Chapter 3

The Client

Shikamaru had decided to allow Hinata to sleep in the longest since she had been using her chakra for her Byakugan the entire trip and would need it almost constantly until the mission was completed. He had no doubt they would all need their rest for this one, but they had to reach their destination early because of the Lord's son's trip to the capital. Naruto and Sakura got up without much of a fuss. Well, much of one for Naruto. Naruto had apparently been able to sleep, to spite the cold of the night, without a jacket. Shikamaru had wondered how he had done that, especially since it had gotten much colder than most could stand without a blanket let alone sleeping in the open air with only a short sleeve protective shirt. The protective shirts were designed to help stop attacks from other ninja, not keep in warmth.

Naruto was the one to actually wake the sleeping heiress. His loud antics and argument with Sakura were what woke the sleeping girl, not the approach of the team leader. She had been offered dry food for breakfast and ate it fast. The camp was already to leave. Only Hinata's stuff remained to be gotten ready. Her bed pad needed to be rolled and the grass refluffed but that only took a few seconds. While Hinata was putting her bed pad into her pack she noticed there were already two Narutos taking care of the flattened grass where she had slept. They were both only wearing the protective undershirt almost every ninja wore. She quickly looked around and noticed there was only the two discarded jackets. Her coat and his visual statement were sitting by her pack.

The chore was quickly done and the Narutos moved to where Shikamaru was standing with Sakura. Hinata put on her coat and offered the orange and black jacket back to the twins. She didn't know which was the real one, but she was certain the real one would take the coat. The first Naruto took it and put it on after thanking Hinata.

Shikamaru asked if everyone was ready and then nodded to the identical people standing next to Hinata. The Naruto without the jacket took point while the one with the jacket took the position behind Sakrua and Shikamaru. The pace Naruto set was just as quick as the day before. But they needed to get there.

The group arrived at the city and entered without being noticed, to spite the presence of two genin dressed in bright orange. It was a regular city and not guarded against the entrance of ninja, especially since it was in the country of Fire, protected by Konoha. There were guards on the walls, but the city walls were more for regular military attacks, not attacks by those who have mastered stealth. Naruto was the lowest ranking member of the team, and he was dressed in a color normally associated with wanting to be seen, he was still one of the advantages the team had, whether or not the team leader realized it.

The Naruto without the jacket stayed in the lead all the way to the gate of Lord Nami's estate. No one questioned how Naruto knew exactly where to go. The guards at the gate however were very suspicious of five young ninja standing in front of them expecting entrance.

The team had stopped on a roof across the street from the Lord's estate. The three chuunin were slightly out of breath from the pace Naruto had set all morning. Naruto had decided to give them a rest so they didn't look bad for their first impression. Shikamaru signaled for Naruto to stop at the gate and be let in rather than just showing up rudely in the Lord's court. It was best since it was their client and it would show their respect. Naruto simply huffed and then dropped from the roofs to land silently right in front of the gate guards.

Shikamaru walked up to the guards and announced their identity and purpose. The guards looked suspiciously at the ninja calmly standing before them. Both guards had spears within reach and had swords at their sides. They were both twice the size of the kids standing before them but they showed no fear at all. One of the guards signaled for the other to enter and see if the ninja's request was valid and should be allowed entrance.

It was going to take a while for the guard to get back with permission. Shikamaru had no choice but to wait, and so did his team. He looked back at the other three being represented by four ninja and sighed. They all knew what it meant and watched as the lazy leader moved to the side and laid down to watch the clouds. Sakura moved to sit next to him and opened up a couple of scrolls and started reading and taking notes. Hinata was hesitant. She wanted to be next to Naruto, but it was wrong on a mission. It was best to keep relationships from being seen while outside of the village. She decided to sit on the other side of Shikamaru from Sakura and practice her Byakugan by reading Sakura's scroll and watch Naruto. As Hinata moved next to their teammates, the two Narutos walked to the middle of the street. They were about 10 feet apart and facing each other. Apparently they had silently agreed to spar while waiting.

The guard was very, very shocked. He knew how to tell the difference between genin and chuunin. The three chuunin seemed to not have a single care. They all seemed to have dropped their guard completely. The two genin however, and he could only assume they were twins, were getting ready to fight. They all seemed to have no real care for their safety. He could kill all of them before one of them would know what was going on. Then he was totally and utterly surprised as the two genin facing each other calmly in the middle of the street simply disappeared. They were standing their, flatfooted and in no position to move when they both just vanished. The three chuunin next to him didn't even seem to notice. Though the white eyed girl sitting closest to him seemed to be looking around very fast.

Suddenlty the guard saw the one with the coat standing in front of him while the other was throwing a punch at the mess of blond hair. The punch was easily deflected. The guard was right in the line of the fist coming at his head. He ducked and moved to avoid the punch but it was futile, it was coming in much faster than he had thought the boy could move. Suddenly the punch was hauled back and the boy moved off chasing the orange blur. In his panic to move he knocked over his spear. It started to fall. Right about when it was going to hit the blue haired girl the boy without the coat grabbed it.

In one fluid motion the boy grabbed the spear, turned around and stabbed the spear into the chest of his brother. How could he do that? It was his brother and he just killed him like it was a game or nothing. The guard was a little relieved when the girl sitting next to him gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. This caused the pink one to look up and wince.

The spear was sticking a foot out from the boy with the coat. Suddenly the boy disappeared in a cloud of smoke and left only the coat dangling at the end of the spear. Naruto started to get excited and yell that he got his coat back. The guard now understood it. No one would dare attack these ninja, they would kill their own brother just for a coat. He was now very cautious when the light hearted blond handed him back the spear. The boy was putting on the coat he had just killed for when the pink haired girl asked him a question.

"Did you really have to do all that just to get your coat back from your clone?" The blond haired boy became sheepish at this question and put his hand behind his head scratching it.

Naruto laughed softly in slight embarrassment. "Well we both wanted to have some fun. And I was bored. Besides it was better than just releasing the clone. Besides no damage happened."

This angered Sakura. Her inner self suddenly surfaced and introduced Naruto's face to the dirt with a powerful suggestion in the form of a fist to the back of the genin's head. "No damage, you frightened that guard to the point of wetting his pants, you worried Hinata, and you put a hole in your jacket, which is only a few weeks old."

The guard was even more shocked at this. The girl who seemed to be more of a brainiac than one focused on physical strength just put a small hole in the ground with her teammate's head. She probably just killed him. But the guard was even more shocked when the boy lifted his head as if nothing had happened and just smiled and pleaded with her to calm down.

After that little altercation nothing significant happened. The energetic boy had reached into his pack and got out a couple of cups of instant ramen. He poured water into each and asked who wanted some lunch. Only the white eyed girl replied at all. It seemed like the hyperactive blond had expected this as there were only two cups of ramen pulled out. The boy then held the cup of ramen in his and and after a few minutes he handed it to the female who was joining him in eating. Oddly the cup was now steaming and giving a pleasant odor of chicken. The boy then held the second cup in the same way and a few minutes later downed the whole thing faster than the guard could see.

Of the four remaining ninja the girl who was eating seemed to be the one with the most manners. She seemed to hold herself like the guard had seen a noble do. But the guard also noticed that the girl seemed to be shy and subdued. It was almost like she wanted to be quiet and unnoticed in plain sight than to be recognized for her obvious birth right. The boy she seemed closer to than her teammates though seemed to have no manners what so ever, like he was raised on the streets and didn't have parents that had taught him how to act at all. He was loud, obnoxious, and dressed like he wanted to be seen.

The guard wondered how this group could work together at all. The leader seemed lazy and only interested in not working, the pink haired one seemed more interested in studying scrolls than anything else but was also the physically strongest person the guard had ever seen, to include both genders. The other two seemed to be almost exact opposites of each other. The group seemed to have nothing even remotely in common except for the metal plates with the leaf symbol they all seemed to be wearing.

After Hinata had finished eating the other guard returned with news that the five ninja were to go directly to Lord Nami. He then got a little confused as there was only four ninja present at the gate. He looked at the other guard who apparently was his superior and saw that he should let the idea drop.

Shikamaru got up and lead his team inside. They all seemed to be relaxed as they entered the courtyard before walking up to the front door of the mansion and entering. The entrance hall was huge by comparison. Even Hinata hadn't been in one that had been so large and lavishly decorated, but then again he was one of the provincial heads of Fire country. The group walked down the all and waited to be allowed to enter the court of Lord Nami.

They only had to wait a few minutes before they were allowed to enter. Just before they were allowed to enter an older man obviously a noble from the way he dressed walked out of the door leading to the hall. Behind him was a cloud ninja. Naruto looked the ninja directly in the eyes, not hiding any of his feelings towards the guy. It seemed like it was more than just village rivalry to the rest of Naruto's group though. Shikamaru, Sakura, and Hinata didn't focus on the ninja for more than the required time to memorize his appearance and assess the threat. Instead they turned to the guard that announced their ability to enter. Naruto was the only one to notice because of the timing of the attack but a shuriken had been thrown at him by the cloud ninja as he passed.

Naruto had caught it and thrown it back only for the other ninja to catch before anyone else noticed. Now was not the time to settle the score. But this meant Naruto would have to be more cautious on this trip than he had in a while.

Shikamaru walked in to the hall and presented his team to their client. The lord regarded the team with a critical eye. He seemed to spend a few seconds considering the appearance and strength of each team ninja. "My guard told me there were five of you, I only see four. Where is the other blond, the twin he stated?"

Shikamaru answered this without hesitation. "Ninja have the ability to create illusions. It only looked like there were five of us to your guard. We created the illusion to ward of anyone who might think only two young men were a meager protection for two young girls while traveling through the forest."

Naruto was happy about that answer. It used the well known idea that ninja can create illusions to hide what had really been happening. The noble man seemed to accept the answer. The next statement Naruto heard was insulting. He didn't mind it for him, but it insulted his teammates. Especially Sakura's and Hinata's strength. The voice seemed like it came from the man sitting in the raised chair but it seemed like he was a little surprised at it too.

"You don't really think these weaklings can protect me from the cloud do you? They have two girls with them and one of them is only a genin."

The boy who appeared as the last statement was being said was apparently the Nami Shiro whom they were to protect. Naruto cringed as the vein in Sakura's head made itself known. She had just been insulted along with Hinata. Hinata seemed to accept the insult though which made Naruto and Sakura even angrier at the comment.

"Please forgive my son. He can be a little blunt. I had been promised a strong 4 MAN CHUUNIN team to protect my son. It appears I was a little misunderstood in my request."

Sakura almost flipped at this blatant sexism. Surprisingly Hinata beat Shikamaru in replying to the lord and his son. Shikamaru took the hint though and moved to calm Sakura down.

"Lord Nami-sama, I am Hyuuga Hinata, heir of the Hyuuga clan. I assure you the Hokage has sent a team more than capable of protecting your son. Sakura is the apprentice to the Hokage herself and as you know the Hyuuga have their own strengths. Naruto is no ordinary genin, he is the apprentice to one of the Sannin, Jiraiya. He has simply been unable to take the chuunin exam because of a lack of genin team members."

The reply was worded very well. She had obviously had some training in the art of diplomacy. She neither said that the Hokage had misunderstood the request nor said it was a mistake. She didn't even address the obvious insult but more proved how each member was worthy of being assigned to the protection mission. What impressed Sakura was that Hinata had noticed an insult to Naruto was well. Sakura hadn't noticed the insult at Naruto's rank.

Nami Shiro simply huffed in response to this statement. He obviously didn't believe the females could protect him or stand up in a fight. He wondered how these ninja could even consider themselves so good. They were standing and not kneeling like they should have been. They should be subservient like the peasants they were. Why was his father tolerating this disrespect?

"We will be leaving in an hour. I will be traveling by carriage. You will not be allowed inside. You must find your own way to keep up with our pace. Be at the stables ready to go. If I am dissatisfied with the service your payment will be reduced." Obviously the son considered them as only mercenaries with no loyalties or honor. He thought of himself as better than them because of his birth.

This time it was Naruto who answered. "We won't need any transportation. We can move much faster than your carriage can without help. And I don't think any one of us wants to be in your carriage, we will need to be outside protecting you and looking out for threats. Let alone the company would be undesirable."

Sakura was pleased with Naruto's answer. It had thinly veiled insult in it and it demonstrated that they didn't need help. They were more than enough for this mission. Shiro seemed to be fuming at this as he turned and left obviously angry at the contempt the ninja showed towards him. Shikamaru suddenly felt the need to apologize to the lord for his team's disrespect.

"Lord Nami-sama, please forgive my team. They can be a little heated when they feel their abilities are being questioned. With your leave we will now prepare for the mission."

Shikamaru's statement was acknowledged with a nod signaling they were dismissed.