Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 3: The hellcat and the Ramen-stand

Team 7 were jumping through the forests of Konoha, pursuing their target. It was faster than any of them thought it could be. They had used hours tracking it down, and now, for at least forty-five minutes, chasing it. But they were gaining in on it. They were so close now.

Their target had stopped. Team 7 quickly made their way to different hiding spots around their target.

"This is Sasuke, arrived at point B" it crackled through the radio

"Sakura here, I have reached point C"

"Naruto here, reached point A"

Kakashi was listening in, supervising them. Normally he would have scolded (as much as Kakashi now can scold people) that for taking so long, but this was no ordinary target. As soon as he heard they had reached their positions he tapped his radio "If you're all in position… Execute capture target T!"

Team 7 didn't need to hear any more than that; they jumped from their hiding spots, going after the target. It was fast, and dodged first Sakura's attempt, then Sasuke's. Naruto seeing his opportunity, jumped into a tree, and came at it from above. It was a success; he grabbed the fur ball shaped target. It was, to say the least, not happy. It turned around and began attacking Naruto. The cat Tora was captured.

The crackling sound of Kakashi's voice over the radio sounded "Does it have a red ribbon on its right ear? Is it our target, Tora the cat?"

The Uchiha looked lazily over at Naruto, who was getting beaten up by the small brown feline from hell, and Sakura who was giggling at her teammate's expense. Sasuke tapped his radio "Affirmative, Tora the cat is captured… again."

All the Genin of Team 7 was starting to hate Tora. Since they had graduated six weeks ago, they had had "capture Tora the cat" mission sixteen times – seventeen with this. For some reason the Hokage loved to give their team the most hellish missions. They were had all agreed it was because of Kakashi's tardiness.

- At the mission delegation office -

"My sweet, dear Tora-Chan, I missed you! I was so worried about you! My, my, you've gotten yourself really dirty, haven't you dear? We will have to take a long, wet shower when we come home" a large lady in red said to the hellish cat, while hugging it to death, much to the satisfaction of Team 7. They were all grinning evilly at the feline abomination from hell.

She turned towards Hiruzen, and bowed "Thank you Hokage-sama. I'm happy you're always willing to help" then she turned towards Team 7 "and thank you for helping"

The Sandaime nodded, while Kakashi smiled "ah, no problem Madam Shijimi. We were happy to help". All the Genin shot glares at Kakashi. Naruto scoffed mentally 'WE? What the hell do you mean with "we"? You didn't do a damn thing. If we get that mission one more time, I'm gonna kill that hellcat. I would be doing all of Konoha a favor.'

Sakura also mentally on the same lines: 'if you removed your eyes from that abomination of a book Sensei, you could have ACTUALLY HELP!'

Madam Shijimi walked over to the Hokage and handed him the payment "Here you are Hokage-Sama. I must be going now, goodbye"

"Goodbye Madam Shijimi, and give my regards to Fire Daimyo-Dono" The old Hokage said. She nodded at it, and made her way out the door. Hiruzen turned towards Team 7, to see Kakashi getting deadly glares from his team. "Now Team 7, let's see what we have for you now…" he looked through all the mission papers "Ah here we have it. Council member Yojyu needs someone to babysit his child while he is out on business, grocery shopping in a neighboring town and helping pick up potatoes at one of the Akamichi farms"

"Oh, come on Jiji! We have done nothing but D-ranks for almost two months! Can't you give us something just a little bit difficult!?" Naruto exclaimed. Sakura and Sasuke looked annoyed by it, but they had to agree; they too were getting tired of all the easy missions. Kakashi sweat dropped 'you know it's gonna be me who take all the trash, right? I guess its revenge for me not helping with Tora…'

Iruka sighed "Naruto, you already know how the ninja rank goes. You're only newly graduated Genin. Until you have trained some more, you can't go on higher ranking missions than D-rank"

"I know that, but I'm not the same brat who used to paint over the Hokage monument! I can handle myself!" Naruto retorted. "Will at least just one C-rank mission kill us Iruka-Sensei," Said scarred Chunin only sighed again at the blonde's words. He has been keeping up on his former student's progress and like Naruto said; he has been improving greatly in the past two months.

The old Hokage looked at one of this year's most promising Genin there is some truth to that. He chuckled lightly while puffing on his pipe "Kakashi, what do you say? Do you think they are ready?"

Kakashi, who in the meantime had taken up his little orange book, looked over his Genin team. They were all looking at him with begging eyes. He took a deep breath "I would say a C-rank would suffice as Naruto mentioned. They have been making slow but steady progress."

Hiruzen nodded "Very well then. If you insist I do have a C-rank for you then. It's an escort- and guard mission to Nami no Kuni."

"Ano, who are we supposed to escort then?" Sakura asked

Instead of answering Sakura's question, Hiruzen called out towards the door "Tazuna-san, can you please enter"

The young teens crinkle their noses from the smell of alcohol as coming in through the door were wobbling a drunk middle-aged man. He had grey hair and a large beard of same color. He wore glasses with a dark pair of eyes behind them. It took him a few seconds to get his balance. When he finally did, he narrowed his eyes when he saw who the ninja team, that was supposed to protect him, was made up of "What the hell is this? You're giving me a couple of brats? I mean, the short one doesn't even seem to be ten! They can't have any skill!" he slurred out.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. He had matured a bit from his old self, but his short height was still a touchy subject. And then he criticized their skill. Naruto smirked, which caused Kakashi to worry. Before any of the people in the room could do anything, a big crystal shot out of the ground, impaling the bottle Tazuna was raising to his mouth, successfully pouring its content all over Tazuna's chest. He blinked a couple of times, very surprised. He wasn't the only one; all the ANBU guards in the room were mentally wide-eyed behind their mask. This was the first time they had seen the Shoton in action. They had of course all heard about it; it was big news when the village got a new kekkei genkai. But they didn't show any of this, thanks to their years in service.

"What was it you were saying oji-san?" Naruto smiled. He didn't get any answer.

Behind him Hiruzen coughed/secretly chuckle in his hand "Naruto, please don't kill our clients. Wouldn't be good for business, you know." Naruto looked over his shoulder, before shrugging. He snapped his fingers, and the crystal shattered in tiny microscopic pieces. Tazuna was breathless by the sight of the crystal shimmer in front of him, but composed himself.

"Erm… I am Tazuna and I'm an expert in bridge building. I will need you to escort me back to Nami no Kuni and protect me while I finish it" the old man from Wave said.

Kakashi turned towards his team "You heard the man. This is a C-rank, so we will probably be away for a few weeks. Go home and pack all that you could need. We meet at the main gate tomorrow morning at 8 A.M." Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto nodded.

"Good then. Team 7, I expect you back in a few weeks then. Dismissed"

-With Naruto-

The blond Uzumaki was walking down the main street alone. As soon as they had been dismissed from the mission delegation office, Sasuke had walked towards the Uchiha District with Sakura on his ass. He sighed 'I still like Sakura-Chan, but the way she acts sometimes… I have to find a way to talk to her about it. Most of the time, on and off missions, she really doesn't act like a proper kunoichi. Maybe I can use Sasuke to make her act less fan girlish.'

He was making his way to Higarashi Weapon Shop to buy different ninja tools for the upcoming mission. He had thought he had it all at home, but no such luck. He couldn't wait till he was better at fūinjutsu so he could make the exploding tags himself, but it was so damn hard to understand. He was only one fourth of the way through the first beginner book. He had learned to make sealing scrolls, and he was good at it, but the rest… It went slowly. It didn't really help with clones, since it was him that had a hard time understanding it. But he was making progress, slow and steady. He was brought out of his thoughts when he almost bumped into someone on the street. He quickly got out of the strangers way. He wasn't going to give the villagers any excuses to hate him more. Though, since he had graduated, they were concealing it more.

He had made his way to the weapon shop. He was hoping to see Tenten in there; he hadn't seen her in three weeks. She had been given a mission, so she was away, and now he was going on one… If he didn't see her, it would probably be a few weeks more. He stepped inside, and was delighted to hear a familiar voice.

"Welcome to Higari- Hey Naruto!" Tenten said, making her way out from the counter to give him a quick hug. They may only have known each other for a few weeks, but Tenten had become his best friend – if not because she was his first. When she was done she took a good look a good look at him "It's good to see you again. Now, did you come to buy or just to say hey to little old me?" she smiled at him.

Naruto smiled back "Well, kind of both. You see, my team has gotten its first C-rank mission, so I need to restock all my ninja tools, like explosion tags, smoke- and flash bombs, things like that. And then I hoped to run into you before I was going away"

She nodded, and began to take all the different articles from the shelves and put them on the counter. When she got to the kunai and shuriken, Naruto shook his head "I won't need those"

Tenten frowned "I know you told me you like hand to hand combat and Ninjutsu combat more, but you will need weapons"

"That wasn't what I meant" Naruto looked around the store, just to make sure they were alone. While most of the higher-ups ninja knew of his Shoton abilities, there weren't many others that did, and he planned to keep it that way for as long as he could. "I can make them myself" he said, holding his hand up, conjuring a crystal shuriken.

Tenten gasped "How did you do that?" she motioned to take it, but quickly stopped herself and looked at him "Can I take a look at it?" Naruto nodded. She took it from his hand, and looked closer at it. She was, to say the least, impressed. There were such detail, and she couldn't find any weakness in the way it was build, even though it should be fragile. In fact, it was the opposite, it was sturdy.

When she was done, she made motion to return it to Naruto, but he shook his head "You keep it, I can make a thousand others in no time"

She smiled at him, bigger than before. She put it down in her pocket, making sure it was safe. She looked at him again "You still haven't answered my question; how did you do that?"

Naruto's face turned serious "You can't tell this to anyone, ok?" she nodded. She weren't going to betray one of her closest friends. "I have Shoton, a kekkei genkai. I found out just after I graduated, and before you ask, yes, the Hokage knows, and so does all the higher-up shinobi."

Tenten was stunned, but regained herself… somewhat "So, how does it work?"

"Well, I haven't really figured it all out yet, but it seems like I can crystallize anything with a mass, such as earth, water, wood and so on. But I can't crystallize energy, such as lightning, wind and chakra. The only exception is my own chakra. I'm guessing it's because I'm so tuned into it. If I had to guess, I would think that if I spent enough time on, let's say a lightning bolt, I would be able to crystallize it. But because it only lasts for a few seconds at most, I wouldn't be able to do it. And all lightning bolts have a different energy signature, so it wouldn't help to try it out on a thousand different."

Tenten nodded, satisfied with the explanation. She was happy he was willing to share like that to her; she could see it was one of his "big secrets". He still wouldn't tell her why all the villagers seemed to hate him so much, but she guessed it was just a matter of time.

She walked over the cash register and typed all the items in Naruto was planning to buy "Ok, that will be 865 yen."

Naruto took the money out of his wallet, Gama-Chan, and put it on the counter before putting all the items in various pockets in his outfit. Tenten was still amused by his little frog wallet, and the fact that he had named it.

"Tenten, do you want to go grab something to eat? I probably won't be back for a few weeks" Naruto asked.

Tenten looked thoughtful for a second "One second. I just got to ask dad if he can watch the counter". She ran out back for twenty seconds and came back with a smile "It won't be a problem. Now, where do you want to go?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Naruto smirked at her "Do you really have to ask? Ichiraku Ramen of course."

- Thirty minutes later at Ichiraku Ramen -

Naruto and Tenten walked into the small stand "Hey Teuchi-ojisan, Ayame-neesan!"

Teuchi and Ayame, who were standing and making noodles, turned around to face where the voice had come from. Ayame were the first to speak "Naruto-kun and Tenten-san. Let me guess? The usual?" she asked with a smile.

Both nodded "You bet neesan."

The old ramen-stand owner chuckled deeply "Coming right up". Both of them turned to continue making the noodles and soup.

While they were waiting for the ramen, Naruto turned towards "By the way, you never told what your mission was about. I got told you were on one from Kaito"

"Yeah, sorry about that. I tried to find you, but obviously couldn't, and we had to go fast. My sensei is rather eccentric, and he makes everything into a competition…" she said, dropping her head at the end. Gai was a good sensei and all, but she could use a holiday from all the craziness.

"No worries. Now, what was your mission about?"

"There had been some bandit raids on some small villagers down by the border to Kawa no Kuni, so the villagers had hired us to track them down and take care of them…" Tenten told Naruto about the mission, how they had gone from village to village to get information, and to how they tracked down and took care of the bandit groups in the area. In the meantime they had gotten their ramen, and Naruto was on his third.

"Sounds like you had your work cut out for you, huh?" Naruto asked, inhaling some more noodles.

Tenten looked at her friend with a smile. She had tried more than once to get Naruto to eat with some manners. She had had some success with dango, but with noodles… According to Naruto, it was the Gods gift to mankind, and he couldn't get enough of it. "Yeah, but I have a good team. I trust them, no matter how weird they can be"

Naruto sighed "I wish I had a team like that"

"Is it still about Sasuke?"

"Yeah. He just doesn't want to work or train together. He says that I would 'drag him down'" he made quotation marks in the air to what Sasuke had said. "I just can't win with that guy. I'm probably one of the people in the village who understand him the most. I never knew my parents. Of course I can't put myself in his place; to have all that love just for it to get taken away…" he trailed off

Tenten could see he didn't like to talk about that, so she tried to get the conversation to move on "Then what about that girl, Sakura was her name?"

"Yeah, Sakura. Well, she is nicer to me than she was at the Academy, but she doesn't really act like a kunoichi. She is all about diets, her hair, what clothes she wear, and if Sasuke likes it. I like her, but I wish I could talk some sense into her."

"Ouch. I had a couple of fan girls on my class too. They haven't really made it far, so it would be good if you could talk to her." He nodded at that. She took another mouthful of ramen "Now I've told you about my mission, why you don't tell me about yours? It was your first C-rank, right?"

Naruto brightened up when she asked. She loved her blond friend's antics. "Yes, it's our first C-rank. We're supposed to escort some old drunk named Tazuna to Nami no Kuni, and then guard him while he finishes some bridge there."

Tenten shook her head at her friend's bluntness at describing people. He hadn't really learned what should be thought and not said. "Well, good luck then. It's a C-rank, so you shouldn't get into something you can't handle. Especially with your little gift" she said, referring to his crystal powers.

Naruto nodded "Thanks"

They were silent for a bit while eating their food. Naruto broke the silence "Do you have any chakra weights at your shop? I read that they can help you with your speed and strength. I was really planning to wait till I could make restriction seals, but it's going slower than I had anticipated. So for now, I will have to go with weights. I tried to look for them while you were gone, but couldn't find any, and I never got to ask Kaito."

Tenten finished what ramen she had in her mouth "You wouldn't be able to find them. There aren't many that buy them, so we will have to order them. I can do it later back at the shop. They should be here when your back from your mission."

"Thanks" Naruto said, taking another inhaling of ramen, now on his fifth bowl.

"So it's here where you were hiding? And with a girl nonetheless! I'm so proud. I hope I didn't interrupt anything" a voice came from behind them. Both of the Genin spun around on their chair to be faced with a big white-haired man.

"Ero-sennin! It's nothing like that. Gods, you're such a pervert!" Naruto said a little high.

"Damn it gaki, how many times have I told you not to call me that? And it's super-pervert thank you." Jiraiya responded, puffing his chest a bit.

Tenten watched as the two kept bickering. She knew she had seen the old man somewhere before. Then it hit her; it was Jiraiya! Tsunade's, her idol, old teammate. "Naruto! You really shouldn't call someone like Jiraiya that! Sorry Jiraiya-sama" she said while bowing.

Naruto scoffed "You wouldn't say that if you knew him. And you heard what he said: he is a super-pervert".

Tenten looked from Naruto to Jiraiya 'Well, he did say that. But someone with that much skill and such a high rank can't be a pervert. Can he?'

"Now, now Naruto. Don't get into a fight with your girlfriend" Jiraiya said with a smirk, causing both of the Genin to blush.

Naruto was the first to speak "Damn it Ero-sennin! I told you it isn't like that!" he paused for a few seconds. "Now that I think about it, why are you here? I thought you were out of the village?"

Jiraiya smiled at his part-time student "I was, but I'm back to report to sensei, and he told me that you're going on your first C-rank?"

"You bet I am!" was Naruto's answer

"Ok, in that case I got a new exercise for you" the white haired man said, taking off his backpack and looked through it. Now Naruto was excited; as much as a pervert the old sage was, he was a good teacher and always had new thing Naruto could do. He got more and more excited the longer it took Jiraiya to find whatever it was he was looking for.

His excitement plummeted when Jiraiya took up what looked like a water balloon and gave it to Naruto. Naruto looked curious, and a little disappointed, at Jiraiya.

The Gama Sannin sighed while rolling his eyes "It's the first step to a jutsu. And before you ask; no I won't show you before you have at least mastered the second stage. There are three stages."

"Aww, are you sure you won't show me the jutsu?" Jiraiya shook his head. Naruto sighed "Fine, but what am I supposed to do?"

"This" Jiraiya took out another balloon. First nothing happened, but then small lumps began to appear on the surface, before it burst. Naruto and Tenten looked curiously at his hand, where the balloon had been before. "You have to burst it open by using your chakra alone. Just rotate the water inside it." Jiraiya took out a scroll "Here I have sealed a lot of balloons inside it. It won't be easy, but if you manage to finish it before I get back, I'll give the second stage to Kakashi. For the third stage, you will have to wait for me".

Naruto took the scroll and put it down his pocket "Thank you Ero-sennin". Jiraiya nodded at him, before waving and walked away. Naruto turned back to his ramen, just to see Tenten look accusingly at him "What?"

"What? You're learning from Jiraiya-sama, one of the Densetsu no Sannin and you don't tell me?"

"I didn't think it was that important. Besides, he doesn't really train me. Kakashi-sensei is my sensei, though he doesn't train me much either…"

Tenten sighed "Just promise me, if you ever get to meet Tsunade-sama, and you get the chance, please introduce me to her"

"Will do" Naruto said smiling. He knew that Tsunade was Tenten's idol, and that she held her in very high regard. He finished his bowl "Oh well, I'm full now. How about you?"

Tenten looked at him with an amused look "I have been done for twenty minutes"

Naruto chuckled at that "Well, thank you for staying then"

"No problem. What are friends for, right?"

"Right". And with that they paid for their meal, said their goodbyes, and walked each their way home.

- Next morning at Konoha main gate, 11 A.M. -

"Gah, where are your sensei? He should've been here three hours ago!" Tazuna said rather irritated "I knew you weren't worth anything". Sakura and Sasuke shot him a glare. Naruto just kept reading his book. He may have lost it a bit when he first met the old drunk, but he weren't gonna let that happen again. He was aiming to be a top notch shinobi of Konoha.

Naruto looked up from his book "Well, it's almost eleven now, so he should be here any minute. He is always at least three hours late."

And as if called upon, a puff of smoke appeared in the middle of the road, with Kakashi in the middle of it.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screeched, making everyone else wince at the volume of her voice.

"Sorry, sorry. You see, a cat crossed my path, so I had to take another way, and then I saw an old lady trying to get across the street, and I just had to stop to help her over". All the persons present just gave him a look that said 'You don't really think you're fooling anyone, do you?' "Anyway, it seems like we're all here, so let's get going. Remember all the stuff you have packed."

Sasuke scoffed, but picked up his backpack. He took a look at Naruto. He couldn't see any backpack "dobe, aren't you forgetting something?"

Naruto was putting his book down in his pocket "No, what should that be?"

It was Sakura who answered "What about the things you should have packed?"

Naruto shrugged and held up two scrolls "It's in here. Way easier than carrying around a heavy backpack."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He had seen that Naruto was reading fūinjutsu books, but he didn't think he was this far in it. He stopped Sakura and Sasuke from digging more into it "Ok, it seems you all have your stuff, so let's get going." With that Tazuna and Team 7 walked out the gate, making their way to Nami no Kuni.

Next time: the wave mission begins.

Nami no Kuni – Land of Waves

Kawa no Kuni – Land of Rivers

Densetsu no Sannin - Literally meaning "Legendary Three Ninja": The Sannin was a group of three legendary ninja, noted to be three of the greatest ninja of their time. While all three eventually left the village at some point for their own reasons, they still retained their title as the Sannin. Their names are Senju Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru.