind me, I lose my sense of hearing from the screaming and the noise of a breaking radio piece. Belatedly I recover from the pain and loss of hearing when Uzumaki returns. The hissing and struggling Tora straightens in its prison hold when my scent and presence consumes its senses and instincts.
Naruto blinks in confusion to my stilled and pained form and unconsciously loosens his hold on the runaway cat. Tora hisses and hunches in warning before sharp claws glint in filtered sunlight. A claw catches the bottom of frowning lips. In reaction Uzumaki forces the target away from him. Tora uses it to its advantage along with the loosened grip.
Our target escapes and team 7 has another tally mark to add to the list of failed missions.
With empty hands, we return to the Hokage's office to report on the failed mission. Madam Shijimi, the wife of the daimyō, stands expectantly with pink lips and purple shadowed eyes. Seeing no struggling Tora in our hands a shrill like wail comes from her.
Promptly we were kicked out and told to wait until our mistakes were accordingly fixed. Without delay a man with a bowl haircut and green jumpsuit enters the scene. Behind him three genin follow. An exasperated girl with dark brown hair and gray eyes, a boy who would basically be an exact replica of the man in front of him, and my onii-san.
There is determination and overabundant amount of enthusiasm in the newly arrived jounin's step before he pauses with surprise and wonder at Hatake. An air of indifference surrounds Kakashi while the green clad man jumps over to him, "Ahha! My Eternal Rival!"
A smile spreads across the black haired man's face filled with shiny white teeth, "How are you today!?"
Uzumaki rudely interrupts whatever Kakashi might have said to point at the boy with matching white eyes, "Oi! You have the same eyes as the princess here, dattebayo?"
One blue eye closes while Naruto moves face to face with Neji. A tick mark of irritation and a twitching brow forms on onii-san's face as Uzumaki blatantly stares him up and down, "Ya Princess' onii-san or some 'em? Cuz' ya look like it."
I answer to stop any scathing remarks forming on Neji's tongue. "Yes, Uzumaki-san. He is my onii-san." Blonde hair moves back and forth as Naruto eyes Neji and I. A thoughtful sound exits the whiskered boy before irritation enters his features.
With quick movement and the shaking of my shoulders the sunny boy begins to question me, "Hey?! Why haven't ya' said anything, dattebayo?!" Raising a brow I look at the blue eyed boy, "You nor anyone has ever asked." Blue eyes disappear and reappear with a slow blink.
"Hn, dobe." Resounds in the air with playful insult towards Uzumaki. Without missing a beat a fight breaks out between my teammates.
"How youthful!" The green jumpsuit man exclaims in a hero pose. "Lee-kun, do you see this?" The now named boy moves closely towards his sensei while he watches the playful fighting engaged by my two teammates.
Tears of jubilant joy begin to stream down the man's face, "Is it not beautiful!? Such youthfulness my rival's team brings!" Tears stream down lee's face as well before he turns with enthusiastic and questioning eyes, "May I join them Guy-sensei?! To learn from such youthfulness?"
The questioned man kicks the boy through a chair before he begins to wail in despair, "Ah forgive me Lee-kun, but you must ask Kakashi or his youthful boys, not me! Let this be a lesson learned!" Rivers run down the green clad ninjas face's before they hug with affectionate strength.
A sunset descends on the two.
A quiet "Kai" exits my lips, but it does not break the genjutsu's hold.
"Ano," I look toward the speaking brown haired girl while she points at her hugging teammates, "You shouldn't waste your time. It doesn't break." A resigned air consumes the pretty girl, "I've tried." Taking the girl's word I drop my attempts to break the sunset.
"Ah, I'm Tenten, by the way." A small bow is acted by the twinned Chinese-style bunned girl.
I bow back, "Hyuuga Hinata." Breaking from my bow, I hear Lee asking for permission to join the fight to the two boys. His answer comes in the form of grunts.
Both Tenten and I watch the green jumpsuit boy take the grunts as a 'yes' before he jump kicks each boy's head. In silence Neji slinks beside his female teammate with a frown marring his pale lips. We watch the fight stop while both Sasuke and Naruto look toward each other and a silent agreement is reached between them.
In bonded synergy each boy kicks the uninvited guest into the wall. The words "So youthful!" echos out of the broken wall before a green blur joins back in. The genin left either look toward the heavens, scoff in annoyance, or sigh in exasperation.
"How Youthful, Kakashi! Not only do your genin have spirit, my rival, but one of them is related to one of my own!" Quickly Guy turns to his rival, forgetting the main reason he was called here.
"We should-" The door to the Hokage's office slams open with an irritated and twitching brow Iruka. "Hey! Have you forgotten the reason you are here, Might-san?!" The questioned man quickly forms into an exaggerated thinking pose filled with the sound of hmmms.
With speed, he changes his pose to give a thumbs up, a wink, and a wide smile, "Yes!" Almost everyone in the room slackens at his blunt admittance. Well, the one's who are not fighting.
A sigh of exasperation heaves Umino's body before he speaks with defeat lacing his words, "First team 7 loses the daimyō's wife's cat and now, the back up team forgets the reason for being here."
The ponytailed man continues to grumble with complaints while Gai turns to his declared 'Eternal Rival,' "Is it true my Rival!? Have you failed a mission?" A look of surprise lifts Guy's face while he places calloused hands onto Hatake's shoulders.
Without a pause, Kakashi flips the next page of his book, "Yep" the 'p' is popped from the man's covered lips.
"Not only that," Umino rises from his slackened form to point at the uncaring man, "But every other D-Rank mission as well!"
A serious determination etches onto Might's face. "Well then," Quickly he turns to his genin with fire reigniting in his brown eyes, "We must also begin to fail every mission! Youthfully!"
Surprise settles in the air while everyone within the room halt their actions to stare at the eccentric man. "I cannot lose to my Eternal Rival in anything! If that means we must fail every mission, then so be it!"
Sounds of awed reverence comes from a scuffled Lee and the rest of his team has a look of defeat. Umino falls defeated unto the ground and a hearty laugh comes through the door leading into the Hokage's office.
With no surprise another team is immediately called and given the mission to catch Madam Shijimi's cat and Team Gai is promptly kicked out of the building.
Team 7 watches Team 10 come out of the office in mild annoyance after receiving the 'urgent' mission.
Their smoking leader grumbles before he glares at a waving Kakashi, "Maa maa Asuma, have fun!" Asuma's response is to flip off the eye smiling Hatake while he exits the building with his reluctant team in tow behind him.
Then we wait.
Finally a hissing Tora is wrangled into a cage and brought to an affectionate Madam Shijimi.
And team 7 is called in for another mission to fail.
Entering the office an amused and slightly exasperated Hokage sits before us with a smoking pipe held by his weathered lips. Iruka sits beside him with a deathly glare latched onto our sensei and paper work scattered before the scarred man. "Now then." A flimsy piece of paper lifts in the air in front of the speaking Hiruzen.
"The next mission.." An quiet laugh exits the elderly man's mouth, "for Kakashi's seventh squad is..." Entertained brown eyes move down the list written on the paper. Normal D-ranks missions fall out of the Hokage's mouth.
After three missions are stated Uzumaki finally reaches his limit. "Noooo!" The scuffled orange clad boy forms an X with his arms, "No! No, thank you!" He shakes his blonde head, "I want something challenging and exciting, dattebayo! C'mon jiji-san!"
An already angered Iruka stands with a slam of his hands on the messy desk, "You fool! You're still a rookie! At the start everyone moves up the ladder by gaining experience from simple missions!" A sun-kissed hand moves and points to the fuming Naruto, "Missions you have failed! Every single one of them!"
The whiskered boy tilts forward with closed eyes, "But it ain't are fault! Besides the missions are boring, dattebayo!" Before anymore words can fall out of the sunny boy's mouth a gloved fist comes down onto his head. The speaking boy falls face first into dark oaken floor.
"Knock it off." Exits covered lips.
The Third takes the interruption to begin to lecture the pained boy. Blonde hair ruffles by hands rubbing the punched spot on his head and Uzumaki quickly sits up into a crossed leg position. A seriousness shadows the wrinkled face of Sarutobi while he lectures with closing eyes.
Without thought Naruto turns to us with mischievousness lining his every feature. Quietly he begins to explain the importance of ramen and the meal he had the day before. I let my eyes stay on the still lecturing Hokage while I listen more closely toward Uzumaki's speech.
Hiruzen opens his eyes toward an uninterested team 7, "Listen!" The blue eyed boy and his companions turn to face the Hokage.
Naruto leans forward with his hands laying on top of orange pants, "Maaan! You always lecture me, jiji-san!" A confident smile appears with closed eyes accompanying the wide smile. "But I'm not that little prankster that ya' think I am! Dattebayo!"
Quickly the blonde haired boy crosses his arms with the puff up of whiskered cheeks. His stance reminding me of a child throwing a tantrum. My eyebrow raises toward the sulking boy as smiles appear on both the Hokage's and Iruka's faces.
"Okay, Fine!" Surprise filters through my mind when the Third succumbs to the boy's childish demands. "If you insist..." My surprise seems to be shared by my team and Umino standing beside the smirking Hokage.
"I'll have you do a Rank C mission. Perhaps you'll have better luck with it as well." Weathered hands fold themselves under a white haired chin. "Your team will be bodyguards for someone." Uzumaki vocalizes his surprise, wonder, and curiosity to a smirking Third. Hiruzen's brown eyes hold affection and familiarity as he vaguely answers the excited boy.
A part of me wonders if old age has finally caught up with the old man. Why would he even consider giving this disastrous team a higher mission rank when we can not even successfully complete a rank below it. We may have the skills needed to complete this mission, but by report, we are the worst and last team that should even be considered for it.
I will not vocalize these thoughts though. As the man stated, perhaps, our luck will change and it will end the monotony of D-Ranks. Perhaps this C-Rank will be our first successful mission.
Hearing a door slide open, I look towards the sound. A masculine, rough, and calloused hand holds onto the door. In between the crack of the open door a beverage reveals itself. Alcohol begins to waft through the still air.
The door fully opens, "What's this?" A gruff and aged voice comes from a breaded man with glasses. "It's just a bunch of darned gaki!" The old man begins to drink a hefty amount from his glass bottle. The alcoholic contents stream from the corner of the aged man's mouth.
The tipsy man leans onto his muscled arm holding his drink. Redness spreads into his wrinkled skin as the affects of alcohol appear on the weathered man's face. "Particularly you, the smallest one with the idiotic face." Despite his heavy drinking the client's voice comes out without a slur or stutter within his words.
The gray haired man's eyes narrow at Uzumaki while he begins to point at him as well, "Are you really a Ninja?" Uzumaki seems oblivious as he searches for who the man is insulting. It seems that our combined bad luck would not disappear, but manifest itself into a client who is prone to a hard drink and has a penchant for insult.
Uchiha pushes Naruto closer to me so the blonde boy could compare heights. Finally it dawned on the whiskered boy. He predictably runs toward our client with intent to harm.
Hatake holds his flailing and fuming student in the air, "Let go Kakashi-sensei! I'm gonna kill him, dattebayo!" An unoccupied gloved hand rests on narrow hips, "You're supposed to be guarding him, baka!"
Quickly Naruto's protests and threats come to a halt and another long swig it taken by the aged man. A sound of refreshment exits his breaded mouth after he drinks, "I'm Tazuna, veteran bridge builder. You'll be risking life and limb in guarding me until I return to my land and complete my bridge!"
It seems I must pack for a long journey.
Morning comes in hues of purples and oranges whilst the rising sun reaches for the top of the sky. In the tranquility lain by the calm morning, I begin to meditate for an hour before I complete my exercise regime.
As the sun gives more light, the colors in the sky slowly vanish into a soft blue. In an organized manner I recheck the items packed for the journey to The Land of the Waves. Four canteens of water, mixed rations, supplies for camping, clothes, hunting supplies, and fully stocked arsenal of my weapons. The supplies for camping, and hunting are safely stored in sealed scrolls to lessen the load of my pack.
These supplies should be more then enough to reach The Land of the Waves while lasting a few more days after reaching our destination. If not, and something runs amiss, the hunting supplies I gathered into my pack should ease any strain that would come from missing food.
Organizing my pack in a timely and efficient manner, I begin to make my leave. No goodbyes are needed to be spoken since I have already stated them the evening before to the clan elders, Hiashi, and Neji.
And I have already informed a stone grave with the words carved, Hyuuga Hitomi.
New hinganbanas lay proudly and prettily before it.
In silent steps I leave the Hyuuga compound to meet our client by the massive gates of Konohagakure.
Clouds of various sizes and shapes drift through the vast sky. The sun shines bright with its intensity and warmth. A cool soft breeze flows steadily on the air and land. Again I find myself arriving earlier then my companions. Leaning on the wooden open gates of Konoha, I close my eyes to the peace of the day.
Strong and steady steps begin to come closer while the scent of alcohol carries itself with them. Opening my eyes I watch my client, Tazuna, come in a slow walk toward me. No alcoholic beverage lays comfortably in his hand since weathered fists tighten on the straps of his backpack. Something hounds the bridge builder with shifty eyes and a thinning mouth. Something akin to fear.
Instinct begins to rear its gnarled head and with it, the finely honed paranoia. I must keep a closer eye on Tazuna as well as on the road ahead. There is no reason to hold fear here.
I give no indication of the newly gained information in my stance when Tazuna finally notices me with surprise in his eyes. I bow before my client, "Tazuna-san."
Grumbles come from the aged bridge builder while he waves and dismisses my action. Without much thought to me Tazuna squints his eyes to look around before checking his battered watch. "I guess I'm early." Is grumbled out of a frowning mouth before the man eyes me again.
"How old are ya kid?" His dark eye squint a bit while his hatted head moves up and down, "Twelve, Tazuna-san." A grim and guilty appearance flits across his form before quickly changing back.
A harsh and dismissive sound exits his lips while he looks away from me. I catalog his reaction. Just like fear, there should be no place for guilt here. I wonder what the bridge builder hides.
A heavy silence forms from the man while we await two more minutes for the rest of the group. Uzumaki arrives a minute beforehand in an enthusiastic excitement. Not a minute before or less, Uchiha arrives with a neutral cold mask in place. As Sasuke steps in beside me, Hatake appears.
The old man jumps in fear while clutching his sleeveless v-neck shirt by his heart. Tazuna's eyes close with rigid breaths exiting his lips. Taking this moment as an opportunity I hand sign my thoughts to the rest of my team. 'Client. Frightened. Guilty. On edge. Hiding something.'
Surprise flickers in the eyes of blue and inquisitiveness in the eyes of black, while a dark sliver eye holds nothing. In quick response gloved hands sign back, 'Stay alert. 11 meters. Activate eyes. 7 seconds. Report. Repeat.' I nod along with the rest of my team.
In a mere second, Naruto goes back to his overabundance of excitement while his runs toward the outside of the gate. The sunny boy begins to jump, "Ah man! I have never left the village before, dattebayo!" A smile stretches wide across Naruto's face.
Tazuna finally recovers from the scare with a glare toward Kakashi and a pointed finger toward Uzumaki, "Oi! Am I really okay with this gaki?!" The energetic boy stills in irritation from the aged man's question.
A short laugh exits covered lips, "Maa maa, I'm a jounin and he is with me. There is nothing to fear." Tazuna looks away as Hatake gives a little more emphasis to the word fear. An adam's apple bobs underneath a wrinkled and tanned throat.
Everyone notices his reaction.
"Ah fine! Let's go, I don't got all day." The veteran bridge builder leads the way when we exit the gates of Konohagakure. Team 7 follows behind with a mute sense of alertness buried beneath our bones.
Let the journey commence.