Disclaimer: The story of "Naruto," all its contents, and all its characters are not mine nor do I claim them to be mine. Thank you!

"Torn Souls"

1: Mission in Water Country

"Argh! Where's Kakashi-sensei?! I want to get this mission started!" Naruto whined as he, along with Sasuke and Sakura, were waiting at the bridge where they usually met Kakashi for ninja-related matters. In this case, they were given a mission to accomplish. The only thing Naruto knew about the mission was that it was in a foreign country so, naturally, he was very excited.

"Jeesh, he's always late," Sakura said with a frown. Sasuke just stood there silently with his arms crossed over his chest. He was mad like the other two, but him being the cool and quiet guy he was, he didn't show it.

"Yo," Kakashi casually said with a smile as he suddenly appeared atop one the bridge's large arches.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're late!" Naruto and Sakura exclaimed angrily in unison.

"Sorry, I ran across an injured squirrel, so I decided to help it."

"Liar!"

Kakashi smiled again and jumped down, landing coolly on his feet. Sakura and Naruto were still glaring at him. "Now, now. This isn't a time to be sore. We have a very important mission..."

"Oh yeah! The mission!" Naruto exclaimed energetically as he returned to his earlier state of excitement. "So what is it? What is it?" Naruto asked with a huge smile. "It has to be some sort of dangerous and life-risking mission, right? That is why a foreign ninja country would ask us to help," Naruto said, coming up with an answer himself.

Sasuke smiled a bit. "Naruto...getting all excited before finding out what the mission is. How typically idiotic of him."

"Well..." Kakashi said uncomfortably.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto whined, his anticipation building up inside.

"Kakashi-sensei, please tell him before he blows up," Sakura said although in truth she was dying to know as well. All of Naruto's talk had gotten her a bit excited.

Kakashi cleared his throat. With a smile and his hands in his pockets, he said, "Well, as you should know, the Water Country is very small. They don't have very many ninjas..."

"Uh-huh. Uh-huh," Naruto nodded as his smile got wider.

"They don't have very many people that are able to work either."

"To...work?" Naruto repeated his smiling face getting a little distorted and troubled.

"Ah," Kakashi said uncomfortably. "We'll be helping the villagers out with their chores."

"What did you say?!" Naruto asked angrily. He felt as if his happiness was just mercilessly beaten down and trampled upon.

"Well, what did you expect for newly graduated Genins?" Kakashi asked flatly.

"Key words: graduated Genins! We've been doing crappy missions like that since the beginning! Those things are for ninjas still in the academy. But the earlier missions have been all in Fire Country, so I thought this mission would be an exciting one. AHHH!" Naruto complained angrily as he threw his arms around wildly and kicked and stomped his feet upon the wooden bridge.

"Jeesh, stop screaming and complaining already," Sakura demanded annoyingly, although in truth she was let down as well.

"He really needs to learn to shut up. Damn, he got me all excited too," Sasuke thought loathingly. Sasuke had also been hoping for a more exciting mission. Naruto's talk earlier, he hated to admit, had gotten to him as well.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were sorely disappointed. How many more "D" and "C" rank missions did they have to do before moving onto "B" and "A" rank missions? It seemed like that would never happen for them.

"Kakashi-sensei!!!" Naruto yelled angrily as he held himself, shivering from the immense cold. A small drip of frozen snot was hanging from his nose.

"What, Naruto?" Kakashi answered in a plain tone.

"Why didn't you tell us it snows so much here?!" Naruto asked furiously as he continued trudging through the ankle-high snow. Although it had stopped snowing for some time now, the high level of snow bothered the sun-loving blonde greatly. "I'm freezing!"

"That's why I told you to wear coats and boots."

"I'm still cold!"

"Stop whining. It's not that bad," Sakura said with a quavering voice. She was shivering more than Naruto was, but she liked to put on the "tough" act for her Sasuke-kun. Sasuke didn't seem to mind the current weather conditions very much.

"Naruto...so weak," Sasuke thought as he stared at the shivering blonde. "He needs someone stronger to look after him..."

"Ah, here we are," Kakashi said as he stopped affront a very snow-covered village. Sasuke broke out of his thoughts and turned his attention to the village. The villagers seemed peaceful. They happily went about their businesses of shop tending, shopping, etc. There were several children playing the freezing weather as well. The pathways were somewhat shoveled. The paths were visible at least.

"Hmm...this place looks boring," Naruto thought as he stared blankly at the simple village.

"Well, let's get started then," Kakashi said with a smile as he looked down at his three pupils. He began towards the village, but soon paused as...

"Yaah!" a young girl screamed as she tripped face-first into the snow. She was running at a great speed, but managed to trip over a rock that had been hidden in the deep snow. "Owee," she said quietly as she slowly stood. She wore knee-high boots along with a green mini-skirt, a bunch of bandages were wrapped around her legs acting like a pair of tights. A belt was worn around the skirt. Tucked in was a baggy, cap-sleeved green shirt. She also had on gloves very similar to Kakashi's, except (you guessed it) they were green. A long and thick hooded cape was draped over her shoulders.

She looked embarrassingly at the three. Her hair was dark violet, chin-length, and messy, and her bangs were long. Her eyes were light blue. On her head, she wore the Water Country's forehead protector. For a while, she stared at the silver-haired Jounin. Realizing what she was doing, her cheeks became a bright red.

"Hmm?" Kakashi said curiously as he looked at her.

"I'm so sorry. Please excuse me," she said as gave them a quick bow and ran off, limping a bit from her fall.

"Who was that klutz?" Naruto asked in shock. She seemed clumsier than he was. Even he knew that rock was there!

"Probably a Mist Genin," Sasuke said flatly.

"Oh well," Kakashi said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Shall we go?" he said as he continued to walk into the village. He tried to dismiss the strange event from his mind, but that girl's image burned into his mind and he did not understand why.

Sakura walked uncomfortably behind. She had a confused, but serious expression on her face. "Am I mistaken? I could have sworn that girl had a high level of Chakra. I sensed it. But..." She thought back to the girl's unfortunate accident. She landed straight on her face. A talented ninja could've avoided that fall even if the rock was not avoided. The power she sensed, however, seemed to have disappeared after the girl had fallen. Maybe she was sensing it from someone else. "I'm losing my touch."

"Ah, Sasuke-kun! Wait for me," Sakura called as she noticed she was way behind the three.

And so begins a new mission, a life-changing mission different from any other...

TBC...

Note from Rocker Usagi: Gomen, gomen...this part didn't have much shonen-ai/yaoi. There will be more, I promise! How was this part? I find it hard to start and end these things, but I hope no one was disappointed!

I put cliffies in the end so for those who don't want to be bothered by these can just stop reading at the "TBC..."

Anyway, I had to correct a grammar error I found so I might as well respond to a review concerning my use of Water Country. I was aware of all that Shinobi village and Kage stuff, I just wanted to do a story about the place that Zabuza and Haku came from. Spoiling a bit, but I wanted Naruto and Co. to come to a place that was just getting used to being peaceful and allowing things like advanced bloodlines and ninjas (I'm making that part up but I wanted more drama in my story). If anyone can help me so that this makes more sense, please e-mail me. =:3

Anyway...Review! =:3

Oh, and thanks so much for the reviews so far. I think I have 4 or 5 at the moment. I have to say I was very afraid this would gain bad reviews. I wanted to keep going with this and you people's reviews have made me happy. Again, ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU!