After passing the genin exam, team 7 spent an entire month doing D-rank missions and training. Aside from that, Saori and Sakura had started getting a long slightly better while Naruto was mostly inside his own world.

Today was another day that Team 7 had come to the Hokage's office to receive their mission. The team 7 stood in place silently, watching Hiruzen look over the scrolls on his table.

"Hmm... I think that its about time that you guys head outside the village to gather some experience. What do you think?" Hiruzen asked as he looked up at the three genin.

"Can we?" Sakura asked, her eyes sparkling. She then turned to Kakashi. "Can we?"

Kakashi nodded his head. "Well, your teamwork needs some more improvement but that can be fixed with time. All in all, I believe that you guys can handle C-rank missions now."

Everyone's gazes then focused on Hiruzen, almost as if saying 'give us the mission already'.

"Alright, C-rank mission it is. Let's see here..." Hiruzen looked over the missions. Eventually, he pulled out one scroll from a large pile. "How about a bandit subjugation mission?"

As soon as he mentioned about bandit subjugation the three genins focused their attention. They were all eager to finally go out and properly fight.

Seeing that everybody was in agreement, Hiruzen started writing down something on a piece of paper.

"Alright, your mission is as stated before – a bandit subjugation. There is a bandit outpost in the northern mountain range. Villagers say that there are a lot of bandits there and that they continuously conduct raids on nearby villages, sucking them dry. There are also several rogue ninja that were reported to be somewhere around genin level. This is a tough mission, but I believe that you will handle it," Hiruzen finished writing on his paper and handed the scroll to Kakashi.

After receiving the scroll, team 7 left the building and went outside. Kakashi then went in front of everyone and looked over the scroll.

"All of you are to go and prepare for a mission that will last at least a week. We will be meeting tomorrow morning, at the northern gate," Kakashi gave out orders and slowly walked to the village to make his own preparations.

Once Kakashi left, Sakura started jumping up and down in place. "Finally, the time has come. What do you think, Saori?"

Saori was also slightly excited, but she tried to hide it. "Well, they are just a bunch of bandits, so there is nothing special here. We shouldn't have too much trouble with this."

"That so? Truth be told, I'm getting nervous," Sakura scratched the back of her head as the two started walking to the village while chatting.

From the beginning, the two didn't even glance at Naruto.

...

"What do you think?" Hiruzen's question came.

"It really is difficult," Kakashi responded as the two observed the dispersing team 7.

Hiruzen only released a sigh and looked down.

"Well, we can't really blame him, can we? The village hasn't really been acting friendly towards him all these years," Kakashi said as he observed Naruto.

Hiruzen then turned to Kakashi. "What about his teammates?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Naruto spent a lot of effort to keep his distance and the two don't really seem interest in him either. He has very effectively become a stranger. The relationship is that as long as Konoha keeps providing, then he will stay. The moment we try to tie him down or cut him off, I am afraid that he will leave the very same night."

Hiruzen then looked back at Naruto. "Let's just try fix our mistakes as fast as possible. Otherwise, we may dearly regret it once the time comes."

Kakashi nodded and the two then went back to their own jobs.

Next morning, team 7 gathered at the gates and set out towards their mission. The area they were heading towards was a mountain range. Due to the plenty natural resources, that area housed the biggest trading city in all of Land of Fire - Takashima.

The trip itself only took 2 days and was rather boring. Nothing but woods, rocks and a few wild animals.

Eventually, the team had finally arrived at Takashima.

By the time the four had arrived, it was already evening. As they walked around the city, they saw countless tall buildings, markets, people running around, and shopkeepers promoting their goods.

Up above the streets, many lamps were lit, illuminating the bustling city in a soothing orange light. Even though it was evening, the city was full of energy and it gave off a feeling as if it will only get livelier.

The team then finally arrived at the city lord's mansion and requested an audience. The city lord was an old, fat person. His fingers had several expensive rings on them, he also wore a robe made of high quality materials. This person had very obviously been enjoying his life in this city.

"So you are the shinobi that Konoha sent?" The city lord looked over the team.

Kakashi was standing in the front and he respectfully nodded. "That's right, city lord."

The city lord reclined in his seat and took a sip of wine. "Alright, Takeshi, bring the documents to these shinobi."

At his order, a middle aged, skinny man ran into the room. This man had short brown hair, sunken eyes and a below-average face. Takeshi quickly ran in with a scroll in his hands and gave it to Kakashi.

"This scroll holds all the information we have about the bandits currently. It is slightly outdated, so keep that in mind," The city lord didn't put on any airs, making it seem as if he was conducting a business deal here.

Kakashi nodded his head. "Alright, will that be all, city lord? If so, we will head back and start making preparations."

The city lord waved his hand. "That is all. Get rid of them before our business suffers even more."

Team 7 bowed and left the mansion, out into the lively streets. Under Kakashi's lead, the team found an inn to spend the night and rented two rooms; one for Kakashi and Naruto while the other was for Sakura and Saori.

After settling down, everyone gathered in the men's room, where Kakashi had set down a map and the scroll on the table.

"Alright, here is what we know so far: the bandits have a total of 50 people, 4 of them genin level rogue ninja. Their main base is deeper in the mountains and is heavily protected. Our job is to get rid of these bandits so that the business here is no longer disturbed," Kakashi gave a basic introduction to their situation.

Slam!

Sakura slammed her hands on the table and stood up, a nervous expression on her face, "F-Fifty bandits? Sensei, that is too much!"

Kakashi raised his head from the map and looked at the team. Sakura was visibly frightened, Saori hid her emotions but you could still see a trace of caution, while Naruto didn't reveal even an iota of his emotions.

His lone eye curling into his smile, Kakashi comforted the genin, "Well, calm down. This situation only looks scary on the outside, but it actually isn't. To begin with, bandits are pack animals. They are only gathered together for the sake of profit and safety. As soon as they see that things are turning sour, these guys will only think about self-preservation and scatter quickly.

"You should also keep in mind that bandits are normal people with no training. Do you think that they can match you, who can spit out fireballs and throw a dozen shuriken in a second? A single one of you should be able to take on multiple bandits without breaking a sweat."

Hearing Kakashi's words, Sakura visibly calmed down as she sat down again. "B-but still... 50 bandits and 4 of them are ninja."

Kakashi nodded his head. "That's right. As Hokage-sama said, this mission will be difficult, but we can still handle it. Now then, you guys must be tired after the journey so we will stop here. Tomorrow we will head to the base and verify the information before making a detailed attack plan."

Sakura's eyes started shinning. "Rest?" She then turned to Saori. "Saori! Hot spring!" Sakura grabbed Saori and dragged her towards the hot spring on the ground floor.

Kakashi looked at Naruto, who was also slowly making his way there. "Hmm... Alright, perhaps I should tag along."

The hot spring wasn't very large, and there were several people already there. This wasn't a mixed hot spring, so the male and female sides were separated by a wall.

Once Kakashi walked inside, he saw Naruto relaxing by the edge of the hot spring. His eyes closed, his long, unruly hair draped over his shoulders. Kakashi made his way towards Naruto and sat down beside him.

"Ahh... I don't remember the last time I was at a hot spring," Kakashi let out a satisfied sigh.

Naruto didn't say anything as he continued resting and relaxing in the water. Kakashi then opened one eye and glanced at Naruto. His eye then traveled down Naruto's toned arms and saw his hands.

Usually, Naruto's hands would be wrapped in bandages, so this was the first time Kakashi saw his bare hands. His hands were very rough and scarred, giving one the feeling of pain once he imagined the story behinds those scars.

That was actually because of Naruto's sharingan. Once he gained it, Naruto spent a lot of time copying the techniques of older shinobi.

However, he forgot to take into account that there is a requirement to execute those techniques: his body must be strong enough, or he must have the necessary knowledge.

At the time, Naruto was a young boy and he tried executing the techniques of chunin or jounin level ninja, which resulted in him injuring himself many times.

Kakashi sighed as he looked at the scarred hands. His eye then traveled up and was met with a red sharingan.

"I don't need your pity, sensei. Also, you seem to be trying to get close to me. Is it so that I would get some good memories in this village and let go of the past? I will tell you now that it's not working," Naruto's sharingan looked over Kakashi before it travelled up and observed the sky.

Nowadays, Naruto would usually leave his sharingan activated. His chakra reserves were massive because he had the Uzumaki blood flowing in his veins. Additionally, he was saturated with Kyuubi's chakra ever since he was an infant and he also actively trained his chakra, which resulted in him having hokage level reserves despite being so young.

Naruto simply saw no point in deactivating the sharingan, considering he didn't really feel the strain of keeping it active. This also helped him read the movements of those around him, reducing the chances of someone doing a sneak attack on him.

Kakashi shook his head. "I'm not really trying to do any of that. It is simply a sensei trying to get to know his student. Is it wrong?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders before sitting upright and looking at Kakashi. "Well, let's forget this topic then. How about we talk about the real purpose of the mission? Don't you think you should explain that, sensei?"

Kakashi's eyebrows rose. "Real mission? There is nothing of the sort here. This is a very average bandit subjugation mission."

Naruto's eyes became slightly colder. "It feels like I am repeating these words a lot nowadays. However, I still have to ask, do you think I am stupid? If a bandit stronghold appeared near the greatest trading city in the Land of Fire, wouldn't those greedy merchants hire the Hokage himself to destroy the bandits? And yet, why is it that they hired a genin team?"

Kakashi could only a helpless sigh. "Why can't you be slightly more naive?"

Naruto scoffed as he reclined back on the edge of the hot spring, not saying anything else.

Kakashi, not wanting Naruto to go around searching for answers by himself, decided to explain, "Well, to begin with, why do you think these merchants let the bandits settle down in the first place?"

Hearing Kakashi's question, Naruto thought it over, but couldn't come to any logical conclusion.

"The answer is that those bandits are being paid by the merchants to attack their rivals. You could say that the bandits are those who do the dirty work on behalf of those merchants," Kakashi eventually decided to answer.

Naruto's brows furrowed. "Why? Aren't bandits and merchants like oil and water? Even if that is true, why would the merchants suddenly decide to get rid of them?"

Kakahi shrugged this time, "Don't know. Maybe they became a dangerous existence to the merchants, maybe they offended someone they shouldn't have... In any case, it's best to simply do your job in cases like these. If you find out some dirty secret by accident, you may have a powerful merchant coming after your life."

Naruto nodded his head and then continued relaxing, his curiosity sated.

Naruto didn't stay in the hot spring for long. After soaking in it for a while, he got up, wrapped a towel around his hips and went towards the exit.

"Leaving already?" Kakashi asked.

"I intend to look around the city for a bit," Naruto said as he left the hot spring.

Kakashi only waved his hand. "Sure, just be careful..." He then submerged himself more and relaxed.

After returning to his room, Naruto dressed himself up in his usual attire and checked his gear.

"Kunai, check. Shuriken, check... Everything else, check," Naruto strapped his holster to his leg, hid his headband, pulled up his face mask, pulled down his hood and jumped out of the window.

His chakra flaring, Naruto dashed at full speed towards the exit of the city, not sparing even a glance to anything else.

He ran out of the city gates, checked his surroundings and then dashed into the dark forest.

Because it was nighttime, nobody saw Naruto dash through the woods. Not even once he appeared some distance from the bandit stronghold.

"So this is it, huh," Naruto checked the map and was certain that this was the stronghold.

What Naruto saw before him was a giant stronghold filled with buildings. Braziers were lit, drunk bandits were walking around, there was a massive bonfire in the middle and the bandits were partying.

To the side, Naruto saw some chained up girls walking around the camp, delivering food to the bandits.

"Those are the girls these guys stole from the villages, huh... These guys are definitely backed by the merchants, otherwise, there is no way they could have such a comfortable life. And yet, why is that they were betrayed?" Naruto wondered in his head and decided to sneak in closer.

Naruto had naturally enormous chakra reserves, but it all disappeared as if there was nothing there. He quietly sneaked up to the camp and found a lone bandit at the edge of the camp.

"Yo..."

The bandit turned around after he heard the voice and saw a hooded figure.

"Who are you? I don't remember ya..." The bandit slurred as he tried to place a name to a face.

Naruto lifted his head and the red sharingan shone from beneath the hood. The bandit looked at the spining sharingan, mesmerized. His eyes grew dull, his posture slumped, and drool went down his chin.

"Are you guys backed by the merchants?" Naruto asked.

The bandit nodded in response.

"Why?" Came the next question

"There are countless merchants fighting for business here. They pay us to deal with each other," The bandit dumbly responded.

Naruto placed a hand to his chin. "Is that so?" Naruto then looked over the bandits who were partying happily. "You guys... Do you know that the merchants betrayed you and hired ninja?"

There was a moment of silence.

The bandit grinned as he answered, "Of course. Those stupid ninja were hired for the sake of appearances. After all, wouldn't it be suspicious if the merchants did nothing about us bandits?"

Naruto's mood fell once he heard the bandit's words. "So the shinobi are sacrificial pawns?" He asked, anger in his voice.

The bandit nodded as he laughed, "We have set a trap for those shinobi. Once they come, our own shinobi will deal with them."

Naruto grabbed the bandit by the throat, his eyes spitting fire. "What is the plan?"

The bandit shook his head dumbly. "I don't know."

"Who does?!" Naruto asked.

"Our boss and our own ninja, most likely."

Naruto's grip tightened. "Last question: whose idea is this?"

The bandit shook his head again, saying, "No idea."

Naruto's grip tightened and the bandit started choking, his face turning blue.

"You are useless then," Naruto said as a blue sheen appeared on his arm.

The bandit's face changed colours as he was choking. Saliva went down his lips and he looked like he was about to kick the bucket any second.

"Yo, Takumi, you done pissin?"

Naruto stopped once he heard a voice nearby. He clenched his teeth and threw the bandit away without killing him.

"Soon enough," He said as he backed off into the shadows. A second later, not a single trace of him remained.

Meanwhile, the bandit's eyes cleared up and he sat up on the ground. He touched his still hurting neck.

"Jeez, just how drunk was I and who the hell did I fight with?" The bandit asked as he looked around. Eventually, he stood up and went back to rejoin the party.

Naruto's red eyes then spent hours observing the camp. He verified all the information that they had been given and noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

"If this is a trap, how are they going to do it? The boss is always around his men so I can't interrogate him. And those ninjas are too big of a risk. If can't pull it off perfectly, I will simply be alarming everyone," Naruto sighed.

Eventually, he decided that it was enough for the day. The sun was already rising and it was becoming too dangerous. Without any hesitation, Naruto turned around and left the area, returning to his inn.

"I see, so this is all a trap," Kakashi said as he put a hand to his chin.

Naruto had returned to the inn and told Kakashi about what he found out. This mission was becoming dangerous and Naruto wasn't stupid enough to think that his lone inexperienced self could solve the mystery.

"Well, if I were to make a guess... Perhaps they intend to put some pressure on Konoha?" Kakashi mused out loud.

Naruto raised one eyebrow. "Why would they put pressure on Konoha? We are the ones protecting them."

Kakashi sighed as he sat down. "It's never so easy, Naruto. Konoha is receiving funding from the Daimyo, which makes it that his voice carries some weight in Konoha. Other merchants also want privileges like that, because it would allow them to expand their influence."

Naruto also sat down across from Kakashi. "Then how are they going to do it? I can't see how killing us would allow them to gain some influence there."

"If we fail, then the merchants can file complaints that all the money spent on nurturing shinobi is being wasted, producing useless shinobi. If they push it hard enough, they can request the Daimyo to force some changes in the village," Kakashi explained.

Naruto's eyes widened as he finally understood.

Many people would think that shinobi are independent, but that is not so. Shinobi exist to protect and help the people. Without the people, shinobi were completely useless. That's why, if they don't gain any funding from the Daimyo, Konoha would fall into dire times.

"I see, so by having us fail, they will get to keep their 'pets' as well as a chance to gain some influence in Konoha," Naruto summarized.

Kakashi nodded his head as the room fell into a heavy silence.

...

"Well, lets put that problem aside. Why were you in the stronghold to begin with, Naruto? I don't remember giving you permission to investigate," Kakashi said as he narrowed his eyes.

"I saved us a day of work and revealed their plots, so what does it matter," Naruto said.

Kakashi's eye narrowed further. "That is not the problem here, Naruto. We are a team and I am your sensei. You lied to me, acted without permission, and you would have put the entire mission in danger if you had failed."

Naruto scofffed, "But I didn't. I went out, verified the information we were given and uncovered their plot. As for the mission, well, isn't it always in danger of failing?"

Kakashi shook his head. "You may not like it, but we are a team, Naruto. The purpose of tomorrow was for me to teach you guys about scouting and information gathering."

A mocking smile adorned Naruto's face. "Information gathering? Team? Are you talking about the useless cherry blossom or the stuck up princess? Which of them could have done the job better than me? If we had followed your plan, we would have walked straight into their ambush completely unaware. In this case, me acting alone had saved this entire mission and a lot of trouble for Konoha, and I didn't need either of them."

Kakashi released a helpless sigh. "In this case, you acting alone did help the mission. However, we are a team for a reason, Naruto. We are here to watch eatch other's backs... No, it won't make a difference no mater how much I talk right now, right? In any case, you have done enough for today. You should get some rest."

Kakashi then took out an empty scroll and a brush. He spent several minutes writing down something and then he walked out of the room with the scroll. Naruto also didn't say anything else. He was tired after spending a whole night investigating, so he undressed and went to sleep.

The next few days are going to be harsh, and he would need all the sleep he could get.

Author's Notes:

Hello, everyone!

Sorry it took a while :P

Moving from flat to flat took several days, then I also spent some time visiting my family as well as other Irl stuff (And a small bit of laziness as well)

In any case, I am back! Hooray!

I know you guys have probably been cursing me in your heads, as well as writing poems to honour my death (you can scrap those btw), but you can put all that aside for now.

I am now trying to get back into my rhythm and continue writing, but the past few days have been exhausting so it's difficult.

I also have other Irl stuff left, so I don't have as much time, but I promised myself that I would spend at least some time of a day to sit down and write some chapters.

In any case, its good to be back, and you guys have something to look forward to now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you did then drop a review! Flame me, bomb me, nuke me – do whatever you want!

See you guys in the next chapter! Toodles!