Chapter 4 – Joys of Duty

This one's late. Sorry about that. Also decided to start using somewhat general honorifics as well as Japanese terms that I hope I remember. Also on another note, I learnt that Tsuchi no Kuni doesn't have a direct border with Hi no Kuni. Crazy. I'll do something about that.

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine. I just like to wish it was.

Transitions and flashbacks are in italics.

Tailed beast speech is in bold.

'Thoughts are in single quotations.'

Following the events of Chapter 2, the next morning…

"This is boring!"

Naruto flung his hands in the air for the umpteenth time since they'd left the village. He walked at the head of their four man group, as if guiding them, yet it was clear that was not the case due to his complaining. His exaggerated gestures were getting wilder and wilder with every time he did them. It worried Kakashi.

"Naruto, calm down. We've made good progress on our journey no?"

"We've only been traveling for ten minutes!"

Sasuke, who was walking to Kakashi's left, shot a glare in Naruto's direction.

"And yet somehow you've managed to say you're bored twenty times in twenty different ways."

"Can you blame me? There's nothing but trees out here!"

Sakura, who was to the right, sighed heavily.

"When we travelled with Tazuna you didn't say that."

"That's because I knew we were going to get in on some action! I mean, we got attacked by ninja as soon as we left the village, how awesome is that 'tebayo?"

Sasuke snorted.

"You didn't look so awesome when that happened."

"Th-They caught me by surprise!"

"They caught all of us by surprise."

"Well you got your freaky dojutsu to help you!"

"Hey, don't call my kekkai genkai freaky! Besides, it just means I was that much better than you already."

Sakura butted in with a randomly placed comment then.

"Sasuke-kun didn't you only activate your eyes when you were fighting Haku?"

"Hah! Sakura-chan's right!"

Sasuke grunted.

"Then it means I was just that good without the Sharingan."

"What!? No, that's not how you're supposed to retort to that statement Teme!"

"I can respond however the hell I want Dobe!"

"Tch, you want to fight this out?!"

"Fine by me!"

Sasuke rolled his shoulders before turning in Naruto's direction. Naruto cracked his knuckles before facing Sasuke. Before either of them could come to blows though, a pair of arms gripped their shoulders. Kakashi smiled down at his two male students. He didn't have his nice smile on though. His current smile, often mistaken by those who didn't know him well for a normal one, spoke of many terrible deeds that would befall those who went against him. This was his violent smile.

"I would advise that you two rethink your approach to settling your differences."

"G-Got it Kakashi-sensei."

"Y-Yeah, what he said."

Sakura rose an eyebrow then.

"That's weird sensei. Normally you'd let Sasuke-kun and Naruto fight and then you'd lecture them afterwards."

Kakashi smiled at Sakura, a nice smile this time.

"How observant of you Sakura. Part of why I did that was because we are on a mission and thus we should follow mission protocols. Naruto?"

"Uh, I forgot the page it was on but we're not supposed to do anything other than head to where we're supposed to right?"

"Specifically, as ninja on active duty we are to prioritize active objectives before any others. But points for effort, it means you're trying."

"Haha…"

Sakura stared oddly at Naruto for a moment before continuing.

"What's the other part then?"

This time Kakashi got serious.

"That would be because of the type of mission border patrol is. Or rather, what it is now."

The shift in attitude immediately caught all three of the genin's attention.

"Border patrol is one of the last places you're going to want to be right now. However, village protocol prevents us from denying them."

Sakura gulped.

"Is it… dangerous?"

"Imagine a group of ninja with skills comparable to Zabuza's. Now imagine there are multiple of these groups actively trying to pick you off one by one in an attempt to cull their enemies' numbers."

Sakura's face paled.

"Oh… I-I think I'm going to be sick."

Kakashi patted her shoulder.

"Oh, you'll be fine. What you're feeling is a sensation we call anxiety, or in your case dread."

Sasuke meanwhile was angrily trying to kill Kakashi with his glare.

"Why didn't you tell us it would be like that before we left the village?"

Naruto chimed in.

"Yeah, now I'm super pumped for this mission! Three months of kicking ass, here I come!"

Sakura shot Naruto a dirty look, despite appearing as if she was about to throw up.

"Yeah right, it's going to be three months of trying not to die baka."

Kakashi lifted his hands in a placating manner.

"I wouldn't simply accept this mission without being sure if my team was ready or not for it. Not so easily anyways."

He continued.

"You won't be doing any fighting. At your ranks, you aren't expected to do so. Merely report your findings during patrols. If you encounter an enemy, you're expected to retreat to the nearest outpost."

Naruto's grin slowly morphed into a wide frown.

"Whaaaat? Now it's boring again!"

Sasuke grunted, as expected.

"So it's exactly how I thought it would be."

Sakura internally felt relieved but didn't express it outwardly from fear of upsetting Sasuke. Kakashi spoke.

"Well then, daylight's burning."

At that all three genin groaned, though Sakura did it out of nausea, Naruto out of boredom and Sasuke out of annoyance.

Three days later, near the border of Tsuchi no Kuni…

Team Seven once again passed another site of carnage along the barren plains they travelled across. Kunai and shuriken were scattered about, many coated in blood. Dark patches of the aforementioned substance patterned the ground about them, and the iron stench in the air was a dead giveaway as to what had occurred there. Sakura shuddered from the site, and even Naruto and Sasuke were off put by it. Kakashi merely soldiered on in silence, deciding to let his team think for themselves in that situation. Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who spoke first.

"Why aren't there any bodies?"

Kakashi sighed. Of course that would be what Sasuke thought was off about the whole situation. He couldn't blame him though. Sasuke had witnessed the aftermath of Itachi's massacre, there was no sensitization for the seven year old at the time. He was lucky he could still function somewhat normally.

"There are two possible reasons. Both conditional. One, is that our forces disposed of the corpses after the battle."

"And two?"

"The enemy took the corpses."

Sakura's face turned green and Naruto clenched his stomach in unease. Naruto weakly spoke up.

"Maybe this mission wasn't such a good idea."

I for one find this quite savoury.

'You're the only one here who likes this!'

And? I don't need you humans being able to relate to me.

'Now you're just being an ass.'

Again, I don't care.

While Naruto was engaged in an intense mental shouting match with his inner demon, Sakura felt a chill run down her spine.

"Sensei, I feel like we're being watched."

"That's because we are being watched."

Naruto glanced around for a moment before nodding his head.

"Yeah, there's a bunch of people around us."

Sakura's neck spun about so fast she nearly cracked it.

"What?! Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because Kakashi-sensei didn't say anything."

Naruto's strangely nonchalant attitude did Sakura's mood no favours. Sasuke rolled his shoulders and grinned, relieving the stress the bag on his back gave him.

"Can I beat them up?"

"You can't, they're not opponents you can fight. Not without losing a limb or two anyways."

Sasuke glared at Kakashi.

"Then why aren't you doing something about them?"

"For one simple reason. They're our allies."

Naruto kept on walking as if he hadn't heard anything, Sasuke scoffed before continuing his quiet brooding, and Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Kakashi continued.

"This, is the border region of Tsuchi no Kuni. The ninja out here are different from those you encounter on regular missions. They're… how you say…"

A foreign voice chimed in.

"Built different?"

"Yes that- wait I know that voice."

"It'd be terrible if you didn't."

Kakashi slowly turned left and peered at the top of a hill nearby. The harsh sun glared down mercilessly upon both him and his team, but a silhouette created a grand shadow that stretched over quite the distance. Peering closer, he could make out long purple hair and the familiar garb of Konoha Anbu.

"Quite the surprise to see you here, Yugao-san."

"Aren't you supposed to be good with scents or something? I'm hurt that you didn't recognize me."

"You aren't, and that's not how that works."

"Well fine. You're lucky you know, if you'd come a day earlier you might have been in serious trouble."

"Another raid?"

"Yeah, three in one day."

The chill that went down Sakura's back before was nothing compared to the one that went down her back then.

"R-Raid?"

Yugao body flickered down the hill appearing in front of Kakashi. Turning her head left she spoke to Sakura.

"You're pretty uninformed huh?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"He doesn't tell us anything till the last minute."

"Classic Kakashi."

Kakashi put his arms up to his chest in faux annoyance.

"I'm right here you know?"

Both Yugao and Sasuke answered simultaneously.

"We know."

Yugao sighed.

"It's something you're going to have to get used to, so I'll tell you. The border has seven main outposts with about four or five sub outposts attached to each. Six of the main outposts are run by Kusa ninja normally, with only one run by Konoha, since it's not our territory. The issue is that Kusa is severely unprepared to deal with threats from Iwa."

Sakura's eyes lit up in realization.

"So they need back up from Konoha to handle the larger threat."

"Partly right. What they need is relief. During the first few days or so after the invasion, the border was under heavy fire. Kusagakure's lost about seventy percent of their forces."

Naruto's mouth dropped.

"Seventy?! Isn't that a lot?!"

"Yeah it's a huge amount. They're recovering but not at the rate needed to fend off Iwa. So we're covering for them."

Sakura's mouth quirked.

"Then what's that have to do with raids?"

Yugao sighed, running a hand through her bangs.

"It's a vendetta really. From beyond your generation."

Kakashi nodded, taking over the explanation.

"Sakura, I'm sure you studied the Third Great Ninja War in the academy. Do you know who was key to us winning that war?"

Sakura cheerfully responded, giddy that her studies finally bore fruit.

"Mhm, the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

"And do you know what he did to end the war?"

"Yes, he singlehandedly defeated one thousand Iwa shinobi."

While Naruto stood in awe at the feat his idol had performed, Sasuke put two and two together.

"They want revenge."

Sakura's eyebrows raised.

"They want… revenge?"

Kakashi smirked in a melancholy manner.

"They don't go into detail about what he did, but to anyone from Iwagakure who was present that day, they'd describe it as one thing. A bloodbath."

Yugao spoke then.

"It's been well over a decade since that happened, but we don't forget our failures easily. Iwa hasn't forgotten. So they're performing mass raids on the outposts. The majority of the sub outposts have been destroyed, and all the outposts are essentially targets. They swoop in, hit hard, and move out. They're not trying to have any prolonged battles, they're just trying to destroy as much as possible while minimizing their own losses."

Sasuke frowned.

"Then why aren't we taking the fight to them?"

Kakashi shook his head.

"Trust me Sasuke, you don't want a war with Iwa. Not right now, and preferably not ever."

Yugao continued.

"The Sandaime is a pacifist at heart, so I'm sure he's trying to work out a deal with the Tsuchikage. Nonetheless, even if Iwa's actions are justifiable grounds for war, not only are we not ready to fight them directly, the Sandaime won't go for it. Not unless there isn't any other choice."

Kakashi nodded his head in agreement. Then he asked a question.

"So, were you on a patrol route or are we getting our own Anbu escort?"

"Both actually. You guys want an Anbu escort right?"

Sakura nodded excitedly, Naruto pretended to be all nonchalant about it but everyone saw through it, and Sasuke seemed uninterested. Yugao added on.

"You guys don't have a choice by the way. Let's go."

With that, several shadowy figures dashed through the air over the hill. Yugao made to join them before adding on another comment.

"Keep up."

Naruto grinned.

"You're on!"

He dashed up the hill, almost tripping several times but managing to keep his balance until he reached the top. Then he tripped and tumbled down the back of the hill. Only the sounds of him hitting rocks and eventually crashing into the ground clued the rest of his team and Yugao as to what was going on. However, the laughter of the Anbu on the other side let them in on the result.

An hour later, at the outpost…

"This place is…"

Naruto glanced about as ninja dashed in and out of the many small buildings, several of whom carried scrolls and other small packages. A few ninja sat on top of said buildings, whether they were trying to catch a quick break or were on lookout for enemies Naruto didn't know.

"Busy? Yeah, we always have something to do."

Naruto glanced at the person who spoke to him. Standing at around five foot eight, wearing a chunin flak jacket and commissioned overalls, the ninja next to Naruto was what you'd refer to as a career ninja. They usually grounded themselves at around chunin rank, taking on missions solely for monetary purposes. Honestly, it was boring to Naruto but he could understand why someone would want to take that path.

"I get it, but I don't understand why we're still here Enzo-san."

Enzo sighed for the seventh time since he'd met Naruto.

"Well, when your team arrived you were informed of the procedures for border patrol."

"Yeah, why'd they split us up again?"

"To allocate manpower where it's needed. Your sensei is an elite jonin so they're going to send him where they require someone of his talents. And your teammates were sent to another squadron which had some empty slots."

"So why am I with you?"

"There wasn't enough slots for all three of you. So you're on reserve with me."

"Oh I see. Wait, reserve?"

"Yeah, we're basically called in case of emergency."

"WHAT!? You mean I have to wait?!"

Several ninja paused to see what the commotion was about.

"Don't say it like that. In fact I find it's better being in reserve."

"I'm not seeing it."

Naruto crossed his arm, awaiting an explanation. Enzo cleared his throat.

"Well for starters, if we're called we have time to be ready for battle. Going in without knowing what you're dealing with is unadvised."

"Yeah yeah, page thirty five, section one on methods of engagement in the guidebook. Give me something I don't know dattebayo!"

Enzo sweat dropped as he hadn't expected Naruto to know that he'd taken that right out of the guidebook.

"W-Well it's safer here too-"

"If you don't have a good reason just say so."

"What?! I have a good reason! What's wrong with wanting a safe haven?"

"Nothing… I just hope when the time comes you won't want to stay here."

Naruto turned around and began to walk away. Enzo scratched the back of his neck nervously before calling out.

"That's the wrong way!"

"I knew that!"

That same time, within the HQ of the outpost…

Kakashi frowned slightly as the commander of the outpost stared at him. He was of tall stature, with an amazing goatee that many would die for. Tan skin, no hair but he covered his scalp with a bandana, a pair of jet black tea shades that sat just below his dark grey eyes and with only a flak jacket covering his upper body, he came off as indomitable. Kakashi knew better.

"So… you're the famous commander of the north, Tatsu."

"Using my epithet on our first meeting, I can't help but be pleased Copy Ninja Kakashi."

Kakashi stared for a few more seconds before simply coming out with it.

"I don't trust you."

Tatsu stared right back before responding.

"I don't care if you 'don't trust me', you're under my jurisdiction."

Kakashi nearly growled but held in the impulse. Tatsu gave of a bad vibe, the likes of which he hadn't felt since he'd last seen Orochimaru. His appearance made him seem like a respected shinobi, but he could feel it. The way he spoke was almost slippery in nature. His natural aura so to speak was like that of a snake, no that wasn't right. It was more like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Tatsu's gaze appeared nonchalant to most but Kakashi knew that he was being sized up. Tatsu continued.

"Right now, you're the strongest ninja I have available. I'm sure I can find some use for you here."

Kakashi remained silent, simply letting Tatsu speak rather than interrupt. Ninja like Tatsu were difficult to deal with. They were too good at bending factors to their favour. A little slip up here and there and Kakashi could find himself in a troublesome situation. This, and the fact that Tatsu really did hold a higher rank than he did at that moment removed many of his options. Tatsu pulled a scroll out of his desk drawer.

"Ah, here's a good mission. We lost contact with one of our squadrons near our northern sub outpost. That sub outpost hasn't been able to gain any information on their whereabouts either. Check out the situation there and rendezvous with the patrol unit that passes through that area."

Kakashi remained in silence. Tatsu slowly looked up from the scroll and rose an eyebrow.

"You can do that much, can't you?"

"…Yes, yes I can."

Taking the scroll from Tatsu, Kakashi performed a shunshin, vanishing from the office. Tatsu shook his head, chuckling a little.

"Such disrespect…"

Near the edge of the outpost…

"All right, we're heading out in five. Check your gear and make sure you've got enough food for three days."

The jonin in front of them, identified as Atsuo, spoke to a few chunin near the entrance to the outpost. Their group consisted of two jonin, five chunin and seven genin, making a total of sixteen ninja. Among those genin were two members of Team Seven. While the other genin spoke to each other excitedly, Sakura found herself unable to participate in their conversation.

"Don't they know what they're walking into?"

Sasuke on the other hand, simply chose not to participate at all. He sharpened his kunai on a grinding stone while rechecking his stock of shuriken. Never hurt to be prepared. Still, he found Sakura's spinelessness annoying.

"Since when were you such a coward?"

Suddenly, Sakura found herself under Sasuke's ire. She didn't like it when she was there.

"I-I'm just being cautious Sasuke-kun…"

"Cautious? Preparing your gear, I could call cautious. All I've seen you do so far is whine."

She didn't know where this was coming from. It was a rare occasion whenever Sasuke spoke more than a few meaningful sentences to her. Honestly, it was upsetting her but she couldn't muster the courage to call him out on his rudeness. Sasuke continued.

"What happened back then?"

"Back when?"

"In the Forest of Death."

Sakura's eyes widened. It hadn't been all that long ago, but she could remember it like it was yesterday in that moment. How terrified she'd been, and then when she pulled out that kunai, and her hair she remembered-

"Did you lose what you gained in that forest?"

Sakura looked towards the ground then. Sasuke pushed harder.

"What about when we faced Zabuza? And Gaara? Did you gain nothing from those experiences?"

"I know, I shouldn't be scared at this point. But-"

"But nothing! Sakura, do you know what I hate about you?"

She was tearing up a little, but she held her ground, as much as she could anyways. Sasuke mercilessly spat out his next few sentences.

"It's that you don't try. Every time we're in a fight for our lives, you stand behind us instead of with us. You're just excess baggage there you know, it does us no good."

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just that-"

"It's just that you don't want to get hurt. You think we don't realize? Let me tell you something, and you better remember it."

Sakura looked up then. Sasuke stared right into her eyes, his own having a sort of hidden fury behind it.

"You can't get stronger without getting hurt. Why do you think me and Naruto and Kakashi are so strong? It's because we've all got hurt before. Naruto throws himself into every fight he gets into, and he gets hurt because of it. You've seen Kakashi hurt before and you've seen me hurt before. But tell me, when was the last time you've seen yourself hurt?"

She felt ashamed honestly. Sasuke was right, the last time she'd been hurt was during her fight with Ino. And while she really did try during that fight, she hadn't put in the necessary effort afterwards. Studying, she could do just fine, but she just couldn't take to the ninja arts with that same fervour.

'And the promise I made back then…'

Yes, the promise she made to herself before she left for her current mission. How could she forget those words?

'If I want to help the team, I… I have to use this as an opportunity!'

Sakura's features became resolute then, surprising Sasuke.

"You're right Sasuke-kun, I haven't been doing my fair share of work. I won't waste this opportunity."

She turned around before approaching the other genin. She paused for a second before adding a final statement.

"That's a promise."

As she walked away, Sasuke felt a strange feeling swell up in his chest.

'Weird… was I impressed?'

He shook his head, abandoning any and all thoughts of his previous conversation with Sakura. He had something else on his mind entirely. He spoke seemingly to himself.

"I've made my decision."

Unseen by literally everyone, a small black creature that looked oddly enough like a rat crawled up to Sasuke's leg. Sasuke unfurled a scroll from his pouch, and the small creature splashed itself onto the parchment. As if it were made out of ink, words displayed themselves over the scroll. He read them quickly.

"Tch. I can't believe I'm doing this."

He tossed the scroll up in the air before placing his hands into a Tiger hand sign. Releasing a small jet of flames from his mouth, the scroll burnt up in mid-air. Surprisingly, no one saw his actions. Storing the kunai he'd been sharpening, he got up from his seat. He glanced over to the other genin having their conversation, including Sakura who happily took part in it.

'The difference between you and I Sakura, is that you care when we get hurt.'

He turned around, making his way to the jonin who was having his discussion with the chunin.

'I on the other hand, don't care when others get hurt. And for my goal, I'll do whatever it takes to ensure its success.'

He glanced back for a moment before continuing his walk.

'Even if it means risking all of your lives to do it.'

At the northern sub outpost…

Two ninja stood at the entrance of a small tent. One of them enquired to the other.

"All clear?"

"Yeah, it was just a rat."

The small tent only had enough space for a couple of crates. Despite this, a chunin hid himself behind one of those very crates. How he did it was anyone's guess, and the fact that it was working was a miracle. He tried to calm himself but it was to no avail.

'Think rationally. Rationally!'

He carefully lifted a piece of glass he collected at some point, aiming it around the corner. Seeing no one in its reflection he surmised that the ninja had left.

'I'm in the middle of enemy territory. I need to report back to my superiors on the situation here. This… wasn't supposed to happen. How'd they even get the upper hand?'

It was confusing. Everything was going perfectly and then things just got out of control. Now, he had somehow found himself in the midst of enemy territory, separated from his squad and alone.

'Damn them, if it wasn't for that interference we would have already taken over this place!'

He shook his head before pulling out a kunai. It was bloodied and dull, but with a little chakra manipulation, it would be just as good as a regular one.

'I only have one shot at this. Make the break for it through the back of the outpost. I've scouted this place for a good while now so I know their patrol routes. And right about now, there should be a clear path through the back of this tent.'

Being as quiet as possible, he cut a slit in the back of the tent. It made no sound thanks to the application of chakra to his kunai.

'Now, I'm going to have to run. Hopefully I can make it far enough to write a message, that way a unit may pass by and collect the info. Then, I'll fight it out to the death.'

He knew it was unrealistic of him to expect to make it back to his village. It was much too far. He'd already accepted the fact that he would die today. But at the very least, he wanted to give once more to the place he called home.

'Alright, let's do this. One last time.'

He dashed out of the tent. Seeing no one as he predicted, he spotted a gap between two tents.

'Now, I just need to make it there and break through their patrol unit at the south entrance. The element of surprise is important so I'll have to be-'

SHLUCK!

He paused. Was it the sound that made him pause? He realized it was not. It was the sudden shock, the pain really, emanating from his abdomen. He could feel a damp but warm liquid slowly spread across his jacket, and that scent that filled the air. Iron. It took him a moment but he understood what had just occurred.

"D-Dammit…"

Despite there being nothing in front of his face he heard a chuckle nonetheless.

"Camouflage Jutsu (Meisaigakure no Jutsu)."

As if a veil was lifted, before him stood the very ninja he'd heard at the door before. The man before him continued.

"You were right, there was a rat."

"When am I ever wrong?"

The two men casually conversed, as if the chunin they just wounded didn't exist. It enraged him but the strength was already leaving his body quickly. His fingers trembled and he fell to his knees.

"Poison tipped? You're brutal."

"Not at all. He'll die faster, makes less of a mess too."

"Cruel then."

The chunin clenched the dirt on the ground, as if he were desperately clinging onto life. Which he was. His grip however, was loosening with every passing moment.

"No… I still… need to… deliver the message…"

His heart beat became erratic, his throat closed up. He couldn't breathe. The blood was spilling from his abdomen, wetting the ground beneath him. His vision was blurred and darkening quickly.

"Can't die h-h-here…"

"It's too late for you buddy, you should've known better. We're ninja, and we're cruel when it comes to our jobs."

"So you admit you're cruel?"

"Shut up. Oh, and kid, we can't allow any messages to slip through the net. No hard feelings alright?"

The ninja realized however that the chunin was already dead.

Sighing, he signalled to his partner who dropped down from the top of his perch on the tent. As his partner was about to pick up the body he stopped him.

"Remove his flak and head band first. You know why."

His partner nodded his head before removing the flak jacket from the chunin. He then untied the head band before jokingly tying it around his arm.

"Wow, so like does this make me one of them now?"

"No it makes you an idiot. Take that off."

His partner laughed before untying the head band and placing it into the satchel on his back.

"Alright now let's dump the body."

To a casual observer, it would appear like two Konoha ninja had just killed one of their own, and were now attempting to hide the body, perhaps to protect themselves. However, that assumption was nowhere close to what had happened. These ninja, and all the ninja currently within that outpost had something in common. Not only were they stone cold, they were not Konoha ninja. They were Iwa ninja. And they were a part of a massive operation, one which could very well bring Konoha to its knees.

End of Chapter

This is a late chapter. Also boring as all hell to write. Or rather I was unmotivated to write it. That aside, college caught up to me and I had to put this chapter aside to deal with it. So I'll try to release a chapter every week once again, but it will be on Saturdays because that's when I have the most time. Any who, things are hopefully looking interesting, and I'll hopefully post again soon.

Oh, on another note, there might appear to be discrepancies in certain parts of the chapters. Though the major one is why everyone is reacting so chill to Naruto being the container. Like damn, they should be out to murder this guy. Well, there's a good reason for that. It will make sense later and that's all I'll say about it. Other discrepancies like Sakura not wondering why Naruto can sense people's presences. Also explained later. I have a lot of explaining to do, better take care of it soon I guess.