As always, thank you all for taking the time to review the previous chapter. I think everyone who's actually writing a fanfic themselves realise just how nice it is to receive them. I find it interesting to see how many hits each chapter has had, thanks to the new format of this site, compliments to all Fanfiction staff.
I'm off on holidays to both Italy and The Netherlands from tomorrow onwards. Still, I wanted to update since it had been too long. I have to warn you though. This chapter has not been checked for typos. Normally I would re-read it at least twice to remove any errors, but there simply isn't time for that now. Apologies.
Anyway, back to the story.
Chapter 8: Mission to the Wave Country
It was seven o'clock, the morning after the Genin test. All four students of Naruto's team made their way towards the Uzumaki training grounds, still trying to rub their eyes clean of sand from their slumber. They found it hard to move, as their new weighted suits pushed their bodies towards the ground.
The sun made its attempt to climb the sky above Konoha once more in what appeared to be another beautiful day.
When the four Genin arrived at the training grounds, they noticed their sensei was already some personal training.
He stood in the middle of a clearing, his hands stretched out in front of him. Two large trees that appeared to have been pulled out of the ground moved around in circles around the young Jounin. At young age, Naruto was taught how to envelope object with his chakra and move them at will.
When he saw his students approaching him, Naruto welcomed them and motioned them to follow him inside the manor for some breakfast. He had decided to occasionally have team meeting which didn't involve shinobi activities so everyone could get to know one another better and create some sense of group cohesion.
The five of them just talked about small and unimportant things, sharing the occasional laugh. The other Genin, still not quite used to the all new and improved Uchiha Sasuke, who sometimes offered his own input during the conversation. What rocked their boats even more was seeing him failing to keep his traditionally sealed lips straight as every now and then he was forced to curl them upwards.
As soon as the small meal was finished, the group moved outside into the training grounds. Naruto faced his audience and started explaining.
"From today on, you will start a new life: the life of shinobi and kunoichi of Konoha. You'll probably be fighting against others, fights that could kill you."
This statement caused everyone with the exception of Sasuke to struggle swallowing. The last of the Uchihas was forced to shed his fear of death long ago. His traumatic loss, caused by Orochimaru, relieved him of any false hope of being able to live an easy life without fear.
Naruto continued. "If don't want to die, a change in attitude is needed. You'll have to train harder than you've ever done before."
"Pfff…" Shikamaru groaned. "Wearing this troublesome weighted already is more training than ever before for me," earning a snicker from Ino.
Naruto simply ignored the shadow user's lazy comment. He was already looking forward to kicking his attitude far away.
"Things will become a lot tougher from now on," he said. "I want everyone to promise me that they won't slack off and work as hard as humanly possible," he finished, closely observing his students. "I want to see some hands from anyone who will do just that."
Three hands rose up instantly. Shikamaru looked around and slowly released a hand from his pocket. "I know I will regret this."
"Good," the Jounin sensei said smiling. Let's do some training before we have lunch."
Two minutes later, everyone gathered next to a couple of trees as Naruto started his explanation.
"I know some of you already know the tree climbing exercise. When he noticed the annoyed look on Sasuke's face he explained that he had taught the other how to do this years ago.
"I still want you to do it though. The weights you're wearing will make it more difficult as it requires your control to be even more exact."
Naruto gathered his chakra to his feet and walked up the tree like it was nothing, earning a surprised look from Sasuke.
"I'll be fair with you guys. I still need to do my own training so whenever we do some sort of physical training, I will take part in it as well. As you know I maintain a chakra force field around myself, which functions as a weighted suit. If I double the amount of pressure on my body, climbing up the trees will be just as difficult for me as it is for you. The same goes for other types of physical training such as push ups and running."
He landed on the ground and motioned the others to start their training.
Two hours later, Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata and Sasuke were all panting. With the exception of Sasuke, all of them figured out they simply had to use more chakra to be able to climb the tree. Sasuke's case was different.
As he had never been one for the basics, tree climbing was a new experience for him. He had yet to reach the top of his tree. Even though he understood why the others had already finished, an Uchiha is an Uchiha. It made him feel even more determined to complete his training so he would be behind his team mates anymore.
Not that the others were happy with their results. One could argue that doing as many push ups and sit ups as possible could hardly be described as relaxing.
Naruto called his students to him. Slowly, everyone walked up to him.
"Before we will go for lunch we have to do our running. Three laps around Konoha should be enough for today. Oh, and no chakra while we run," he said with a big smirk on his face.
"Jeez, troublesome slave driver," Shikamaru groaned.
Naruto pondered for a second as suddenly, a wide grin appeared on his face. "Shikamaru-kun, since you love exercising so much, I feel I should add an extra incentive for you." Naruto bit his thumb and performed some hand seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" he said as a Lion the height of a table appeared from the smoke.
"Endo-kun, would you be so kind to follow my student here while he runs with us. You can bite him if he falls back."
The lion nodded and looked at his pray. Shikamaru gulped. He could have sworn he saw a sadistic smirk on the lions face. "Mommy, help!" he thought as the lion started to run towards him. Immediately he starting running for his life, faster than he ever knew he could. The others couldn't hold their laughter and soon followed the poor Nara.
Three hours later, everyone arrived at Ichiraku. They all paused for a minute to catch their breath. Naruto performed a healing jutsu on Shikamaru, who despite his frantic running received some painful marks from his new best friend." When he was fetched up as well, they made their way towards the ramen stand, where the other new Genin teams were seated already.
"Ohayo minna-san," Naruto greeted the others when he came in.
"So Naruto-kun, you passed them after all. I'm surprised to say the least," Kakashi said, not even bothering to look up from his book.
"They got the message and worked as a team, I had no choice. I still can't believe she let you off" Naruto replied. When Tsunade had told him he would be a Jounin instructor, he knew he would just fail them and get back into ANBU.
Oji-san, the usual for me and please take the orders from my students and put them on my tab!" he yelled to the ramen stand owner.
"Ahhhhh, my beloved ramen, how are you today?" he said to the damping bowl of food in front of him. To the ones who didn't know Naruto it would seem like he was chatting up his food, but for the others it was common knowledge that he was simply preparing himself for one of his trademark ramen fests.
Naruto was about to dig in when a voice right behind suddenly yelled.
"YOU!"
Annoyed by this interruption, Naruto turned around, only to find a brash Kiba standing in front of him, close enough for their noses to almost connect.
"You were my sister's Genin team mate right?" He spat with an overly confident voice.
Naruto gave the boy a closer look. "Inuzuka Kiba right? Your sister mentioned you a couple of times, mostly when you annoyed the hell out of her with your childish antics."
Kiba, getting angry because of the patronising tone used on him got even closer to the Jounin. "Hmph, you're my age and even smaller than I am. You can't be a Jounin you cheat! I challenge you!"
Naruto just smiled. "Are you sure you want to Humiliate yourself in front of your friends Kiba-kun?" he asked.
"Defeated by a shrimp like you? Akamaru and I will prove we're the strongest here, right Akamaru?" he yelled to his canine partner. The dog barked enthusiastically.
"Okay Kiba-kun, who am I to say no to a great and powerful shinobi like you," Naruto said, desperately trying to sound serious as he bit his thumb.
"Tajuu Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Wild Lion King of the Tundra clan"
In front of the Jounin stood 14 lions, all varying in size and colour. They all looked at Kiba and Akamaru as in unison, they gave a loud growl.
As if he had seen the dog devil himself, Akamaru ran away yelping with his tail buried deep in between his legs.
Kiba had never been more frightened in his life as he stumbled backwards. When he tripped over a small rock and fell over, Surumoto appeared right above him and showed off his razor sharp fangs.
"Your deficient dog seems to know what's best for him. You'd better follow his example and run for your life insolent brat," the tribe leader spoke aggressively.
Kiba jumped up and ran towards the group. He hid himself like a small kitten behind the first adult he could reach, which happened to be Kakashi.
"Get away from me Kiba-kun, you asked for it," Kakashi said. "I don't want them to come after me as well," he said. Even the almighty elite Jounin felt unnerved seeing so many lions staring at him. He knew his dogs would shit themselves if he would summon the now. Even more so, he would need a long and thorough shower to get rid of their smell before he could even think of summoning them.
Asuma decided to interrupt. "Okay, playtime's over, gather around," he said as the Wild Lion Clan gave Kiba one last deadly glare before disappearing in a sea of smoke.
When everyone had come closer, Asuma introduced Kakashi and Kurenai to the students and explained that all Genin would have two joined training sessions per week under the wings of the new Jounin. When he finished, the three Jounin took their teams to the Hokage Tower to receive their first mission.
Five weeks passed and Naruto's team was now used to the pattern of completing D-rank missions in the morning and training in the afternoon. During the weekend, Naruto would go on solo missions, leaving his students with Kakashi and Kurenai.
The team had gotten a bit closer to each other over the past few weeks. Their skills were improving slowly but steadily. Still though, they were given the lowest of all missions.
Sometimes Naruto would help out himself by creating some clones to speed things up a bit. In the meantime he just sat aside, writing down ideas for new techniques.
Sasuke, although changing slowly into a less broody person, still considered far superior to his team mates. Still, he accepted their help with the tree climbing exercise. He was annoyed by the fact that he was the only one who wasn't able to do it yet, but with the help of the others, he picked it up quickly.
Weeks of relentless training had gone past. A new morning had come and Naruto's team found themselves on yet another tedious mission.
This time, one of the local farmers had requested some extra help around his vast lands. Four Genin were seen bent over in the fields in their attempts to remove any weeds.
Naruto, who kindly rejected their cries for help, sat on the ground supported by a wooden fence. He was studying one of the countless jutsu scrolls he had found ion the library his father had started to build up.
He paused from his reading to check up on his team. All four Genin were working hard, losing enormous amounts of sweat. The sun was burning down on them, making them feel like a slice of bread which has been in the microwave for a minute. Not that they would ever what a microwave is but still, they felt just like that.
They were told to keep all their clothes and shinobi gear on. After all, one could never know what would happen. Being unprepared is a capital crime for any shinobi.
Work was made more difficult by the weighted suits they were still wearing. Not too long ago, Naruto had found it time to crank the weight up a notch, or in Shikamaru's case a notch or two. When it became apparent that the other were getting used to the amount they were wearing, the lazy Nara tried to conceal it by continuing to huff and puff like he had done from day one. He was soon found out though and was punished by receiving a larger increase in weight than the others.
On top of that, Naruto had introduced a new punishment system. Every time Hinata was shy, insecure or indecisive for nothing, she was forced to do 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 100 leg squads and 3 laps around Konoha.
The same applied to Ino when she acted like a Sasuke fan girls or when she complained too much.
Sasuke was punished every time he acted arrogant, broody or when he answered with just a 'humph'. For him and Shikamaru the punishment meant performing twice the amount of exercises compared to the girls.
For Shikamaru the principle was very simple. Should he slack off or complain even the slightest, it would be his turn. His problem was and still is: He complains non-stop. As a result, he was seen doing any type of physical training throughout the day. The advantage though was that he grew rapidly in strength, speed and stamina.
Naruto smiled as he looked at his students. He had to admit that he enjoyed his new job. He now had even more time for his own training and his family and still had enough time left to spend to relax with his friends.
Throughout his childhood years, he had been training most of the time. Finally he felt like he could do whatever he wanted.
Sure, the money wasn't all that, but then again; Being the son of the Fourth and the Fifth covered that.
The thing he missed most was the action. Part of this was filled up by Sarutobi and Jiraiya, who were always willing to give him a severe beating. He hated the gap that was still between them, though it motivated him to train even harder.
His thoughts went to his precious people. He was happy to see how well Haku had adapted to life in Konoha. He was on his way to become Jounin himself and had started to create himself quite a name as a Suiton and medical expert.
Naruto wondered where his family was. The last time he saw them was a few months ago, after he finished one of his solo missions. Everyone was fine. Yuriko was ecstatic to receive a letter from Jiraiya and gave Naruto a letter to give to the perverted sennin when he saw him.
Next up in his mind were the Sand siblings. Tsunade had told him that the next Chuunin exams would be held in Konoha in three months and informed him that the three would participate.
Seeing a certain blonde kunoichi made his heart beat rise in speed. It'd been so long since the last time they saw each other. He also wondered how Gaara was doing. He was curious to find out how strong his friend had become and made a mental note to have a sparring match with him.
As his mind snapped back to reality, he noticed that his team had finally finished removing all the weed. The only thing left to do was watering the crops. Deciding he wanted to get back to the training grounds, he used a quick Suiton jutsu to speed things up.
For the next couple of weeks, this regime continued. The team members were getting on better and better.
Their teamwork was growing by the day and all the physical training started to pay off. For the first couple of weeks, Naruto had focused on improving his students' taijutsu and chakra control. Only recently, he had given each of them a couple of jutsu scrolls to learn.
He wanted his team to be as balanced as possible. Therefore, he insisted on teaching them different techniques. The found it hard to master them, but the success of learning a new technique gave them more self confidence.
After a dodgy start, Hinata was slowly gaining the courage to lead her squad and speak normally. Just after the team had passed the Genin test, Naruto went to see Hyuuga Hiashi. He already knew the Hyuuga clan leader from his days under the wings of his twin brother Hizashi during his time as a Genin.
He requested for Hinata to receive more intense training in her bloodline limit. Furthermore, he pleaded to Hiashi to refrain from putting his daughter down, so she can develop herself easier.
It angered the man to be told how to treat his own spouse, but after Hinata finally beat her younger sister for the first time, he seemed to change slightly.
It was two months since Team 4 started their first missions, when they were getting increasingly irritated by the endless amount of useless D-rank missions. One day, Naruto and his students reported at the Hokage Tower to receive their next mission.
The entered the mission room. Konoha obviously took a lot of pride in this area. It was a large spacious, almost hall-like room. Only the necessary amount of furniture was used to avoid clutter.
In the centre of the room stood three large ebony tables. Close to the walls, behind the tables, five stone sculptures representing Konoha's Hokages rose up high.
The walls were decorated with drawings of legendary battles and images of Konoha's finest. The large windows brought in an abundance of natural light, which seemingly set fire on the polishes, soft-brown coloured wooden floor.
Behind the tables, the Sandaime Hokage and Umimo Iruka were seated. The Third helped Tsunade by relieving her of the time consuming task of allocating the countless missions, giving her more time for other matters….or just to sleep.
Naruto bowed at the two. "Hokage-sama, Iruka-san," he greeted the two. "Uzumaki Hitomi Naruto and Team 4 reporting."
"Hello Naruto-kun, I see your team looks stronger every time they are here," Sarutobi greeted back as he browsed through some papers.
"Team 4 will be given a D-rank mission," the old man said.
Iruka nodded and took a scroll from his desk. "You are to buy and deliver groceries for the Akimichi clan. Expect it to be very heavy," he snickered.
Just as Sarutobi was about to sign the appropriate forms, he was interrupted by an angry Ino.
"No!" she yelled. "I'm sick and tired of those stupid D-rank missions! We've been training very hard; I know we're ready for something bigger than that!"
She then heard a soft snicker from her sensei and gave him a foul look. "Shut up, I don't give a shit about your punishment for complaining. As long as we get to do something different for a change!"
Sandaime looked surprised at the young the young girl's angry outburst. Iruka was about to jump up and strangle his former academy student when something unexpected happened. Hinata took a step forward and bowed.
"Hokage-sama, if I may. As squad leader of Team 4, I would like to say that I fully agree with my team mate. Naruto-sensei has been training us extremely hard and with the help of our families and Kakashi- and Kurenai sensei I can say only one thing: We are ready."
Hinata bowed again, shuffled back in line, not daring to look at the shocked faces of the other. She cursed herself for being bold enough to step up to the Third Hokage. She prayed her father wouldn't find out.
Sarutobi gave Naruto a quick look. The Jounin instructor gave his former sensei a nod in confirmation.
The Third gave Hinata a friendly smile. "Very well, Hinata-san. I will give you a C-rank mission this time."
With that four deep sighs were heard. Although Sasuke and Shikamaru remained silent throughout the conversation, they had to agree with their female team mates. Those stupid missions were a pain.
Sarutobi started the mission briefing. "You will accompany a man back to his home in the Wave Country. He is building a bridge and may be attacked by bandits. You are to protect him at all times."
The Genin seemed happy with what they heard. Pleased, the Third continued. This mission will probably take a few weeks as you will be staying there until the bridge is completed. Make sure you come prepared. Meet tomorrow morning at 07.00 at the North Gate, where you will meet your charge."
He signed the papers and gave the scroll to Iruka.
"Hokage-sama, I have one request." This time Naruto chose to say something.
"Since this mission will take us a while, I want to make the most of it by training my students as much as possible. I ask permission for a medic-nin to come with us on our mission to teach Hinata during her absence from Tsunade-sama's training sessions. My other students could also learn some other useful jutsus from this person."
The Third pondered the question for a coupe of seconds. "I agree Naruto-kun. I will assign your friend Haku to your group. Perhaps he can help you in teaching your students some Suiton jutsus.
"Arigatou gozaimasu Hokage-sama," Naruto thanked him, giving a short bow himself.
He then led his team out of the room. Just before they were gone, Sarutobi said one more thing. "Good luck kids, don't let me down."
"We won't Hokage-sama," the four Genin replied in unison.
The next morning, Team 4 gathered at the North gate of Konohagakure no Sato. Naruto introduced Haku to his students and the group chatted for a while. They had to wait for a couple of minutes before their charge arrived as well. Tazuna eyed his 'protectors wearily.
"Six small brats, is that all I get?" he sneered. Hinata and Shikamaru together were hardly enough to prevent Ino from killing their client before the mission had actually started. Even Naruto needed to take a couple of deep breaths before he spoke.
"There is no need to worry Tazuna-san. I may not look like it, but I have been a Jounin for some years now. Haku here is a highly skilled ANBU member and medic-nin," he defended his group.
"More so, all my students come from Konoha's prime clans. We will be more than enough for C-rank mission as it's highly unlikely we'll be fighting other shinobi."
Tazuna, still not convinced, snorted and started to walk. Naruto and his team followed his lead and left the village as well.
The group walked through the forest of Fire Country. Naruto had instructed Hinata took take the lead since her Byakugan came in useful for scouting the area. Ino and Sasuke flanked Tazuna, while Shikamaru was told to follow the bridge builder from behind. Naruto himself and Haku followed from a small distance, observing everything.
Suddenly, Shikamaru tensed. "Be sharp guys, we're being watched," he stated. The others frantically looked around, looking for signs of enemies, but to no avail.
When they were about to shrug it off and continue their journey, two figures rose from a puddle of water and attacked Tazuna.
The two enemy shinobi released long chains from their sleeves and swung them towards the old man. Sasuke quickly jumped up and threw two shuriken, which stuck the chains to a tree.
One of the Mist Chuunin laughed. "Look what we have here. A sweet little Genin who can take away out chains," he said. "You're not bad kid, too bad you're all going to die here," he finished as the two jumped towards Tazuna, who was now surrounded by Sasuke, Hinata and Ino.
Then from behind them, a voice was heard and the two nukenin found themselves unable to move.
"Kagemane no jutsu," Shikamaru calmly said. Hinata quickly closed some tenketsus, so they couldn't use their arms and legs when Naruto and Haku finally came out of hiding.
"Well done guys, you took care of two Chuunin without our help. Very impressive," he complemented his students.
"Why didn't you help us Naruto-sensei?" Ino asked, still a bit shaken from her first ever encounter with enemies, who would not hesitate to kill her.
"Well, I wanted to see who they were after, us or Tazuna-san. When that became apparent you didn't even need my help anymore," Naruto explained. "These two are known as the Demon Brothers. They are nukenin from the Mist. Good job on those chains Sasuke, I suspect they carry poison on them."
Naruto and Haku tied up the unconscious brothers. Then the young demon vessel summoned a toad the size of an adult to carry them back to Konoha. He then turned to Tazuna.
"Do you have any idea why those two were after you?"
Tazuna gave a deep sigh. "Yes I do. I will tell you everything."
He explained about Gatou and his poor country, how Gatou wanted him dead so the bridge would never be finished and the people of the Wave Country would starve.
Naruto concluded that since the mission rank had gone up top at least B-rank, his team was not qualified for it and opted to return to Konoha. This caused his students to protest, telling him that they refused to back down from a mission.
After some more discussing the group decided to move on to the wave Country.
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