Chapter 11

It has been a month since Team Seven started working together with Kasumi

During the mornings Sakura, Satsuki and Naruto went to the training grounds to wait for Kasumi to show up. After one or two hours, depending on Kasumi's mood, she showed up and had them work on their physical shape, teamwork and various tactics that they could use together on the field. After their morning routines if Kasumi wanted to work with the girls in something related with chakra Naruto would just sit near them looking at them or if Ragnell wasn't on a mission he trained with him learning more about the runes on him or things about his armor and hammer.

After that in the afternoons they went to get a mission. The term mission was very inaccurate in Naruto's opinion. The first time that Kasumi told them they were going to get a mission he was very excited as Ragnell had told him tales of the missions he had to do in Rune Midgard. He told him tales of how he and his team had to go to caverns full of orcs and end with their rebellion and rescued kidnapped people, he told him how he had to climb a mountain to fight against a horde of harpies that had stolen a sacred artifact. After all of this he wondered if his first mission was going to be something like that. Disappointment didn't even begin to describe what he felt when he got his D-Ranked mission. If helping a farmer clear his fields could really be called a mission.

Nonetheless the boy liked the pocket money that those missions gave him

Kasumi and Sakura learned really quick that Naruto had a really gentle attitude and that whenever a mission required moving heavy stuff they could just bat their eyelashes at him and the boy did it without protesting. Satsuki not wanting to be outdone by a man worked very hard and while it was obvious that Naruto was physically stronger than her she refused to give up. Because of this that kind of jobs were finished really fast.

The relationships between the three had been improving. In the mornings while they waited for their sensei Naruto and Sakura had started to talk and learn things about each other. They had tried to include Satsuki in their conversations but the girl just was silent or ignored them completely. At least she no longer looked at Naruto like she wanted to murder him… most of the time.

Now we see Sakura and Satsuki walking in front of Naruto and Kasumi. Naruto, in his casual armor, was holding a struggling cat in his arms and Kasumi was scolding the boy

"It doesn't matter that it worked, it's still risky to do that kind of things Naruto-kun. That cat belongs to the daimyo's wife and if something had happened to it we could have had a lot of problems"

"I already told you many times sensei, my Solar Flare Tech is completely harmless, it held the thing in place long enough for us to catch it and look at it, still fighting to escape" –said Naruto while moving his head to the side to dodge a swipe from the cat's claws. The girls had decided that since Naruto was the only one wearing armor and since the cat was rather... dangerous he should be the one that carried it. Outvoted the boy said nothing and took the burden.

"Even then Naruto-kun you should tell me if you are going to do things like that" –said Kasumi making the boy nod absentmindedly while he tried to keep the cat under control

Once they reach the Hokage's tower they went to the woman's office where she was along with Itsuko and the Fire Daimyo's wife. Once she relieved Naruto of the pet she paid for the mission and left the office.

"Good work team seven, now would you like to take another mission for the day? We have one to help unload some goods for a store or there's another one to help with moving some furniture. You guys are known for doing those rather quickly" –said the Hokage and Naruto was just pouting

"If you can call those mission baa-chan" –muttered the boy loud enough for his teammates to hear him

"Naruto-kun show the Hokage some respect!" –said Sakura to the boy, normally she would have tried to bop him in the head but after she tried it a couple of times before she discovered that the boy barely felt it and that she ended up hurting her hand

"It's just that when Kasumi-sensei told me we where doing missions I expected something completely different, not glorified chores" –said the boy making Satsuki nod

"I must say I agree with Naruto-san" –said the girl causing Sakura to look at her wide eyed

"Hell must have frozen over" –muttered the boy to himself

"What was that Namikaze?" –asked Satsuki narrowing her eyes at the boy who raised his hands innocently

"Well all of you should know this but you are currently doing D-Ranked missions, you need an amount of successful missions before you can start taking C-Ranked and higher level missions to be sure you're all ready for any situation you can face in the field" –explained Itsuko and Sakura nodded fervently at the woman's explanation

"So we're stuck doing chores for Kami knows how long…" –trailed off Naruto in a defeated voice

"Well Naruto-kun you only need a couple more, is not that long. However I have here a C-Ranked that your team may be able to do. What do you say Kasumi, think they're ready?" –said the Hokage and both Naruto and Satsuki turned to look at her with the infamous puppy eyes. Kasumi raised an eyebrow, seeing such expression in Satsuki's face was something new

"I think it would be a good experience for them" –said the jounin making the Hokage nod at her

"I see, Itsuko could you please call the client in" –Itsuko looked like she wanted to protest against them taking that mission but said nothing and obeyed the older woman

A moment later an old man entered the office, holding a jug and obviously drunk. After a moment of looking at the three teens the man huffed

"This is the team that's supposed to protect me? They don't look like much to be honest and that's a weird looking girl if you ask me" –said the man while pointing at Naruto who summoned his hammer to his hand and threatened the man

"Let me at him! Let me at him I said!" –yelled the boy while Kasumi and Sakura tried to hold him back

"Well Tazuna-san even if they are just genin I assure you that they are qualified for a mission of this rank. And just so you know Naruto-kun here is a boy" –explained the Hokage silently amused at Naruto's reaction.

"Funny, I thought all the ninjas where females" –said the man eyeing Naruto as if examining him

"He is not exactly a ninja, but the same as the girls he is more than capable of handling any situation that you can find on this mission." –said the Hokage causing Naruto to smile proudly to the trust that the Hokage had in him

"Now girls and boy go to your places and gather supplies for an extended mission. I'll give you the details of the mission in the main gate from where we'll leave" –said Kasumi to the trio who nodded and went separated ways.

An hour and a half later Sakura and Satsuki were waiting impatiently for their sensei to arrive. Naruto had changed his armor into Travel Mode and was talking happily to the kunoichis watching the entrance.

A few moments later Kasumi could be seen half-dragging Tazuna to the gate

"I must admit sensei I expected you to be on time at least for this kind of missions" –said Naruto in a chiding tone

"Hey I had to drag our client here just because he drank too much" –responded Kasumi and the boy just glared at the drunk man

Once they leaved the gat they started to walk, Sakura looked at Naruto who was waving at the chunins in the gate

"Friends of yours?" –asked Sakura curious at the relationship between them

"No it's just that they said they used to take care of me when I was a baby. Apparently babysitting me was a really popular D-Ranked mission back in the day" –said Naruto happily and Sakura giggled at him

"Oh yes I remember that. There were even catfights between teams to take that mission" –said Kasumi with a chuckle of her own. At that time she was an ANBU so she didn't had to take that mission, but sometimes she was under the charge of supervising the teams that took care of the boy

The group was walking at a very slow pace because of Tazuna who was still drunk. Fortunately the man's sake had run out so they only needed to wait for the effect to wear off and they could pick up the pace a little bit, but Naruto was getting a little antsy. It was his first time outside Konoha's walls after all

"So where are we going exactly Kasumi-sensei?" –asked Naruto curiously

"We are going to the Land of Waves, apparently Tazuna-san here is a famous builder and he was concerned that bandits could attack him so this is classified as an escort mission. We're going to be protecting him until he finishes building a bridge. Isn't that right Tazuna-san" –Kasumi asked at the old man who gave a slurred answer that sounded affirmative

After a few hours of walking Naruto was getting bored, the excitement of going away from the village already left him. Kasumi was walking silently walking behind the group reading her pink book besides Tazuna. In front of them were Satsuki and Sakura who was trying to make conversation with the other girl just to be ignored. Naruto was walking in front of them looking at his surroundings. Lots of trees, some rocks, a puddle of water, nothing out of the ordinary in the boy's opinion. Naruto turned around to ask something to Kasumi just in time to see the woman get torn to pieces by some kind of chain. After that two women came into view, both of them wearing a mask that covered their mouths and on their heads a forehead protector with the symbol of another village scratched.

Taking a quick look Naruto saw the remains of a cut log where Kasumi's body should be so a little relieved he took his shield from his back and hoisted his hammer in a defensive position, Satsuki and Sakura also getting in position.

"Heh look at the boy trying to play ninja. Let's take him out first" –said one of the women at the other who nodded and both jumped at the boy trying to cut him with the bladed chain. Seeing the incoming attack Naruto ducked and covered himself with his shield, the chain passing harmlessly over it. Seeing an opening Satsuki threw a shuriken at the chain and it got stuck in the trunk of a tree. Seeing that their weapon was caught the two enemy ninjas activated something in the gauntlets that had the chain connected and it released separating the two women. One of them went to attack Sakura who was in front of Tazuna, once the woman was close enough Sakura threw a pair of kunais at her but she just turned her body to a side letting the weapon fly besides her, Unfortunately this put her in the range of a flying hammer that impacted her squarely in the back of her head, knocking her out instantly.

Satsuki was fairing good with her opponent but she was quickly losing ground to the enemy kunoichi. Just before what was going to be a direct hit on the girl's chest a light surrounded her body and she fell on the ground unharmed, then Kasumi appeared behind the enemy ninja and after quick chop to the neck the woman fell knocked out cold.

"Excellent teamwork guys" –said Kasumi grabbing the unconscious ninjas and tied them to a tree

"Thank you sensei, now if you girls excuse me" –said Naruto silently changing his armor to Casual Mode and lifted it over his shoulders. Then, shocking Sakura a little, he started removing his shirt revealing a nasty gash on his chest.

"Naruto-kun! What happened!?" –asked Sakura shocked to see the boy wounded, he didn't got that close to the enemy ninjas to receive that kind of wound, hell he had his chestplate on him the whole time!

"When Satsuki was fighting I saw that she was going to get hit, so I used my Martyrism Tech on her and took the damage myself" –explained Naruto while Sakura took out some bandages and tried to start treating the boy's wound, but he raised a hand to stop her –"wait a moment Sakura-chan, there's a thing I want to try out" –said the boy with his eyes closed. After concentrating for a moment he flexed the muscles on his chest and a blue hue surrounded him. To the surprise of the group his wounds started closing at a very fast rate until nothing but dry blood remained on him

"That was really impressive Naruto-kun, what technique was that?" –asked Kasumi at Naruto who shook his head

"It was not a Tech, it was one of the Guardian Runes that I have on me" –said the boy while turning around to show them his back, it was full of the symbols that the girls saw on his hammer and armor –"one of those lines grants me advanced regeneration automatically, but if I have a big wound and for some reason I can't cast a Solar Blessing to heal myself I can channel some Mana into the wound and it works like you saw. Others give me some other perks like the first line that I have since I started training with Ragnell-sensei, it helps with my growth and each line does lots of others things just by having them there"

"That's really useful Naruto-kun, but could you please put your shirt back on?" –asked Sakura with her face red trying not to stare too much at the state of undress of the boy who looked at her wondering what was wrong with her but shrugged and put his shirt back on followed by the armor

"Are you sure you are okay Naruto-kun? Those two are known as the Demonic sisters and they have the habit of poisoning their weapons" –said Kasumi a little concerned for the boy

"Don't worry sensei, the Martyrism makes it so that secondary effects don't affect me like poisoned weapons, electrified weapons or burns of heated weapons. Even if it didn't I have a Rune array that makes me immune to most poisons" –explained Naruto and Kasumi nodded and told him that if he felt weird he was to tell her immediately

"Now we have to interrogate these two" –said Kasumi looking at the two kunoichis tied to the tree. Giving them a couple of not so gentle slaps the Demonic Sisters jolted just to find themselves trapped and started cursing at the jounin. After asking them a couple of questions and punching them in the stomach they still refused to talk. Kasumi started to wonder if she had to use more severe methods when Naruto talked

"Sensei if you let me I want to try something that Kiba gave me" –said Naruto surprising Kasumi who thought about it for a second but nodded afterwards allowing the boy to continue. Naruto put his hand over his glove and after a spark of light he had a syringe on his hand, holding it he stood in front of the sisters

"What I have here is a serum made by one of my friends. He said something about how it blocks the creative centers of the brain and something about some chemical that makes you blurt the first thing that comes to your head and some other things, basically is a truth serum in all but name, however my friend has just learned how to make it and since he has no test subjects we don't know if it works. He told me that there's a fifty percent chance of it working while the other fifty percent is that your heart accelerates and then you die from a cardiac arrest. I'm going to inject this in one of you so you can either talk now or you can try your luck and you tell us what we want to know anyway or die. Your choice" –said the boy to the tied women but neither said anything just glared at the boy as if daring him. Kasumi sent a look into Naruto's direction who turned around and winked at the woman mischievously

Since none of them wanted to talk Naruto injected the liquid in one of the women and waited. After a while it seemed like nothing happened to her so Naruto told Kasumi to interrogate her again to see if it worked

"What are your names?" –asked Kasumi to the one that Naruto had injected

"We are Geiza and Mei" –said the woman immediately looking surprised at herself

"What are your ranks?"

"We're both ex-chunin from Kiri" –the woman looked confused at the words that she said

"What color are the panties you're wearing right now?" –asked Kasumi drawing an undignified squawk from Sakura and a chuckle from Naruto

"I'm not wearing any panties" –said the woman now looking embarrassed and confused

"Mei what the hell?" –asked the other woman at her sister

"I find wearing panties uncomfortable" –said the other woman looking even more confused

"Not that idiot why are you answering her questions?"

"I don't know! I meant to tell her to fuck off and the words came out alone"

"It looks like it worked Naruto-kun" –said Kasumi happily

After that the woman tried to stay silent but some well placed punches from Kasumi opened her mouth again. They learned that they were on a mission to assassinate Tazuna, under the command of Zabumi Momochi. Mei also told them that they were supposed to intercept the old man in the road to Wave and they were given no more information

"So Tazuna-san it seems that you didn't had just bandits to worry about but trained ninja assassins. Care to tell us if you knew something about this?" –asked Kasumi in a sickly sweet tone to the builder who got very nervous and scared. After feeling the killer intent flow from the woman Tazuna got on his knees and begged for mercy, he then told the group the story of Gato the commercial tyrant that had taken control of the country using his money and gangs of mercenaries and how he finishing his bridge was the only way to revitalize the country

"I see Tazuna-san but if you knew that Gato was targeting you, why you didn't commission a higher ranked mission, you would have gotten better ninjas to protect you" –asked Kasumi and the man just looked even more depressed

"It's just that our country is in such a state that a C-Rank was the only thing we could afford even after we put all our money together" –said Tazuna causing Kasumi to sigh

"While I can understand your situation Tazuna-san you lied to us about the mission parameters and as right now we don't have any obligation to continue with it" –said the woman shocking the three teens and Tazuna looked ready to break down crying

"You can't possibly be asking us to abandon this people when they most need it Kasumi-sensei?" –asked Naruto in a disbelieving tone to Kasumi

"You see Naruto-kun while I was very impressed by the way you three managed yourselves against those two, Zabumi Momochi is known as the Demon of the Bloody Mist, a jounin ranked missing-nin from Kiri. She's on another whole level from what you just faced, I don't know if you are ready for this"

"I'm sorry Kasumi-sensei but I'm not turning my back on someone that needs help so desperately. That's part of my Guardian Oath and I will not back out dattebayo!" –said Naruto frustrating the woman. Kasumi took a deep breath and looked at her other two students

"What do you two think about his?" –asked the woman to the girls who were silent during the whole exchange

"I'm with Naruto-kun, we can't just abandon this people if we can make something about it" –said Sakura in a confident tone

"I kind of want to go ahead, if this Zabumi is as strong as you say it will be a chance to push my limits" –said Satsuki and Kasumi gave a defeated sigh

"Ok we'll go ahead with this madness then, but if we happen to find Zabumi I will be the one fighting her and you shall not interfere. Be sure to be alert at all times and Naruto-kun, have your Detect active at all times. Do you all understand?" –asked Kasumi at the trio who nodded their head and Tazuna was thanking them teary eyed –"Now I'll send a message to Konoha to get these two arrested and we'll be on our way" –said the woman pointing at the two kunoichis that were still tied to the tree and were saying a string of colorful curses.

"By the way Naruto-kun" –said Kasumi once they were a good distance ahead from where they left the ninjas tied –"would that thing that you injected Mei actually killed her?"

"Well yeah there was a chance but I exaggerated it a little bit" –said the boy with a smirk –"the actual chance of the serum working was seventy-five percent, and her chances of dying were of five percent only, the remaining twenty percent were another symptoms like nausea, diarrhea, headaches and other things like that"

Kasumi stayed silent but took note to talk about this serum to a certain head of the T&I Departament. She was also reflecting if this was a good idea as the fight that was undoubtedly ahead of them was not easy.


AN: Nothing much to say here, next chapter will cover the rest of the Wave Arc and it should be here in a couple of days. Anyways I hope you enjoyed and look forward for the next one. Bye!