Naruto: Journey Of The Sixth Hokage
Taking Out The Trash
A voice spoke in Naruto's ear, breaking the blonde's chain of thought. "What's the distance to the target?" Naruto quickly guessed the distance between him and the demon beast, the target was close, perhaps too close.
"Five meters. I'm ready anytime." Naruto breathed into the headset as he readied his strike. Two 'Affirmatives' and a 'Go' command later, Naruto dove from behind the tree, Sasuke and Sakura on either side of him. The target ran away yowling. A couple seconds later, a figure dropped from the trees catching the target in a bear hug. "GOTCHA!" Naruto quickly ran forward, and grabbed the cat before it could dispel his clone.
"Ribbon on the left ear? Are you sure this is the target, Tora?" Sasuke looked over and double checked their target.
For a few seconds there was silence before the response came back. "Yeah, we're sure."
"Good, 'Lost Pet 'Tora' Search Mission' is complete. Wrap it up and let's get back to the Tower."
Naruto took in the cats suffering with more than the normal amount of pleasure. But that was cut off as he heard the Hokage trying to figure out there next mission, none of the choices appealed to him. After three months of almost dying, teamwork exercises, and menial labor, he was done with this crap.
"What have we been doing since we graduated? WHAT WAS IT ALL FOR? Give us a C-rank Mission, we're more than ready."
"YOU IDIOT!" Iruka was not happy with Naruto's outburst. "YOU ARE JUST A ROOKIE! Everyone starts off with the simple duties and works their way up."
"I understand that Iruka-Sensei, but we are ready, gives us a chance." He looked at the Hokage pleadingly.
"Naruto, I didn't think I'd have to do this, but I guess I have to explain to you what these duties are all about. We actually do D-ranks at a very low price, something any medium-class civilian could afford, and offer them their money back if the Genin screw up. Why? Because these missions teach Genin a very large number of things." The Hokage paused before continuing.
"One, it gives us a chance to make sure ninja just won't bail out when things aren't going their way. We lose more than one third of all graduating Genin alone because they can't follow my orders and do the tasks they are given. Thankfully, your year is a little more motivated then most.
"Two, most D-rank Missions make you work muscles that are already tired from the daily training you do, forcing you to either persevere, or give up. Genin who simply choose not to accomplish their missions are monitored closely and will remain Genin until they quit or learn their lesson.
"Third, it gives you the ability to improvise. For example: When you first started out you were using clones to finish your work faster. That was very good. And then Kakashi forbade you from using them in order to prevent your total dependence on them, and help you figure out other ways to finish your work quickly and more efficiently.
"Fourth, as long as you maintain ten D-ranks a month, you can afford living costs, so long as you don't spend the money needlessly. This teaches one how to live without luxuries and how to conserve weapons. It also makes it easy for us to allow Genin a chance to live on their own, if they should so desire. As you can see, D-ranks are the foundation that makes a good ninja. Without them, all C-ranks would be hit and miss and our forces would have a much higher KIA toll. Do you understand, Naruto?" The Hokage finished only to notice the stubborn blonde sitting down and looking away from him.
Naruto, of course, couldn't miss the opportunity to cause trouble. "Last night I had pork ramen, so miso sounds good for…" A groan escaped from the Hokage, and Naruto turned to face him again. "I'm not the same brat I was three months ago, I am still a brat, of course, but I'm one who is ready for a C-ranked Mission." The Hokage and Iruka couldn't help but smile at the boy's words.
"Well…If you want it that much…I guess I could give you a C-rank Mission." The Hokage sighed, giving in much to Naruto's delight. "This is a Protection Mission for a bridge builder. Tazuna, please come in." An obviously drunk old man entered the room.
"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats. Especially that one dressed in orange, even I know that's just asking for trouble." Naruto had the urge to show the man just how much of KI he was suppressing, but having the old man run out of the room screaming was not ideal, especially on their first C-ranked Mission.
The old man bent over, falling easily into a pose. "I'm not a bridge builder. Such a term is too small to describe me. I am a Super-Builder, the craftsman of over two hundred buildings and bridges. THE LEGENDARY TAZUNA!" The man yelled before continuing in a lower voice. "And I expect you guys to provide me protection until I get back to my country and complete my legacy." Naruto couldn't help but think he'd be hearing a lot of that kinda thing in the future.
Naruto stood just outside the gates; he was trying to hide his excitement but failing miserably."Hey, am I really going to be safe with this brat?" Naruto shot a glare at the man but continued to lightly bounce on his toes, waiting to leave. Kakashi shot Naruto a laugh before chuckling quietly.
"Well, I am a Jounin, so don't worry."
Naruto couldn't believe just how quickly everything had gone wrong. A couple clicks outside the village and in a blink of an eye, Kakashi had died. 'Sensei's dead…No; it can't be…I refuse to believe I couldn't protect one of the few people precious to me. It can't be…'
The two ninja attacked again, but this time Naruto's bloodline sung in his ear. He saw the chain coming, and he knew he had to move. But he couldn't think past what had just happened. He kept replaying Kakashi's death in his head. He was already on the twenty-second replay, but the cycle of doubt and remorse would not let him move.
Sasuke threw a shuriken and jumped into the air where he threw a kunai that hit dead center, pinning the chain to the tree. The combination of shuriken and kunai were too much for the two Chunnin, and Naruto ran a few calculations on how much force they would need for the chain to break free – well he went through the thirty-fourth viewing of Kakashi's death.
Sasuke landed on the trap gauntlets, grabbing them as he kicked his legs back, smashing them into the ninja's faces. The ninja managed to ditch the chain as he bolted forward. Sakura darted in front of Tazuna, blocking the ninja that had dashed towards the unguarded man. Sasuke tried to interfere, but Sakura didn't need any help. She performed a simple flip, driving both of her legs into the ninja's skull. Naruto felt the ninja's weapon drive into his arm before he finally noticed the wood in front of him, cutting off the replays at the sixty-fifth run through. Naruto spun his driving his elbow into the back of the ninja's head.
Kakashi grabbed both ninja as they fell away from the children, knocking their heads together in a single movement. "Naruto, I'm sorry I didn't help you out, but I didn't think you would freeze like that. Nice job breaking out of it though, try not to cut it so close next time. Anyway, nice job Sasuke."
Sasuke smirked his usual annoying grin. "Hey, you alright, scaredy cat?" Naruto simply took in the shame of his actions, knowing he deserved it.
"Save it for later guys." Kakashi said, drawing the attention of the members of their small group. "Their claws are soaked in poison. We need to remove it quickly. Open the wound and release the poisoned blood from your body. Don't move much, or the poison will spread. Tazuna-San, I need to talk to you." Kakashi paused as her turned to look directly upon the 'Super Builder,' "These look like Hidden Mist Chunins. Their Shinobi are known to continue fighting no matter what."
The ninja regained conscience, before looking at Kakashi. "How did you read our movements?"
As usual, Kakashi smiled with his one good eye. "I don't think I'll be telling you that. Suffice to say, I knew you guys had been following us since eleven clicks outside of the village."
Tazuna looked at him in shock "If you knew that, why did you let the brats fight?"
"If I had wanted to, I could have killed these two instantly but…There was something I needed to find out. That is, who these two were after."
Tazuna didn't display any of the classic signs of nervousness, but to Naruto's current level of attention, it rolled off of him in waves. It was in how his breathing was slightly heavier; how his eyes would flick from one ninja another, then toward wave country, then to Kakashi. "What do you mean?
"Well, they could have been after one of us; it's not unheard of for Shinobi to wait outside enemy villages to get rid of promising Genin before they become a threat later on. I also have a substantial bounty on my head.
"Yet after they took me out, instead of focusing on Sasuke who had already engaged them, they went after you and Naruto. At the time, Naruto was their way, and they needed to make sure he didn't interfere. We were not told that there would be Shinobi after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from thieves or gangs. This has become, at least, a B-ranked Mission. We were supposed to simply protect you until you completed the bridge. If it was known that ninjas were after you this mission would have been set as the more expensive B-ranked Mission. As it is, you're lucky that the Hokage informed me that things might not be on this level and that I would want to keep a higher awareness. I assumed you had pissed off some civilian, who would hunt you down himself. Not ninja. We will have to return to the village and get help for Naruto."
Naruto looked toward Tazuna, his bloodline still active. What he saw was remorse and fear, but it wasn't for himself. The builder looked towards his home, like he didn't care what happened to him, but that it was critical that he keep going, as though it was the people of his village who needed help.
The blonde looked toward his hand before wipping out his kunai and plunging it into the back of his hand. He was whispering to himself, like the importance of his statement could not be kept inside of him. "I will never again freeze when my friends need me. I will never back down or run away, I swear it on the pain in my left hand. With this kunai, I'll protect the old man." He looked over to Kakashi. "With your permission Sensei, I'm going to continue this mission."
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask. "Naruto, that was cool and all, but if you lose anymore blood, you'll die from blood loss." Kakashi grabbed his hand to wrap a bandage around the injury before he paused. The injury had begun to heal already. Naruto caught his sensei's eye, before nodding himself, signaling that he already knew what his sensei had just noticed.