Akuma's POV:
It was a nice day. The sky was clear, the sun was bright and as usual, we were at the academy, waiting to be assigned a new mission or chore. Sasuke and I were natural and little bored, Sakura was normal and Naruto was hyperactive and happy as ever.
"Okay, let's do this! Whatever the mission is, I am in and ready to go!" he said and I rolled my eyes.
"Hn", Sasuke, who was between Naru and me, said and cut Naruto's cheer.
"But… where is Kakashi sensei?" Sakura wondered and it was only then that I noticed that he was missing. I know, I know I am a terrible student that I did not know that my sensei was missing but hey, I am not his babysitter.
"Man, some teacher. He is always the last one here" Naru stated.
"Kakashi won't be here at all," a voice said and we all turned our attention to the door, only to see Lady Tsunade and her assistant, Shizune, if I remember right, walking in.
"Grandma Tsunade what's up?" Naru said and I giggled at her nickname
"Stop calling me that, will you? Akuma, stop laughing" she said as she sat at her chair.
"Sorry Lady Tsunade," I said while rubbing the back of my neck.
"Um, Lady Hokage… what's this about sensei not coming?" Sakura asked.
"You know that our forces are all stretched in. All our jounin are busy on other missions including Kakashi. You 4 will just have to handle this on your own" she said and showed us the scroll. "It's a B-rank escort mission. Someone important"
"Important… really?" Sakura asked.
And they are giving it to us?, I wondered.
Well, that was shocking. We were not the best genin team and we definitely weren't meant to handle B-rank missions on our own. Yet, there we were with the scroll in front of us. Call me paranoid and maybe kind of pessimistic but I didn't not like that at all. Something was odd, something bad would definitely come and knowing our luck; I wasn't just overdramatic.
"Of course it could develop into an A-rank mission if you run at trouble"
"So, who do we escort?" Sasuke asked.
"I do not know"
"Come again?" I repeated and snapped from whatever corner of my mind I went.
"Hold on! What do you mean you do not know?" Naru asked.
"Every 4 years, our neighbour, the land of Tea, holds a dedication ceremony at the Tororoki Shrine and each time, we are asked to escort a runner who participates in the race that is part of the ceremonies. This year, the messengers who were bringing the request were attacked before they could get here"
"Who attacked them?" Naru asked.
"I am sorry but I still do not follow the story very well," Sakura said.
"Well, don't worry about that now. When you meet boss Jirocho he will feel you in on everything"
"Where do we meet boss Jirocho? Ah! That gambler guy we met" Naru said and I lifted an eyebrow.
I didn't know the guy and I suspected that he must have met him when he was out with Master Jiraiya to bring back Lady Tsunade. Well, that was an interesting mission and I was stuck here. I sulked a little bit but kept my attention to the Hokage.
"That's everything I know. Now, do not waste time! They are expecting you at the land of tea by the day! Keep moving!"
"Got it!' we all said in sync.
"You can count on us!", Naru added as we all ran out of the building.
After we had packed our things, we left the village in a hurry in order to reach there on time. However, after a lot of running, we turned it into walking. We were walking in a formation that was going with Sasuke at the front, at both of his sides but a little behind was Naru and I and between us but last was Sakura. None of us was talking us we were all lost in our own thoughts. I did not know why but I had a strange feeling as if something was warning me that something would go wrong.
"Hey Sakura, Akuma are you hungry at all?" Naru asked and snapped me from my thoughts.
"I am not very hungry Naru but I would not mind eating something. What about you Sakura?
"A little bit maybe"
"Good idea! Let's have a break and what a coincidence that happens to be a tea shop right there!" he shouted and ran towards the shop.
"Wait for Naruto!", Sakura said but he ignored her.
"Forget it Sakura. We both know that he will simply ignore us when it comes to food", I said.
Sasuke, Sakura and I left out a sigh as we entered the shop and found Naruto already sitting at a table with a giant happy grin on his face. I sat next to him while Sasuke sat across me and Sakura across Naruto.
"What will you be having?" the lady asked us while bringing our tea and leaves it on the table.
"Some sweet beam soup!" Naru said.
"I will take dumplings, please," I said.
"Me too, I will have the dumplings please and you Sasuke?"
"Just rice," he said.
"Good, I will be back on a moment," the woman said and went to bring our orders.
"I just hope we get some fighting in!"
"Don't you dare go making trouble Naruto, not this time!" Sakura scolded him.
"He is right Naru. Remember our mission"
"I know okay! I will not" he said, almost whispering the second phrase in defeat.
"Just sitting around in the shade?" a young man, stopped next to Sakura and said while having his back turned on us. "Sucking down some sweet beam soup? A ninja's life is pretty cushy"
"What did you say?" Naru said and I glared at the young boy.
"I guess you are not taking a lot of action in the leaf village, judging how out of shape you look"
"That does it!" Naru said and stood up, only to be held back by me.
"Naru stop!" I said but then my gaze went to him, who was looking at Sakura.
"Hey, where did you come from sweetie? I did not see you sitting here. I did not mean you of course"
"Thank you," Sakura said and he only leaned at the table more, so they could be at the same eye level.
"Hello there! I am Idate Morino", he introduced and I raised an eyebrow at him. Morino? Why this sounds familiar to me? I wondered but did not take my eyes off him. "So, what do they call you?"
"Will you punch him in the nose Sakura or do you want me too?" Naru shouted and I tried my best to hold him back as I really wanted to let him loose and smack this guy's face but I held myself.
"Sakura huh? That's a beautiful name. Well then since fate brought us together isn't time we talk about our future?"
Sakura blushed. "I-I am not sure of it… W-what future?"
"Oh you know, the part where you give up this ridiculous ninja business and run away with me"
"Hey if you do not stop that I am going to start hitting you!" Naru shouted while I was holding him from the back of his collar.
"Do not worry, I was just kidding around" he said and turned to him. "But the rest of it, that's no joke. If there is, one thing that I cannot stand is a ninja. You better go back from where you came or they will be trouble. I am warning you!"
"Are you threatening us?!" I asked as I slapped my hands on the table; stood up and glared at him, having enough of dealing with such an attitude.
"Yeah, I do! Shit down Shorty!" he said and if glares could kill, he would be 10 feet underground after he had died around 10-20 times.
"That's it I had enough! Bring it on!" Naru said as he jumped on his seat, so he could be at the same height as Idate and a glaring contest started between them.
"Come down Naruto. You too Akuma!"
"She is right. Just ignore the punk, we do not have the time" Sasuke said as if nothing had happened.
"Get out of here Sasuke! After that guy said, don't you have any ninja pride? You can ignore it if you want but I am going to-" Naru shouted but stopped when he understood that Idate had disappeared.
"Huh? He disappeared" Sakura stated and even Sasuke was shocked.
"Where the heck is he?" I asked with wide eyes.
"I hate that. He says what he has to say and then gets away!" Naruto complained while hitting his feet at the seat like a little 4-year-old.
"There you go. Thank you for waiting", the lady said she brought our orders.
"Sit down Naru. It is over!" I said as I pulled him down and left out a sigh, my anger subsiding.
"Huh? Why two bills?" Sakura asked as she noticed it.
"Yours and that young friend of yours that just left. He said that you will be paying for him" he said and Naru, Sakura and I were literally had steam coming out of our ears.
"That's it! He crossed the line, making fool of us. I am going to catch that jerk! Naru said and stood up.
"I am with you Naru. I really want to take my anger on someone and he is perfect!", I said as I grabbed my backpack and ran to the door.