The Naruto concept is owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This specific story and any original characters contained within are mine.
The Last Step: A real mission, finally!
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Previously on The Last Step: "I thought we failed." "Well, I changed my mind."---"I guess you're living with me for a while. At least until we find you your own place."
***
Idly, Shikashi wondered if the dirt would ever come out from underneath his fingernails. Picking at them, he decided it wouldn't. The dirt had bonded with his skin, become a permanent part of his flesh. Maybe it'd be gone in seven years or so.
Of course, that'd only happen if he ever stopped weeding these endless gardens. He had gone through a year of ninja training at the academy. He had gone through years of nagging from his mother, years of being in the shadow of his sister. This should be the culmination of his training, should it not?
Kinda sucked that all his training was good for was weeding. If that dandelion ever attacked him, he'd beat it down. If a rose tried to prick him, he'd be taking none of that! Can't let those flowers get uppity, after all. He'd learned /that/ from his mother.
No. He had to be good for more than weeding. He /had/ to. His team had to be.
Shikashi glanced over the table, looking at the other people there. Kimiko was sitting across from him, pointedly looking down at her food. Most certainly was she /not/ looking at Naruto and Kutsu.
Shikashi was less concerned about being seen with the two idiots, and so made no attempt to hide his sly glances.
Well, they weren't really sly glances. They weren't that sly. And they weren't exactly glances.
Alright. Shikashi made no attempt to hide the fact that he was gaping at such utter weirdness. What was his teacher doing?
"I can't believe you don't like ramen! It's the food of angels, Hokages, and other such lovely things!"
"Well, it tastes nasty! It's too salty, and it's too stringy, and it's too chewy, and it's too everything bad!"
Snarling, Naruto inhaled his bowl of ramen and quickly ordered another. Jumbo-super large pork, to be exact. Kutsu snarled back, and ordered another bowl of rice. A small bowl of rice, to be exact. When their food arrived, they began arguing about the merits of each dish. Just like they always did at the end of every completed mission, to be exact.
Shikashi sighed, and buried his head in his hands. Why did he have to be with these people?
A soft giggle brought himself out of his misery, and he looked up. Kimiko was hiding a smile behind her hands, but Shikashi recognized the laughter in her eyes. The blush staining her cheeks didn't escape his notice, either.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked dryly. She smiled at him, and leaned forward. "I'm laughing at Naruto-sensei and Kutsu-kun," she whispered quietly. "They're so funny…"
Several grains of rice flew across the table and stuck to Naruto's face. Kutsu smirked, and prepared to take a large bite of rice, content in his victory. Ramen noodles flew back, and wrapped themselves around the Genin's chopsticks tightly, binding the two rods together. Naruto wiped off his face and smirked wider. Kimiko collapsed in a fit of giggles, and even Shikashi allowed himself a small smile at the expense of his teammate.
Pushing himself away from the table, Shikashi decided it was time to leave. He'd finished his own bowl of ramen (medium size, prawn) a while ago, and he wanted to go train, if only to get his mother to be quiet when he came home for dinner. Standing up, he announced his intention to exit to the group. He was ignored by two thirds majority, but Kimiko quickly stood up. Curiously, Shikashi noted that there was still the perma-blush, as he had taken to calling it, on her cheek.
"Um…I'll go train with you, if you like. I'd like to be stronger, and it's always better to train with a partner…If you want, that is…." She trailed off, eyes downcast. Shikashi nodded, and the two teammates walked off together quietly. Naruto paused in his tormenting of his student, and watched the two leave together.
"Interesting." He muttered. Two white haired old men silently echoed his thoughts across the restaurant. Deciding that nothing more would happen, the two men quickly finished their ramen and went off to peek at some ladies.
***
Uchiha Hana wiped the sweat off his face, and took a look around the clearing. He'd pretty much demolished the biggest trees in the area, and he'd made good progress on destroying the medium sized trees, as well. In another couple of days, all that would be left would be some tiny old spindly trees, and who wanted to practice anything against those? No…when that happened, then Hana would just have to find another area.
Environmentalist, he wasn't.
A noise perked his ear, and he closed his eyes, listening. Two people, young. Unskilled. Probably academy students, or possibly two of the recent batch of graduates. One of the two was carrying far more weapons than he or she needed, judging by the muffled clank the person made as they moved. With that many weapons, they were probably well trained in their use. That would make her a relation to Ten-Ten, renowned through the village as a weapons master. Therefore, the clanker would probably be Ten-Ten's daughter, whatever her name was. Kimi? Kimiro? Kimiko? Yeah, that was it.
In that case, the person with her would probably be her one of her teammates. Not the loud one, the other one. Wasn't that the other Nara child, the boy? Shikashi, or something?
"What are you doing in my training area, Inuzuka? Nara?" Hana ignored the gasps of surprise. He had yet to turn around, and already, he knew so much about the people behind him.
Sometimes, he loved being a genius. It wasn't something he had chosen, but since he was the offspring of Haruno Sakura, arguably one of the smartest ninja of her generation, and Uchiha Sasuke, arguably one of the strongest ninja of his generation, whatever child they had would be starting off with some pretty major strength. No, it wasn't something Hana had chosen. But it sure was something he liked, most of the time.
A bored and disrespectful voice brought him out of his self-glorification. "/Your/ training area? Sorry; I didn't realize that the Uchiha were so destitute that their son had to find old, worn out sections of forest to train in. Or maybe you're just trying to learn some basic skills, since that's all this area can help you in. Or maybe, you're too weak to beat on anything stronger than a measly old tree." Mocking, now. "Be careful. I hear those trees can be nasty when they topple."
God, the Nara clan was annoying. "For your information," Hana hissed, "I'm busy developing a new jutsu. I'm testing it on trees because I'm afraid that it would /kill/ a person until I have it perfected. Unless you're going to volunteer yourself as a test subject, then you, /both/ of you, can get out of here."
Shikashi snorted. "Tch. Sorry, you'll have to find something else. Can you catch a rabbit? Or will you have to go running to your mother so she can build a trap for you?" Turning, Shikashi began exiting the area. "C'mon, Kimiko. Let's go find somewhere else to train; we can leave the genius to his precious jutsu development."
As the duo walked away, a kunai thunked into the ground in front of the boy. Hana's voice was low, dangerous. "Dealing with your sister is bad enough," Hana snarled softly. "Until you are of an equal rank as I, you /will/ treat me with the respect I am due as a Chuunin, and therefore your superiour."
Shikashi saluted mockingly, and walked away, girl and dog in tow. Hana watched him leave angrily. That entire family seemed annoying, he reflected. The sister, especially. She always had to try to be better than him at everything…She was rather cute, though.
Hana shook his head. No time for thoughts like that, especially so close to the Jounin exam. Taking a deep breath, he resumed his training.
***
Kutsu blocked the strike from above, and quickly dropped his arm, blocking the strike from below. He jumped away, panting.
"That was good, Kimiko. A little bit out of synch, though. If Midomaru moves just a little bit faster, then you'll both him simultaneously, and it'll be harder to block."
Kimiko nodded, her eyes glinting in the light. "Okay, Shikashi-kun." She readied herself for another attack, and Shikashi waved his hand weakly.
"Hang on a bit, there. I don't know about you, but I'm tired from all this training. Can we take a break? Just so I can catch my breath?" Kimiko nodded, and relaxed her stance. As Shikashi flopped down onto the grass, she walked over and sat down next to him. Midomaru lazily chased his tail for a moment, then sat down with his head in Kimiko's lap. Absentmindedly, she began to scratch him behind the ears.
"I'm sick of all this garden weeding," Shikashi muttered. Kimiko looked at him, and he continued. "I mean, come on. We've all been through at least a year in the academy. We've all got basic ninja skills. I'm pretty good, you're pretty good, Kutsu's pretty good…So why do we only get to weed gardens? I want to do something real. Something meaningful."
Kimiko hugged herself and shivered. "Be glad," she muttered softly. "Weeds don't fight back." She closed her eyes and sighed. Shikashi looked at her, perplexed.
"What do you mean?" he questioned. She opened her eyes, and glanced at him.
"Have you ever hurt somebody?" Before he could answer, she refined her question. "I mean, have you ever, really, actually physically /hurt/ somebody? Not just a bruise or a scrape, not something that goes away in a week. Something worse that that. Hospital visits. Physical therapy. Months, years of recovery time. Have you ever done that to somebody?"
Shikashi blinked. "No…." he said, slowly. She looked away, not wanting to meet his eyes.
"It's not pretty. And it's all that the jutsus we know can do. We don't know any healing jutsus. All we can do is work towards killing somebody. There's no halfway point, as a ninja. No 'let that be a lesson to you, next time I'll do much worse'. As ninja, our job is to fight, to the death if necessary." She trailed off. Just as Shikashi was about to speak, she started up again. "And when that happens…somebody dies. That's how it always ends. Somebody ends up dead."
A tear trickled down her face, and she turned away from her companion. She gathered up all twenty pounds of puppy next to her and placed it all in her lap. A comforting hand descended on her shoulder, and she started at the contact.
"I don't know what happened, Kimiko-chan" Shikashi placed special emphasis on the honorific. It wasn't often that he used it. "But whatever it was, you must have been just a child. There's no use blaming yourself, because the situation would have certainly been completely out of your hands. No matter what you or anybody else did, you should know that whatever happened was inevitable. So don't worry, okay?"
She turned to face him. He wiped away the tear, and smiled. "So stop crying, okay? A face like that doesn't deserve to have tears on it." She sniffed, and smiled back at him slightly. Midomaru reached up and licked at her cheek, attempting to get her attention back on what was important: petting him. The girl giggled, and Shikashi looked at the sun quickly.
"Aw, crud." He muttered. "I better get back home, or I'll be late for dinner. Then mom'll /really/ be mad at me." He turned to leave, but Kimiko stopped him.
"Um…would you like to train with me again, sometime?" The genin looked back at her, and grinned.
"I'd love to. Same time tomorrow?" The girl smiled and nodded her assent, while her dog barked out his agreement. Silently, Shikashi left to go home, and Kimiko slowly did the same.
***
"Shikashi, where the hell have you been? You're over half an hour late for dinner. It's sitting cold on the table. You were out weeding gardens today, it couldn't /possibly/ have taken you that long."
Shikashi brushed past his mother and sat down at the table. "I was out training," he muttered. His mother quickly zeroed in on that statement with surprise.
"Training? With who? Is Naruto teaching you something? Pay attention to your teacher, Shikashi. He looks silly, but he's one of the best ninja Konoha has to offer." Shikashi shook his head, and popped the cold shepherd's pie into the microwave oven.
"Nah. I was out training with a teammate. Inuzuka Kimiko." He typed in 45 seconds on the oven.
His mother opened her mouth to respond, and Inoka swept into the room. "Hey, kiddo," she said laughingly. "Heard you had a little run-in with Uchiha Hana today."
Ignoring his mother's cry of "WHAT?", Shikashi nodded assent.
"Yeah," he muttered. "Uchiha was beating up on trees in a clearing I found a couple weeks ago. I was planning on doing some training there with a friend, but he apparently had the area specially reserved. We exchanged words, and I decided to look for a different area to train in."
(What's this about you fighting with Uchiha Hana?)
"Heh…He told me to let you know that he thought you were a disrespectful brat."
(He's one of the strongest Chuunins in the village. Did he hurt you?)
"Yeah, well…He's not that polite, either."
(My god! Shikashi-baby, are you okay? Show me where it hurts? Do you want to go to the hospital? Do you need a painkiller?)
"I'll let him know you said that."
Shikamaru ambled into the kitchen and hugged his wife, startling her into silence. "I think that if Shikashi was hurt, then he would have told us, dear. And Uchiha Hana has better sense than to assault a genin. Especially a genin under the protection of Uzumaki Naruto."
Ino pouted. "But….he could have used the Sharingan…and done something horrible! And Shikashi doesn't know how to defend himself against it!"
Shikamaru placed a finger over Ino's lips, quieting her again. The microwave PING-ed, signaling dinnertime, and Shikashi pulled out his plate of pie. He set it on the table and quickly blew on his fingers; that place was hot. Sitting down, he quickly began to eat, blowing on each forkful to cool it before placing it in his mouth.
Inoka stretched, and headed off down the hall. "I'm going to take a bath. Oh…I'll be gone all day tomorrow for a mission, so don't bother cooking dinner for me!" Her mother absentmindedly nodded assent while watering a plant. After a moment, she began questioning her son on the rest of his day. After all, a mother must at least give an effort to stay involved. Right?
***
"Hey there, puppy-dog! You missed dinner, what happened?" Inuzuka Kiba's voice boomed through the house, in stark contrast to his daughter's soft mumble.
"I was out training, and I lost track of the time. I'm sorry, chichi. It won't happen again, I promise."
Kiba laughed, and clapped his daughter on the shoulder. "Well, if you were training, then that's fine. I knew Naruto would treat you right! C'mon, let's go get you some dinner. Something hardy, probably. I bet you're hungry after all that work, right?"
Kiba was so intent on getting his daughter something to eat, he missed her statement that no, it wasn't her teacher who was training her, she was actually training with a teammate. A /male/ teammate.
When it finally sunk in, the following yell boomed through the house even more than it normally did. And normally, it did a lot of booming.
Ten-Ten rubbed her forehead, and reluctantly climbed out of the bath. It appeared that it was time she had a little talk with her husband about her daughter, and exactly how much contact she could have with males her own age.
Specifically, that would be more than "none". Which was what Kiba wanted.
Ten-Ten hurriedly wrapped a towel around her body, and stepped out into the hall. If she didn't move quickly, she wouldn't catch her husband until after he went and killed the innocent genin who dared lay a finger on his daughter. Ten-Ten knew instinctively that that would be hell for Kimiko's social life.
***
Naruto looked up from the book he was reading and checked his watch. He should probably start heading over to the bridge, now. He only had a minute and a half to get there.
He set the book down and prepared to leave, when his eyes involuntarily slid back to the book. He'd borrowed it from Kakashi-sensei, and while he wasn't depraved enough to read it in public, he had no problem about reading it in private.
VERY private.
Aw, what the heck. He could get to the bridge in twenty seconds if he hurried. He walked over to the stool he had set the book on, picked it up again, and began reading where he left off, eyes skimming over the text quickly.
***
"He's over half an hour late," Shikashi grumbled. "Didn't he say that he wouldn't do this, anymore?"
Kimiko looked helplessly at Kutsu. "You're living with him, aren't you?" she implored. "Can't you get him to be here on time?"
Kutsu kicked a post angrily. "He only does what he wants to. I've tried before; it's impossible to get him to be responsible about anything."
A voice broke through the coming tirade. "That's cold, Kutsu. I'll have you know that I was busy planning what we'll have for dinner tonight. Seems a very responsible thing to do, if you ask me."
Kutsu rolled his eyes. "Big deal," he said. "You'll take me out to a restaurant where all they serve is ramen and rice, insisting that I try a bowl of ramen because 'there's just no way I /can't/ like it', and I'll just have rice, and you'll finally take me home, fall into bed, and begin snoring."
Naruto flushed. "Well, it still takes planning. We're running out of different ramen restaurants to go to, you know. The least you could do is at least /try/ a bowl."
Kutsu was about to make a snide retort, when Shikashi cleared his throat.
"Interesting as this paternal dispute is, I'm hoping we have a mission to do today. Right?"
Naruto jumped down from the pole he was on, and nodded his head.
"Yep. And you'll be glad, Shikashi. This one is a bit more interesting that the others that we've done."
Midomaru whined slightly, and Kimiko rubbed his ears comfortingly. She looked just as nervous as her puppy, though.
"You guys all know the town of Hizume, about twenty miles west of Konoha?" The genin all nodded affirmative. Midomaru barked. "Well, a store there has been having trouble with one of their local gangs. So…the store hired Konoha to solve the problem. It's pretty cut and dry, as far as I can tell. We go in, wipe the floor with the thugs and their leaders, and leave. Shouldn't take us more than a couple days, I don't think."
He paused, taking time to examine his student's reactions. Kutsu looked pretty excited, smiling almost past the bounds of his face. Shikashi was grinning lazily, but that seemed to be about as excited as he ever got about anything. Kimiko looked a little uneasy, and her dog echoed her.
"We'll meet back at the gate in one hour. Use this time to gather your things and let people know that you're going. We'll be traveling on foot, so take that into consideration. Food and shelter will be provided for us at the town."
Quickly, all three genin disappeared to gather their supplies. An hour was a lot of time, but this was their first real mission and they wanted to be prepared.
Slowly, Naruto walked down the road to gather his own things. After several minutes of walking, he reached his apartment. As he opened the door, a voice echoed from the shadows and stopped him.
"Naruto." The person in question turned and smiled weakly.
"Ah…Hey, Kiba. I imagine you're here about the mission?" Kiba nodded, face blank and waiting. "Well, don't worry. I understand that you're concerned but I'm her teacher. I'll protect her with my life, if I have to."
Kiba's response caught Naruto completely off guard. "Don't." the man said.
"What?" Naruto deadpanned.
"Don't protect her any more than you have to. Please. I'm not just a father bragging when I say that Kimiko is one of the strongest genin in her generation. It's fact, trust me. She's just…very cautious of her power."
Naruto raised his eyebrows questioningly, and Kiba continued.
"She hasn't learned very much about moderation yet. If she tries to do something, she does it all the way, in the most powerful form available. She doesn't switch jutsus, like going from Bunshin to Kage Bunshin…But when she does Bunshin no Jutsu, it's a perfect copy."
Naruto was obviously unsatisfied, and Kiba continued speaking once more.
"She needs to learn to not be afraid of what she can do, is what I'm saying. If she gets into a situation, wait and see if she can handle it before you jump in and save her."
Naruto nodded sagely, and Kiba leaned in close for one final note.
"And if you could just make sure that she doesn't get too close to that Nara kid, huh? I'm not so sure what I think about him quite yet…"
Naruto chuckled and nodded, while Kiba looked around furtively. "Alright," he said, grinning. "I better head back home, or Ten-Ten will start looking for me. See you when you get back, I guess."
Kiba jumped away, and Naruto shook his head, grinning. Finally, he entered his home and began gathering his things.
***
"I'll bet you three kunai he shows up fifteen minutes late."
"Oh yeah? I'll place six kunai on the twenty minutes late slot."
There was two minutes of the hour left. Kutsu and Shikashi were placing bets on how late Naruto would show up. A voice interrupted their gambling.
"I'll bet you the entire pot that I'm here right on time."
The two genin jumped back and laughed nervously. "We were just kidding, honest, Naruto-sensei! We knew you'd be on time, really!"
The Jounin laughed and ruffled the two boy's hair. "Your faith in me is overwhelming. Are we ready to go?"
A cry of "Yeah!" was his answer. The gate swung open, and the team headed off into the sunset.
***
The journey to the village was uneventful, and passed quickly. The sun was just beginning to set when the tired team of ninja arrived at the destination. As they all stopped to catch their breath, a large man came out of a store to greet them.
"Welcome!" he called out. "I assume you are the ninjas I sent for from Konoha?"
Naruto nodded an affirmative, and the man smiled happily. "Excellent. You can get started in the morning. For now, you'd probably like to rest up and prepare. I have food ready, if you're hungry."
Excitedly, the team rushed past him to get at the food. Naruto remained outside to discuss details with their employer.
***
"Night, you guys." Naruto flopped into bed after that simple statement and began snoring. Kutsu and Shikashi remained awake for a while longer, but they kept their silence. Across the hall, Kimiko slept soundly with her puppy at her feet.
Time passed. Naruto's eyes flicked open, and he rose silently. He quickly shook both Kutsu and Shikashi awake, indicating silently that they should gather their things. Questions in their eyes, they obeyed his orders as he exited the room to wake the third member of the team.
Hurriedly, the ninja made their way down the stairs into the lobby of the inn they were staying in. As they came into the main room, the door to the outside burst open and light flooded in.
"Well, well…" a slow voice drawled. "What do we have here?"
***
Next time on Last Step: "Why are you doing this?" "Because we have no other choice." Team 4 learns that things are very rarely black and white, and they need to make an important choice. Just how much does everybody deserve?
***
Author's note: Wow. That was interesting. So how's this chapter? I feel kind of ambivalent about it; sometimes I really like it, other times, I don't. I'm pretty sure it's a good one, though. Finally, I'm getting this story moving a bit.
So there's obviously going to be at least one pairing in this. I hope none of you object to a little ShikaKimi. It wasn't something I had planned, exactly, but it seems to work. They look so cute together…That reminds me. You guys still don't know what Team 4 looks like. I'll have to put together bios for them or something. Maybe next chapter.
I put in a cameo appearance by Uchiha Hana. Did you guys like it? He'll play a bit bigger part when the Jounin exams come around. That should be in a couple chapters, probably when I get this mission thing Team 4 is on wrapped up.
I admit it. I've cracked. I've started using UchiHA instead of UchiWA. I'm so irresolute. HA appears to be the way everybody wants it, and I'm nothing if not adaptable. Don't think I'll cave like this every time, though. I'll stand up and fight for something, really.
This update came about a week after the one before it. That's how often I'll be doing updates on this story from now on, I think. That way, I've got a bit of breathing room in between each chapter.
Okay. Apparently, having a separate author's note chapter is against the rules of ff.net. Seems kinda stupid to me, but I guess it's so that authors don't bump their stories to the front of the list by updating the note, and not the story. Oh well. I've taken it down for now, I'll probably post it again sometime. I guess I'll have to go back to answering questions in the chapter.