Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or anything else I reference.
Chapter One: Mystery and Meetings
(Ryuuzan village, Land of Dragons)
"We are here!" Naruto yelled as he looked over the railing. This was their first mission outside of the village. He had expected his first mission like this to be on a different planet, but this was okay too. He wanted to be Hokage one day and to do it he must complete as many cool and awesome missions as he could. Pulling weeds and chasing lost pets back home were not going to help him.
"Must you always be so loud?" Sasuke questioned as he walked through the door and stood near the wall of the boat.
"Shut up. I don't know why you pretend to be so cool, but this is awesome." Naruto said.
"Sasuke's right Naruto. No need to wake everyone on the island." Sakura said.
"You too Sakura?" Naruo said with a pout as he saw he had nobody on his side.
"Calm down you three. I know you are stressed from staying on a boat for so long, but we will be reaching our destination soon enough." Kakashi-sensei said. He was the Jonin that would watch over them until they rose from the rank of Genin to Chunin. He was supposed to be teaching them awesome justu but so far, the only thing he had taught them was how to work as a team.
"Kakashi-sensei do you think the other team is already there?" Sakura asked.
'Hopefully there not like Kakshi-sensei.' Naruto thought to himself. Ever since they had met him Kakashi-sensei had been constant in one thing. Whenever they had a meeting, he was three hours late and always had some lame excuse for why.
"It could be possible but remember to be on your guard. These ninjas will be from a different village." Kakashi-sensei said.
"Why did these guys hire two different villages and not two squads from the same one again?" Naruto asked. It was weird and probably cost more than requesting one village to send another squad.
"It was decided by the village's priest. His reasonings are as much a mystery to you as they are to me." Kakashi-sensei said.
"They are spending a lot of money to get rid of some gangster." Sasuke said.
"You have not been out of the academy that long. You should know that work like this is what keeps the guilds around." Kakshi-sensei said.
"This mission is going to be done in no time." Naruto said as he imagined running into the gangster's mansion, taking down his guards, and beating the guy so bad that he would never dare show his face around these parts again.
"Naruto?" Kakashi-sensei asked looking at him
"He is in his on world again sensei." Sakura said as she shook her head.
"What an idiot." Sasuke said shaking his head.
'I'll show you who is the idiot, Sasuke.' Naruto thought as he felt his eye twitch.
"I see that you guys are having fun." Tazuna said as he walked to them.
Tazuna was the man that had come to Konoha to request the mission on behalf of his village. Apparently, he was the head carpenter though it was hard to imagine any village would make such a clear drunk the person responsible for overlooking their buildings. It was not just because he insulted him the moment that they met.
"Despite how we look we are ready for the mission." Kakshi-sensei said.
"Alright." Tazuna said as he brought his bottle to his lips and drank some of his sake.
"If you don't mind me asking what is Ryuuzan village like?" Sakura asked.
"It is a beautiful place. Long acres of forest, cherry blossom tress that grow the sweetest fruits, nicest people you will ever meet." Tazuna said.
"Why is a man like Gatou coming for it then?" Sasuke asked. There had to be something that drove a man like Gatou to come there.
"That is complicated." Tazuna said as he took another sip of his sake.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked as he turned to the group.
"I cannot tell you what they wish to take from the village." Tazuna said.
"We have been hired by you. That means that you have our word, but we do need to know what we will be guarding." Kakshi-sensei said. This was supposed to be a simple C-rank mission. He had only taken this so that his students could see what such a mission was like.
That was right. They gave their word, and it was his ninja way to never go back on what he promised.
"What you are protecting is in the shrine of our village but beyond that I have been ordered not to tell you." Tazuna said.
"What why?" Naruto asked. What did this village have to hide?
"Because once the mission is done you will not be working for us anymore and there is nothing, we could do to stop you from taking it if you knew what it was." Tazuna said.
"We would never do that." Sakura said.
"You better believe it." Naruto said.
"Do you have the same opinion Jonin leader?" Tazuna asked turning to Kakashi-sensei.
"I understand." Kakshi-sensei said.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto and Sakura cried out.
"He is right. Our contract only lasts so long with a village. If they are guarding something our kage might want, we would have no choice but to take it." Kakshi-sensei said.
"As far as you all need to be concerned with you are protecting the village. There is no need to get close to the shrine. You are here to make sure that Gato and his men don't get close to it either." Tazuna said as he stood up and walked back to the interior of the ship.
"I don't like that we are risking our lives for some treasure that we cannot even see." Sasuke said walking forwards to grip the rails.
"It is the way of the ninja. We guard and we protect but we don't ask why or what's inside." Kakashi-sensei said.
"Have you gone on missions like this before?" Sakura asked.
"I have been a ninja for many years and on many different planets so yes this is not the first time I have dealt with a situation like this." Kakshi-sensei answered as he looked at his students. "Don't worry if we stick together and trust in our team, we will all make it back home just fine."
0-0-0-0-0-0
"Here is where you will be staying. This is Tsubaki she basically runs the place with her fiancé." Tazuna said as he led them to the Inn.
"Welcome." Tsubaki said as she bowed.
Tsubaki had dark hair that was cut short in the front and the back was long enough that it extended down to her back. She wore a yellow and black kimono.
"Tsubaki have the other ninja arrived yet?" Tazuna asked.
"Yes. They are in the field in the back." Tsubaki answered.
"Alright let's go and meet them." Kakshi-sensei said.
"Follow me then." Tsubaki said as she left her desk and started walking in front of them.
"You seem kind of young to run an inn." Sakura said as she looked around.
"It used to belong to grandmother. My parents are too busy working the farm, so I was put in charge of it." Tsubaki said.
"It looks like a nice place." Naruto said.
"Thank you. Mizuki my fiancé is in the village buying supplies." Tsubaki said.
"It must be so happy sharing the place with the man you love." Sakura said.
"It is fantastic." Tsubaki said as she took a turn that led them to the outside.
"Be alert team 7." Kakashi-sensei said as they looked at the group in the back.
They were a group of three. Two guys and a girl. They looked to be about two years older than them making them about fifteen-years-old. There was a guy with blue hair swinging a sword through the grass cutting down imaginary enemies. He was wearing a purple shirt that had no sleeves and light blue pants. The girl of the group had long red hair and was wearing a purple shirt. She was looking through her holo-band. The last member of the group was lying down under a tree wearing a black jacket. There were goggles covering parts of his spiky black hair.
"Hello." The one with spiky dark hair said.
"We are the ninja from Konohagakure no sato." Kakshi-sensei said.
"We come from Otogakure." He said as he jumped to his feet and walked to them.
"That's pretty far away." Sakura said.
"Can we do this mission together?" Kakshi-sensei asked as he walked forward.
He could see that Kakashi-sensei was signaling them to wait behind him while he did so.
"I've got no problem working together." The black-haired teen said.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked.
"I am Menma. She is Karin and the swordsman cutting invisible people is Suigetsu." Menma said pointing at his teammates.
"Do you guys have a Jonin-sensei?" Kakashi-sensei asked.
"He is named Yamato. He is getting a layout of the village." Menma said.
"He is heading back this way." Karin said as she looked at them.
