"What is your distance to the target?" Kakashi asked as he spoke into his radio microphone.

"5 meters," Naruto replied. Kakashi then asked him and the rest of Squad 7 if they were ready to proceed with the extraction and they all confirmed. The jonin then gave the signal and his three genin jumped out of their hiding spots and Naruto managed to grab the stray cat they were after.

"I got it, I got it!" Naruto yelled triumphantly before the cat began to struggle and claw at his face. Naruto's predicament amused Tayuya who simply chuckled at his misfortune, while Sasuke radioed that the cat they caught was indeed the one they were after.

"Ah, ah! Help! Tayuya, Sasuke! Get this thing off me!" Naruto yelled as the cat continued to give the young ninja trouble.

Tayuya chuckled and Sasuke face palmed at Naruto's pathetic display. "I dunno Naruto, you seem to be handling the situation pretty well. I'd hate to have to take the spotlight from you. You're the mission's MVP after all…" Tayuya smirked as she recalled Naruto saying he would be the one who contributed most to this mission before they started. That was technically true in this case but she doubted this was what he meant.

"I don't care about that anymore! Just help me out!" Naruto begged.

"Hmm… maybe if you ask me nicely?" Tayuya offered.

Sasuke had almost had enough of their banter and wanted to be done with their lame mission. As such, he was about to just grab the cat; however, Tayuya held her arm out to stop him. She wanted her cousin to swallow his pride a bit and then they would help him.

"Fine! Please help get this demon off of me!" Naruto yelled.

"Oh, alright. Only because you asked so nicely," Tayuya said as she pulled out her flute. Sasuke was already putting his earplugs in as she did this since he saw where this was going. Tayuya then began to play a chipper tune and both the cat and Naruto went wide eyed and froze in place. The cat then slowly rolled off of Naruto and both of them began to stand up; the cat using only its back legs. The two then began to do a slow dance as they waved their arms around and shuffled their feet. Tayuya proceeded to start walking back towards Kakashi with Naruto and the cat following behind as Sasuke sighed before slowly bringing up the rear. He knew this was the result of Tayuya being just as frustrated with these boring missions as everyone else; in fact, even Kakashi seemed frustrated at times that he could only take them on such entry-level assignments. As such, Tayuya was trying to make the most of a boring situation by entertaining herself by tormenting her cousin and neither Sasuke, nor Kakashi really blamed her. All of Team 7 hoped their situation would change soon…

Naruto and the cat named Tora stayed under Tayuya's genjutsu until the team entered the Hokage's mission office and the cat was reunited with its owner. Only then did Tayuya release the genjutsu and Naruto snapped back to reality. When he realized what had transpired he quickly became agitated.

"Grrrr! Tayuya! Come on! That's the fourth time since we became a team that you've put me in a genjutsu!" Naruto yelled at her.

"Yup! You really need to practice genjutsu dude. You fall for it way too easily," Tayuya observed.

"Oh yeah? Then why don't you ever put Sasuke in a genjutsu, huh? I bet he can't break out of it either!" Naruto hmphed as he sat cross-legged on the floor.

"Because he always puts in his hearing protection, unlike you!"

"I had a cat clawing at my face!"

"You beat up a chunin before graduating!"

"GUYS! Enough!" Kakashi said as he rubbed his temples. Even if he understood their frustration, he couldn't just let them keep yelling at each other inside the Hokage's office. Plus, they were giving him a headache.

"Maybe, our group wouldn't be so frustrated at each other if we were given real assignments," Sasuke said calmly after Kakashi made Naruto and Tayuya stop fighting. He then looked towards the Hokage and hoped the old shinobi got his hint.

"Huh? … Yeah, yeah, yeah! We're ninja! We should be going on real missions!" Naruto added eagerly after hearing Sasuke's statement.

"That would be nice," Tayuya said as she shifted her gaze towards the Hokage. Hiruzen sighed as the group looked at him expectantly. He then proceeded to explain why they were given such seemingly pointless assignments. He went into great detail about how they help the village and give genin experience; however, he stopped when he realized that the entirety of Team 7, Kakashi included, were simply not listening to him. Instead, Naruto had started a conversation with them about ramen and Tayuya, Kakashi and even Sasuke found what Naruto had to say more interesting than the Hokage at the moment. This was because when Naruto discussed flavors, ingredients and cooking methods, he sounded much smarter and more refined than his usual self and the others were fascinated by this shift. It really showed Naruto's intellectual potential if he focused his mind on something. Now if only he wasn't so dead-set on ramen…

"Silence!" Hiruzen said as he attempted to gain the group's attention once more.

"Oh, sorry," Kakashi said as he scratched the back of his head. He'd be more embarrassed to have been caught in such a trivial distraction if it weren't for the fact that he too was rather bored of the Hokage's long-winded explanations. Naruto proceeded to yell about how he didn't need to be lectured and that he was a real ninja, while Tayuya pretty much zoned out because she did not expect the discussion to really go anywhere interesting after Naruto's outburst.

"Naruto wants a mission eh? So be it," Hiruzen finally said after letting out an amused chuckle. This caused Sasuke and Tayuya to give their full attention to the Hokage as they were caught off guard by the fact that Naruto's temper tantrum actually worked! "I'm going to give you a C rank mission; you will be bodyguards on a journey," the Third Hokage continued.

"Really? Yes! Who, who are we guarding?! A princess? Or some big wig councilor?" Naruto asked excitedly. Hiruzen then asked their client to come in and Team 7's genin were shocked and disappointed that he seemed to be no more than a drunk old man.

"Damn… for once I wish Naruto was right. A princess would have been way better," Tayuya lamented.

"Some old man? Really? We might as well be baby sitting," Sasuke thought.

"What the? A bunch of little snot-nosed kids?" The man proceeded to chug from his liquor bottle before continuing, "and you; the one with the little one with the idiotic look on your face. You really expect me to believe you're a ninja?"

Naruto then began to laugh as he did not understand that he was the one the client was referring to until he gazed at both of his teammates and realized they were both quite a bit taller than him. He was 145.3 cm tall while Sasuke was 150.8 cm and Tayuya was 148.2 cm. Once he realized he was the one being insulted, he tried to fight the client but was held in place by Kakashi. The animosity between the old man and Naruto would not cease for quite some time as they continued arguing even after leaving the village gates. Eventually, an awkward silence enveloped the group after Naruto and Tazuna stopped insulting one another. It was then that Tayuya decided to break the silence.

"So… what are we expecting to guard this guy from anyway?" Tayuya asked Kakashi. She didn't have any interest in speaking to someone who looked like a deadbeat and doubted their ninja abilities.

"Highway men, robbers and the like. Nothing too serious," Kakashi stated plainly.

"That's it? No enemy ninja?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"No, no. The land of waves doesn't have any shinobi of its own and there aren't any ninja battles in C rank missions. That would be something for more experienced shinobi to undergo," Kakashi explained. That being said, he felt a presence nearby and wondered if what he was saying was the truth. He wasn't sure yet but he thought that a ninja or two might be watching them. The only question was… were they enemies of the Leaf looking to take a potshot at some weaker shinobi or were they after Tazuna.

The group proceeded calmly onward as the clear weather and chirping birds made for a very soothing atmosphere. Naruto was certainly lulled into a state of calm, while Sasuke and Tayuya weren't that much more aware than him. Kakashi didn't show it but he was still on high alert. He was hoping the experiences of this mission would make his students realize they needed to do the same without him having to tell them.

Sure enough, the group passed by a puddle in the middle of the road. This confirmed to Kakashi that they were being tailed by other ninja; however, with the obvious nature of their trap he figured that whoever was pursuing them was only chunin level at maximum. He decided it would be best to let the genin handle the situation so they would gain experience and he would only step in if thing got too heated. A few second after making his decision, two ninja leapt from the puddle and trapped Kakashi in a bladed chain. He substituted out of it as they yanked on the chain to tear him apart.

"K-Kakashi sensei!" Naruto yelled as he and the others were caught off guard. The two ninja then swiftly ran up behind Naruto to do the same to him; however, Sasuke leapt into action to defend Naruto, while Tayuya stayed with the bridge builder. After a brief skirmish, Sasuke used a kunai and shuriken to immobilize the ninja with their own chain. Unfortunately, the two of them were able to separate and one went after Naruto, while the other approached the bridge builder.

"Earth Style: Stone Column Spears!" Tayuya shouted as she waved several hand signs and forced several spikes to protrude from the ground. The enemy shinobi was not expecting a kid to be capable of such an attack and his momentum prevented him from dodging it.

Red, it was all Tayuya could see after her attack. Her breath was caught in her throat as she witnessed the horror she created. The spikes and impaled the man so forcefully that his body was suspended in the air as blood sprayed from the various punctures. Some even hit Tayuya in the eyes, thus causing her vision to change. All this blood reminded her of the day her parents were killed and she froze in fear as the memories assaulted her psyche.

"Brother!" The other ninja shouted. He had only managed to cut Naruto's hand before he heard the sickening crunch of bone and turned around to see his brother skewered by some earthen spears. He then began to run towards Tayuya who was still dealing with her past trauma. Naruto was also still frozen in fear and could do nothing to help. Fortunately, Sasuke used the ninja's distracted state to lunge at him and struck him in his back with a kunai. He plunged the blade in deep and held it there until the man stopped squirming. Sasuke then began to breathe heavily as the adrenaline wore off and he gazed upon his own blood soaked hands and felt the weight of what he had just done. It was at that moment that Kakashi ran out of the bushes to assure them that he was alive and to assess the physical and psychological damage that had just occurred.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Tayuya it's alright! It's over!" He yelled to get there attention. This was enough to snap Naruto and Sasuke out of their states. Naruto was confused as he thought his teacher had been slain but quickly realized it had been a substitute that was eviscerated instead. Sasuke on the other hand, was thankful that Kakashi was there to snap him back to reality and began to work on calming himself down. He really only wanted to kill one person in this world and this man was not the one; however, he couldn't just let him try to kill his comrade so he wasn't going to let this get to him.

Unfortunately, Tayuya was in a very different place than the rest of them. She was hyper ventilating and her eyes were wide with terror as she was back inside her old home staring at the corpses of her parents. She was scared and helpless. She thought she was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. Suddenly, she felt a hand upon her shoulder and turned to face what she assumed would be her killer when instead she saw her sensei looking at her with a concerned gaze.

"Tayuya, it's alright. You're safe. You protected Tazuna," Kakashi said as he looked her in the eyes. She was clearly still startled and shaken but she was starting to come back to reality and that was a relief for the seasoned ninja. He then left her to check on Naruto, who had a cut on his hand and was almost certainly poisoned. Sasuke seemed to be handling the situation the best so Kakashi decided to prioritize his other two students for the moment. "Sorry Naruto, I would have intervened but I didn't expect you to just freeze up like that."

"Kakashi… what just happened? I thought we weren't supposed to run into enemies out here," Sasuke asked, his voice still a bit shaky from what had happened.

"That's what I wanted to find out. Sorry for leaving them both to you kids. I was hoping to determine if they were after us, ninja attacking ninja… or if they were after our friend here," Kakashi stated as he gave a stern look to Tazuna who looked down in shame. "As for you, Tazuna. I think you owe us an explanation. My team is still learning and they weren't supposed to experience combat like this for a while now… they shouldn't have had to kill anyone today. That's something we ease our shinobi into since it can be traumatic… you can see the results," Kakashi said as he gestured to Tayuya and Sasuke. "If we had known shinobi were after you, we would have charged you more and sent you with a team of chunin instead of genin. You complained about being guarded by children and yet that's exactly what you agreed to when purchasing our services. Now look at what has happened. Two of my students are going to have to come to grips with their first kills far earlier than they should and another is injured and poisoned. As squad leader, I have to make the best decision for my team… and at this point that decision is to end this mission and return home so my students can recover physically and mentally," Kakashi finished with a tone of finality.

Tazuna looked surprised that the ninja would just give up; however, he could not deny that he felt responsible for what had just happened. He was deeply ashamed for having caused these kids so much emotional pain. He had acted selfishly by deceiving them and they were paying the price. He was about to comment when suddenly, Naruto stabbed himself in the hand with a kunai. The boy was also ashamed that he had let his comrades do all the work and had frozen up when it mattered most. He certainly wasn't about to become the reason they abandoned the mission and he gave a resolute stare at Sasuke and Tayuya.

"No way am I going back after that! I didn't even do anything! I have to make up for it! I won't let the bridge builder get a single scratch from this point on! I vow it on this wound! I will never run or freeze again!" Naruto yelled. His speech resonated with his teammates who gained their own confidence back.

Sasuke smirked before stating, "There's no need for us to go back. Clearly we can handle ourselves."

Tayuya balled one of her hand into a fist and slammed it into her other palm and declared with a grin, "Yeah! We got this! We wanted a serious mission and we won't back down from it now that we got one!"

Kakashi was surprised by their sudden change. He then remembered their bell test and realized that they all had such good synergy with each other that if one of them was confident, then all of them would be. It was truly an amazing sight to him. "Very well, we'll proceed with the mission; however… we have to patch up that wound first Naruto, otherwise… you are actually going to die," Kakashi deadpanned.

"D-d-die?! Ah, help me, help me!" Naruto began shouting as he shuffled from side to side in panic.

Tayuya began to chuckle at her knuckle-headed cousin and made a vow of her own. She promised herself that she also wouldn't freeze up and that she wouldn't let her past memories affect her present. She was going to be a shinobi and that was that. She then glanced at Sasuke who nodded towards her and once Naruto was patched up, the team felt like they could take on any opponent; however, their next opponent certainly wouldn't agree...