Thanks for reviews, favs, and follows! *excited*
Warning: unbeta. English is my second language. ASL is my first. I'm Deaf. :3
I don't own NARUTO.
Enjoy~ :D
Location: Konohagakure no Sato
Genzo Films
Next Day after Team Ten passed…
A short, grouchy man who has dark eyes with round glasses, bald head with white hair jutting up on each side of his head, tan skin, and he wears a tan jacket with a black hood, white t-shirt inside, tan pants, and flip-flops. His name is Genzo, and he is a proud photographer, even though he doesn't like childish things, he still continues to do his job. Genzo waited, impatiently for the Team Ten to prepare themselves for the Team picture.
Front of the photographer with his precious camera. Sakura crossed her arms with a disappointed pout. She has cleaned herself nicely, as she combed her hair and wear nice qipao dress and a little bit of make-up. Sakura has been hoping to see Sasuke at the Genzo Films. However, she learned that each Team picture takes different places and different times. So, there's a low chance that she won't be able to see him. The pink-haired girl sighed disheartened. Next, to her, Shikamaru is half-asleep while Choji is eating his chip.
Finally, Asuma arrived at the place with sheepishly grinned. "Sorry, I'm late… I was wondering if we can take a picture outside?" Genzo glared at the Jounin with irritated, he grabbed his camera and left his shop. Asuma beckoned his students to follow. Genins obeyed when they left the shop.
When Team Ten stopped by the playground as they watched Genzo set up his camera and glared at them. "Well? Hurry up, I don't have all day!" he grumbled.
Asuma gently pushed his students to the area, facing the camera. He stood behind three Genins, he lowered slightly as his hands rested on Shikamaru's and Choji's shoulders while Sakura is in the middle. "Now… smile." The Jounin pats his students' shoulders.
"Troublesome…" Shikamaru groaned as he crossed his arms and faced at the camera with boredom. While Choji smiles as he is eating his chips and Sakura offered a weak smile. Asuma grinned with his cigarette hanging lazily from his lips.
Genzo went under the cover and snapped of a picture of official new Team Ten.
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Team Saku-Shika-Cho
Arc I: Bloom, Deer, & Butterfly
Chapter Three
"Dreadful D-Rank Missions"
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Next Day
D-Rank Mission Number One
Team Ten is pulling out the weeds from the dirt, the client had requested for Genin to pull out the weeds and water the garden. And they have been doing it for a couple of hours while Asuma is watching over his students. Sakura jerked the weed out then threw it a growing pile of weeds next to her. She leaned back as she wipes the sweat from her forehead. Her lime-green eyes glanced over at her teammates, Shikamaru is pulling weeds in slow motion while Choji is watering the plants.
Sakura shivered slightly when she remembered a couple of days ago when Choji was furious and attempted to kill her. Thankfully, Shikamaru saved her and Asuma managed to calm the rotund ninja down by bribe with BBQ. 'Never say the taboo word to Choji, ever.' Sakura mused with nervous. For a calm and nice boy, he sure has a temper.
The pink-haired girl snapped out of it when a middle-aged man walked out from his humble house with a trap filled with three glasses of lemonade. He smiles at the Genin with grateful and appreciates. "Thank you for working so hard, here… you all must be thirsty." He offered the drinks to the young ninjas.
"Thank you." Sakura smiles at their client as she grabbed a glass of lemonade from the tray. She took a sipped from the fresh, cold sour lemon. She glanced at her teammates who accepted the drinks as well and drank.
And they finished their first D-Rank mission.
[MISSION REPORT]
Rank: D
Client: Shigi, Fusae
Adopted By: Team Ten
Genin: Akimichi, Choji/Nara, Shikamaru/Haruno, Sakura
Jounin: Sarutobi, Asuma
Summary: Weeds needs to pull out and water the plants
Feedback: "They did a wonderful job, all weeds are gone and the plants are water nicely. Team Ten made my garden looked nice." – Shigi, Fusae
"My students did great for their first mission!" – Sarutobi, Asuma
"Pulled out weeds gives me blisters… need to bring gloves next time. But the garden looks lovely." – Haruno, Sakura
"Pain in the ass." – Nara, Shikamaru
"Lemonade tastes great!" – Akimichi, Choji
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D-Rank Mission Number Two
Sakura and Shikamaru sweatdropped when they watched Choji attempted to pull back the leash that attached to a large, black dog. The black dog continued walking down the road, not even feel anything. Meanwhile, pink-haired girl and lazy boy are holding on the two medium-sized dogs each.
"I told him that it would be better if two people do it instead of one." Sakura sighed as she shook her head.
Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "It's his decision."
"But still…" Sakura frowned. "…he's a fat dog." The word slipped out of her tongue as she paled, she didn't mean to say the taboo, she meant to say big while Shikamaru and the rest of the dogs stared at her incredulous.
Slowly, Choji and the black dog turned their heads to Sakura while their eyes were blazed of furious fire. "Did…you… say fat?" they twitched.
Sakura gulped loudly as Shikamaru cursed under his breath. Then, Asuma jumped down from the building that he's been traveling in his speed. He grinned wide when he arrived behind Sakura and Shikamaru. "Hey, how's walking with dogs going?" he asked with curiosity.
Almost immediately, his two students shove the leashes onto his hands. The lazy ninja grabbed a pink-haired girl's hand and dragged her away from the murdering eyes.
"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE GIRL!"
"WOOF WOOF!"
Asuma blinked owlishly while the medium-size dogs sat their butt down and watched the comedic scene front of them. Choji and the large dog are chasing after Sakura with anger fire in their eyes. The Jounin sweatdropped. "I'm guessing not so good…"
"Not again!"
"Whose fault is that woman?!"
"Well, this time I didn't know that FAT is a taboo for a DOG!"
The Jounin, along with the dogs sweatdropped when Choji and the large dog twitched with irritated. They picked up their pace and nearly reach their target. Shikamaru groaned loudly, he jerked Sakura forward, picked her up and draped over his shoulder. He jumped up to one of the trees and boost in speed to get future away from Choji and the large dog.
"OOOOHHHHH!"
"WOOOOOOF!"
"This is such a pain in the ass!"
"Why me?!"
Asuma sighed heavily. "Best to get this control as soon as possible." He mumbled, first he needs to calm Choji down with BBQ chips or something for him to snack on and buy a treat for a large dog.
[MISSION REPORT]
Rank: D
Client: Ochiai, Masako
Adopted By: Team Ten
Genin: Akimichi, Choji/Nara, Shikamaru/Haruno, Sakura
Jounin: Sarutobi, Asuma
Summary: Walking the dogs
Feedback: "My dogs seem to be happy and surprisingly in high energy. Although my dog, Bear is rather Irritable, all in all, Team Ten did a good job." – Ochiai, Masako
"A little trouble with the large dog but got it under control. My students did well." – Sarutobi, Asuma
"I would like to advise to those who are walking with dogs, one of them named, Bear owned by Ochiai, Masako… NEVER say "FAT" as is it a taboo word. Otherwise, you will receive the bite. Literally." – Haruno, Sakura
"This mission is troublesome." – Nara, Shikamaru
"I enjoyed the cake, thanks Asuma-sensei!" – Akimichi, Choji
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D-Rank Mission Number Three
Team Ten gathered in the river with sharpen a stick, stabbed the trash and dispose of in the garbage bag. They continued for the last thirty minutes. When Choji sighed, he paused and went to the area where Asuma is rested while watching.
The Jounin raised his eyebrow at his student who sat down and took out his bag of chips. He shook his head, fondly then glanced back at his two students who are continued their mission. 'Wait… no…' he noticed his lazy student paused as Shikamaru stared up at the cloudy sky.
Only Sakura is doing her mission, then suddenly a fish jumped up, smacked her face and plopped back in the river. The pink-haired girl was taken aback as she slipped into the river and the current taking her away nearly to the waterfall.
Shikamaru snapped out of it as he reacts fast enough to grab his pink-haired teammate's wrist. He grunts as he pulled her onto the land. Sakura pushed herself from the ground, pushed her wet hair away from her face and glanced at Shikamaru with relief and gratitude. "Thank you."
"Troublesome…" Shikamaru fell back and stared at the clouds once again.
Asuma watched them with amused while Choji glanced with cautioned, sneakily toward his teammates' lunch.
[MISSION REPORT]
Rank: D
Client: Tono, Kokei
Adopted By: Team Ten
Genin: Akimichi, Choji/Nara, Shikamaru/Haruno, Sakura
Jounin: Sarutobi, Asuma
Summary: Pick up trashes from the Hill River
Feedback: "The Hill River is clean and trash-free thanks to Team Ten hard work!" – Tono, Kokei
"A little slow but finish the mission in the end." – Sarutobi, Asuma
"Water is cool and nice." – Haruno, Sakura
"Troublesome." – Nara, Shikamaru
"The lunches are delicious!" – Akimichi, Choji
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D-Rank Mission Number Four
"Aaaahhhhhhh!" four children shrieked with cheerfulness and happiness in the living-room as they are playing around with toys and tags. Team Ten stared at the wild children with disbelieved and weary. Asuma grimaced as he glanced at his students, sympathy. He walked to them and pats Shikamaru's shoulder. "You'll be babysitting these four children for two hours. They belonged to one of the civilian councilors." He informed them. "I'll be back in two hours." Then he wished them good luck and left the house.
One of the children, a little five years old girl who has dark brown hair in bob-style with full bangs, light brown eyes, pale skin, and she wears a yellow sundress. She beamed up at Sakura, showing her missing tooth. "Hello! My name is Michie! Play dress up with me!" she grabbed the pink-haired girl's hand and dragged her to her bedroom. Sakura quickly took last glanced at her teammates with wide worried eyes.
Shikamaru and Choji glanced at each other then back at the living-room with three boys who are throwing toys and jumped over the furniture. "Troublesome…"
One of the children, a little seven years old boy who has light brown curly hair, dark brown eyes, pale skin, and he wears white short-sleeves shirt and blue shorts. He went to rotund ninja and smiled softly. "I'm Motonobu, called me Mo. Can you make me lunch?" Mo took Choji's hand, pulled him to the kitchen as Choji happily accepted it.
When Choji disappeared in the kitchen with Mo. Shikamaru turned his attention to two nine years old little boys. They are identical twins, dark short brown hair, dark brown eyes, fair skin, and they wear matching clothes, blue shirts, and black shorts. The twins ran up to Shikamaru. "I'm Masaru and he's Masashi." Masaru threw a pillow at Shikamaru's face. The twins laughed gleefully as they ran off.
The pillow dropped from the lazy ninja's deadpanned face. "What a drag…" he grumbled. He watched one of the twins accidentally bumped the bookshelf, in the shelf where the glass crystal vase stumbled down. Shikamaru immediately used his shadow jutsu to capture the vase and carefully set it on the ground. 'Troublesome… I can barely control this…' he frowned.
Masaru and Masashi watched it in awe. Shikamaru doubletake at the twins with suspicion when he saw their faces changed to smirked evilly with a glint in their eyes. "…oh crap." Shikamaru swore.
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Meanwhile, Choji hummed while making the sandwich as Mo watched it in silent while waiting in the chair. When Choji finished the last touch of the sandwich, he went to the little hungry boy and placed down a plate with a large sandwich in front of him.
Mo blinked bewildered at the size of the sandwich. "I called this, 'Akimichi Sandwich'!" Choji claimed with pride.
"How am I going to finish this sandwich?" Mo frowned, poked at the giant sandwich, he has a tiny body.
Choji sat down the chair across from Mo with his own plate of a giant sandwich. "You must eat it all! It's a pride to be a man!" he picked up his sandwich and took a bite.
Mo blinked and stared at the sandwich with hesitant. "A man…?" he reached his lunch, leaned forward and took a small bite. "I'll be a man when I finish this!" he mumbled as he chews.
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Meantime, Sakura flinched in pain when Michie forced to brush her hair. Michi narrowed her eyes as she continued brushing, roughly. "You have beautiful pink hair! It reminds me of a princess from the stories!" Michie said, amazed and awed.
"Thank yo-ow!" Sakura cringed when Michie nearly rips her hair. "…thank you, Michie…" she mumbled, wanting to cry for her poor, poor hair that is unintentionally abusing by a five-year-old with patience.
When Michie grabbed a hair tie, she tied it around a piece of Sakura's hair and nodded her head in satisfied. The little girl jumped down from the step stool, she went to her dresser and took out a bag that is filled with make-up supplies. "Now, I'm going to put on make-up!" she giggled, excitedly as she took out a lipstick.
"Oh…yay." Sakura cheered, weakly while mentally, sobbing her heart out at this torture game.
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Back to Shikamaru who is panted slightly as moistures dripped from his forehead. He has been using his shadow jutsu the fragile objects from damage when the evil twins continued bumped the furniture on purposes. He has lost the counts to save the objects for a while. Then he quickly used his shadow jutsu once again to trapped the stand-table with a lamp. Suddenly, Mo ran out of the kitchen to the bathroom nearby and the sound of vomited heard.
"I think my Akimichi Sandwich is not good for him…" Choji said as he walked out of the kitchen with concerned frowned.
Shikamaru sweatdropped. "That's because he's a seven-year-old. He can't eat that size on his own!" he explained, he is familiar with the famous meal from Akimichi Clan. Then Michie skipped out happily with an excited smile on her face.
"Gentlemen! I am happy to say that an ugly duckling became a beautiful swan princess!" she squealed with enthusiastic. She turned around. "Sakura-chan!" she called out. Sakura walked out of the bedroom, with humiliated.
Shikamaru blinked owlishly as Choji pity for Sakura. The pink-haired girl's hair is a messy tangled in two so-called braids with colorful multiplies animated clips, her face is covered with colors as if someone threw rainbow paints, and she even wears a ridiculously large bright, orange kimono. Her lime-green eyes are a shade darker as she glared at her teammates with a warning. "Not. A. Word." She hissed.
Michie obliviously by Sakura's displeased when she skipped toward to Shikamaru. She grabbed his hand with sparkly eyes. "You can be a prince! I can give you a make-over!" the lazy ninja panicked when the little girl grabbed him which resulted his shadow jutsu released the stand-table.
The stand table fell forward along with the lamp and shattered on the ground. The twins high fived at each other with smug grinned. "Score!" they laughed joyfully.
Shikamaru dropped his shoulders. "Oh man…" as Mo walked out with green face as he held on his stomachache.
"I don't feel so good…" Mo said then vomited on Sakura's so-called costume kimono. Michie cried out when she saw her costume was ruined and whined loudly. The twins laughed and played tags once again in the living room.
Sakura twitched with annoyed. "This is the worst mission ever!" her teammates agreed with her.
Finally, after two agonizing hours passed by, the children are sleeping in an interesting position. Genin sweatdropped as they observed the sleeping children. Michi curled up on the coffee table with a throw blanket as she is sucking her thumb. Mo is hugging the curtain on the ground. And the twins are on the couch with their heads on the floor and her feet on the cushions. And they don't even look uncomfortable one bit.
When the front door opened, a mother who has light brown hair tied up in a bun with full bangs, dark brown eyes, fair skin, and wears simple blue kimono. The mother glanced at the living room and smiled wide with fond eyes. "Aww… my adorable children." She giggled at her silly sleeping kids and checked on them personally.
Asuma arrived a few seconds later with a grinned. "How's the mission?" he asked his students who seemed very exhausted. His eyes landed on his female student who is completely covered in make-up. "Oh, Sakura... you look…" the pink-haired girl sends her sharp glared at him.
"Not a word, Asuma-sensei." Sakura snapped and stormed out of the house. Shikamaru and Choji shivered in fear by their anger temper pink-haired teammate. Asuma sweatdropped as he rubbed the back of his head, confused.
[MISSION REPORT]
Rank: D
Client: Takahashi, Misaki
Adopted By: Team Ten
Genin: Akimichi, Choji/Nara, Shikamaru/Haruno, Sakura
Jounin: Sarutobi, Asuma
Summary: Babysits my children for two hours
Feedback: "My adorable kids adored Genin from Team Ten. Michie-chan seemed to love to play with a pink-haired ninja. Mo-kun has stomachaches but he learned that he must eat all the foods from the plate because of the sweet ninja said, something about a man. I'm just glad that my Mo-kun ate his vegetables! Masaru-kun and Masashi-kun wanted to play with the pony-tailed ninja again in the future. I'm glad that they were keep entertained while I was gone. Team Ten did an excellent job!" – Takahashi, Misaki
"It seems that my students got it to control on their own." – Sarutobi, Asuma
"I never want to take this mission ever again." – Haruno, Sakura
"Children are troublesome." – Nara, Shikamaru
"Akimichi Sandwich is the best!" – Akimichi, Choji
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D-Rank Mission Number Five
After Sakura cleaned and fixed her appearance and met up with her teammates at the Hokage Tower. When they are inside of the Hokage's office. They lined up front of the Third Hokage. He hair is grey covered with a red 'Hokage' hat, grey goatee, lighter skin, and his face is gaunter, and he has the wrinkles and liver sports of old age. He wears red and white Hokage attire robe. His name is Sarutobi, Hiruzan the Third Hokage.
Third Hokage read over the D-Rank missions on the scroll. "You have succeeded in four missions so far, and this will be the last mission for today." Genin was relieved to hear that they are nearly done with the mission. "Your mission is to find a missing cat." Hokage glanced up. "It's Feudal Lord's wife's cat. His name is Toru and it has a pink bow on his ear." He briefly explained.
Sakura mentally groaned with exhausted while Shikamaru nearly dozed off and Choji munching on his snack. Their sensei nodded his head. "We'll bring Toru back." He answered as he accepted the mission for Team Ten.
When Team Ten left the Hokage Tower, Asuma turned around and handed the wireless radio chokers to his students. "Wear this, we'll keep in touch in case we're separate." Jounin explained, and he demonstrates how to wear the radio properly and how it functions. After a quick explanation, his students have their wireless on with an ear bud inside their ear. "Alright, now go and find the missing cat." The Genin disappeared in their level to search for the missing cat, Toru.
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It's been nearly half an hour as Sakura continuing searching for the missing cat. Her lime-green eyes scanned in her surrounding in the wood that wasn't too far from the building. She frowned. 'This is really stupid!' she grumbled silently. How can she supposedly find a cat in this large village?
"This mission is so lame, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura halted when she overheard the familiar and clear voice.
"It's D-Rank mission, Naruto. What do you expect?"
"I was expecting to have cool missions! Like, protect princess! Or fight the bad guys! Not doing this… stupid stuff of picking up herbs in the middle of the woods!"
Sakura followed the voices with curious until she hid behind the tree. She carefully peeks out and saw Naruto complaining, Ino irritated and Sasuke emotionless face. Three of them standing close to their sensei.
A Jounin man has silver spiky hair oriented to his left-side, dark grey eye, fair skin, a mask that covered the lower half of his face, a black leaf hitai-ate wrapped around his forehead and slanted down to cover his left eye, he wears Konoha's standard infantry clothing, green flak jacket, dark blue pants, and a long-sleeve shirt, black ninja sandals, also fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand. His name is Hatake, Kakashi. And he is currently holding an orange book in hand.
'I haven't seen him for three days! I really miss you Sasuke-kun!' Sakura's eyes immediately attached to her crush. She squealed excitedly inwardly while observed, hungrily over Sasuke.
Kakashi sighed as he glanced corner from his eyes where Sakura is hiding. "Why don't you come out here?" Sakura snapped out of it as she blushed with embarrassed. 'Busted.'
Sakura walked around the tree, exposed herself with sheepishly smiles. Naruto perked up when he saw her then grinned widely. "Hi Sakura-chan!" he waved happily at her.
"Ah…" Kakashi raised his eyebrow, he glanced at Naruto then back to Sakura. "…so this is Sakura." He carefully examined the pink-haired girl.
A pink-haired girl looked down shyly. 'Could it be… that Sasuke-kun talks about me?' she mused with hopeful as she pushed the stray of her hair back behind her hair.
Kakashi glanced back to his favorite, precious book. "Naruto has been talking about you a lot." Sakura slumped her shoulders with disappointed.
"W-what? No way!" Naruto denied as his cheeks turned red.
Ino smirked playfully as she placed her hands on her hips at her rival. "It's true, billboard brow! He has a big crush on you, you should give him a chance." She snickered softly, and Sakura frowned with narrowed eyes.
"N-no way!" Naruto giggled as he denied once again.
Ino sweatdropped at her teammate's unusual bashful attitude.
'Sasuke-kun never say anything about me?' Sakura mused with disappointed then she shook her head. She noticed that Sasuke didn't even glance at her and for once, she felt uncomfortable as she is standing in front of the Team Seven.
"Haruno, have you found the target yet?"
Sakura thanked the Kami above that Shikamaru came to the right timing! She pressed the button on her radio choker. "No, I have not found the target." She replied.
"Troublesome. Can you come here?"
"Of course, where are you?" Sakura asked before she pressed the button once again.
"On top of the Leafe Bookstore, near the Konoha Hot Spring."
"I'll be there." The pink-haired girl smiled weakly at the Team Seven. "Sorry, I have to go." She turned around, quickly left in a hurried manner.
The Team Seven watched Sakura ran off until she was out of their sights. Naruto pouted as he crossed his arms. "That radio thingy looks so cool! She has better mission than this lame mission!" he whined loudly and Ino groaned as she dropped her head on her palms while Sasuke glared in annoyed at the knucklehead ninja and Kakashi sighed once again.
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Meanwhile, the lazy ninja walked around in the village. He has separated from Choji a while ago while he is searching for the pain in the ass missing cat. Shikamaru walked into the alleyway, haled when he heard the mews from the cats nearby and went to investigate. He leaned over the trashcan and saw two cats snuggled each other.
Frowned appeared on Shikamaru's face. 'No bow means no Toru. Troublesome.' He turned around and walked away. Out of the alleyway, he walked down the road while canned his surroundings and noticed a fat orange cat laying on the chair. Shikamaru stared at the sleeping cat with envious. 'I want to lay down and watch the clouds, but this troublesome mission is in the way.' He sighed loudly.
It's already been an hour and Shikamaru stood on top of the building while scanned his surrounding once again. Then he glanced up at the clouds as he is envious of the floating clouds, free in the world without troubles. Then he noticed the sun is almost setting and he hasn't heard anything from his teammates. Shikamaru adjusted the button on radio choker. "Choji, you there?" he waits for the reply but none. He tried again with another adjusted button. "Asuma-sensei-, have you seen the target?" again, no response.
Shikamaru frowned with confused. "Seriously, is this radio not working?" he decided to try one more time as he adjusted the button. "Haruno, have you found the target yet?"
"No, I have not found the target." Shikamaru got the response. 'So, this radio work then, what's Choji and Asuma-sensei doing? Is their radio not working or something?' he mentally filed it away for later, they have a mission to do. "Troublesome." Shikamaru glanced around. "Can you come here?" he wondered.
"Of course. Where are you?"
"On top of the Leafe Bookstore, near the Konoha Hot Spring." Shikamaru informed his location to his pink-haired teammate.
"I'll be there." Shikamaru wait patiently while cloud-watching with peace.
When Sakura arrived at the top of the bookstore, she walked to her lazy teammate and glanced around. "Choji and Asuma-sensei are not here?" she asked with curious.
Shikamaru shook his head. "They didn't respond when I called them."
Sakura frowned with confused. "Think their radio is malfunction?"
"Two malfunction radios? Or maybe out of range." Shikamaru added.
The pink-haired girl sighed as she placed her hands on her hips. "Well, we'll try again later in a different area and hopefully we can reach them." Shikamaru hummed and Sakura glanced up at the sun setting sky. "I never thought searching for this missing cat would take a while…" she walked t the edge of the building and leaned against the rail. "Might as well work together, if we keep searching for it alone, it's going to take a long time. I think working together might be better. Two minds than one." Sakura suggested.
Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. "Sure." He narrowed his eyes over the view in front of him.
"I wonder where that cat would be…" Sakura mused out loud, contemplative.
"It's that troublesome lord's wife's fault for not keeping her eyes on her troublesome pain in the ass cat." Shikamaru blunted with annoyed.
Sakura sighed, agreed with her lazy teammate. "I hope Choji and Asuma-sensei are getting close to finding that cat…"
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In the meantime, inside of the famous BBQ restaurant where Choji bites down his meats with Asuma sitting across from him. Asuma sipped his glass of water calmly while he made sure the radios are shut off. They've been in this restaurant a while ago before separated from Shikamaru and Sakura.
"Is it really okay to leave this mission to Shikamaru and Haruno-san?" Choji asked, guilty and worried.
Asuma grinned widely at his student as he set his glass of water back on the table. "Don't worry. They just need a little… motivation in this mission." He said with a mysterious glint in his eyes.
Choji blinked with confused and he was about to open his mouth to reply but got distracted right away when the waiter brought a plate filled with meats. The waiter set the plate down the front of Choji who immediately cooked it on the grill.
The Jounin grinned soften as he glanced out through the window. 'Since they are the only two who are not interested in Shinobi career. If they succeed this mission on their own, maybe I can ask the Hokage a favor. Just a little more push and hopefully, they will find an interest in becoming a real Shinobi.' He mused as he rubbed his beard out of reflex. 'Plus, if they don't finish this mission then I'm afraid I'll have to cut their shinobi career forever.' He doesn't want to do those things to his students, it would be a damn shame since Shikamaru has strategy skills and high IQ and Sakura has the sharpest mind and excellent chakra control.
Asuma really hopes to Kami above that they will succeed this mission, even though it's D-Rank, but with their minds together. 'It'll be like they are Jounin's level.'
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Shikamaru and Sakura chased after their target. They have finally found Toru and refused to let it out of their sights. The lazy ninja clicked his tongues sharply when the cat rushed toward the woods. "That cat sure is fast…" he reluctant grumbled while running with his pink-haired teammate.
Then Sakura ran toward the tree and hid behind as Shikamaru went to a different tree. Sakura leaned over as her lime-green eyes examined at the cat who has finally stopped, sat on the ground and licked his paws.
A victory smirked appeared on her face. "He has a pink bow on his ear. That's our target for sure, Toru." Sakura whispered through the radio.
Shikamaru slumped his shoulders with relief. 'Oh good.' He could see Sakura a few feet away then quickly came up with a plan. He pressed the button and whispered. "Placed the smoke bombs around the target, if the target starts to run again, we'll know where it heads to."
Sakura glanced at Shikamaru with an understood nod and quickly left from his sights. Shikamaru kept his eyes on the target in silence, waiting.
"Finished it. The smoke bombs are placed around the target. But… would it be easier if you use your shadow jutsu on this cat?"
The lazy ninja hummed then pressed the button. "Not exactly, I can use my shadow jutsu on humans, clones, and even objects. However, since it's animals… it's tricky. They have their sense sharper than human, they have highly instinctive. My shadow jutsu has to be invisible to the animals' senses." He explained quietly.
"Oh, I see… they can easily outrun of your shadow because of their sharp senses."
Shikamaru nodded his head out of reflex. "Yeah… it's too troublesome and waste of chakra so we'll have to do the old-fashioned way."
"Or we can try something little different."
"Like what?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrows while watching the cat stretched his body and bathe his fur calmly.
"Like... okay, this cat has five senses. Vision, hearing, smell, taste, and accessory smell. I'm going to use his vision, hearing, and smell while you use your Shadow Possession. In that small moment when I have his attention, you must capture that moment and use it on him. Get it?"
"Not bad." Shikamaru never thought about that kind of plan and Sakura continued.
"However, one of the sharpen senses for a cat is his hearing. Since he's a household cat, his vision is weaker than larger cats. His hearing can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies. He can hear higher-pitched sounds than either dogs or humans, their hearing is really sensitive and among the best. So, you got to be really quiet."
"You sure know a lot about cats." Shikamaru was impressed.
"I like to read books and learn things. I read about cat books a long time ago."
The lazy ninja smirked lazily as he remembered her introduction a few days ago. Then his smirk changed to frowned when he also remembered something else. "I just remember something… you like pineapples?" he asked, disgusted.
"What? What has that got to do with this? But to answer your question, of course. I love pineapples! It's my favorite fruit!"
"It's disgusting." Shikamaru deadpanned.
"It's not! Pineapple is very delicious! I, very well, remember that you like cherries and it's absolutely unappetizing!"
Shikamaru's eye twitched. "That's not true." He mumbled, unfortunately for him, Sakura heard it.
"It IS true! Seriously, the cherries are so CONFUSING! It has dark red, light red, medium red, and black! I don't even understand the taste of cherries! It's too bitter or too sweet or even too fresh! It's stupid!"
"Cherries is a very interesting fruit. It has all kinds of people's favorite. Whatever suits their taste buds, they can easily pick a certain shade of cherry with a certain taste. Bitter or sweet. Fresh or old. People love it when it comes to cherries." Shikamaru explained and smirked with victory in the small argument when Sakura is quiet in a few seconds.
"I still don't like cherry."
Shikamaru chuckled softly. "Funny that your name happened to mean cherry." He is slowly liking to tease her.
"Well! My parents named me, 'Cherry Blossom' because of my hair! So, it's not my fault that I'm born with naturally pink hair."
He could hear her pouted as he smirked playfully. "It's sort of funny that you hate cherry when your name means cherry… Cherry."
"You did not just call me Cherry…"
Shikamaru chuckled softly as he dropped his hand, doesn't want to let Sakura hear him laughing at her.
"You know what, I'm going to call you PINEAPPLE!"
The lazy ninja was taken aback by her playful voice. He pressed the button with a raised eyebrow. "Really? How's that match me, Cherry?" he asked sarcastically, expecting her to be speechless.
"Your head is the shape of a pineapple."
He did not expect that.
"Ah! Hehe, that's right. Pineapple~!"
Shikamaru doesn't like teases from her, however, it's too troublesome to take back now so he just deals with it. "Okay, you win." He doesn't want to continue since it's a drag and it's almost nighttime and the mission is yet not done.
"Ahem… so, we go with my plan?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I'll approach the cat and I'll give you the signal."
Shikamaru watched quietly when Sakura carefully stepped out of her hiding from the bushes. Toru halted his bathe, straighten his spine as he stared at her with cautioned. The pink-haired girl bends down on her knee as he held her hand out to the cat. "It's a treat…" she opened her palm with two small crackers.
Toru eyeing at the treat, then he stalked slowly to the palm and sniffed with cautioned. Then almost immediately, Sakura's lime-green eyes snapped up at Shikamaru. The lazy ninja quickly signed his jutsu and his shadow grew toward the cat and captured successfully.
Sakura cheered when Toru is paralyzed by Shikamaru's shadow and beamed at her teammate. "We caught the target. This mission is succeeded." She held up her victory peace sign.
"Finally." Shikamaru smirked lazily at her as he is beyond glad the troublesome mission is done. The pink-haired girl reached for the cat, picked him up and gently pets his fur. Unexpectedly, Toru purred happily and snuggled against her chest.
Shikamaru walked to her. "Now we need to find Asuma-sensei and Choji." He glanced up at the darkening sky. "It's getting late."
"It would be best to go straight to the Hokage Tower, the Feudal Lord's wife is waiting. Then, we can find them, inform them that we finished this mission." Sakura suggested and Shikamaru thought about it.
"Troublesome…" he doesn't want to do more work after the mission finished.
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Inside of the Hokage Tower, in Hokage's office, Sakura and Shikamaru sweatdropped as they stared in disbelieved and sympathy for a poor cat. Feudal Lord's wife is suffocating Toru in her arms. "No wonder, that cat ran away…" Sakura whispered, loud enough for Shikamaru to hear it. While they are waiting for Asuma and Choji since the Third Hokage was kind enough to send his ANBU to fetch them. Shikamaru was relieved that he doesn't want to search for him after the mission.
The door opened that caught people in the room's attention when Asuma and Choji walked in. The Jounin has a wide-grinned on his face while Choji eating his chips. "I heard you both succeeded in the mission. Good job!" Asuma was proud when he discovered that his two students actually did the mission on their own, willingly, and working together.
"Nice job on your D-Rank missions, you all are dismissed today. Go home and rest. Tomorrow, go to the stock desk and you'll receive your rewards." Third Hokage smiles at them. Team Ten bowed politely and respected then left, except Asuma.
Asuma saw his students waiting for him as he felt touched. "You kids go on home. I have some business with Hokage-sama." He informed them.
"Goodnight, Asuma-sensei."
"Later. What a drag day."
"Thanks for BBQ!"
The Jounin waited for the door closed then Third Hokage raised his eyebrows at his son with confused. "What id it that you have something to discuss?"
"Hokage-sama…" Asuma stared at his father with serious eyes. "I'm very aware that they are new Genin, fresh from the Ninja Academy. However, two of my students, Nara, Shikamaru and Haruno, Sakura… they have no absolute goals or dreams as Shinobi." Slowly, a smile appeared on his face. "But it changed when they accomplished the last mission on their own. Choji and I didn't get involved."
"Is that so?" Hokage grabbed his pipe with thoughtful gazed.
Asuma continued. "I don't want to force them. I had to see if they are willing to become Shinobi and they did. They could've given up or left the mission to us. Instead, they went ahead and work together." He is doubtlessly proud. "Shikamaru is great with strategy skills and Sakura has the sharpest mind. Together, they could be Jounin's level. And now I want to push them a little bit hard and I need your help in order to do that."
"What do you have in mind?" The Third Hokage is interested.
Asuma grinned widely with mischievous eyes. "It's time for a next step… C-Rank mission."
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The pink-haired girl waved at Choji who is going in a different direction to his home. Shikamaru nodded his head and they both watched Choji walked down the path until he turned the left corner, out of their sights.
Sakura sighed softly, feeling tired and turned her lime-green eyes to her lazy teammate. "Well, today was… tiring but surprisingly fun." She admitted with a tired smile.
Shikamaru snorted. "It's a pain in the ass day for me."
"Of course." Sakura's lip twitched with soft amused. "Good night…. Pineapple!" she farewells her teammate as he walked to the other direction.
The lazy ninja half-smirked with lazy eyes. "Night, Cherry." 'I guess it's not too troublesome day… I did enjoy it a little.' He turned around and head to his home.
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[MISSION REPORT]
Rank: D
Client: Feudal Lord
Adopted By: Team Ten
Genin: Akimichi, Choji/Nara, Shikamaru/Haruno, Sakura
Jounin: Sarutobi, Asuma
Summary: Please find my wife's missing cat, Toru.
Feedback: "My wife is very happy to reunite with Toru. Thank you for your hard work, Team Ten." - Feudal Lord
"I'm so proud that my students succeed in this mission on their own!" - Sarutobi, Asuma
"Is Toru a ninja cat or something? He is fast and knew how to handle himself." - Haruno, Sakura
"Troublesome cat makes this day drag on." - Nara, Shikamaru
"BBQ is very delicious, thanks Asuma-sensei!" - Akimichi, Choji