25. Back To Regular Missions

Story Start: One Week After The Fall Of Sound

The two Genin and one Chunin members of Team 7 stood in front of the mission briefing office as Tsunade looked over them. Naruto had was lightly tapping his right big toe on the inside of his sandal as he wondered what kind of mission she would be sending them on so soon after what his clones had pulled. He was a bit nervous since it could have been anything from protection detail to hauling manure from one town to the next. Neither Sakura or Sasuke seemed to be worried though as they stood at attention on either side of him.

Finally, Tsunade opened the briefing as she said "I'm sure you three have noticed that your teacher is not with you. This is because he has been assigned a mission that required use of contacts he made in the past. As such, you three will be performing your next mission without him. This mission is a B-rank mission, escorting an important figure."

"Escorting an important figure.." Sakura repeated with a slightly tilted head.

"Of course, depending on the situation, the mission has the possibility of becoming an A-rank." Tsunade continued.

"And, who are we protecting?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"I don't know." Tsunade said and Naruto blinked once before he said "Excuse me, but how can we not know who the protected is if we were given an escort mission request?"

Tsunade unrolled the mission scroll and looked at it as she said "In the neighboring nation of the Land of Tea, they have a Dedication Ceremony at the Todoroki Great Shrine once every four years. We've received a request to escort the runner who will be participating in the race that will be held there. But an assailant from the opponent's side attacked the messengers before they arrived here."

Naruto cocked his head and said "So we can expect a fight or two during this race."

Tsunade nodded before she said "Your contact is one Boss Jirocho, who will explain in more detail." Rolling up the mission scroll and tossing it to Naruto, she continued "The information of where to find him is in the scroll. That's it, now that you three understand, depart immediately! Get to the Land of Tea by today. Snap to it!"

"Yes ma'am!" Her three shinobi chimed, probably the first time they did something together in weeks before they quickly jogged out of the room to grab equipment and head out.

Scene Change: En Route To Land Of Tea

Naruto shot off a tree branch, Charizard playfully doing a barrel roll around him before he landed on another branch and proceeded to launch himself off that one as well even as he laughed at his Fire type partner's antics. Turning around during another leap, he looked back behind him and said "How are you two holding up?"

Sasuke gave his usual Uchiha grunt while Sakura gave a thumbs up and said "We're fine Naruto." Cocking her head, she said "But why aren't we using one of your Pokémon forms to get there faster?"

Ignoring the immature prankster urge he suddenly got to ask the pinkette if she really wanted to ride him, the blond completed his turn and launched off the next branch before he said "I've never been to our destination before, or anywhere in the Land of Tea in fact, so no teleporting for us. I suppose I could send a clone ahead to provide said coordinates but after what happened last time I sent clones to a different country I don't really feel comfortable yet doing so. And while it's true that me and a clone could turn into riding Pokémon, it's not a good idea to start to rely on that outside of an emergency situation where time is crucial. If I do that too often then my natural body's muscles don't get the proper workout they need and I'd be less effective when not transformed." Pointing at Charizard who was bobbing and weaving through the trees with them, he continued "Besides, this gives Charizard a chance to properly stretch his wings without having to worry too much about speed. The poor guy's been feeling rather cooped up ever since we got back from our last mission."

Sakura nodded and said "Well I guess when you put it like that it's pretty understandable." Sasuke though merely scowled at what he considered another piece of evidence that the blonde's transformation ability was wasted on him.

Time Skip: Lunch Time

The three shinobi had decided to stop by a convenient tea house for lunch. In order to keep the civilian worker from panicking Naruto had fed his partners a small distance in the woods before they went in. It was after the worker had left them tea and taken their orders that the first conflict of their mission started.

A teenager roughly five years their senior got up from his table and walked towards the exit, stopping beside their table as he said "What a bunch of lazy louts, staying in the shade on such a nice day like this."

"That's rather hypocritical coming from someone who was doing the same don't you think?" Naruto asked, one hand twitching towards his Pokeballs while the other almost went for a kunai, the fact that the mission messengers had been ambushed en route clear in his mind. Judging by the way Sasuke's own hand twitched, the same thing was going through the Uchiha's mind.

The teen tsked before he looked straight at Naruto and said "The ninja life is pretty cushy, I guess you don't get much action in the leaf village, judging by how out of shape you look."

Naruto's right eye gave a single twitch before the stick in the teen's mouth was sliced in two from the tip to just before his lips. The teen's eyes widened as he took a single step back from the kunai with wind chakra humming on it. Naruto had a hard look in his eyes as he said "Apparently you don't listen to the news buddy, otherwise you'd know that not even a month ago we kicked the asses of both the Sand and Sound villages when they tried to invade, so yes, we get plenty of 'action'."

"H-hey Naruto, don't do anything rash okay?" Sakura said, worried that her blonde teammate was about to put his newfound Wind skills through a quick test on a living subject.

"That all depends on if this guy does the smart thing and leaves or not." Naruto said calmly but with a hint of warning.

The teen tsked again before he started walking again, muttering "Damn ninja" to himself as he left.

A couple of moments later, the serving lady returned and placed their orders on the table as she said "Here you go you three, enjoy." She placed to receipts down on the table and continued "You can just leave the payment when you leave."

The shinobi looked at the receipts in confusion as Sakura asked "Um, why are their two bills ma'am?"

The serving lady let out a confused hum as she said "For you and your friend miss, he said you were covering for him."

"And you didn't think to check with us first?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto sighed as he stood up and said "Ma'am, you've been dine and dashed." Walking towards the exit, he said "You guys stay here and eat, I'll bring him back." He walked out hearing the server apologizing to his teammates about the hassle before he transformed into an Arcanine and began sniffing the ground. Picking up the scent of the last person to walk there, he narrowed his eyes before he shot down the road, a gust of wind following as he blurred out of civilian and lower level ninja's sight.

Two minutes later, he caught up with the guy who was running fast enough to create his own wind. A feral grin appeared on Naruto's muzzle before he shot forward even faster and leapt to tackle him, transforming back into a human just before he hit and slamming into his back making him trip and skid along the ground.

The kid yelped as he skidded and when he stopped he looked over his shoulder and shouted "What was that for?" His voice went from angry to surprise at the end when he saw that it was Naruto who tackled him but he quickly scowled and said "I guess Leaf Ninja aren't as out of shape as I thought."

Naruto scowled at him as he said "Yeah will like most human beings we don't like it when someone insults us then leaves us with the insulters check." Getting up, Naruto roughly hoisted the man up and continued "You're coming back with me and apologizing to not only my team but that lady and then you're going to pay her a very nice tip."

The teen sneered and said "What makes you think you can hang onto me for the whole way back?"

Naruto's smirk was worrying as he said "Oh don't worry, the trip will be much quicker then you think." The next instant, he Transformed into an Alakazam, immediately teleporting so that the smoke cloud hiding his form didn't have time to disperse and reveal his temporary new form.

The moment they reappeared in front of the tea house, Naruto transitioned back into human form with another smoke cloud making it seem like the smoke was part of a transit jutsu and shoved the teen through the door way as he said "Get in there and pay up!" He strode in as well as the teen warily got to his feet and picked up his bean soup with a scowl as he said "You made me leave my lunch and now it's cold so you better be quick before I make you pay for us as well." He drew a heating seal out of his vest pocket and placed it on the table before placing the cup on the seal before crossing his arms as he spoke.

When the teen had apologized, paid with tip equal to the bill, and then 'politely' asked not to return for a while, Naruto sighed as he picked up his once again hot soup and said "Arceus I hope that guy's the OTHER runner and not the one we're going to have to escort."

Sakura blinked and asked "What makes you think he's one of the runners for the race?"

"He was easily moving at mid-chunnin speeds while wearing medium level leg weights." Naruto said and both Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened at that, understandable given medium level weights for shinobi was roughly thirty pounds, and that guy had been wearing TWO of them and still capable of mid shinobi speeds.

Thoughts of how difficult it would be working with the teen if he was their charge were eventually pushed to the side as the three had their lunch then left to complete the final leg of their journey.

Time Skip: Port Town of Degarashi

Boss Jirocho turned out to be an older man who gave off the sense of being a shrewd but courteous business man. He smiled at them from his kneeling pillow as he said "Welcome to the Land of Tea, and thank you for coming so quickly."

"It's not a problem sir, we've been made aware that this mission is rather important politically, so we came with as few distractions as possible." Sakura said.

The boss raised an eyebrow at the pinkette's statement but held off asking about what distractions she spoke of and instead turned his attention to Sasuke as he said "The greetings seem to be done, so I'll get to the main topic. The Fifth Hokage told us to get the details of this mission from you."

The boss nodded and said "Alright then, do you know of the Dedication Ceremony at the Todoroki Great Shrine held every four years?" At the three gennin's denial, he waved them down to have a seat and once they followed his gentle order he continued "The legend goes a long time ago, in order to subdue a storm, Ryuko's Jewels were dedicated to the Todoroki Great Shrine and the storm subsided. It became a customary event that happens once every four years. At first, it was just to dedicate the jewels, but several decades ago, it became a festival in which the first-place runner became the man of the year. But in recent years, the festival has taken on another face. For ages now, in this port town of Degarashi, two families, the Wasabi and the Wagarashi, have controlled local operations and policed the town. It's embarrassing, but conflict between the two families has never ceased and there have been numerous skirmishes over territorial rights. As the struggles intensified, the town residents became entangled and even got injured…In order to put a stop to the conflict, for the first time, there was talk of some kind of mediation in the presence of the lord. And it was agreed that the power holder of the town would be determined in a contest rather than through brawls."

"The dedication race." Sakura said in understanding.

The boss nodded before he moved from history to present troubles as he continued "Four years ago, the Wagarashi easily won by hiring a Shinobi, and we have learned that they've hired a Shinobi again this year. In order counteract that, we sent messengers to the Hidden Leaf Village with a request, but they were ambushed and attacked." The boss bowed and said "I beg you! Please lend us your power, we cannot afford to lose this race to the Wagarashi Family! If we do, they will control this town for four more years."

Naruto grinned and said "If it's power you need, it's power you've got sir, we'll keep your runner safe, that's a promise."

"Speaking of the runner, who do you want us to escort?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, so you'll take this job?" The boss said as he rose from his bow before clapping his hands. A figure appeared on the other side of the room's paper wall and a door was slid open. As the figure behind it was revealed, Naruto resisted the urge to face palm even as he muttered low enough for only his teammates to hear "Sometimes I really hate being right."

Said two teammates remained silent though they agreed as the teen from before said "Did you call for me, Boss?" The teen then looked to his right and his eyes widened before they narrowed in anger and he said in an almost growl "You."

"Us." Naruto said as his hand twitched for a Pokeball, one of which began twitching itself as Blastoise started laughing his head off inside it.

"Oh, you guys know each other? Then that makes the story fast." Boss Jirocho said, the twitch in his lips showing that he found the metaphysical lightning bolts Naruto and the teen were trading amusing.

Sakura sighed and waved her hand in front of her face and said "That might not actually be the case sir..."

Naruto stood up with crossed arms and said "I'm going to scout the course for potential ambush points." The next instant, he was a Swellow that quickly flew out of the room, whapping the teen on the head with a wing as he went. His now much keener hearing heard the Boss say "Well that's certainly different, it seems the Wagarashis will have a much harder time ambushing you this year Idate." Naruto smirked at that before he picked up the speed and went to the nearby island to perform some reconnaissance.

His smirk widened as he thought 'And after I think I'll give the opposition a visit. After all, it's hard to run a race when you're covered in water proof itching powder.'

END

Author's Notes: Soon to be standard reminder, my update schedule is on my profile. That said, yes, I'm having this arc in multiple chapters rather than a single one like in Oh What Shadow Clones Can Do. The reasoning for this is because OWSCCD's Team Maelstrom is a team that to a member has undergone severe weight training and so would have no problem matching Idate's full speed making the trip and then the race a short event indeed. TBAM Team 7 however has neither had a year's experience or said weight training so they wouldn't have reached Degarashi without stopping and so DID meet Idate at the tea house adding a bit more complexity to the upcoming race.

On another note, I'm one month away from meeting my New Year's resolution of an update a week, keep your fingers crossed people.