Chapter 33 – First Day
"Talk"
'Think'
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei. So…yeah.
"So, excited for your first mission?" asked Shizuka over breakfast.
"Yeah!" said Naruto excitedly "Wonder what we'll get? Bandits? Bad ninjas? Oooooh, saving a princess?"
"I don't think so, I mean, it's our first mission" said Noriko "Most likely we'll be given a simpler one" then she wrinkled up her face "Funny, now that I think about it, how come most of our lessons about mission in Academy was set on a very vague premises? Whenever Iruka-sensei gave a problem, it's just your mission is to get this and this is your obstacles, or to protect someone and this number of enemies. Even when Keiko-obasan told us about her mission, it's the same" narrowing her eyes to Shisui "Is there something going on about missions that we don't know? Like that final test?"
Shishui just smiled and left the house.
Hokage Office
"WHAT?" yelled Naruto and Noriko in shocked, followed by a flash from Shisui's camera.
"Your first mission is to buy groceries for your client who lives at the outskirts of Konoha" said Shisui with a smile.
Tenzō's eyes widened a little while Kakashi just smiled at their responses before accepting the scroll from Shisui.
"Grocery shopping?" asked Naruto in disbelief.
"Now, now Naruto. You are a shinobi now. So think like one and behave like one" said Shisui while Kakashi ushered his team out.
First Mission
On their way out, Tenzō muttered "Think like one and behave like one"
"What's that Tenzō?" asked Noriko.
"Hokage's words. I think he's trying to tell us something" said Tenzō.
"To think and act like a shinobi…" said Noriko, thinking.
"To buy grocery?" asked Naruto, he crossed his arms and looked upwards "We are getting something for our client-"
"It's a retrieval mission!" said Noriko and Tenzō together.
'Well done my cute students' thought Kakashi.
"Let's look at the list" said Tenzō "Some dry goods and fresh produce, hardware materials, drinks-"
"Drink shop is not opened for another hour" said Noriko. Kakashi's eyebrow shot up questioningly.
"How do you know that?" asked Naruto. 'I want to know that too' thought Kakashi
"Tsunade-sama. She's a drunkard. She had me buy for her when she trained me" said Noriko while shrugging her shoulders "So, there's no point buying fresh produce now. It should be last or it'll go bad"
"You were trained by one of the Sannin?" asked Tenzō in amazement.
"She taught me how to evade. That's all" answered Noriko.
"But still…" said Tenzō "Lived with Hokage, trained by one of the Sannin…you must be strong"
Noriko frowned.
"Eh" said Naruto "If Noriko's strong, it's because she trained very hard, not because she lives with Hokage. (Noriko looked at him gratefully) I remembered several times she got back homes wearing hospital robes. Apparently her clothes were destroyed during training" then Naruto turned to Noriko "I've been meaning to ask, what happened?"
"Acid. Tsunade's summoning animal, Katsuyu-sama can shoot acid from her mouth, Tsunade-sama had her shot acid at me from different angles" said Noriko, shuddered at the memory.
Naruto, Tenzō and Kakashi winced.
"I guess I have to train harder, huh?" mused Tenzō.
"We all do. We are going to be the strongest team here and beat Sasuke's team!" shouted Naruto energetically.
"Don't forget, you still got to buy groceries for your client" interjected Kakashi drily.
'Oh yeah, that' thought the three of them.
After they had delivered the goods to their client, Kakashi made them sat under a tree and gave each of them a bentō.
"Here, today's lunch is on me, on account of your first day" said Kakashi.
"When did you get this?" asked Noriko.
"When you were buying at the stores" explained Kakashi "We have another mission this afternoon. Before that, I'd like to get to know your abilities better. So, tell me all about your skills"
"Well, I've known the basics, taijutsu and kage bunshin" said Naruto.
"Basics and Mokuton" said Tenzō.
"One byakugan, one sharingan, one katon jutsu, basic academy and Rajah" said Noriko.
Tenzō eyes widened, seeing that, Noriko explained "My mother an Uchiha, father a Hyūga, and it's not all great. I spent years making sure I'm proficient in activating and deactivating my dōjutsus. As a result, my taijutsu suffered a bit. That's why I took evasion lesson since if I had to fight on pure brute strength, I'd lose to Naruto"
Naruto beamed proudly. He had felt that compared to his team mates, his skills were the least since he got no special power. A small doubt had begun to creep in him but was immediately wiped away by Noriko's comment.
"Good. If we finish early, we'll have a little sparring session" said Kakashi.
Second Mission
"Okay, here's the picture of the missing cat" said Kakashi while showing a picture of a brown cat with lines and red ribbon on its right ear "Now, go and find it".
"Hmmm…so it's find and capture mission" said Naruto "I can use kage bunshin to locate the cat"
"I can use it too, and my byakugan" said Noriko.
"I guess, I have to search manually, but I can built a cage to capture it with my Mokuton" said Tenzō.
"If one of us found it, how are we going to tell the other two?" asked Naruto.
"Here" said Kakashi while holding out four communication devices.
"How-" Noriko began to ask when Kakashi answered "Shinobi rules".
"A shinobi must always be prepared" said Tenzō.
"Correct" said Kakashi.
"But what, huh?" asked Noriko to herself. Seeing that the other looked at her, she explained "I knew the basic stuffs, but this-" pointing to the communicating device "was not on the list. Come to think of it sensei, when we went to Suna, you and Gai-san did not carry much though I've seen shinobi carried small bag on their back.
"Tell you what, if you can catch the cat within three hours, I'll answer your question" said Kakashi.
His offer was met with great enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the cat proved to be elusive and hard to catch. When they finally caught it, Kakashi looked at them and said "Three hours and two minutes"
"Two minutes?! We're late by two minutes" yelled Naruto.
"Two minutes can be the difference between life and death in certain mission" said Kakashi. At that, everyone had gone quiet.
"Why don't we return the cat and go for a quick spar before call it a day?" suggested Kakashi.
The spar session was painful albeit short. Kakashi hit them hard. Before they left, Kakashi commented "Naruto, I can see that your taijutsu is solid and you packed punch. That's good and keeps that up. However, you have tons of chakra, so tomorrow after mission, I'll teach you a jutsu belonging to my sensei".
Naruto eyes go big and he yelled while running to hug Kakashi "Thank you! Thank you, sensei!".
"Tenzō, you've shown your proficiency with Mokuton but you need to diversify your technique a bit. An enemy can figure out exactly when you are going to use you Mokuton by observing when you pressed your palm against the ground".
Tenzō nodded and said "Thank you, sensei". He had read from Shodai's scroll that he can turn parts of his body into wood. 'I'll practice that and surprise Kakashi-sensei" he resolved to himself.
"Noriko, you are the example of Jack of all trade but master at none. During your fight, you started with normal eyes, followed by byakugan, then switching to sharingan before using both. That was ingenious. You could use that to lead the enemy into false assumption. You have much potential especially when at the last moment, you tried to use Jūken on me. Your lack of familiarity with Jūken was glaring at that time. I know you cannot practice Jūken like the Hyūga, but that doesn't mean you cannot develop your own style with kage bunshin" Kakashi said with a wink.
Noriko had an inspired looked on her face.
End Chapter 33
Jūken – Gentle Fist
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Technique
Mokuton – Wood Release