It was late afternoon and Hiruzen was exhausted. It seemed this was a more and more regular occurrence as of late. 'I really might be too old for this job…' Hiruzen thought regretfully. He glanced up briefly as he heard his window open, sighing when he realized it was only Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya, must you always come in through the window?" he asked, turning back to his paperwork.

"Sorry, sensei. Old habit," Jiraiya said, climbing fully into the office and shutting the window behind him.

"No matter. Now then, what brings you here?" Hiruzen questioned, signing the last of a stack of papers and looking up to meet Jiraiya's eyes. The sunlight shifted with the passing of clouds, illuminating different parts of the room.

"Naruto… who trained him?"

"Kakashi, Yugao, and I did. Why? Is something wrong?" Hiruzen asked, worried. Yet another problem.

"No no," Jiraiya said, moving to sit down, "I was just curious. I mean, he's even better than I expected him to be. Clever gaki."

"I see. What happened?" Hiruzen folded his hands on the table and leaned forward slightly.

"I told him to land a hit on me. We both had a handicap, of course. Six jutsu and ten taijutsu moves. And the gaki really pulled it off! I didn't actually expect him to, I was just getting a sense of his skills first hand, but he went and did it. Of course, I wasn't going anywhere near all out or anything, but seriously, that kid packs a punch!" He rubbed his cheek for emphasis. Hiruzen, instead of being impressed, glared at Jiraiya.

"Did you tell him it was just to gauge his skills?" Hiruzen asked pointedly.

"Of course not! I needed him to go all out, so I told him I would find another apprentice if he failed," Jiraiya stated, oblivious to the darkening of the old Hokage's face.

"Jiraiya. You really threatened him like that?" Hiruzen stated in an even tone, but Jiraiya felt the dangerous edge to it.

"Um… yes?" he replied, flinching back from the Sandaime's gaze.

"No wonder he pulled it off. You have no idea how excited that kid was, how much being trained by the sensei of the Yondaime Hokage meant to him. How dare you threaten him like that when you have no idea what he's been through?" Hiruzen demanded, standing and slamming his hands on the desk.

"S-sorry. I had no idea, I thought he would realize…" Jiraiya placated, hands waving wildly in front of his face. Hiruzen deflated like a punctured balloon, sinking onto his chair looking ten years older.

"Sorry, Jiraiya. I'm in no place to criticize. It's partially my fault that the boy has such a hard time trusting people. I just… I don't like to see that boy hurt," Hiruzen sighed, looking down at his worn wooden desk. Jiraiya nodded sadly.

"Yeah, the boy's been hurt enough. I'll apologize when I see him again," Jiraiya agreed. Hiruzen smiled then, all hints of anger gone from his voice.

"So, what stood out to you from his performance?" Hiruzen questioned, dipping his pen in ink and readying a scroll to take notes. Jiraiya leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head.

"The gaki's clever, adaptable, creative, talented… he used only basic jutsu, but he used them efficiently and played to his skills, as well as showing impressive ability with ranged weapons and traps. His gravity seals were self-made, and well-done at that. He's really stubborn and a quick learner. He certainly has potential. Unfortunately, he's also a reckless, smart-ass brat with more chakra than he knows what to do with and only mediocre control over it. That and he can be totally clueless about the most basic of things. One thing I know for certain: Naruto never has been and never will be normal," Jiraiya finished with a chuckle. Hiruzen laughed along, placing his pen down and blowing on the freshly-inked scroll before rolling it up.

"Yeah, that's one thing you can count on. Naruto's always had a knack for doing what you least expect." Teacher and student shared a grin before Jiraiya stood up and made his way towards the window.

"Later, sensei," he said over his shoulder before jumping out.

Team 7, consisting of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Shiraishi Hirohito, was about to go on its very first C-rank mission. Their reactions were, expectedly, different. Sasuke was confident. Sakura was nervous, but trying to hide it. Hirohito was excited, with a hint of nervousness around the edges. Kakashi had no idea why he'd passed this team. Even after his lessons, their teamwork was shaky at best, absolute crap at worst. And they had mediocre skills to boot. Sasuke had potential, but squandered it with his less-than-desirable attitude. Sakura also had potential, but squandered it with her obsession with Sasuke. Hirohito was probably the easiest to work with, what with his helpful attitude, his humbleness, and his easily excited nature. That didn't mean he was a good ninja. Far from it, in fact. Kakashi sighed. Why the Hokage was allowing them to go on a C-rank, he'd probably never understand. In his humble opinion, he should have failed this train-wreck of a team when he had the chance. He was definitely not looking forward to this.

"Alright, Team 7, I will now introduce your client," said the Sandaime, gesturing for an ANBU to open the waiting room door. A weathered old man with a red face and a tilted walk - drunk, Kakashi observed - entered the room, taking a swig from a flask in his hand as he stood before them.

"Waz dis? A coupl'a brats an'a lazy-lookin' ol' man? Whaddaya thinkin', Hokage-dono, I as'd fur purtection, not entatainmen'," the man slurred, looking the genin up and down. Kakashi released a small amount of KI, enough to frighten the civilian man, but not enough to make the ANBU wary. Their client cowered.

"I suggest you treat my team and I with more respect. We will, after all, be responsible for your life as we complete our mission," Kakashi threatened. The man nodded his head rapidly, all signs of drunkenness gone abruptly.

"Yes, I apologize for my previous behavior, I super misjudged you. I'm the super bridge-builder, Tazuna of Nami no Kuni. It's super nice to meet you!" the now-named Tazuna shouted, bowing exaggeratedly. The whole team groaned internally. This would be a long few weeks.

Metal clanged against metal, echoing as kunai and blade met again and again. The two jonin were blurs to the genin who watched from the sideline, desperately trying to keep up with the blows, even with just their eyes. They had feared Momochi Zabuza, demon of Kiri ever since he appeared before them, and that likely wouldn't change. He was fighting even their legendary sensei on even ground, and that terrified them more than any KI. They knew how strong their sensei was, they had had no chance against him together, let alone by themselves. And if Zabuza was that strong, what hope did they have?
Sasuke growled, trying desperately to push the fear out of his head. He was the last Uchiha damnit, he was destined for greatness. No way was he going down here, in this nameless clearing, without taking his brother with him. He drew a kunai, struggling to control his shaking fingers, and waited.
Sakura stood by Tazuna, knees wobbly and close to fainting. She watched as Sasuke drew a kunai, and drew one herself, not wanting to fall behind. She would protect their client and make Sasuke-kun proud! 'Cha!" her inner self agreed.
Hirohito stood slightly to the right of Sakura and in front of her. He told himself that he was protecting her, but he knew deep down that he wouldn't amount to much when it came to protection. In reality, he was probably trying to stay out of the fight as much as possible. That thought scared him more than Zabuza did. He had lived all his life striving to be a truly kind person, strong enough to save people. He was neither kind nor strong, and that was terrifying to the brunette boy. He trembled head to toe and the kunai grasped tightly in his grip dropped to the ground. His eyes were wide as he watched his sensei combat the A-rank missing-nin. He wanted to be that strong, that brave, to be able to protect his comrades. That was all. And yet no matter how hard he tried, he always lost every fight he was in, bombed every test, and graduated the Academy as dead last. He had hoped his teammates would be supportive and kind, would help him improve, would be his friends. He wanted nothing but the best for them. He wanted to protect them, but they still shunned him, ignored him, put him down. He wanted to be a better person, he really did, but he couldn't help but resent them a little bit for how they treated him. Even so, he still strived to protect them, to be useful. He wasn't made to be a shinobi. He was queasy around blood, couldn't stomach killing or even seriously injuring an opponent unless they were threatening his friends or parents. He wasn't strong or smart. He really was useless. He couldn't even muster the courage to actually stand in front of his female teammate and protect her for real. He scrunched up his eyes, trying to will the wetness away before his teammates saw and laughed. He heard the sounds of battle stop abruptly and glanced up, finding his sensei trapped in a water prison. He nearly collapsed. His sensei was the only one who could hope to defeat Zabuza, they were all going to die. He couldn't protect them, he wasn't strong enough. Even Sasuke wasn't strong enough to beat Zabuza.

"Run! Get away from here!" Kakashi screamed, knowing the genin weren't prepared for a battle to the death against a jonin. Hirohito very nearly followed his orders. But at the last moment, as he was turning tail to run, he stopped. He couldn't run away. He'd promised he'd get stronger. He'd promised he'd protect them. If not now, then when? He turned back to his opponent, eyes growing serious, narrow. He charged straight in with a battle cry, because he had nothing better to do. He just barely dodged the Mizu Bunshin, getting a shallow slice across his back. Ignoring the stinging pain, he lunged at the real Zabuza as if to tackle him to the ground, then rolled between his legs while creating a clone where he had been and lunging at Zabuza from behind. The mizu bunshin called out a warning and Zabuza spun to meet his kunai strike, but in doing so moved his right arm, releasing Kakashi from the missing-nin's jutsu. Kakashi immediately shun-shined to Hirohito and threw him out of Zabuza's range, blocking the swing of the gargantuan sword with a single kunai. His headband was pushed up, revealing a wildly spinning crimson Sharingan, both his mismatched eyes narrowed in fury.

"Hurt my students and I'll kill you," Kakashi near-growled. He sped through hand-signs faster than even Zabuza could follow and shot strikes of lightning racing towards Zabuza, who managed to dodge, though just barely. He smirked as he regained his balance on the water, staring at Kakashi condescendingly. He realized too late that hitting him had never been Kakashi's goal, as electricity sparked through his body, conducted by the water. His limbs went numb and he struggled to maintain his chakra output and remain above the water. Kakashi gave him no time to recover before charging in and attacking ferociously with taijutsu. Zabuza shun-shined to shore, but could no longer move his arms and legs and collapsed on the dirt. Kakashi shun-shined next to him and prepared his Raikiri. Before he could strike, two senbon pierced the missing-nin's neck, instantly halting his breathing. All the genin gasped as small figure clad in blue and sporting a white mask appeared on a branch before jumping down next Zabuza's corpse.

"I thank you for weakening him for me. I have been chasing Zabuza for quite some time. Now if you'll excuse me, I will dispose of the body," the masked nin said, draping Zabuza's arm over his shoulder and shun-shining away. Sakura's eyes narrowed as the nin disappeared, vaguely remembering something from the Academy about hunter nin disposing of bodies on site. She stopped puzzling over it in her mind when Kakashi immediately collapsed from exhaustion, closing his Sharingan eye and pulling his headband back down over it. The three genin immediately jumped towards their sensei, worried looks on their faces. Sasuke was less concerned about his sensei's health than how on earth he obtained a Sharingan eye, but it was all the same in the end. The three surrounded their unconscious instructor and lifted him up, following Tazuna to his house.

From the darkness opened a huge, red eye. The eye was surrounded by a malevolent aura and was slowly but surely drawing him towards it. He felt it's darkness tugging at him until he was completely immersed in the eye. He saw a heavily panting Yondaime crouched next to a beautiful red-haired woman, a baby held between them. He saw a giant orange paw raise, straining against glowing chains, and stab a single claw through their backs. Then he felt himself pulled toward the child, his vision darkening. With a start, he realized it had been his claw that had pierced the two figures. And then everything went black.

Naruto's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright. Darkness. He fumbled with his covers and crashed onto the floor, then shakily stood and groped in the dark for the light switch on the other side of the room. The light snapped on and he sighed in relief, collapsing against the wall. He didn't sleep again that night, staring numbly at the walls of his empty room.

"Morning, Naruto!" Jiraiya called, jogging up to the young ninja, who was leaning against a wall near the village gate.

"Morning, sensei," Naruto replied softly, pushing off the wall and moving towards the gate's entrance, hands stuffed in his pockets and head down.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's wrong?" Jiraiya ran up to Naruto, waving his hands in a panicked fashion, before stopping short a few feet away. "Wait, is this about yesterday? Oh kami, I'm sorry, Naruto. I didn't realize it would affect you so much."

"Yesterday? Oh right, the new apprentice threat. Yeah, that was a little mean. It's not a big deal, though."

"Eh? Then what's this about?"

"Nothing. Something. I don't know. It's not important," Naruto said quickly, looking away.

"Naruto, seriously. What happened?"

"It's really nothing. Just some dream."

"A dream?"

"Darkness, red eyes, screams, the usual nightmare stuff. Drop it." Naruto began to walk out of the gate, waving his hand dismissively. Jiraiya hesitated a second, staring at Naruto's retreating back in worry, before running to catch up.

"So, are you excited to see your clan's homeland?"

"Yeah, I guess," Naruto replied, giving Jiraiya a grateful look for letting go of the previous topic. Jiraiya smiled at him indulgently, but his mind was reeling. Why were the nightmares returning now?

A/N: Hello again, it's been a while. This is Ayame77 back with another chapter of SA, finally. It's short, but it's here, and I'll hopefully have another one up soon. No promises, though. Starting the first actual arc this chapter, so yay!

Reviews (and follows/favorites too!) are appreciated.

– Ayame77