ch. 52
"Pin that skinny little wuss! WOOH!" Naruto screamed at the television. Naruto's cheering seemed to have paid off since the wrestler in question immediately pinned his opponent.
Haku walked into the room clearly irritated at the outburst.
"Naruto, would you mind keeping it down? I've got lesson plans to work on."
"What?"
"Please don't start with that crap now."
"What?"
"Seriously, don't."
"What?"
"Say what one more time."
"What?"
Haku wasn't in the mood to play Naruto's game tonight. He walked over and slapped him over the head.
"You done fucked up now." Naruto said with a smile. He picked up Haku and slammed him into the carpet. The two room mates started wrestling on the floor. Naruto was dominating due to his obvious size and strength advantage but Haku was no weakling either. They fought for a few minutes before Naruto finally pinned Haku to the floor.
"Who's the king of the castle?" Naruto arrogantly asked.
"Neither of you." Naruto and Haku looked up and saw Yugito, back from her mission.
"Before I forget, the raikage told me that he needs to see you two in the morning. Something about a mission." Yugito turned and walked away. No doubt to take a shower after her long mission.
The next morning, Naruto and Haku went to the raikage's office as ordered.
"What do ya need us for boss?" Naruto asked.
"I'll make this quick, lord Nathair has requested you two as his bodyguards for a political gathering in the land of iron. You'll be leaving tomorrow morning."
"What? Why do we have to go?" Naruto complained.
"He said you two made a good impression on him last night. I shouldn't have to remind you of the importance of a mission like this, Naruto. This man is going to be our biggest supplier of work for the foreseeable future. Don't mess this up. Haku, I trust you can keep your friend in line?"
"I will sir." Haku answered. Naruto stormed out of the room, fuming mad. Before Haku could follow him, the raikage stopped him.
"You two aren't the only ones suspicious of him. Just remember to tread lightly. He has the power to destroy our economy if he wants too. I won't risk us being in the same situation that the sand village was in a few years ago."
"Yes sir."
Elsewhere, Naruto was walking through the village, mumbling to himself about "bullshit missions". He decided to head to the training grounds to work out some of his frustration. When he got there he saw some familiar faces sparring.
"Zaku! Kin!" He yelled to get their attention.
The two former sound village genin turned and welcomed their friend with a smile. They had also grown considerably in the last three years, With Zaku around the same height as Naruto. Kin was about a head shorter than Zaku. They both wore cloud genin uniforms but Kin spiced up her outfit with a matching grey scarf.
"Just who I wanted to see. Think fast!" Zaku lifted his arm and pointed it at Naruto. Naruto jumped in the air to avoid the fireball that flew out of Zaku's arm cannon.
"That's new." Naruto thought out loud after landing.
"I've finally managed to apply my element to these cannons in my arms. Now I can use fire without weaving hand signs. Awesome ain't it?" Zaku boasted.
"That is awesome!" Naruto agreed while cracking his knuckles.
"Let's put that new ability of yours to the test." Naruto leapt at Zaku and the two friends began sparring.
"... I guess I'll referee then." Kin said. She knew that trying to come between these two when they decided to go at it was pointless.
The two started their sparring with some taijutsu. Naruto started off with a roundhouse kick that Zaku ducked. Zaku attempted to counter with an uppercut, but Naruto barely dodged it. Naruto backed away and started sniffing around.
"You smell something burning?" He asked.
"Nope." Zaku said, barely holding back hysterical laughter.
"Dumbass..." Kin said flatly.
Naruto quickly realized that the burning smell was coming from his own head. The tips of some of his spikes were slowly burning and Naruto started freaking out and running back and forth like an idiot. Eventually Kin put the fire out by pouring the contents of her canteen over his head.
"He can also coat his hands in fire chakra that burns anything his hand gets close to. You're lucky he only got the tips."
Naruto glared at Zaku who was now howling with laughter. In the blink of an eye Naruto closed the distance between them and tackled Zaku to the ground.
"Just for that, I'm going to put you in every submission hold I know." Naruto was a man of his word. Naruto arrived home around nightfall after taking a brief detour to the store to get some products to fix his hair. Before he opened the door he noticed a piece of paper pinned to the door with a senbon.
"Yugito's friends are here tonight. Killer Bee said we could stay at his place." The note read. Not wanting to deal with his sister's floozy friends tonight, Naruto hurried to Killer Bee's house. It wasn't very far so he arrived within minutes. Naruto knocked on the door and Haku answered. Something was off about him though. His face was pink and he looked wobbly on his feet.
"Did Bee get you drunk?" Naruto asked.
"Not... Bee... His... Friend." Haku said, hiccuping between words.
"Who does he have over? Naruto asked as he walked in.
Haku led him to the living room where the last person he expected to see was sitting on the couch.
"Well if it isn't my cute little godson!" Jiraiya happily exclaimed. His face even pinker than Haku's. Killer Bee passed out on the floor in front of him with an empty bottle of sake in his hand.
Naruto said the only thing he thought was appropriate at that moment.
"What the fuck!?"
Meanwhile, back at the leaf village.
"The reason I called you two in here is because there is going to be a political gathering in the land of iron in a few days and the feudal lord has requested two chunin as bodyguards. I've chosen you two because, HEY! My eyes are up here missy!" TenTen blushed and apologized to the hokage.
"As I was saying, I've chosen you because the feudal lord asked for this one by name." Tsunade nodded in the direction of Sasuke who nodded back.
"The reason I chose you as his partner is because"
"Because you acknowledge me as the best kunoichi!?" TenTen blurted out.
"... Yes."
"I promise I won't let you down lady Tsunade!"
"Meet the feudal lord at the main gate in the morning. You two are dismissed." TenTen ran out of the office at top speed. Sasuke stayed behind and Tsunade had a good idea why.
"The real reason I chose her is that the only other available chunin is Lee. This mission is too important for you two to have one of your ridiculous dick measuring contests."
"... We only did that once. I also wanted to ask, why chunin instead of jonin?"
"The feudal lords always agree on what level of security they're allowed to bring before any gathering. This year they agreed on chunin. cheap bastards probably didn''t feel like paying for jonin this year. If that's all, you should head home. Didn't you have a dinner date with Sakura tonight? She mentioned something about cooking you something special."
"... Shit."
