Land of Waves Arc: C Rank Mission

Team Seven started taking missions that ranged from animal rescue to doing repair work for businesses and homes. They took whatever they could get even though Naruto would complain about basically doing chores for the village. Several months went by, and one day Sakura landed on the training grounds to find Sasuke alone. She hesitated and walked up, "Yo."

She mentally kicked herself for that stupid greeting, but he just looked at her and nodded. She looked around "are we the only one's here? I figured Naruto would be here practicing water walking before Sensei showed up."

"Actually, they both showed up at the same time they're by the Memorial Stone; it looks like they are talking, so I'm just waiting over here till they're ready."

Sakura looked over and saw Kakashi and Naruto kneeling in front of the Memorial Stone. Naruto had a somber look on his face as Kakashi spoke and gestured with his hands. "I guess that Uzumaki on the stone is related to him. Do you think Kakashi-sensei knew her well?"

Sasuke shrugged, "I didn't listen in. If it's about his people, we best stay out of it. It's his business, and Naruto will tell the team if he wants to."

Sakura nodded. She had noticed recently that Sasuke and Naruto both dropped the honorifics when talking about each other. She felt a little jealous that they did. The two boys still fought and teased each other, but now it was more friendly like they were rivals, and not in an, I hate that guy kind of way. She jumped a bit when Sasuke spoke again, "Sakura-chan I want to-" his face contorted like he was struggling to think of how to say it. "Apologies, I guess. I assumed you were part of that annoying fan club and didn't trust you despite being on a team with you, but I realize now you aren't with them and haven't been for a while, have you?"

She shook her head "No, I haven't, and thank you for realizing I'm just here as your teammate, and friend if you want."

Sasuke looked like he was considering it very seriously before nodding, "thank you."

Kakashi and Naruto came over after a few more minutes. Sakura noticed Naruto had been crying but looked overall happy. Kakashi looked at his genin squad and nodded, "alright, my cute genin warm-ups and then personal training. Sasuke and Naruto water walking, and Sakura taijutsu sparring with me."

Sakura groaned as the boys made their way to the river to start training. "Sensei, am I your least favorite? Is that why I have to fight you so much?"

Kakashi's eye crinkled in that way, which meant he was smiling "you all drive me crazy in your own unique ways. I'm doing this because you admitted to being the weakest of the three in taijutsu, so I'm making sure you can hold your own in a one on one fight at least. Now hurry up and do your stretches before we start."

After a morning of intensive exercise Team, Seven stopped and ate lunch on their way to the mission desk. Along the way, Sakura saw a young boy with Naruto's old goggles on and a long blue scarf coming running up to them and excitedly talking to Naruto about training, and how well he's doing mastering the academy three, and how his tips have helped the boys' friends. Sakura smiled as the boy ran off before looking at Naruto "you got yourself a kouhi already Naruto-Kun? We've only been genin for a few months."

Naruto smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's Konohamaru; he's ojiisans grandson. I knocked out his perv of a teacher and started to help him get ahead in his class. He's tired of everyone seeing him as the Hokage's grandson, so he wants to be Hokage too. He even said he'd fight me for the right when the time comes!'

His team shook their head because Naruto had found a kid as driven as him to try and become Hokage. It didn't take long for them to get to the mission desk where Iruka-sensei sat sorting through missions. "Ah, Team Seven good timing I have just the mission for you. Pet retrieval for one Toro, the cat. It's a request from the Daimyo's wife, so be sure to accomplish it quickly."

He tossed the mission scroll to Kakashi, who caught it and turned to leave while he unfurled the scroll to the storage seal in it where four sets of radios popped out. He handed them to the team, and once everyone had them equipped, they left the central building. "Alright, we'll be heading to the southern woods; that's where the target was last spotted. Toro is a frequent runaway, so he's used to genin chasing him, don't take him lightly, or he'll slip past you."

"Yes, sensei!" the three said in unison as they followed Kaakshi to the woods.

It took several hours of tracking and at least one close call, but as the day was winding down, the demon cat Toro was back in the death grip of love that is the Daimyos wife. When they returned the cat and got paid, the Hokage was there smiling and smoking his pipe. "Excellent work, Team Seven. Now, if you're interested in another mission this afternoon, we have several requests from T&I asking for genin to help clean up some interrogation rooms."

The genin shuttered and shook their heads fervently. Naruto spoke up, "come on, Jiisan, I'm tired of these boring missions. We can so handle something more important!"

"Oi Naruto-" the Hokage held a hand up silencing Iruka-sensei.

"You think you're ready for a more advanced mission? Hm alright, then I have the perfect one for you. An escort mission to the Land of Waves C rank, so you best not take it lightly. Do you want it?"

Naruto grinned and looked at Kakashi, who just nodded, "we'll take it."

Naruto jumped and shouted, "who are escorting? A Daimyo? Or maybe a princess?"

The Hokage motioned for one of the chunin, "let our guest in please?"

Naruto deflated as an older man came in taking a swig from a sake bottle. "Eh, these are my bodyguards for the trip home? They're just a bunch of kids and a half-blind man and what's with the orange punk and pinkie over there standing out like sore thumbs."

Sakura bit her tongue and looked up and saw Kakashi-senseis eye twitch. Naruto, on the other hand, took personal offense to that. "What'd you say old man?! I'm Uzumaki Naruto I will be Hokage one day, and you talk shit about my team again-"

Kakashi punched him on the top of his head "shush genin." Kakashi looked to the old man, "I'm Hatake Kakashi. We are Team Seven; they may be genin, but they're good and will keep you safe."

"Names Tazuna I'm a bridge-builder I came here to get supplies ordered for my current project, and I need an escort back home and protection while I finish work." he took a swig of his sake "I'll need to leave tomorrow if I'm to get the bridge done on time."

Kakashi nodded, "alright, Team Seven, go home and pack. We'll be meeting at the front gate at 0600. Dismissed."

The team split up and headed to their homes to pack. Sakura entered her home, slipping her shoes off "I'm home!"

Mebuki poked her head out of the kitchen "welcome home, dear. How was it today?"

Sakura hugged her mother, "good, I'm going on a mission tomorrow. It'll last a few weeks."

Her father walked in, "what is this I hear about my little girl going on a mission?"

Sakura nodded as she started to help her mother make dinner. "Yep C rank escort mission. We have to escort the client and keep an eye on him till he finishes with his work."

Her parents looked between themselves, and her father spoke. "C rank you say? That seems a little soon. Though I guess it's peacetime so it shouldn't be too risky. Just be sure to keep safe and work with your team."

She hugged her dad, "I will don't worry."

That night Sakura double-checked her mission pack and went to bed early. The next morning after a quick breakfast, she said her goodbyes and headed to the main gate. Sasuke and Naruto were there waiting with Tazuna. She waved, and the group chatted idly, waiting about half an hour for Kakashi to show up. Once he was, the group signed out and got moving at a civilians pace. The team took a rotating formation keeping Tazuna protected from all sides while not stagnating their positions. Three days into their trip, Sakura spotted a puddle in the road, which was odd. They were near a river sure, but it hadn't rained in a few days she caught Kakashi's eye and used Konoha sign language to flash 'caution.'

Kakashi moved to the back of the formation as they passed the puddle. Once Kakashi's back was to it, two shinobi jumped from it a chain between the two of them wrapped around Kakashi as Sakura stepped in front of Tazuna Kakashi signed 'stall' before the chain tightened and tore him apart. Naruto took a step back as they shunshined behind him, ready to strike. Naruto dropped down, kicking the leg out from one of them as Sasuke threw a kunai pinning the chain to the ground. As the two shinobi detached the chain, Naruto launched up kneeing one in the chin as Sasuke took on the other. Sakura kept Tazuna behind her while keeping both the fights in her line of sight. Naruto made several of his shadow clones to surround his opponent and swarm him. Sasuke's match was going slightly less well as he got kicked into a tree. Before the shinobi could capitalize on it, Kakashi appeared and knocked him out. Narutos clones tied them up as Kakashi identified them as The Demon Brothers Gozu and Meizu Chunin level missing-nin from Kirigakure.

"What should we do with them?" Sakura asked as they stood around their captured ambushers.

Kakashi cracked his neck and looked around. "I'll take care of them, but first, I need to talk with our client because I get the feeling you didn't tell us the whole truth. Who's making you so scared you needed to hire shinobi?"

Tazuna took a sip of his sake and sat down. "The Land of Waves, my home one year ago, came under Gato shipping's wretched eye. Gato showed up and effectively bought out all the imports and shipping lanes he crippled our economy, and his thugs keep anyone from trying to work around him, so I decided to build a bridge to screw him over. I knew he was going to send people, but I thought it'd be standard thugs, not shinobi."

"So, this Gato guy is like really rich or something?" Naruto asked.

Tazuna nodded, "he's one of the richest men in the world. He makes his money through mostly illegal activity though no one can touch him because of his connections."

Kakashi looked at his team "this mission is at least a B rank now because of chunin level shinobi. We should abandon the mission and head back to let a more experienced team take over. I should as your Jōnin leader make that choice, but I'll leave the choice to you three."

Sakura looked between the two boys who nodded at each other and looked at her. 'Ah, it's my choice. Of course.' Sakura took a deep breath "it'll be hard, but I think we should continue the mission we're ready for this, and we'll show anyone who comes at us just how good Konoha shinobi are Sensei."

"That's what I like to hear," Kakashi said before walking over and slitting the demon brothers throats before pulling out a storage scroll. Sakura bit back the bile that rose in her throat, but she didn't look away as her Sensei stored the bodies for identification and investigation once they were back home. It took another day before they reached the coast and got a small boat to take them across to the Land of Waves, where the fog was thick, effectively killing their ability to see anyone coming. "Too bad, none of us are Kanchi," Sakura said as she tried to see anything through the fog.

Sasuke grunted, and Naruto nodded, looking lost. "Kanchi nin can sense other peoples chakra." Sasuke said, "you should brush up on your different types of shinobi when we get back dead last."

"What?! I knew what they were!"

"Shut it; do you want us to get caught before we make it to land. I'm risking a lot by bringing you here." The boat owner said. He was currently paddling the boat as quietly as he could since he cut the engine a half-hour ago.

Tazuna, still sipping his sake, patted the man's arm. "Thank you again for this, and hopefully, when this is over, you won't have to be so cautious."

After a few more minutes, they were docked and disembarked "alright, we just need to get to the next town over, and we'll be home, then I can start working again."

They were only walking for a few minutes when they passed by a lake. Kakashi stopped suddenly, making Naruto run into him. "Oi sensei, what's the deal."

"Somethings not- get down!" he pushed Naruto down and nearly tackled Tazuna as Sasuke and Sakura dropped to the dirt. A giant sword flew by embedding itself in a tree as a thin but well-built man covered in bandages landed on the handle and looked down at them all.

"Look at what we have here a bunch of Leaf brats, and Kakashi Hatake himself."