AN: Someone said that I should focus a bit more on the game itself and show more things about it. Fair enough, it's been noted down. I will try to involve more of the game's elements in the future chapters. That said, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

"Hello" - normal talk

'Hello' - thinking


Chapter 11 - C-rank mission (1)

"Sasuke, do you understand the gravity of the situation?" the Hokage asked, his voice dead serious. He was not shouting, nor was he glaring but that dead calmness made a much bigger impact.

Even someone as dense as Naruto noticed the mood and instead of being his usual, boisterous self, he was being quiet, listening to the Hokage's words.

"The world of shinobi is chaotic, filled with both open and hidden dangers. It's a world where one single individual can harness enough power to threaten even a country. Because our world is like that, we need rules. And we need to enforce those rules with an iron hand. Otherwise, chaos will ensue. You walked out on a mission. You abandoned your comrades and left them to-"

"Come on, old man, it's was just a D-ranked mission. Painting a fence shouldn't even be called a mission-" Naruto tried to step in and said.

"Naruto, shut up!" the Hokage screamed and the other 4 occupants of the room froze as if petrified under the old shinobi's oppressive shout.

Turning his eyes to Sasuke, he said, his voice betraying the anger he felt:

"Two days ago you walked out on a D-ranked mission. But in two years from now, you might walk away on a B or even an A-ranked mission. What's going to happen then? Do you want to follow your brother's footsteps?"

Sasuke's clenched his fists tightly and glared at the Hokage.

"I'm nothing like Itachi!" he shouted, "Don't you dare compare me with the one that massacred my entire clan!"

The Hokage was not moved by the boy's outburst. When he spoke next, his words were meant for all of the three genins in front of him:

"The three of you seem to not understand what you have signed up for. What do you take the life as a shinobi for? You think it's all fun and games? As a shinobi, you will put your life at risk for the sake of your village. Many shinobi don't even go past the age of 30!"

"If you want to survive in the Shinobi World, you have to follow the rules. Because if you don't follow the rules, you will be thrown out. Branded as traitors."

Sarutobi brought his pipe to his mouth and inhaled deeply, the tobacco slowly calming him down.

"Abandoning a mission midway without a valid reason equals treason. And, depending on the importance of the mission, the penalty for that could be even execution."

Sarutobi knew that a D-ranked mission was insignificant. But he had been a jounin sensei himself and a father too. He knew that when children first become genins, they are highly impressionable. The life values and philosophy they develop at a young age will become their creed. A creed that most of them will never break. Because of that, it was very important for the older generation to instil in them from early on the correct values and make them understand the consequences of not abiding the law.

And, as the old man had intended, the three genins looked at him scared. They began to realize what responsibility rested on a shinobi's shoulders and how important it was for them to do their duty.

After dismissing the 3 genins, Sarutobi told Ebisu to remain. Puffing out from his pipe one last time, he placed it in a drawer of his desk. Then, crossing the fingers of his two hands, he brought them to his chin as he leaned on his elbows.

"Ebisu."

"H-Hai!" the jounin stuttered.

"What's your rank?"

"Excuse me?" he asked, not understanding where was the conversation going.

"I asked you what is your rank." the Hokage said, dead serious.

"Tokubetsu Jounin." Ebisu replied. He didn't dare to spout his usual lines about being an elite jounin in front of the Hokage.

"Need I remind the circumstances of your promotion to this rank?"

"N-No, sir."

But Sarutobi ignored his answer and continued:

"Your taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu are average. A solid chunin level... but nonetheless, a chunin. Not a jounin."

"Tokubetsu jounin is a rank that is usually given to those shinobi who, despite lacking the full capabilities of a full-fledged jounin, possess a particular skill that makes them outstanding, sometimes even invaluable."

"The first names that happen to come to my mind right now are Hayate Gekko and Mitarashi Anko. Hayate's ninjutsu and genjutsu skills may not on par to those of a full-fledged jounin but his taijutsu is and, above all, his kenjutsu is outstanding. He fully deserved to be given the rank of tokubetsu jounin."

"As for Mitarashi Anko, unlike most tokubetsu jounins, all her skills are on par with those of a full-fledged jounin, maybe even higher. Furthermore, her expertise in Intelligence Gathering - infiltration, torture and interrogation - is highly praised by Ibiki Morino, the head of TI Department. She is truly invaluable, an elite."

The Hokage's paused as to let his words sink in.

"Now where do you stand when compared to these two? What special skill do you possess? For what reason have you been promoted to the same rank as them, Ebisu?" he asked.

Ebisu's eyes fell to his feet, not daring to look the old man in the eyes when he replied. He knew where was the Hokage's question heading to.

"I've become a tokubetsu jounin thanks to my teaching skills."

The Hokage did not miss a beat:

"And what would it happen if a tokubetsu jounin's special skill proved in time to not be up to par with the rank?" Sarutobi asked, only for him to go ahead and give the answer himself: "They would be demoted."

"Your team of genins is one of the worst I've seen in decades. You failed in correcting their behaviour and, above all, not training them at all during the 3 weeks you've been their teacher doesn't help your case at all."

Ebisu revealed a shocked face at Sarutobi's words.

"How did I know?" Sarutobi asked in anticipation of his question. "Did you think that I would not keep an eye on the progress of the team that has both the Jincuuriki of the Nine-Tails AND the last survivor of the Uchiha clan?"

"You have 9 more weeks until Jiraiya will replace you. Take these 9 weeks as a trial. If your team's capabilities fall behind those of other genin teams at the end of this period, you will cease to be a tokubetsu jounin."

"Dismissed."

Scene break - next day

"Um, sensei, I've already learned both tree and water walking." Ebisu had just finished explaining the theory behind the technique of tree walking and demonstrated it when Naruto spoke up.

The reactions he got were mixed. Ebisu looked at him startled and Sakura was in disbelief. She scoffed at him:

"Nice joke, Naruto. As if a dead last like you could possibly know such advanced techniques! Not even Sasuke-kun can I do it, are you saying you're better than him?"

"Advanced techniques?" Naruto asked before starting to laugh out loud.

"What are you laughing at, baka?!" Sakura burst in anger.

Naruto raised his hands behind his back and headed towards a nearby tree at a relaxed pace. Sakura was about to start screaming again but her voice died in her throat when Naruto, with his hands still behind his back, started to defy the gravity by walking up the trunk of the tree on a 90 degrees angle from the ground. Then, when he reached the lowest of the thicker branches of the tree, he walked on its underside, hanging with the sole of his feet from it like a bat. He stood there for a few seconds and then let himself fall towards the ground, doing a backflip in the process to land on his feet.

"Advanced techniques?" Naruto ridiculed, "Tree and water walking are the most elementary things a genin is supposed to learn after graduating from the Academy."

Then, coming closer to Sakura, he glared at her.

"I may have been the dead last at the beginning of the Academy, but things have changed. I'm not the same...and the way I see it, in this team, I'm not the dead last. Not anymore."

Sakura couldn't find her voice. Naruto's display of skill with the tree walking and his words to her were like a slap to her face. She had always ridiculed Naruto and never put him in her eyes. After all, he had always fallen short when compared to her crush, Uchiha Sasuke. And even more shocking for the girl was the fact that Sasuke was not denying his words.

Fully ignoring Sakura after the words she said to her, Naruto asked Ebisu:

"What should I now, sensei?"

Ebisu looked at Naruto through his shades deep in thought.

'I didn't expect this dumb brat to actually know not only the tree walking but even the water walking as well.'

But when he thought about it again, the first emotion he felt was a relief. Given their grades at the Academy, the one he had been concerned about was Naruto - concerned not about Naruto's well-being but about the fact that the boy could prove to be too dumb to learn anything in the remaining time, which would lead in the end to the Hokage demoting him from his rank for his genin team's unsatisfactory performance. That Naruto proved to know both tree and water walking was for Ebisu the greatest news he received that week. He was confident that Sakura and Sasuke would have no trouble whatsoever in absorbing his teachings if their grades at the Academy were anything to go by.

Realizing that Naruto was still waiting for an answer, Ebisu adjusted the shades on his nose and said:

"I have to admit I'm really surprised that you already know tree and water walking. It takes up to 2 weeks to an average genin to learn to walk on trees fluently. How did you achieve that?"

"Auntie Tsunade trained me."

At his answer, Ebisu paled and a shiver of fear shook his body for a moment. He still had not forgotten the cruel beating the Slug Sannin gave him 3 weeks ago.

"W-Well... erm...until Sakura and Sasuke learn the tree walking techniques... I guess there isn't much that you can do."

There actually was - while Sakura and Sasuke practised tree walking, Ebisu could spar with Naruto and train his taijutsu. But then, Tsunade's words came at the top of his mind.

"If I hear you ever as much as lay a finger on Naruto from now on, I'll kill you. Do you hear me, worm?"

The jounin wiped off the sweat that suddenly started to appear on his forehead. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if Naruto were to get injured because of him.

"So what, am I supposed to just sit here and stare at them all day long?!" Naruto asked incredulously.

"You can have today and tomorrow off." Ebisu said after a slight hesitation. "But the day after tomorrow we'll have combat lessons. You will have to come here too."

Scene break - 1 month later

Three genins were walking dispiritedly behind a jounin that, contrary to their mood, was in very high spirits:

"This is Team 7's first C-rank mission! This is the first real pace you took towards greatness!"

"What greatness? We've been running around in circles looking for clues that don't exist. Admit it, pervert, we got lost!" Naruto jeered.

Stopping, Ebisu turned back towards him and adjusted his shades before saying:

"Shut your trap! I'm an elite jounin, while you're just a dumb brat! You'll never become a Hokage even if you had 2 lives, not one!"

"Listen," Ebisu said then to the other two, "if you follow his example, you'll only get dumber. I'm an elite jounin, I've trained many Hokage candidates until now!"

"And how many of them have become Hokages until now?" Naruto asked, before snickering. "That's right! None! Ahaha!"

Ebisu's face turned a bright red and he looked like he was doing everything in his power not to explode.

"You cocky little shit-!" Ebisu growled through gnashed teeth and grabbed Naruto by the collar of his black t-shirt.

Sasuke and Sakura both distanced themselves and looked at the two warily. However, Naruto still looked unperturbed, all the while sporting an infuriating grin.

"Heeh~ ...what are you gonna do? Are you gonna hit poor little me?" Naruto mocked and even turned his head to the side, showing him his cheek. "Come on, hit me if you dare!"

The jounin was trembling in rage. It took a while to reign his anger in but eventually, he let go of Naruto and exhaled loudly.

"I'm going to scout the zone ahead. Wait for me here." Ebisu said curtly and disappeared into the forest.

Naruto laughed obnoxiously when he left.

"Shitty pervert."

'You know someone is really stupid when he gets outfoxed in a spar of words by even a dumbass like Naruto.' Sakura palmed her own forehead, lamenting at their misfortune of having Ebisu as their jounin sensei.

Still, turning her attention to Naruto, the girl said:

"Naruto, you should stop antagonizing him like that. One day, he won't be able to take it anymore and you'll be in deep trouble."

The boy in question scoffed in derision and crossed his arm to his chest.

"What's he going to do? The moment he as much as hits me with a finger, auntie Tsunade will beat the shit out of him. Last time when she beat him up, he pissed his pants out of fear."

"Wait, for real?" Sakura asked wide-eyed.

Naruto snickered.

"Yes. He's a pervert and an idiot." Naruto said sagely.

Ever since Tsunade has beaten Ebisu up, Naruto never lost an opportunity to annoy and push Ebisu to the limits of his sanity. Knowing that the jounin would not dare harm him because of his fear of Tsunade, Naruto took every chance he had to get back him for how he had been treated in the beginning. Because it was not only Ebisu that hated Naruto's guts. Naruto hated him as well. It was a mutual feeling. Furthermore, for the first time, Naruto was experiencing the feeling of having someone watching out for him, standing up for him... protecting him. Every time he annoyed Ebisu, he was reminded of the fact that Tsunade was protecting him. Sometimes, he was doing it just for that.

"Most useless sensei we could possibly get." Sasuke also added, finally speaking after a long time of silence.

"T-That's right!" Sakura said too, showing that she was in tune with the opinion of her crush. "Other teams had their first C-rank mission like around a month after they became genins. But us? Two months passed before we finally got this mission!"

The three genins continued to throw with mud on Ebisu's name for quite a while.

"Chet! This is so boring that I'd rather go back to D-ranks." Naruto complained after a while.

It was supposed to be a C-rank mission. In the genins' mind, it was supposed to be much more exciting. In the Shinobi world, missions were given a rank, according to their level of difficulty:

D-rank: it usually consisted of plain chores like going to buy various things from the convenience store, ploughing the field, catching lost pets and even babysitting. Every fresh team of genins would be assigned these tasks.

C-rank: the level of difficulty rose and they would be assigned to experienced genins or fresh chunins, led by a jounin sensei. Some examples of missions could be: escorting a merchant, eliminating a camp of bandits, killing wild beasts that wreaked havoc and so on. But, very important to know would be that the team would not encounter any shinobi enemy during a C-ranked mission.

B-rank: they had a rather high level of difficulty that involved a real risk of dying because during a B-rank mission one would certainly encounter other shinobi. This type of missions would be assigned to a team of experienced chunins led by a jounin-sensei or to jounins. Examples of missions could be: eliminating a missing-nin, spying, stealing and even assassinations.

A-rank: they would be assigned exclusively to experienced and very capable jounins. The objectives of these missions were similar to the ones of the B-rank missions but the degree of difficulty was much higher.

That said, although the mission that Team 7 had been assigned would not involve fighting other shinobi, Naruto and Sasuke were still looking forward to some action. Their mission was to find a missing person: Genmai, from Inaho village.

"Argh, missing person my ass!" Naruto yelled after half an hour of waiting in the same place, without doing anything. Ebisu had yet to come back. "That Genmai dude is probably in a casino or just drank himself into a stupor and forgot to come home!"

"Unless, Genmai is a gambling addict like your caretaker, he wouldn't forget to come home." Sasuke scoffed while also jabbing at Tsunade's vice of gambling.

"What was that, teme?! I'll have you know that auntie Tsunade never comes late from work and I never saw her drink!" Naruto yelled in anger.

"Stop being an idiot, Naruto, everyone knows about her infamous nickname - the legendary sucker." Sakura said and laughed, obviously taking Sasuke's part.

Naruto suddenly grabbed her by the collar of her dress and slammed her into the trunk of a tree.

"SHUT UP!" he screamed, his spittle flying into her face. But she was frozen in shock and too frightened by his sudden outburst.

Sasuke quickly came next to them and grabbed Naruto by the arm:

"Calm down, dobe, we're in the middle of a missi-" Sasuke tried to say, only to suddenly choke with his words when the air abruptly left his lungs.

Sasuke found himself flying through the air and only when he collapsed a few good feet away did he finally register the insane amount of pain coming from his stomach. Curling up like a snail, he began to cough desperately, as he tried to breathe. Sakura was on the ground as well, frozen in disbelief at what she had just seen - Naruto attacked Sasuke! It looked like a mere punch in the gut but that 'simple' punch hurled Sasuke through the air like a broken kite and, now, the boy was struggling to even lift himself up to his feet.

"No-one talks like that about aunt Tsunade, you hear me? I'll beat up everyone that talks shit about her, even the Hokage!" Naruto yelled, still enraged.

Someone like Sakura could never understand the reason behind Naruto's seemingly exaggerated reaction. After all, she would often yell at her own mother and get into arguments with her for the most trivial reasons. That's how she was.

But Naruto was different - he has always been alone. Yet, in the darkest hour of his life, someone lent him a hand and picked him up from the ground. And, if that was not enough, that someone also offered him a new home, showered him with her affection and decided to become his mother-figure. The gratitude Naruto felt for Tsunade could not be expressed in words. She had saved and changed his life. She took care of all of his material needs, she trained him and even more, she gave him the attention and love he has always craved. She acknowledged him - and wanting to be acknowledged by other people was the very reason that had once led him to want to become a Hokage.

Tsunade was his hero. In Naruto's eyes, she had no flaws, she was perfect. Hearing Sasuke and Sakura insulting her, was more than he could bear with. (1)

"You're so going to pay for that, loser!" Sasuke groaned as he pushed with his hands against the ground and glared at Naruto, his eyes a blood red colour now - he had activated his Sharingan.

It was at that moment, however, that a large spike of earth burst from the ground. It was too unexpected, the three genins never saw it coming. The spike smashed into Naruto and Sakura, nearly impaling the latter.


AN: Yep, not the Land of Waves mission. Well, I did say that this fic will start out as the canon but gradually become AU - so it's not going to fully repeat the canon. That said, probably some of you recognize which is the mission that Team 7 got in my fic this time around - it's from Naruto: The Cross Roads (ova).

In the next chapter, you will also get to see the results of Naruto training under Tsunade for nearly 2 months :)

(1) Remember, in canon, Naruto was very impulsive. When he met Tsunade for the first time and she mocked his dream of becoming the Hokage, he got very angry and jumped to fight her. If he reacted like that for having his dream insulted, how would he react when someone insulted the one person that changed his life and treated him like her own son?

I hope you liked it. Till next time, cheers!

(Not an English native and no beta either. Sorry for any mistakes I may have made.)