Author's Note: I've rewritten the second half of chapter nine, as well as made a few grammar corrections and general fixes to several others.

Some major changes being that I changed Takeshi's surname to Ippaki and making him a defector from Rock rather than Sand.

And I really don't know why I put that filler chapter in so early, but I set things straight anyway. Seishuun, dattebayo!

Chapter 12: C Rank Rookies

- Shien no Sato -

Gai-sensei frowned as Neji crouched in the windowsill of the shattered pane Chimaru had escaped through, watching the foreign chuunin dashing off into the morning fog. "Naruto and I will chase him. We're going!" the genin had announced before simply leaping though the window with Naruto hot on his heels, too angry to mutter a single word.

"It can't be helped." Gai complained to Tenten moments before kicking a man in the knee and breaking it, forcing him to fall to the ground and cry out in agony. "Tenten; don't hold back, but don't kill them if you can!" the jounin suggested after dodging a sword that had been swung at his throat and slamming his right wrist into his attacker's nose, breaking it. Even though he had chosen to leave the mission to his 'passionate young students' and not interfere, he could hardly turn down a good fight, and it didn't look like they'd let him passively watch from the sidelines anyway.

The kunoichi grunted as she drew up behind her teacher and pressed her back against his to protect their flanks while they talked, "I got it, Gai-sensei! We need to interrogate them about the missing villagers! But we should hurry and finish these guys so…"

"No." the jounin growled shortly, momentarily surprising Tenten. The bandits were carefully inching forward, knowing better than to blindly rush a man known as a Beast to the world. "As much as I hate to admit it, but we have to trust that Naruto-kun and Neji can handle their situation alone. Also, we have to plan for the worst case scenario…"

Tenten gulped, secretly glad that her teacher didn't say her fears aloud; that it was possible for the foreign ninja to kill both of her teammates. "First things first, then; let's kick these guy's asses!"

- Konoha -

Rock Lee grinned as he proudly watched the young man standing before him in his bedroom mirror. Yesterday he and the pink-haired angel had showed Kakashi up by distracting him long enough for Sasuke to come out of his blind-spot and grab the two bells before taking off into the forest. They had figured that a victory over the jounin was a victory for them all; all thanks to Lee's ninja book, anyway.

But today was even more special, because it would be the Kakashi-lead Team 7's first official mission! Even though he knew it would be a D-rank, Lee was ecstatic to be working so close to his friends and teacher.

So it was on this note that the new genin tightened his headband, nodded at his get-up; the standard Konoha uniform with a green tank top in place of the flack jacket; and dashed out of the house, his breakfast toast bitten firmly in his teeth. Kakashi-sensei had asked the three children to meet him on a bridge near the Hokage's tower, and even though Lee already knew the man would be late, he rushed to his destination at full speed, too excited to care.

However, a cold breeze seemed to come up from the ground when Rock Lee arrived at the bridge in the Hokage tower's shadow. Hatake Kakashi was already there; in fact, he was 10 minutes early. Puzzled, the look-alike slowed to a stop, watching his sensei and two teammates staring at him.

"So you're here, are you?" Sasuke accused, not bothering to stand up off of the bridge on which he was leaning. "I was worried you'd show up on the dot."

"Any self-respecting shinobi arrives early!" Lee replied with mock-serenity. "I would have been here an hour ago, but my mother put my clothes in the wash without telling me and I had to wait…"

"Ew, your mom still does your laundry?" Sakura giggled harshly, eyeing the genin as if he were a child. "If I were you I'd die of shame if my mommy did everything for me."

Sasuke paused to glare at Sakura from behind her back before gracing Lee with his attention, "I'd count myself lucky if I had a mother that would do my laundry. But she's dead." He replied; as expected Sakura fell silent, feeling too sad to tease Lee anymore.

"I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun…" the pink-haired angel moaned softly, attempting to cheer him up with her closeness. "If you wish, you can leave your laundry at my house and I'll do it for you…"

He merely ignored her and spoke to Lee again, driving home the point that he was worth talking to and she wasn't; she'd have to earn that right. "However, while I'm working to restore my clan to its rightful place, I'm going to be strengthening myself so that something like this can NEVER happen again."

"I have a question about that, Sasuke-kun." Lee stated evenly, carefully controlling his voice so that he didn't sound too eager; he still remembered Kakashi's lesson to reserve his stamina, which meant staying calm in any situation. He wasn't quite on the jounin's level just yet, but he was working on it.

When he had the Uchiha's permission, Lee asked his question, "How are you going to revive your clan? Are you going to marry four wives?" He wasn't kidding; Lee seriously had no idea.

Sasuke paused and crooked his head to one side, as if seriously considering it; once again Sakura blushed, hardly daring to believe that Sasuke would even think about something like that! She'd have him all for herself one way or another, of that she was certain! However, the boy chuckled and shook his head, admitting that he had been joking, "No, I looked into it already and the laws of Konoha forbid having more than one spouse. What I'm going to do is…"

Lee held his breath and leaned forward, eagerly awaiting his friend's answer; Kakashi also peeked over the edge of his book, evidently equally curious. Sakura clasped her hands together, barely able to stand the anticipation as Sasuke grinned and leaned against the bridge so that he could look into the sky.

"You'll have to beat me in a sparring match if you want to find out." Sasuke finished, glancing towards the bug-eyed genin and grinning like a wolf. "From what I've seen during Kakashi's bell test, you're a fairly well-skilled shinobi for your age; I'm sure you'll do it eventually. Either that or you'll see it when I do it."

"Well," Kakashi cut in to stifle Lee's challenge, smoothly tucking his adult novel into a pouch at his back, "Since we're all here now, we should go ahead and see the Hokage; we do have a mission today."

Lee didn't say it aloud, be he secretly wondered if the mission was somehow connected to why his teacher uncharacteristically showed up on time. Thankfully they were less than five minutes from the Hokage Tower, so he wouldn't be puzzled for very long… he hoped.

- Konoha mission chamber -

Inside the tower within the sight of the stone faces carved into Hokage Mountain was a large room with chuunin seated behind a long table. In the middle of the table laden with papers and scrolls sat the age-worn Hokage, resplendent in his red and white robe sagely puffing on a pipe.

Team seven had the distinct honor of receiving their mission directly from the village leader, whose job it was to explain how missions worked and why they were performed. However, after giving the same speech he'd given countless times over his career as Fire Shadow, the old man looked Kakashi in the eye and let out a puff of smoke. "Normally rookies only do D-rank tasks around the village until they have had enough training to attempt anything tougher."

"Normally?" Sasuke murmured softly, quickly catching on to the elder's intent. 'He couldn't possible be thinking…'

"But I felt that if your classmates are capable of accomplishing something like this, then why shouldn't you three?" the Hokage continued as if he hadn't heard Sasuke, even though he had. "I have a mission for you to do, however due to unforeseen complications your client will not be available until tomorrow; so for now please become acquainted with the young man I've assigned to your team for now." And with the wave of his arm, the door to the mission chamber creaked open and a ninja entered.

Barely 19 years old, the slim young man came to a stop beside Kakashi and offered a rigid bow, greeting the children with a grunt. When he returned to a full up-right position, the Hokage shook his head and let out a stream of pipe smoke, "Please don't be so formal, Takeshi-kun; everyone in Konohagakure is part of my family so I'd hate it if one of my sons didn't get along with the rest of my children."

'Takeshi-kun' paused long enough to glance from one chuunin behind the table to the next, each one nodding and smiling in turn. Finally he glanced towards Kakashi's students and blinked at the kids. "Ippaki Takeshi. I was recently enlisted in the Konoha military at the rank of jounin; but I will gladly give my life for the benefit of my new home, Konohagakure."

Kakashi stared levelly at the teen standing across from him, dressed in khaki pants and a black tank top; the young man had an air of experience around him that could not be ignored. 'Oh well, I'll burn that bridge when I get to it… that's the saying kids use these days, isn't it? Or is it not?' The Copy Ninja smiled under his mask and gently patted Lee on the shoulder, "Well, the mission is tomorrow so why don't we burn that bridge when we get to it? For now we should all get out of the Hokage's hair and get to know each other a little better; we'll need to be on good terms if we're going to complete a C-ranked mission so early."

This should have gone smoothly, and it would have if Kakashi had spent more time with Lee and less with the book he'd read a dozen times. The three children stopped in mid-conversation and slowly looked up at their sensei, each blinking at him in surprise and embarrassment. After an eternity of awkward silence, Lee coughed into his fist to correct his sensei, "I agree that we should cross that bridge when we come to it, and that we should formally introduce ourselves elsewhere."

The Hokage didn't bother to suppress the grin that had slipped onto his face, 'I'm almost 80 years old and even I know that saying! But don't lose your touch, Hatake Kakashi, or my adorable little children won't respect you as they should…'

- Shien no Sato -

Somewhere along the way through the abandoned village, perhaps when they had followed the man onto the rooftops, Naruto had managed to get in front of Neji. "Get back here, you stupid coward!" the blonde genin roared as he landed after jumping a gap between two buildings.

"Naruto, calm yourself!" Neji demanded softly enough that the chuunin leading them couldn't overhear. "It's obvious that he doubts his ability to take all four of us on at once, so he's separating us from our jounin-sensei." Naruto glared back at his teammate, but offered a nod as if to say that he had already figured it out. Whether he believed the blonde had foreseen it or not, Neji continued his observations, "It looks like he's leading us towards the market place…"

"Yeah, maybe… This guy likes to dig holes and use genjutsu to cover them so that he can jump out and hit you." Naruto explained, also mindful to keep his voice low enough so that only his partner could hear.

"…Is that so?" Neji murmured to himself as he watched the man fleeing to the town center, which was where the market place was. "My Byakugan will be able to spot him regardless of where he comes out, but he'll probably go right for you first."

Rather than gulping or asking why it would be him, Naruto narrowed his eyes and nodded, murmuring, "I wouldn't have it any other way… I want him to fight me! Because if I can't handle this guy, what chance do I have of defeating you and making you tell me your life goal?"

Neji risked a glance at Naruto to see his face; he wanted to conserve his chakra for the fight so he had his Byakugan off; he found the blonde staring ahead with a look of utmost determination on his face. It was strange… when they had met, Neji was sure that his teammates would be worthless, doomed to forever hold him and the jounin back. But now he was beginning to realize that if someone could last this long as a ninja, it was a given that they'd learn something along the way. "This man is a lot stronger than I am; he's already a chuunin after all… perhaps I can't defeat him without Naruto's help…"

It was now Naruto's turn to look at his teammate, but his face was dark and scowling. "What are you talking about? You're Hyuuga Neji! No nameless Sand ninja can…"

Neji kicked off of the edge of a roof and landed skillfully on the next building, his arms flung out behind to negate wind resistance. "It's realistic that a man three times my age should be more skilled than I; and he's from a village that I know nothing about as well. If we put aside any misgivings we have towards each other and use teamwork, we might have a chance against the foreign chuunin."

Naruto blinked a couple times at Neji before sighing and returning his attention to the back of the man barely staying ahead of them. "Yeah… I'll acknowledge that you're smart, so what do we do?"

Neji chuckled softly, "I know that you were saving a couple jutsus to use on me, but we have to go all out if we're going to survive this fight. When I say to hit him, use your strongest move; I'll certainly have found an opening by the time we get to that point."

"My strongest jutsu, huh?" Naruto whispered to himself as he followed the chuunin along the roofs; they were within sight of the market place now, so the inevitable battle to the death was less than a minute away. "That jutsu Mizuki taught me will definitely be my most powerful… Too bad I can't use it on Neji now, but…"

As expected, the Sand nukenin spun on his toes and flicked a pair of kunai at the children he'd separated before finishing his spin and throwing himself towards the ground. Unable to do anything but dodge the knives and passively watch, Naruto and Neji shared a knowing glance when the man dove into the dirt as if it were a pool of water. This was it.

- Wind country border -

Asuma called for a halt before simply dropping through the tree branches towards the ground. As usual, Kurenai called to Shino for another scouting session, but the bearded jounin shook his head and pulled his cigarette out of his mouth, returning it to the pack with its brothers. "The temperature here is three degrees higher than it was a mile ago." The male shinobi mentioned as he tucked his cigarettes into a pocket hidden in his vest. "I'll be right back."

And before anyone could complain, the bearded man kicked off of a tree trunk and took off along the upper branches, leaving the children frowning after him, annoyed that they'd been left behind like… well, children.

It didn't take two minutes for the jounin to spot them, but to make absolute sure, he came to a silent stop on a high branch. From up here he could push chakra into his eyes and ears so that he could see and hear more clearly over long distances.

A teenaged girl was complaining to one of her companions below, "We've been waiting here for three hours! We could be training, but no… sensei told us to meet the Konoha shinobi and escort them back to Suna. Man, what's up with Konoha lately?"

"Onee-san, shut up for once." A young man grunted as he shifted something on his back to keep it from digging into one spot for too long. "We're already stronger than all of the brats of Suna, so why should we train more than we have to? Jeez, must be that time of the mon…" A loud punch and a grunt of pain told Asuma how the girl thought about her teammate's words; he smiled in silent amusement. 'The kids are in for a real treat…The Kazekage's children are our guides.' he thought as he shook his head bemusedly.

"Stop playing around." The third Sand ninja commanded dangerously, "The ninjas of the Leaf could already be here."

"Who's playing around?" Kankurou growled accusingly, advancing on his younger brother dangerously and grabbing a handful of his brother's shirt. "You're the one that wanted to see the jackrabbits along the way, Gaara!"

Upon seeing the super-risky action her brother had performed, Temari took a measured breath and suggested, "Kankurou, go looking around and see if you can find some clues. They were a little fast last time we met them, so maybe the Konoha-shinobi have already gone past us?" she said in hopes of cooling her brothers off.

"We're just trying to pass the time, Temari… jeez." Kankurou scoffed as he released Gaara's collar and instead affectionately rubbed his hair, "Gaara wouldn't really hurt me anyway, would you?"

After a moment of consideration, the red-haired boy tiled his head to one side and murmured, "If I really had to…"

Kankurou scoffed and cuffed the boy on the skull, of which wasn't blocked because the black-clad genin didn't truly mean his kin any harm. "I really hate brats, you know."

At this, Temari sighed and lightly pressed the tips of her lithe fingers against her face, "And I have two of them to deal with…"

Before her brother's could respond, something fell from the treetops and landed in front of the three children. Thankfully however, the three of them had enough training to spot the man's uniform and realize who he was before they made the mistake of attacking him; Sarutobi Asuma had dropped in to say hello.

- Shien no Sato -

Naruto and Neji stood in the middle of the market place, standing back to back; one with a pair of sai at the ready, the other with an eye jutsu active. Neji didn't need to glance towards his partner when he spoke, so without turning his head, he asked, "That jutsu we mentioned… what is its range?"

Knowing that his older teammate was still formulating a plan, Naruto grudgingly answered, "Medium range… I have to throw it at the person. Like a kunai."

"I see." The boy genius murmured, not taking his eyes off of the uncovered holes in the ground. One of the draw backs to the Byakugan was that while it could pierce through genjutsu as easily as flesh, he could not see through the ground. Therefore he could see the many holes their opponent had dug, but not where he was in the tunnels they connected to. "I'll say 'orange' when it's the right time to throw your strongest attack. Got it?"

"I got it, damn it." Naruto growled. Neji had to forgive him, even he was nervous about their predicament; the tension was making their stress level raise. The blonde suddenly grunted and nudged Neji with his elbow to get his attention, "I think I have an idea!"

"Say it quietly." Neji replied softly, carefully scanning the dug-up village square. He didn't know why the chuunin was waiting so long; perhaps he was waiting for them to drop their guard? He couldn't have dragged them out here so that he could loop around and kill Gai and Tenten first, could he?

"You know how you can touch people and close their ten-somethings? You close 64 of them, don't you?" Naruto asked, and when Neji confirmed it, the boy grinned, "This time why don't you only do half of them."

"Only closing 32 tenketsu points won't help against such a strong opponent, Naruto…"

"No, no! Listen to me damn it!" the boy swore under his breath, "After you've done that, use a Kaiten to throw him back. It's stronger up close isn't it?"

Neji's eyes widened at the revelation of sheer genius that Naruto had somehow stumbled upon with this tactic. The boy must have been watching him for a long time in hopes of finding a weakness to exploit… But as he stood there facing death with his teammate, Neji couldn't help but wonder how Gai and Tenten were faring.

- Elsewhere -

With an earsplitting slam and a girlish scream of "Kyaa!", Tenten was choke-slammed into and through one of the wooden walls of the bedroom they had camped in by the burly and battle-scarred bandit leader. The man stopped and pinned the kunoichi to the floor in the next room, roughly pinching her windpipe shut and threatening to strangle her single-handedly; he grinned hungrily at her desperate struggle to get up.

Gai gasped and ripped his eyes open to look in the direction of his sweet, female student; he had just been posing dramatically after having knocked a man out by stopping his hand a half inch from his face. Slowly his eyes narrowed dangerously as he regarded the muscled brute that was violently strangling the thirteen year old girl. "I will not forgive any man who'll…" he roared as he crouched to perform one of his famous Konoha Whirlwind kicks.

"N-no sensei…" Tenten grunted as she feebly clutched the man's thick wrist with her own dexterous digits, fighting back with every ounce of willpower that she had, "Just because I'm a… a girl… everyone thinks that I can't keep up." Tenten gritted her white teeth, glaring up into the side of her dominator's face; the leader was staring at Gai, silently telling him that if he were to take even one step into the room, he'd kill the girl in front of him. "It's that misconception…"

Before she could finish, Gai-sensei had bitten his thumb and blasted out hand seals so fast that his hands had temporarily gone invisible before touching the blood to the floor. "Kuchiyose: Kotetsugame!" he cried moments before the bandit strengthened the pressure on Tenten's throat, aiming to kill her rather than just make her pass out. However, out of a cloud of white smoke, a turtle with a metallic shell appeared between the girl and the bandit.

"Steel Turtle, we'll use the Falling Star Pupil technique!" Gai-sensei suggested as he jumped into the air, performing a graceful front flip as he did; at the same time the steel-shelled ninja turtle bent its knees and slammed its back into their shocked opponent's chest, tossing him into the air like a rag doll. With pinpoint precision and expert teamwork, Gai finished his flip, ending it with a devastating kick to the man's lower spine; and with surprising agility, Kotetsugame managed to get under the bandit just as he was flung to the ground. Mr. Leader was unable to cry out due to the air being forcefully expelled from his lungs.

Coughing, Tenten forced herself to sit up, gently rubbing her bruised throat. She turned her attention to a man loosely wielding a sword, having barely missed cutting Gai in half before the bowl-cut warrior had jumped in the air; it was humanly impossible for the guy to have kept up with a jounin level Taijutsu specialist. After gritting her teeth, the kunoichi dipped her hand into her pocket and withdrew her last scroll; it was the one that Naruto had given her on her birthday. Wildly she yanked it open and watched as a pair of sai with a rope tied between them fired towards the bandit, quickly winding around his legs and tipping him. Was he the last one?

"I'm sorry if you wanted to handle that by yourself, Tenten." The green-glad jounin apologized stoically as he slowly approached his student and gently laid his hand on her shoulder. "However, the shinobi of Konoha value teamwork and friendship more than anything else. Because you know, there is no 'I' in team, but there are eight eyes!" And after flashing a thumbs-up gesture, the bushy-browed ninja grinned at the girl with bright, clean teeth.

Tenten had been about to get mad at her greedy sensei, but instantly lost her temper upon hearing his corniest speech ever. Finally she sighed and brushed his hand off of her shoulder as she muttered, "Jeez, Gai-sensei… even in the middle of a dangerous fight you manage to embarrass me…"

Despite the situation, Maito Gai couldn't help but laugh.

- Suna -

Baki gazed blankly into his bedroom mirror, regarding the person in the reflection as someone other than himself. The Kazekage had left the village several hours ago, asking the jounin not to let his children know what the two had conspired to before fading into the shadows dressed in his combat outfit.

As for Baki, he was now dressed in a green robe with a white overcoat and a domed hat that bore the kanji "Kaze". The jounin was no longer a jounin, he was now Godaime Kazekage; and it was on his shoulders what to do about Suna's dire funds predicament.

There was suddenly a knock on his bedroom door, but it didn't startle him because he had already sensed the intruder's presence. "Speak." Baki commanded.

"Godaime Kazekage-sama, we've just been informed that your students have met up with the shinobi from Konohagakure. They should arrive tomorrow at noon." The informant stated from the other side of the door.

"I want you to make reservations in our finest hotel and restaurant; our guests will be staying the night."

After a brief pause, the unknown ninja gave an affirming sound before simply leaving the way he came. That was the way things worked in Suna; practical and impersonal.

Baki turned back towards the mirror and stared at his reflection for a long moment. Finally he turned and left the room. He had a village to save…

- Preview -

Negotiations with the Kazekage; duels to the death with nukenin of the Sand; a trip to the country of Waves with a defector… Konoha's rookies will determine the relations between the foreign lands. How will it all end? Will peace continue between the villages, or will bloody war ravage the land once more?