XXV: Awakened

Sarada

Sarada was on the porch out in front of her house, sitting alone in the late morning sun. It had been three day since Team Naruto had been formed and the squad had yet to do anything. No training sessions, no mission, not even a team meeting.

As she sat there with not much to do, Sarada noticed Shikadai and Inojin walking down the street.

"…of Konohamaru-sensei?" Sarada heard Inojin say as the two boys came within earshot.

Shikadai, lagging slightly behind the Yamanaka, shrugged his shoulders in response. "Alright, I guess. He's the same as he's always been. Wish we'd get more breaks, though."

Inojin turned so that he was walking backwards as he talked to Shikadai. "Maybe we'd get more breaks if you actually tried during training and Chocho didn't take every break as an opportunity to have a six-course meal."

Shikadai shrugged again. "Maybe. It's all a drag, really. Besides, my dad told me that we're already better than our parents were when they were our ages."

"That's no reason to be lazy," Inojin replied.

"Whatever," Shikadai said lazily. "Hopefully we don't get another mission today, because the last one was…"

Sarada slowly got out of her seat as the boys exited her hearing range. With her mother gone at work the house seemed eerily empty and so Sarada elected to go out to the backyard where she had a target set up. Once she got outside she started working with throwing kunai and shuriken, if only to keep in some semblance of a rhythm.

After about twenty minutes Sarada stopped, feeling a presence watching her. She turned to see Shizune standing at the gate, watching her.

"I tried the front door," Shizune said, "but you didn't answer, so came to check out back."

Sarada relaxed from her knife throwing stance, wiping away the small beads of sweat that were forming on her forehead before removing her glasses and cleaning them. "What is it?"

"The Hokage is summoning you, Sarada. I already informed the rest of your squad, so we'll leave whenever you're ready."

Sarada gave a short nod to show her understanding before walking back inside. There wasn't a whole she needed to do to prepare, just gathering some standard supplies. She was quickly done and exited the building from the front door, having made sure that the house was locked and secure.

Shizune stood outside waiting for Sarada. "Ready? Let's go."

With that said the two left the Uchiha residence in the direction of the Hokage's. They walked in silence, Sarada finding no compelling reason to say anything and if Shizune had anything to say about the reason behind the summon she was keeping it to herself.

Eventually they reached the Hokage Residence and Shizune escorted her to the mission assignment room, a simple, open room with a couple of long tables and big windows. The Hokage sat at one of these tables next to Shikamaru, with Ronin and Natsuko standing in the middle of the room across the table from them.

Sarada moved to stand with her teammates as Shizune took up a seat next to Naruto.

"Well," Shikamaru said as everyone got into place, "I think its about time for you guys to go on a mission."

"A mission?!" Ronin exclaimed. "We haven't even had any training sessions together!"

"Yes, but you need to complete missions to help support the village," Shikamaru replied. "If your sensei doesn't give you training between missions that is his problem," he added as he glanced over at Naruto, who smiled awkwardly.

"In any case," Shikamaru said as he pulled a paper from a stack on the table, "I think that we should start you with a nice D-rank-"

"Nonsense," Naruto interrupted, "we'll do a C-rank."

"Um, Naruto," Shikamaru said, "they're rookies, they're not ready for a C-rank mission."

"They'll never learn anything on a D-rank," the Hokage replied. "Besides, I remember how boring they are." He filed through the stack of papers and pulled one out. "This should do, a group of bandits harassing a farming village less than half a day from here."

Naruto read through the mission details a few times before making a hand sign and creating a shadow clone, who walked around the table to stand with the three genin.

"Me," the original Naruto said, "your job is to drive out those bandits!"

The shadow clone saluted. "Understood, me!" He then turned and started to walk out of the room in an exaggerated march. "Come on, lets go!"

Ronin shook his head. "Why me?" he said mostly to himself.

A few hours after being assigned the mission Team Naruto was on the road, well on their way to the bandit-plagued village. For the most part the four had been quiet, with even Naruto and Natsuko having little to say.

The latter apparently had had enough of that and broke the silence.

"Sensei," Natusko said over her shoulder from her position at the front of the group, "what did you mean when you said that we wouldn't learn anything from a D-rank mission?"

"Hm?" Naruto replied. "Oh, that. D-ranks are just menial labor. Finding stray cats, walking dogs, babysitting, stuff like that. There is nothing in those missions that a non-ninja couldn't do."

Natsuko turned so that she was walking backwards. "But those things sound so…uncool."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, I thought the same thing when I was your age."

"Will we fight other ninja?" Ronin asked. Apparently now that Natsuko had broken the silence the floodgates were opened.

Naruto turned to look at Ronin. "If things go according to plan, no. C-ranks involve fighting against non-ninja, but as soon one gets involved it gets bumped up to at least B-rank."

"What was your first C-rank, Naruto-sensei?!" Natsuko exclaimed.

Naruto closed his eyes and smiled as he remembered. "My first C-rank mission turned out to be an A-rank. We were hired by a carpenter from the Land of Waves, Tazuna, to protect him while he was building a bridge."

"How was it an A-rank?" Ronin said. "I thought you said that it was your first C-rank."

Naruto opened his eyes. "Old man Tazuna lied when he hired the mission, saying that he had no reason to expect ninja. He couldn't afford a higher-end mission, so he made it sound easier than it was to bring down the price. I don't remember all the details, but some rich guy was after him for the bridge he was building and ending up hiring a rogue jonin from the Hidden Mist named Zabuza."

Ronin looked up at Naruto in surprise. "Zabuza Momochi? The Demon of the Hidden Mist, member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?"

"That's him!" Naruto exclaimed. "Wait, how did you know?"

"I read about him," Ronin answered. "He died assassinating a corrupt business magnate named Gato in the Land of Waves. Were you there?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "That was during our mission."

"Awesome!" Natsuko yelled excitedly. "You must have had a really cool fight with him!"

Naruto was visibly taken aback by this. "What? No way. He was much too strong for me back then. Kakashi-sensei did most of the fighting."

"Oh," Natsuko said, deflated.

"Well," Naruto said, smiling, "let's hope that this mission doesn't turn out anything like that one."

Sarada kicked the dirt at her feet as she stood outside the modest town hall, really just a large building with a single room inside, of the farming village that they had been sent to protect. Naruto was within, discussing the mission details with the village elders.

Natsuko bounced happily in place as she hummed a tune that only she knew. Suddenly she stopped and turned to her teammates. "Hey, you guys think that Bolt's alright? You know, with his little sister being kidnapped and all."

Ronin, who had been sitting against a tree with his eyes closed, opened them and looked at Natsuko. "Why do you ask?"

Natsuko shrugged. "I was just thinking about it."

Ronin closed his eyes. "Bolt will be fine, nothing gets him down."

Sarada looked over at her teammates. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. We should be there for him if he needs it."

Ronin looked back at her, seemingly considering if talking back was worthwhile. "Whatever you say," he said with a shrug.

The door into the town hall and the three genin jumped in surprise. Naruto came out of the building and slammed the door back behind him.

"We're ready to go?" Ronin asked as he looked up at the Hokage.

"Yep," Naruto replied. He knelt down and pulled a map from his pack, flatting it out on the ground. "Well, the bandits are most likely camped out here," he said, pointing at some hills northwest of the village. "They seem to be very confident as they haven't moved from there in a few weeks."

Ronin leaned forward to get a better look at the map. "How many should we expect?"

"The locals have never been able to get an exact number," Naruto answered. "They estimate 15-20, possibly a couple dozen."

"That many?" Natsuko asked nervously. "Can we defeat that many?"

Naruto patted her on the head and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, these thugs won't be able to stand against ninja."

Natsuko smiled hopefully and nodded.

Naruto stood up and pointed in a general northwesterly direction. "Let's go!" he said as he took off running, jumping into the trees of the forest surrounding the village.

"Wait for us!" Natsuko screamed as she scrambled to follow.

"Wha-?" Ronin said before he let out an exasperated sigh. He then got up and started running. Sarada quietly started following the others.

Sarada had never gone on a mission before, but she was pretty sure that they weren't supposed to be conducted like this. They had done little to no scouting, they had no formation, and no real plan. Thus far everything they've done since leaving the farming village was Naruto running ahead and the three genin desperately trying not to fall too far behind, all of them losing sight of each other.

After ten minutes of running Sarada spotted Ronin, who had noticeably slowed from his top speed. When Sarada caught up to him she matched his pace.

"Ronin, you really need to work on your stamina," Sarada said, concerned.

Ronin shot her a glare. "Oh, shut up, Uchiha, not everyone's blessed with good genes."

"Naruto-sensei told you to work with me and Natsuko," Sarada replied.

"He said work with you, not like you," her teammate retorted.

Sarada remained quiet for a moment, turning her attention back in front of her. "Whatever, we need to catch up. Put some speed into it."

"Yeah, yeah," Ronin replied before gathering his strength and bounding ahead. Sarada sighed and matched his pace.

After five more minutes Sarada caught sight of Natsuko and Naruto, kneeling on a tree branch. Sarada and Ronin moved in next to them.

"Sensei," Ronin started, "we need to talk about this, first you just start running-"

Naruto interrupted the boy by holding up a hand and pointing at the hills just past the edge of the forest. Sarada looked in that direction and saw at least a dozen armed men, most likely the bandits they were after, gathered on the side of the closest hill, obscured by the trees in the way.

"This is the perfect time for an ambush," Naruto whispered. "Ronin, Sarada, I want you to-"

Naruto didn't get to finish his sentence when the tree they were standing in burst into the flames. Surprised, the four ninja instinctively jumped to the next tree, but mid-jump Sarada saw several projectiles flying towards them. She thought they could easily dodge them, but was surprised when some sort of chakra shield surrounded them.

The projectiles suddenly blew up with a force greater than any paper bomb she'd ever seen. The explosion bounced off the chakra shield and, stuck in mid air with nothing to anchor against, was sent flying through the air, crashing through the trees. Sarada probably should have been more thankful that she wasn't caught in the explosions, but at that moment she was preoccupied with the fact that she was being thrown into into the side of the shield.

They came to a rest outside of the forest, at the foot of the hill they had seen the armed men gather, men who now had them surrounded on all sides, numbering at least 30. The shield receded and Sarada finally noticed its source, Naruto. Now wreathed in a glowing orange and black cloak, Sarada was transfixed, as were most of the bandits.

"The Nine-tails Cloak," Ronin whispered, mostly to himself.

"Well, well, well, Naruto Uzamaki, the Seventh Hokage. I'm surprised that he's the one they sent, though I suppose he sent himself. Anyway, I was hoping that we'd be getting the smaller fish until later, though that does explain how he survived both my fire jutsu and your bombs," said a voice Sarada heard from behind her.

Turning around Sarada saw two men stepping out from the forest. Both were of average height and slight frame, one wearing a beat up Hidden Stone flak jacket, the other a heavily scratched Hidden Mist headband.

The latter spoke with a look of melancholy about him. "You're right, my friend. I remember that cloak from the war, its awesome power. Should be fun to go up against it. Still, it's a bit of a pity to have to fight a great hero."

Naruto took a few steps forward, putting himself between his students and the two shinobi. "If you both took part in the Fourth Great Ninja War, why are you here? Didn't you learn anything about peace and cooperation between nations?"

The Stone ninja smirked. "We learned plenty, after all, we became friends after the war. But the war is the reason that we're here. The peace that came afterwards put us on hard times, we were surplus to our village's requirements. So we came here, figured that, in the spirit of international cooperation, we'd work out some of our old grudges against the Hidden Leaf."

"What are we going to do, Sensei?" Ronin asked.

The Mist ninja laughed. "Oh, wait, he's got brat's with him. This must a mission for them. We can use that to our advantage."

"The guy with the explosives is the problem here, I can't fight him and protect you three from his attacks at the same time. I need to draw him away. But I can't draw both of the shinobi away and I can't leave you alone to fight the other. So it looks like my best option is-." Naruto then bit his right thumb, drawing blood. He took the bloody thumb and slammed into the palm of his left hand, then quickly went through a short series of hand signs. "Summoning Jutsu!" he yelled as he slammed his hand on the ground.

There was a large cloud of smoke and as it cleared Sarada saw a toad, tall as an average man and twice as wide, wearing armor and sword strapped across its back.

"Hey there," Naruto said, "how you doing Mr…uhh…what was your name again?"

The toad turned to Naruto. "Naruto! Can't you take an effort to at least learn our names?! I swear it's like you only know Gamabunta and his kids." The toad sighed. "Gamaraka, remember it this time."

"Yeah, sure," Naruto replied.

Gamaraka turned his attention to the opposing ninja. "So what do you need me to do?"

"I'm going to draw the one from the Hidden Mist away," Naruto answered. "Look after the genin for me, don't let them get hurt."

Gamaraka drew his sword. "Understood."

Naruto held out his arms and chakra extended past his hands, flying straight towards the Mist ninja. The man smiled and dodged the chakra arms as they writhed around him, forcing him further and further into the woods, away from everyone else.

When the two combatants disappeared from view the Hidden Stone ninja walked towards a tree and sat down. "Well, I really should go help, but I can't leave our flank exposed like this. But, it would be rather crass of me to turn my strength against a bunch of pups." He signaled to the bandits, vaguely waving in the genins' direction, as if he were too bored to put that much effort into it. "I'll leave it to you fellows, should be more of a sporting match."

Out of the corner of her eye Sarada saw one of the men rush at her with a sword. Instinctively she ducked underneath the strike, countering with a jab to the chin, knocking the attacker off balance. She drew a kunai made a slash for his neck, but then she stopped. She realized that landing her blow for end this man's life and that thought terrified her.

The bandit saw her hesitation and took advantage, making a downward swing that Sarada didn't react to until it was too late. Fortunately she didn't have to, because as soon as the man was there he was gone in a flash of blue.

There was then a loud thud as the toad landed next to Sarada. "You're lucky my Liquid Bullet got there in time. What's your name kid?"

Sarada turned to see the wet, broken, and mangled body of the bandit sitting in a small crater on the side of the hill. "Sarada. Sarada Uchiha."

Gamaraka readied his sword. "I understand if you are hesitant to kill, Sarada, Naruto is no different. But at the very least you must fight, to protect yourself and your teammates. So go out and fight. Same goes for you two." Ronin and Natsuko nodded solemnly.

Realizing what the toad was saying, Sarada steeled herself for the coming fight. Though they were only genin, even the lowliest ninja could defeat untrained bandits such as these. One by one the enemy fell, but the genin never landed a single killing blow, though Gamaraka had no such qualms. When the last of the enemy fell Sarada surveyed the battlefield.

Most of the bandits were on the ground either unconscious or writhing in pain, those that weren't either had gigantic sword wounds or mangled, wet bodies to show for it. Sarada and Gamaraka were situated close to each other on one side of the small battlefield, Ronin and Natsuko on the other side.

The Hidden Stone ninja chose this time to move, standing up from his seat under the tree and taking a few steps forward. "Well, those men were useless. Ah well, we can replace them. I'll just have to deal with you brats myself. Don't worry, it won't take long, even with the toad to look after you."

The man performed a short series of hand signs for a jutsu that Sarada was unfamiliar with, but almost immediately after he was finished with that he started the signs for a technique that she was much more familiar with.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" the Stone ninja yelled as flame sprang forth from his mouth.

As the fires came towards them Sarada felt large arms wrap around her as she suddenly flew into the air, carried by Gamaraka. Unable to reach Ronin and Natsuko, he fired a series of Liquid Bullets near them, creating a small gap in the flames around the genin.

As Sarada looked down she was surprised at the sheer immensity of the attack, never had she thought it possible for the Fireball Jutsu to be done on this scale. To her horror she realized that the all the men laying unconscious on the ground, the ones she couldn't bring herself to kill, they now laid dead, burned to a crisp by their own boss.

As Gamaraka and Sarada began their descent the flames started to dissipate. Ronin, probably hoping to use the fire to screen his attack, threw several shuriken at the Stone ninja. The man responded by simply waving his hand in a sweeping motion and the weapons were knocked out of the air as if by some invisible force. The man then grabbed two of the shuriken and threw them back at Ronin, landing a direct hit with both.

Sarada's eyes widened as Ronin hit the ground. The force of Gamaraka landing knocked her glasses off her face, but Sarada neither noticed nor cared. As soon as she could be she was kneeling next to Ronin, inspecting his wounds. He had not been entirely spared from the fire, he had severe burns on both arms and the shuriken had hit him in both shoulders. The wounds were most likely painful and would keep him out of the fight, but she saw no reason to believe that his life was in immediate danger. His breathing was strained, but it was steady and not fading. His eyes remained closed.

"Where is Uncle Naruto?" Sarada said out loud, though in truth she was only asking herself.

Ronin opened one of his eyes and looked at Sarada, something resembling a smile dancing across his lips. "Well, looks like you finally decided to bring those damned Uchiha eyes into play."

Sarada paused for a moment and processed what her teammate had just said. She looked at her hands and saw it. Swirling energy emanating from her body. She could see chakra. Her Sharingan had awakened.