A/N warning time skips. own nothing but mine stuff

edit 3/3/2018

Seven full days passed since the teams were picked and even though many of the teams would meet up to train and hang out. The days were mainly basic training as well as learning rules they did not teach you in the Academy. One thing to note, Chief had taught both TenTen and Naruto a set of seals to place around a training ground making it impossible for anyone not invited to enter.

Kakashi was happy since they were strong enough to keep Gai out of his training field unless he wanted his rival there. The reason Kakashi did not add the seals before was Chief had invented them while away in exile.

So many of the kids were able to show their true skills during training without worrying about 'spies' learning about their true skills and would only learn what the kids showed them while out about the village.

This day, the start of the eighth day would be the first official group training day, it was also the first day for D-rank missions.

"So," Naruto asked. "Which team do I start with today?"

"Do you have a preference?" Chief asked.

"Any team but team 7. I don't need the prick today," Naruto replied with a straight face.

"What if it is team nine with Gai, remember we go to them we train their way."

"Any team but 7," Naruto replied. "At least Gai tries to have fun...even if what he calls fun we call hell, the attempt is there."

Chief nodded and pulled a bag from his pocket and reached in, finding what he wanted he pulls out a simple piece of paper.

"And the winner is...10," Chief announced.

"So off to work with Asuma, Shikamaru, and Choji?" Naruto smiled and turned to head out.

"And Ino Yamanaka," Chief reminded him.

"Is she a Kunoichi yet?"

"We both know that she and pink have been putting in a couple hours a night after team training is over, we both watched them not two days ago." Chief corrected.

"I know, I can see they are trying but they are way off the pace," Naruto replied as they left 93.

"They don't have Anko there with her cane," Chief nodded. "But the rules are set the girls have to return to bitches before I force them to deal with Anko again. Till then they would actually have to ask for her help."

"Do you really think they are that stupid?" Naruto asked.

"Not anymore, but they probably realize they are not getting what they want at the moment, they might be getting desperate"

Naruto shivered when the Chief saw that he looked at the boy.

"Sorry, last time I saw them desperate was Valentine's Day, they were determined to be the first one to give Sasuke their chocolates before each other or any of the fangirls did...It was not pleasant.

"What wasn't?" Shikamaru called out as he yawned. (they were not yet in the safety of their team training ground. so Shikamaru was doing his 'troublesome lazy ass routine)

"Last Valentine's Day, with Sakura and Ino," Naruto smiled back.

Shikamaru yawned, "that was troublesome and scary."

"It was insane," Choji spoke up, "I never thought I would see two people act stupider than Naruto and Kiba on a math test day."

"Hey," Naruto gave a fake cry back. Choji just smiled and,

"Naruto, Iruka-sensei had to tie you to a chair just to keep you in the classroom as he passed the tests out."

The Blonde pouted, "He should have just let me skip we all knew I was going to fail the test anyway." Then looked at the Akimichi,

"There is no way me and Kiba could act as bad as those two," Naruto repeated as they passed the seals,

"As bad as who?" Ino called out as she stood with Asuma.

"You and Sakura last Valentine's Day," Chief simply replied.

"Chief and I we discussing what happens when you and Sakura get desperate about something," Naruto smiled.

"AAAAHHHHH, don't remind me of that," Ino grabbed her ears. "Me and Sakura have already gone through and thought about all the things we did...would you believe we cried in shame for almost three hours about it?"

The three boys and two adults stared at the girl for a few minutes,

"Wait," Naruto spoke and looked at Choji. "Did she just admit she and Sakura were stupid then?"

Choji nodded, "Sounds like it."

"So...drop it, never bring it up again?" the blonde smiled.

"That is the rule," Shika smiled. "Though better remind Kiba."

"Right," Naruto smiled and turned to Asuma. "What's first?"

Chief just grinned as the three had their talk Asuma was confused at first before he grinned as well. Ino was just plan out confused.

"Stretches?" Naruto asked Shika who nodded, and the boys got to work with Chief before Asuma caught up and nudged Ino to get to work.

It was a basic warm-up workout, stretching, counts, running and katas.

"Let us go and get our first mission of the day," Asuma smiled.

"Of the day?" Ino asked.

"If we hurry we can get two, that always looks good on our records...and adds more change to our pockets." the Jonin spoke as he lit another cigarette.

So the kids and two adults went to the mission office, Waiting in line the four kids spotted other Genin and many of them looked to be praying,

"Any but that one, please any but that one," one boy repeated over and over again.

Shikamaru looked as lazy as he could be slouched forward. but his ears and eyes were working.

"Not the cat, not the cat, not the cat," a Kunoichi was asking out loud as she watched the Chunin hand her Sensei a scroll.

"You are to go clean out the pigsty at the farm outside the east gate."

"YES, THANK YOU," the girl screamed as she hugged her Sensei took the mission scroll and ran.

Asuma and Chief reached the desk,

"Teams, 10 and 93, we had a requested Mission," Chief spoke.

"Wait you can pre-arrange missions?" someone called.

Asuma smiled. "There is one mission you can ask for in advance."

The Chunin handed a scroll with an evil smile. "The Daimyo of Fire's wife has lost her pet cat, please look for and retrieve it."

"Thank you," Chief smiled.

"Wait...you asked for that cat?" a Genin asked shocked.

"Yes, our Genin teams have never done the Tora mission yet, the rookie teams and team Nine will be taking that one for the next few days." Asuma smiled as he led the kids out.

Once outside. Shikamaru looked at his Sensei, "What the hell have we been placed in?"

Neither adult replied but from the inside of the office, a loud cheer of joy was heard.

At the same time, the team was getting the Mission Kyoko was leaving her room, now back in the main house where she belonged. She had returned with Hanabi the night before after spending several days with the girl at the quarry. She was heading to wake the girl for breakfast when she was approached by Iho and the 'elders'

"Lady Kyoko," Iho started and the woman was quickly on the defense he was only ever nice when he planned to do 'something'.

"Lady Kyoko, we are concerned, young Hanabi has missed several of her lessons,"

"No, she has not, with my sister's death that makes me the matriarch of this clan and such I will oversee all the training for ALL women and girls of the houses."

She smiled on the inside as the men looked shocked, angry and scared all at the same time. She stepped closer to them,

"Just cause he does not play the game of clan politics does not mean my father does not know them. He was a master of them before you were even thought of by your grandfather. And he schooled his daughters well."

With that she just turned and left the men, Iho was fuming, all his former power was gone. No one feared him, especially since Chief band anyone but Kyoko and Hiashi from ever using the Seal for punishment, and then they had to convince the man of why it was necessary.

And for the next week, that's how it went, one of the rookie teams always had the Tora mission. Sometimes it was the group up, sometimes solo. They also had the other missions; walking dogs, grocery shopping, weeding a garden for an injured person or if the person was just too damn lazy. Then there was the pig sty they had heard about...The Inuzuka's kennels and all other buildings to be mucked out. There was a set of rabbit cages that for some strange reason Naruto did not hate, in fact for some damn reason he found the smell enticing. Worried he mentioned it to Chief and the man explained a fox's eating habits.

There was even a job that both Ino and Sakura almost failed and brought out 'Anko' if it wasn't for Hinata. Babysitting, Most the group had no idea how to warm milk or bath and change a diaper, the exceptions were Hinata and Kiba, though his experience was tending to newborn pups that needed to be bottle fed 'for reasons no Inuzuka would speak of'

Hinata though was the pro, she walked everyone through each step for each chore and it was now planned that if they could, they would make sure whichever team got that mission, Hinata was there.

"Mother once told me as she was pregnant with Hanabi that these are skills one should learn as soon as possible," was the Hyuga's reply when asked how she was so good at this.

But the cat was always on someone's list, and everyone was getting damn tired of it.

"No more Cats," Sasuke shouted as the 12 kids and their Sensei's had gathered for a total group meeting at the end of that first week of D-ranks.

It was Saturday and Chief called everyone together, Mai was standing with the Chief and as soon as everyone was there Mai pulled a scroll out of her pocket and activated it revealing a set of bleachers for everyone to sit on. Most sat in the upper rows as the Uchiha had separated himself from the group and sat on the lowest row.

"I never want that cat again, I am tired of doing these shitty chores that are beneath a Uch...Shinobi of the Leaf." behind the boys back, money was changing hands, Shino was collecting his winnings again. Choji and Kiba had bet that it would be either Ino or Sakura to crack first.

"Oh, shut it Sasuke," TenTen shouted. "My team has been doing these damn missions for a year, yes we have done C-Ranks, but we still do D-ranks as well. and you don't hear us complaining."

The Uchiha was about to shout back,

"What is the lesson?" Chief asked stopping the argument.

"What?" Sasuke growled as he looked at the Chief.

"Everything Chief does have a lesson," Shikamaru spoke up. "Often time more than one."

"Are we all tired the D-ranks?" Choji asked.

"Yes," Kiba answered.

"Are we complaining like a child?" Shino asked.

"No," Hinata answered then looked at Naruto.

He smiled as he looked at her then at Ino and Sakura, they were paying attention because they too had been close to breaking, Sasuke was just faster.

"Why?" Naruto asked the girls.

"Why?" Sakura repeated. "You mean why have you all not broken yet?"

Naruto nodded.

"Cause," the pink started and looked at Ino. The bleach thought on it.

"Cause you know there is a reason, Chief is training us, and he has not yet steered us wrong. So his reason is one that needs to be learned?" Ino asked.

"Correct," Naruto smiled. "Here is a cookie." and the boy actually pulled a cookie from his pocket and tossed it to her.

She caught it and looked shocked and several of the group chuckled but before she could retaliate Chief asked again,

"What is the lesson?

No one replied. Shino and Shika both looked upset that they had yet to see it.

"Um..." Hinata spoke after a moment. "Is it to master the mundane?"

"Your mother put that in her journal, didn't she?" Chief smiled. When Hinata nodded, "Then please try and explain it."

"O... ok," she started as everyone looked at her, even Sasuke.

"D-Rank missions are a test...more than one test actually. First, they test us on our teamwork skills, and also on our social skills. How we handle working with each other as well as how we handle dealing with clients and civilians? then underneath that, it tests our mental strength how we handle doing mundane and boring jobs. If we lose our composure doing simple jobs like this how could we handle a dangerous mission where things are bound to go wrong?"

Hinata looked to see if everyone understood.

'They also test and train us for missions where we need to keep a low profile." Hinata started again but before she could continue,

"How the hell does painting a fence train us for missions?" Sasuke argued as he stood up from his seat and walked to the side while glaring at the Chief.

Internally everyone groaned...again. While before Chief arrived, Naruto was the loud stupid one and Sasuke was the grumbling Silent emo kid that never spoke unless forced. Since Sasuke was put with the copy ninja, the Jonin had been working hard to break the emo out of that 'silent and deadly' persona he was trying to create and make him more sociable.

It had the drawback that if the Uchiha speaks, he pulls a Naruto and just talks out his ass. Course it did not help that during the week even though team 7 had worked with 8,9, and 10. Chief had not allowed Naruto to work with Team 7 which meant (in Sasuke's eyes) that he was once again being deprived of being trained by the Chief.

Chief did not miss a beat,

"You are ordered to assassinate a major crime lord, you have no idea where he is but you do know sooner or later he will be in the such and such village. So, your job is to infiltrate the village, learn all you can about the village, the civilians, any Shinobi or thugs guarding it...learn the ways in and out, following me?"

He looked around Sasuke was silent, that sounded like a true Shinobi mission.

"And let's say it takes a year for that crime lord to arrive, how do you stay there the whole time without getting caught, how do you avoid the other Shinobi that are there to find you or anyone like you? And how do you get the information you need to kill him and then get out alive?"

No one replied as everyone watched, Shino and Shika were both taking notes. As they picked the problem apart, Chief was pausing to let them come up with a plan before he continued. Lee was taking his normal notes, though not as bright as Shino and Shika, Gai had been working more on strengthening the Mini Beasts mental muscles.

"Naruto?" Chief asked.

"Well I would need a job no one noticed that could get me where I needed to go, something so Mundane," he smiled at Hinata. "that no one noticed, that people generally ignore."

Again, Sasuke narrowed his eyes, he hated being ignored. He wanted the fame and respect his clan had, he may have growled when people bowed and groveled to him.

(Deep down he even liked all the attention those damn fangirls gave him even if he wouldn't touch them.)

He never told them to stop, because it showed just how powerful his clan was. Since Chief returned that all but stopped from the Shinobi in the village.

"Correct and to be an assassin you have to be good at killing. To be a GOOD assassin you must be able to kill him and be out of the village before they even think that something is wrong. And you must make sure no one knows it was you, they must not think it was you. They have to ignore you to the point they forget you even existed."

Chief smiled in his mind watching Sasuke think on this, he saw all of them nodding, Shino and Shika comparing notes.

"There are four covers that have the best record for completion in this kind of mission, what are they?"

He looked around and spotted Naruto raise his hand but also Lee.

"Lee?"

"A janitor, maid, and butler?"

"Good," Chief nodded. "But we put those three in the same category so that is one. Yes, a maid, nanny, butler, a house cleaner some kind of servant that is allowed access into place to clean or take care of 'something. Next Naruto?

"I was thinking a village or town...handyman. Someone that goes around fixing random things. Roofs, fences, plumbing stuff. A good way to scope out a village and look for all hidden places, also lets you track were the guards are and what they are like while on duty as well as off." Naruto's eyes shot open. "I know another one,"

"Let someone else try," Chief waved the blonde down. "But you are correct and because and it is separate from the first cause it handles things that happen outside the 'location'."

"And you can actually make them let you into the place willingly." Naruto smiled.

"What?" several of the group asked.

"Well you need to get into this building to check something, well you use your ninja skills to get sneak in and break something, windows...hole in the roof...blown out fuse box." The group kids and adults were nodding in agreement.

"Or if you want to be in the building for hours at a time and make sure you don't have ANYONE watching over you...just blow up the toilets. That smelly stinky, shitty water will ensure you have hours alone in that building." Naruto smiled. "And when done the smell on you will keep most people away for hours before they even try to look for you."

Some paled, some grimaced, Chief laughed, 'oh yes infiltration and sabotage...' Were the Chief's thoughts.

"And that one time you did it at the Academy got us out of that pop quiz in math that week," Kiba smiled at the memory. (It was hell on his nose at first, but he forgave the blonde when the pop quiz was canceled)

Many in the group laughed and after a few moments remembering the good times,

"Ok, who is next?" Chief asked and was only slightly surprised that Hinata lifted her hand.

"Yes?"

"Um, prostitute, escort, concubine, dancers?" She asked blushing.

"Correct...the most dangerous and most effective method," Chief started.

"Bodywork missions usually work the best cause they tap into the primal urges of a human. And most warlords, crime lords, and bandits generally drop their guard around women because they are so...chauvinistic they honestly think women are to week to be a threat.

But you must remember that it can go wrong very fast, also think about this...there is a difference between the hooker role and say the nanny and the maid role, BUT they can be turned into one and the same quickly. And some men and women will go after the ones that turn them down more than the ones that are willing. That is why time and training is needed before you do any mission that might use 'body' following me so far?"

He looked around and most nodded, Sasuke did not but he did not reply in any way.

"Ok so...How do D-rank missions, train you for missions like that...which are usually at least ranked B?" Here Chief looked right at the Uchiha and waited.

No one spoke they all watched Sasuke, the boy himself was trying finally to see the point...

"Naruto," Chief spoke after about ten minutes of silence.

"You have to know how to do the jobs." The blonde replied with a smile, "And you have to know how to do them in a way that over time people forget about you and or just plain out ignore you."

"That is right, one of a Shinobi's greatest skills is knowing how to make people ignore them. To be invisible standing in plain sight." Chief nodded and looked back at the Uchiha. "The point of the D-ranks is to teach you patience during those quiet times when your waiting, to not draw attention to yourself while having to do simple basic things and acting like an untrained civilian.

To Master the Mundane, and you Sasuke Uchiha have failed at that this last week simply because you do not know what it means to 'GET THE MISSION DONE!" Chief shouted that last part and in a blink was standing over the boy.

"You constantly complain about not being tested, you are always tested, and you fail every day. What did you think being a Genin meant? being sent out on A-Rank assassination missions the first day? Did you plan to be pushed hard and fast like that brother of yours, we are never making that mistake again."

The Chief would take a step forward and Sasuke would be forced to step back.

"We are not going to give you tougher missions till you can prove you have the mental strength to handle simple ones."

The Man turned back to the group and spoke with a calm relaxed voice, "Any questions?"

"What was the fourth way?" Kiba asked.

"Oh," Chief smiled. "perverts and peeping toms." he smiled as some of them both girls and boys, gave a shiver. "No one suspects a peeper/pervert to be a Shinobi, for starters, If they were a Shinobi they would be able to avoid being found. So, it is best to be caught and beaten by the girls at least once every three days. Also does not hurt to be known as a drunk."

Some chuckled at the thought. (or memory of the last time Jiraiya was caught in the village).

The Chief turned back to the Uchiha, "Boy If I do not see some improvement soon I will remove that star and make you run it again. Some have questioned why I let you have it even though you got your ass knocked out for the last obstacle and had to be carried...That is for me to know and them to question."

"Chief?" Shikamaru spoke up causing the man to turn back to face the boy.

"What is the lesson of the cat? that mission seems different and frankly, harder." the Nara asked.

"Can anyone answer this?" Chief asked out.

Most never learned this, it was always 'Not that damn cat again' for most teams in the village including the older ones, Very few of the Jonin's even figured it out. Kakashi was the exception as he had asked that very question many years ago.

"Sit down," Chief told the Uchiha as he pulled a scroll and activated it revealing a folding camp chair.

As the Uchiha obeyed Chief sat and leaned back stretching his legs out and waited. The group sat and watched and as the minutes ticked by Sasuke was about to speak again only for Neji to move down and just put his hand over the boy's mouth.

"Listen he has been one step ahead of you all day, just wait and watch," the Hyuga whispered.

Not Five minutes later a large brown object simply walked into the clearing and over to the Chief, Tora had arrived. The cat just looked at the group then flicked its tail and just jumped up onto the Chiefs lap where it laid down for the man to start scratching its ears. Shocked was another understatement, no one had ever seen that damn cat so Calm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, meet Tora, the Demon cat of The Neko fortress." Chief smiled as the cat looked up and narrowed his eyes,

"Hello Kittens," the cat spoke.

If this had been a manga or anime everyone on those bleachers would have collapsed in shock, or their jaws would have hit the ground with giant white eyes.

"Do to a mission none of you need to know about, Tora has been assisting the Village of the Leaf for that last forty years," Chief spoke as if this was common knowledge.

"ninneko?" Shino asked remaining composed at least on the outside.

"Correct," the cat replied. "Your team eight is very good...even though you have that mutt," Kiba started to go red as the 'CAT' insulted Akamaru. "Though the white dog, Akamaru, is gaining respect from me."

The puppy gave a yip as a 'thank you' to the cat and Kiba looked at the cat and his partner,

"He was calling you the mutt," Naruto whispered to Kiba with a grin, naturally Kiba growled.

The cat ignored the boy and looked at Hinata, "The young girl is very nice I actually regret it when forced to scratch her."

Hinata blushed and those that had been on the mission with her had always been amazed, seeing after the capture she could carry the cat easily back to the tower.

"Now before I tell you what the deal is...can anyone guess what the purpose of the capture Tora mission is?"

"To locate, capture and return ALIVE a hostile Shinobi?" Shikamaru asked first. (his team was a capture, retrieval, and integration team.)

"Yes," Chief nodded. "That is one of the hardest missions to complete, it is easy to kill an opponent but capturing them and bring them back alive, very different and much harder. This mission was designed to help train young Shinobi while in the relative safety of the Village."

"Nowhere in my agreement did it say I had to live with that Harpy," The cat interrupted with a growl.

"You tried to castrate Hiruzen," Chief replied. "you did not think that would go unpunished, did you?"

The cat just hissed and flicked its tail.

"Let me guess," Naruto started again. "Part of the mission and test is to see how we act from the time we get the mission to when it is finally complete?"

"Correct," Chief nodded.

"And with all the whining, bitching, and complaining. I bet none of us have actually passed," the blonde spoke and several of them nodded.

"Actually most of you do rather well," the cat replied. "Far better than ninety percent I have had to deal with in the last forty years. Most of you leave your 'complaints' till either the moment you get the mission or the moment you complete the turn in. It is not against the rules to complain about me, I intentionally make it hell. It is the complaining you do DURING the mission."

Now the cat jumped off the Chief's lap and sat on the dirt before the bleachers and looked at Lee, "You boy are too loud. You give away your position way to easy. Cats have very good hearing."

Looking at Kiba, "A mutt, I doubt I could give a positive review, but you are...ok."

The cat just went down the line giving basic pointers. When it stopped at Shino, "I meant to thank you, those fleas were getting rather annoying," Shino had used his allies to remove the fleas that he noticed the last time Team 8 had the mission. "I might be able to convince the others to let a few Aburame enter the fortress to deal with that problem, we pay in solid gold."

Shino nodded his head. And the Cat got to Sasuke, "Ah the pervert,"

That shocked the group as of all the things they thought about the Uchiha, 'the pervert' was not one of them.

"You might have to explain that one," Chief smiled.

The cat looked back at the Chief then looked at the group.

"This little shit and his brother started a game to collect the paw prints of specific cats., For fun." the cat spoke but few even started to understand. The cat gave what could be called a sigh. "to steal the paw print of a cat would be the same as taking a picture of you while naked, without your consent."

"Oh," was the general reply.

The just flicked his tail and looked at the Chief. "Team 24 just got the mission...should be fun they are completely afraid of me." He laughed and quickly ran into the bushes.

"Any more questions?" Chief asked as he stood. When no one spoke he just nodded. "You have the rest of the day to your selves as well as tomorrow off, Dismissed."

At the border of Rice fields and Fire, a single, fat, ugly, merchant wearing tore up clothes and a large Sugegasa Conical hat, was running from about forty thugs all hell-bent to kill the man. But as he crossed the border they stopped. The thugs had orders to never cross into fire country.

The merchant ran for a few hours before it was clear he was no longer being chased. That is when he left the ground and went to the trees, it was also when Jiraiya dropped his disguise and made a beeline for the village, 'How the hell did he know?' the sage asked himself.

A/N ok here we go I have reread this thing twice and taking my time posting so if you see a mistake, by all means, tell me where cause I ant seeing them.

R/K

1: well, How did you like it, yes I put in some time skips if I tried to do one day each chapter, that's a lot of filler.

2: I always saw the only reason Sasuke did not complain more was cause Naruto was already voicing what the Uchiha was thinking. now that the blonde is not complaining every five seconds AND realizing that the Chief is not wasting his time...no need for the blonde to complain.

3: How do you like my Tora?

4: How did the Chief know...or do he?

5: How did you like how I explained D-Ranks?

6: yes Neji is still teaming with Sasuke.

7: any other points?

8: insert food here -*opens mouth*-