Rants: Damn I've been really late. Chapters 8 and 9 were orignally intented to be one chapter but I found a bit too long so I decided to break theminto two seperate chappies. This might feel like an extension of the last arc and probably be a drag for some so flame on. Oh, and about the parts I reread from the series, the reason I do so is because I want to preserve as much of the original series as possible. Of course there are arguably better ways of doing so but I found the first one to my liking. My apologies everyone (bows head)
Naruto walked into the team's designated meeting place early that morning. The area wasn't anything spectacular on its own, just an ordinary small clearing in the middle of the woods with only one thing standing out of place against the background – the vendo machine erected on the side near the bushes. Looking around, Naruto easily spotted the sixteen year old jounin who was sitting patiently by the fallen log. He already knew what the guy was going say.
"You're late."
"I'm not late! I'm early!" Naruto yelled in response, finishing off their daily early morning routine. "Ne Itachi-sensei, let's hurry back to the river! I think I finally got the grip on the Katon jutsu! I'll definitely do it this time!" The boy exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the ball of his feet.
"We won't be training for today. Hokage-sama has given us a mission." Itachi said. He took out a small scroll and handed it over to Naruto. "The details are written in there."
"Mission…?" Naruto muttered as he pulled the scroll open. Immediately upon catching sight of its contents, the boy's face dropped to a frown.
D-Ranked Mission No. 4: Weed Pulling.
"Hmph! This is a crappy job for a top class ninja like me." Naruto said as he watched the weed infested garden through squinted eyes. The mission: clearing the weeds off the garden around a cottage on the fields outside the village. Looking behind, Naruto saw his sensei leaning idly against the trunk of a large tree, the shade from which protecting him from the heat of the high sun. 'What a cheap bastard, making me do all the hard work.' The boy thought, narrowing his eyes at Itachi.
"What are doing sitting there? We don't have all day." Itachi said.
"Hmph!" Naruto pouted shifting his eyes back on the weeds. "I'll finish this quickly then I can go back to my jutsu training!" The boy pulled his sleeves back, his face beaming with new found determination, and began pulling the plants off like a charged-up, high-powered weed pulling machine. It didn't take long before a tall mountain of grasses and other weeds piled up behind the orange clad boy. Naruto was grinning widely at the sight of his day's accomplishment. 'Operation Weed Pulling: Success.' Naruto thought proudly, nodding his head in approval.
"Hey you…"
"Eh?" Naruto looked over to the large woman standing a few steps away from him. "Oh obaachan, I'm done pulling out all the weeds." Naruto became totally confused when instead of a look of appreciation what he saw was the old woman's face suddenly turning furious, her body began shaking in anger. "What's wrong?" Naruto asked.
"Those aren't weeds… Those were the herbs I've been growing on my garden!" The lady yelled.
"OUCH!!!" Naruto screamed aloud while the large woman clobbered him silly for ruining her precious garden.
D-Ranked Mission No. 6: Cleaning the Stream.
Using a pair of long metal tongs, Naruto tossed the aluminum can he picked from the streambed up into the air which perfectly landed into the trash basket hanging over his back. Nakano falls is one of Konoha's favorite fun spots and is flocked by thousands of tourists, especially young girls, from all over the country every year. Today, the local hotel has hired Team Eleven to clean the garbage that the picnic goers have left behind.
"Stupid tourists..." Naruto grumbled as he continued to pick up the trash while keeping his feet over the surface of the stream using the skill he learned from the water walking exercise. The hot sun relentlessly beating him from above made Naruto look up to wipe the sweat trickling down from the soggy cloth of his hite-ate. It was during this time that he got another glance at the whole extent of the area he had to clean. The sight of which didn't make him smile at all.
"At this rate I won't be finish until way after sunset." Naruto said with a sad face. "I know!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed when a light bulb flashed inside his head. He crossed his hands and performed the hand seal of his favorite jutsu. "Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" Upon execution, about a dozen Naruto clones appeared into existence over the water. "Everyone go clean up the stream!" The real Naruto ordered.
"Yeah!" All clones replied raising their fists into the air before spreading out covering more of the stream. It was a brilliant idea indeed. The increase in the number of bodies working all at once resulted in the work being done at a much faster pace, only that it gave Naruto a sudden, unforeseen setback. Him releasing a massive amount of chakra upon invoking Kagebunshin caused a slight slip on the real Naruto's chakra control thus making him to fall into the water.
"Somebody help!" Naruto shouted aloud while frantically moving his arms in a futile attempt to swim against the stream's current. The water swept the poor boy helplessly along until he reached the edge of the water fall.
"Free Fall–!!!" Naruto screamed as he plummeted down the high falls. To his surprise, his descend suddenly stopped. Looking up, he saw one of his clones holding his legs while another clone held that one's legs and another held that one's legs so on until ultimately the clone holding all the rest had his feet stick using chakra on an outlying branch.
"Whew! That was close." Naruto sighed in relief. Suddenly the branch the clone on the top of the line was hanging unto snapped sending everyone into a wild ride down the water falls. Their combined screams echoing loudly against the rocky cliff walls. "WAAAAAHHHH!!!"
D-Ranked Mission No. 7: Walking the Dog.
"Hey! Don't go that way!"
Unfortunately, things seemed to be the other way around as the large dog Naruto was supposed to be taking for a walk was the one dragging the blonde boy around. "Hey! Come on!" Naruto pleaded. All his efforts into the pulling were held in vain as the dog continued its advance towards the wire fenced area that side of the woods. "Hold it! Wait!"
Sitting up on the branch of a nearby tree, Itachi sat in silence while he watched his student perform the task specified on the mission.
Naruto was starting to panic, his face turning pale after he realized where the dog was dragging him into. "T-that's the trap field!" A series of blasts echoed throughout the place when the mines buried on the other side of the fence were unwittingly set off. The result was a smoldering heap of charred Naruto while the dog stood next to him with its tongue lulling out of its mouth, blowing dog breath straight into the boy's face.
Itachi didn't show any change of emotions, maintaining his cold visage even after witnessing Naruto screw up on his latest mission.
"Ehehehe… Who would have thought I'd earn these much from all those crappy missions! All the boredom and hard work finally paid off!" A happy, money-eyed Naruto exclaimed. "Gama-chan, you're so cute when you're this fat!" The boy continued, rubbing his bulging frog wallet against his cheek in glee. A few moments later Naruto finally pulled the frog wallet off his face and placed it back inside his gray kimono. The blonde straightened out his dress first before taking a step out of his apartment and into the colorful and jam-packed streets of the Hidden Leaf Village, his spiky hair falling over his bangs from the absence of the hite-ate around his forehead. "Alright! I'm going to have fun at the Autumn Festival tonight!" Naruto announced, throwing his fists vigorously into the air.
The Autumn Festival is a festival annually held in Konoha. Traditionally, it was done to honor the great gods that watches over the village. However, modern times have brought new meaning to the celebration. Shortly after the end of the Three Secret World War Sandaime Hokage ordered that the festivities are now to be held in honor of the heroes who selflessly offered their lives for the village. This meant every single leaf shinobi who have died in performance of their duties, including those from the distant past all the way to the present.
During this time of the year, every single person in Konoha goes out into the amply decorated streets wearing their best kimonos. Individuals from the many shinobi clans of Konoha wear robes with their clan's crest imprinted on the back, a way to boast and make proud of one's own lineage to the village.
Also during this time, stalls sprout out like mushrooms all over the village selling all sorts of merchandise from the rarest and most exotic items, jewelries, shinobi weapons, scrolls, and more importantly, food.
"Alright, first I'll fill up my stomach." Naruto said tapping his growling stomach. And such became his target: to scour the village for as many variants of food that he could lay his hands on. The boy ran from stall to stall buying all sorts of delicacies they had to offer. Takoyaki, cotton candy, chocolate banana, yakisoba, these are some of the things inside the large paper bag containing all of his haul and for once it didn't had ramen with it.
"Um… Now what's next?" Naruto asked to no one in particular, his fully loaded stomach now bulging against his robes. A satisfied look spread across his face after he practically devoured every single treat in the paper bag leaving only the packaging for the dumpster. The boy wandered aimlessly along the crowded street until he heard familiar voices calling his name.
"Naruto-niisan!!"
"Oh, it's just you guys." Naruto said turning to face the three infamous kids. Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon had stopped right next to him, each one panting heavily after breaking through that long run to meet their so-called 'Leader'. The kids too were wearing their best kimonos but the thing that really took the older boy's notice was the fact the kids didn't put on their googles, something that he rarely sees of the Konohamaru Corps.
"Naruto-niisan! We need your help!" Konohamaru said with a tone of urgency.
"Why? Is something wrong?"
Instead of answering, Konohamaru first took out a poster and flashed its contents at Naruto. "Naruto-niisan, we need your help for this!"
"Huh?" Naruto took the poster to examine it carefully. It appears to be some kind of advertisement or something. The large drawing of an ugly ape wearing some sort of ninja garments with a matching leaf hite-ate over the monster's forehead caught most of his attention. "What's this?"
"That's the super rare, limited edition Demon Monkey King Enma plush doll that we want to have. To get that, we need to collect coupons from the game stalls around town. The total must be at least one thousand points in exchange for one doll but we only have five hundred points so far." Konohamaru explained pulling out a medium-sized plastic bag filled with paper coupons. "'niisan, we need your help so that we can collect the remaining five hundred points."
"Please help." Udon seconded, sniffing aloud to pull the snot back inside his nose.
"Hmm…" Naruto sounded placing his hand under his chin while he gave the idea some serious thought. 'Playing games is kinda fun but I've already spent about half of my savings. I need to save money for the rainy days…'
"Please, Leader." Moegi asked sporting her trademark pleading puppy-dog eyes. Konohamaru and Udon followed the little girl's example making a combined effect that even the toughest shinobi will have a hard time resisting.
"Hmm…" Naruto finally dropped his all serious look and went to flash a wide grin over the kids. "Okay!"
"Yehey!" The kids exclaimed in unison, jumping in glee after hearing that from Naruto.
"Last one! Here goes!" Naruto said aloud before throwing a small disk straight towards the paper target situated several meters away. As the disk flew, the air around caused it to change directions every so often but ultimately it homed in on its mark knocking out the ninth one in nine throws.
"You're so cool, 'niisan! You got a perfect score!" Konohamaru exclaimed while Moegi and Udon clapped from the background.
"Ehehehe…" Naruto snickered scratching the back of his head in mock modesty. 'It's all thanks to my shuriken training.'
All in all, Naruto had lots of fun with Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon that night. He found the games enjoyable that he readily forgot about his earlier reluctance to spend more of his savings. The gang moved from stall to stall knocking out the games one after the other and collecting the needed coupons as they went. Of course the cold eyes and the hateful glares from the adults still run about but Naruto choose not to mind them and went on living up the rest of the night. He had tough training from Itachi-sensei waiting tomorrow morning; tough as in he'll beat the living daylights out of you tough, or worst another boring D-ranked mission. And such that he didn't want to spend his rare day-off worrying about what stupid, biased grown-ups think.
"Com'on Naruto-niisan! We're almost there!" Konohamaru cheered. The group was next found along the goldfish catching stall. Again Naruto was the one playing the game, not to mention pay the admission, while the three provided the much needed moral support.
"Do your best, Leader!" chirped Moegi.
Naruto dipped the paper scoop into the tank filled with all sorts of goldfishes. He managed to fish a fat one out of the water but unfortunately the now soggy paper scoop wasn't able to resist its load's weight and finally broke open allowing the goldfish to plunge back into the water. "Huh? Damn…" Naruto seethed in frustration.
"That one was worth fifty points. Too bad…" Udon commented.
"I guess you're just not good with this one, 'niisan." Konohamaru shook his head at the sight of the numerous broken scoops littered on the ground around Naruto.
"I'm not done yet. Just watch…" Naruto said pulling the sleeves of his kimono back. He took a deep breath and placed himself in some kind of preparatory pose while scanning water to pick his target. "Okay! Here goes!" Naruto plunged and pulled the paper scoop in and out of the water with so much speed and strength that the unfortunate goldfish he had set his eyes on flew high into the air. Everyone, including the stall keeper, followed the fish's flight with their eyes.
"Hehe! Look's like you've overdone it kid," chuckled the stall keeper.
With gravity finally putting its influence, the fish began its sharp descend and unwittingly landed inside the stall keeper's mouth. Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon all had their eyes growing as wide as saucers at the unexpected sight. Unable to control themselves, the four kids then burst into fits of laughter. The fun was short lived though when stall keeper turned his head at them, his face flushing in anger while large knots of nerves rose over his forehead and steam from his nostrils. The man spitted the goldfish back into the tank and began gritting his teeth.
"A-ano… w-we'll be going now…" A shaking Naruto excused himself, inching his way slowly to the side with the rest of the Konohomaru Corps nodding vehemently from behind, moving along with their fateful Leader.
"GET BACK HERE YOU PUNKS!!!"
The brats all made a mad dash away from the stall, running as fast as they can for their dear lives.
Later that night, the three little kids walked down the street with such wide grins on their faces. Konohamaru carried the large Enma plush doll that was about half his own height. Walking on each side of the feisty kid, Moegi and Udon admired their group's haul for the night. "This year's festival is really the best!" Konohamaru said aloud gaining nods of approval from Moegi and Udon.
Meanwhile, several steps behind Naruto didn't seem to share the kids' sentiments. "Gama-chan…" Hanging his dejected face low, the blonde moaned for his flat-out frog wallet that had been sucked dry of every single bit of money it once had.
"Geez, festivals are too troublesome."
Naruto stopped lamenting his loss, his face instantly growing a wide smile after spotting a couple of old classmates. "Hey! Shikamaru! Chouji!" Naruto called out, waving his hand at the thin boy with his long black hair tied in spiky fashion at the back of his head. Next to him was an overly fat boy munching away a large bag of chips.
"Naruto?" Shikamaru muttered as Naruto walked over towards them.
"Hehe… Those kimonos look good on you." Naruto commented snickering softly. Shikamaru had a perfectly fitting green kimono while Chouji got a large sky bluish one. It suited the large boy perfectly that he almost didn't look fat at all. Unfortunately, the fact that he was standing next to Shikamaru countered that effect. "You guys don't look like idiots at all."
"Stop calling us that. How annoying." Shikamaru said, frowning a bit. Chouji, on the other hand, continued to gobble up his chips.
Naruto continued to flash a teasing wide mouthed grin at the duo when suddenly, he felt someone tugging the edge of his sleeves. He immediately looked down and found it to be Konohamaru. His other friends, Moegi and Udon were standing on right next to the hokage's grandson.
"Naruto-niisan. Who are these guys?" Konohamaru asked.
"Ah, they're my classmates back at the Academy. This is Nara Shikamaru." Naruto said pointing at the said boy. "He always complains and is lazy about everything. He's a complaining idiot."
"Ohhh…" The Konohamaru Corps sounded.
Shikamaru merely grimaced at the not so good introduction Naruto gave him. Saying anything felt to be too much trouble.
Next, Naruto turned to the other kid who's been silent the whole time, that is if you put as an exception the annoying sound of chewing chips. "And this is Akimichi Chouji. He's always eating something. He's a fat ass idiot that can only eat." The blonde continued and the kids erupted into laughter.
Suddenly, Chouji stopped eating. His face turned dead serious and a tense feeling slowly filled the air making Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon uncomfortably silent.
'That idiot. He knows that that word is taboo for Chouji.' Shikamaru thought, slapping his forehead at the brewing trouble.
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU I'M NOT FAT! I'M BIG BONED!" Chouji yelled so loud that the people around all turned their collective attentions towards the group. The Konohamaru Corps found the fat boy to be very scary and went to hide themselves behind Naruto.
"Ah… um… y-yeah… you're right Ch-Chouji… you're not fat. My bad. Ehehehe…" Naruto laughed uneasily. The sight of a raging Chouji towering over him was really unnerving. The Akimichi boy seemed to have managed to almost double his size without using any specialty jutsu whatsoever and had became so intimidating that it made Naruto's knees shake.
"You even had the gut to say it again! I'm really going to beat you to a pulp!" Chouji said through seethed teeth.
"N-no, no, that's not what I meant! I was actually telling Konohamaru how cool and handsome you are. Really." Naruto pleaded, waving his hands frantically at Chouji who was already cracking his knuckles as a sort of a warm up before he goes to massacring the loudmouthed fox boy.
"Hey! You guys seem to be having fun there." A brash voice sounded catching everyone in the group's attention.
"Kiba!" Naruto was really thankful to the spiky haired boy and his little white puppy, Akamaru, for the distraction for it had saved his neck greatly. Chouji seemed to have suddenly lost interest in him and went back to his munchies.
Kiba, with his brownish kimono and Akamaru slumped on top of his head as always, moved closer standing a couple of steps to the left of Naruto. "Hey, how's life as a genin? Not as boring as in the Academy I hope."
"It was great! I get to learn all kinds of neat stuff from Itachi-sensei! I also get to do some super exciting and dangerous mission for the village as well!" Naruto bragged. Behind him, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon cringed in fear at the mention of his sensei's name. It seems that they have yet to forget what they had gone under the coldhearted jounin. "How's that? I'm a step closer to being hokage now!"
"And what kind of missions are those, huh?" Kiba asked teasingly. From the looks of it, it seems that he still found it too good to believe that Naruto had actually graduated a year ahead of them given his sink bottom performance.
"Hah! Let me tell you about my most exciting mission." Naruto went to narrate the experience on his first mission. "Team Eleven, composed of me and Itachi-sensei, was deployed on a forest not too far away from Konoha. It was damp and dark, giant trees growing too close to one another and worst, the entire place was crawling with huge bugs, giant snakes, blood leeches and all sorts of creepy monsters." Naruto started modulating his voice to achieve both thrilling and frightening effects.
"L-leader… that's s-scary…" Moegi said her voice was shaking along with the rest of her body. She and Udon hid themselves behind Konohamaru. The honored brat showed a courageous look, not willing to show any sign of fear as he stood next to Naruto and listening to his story, although he was hugging the Enma doll so tightly.
"Just cut out all the crappy stuff and get on with it." Kiba said waving his hands dismissively at Naruto. Over his head, Akamaru barked seconding his master.
"Hmph! You're just jealous!" Naruto retorted sticking his tongue out at Kiba. "Now where was I? Oh yeah! We we're given an A-ranked mission by the hokage-jiichan to hunt down an enemy spy that was trying to escape away from the village."
"'niisan! Is that the same guy who blasted that large hole at the Administration Building a month ago?!" An enthusiastic Konohamaru asked.
"Umm… Yes. He's the one." Naruto replied with a nod firing Konohamaru's excitement. Kiba snorted at it. Shikamaru found it too troublesome to comment and Chouji was just eating. "Anyway, we arrived at the place and…"
A-Ranked(?) Mission No. 1: Capture the Enemy Spy.
"This is Naruto, arrived at the designated point."
"Okay. Get ready." Itachi said into the communicator. Up on a high branch, the jounin was well hidden behind the thick blanket of leaves, watching the enemy from the safety of his vantage point. He could clearly see the target moving his head from side to side making sure that no one was around before he continued to run deeper into the forest. "The target has moved. After it!"
Naruto proceeded to follow the escapee stealthily, keeping in mind to put adequate distance between him and the target as to avoid detection. Soon enough, the spy halted his advance to take a much needed break. A safe distance away, Naruto hid himself behind the trunk of a large tree. "Okay, he's here." The blonde reported into the communicator. He was staying still keeping a sharp eye on the target while waiting for further instructions.
"What's the distance to the target?"
"Twelve meters." Naruto replied. "I'm ready to go."
"Okay. Go!"
Upon command, Naruto slipped out of his hiding place and went to engage the target. He was moving so fast that the enemy spy didn't find enough time to react before Naruto caught up with him.
"And that's how I captured the spy." Naruto finished.
"Naruto-niisan! You're so cool!" Konohamaru exclaimed eyes gleaming with admiration so did Moegi and Udon. Naruto laughed lightly scratching the back of his head in a gesture of mock modesty.
"A-Ranked eh?" Shikamaru asked, apparently unconvinced by Naruto's story. "You're just a rookie genin. I doubt they'd even give you a C-Ranked Mission. The most missions that you'd probably get will be D ones."
"Yeah." Kiba seconded. "Stop telling made-up, over exaggerated tales. It's really annoying."
"You're just making it up, Naruto-niisan?" A very disappointed Konohamaru asked.
"N-no!" Naruto, flustered and all, answered. He vented his spleen at Kiba in a lame effort to divert unwanted attention. "Hey! Dog breath! Take that back!"
"Catch an enemy spy? It's most likely a mission to catch a cat or something." Kiba continued crossing his arms confidently as he spoke.
"It wasn't just a cat!" Realizing what he had just said, Naruto immediately placed his hands to cover his mouth. However, it was all too late as the damage of the slip-up had already been done.
"Haha! Gotcha!" Kiba sounded triumphantly. Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon glanced sideways with narrowed eyes at Naruto.
"O-okay fine!" Naruto finally admitted. "But it wasn't just a cat! It was really a huge tiger, the pet of the wife of the Fire Country daimyo."
"Yeah right…" Everyone muttered skeptically with the exception of Chouji.
"Anyway," Naruto continued snatching the Enma plush doll from Konohamaru. "When I finally caught up with him, that bastard cat didn't want to go out without a fight. It went like this and this and this…" Naruto went on simulating the 'great battle' with the large doll. Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon became horror struck when they saw the blonde beat the helpless, inanimate monkey, the same precious toy that they've all spent their entire savings to get. "…he moved here so I punched him here and then I kicked him right in the kisser and…!"
Naruto became so engrossed with the play fight that he accidentally placed too much force into his kick causing the doll to fly up into the air. It didn't there for long and crashed down – right on the head of a nearby tourist who was snapping pictures of the place with his camera. The said tourist, a fifteen year old boy with a thin build and somewhat wimpy appearance, fell face first literally kissing the street from the blow.
"Hey, are you okay?" Naruto asked walking over to help the boy up while the three kids went to pick up their prized possession and began checking it for damages. Thankfully, aside from the dirt on its white fur, the Enma dolled looked perfectly fine.
"Do I look like I'm okay, you idiot?!" The raging tourist screamed aloud. He was burning with so much anger that he was literally blowing Naruto's blonde locks and kimono back as he spoke. He took what remained of his camera and flashed it right into the foxy blonde's face. "Look at what you've done to my camera! It's totally broken!"
"I-I'm sorry…" Naruto apologized, bowing his head once and working to scratch his hair uneasily.
"Sorry?! Is that all you can say?! You have to pay me back my camera!" The tourist demanded.
"B-but you see… I don't have any more money." Naruto said showing him his empty frog wallet.
"Figures!" The tourist harrumphed, crossing his arms. "This village is the worst I've ever been on! So full of idiots, stoic bastards, stuck-up now-it-alls, and incompetent ninjas! I can't believe that I actually came here!"
"Don't talk big, idiot! If that's what you feel about Konoha then nobody's making you come! You can leave for all I care! We don't need dumb, wimpy bastards like you here either!" Naruto yelled back, angered by all the insults the guy had said about the village.
The young tourist was stunned at Naruto's sudden outburst. He never imagined the blonde to be way louder than he is. It took a while before the teen finally pulled himself together. "There's no way I'd leave until you pay me back my camera! I'm going to report you to the police!" He retorted.
"I told you I don't have any money! I'll pay you back once I've completed more missions!" Naruto countered.
"Hey, Naruto! Will that take long? The float parade is about to start," said Kiba.
"Geez. What a troublesome guy." Shikamaru sighed.
"We'll be going then. See you guys at the Nakano Shrine. That's where the procession's going to start." Kiba waved at the blond before turning around and walking down the street heading for the local shrine. "Let's go." He said acting all bossy to both Shikamaru and Chouji. The two simply went to follow after him without so much of an argument as Shikamaru simply found it to too troublesome to argue.
"Hey guys! Wait!" Naruto called out. He was about to run after them but was stopped on track when he felt a hand grabbed him on the shoulder.
"Where do you think you're going, buster?! We're not done yet!" The angry tourist said.
'Damn it! This guy's annoying!' thought Naruto.
"Leader hurry. The parade's going to start soon," said Moegi.
"Naruto-niisan, go beat that ugly bastard's ass to the ground!" Konohamaru egged on. Well, even though he was really clumsy Naruto is still a ninja and surely he can skin that wimpy boy alive. Of course that sort of action will make a bad impression about Konoha ninjas but the heck, this is an emergency and besides what can a single tourist do? "'niisan, hurry up and use your awesome new jutsu!"
"Justu? Yeah that's right!" Naruto exclaimed in sudden realization. "Konohamaru, get ready!"
Noticing the hand seal Naruto has formed, Konohamaru immediately caught on. "Okay!" Konohamaru nodded, a wide confident grin spread across his face. Both him and Naruto began to their channel chakra and performed Konohagakure's most powerful ninjutsu. "Oiroke no Jutsu!"
A puff of smoke later and two luscious, buck naked babes were now on the place where the two kids once stood. The tourist suddenly stiffened, his face turning overly red before powerful squirts of blood from his nostrils blasted the poor teenage boy straight to the moon and back.
Naruto and Konohamaru dispelled the jutsu. "Com'on! Let's go!" Naruto screamed, dragging with him a couple of stunned and heavily blushing Moegi and Udon while Konohamaru went to pick up the Enma plush doll. The two boys pelted through the street as fast as they can with two reasons in mind. First was to get away from the scene before more trouble arrives and second, to make it to the Nakano Shrine before the famous float parade started.
"Mikoshi-sama, I've bought some hotdogs!" A beautiful young woman called out as she marched into that part of the street. The huge smile on her face was immediately replaced with shock, the pair of sandwiches falling off her hands, when she saw the teenager lying on the ground twitching with a small puddle of blood forming on the ground next to his face from the blood still streaming from his nose.
It wasn't just him though, almost every single male person who have seen the deadly Oiroke no Jutsu performed in public fainted from severe blood loss. Even the females weren't spared as most of them were left stunned, mouths hanging with faces glowing bright red. Those who have arrived on the scene just recently were astonished at the scale of devastation.
"Mikoshi-sama!" The woman called worriedly running for the poor boy's aid.
Team Eleven reported to the Administration Building early the next morning. Wasting no time, the Uchiha prodigy led his pupil straight to the reception room for clients which also happened to be same place where missions are assigned to the various ninja teams of the village. The room was spacious and was almost pretty much empty except for the long tables situated on the far end of the room behind which the Hokage and his administrative-nins sat. Another thing that decorated the place was the large banner hanging on the ceiling with the words "Everyone, do your best!" across.
Itachi, followed closely by Naruto, marched towards the center of the room. "Uchiha Itachi and Uzumaki Naruto of genin team number eleven reporting for duty." Itachi addressed bowing his head in due respect for the hokage. Naruto, not being one for manners, quickly lowered his head imitating his sensei only after he had finished with the greetings.
"Enough with the pleasantries, I see that you've come quite early for today's mission." Sandaime said waving his hand and gesturing the two to stand back up which they promptly did. The old man shifted his attention to the short blonde. "Naruto, did you enjoy last night's festival?"
"Oh yes! It was sooo much fun! In fact I'm still pumped up I'm ready to take on the mission!" Naruto exclaimed aloud.
The old hokage nodded approvingly of Naruto's high spirits. He then took out the team's list of duties. "Now for Itachi's Team Eleven, your next mission is… hmm… Babysitting Yojyu-sama's grandson, grocery shopping in the neighboring town, help digging up potatoes at–"
"NO!" Naruto screamed aloud crossing his arms forming an X to show his objection. "No! No! No, thank you! I want to do a more exciting mission! Find me something else!"
The hokage simply sighed at Naruto's impatience. "Naruto, you're still a novice. Everyone starts with easy missions to gain experience. Isn't that right Itachi?"
"Hai hokage-sama." Itachi replied with a nod.
"But! But! We're only doing the crappiest missions there is! And Itachi-sensei isn't doing anything at all! All he does is sit under the shade and make me do all the dirty work!" Naruto complained.
Itachi shifted his eyes down and cast a disapproving look at his loudmouthed pupil. "Naruto-kun. Behave yourself in front of hokage-sama."
"Hmm… It seems like I have to explain to you what missions are." Sandaime began. The old man seemed to have success in catching Naruto's elusive attention. "Listen, a lot of clients comes to this village everyday. They request things from babysitting to assassination. Each request is written down on these lists and is divided into ranks A, B, C and D according to the level of difficulty." The hokage explained, referring to the various scrolls spread out before him. "The shinobis of the village is also divided according to skill. Missions are then assigned to shinobis with the appropriate abilities. And if we successfully complete the mission we receive payment from the client."
"Naruto, you are still a rookie genin so D-ranked missions are perfect for you." Sandaime finished only to find out that the said blonde had been totally inattentive the whole time and was wondering aloud about what ramen he will be having for dinner. "Hey! Listen!!!" The old man shouted angrily.
"Geez! 'jiichan, that's what, the fifth time I've heard you talk about that boring mission crap! You always lecture me about stuff like this and stuff like that!" Naruto retorted, shifting his attention back to the hokage. "But you know, I'm not the kid who used to pull pranks anymore! Hmph!" Naruto pouted, crossing his arms and turning back at the old man.
Sandaime's expression softened after hearing those. 'He was only able to express himself through pranks…' Chuckling inwardly, the hokage conceded grabbing the C-ranked mission list from the table. "I understand. If you insist, I'll give you a C-ranked mission. It is to escort two people."
"Really?!" sounded Naruto. The elder's sudden change of heart certainly surprised the brash genin and even his stoic sensei. "YAY! Who?! Who?! Is it a daimyo?! Or maybe a princess?!" Naruto continued to ask, his face shining with excitement and enthusiasm.
"Don't get so hasty. I'll introduce them right now." The hokage then turned towards the door. "Can you two please come in now?"
Both Naruto and Itachi turned behind. The door slowly opened revealing a beautiful woman with long, flowing, jet-black hair who seemed to be about only around her early twenties. "Good morning. I'm Kurisawa Chitose and this is my young master, Takayama Mikoshi-sama. We are greatly honored to meet you." The woman bowed politely immediately after giving her short introduction.
Standing next to her was a boy that Naruto had no problem recognizing. That turned out to be mutual as the boy's eyes also grew wide in surprise and disbelief the moment he caught sight of Naruto.
"AHHH!!! It's you!" Both of them shouted, pointing at the other with perfectly synchronized chain of movements.