Disclaimer: I own Naruto… yeah right. I wish. I DON'T own Naruto, but enjoy the fic.
Notes:
Hello everyone, this is Tenshi-chan. This is also my first attempt at a fanfiction. If anyone would care to be my beta, I'd be much obliged Reviews are also appreciated 3
And although it doesn't seem like it, this will eventually end up as a SASUNARU fic
Also for your reference, Naruto-tachi is around 16-17.
To the Land of the Rising Sun
FirstMovement:
S-ranked Mission
"Lingering flames
Oppress my soul, yearning to
Venture and find hope
Everlasting"
Love by Ainze
Eyes full of sleep and dreams blinked awake as the light of a new day spilled into the bedroom. The lean figure with a mop of silky sun kissed hair, and eyes more brilliant than the depths of the ocean glanced around blearily, but did nothing to rouse himself from his worn down bed. It was too comfortable, and he opted that another five minutes of sleep wouldn't hurt, especially on his day off. 'Damn internal alarm clock' he grumbled to himself. With one last look around his room, his eyes automatically graced over the calendar posted on his wall, double-checking he had nothing to do on his precious day off, and he drifted back into a peaceful…
Oh crap. August 24, his glorious day off, was clearly marked, circled, and highlighted with bold markings, an apparent indication of the importance of the day. How could he have forgotten that Kakashi wanted a quick word with Team 7 that morning regarding the first S-ranked mission the group titled Rookie 9 along with Team Gai would have to carry out together the following week?
Forgetting such an important date was actually quite typical of Konoha's supposed number one ninja, Uzumaki Naruto.
Naruto glanced at his clock, which read: 9:23, then glance at his calendar once again, which read: 9:00. He cringed inwardly, knowing the wrath of his sweet, pink haired kunoichi friend, and the distaste of his cold rival would inflict upon him for being late to such an important meeting.
Without wasting another moment, the blonde haired, blue-eyed teen floundered out of bed, and dashed to the shower, while grabbing his clothes and a stale bagel. He grinned to himself, chomping on the old bagel while stripping off his sleep clothes, or more accurately, his boxers. Naruto couldn't wait to hear the details of such an important mission. He efficiently crammed the rest of his bagel into his mouth before stepping into the shower, where he promptly choked on the bagel shoved in his mouth. The icy spray of the shower beat upon him in a relentless manner as he quickly washed down his body and shampooed his hair. By the time he finished rinsing off, the water had only begun to warm up. A bit disgruntled with the cold water, Naruto stepped out of the shower, and quickly pulled on his usual bright orange attire before hastily brushing his teeth and dashing out the door to the familiar bridge that Team 7 met whenever they had a mission.
The daily sights and sounds of Konoha were mellow except for the hushed whispers laced with malice, and evil glares thrown at the blur of orange racing by. Naruto grimaced at the blatant hatred directed towards him without slowing down, it would be nice, he mused, if he wasn't treated like the horrific Kyuubi. He was only the container, and not on any rampage to tear Konoha down.
Naruto was so lost in his thoughts that he would've ran right past the selected meeting spot if he hadn't run directly into, his teacher, literally. His arms were tangled around his teacher as a result of not wanting to fall over, but much to everyone's mirth, it looked oddly like an embrace. "Kakashi-sensei? You're on time?" Naruto broke out into a broad smile and patted Kakashi on the back while simultaneously stepping to the side, hoping to subtly relieving the awkward position he ran into.
"Well actually," the silver haired, mask-wearing jounin started to say.
"You're late, Dobe." Obsidian eyes gazed at Naruto, finishing Kakashi's statement. Uchiha Sasuke's inky indigo colored hair framed his refined, aristocratic face, his mouth upturned in a smirk. "With the way you've been going on about the mission for the past week, I can't believe you're late." He opened his mouth, probably to continue berating the blonde dobe, but Haruno Sakura, took the pause to agree with her beloved Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun is right, Naruto," Sakura agreed, while stealing a glance at Sasuke for his approval. When she found none, she continued ranting at Naruto as if it was his fault the stoic Uchiha resorted to his usual silence.
"Now, now," Kakashi smiled through his mask, interrupting Sakura's traditional verbal-Naruto-abuse "don't you kids want to find out what this mission is actually about?"
Sasuke stood a little straighter showing his attentiveness; in Naruto language the slight movement was probably equivalent to, " Eh? THAT'S RIGHT! Tell us already Kakashi-sensei" which was exactly what Naruto said. Even Sakura halted teasing Naruto about his tardiness, waiting for Kakashi to explain their mission. After all, no one in the Rookie Nine, or in Team Gai, did anything above A/B-rank missions. Times were finally peaceful, so there was no need for S-ranked missions, or so they thought until requested by the Godaime Hokage to carry out the elite mission. Further details were to be disclosed when the team's sensei saw it fit to explain.
The ever-smiling teacher continued to grin, holding out the silence, and increasing the tension in the group, "You guys are going on a trip," he finally said with his casual air. "A trip?" his three students repeated, nonplused. "Yes, a trip," Kakashi confirmed, and continued in his carefree, yet I'm-dead-serious manner, "Hokage-sama, as well as the elders of Konoha, noticed a breach in the separation of two dimensions." His students, still nonplused, said nothing, so he continued to explain. "Probably because the lack of violence and war, groups of highly skilled ninja's have been working on completing forbidden jutsus to pass time. One jutsu in particular went wrong recently, connecting our world to another."
Sasuke snorted, regaining his ability to speak. He was dubious of what the Copy-nin was saying so he asked the obvious, "What are we supposed to do?" His arms were folded across his chest, and for a while, no one said anything. The sweet scented wind blew, ruffling everyone's hair, and the birds chirped in hopes of filling the sound void. Finally, Kakashi hesitated, no longer nonchalant, "Even Hogake-sama isn't sure of the exact details, but from what she has managed to gather from old resources, it appears that the connection can only be closed from the other side; and if the connection isn't closed soon, the worlds will merge together"
"You're telling us our mission is to go to the other side and close the gap?" Sakura asked, fear flickering in her emerald green eyes. "If we need to close the gap from the other side, how are we supposed to get back?" The full impact of the mission was at last taking its expected toll on Team 7.
Kakashi paused, before he answered slowly, "Think of the Rookie Nine and Team Gai as a doorstop between the two dimensions. The teams will keep the rift in the dimensions from becoming larger; regrettably it won't get any smaller until the solution is found. Like the doorstop, the dimension won't be closed off until removed. Hokage-sama suggested if you guys come back slowly, the doorway between the two dimensions won't slam shut, giving the last group to come back time to transfer back to this world before the worlds become sealed off again. The process might be slow and tedious, and can take anywhere to a few weeks, to a few years to complete. Do you understand now why this is considered an S-rank mission?"
Ashen faced, but never one to give up Naruto asked, "So where are we going? And how do we close the gateway?" His golden hair glinted in the sunlight, and his sky blue eyes shone determinedly, his physical traits were the personification of his personality: bold and cheerful. He wasn't afraid of an S-ranked mission. He caught Sasuke's eye and grinned; he knew Sasuke was up for the challenge. It was by far the most difficult and strange mission ever assigned to anyone in Konoha Gakure, but it was humbling to know the Hokage felt they could complete the task.
"Hogake-sama as well whoever else is free is researching the best way to carry out the mission. But no matter what, it shall commence in one week. We can't afford waste time. We'll meet again on the 28th of August for an update, same time." The Copy-nin directed gentle smile at his group, although it was a bit difficult to tell with his mask. "Your destination is the Land of the Rising Sun: Japan. You're dissmissed"