A/N: The turnout for reviews was a little low last chapter, which is disappointing, but I very much appreciate the feedback I got! Also, I think I should clear something up about this fic:

If you came in hoping for a bunch of smut and gratuitous violence, you're probably going to be disappointed. This fic is rated M for subject matter and language more than anything, though I will be making my combat scenes more violent than I normally would, and there *will* be a sex scene much, much later in this fic.

Hope we're clear on that.

Time for chapter 4

Enjoy!


The job description of a Ninja was a fairly straightforward one to understand. One was to uphold the status of his or her village, by way of either diplomacy or combative mission work. Day in and day out, reports of fallen Ninja of all ages and levels of competency were delivered to the office of the Hokage. It was a part of the job, so to speak. As such, one would expect even the lowest ranking assignments dolled out to those possessing the distinction as a Ninja of Konoha to be at least somewhat perilous, or at least important. Fortunately or unfortunately, Team Seven had learned within their first week on the job that such notions were false.

At present, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Satsuki were all positioned at different locations around the property of a wealthy local merchant. When they had initially been told that they would be working for such a well-off client, they had all, somewhat rightfully, assumed that their mission would entail security of some kind. As it turned out, they had simply been called in to locate the woman's cat, who had escaped for the third time that month.

'We've caught sight of this thing twice. It disappeared both times. It knows we're after it.' Naruto pondered as he slowly trekked across the property. The day was fairly hot, and the sun was beating down overhead, so every minute the assignment dragged on grew more and more uncomfortable. Taking a glance across the large stretch of land, Naruto pinpointed the locations of his teammates. Shikamaru was doing much the same thing he was, but on the opposite wall. Satsuki, on the other hand, had taken a different, possibly more intelligent approach.

She had climbed a tree, and was surveying a large section of land. Every once in a while, she'd hop to another treetop. It had yet to create any sort of lead toward where the cat may or may not be, but it certainly had the potential to. A humorous thought then occurred to the blonde as he observed her.

'She sorta moves like a cat. The way she jumps and lands. It's quiet as hell.' he mused to himself. A slight rustling to his left then caught his attention and drew his gaze down to the brush. When he inspected the direction from which the movement had come closely, he spotted a pair of feline eyes peering out at him. Past experience dealing with the cat had taught him that trying to chase it was a pointless endeavor. The cat was faster, more agile, and incredibly difficult to pin down.

Turning his head slowly, Naruto locked eyes with Satsuki, who had apparently seen the same thing he had despite the great distance between them. They then exchanged a nod, which prompted the girl to begin crossing treetops to congregate with him. The cat then stepped out into the open ground just in front of Naruto, shaking rapidly to clear the grass and brambles from its fur.

"Stay right there, you furry dumbass…" Naruto muttered as he detected Satsuki in a nearby tree at the edges of his peripheral vision. Slowly but surely, his teammate silently positioned herself just overhead.

"Not quite yet." he mouthed to her with a glance up in her direction. Surprisingly, Satsuki heeded his advice and waited a moment. Once the moment was passed, she dropped down from her perch and landed just to the left of the cat. Predictably, the evasive feline scurried to escape from what it knew to be an attempt to return it to its owner, but Satsuki caught it by the collar just before it could scamper out of range.

"Third time's the charm." she said proudly as she held the cat in place to prevent it from struggling and scratching her. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

"For something that took us almost three hours, that was anticlimactic as hell." he said tiredly. The raven-haired girl shrugged and attempted to calm the feline down by running a hand over its head and back.

"It's still a paycheck. Besides, it's not like you didn't get your exercise in. Chasing it around and falling flat on your face had to have made for a decent workout. You're all covered in dust from it." she said jeeringly. Naruto rolled his eyes and brushed some dirt from his shirt.

"Yeah, and your hair is full of thorns and twigs. At least I tried to make something happen." he shot back. Satsuki smirked and held up the cat proudly.

"This coming from the loser who couldn't catch the cat." she said confidently. Seeming to be bothered by having been held for so long, the cat then twisted in Satsuki's grip and bit into her arm. Satsuki immediately yelped and dropped the feline reflexively. Both genin immediately readied themselves to chase the animal once more, but before they could even begin, the cat froze mid-stride.

"If you two would quit trying to make every little thing we do a competition, then maybe we'd actually get things done without something stupid happening."

Naruto and Satsuki let out a simultaneous sigh of relief as Shikamaru stepped out of the shade, his shadow having attached itself to that of the cat. As were the mechanics of the Nara clan's family jutsu, the cat approached Shikamaru in exact tandem with his movements. Within seconds, Shikamaru had apprehended the animal and seized it by the scruff.

"I didn't know it worked on things other than people." Naruto said as the shadow user joined them in the sun. Shikamaru established a firm hold on the cat and released its scruff before answering him.

"Shadow Possession was a thing we came up with to make hunting deer and other game animals easier. We only started using it on people when the leaf took us in way back when." he explained. The group then began to walk back toward the large estate in which the lady for whom they had retrieved the cat lived. As they walked along, Naruto snickered as the cat struggled and occasionally scratched at Shikamaru.

"I don't really understand cat people. All those little demons do is complain and scratch at things. They suck." he said as the Nara regained control of the feline. Satsuki, who was walking between the two boys, glanced at Naruto and smirked.

"I'd watch your tongue if I were you. You and the cat could be related. You've both got whiskers." she said in reference to the odd lined markings that had always been present on the blonde's cheeks. Naruto snorted and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"I think you have more in common with it. You're just as annoying and hard to be around." he countered. Satsuki raised an eyebrow and cracked one of her knuckles.

"Maybe you've got a scruff like a cat, too. Maybe I should test that out." she threatened lightly. Before any more could be said, Shikamaru linked his shadow to both of theirs.

"Quit arguing. If I get distracted by you guys and drop this thing, I'm not helping you catch it again." he said irritatedly, waiting for confirming nods from his teammates before releasing them. The rest of the journey to the front door of the estate was fairly uneventful, with the most exciting occurrence being when Shikamaru was scratched below the eye.

Eventually, after around ten minutes, the team reached the porch of the large house, where the owner of the property awaited them.

"Oh, you found her! Thank you so very much!" she said gratefully as Shikamaru handed the cat over to the portly woman. With the cat in hand, the lady tightly squeezed and rubbed her face against the cat, drawing a look of obvious distress from the feline. For the briefest of moments, despite their vastly different personalities and outlooks, all of Team Seven united behind a feeling of sympathy for the cat.

"Good work, you three. Not all that quick, but you got the job done." came the voice of Kakashi, who was sitting off to the right, reading his orange-covered book. At the sight of him, Naruto frowned.

"Why'd you just sit there instead of helping us?" he complained. The silver-haired Ninja shut his book and stood to his feet with a stretch.

"Because my job is to observe your progress and train you, not to do your work for you. Especially when it comes to stuff like this." he explained. He then turned to the cat-loving woman.

"I take it the results are to your liking, Miss Miyata?" he asked cordially. The lady nodded her head fervently and reached into her pocket. Oddly, she came up empty handed.

"It seems I left my things inside. Give me a few moments, you four. I'll write you all a favorable report." she said before disappearing into her home. Once she was gone, Kakashi sighed and looked to his team.

"I know this week hasn't been overly exciting, but it's necessary. Things like this teach you how to follow the parameters of a mission to a T." he said somewhat sympathetically. Satsuki, who had been picking brambles and thorns out of her hair, kicked a small pebble from the porch.

"Yeah, maybe, but I don't really feel like a Kunoichi. I feel like a village grunt." she said, drawing nods of agreement from Naruto and Shikamaru. Kakashi gave her a patronizing smile beneath his mask.

"Because that's exactly what you are right now. Until you're ranked highly enough to perform assignments solo, you're more or less at the mercy of your superiors." he said. Shikamaru furrowed his brow.

"It's not like you're in a different position. You just get a bigger paycheck and do different things." he pointed out. The older Ninja let his smile widen to a grin.

"Now you're catching on." he said humorously. A few seconds after the brief back-and-forth, Miss Miyata emerged with a slip of paper, which she handed to Kakashi. Upon a swift review of the writing's contents, the Jonin nodded.

"Thank you for the kind words." he thanked her. Minutes later, the cell had made their way out into the streets of Konoha once more. It was a few minutes past three in the afternoon.

"After we collect your pay, how about we get a late lunch?" Kakashi suggested to the teens. As could have been predicted, Naruto and Shikamaru both gave a thumbs-up at the idea. Much to the surprise of the rest of the team, however, Satsuki did the same.

"I know a place. There's a small cafe in the eastern sector. They've got good coffee, which I think we all probably need." Shikamaru offered. Though he had very much been on board with the idea of eating with his teammates initially, something suddenly occurred to Naruto.

"I...actually have something I need to do after we get paid. Nothing super big, but I think I'll probably have to miss lunch with you guys." he said as Kakashi and Satsuki nodded in agreement with Shikamaru's selection of restaurant. For a moment or two, Shikamaru seemed to study him. Eventually, he gave an on-brand response.

"Suit yourself, I guess." the Nara said with a shrug. Naruto suppressed his urge to let out a sigh of relief. Though neither Satsuki nor Kakashi said anything to the blonde's suddenly busy schedule, both eyed him intently before moving on to other topics. Naruto pursed his lips and looked to the ground as they approached the Hokage building.

'I'm a bad liar.'


Kakashi tapped his foot impatiently as he awaited an answer to his knock on Naruto's door. It was now roughly six-thirty, and it had been a bit more than two hours since he had seen the blonde. As he had said he would, Naruto disappeared after receiving his paycheck from the Hokage. The reasoning for his sudden apprehension regarding eating out was certainly a mystery in terms of specificity, but the broad motivations for it were perfectly clear to the Copy Ninja.

"I know you're in there, kid. Just come out and talk to me." he called to his student, who he knew to be within the dwelling. Though it took nearly a minute and a half, the sound of footsteps eventually echoed out from the apartment. The door then promptly opened to reveal Naruto, who was wearing the same attire he had been earlier in the day.

"What do you need?" he asked blankly. The silver-haired Jonin gave him a bored look and beckoned him out into the hallway, which was entirely empty save for the two of them.

"You know what I'm here for. Tell me about this afternoon. Why did you pull out of eating with us? I normally wouldn't ask, but I'm making an exception this time." he asked directly. The genin chewed the inside of his cheek absently.

"I wasn't all that hungry, and I had to do some math to figure out my bills for the month. Just normal stuff, you know?" he replied. Though some of the response was likely true, it was also blatantly obvious that Naruto was making excuses, and unconvincing ones at that. Deciding it would be better to simply tackle the topic head-on rather than dance around it, Kakashi reached past Naruto and closed his door.

"I already know about it, Naruto. You don't have to be so cautious." he said vaguely, well aware that no further extrapolation was needed to get his point across. Instantly, Naruto tensed.

"Why'd you even bother asking why, then?" he asked quietly. The Jonin leaned back against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway and studied the boy.

"Because it's common courtesy. That aside, I'm guessing you were afraid of your teammates thinking less of you if they saw the cafe staff treating you badly, right?" he inquired. Naruto's eyes drifted down to the floorboards.

"Yeah, something like that. Even if this week hasn't been exciting, it's...been nice to have people to do things with. Even if those things are just cleaning and cat-catching." he admitted. Kakashi shook his head.

"I understand how you feel, but also, neither Satsuki nor Shikamaru would have condemned you for it. If anything, I think one or both of them would have defended you. I know Shikamaru's a bit detached, and Satsuki's more than a little prickly, but both of them are decent people." he said. Naruto shifted in place uncomfortably.

"Shikamaru, maybe, but Satsuki would hold it over my head. She already pushes my buttons every chance she gets. If she knew...what I'm holding, she'd just get even worse." he said. The older Ninja remained unfazed and kept eye-contact with his student.

"Would you like to know why I know you're wrong about that?" he asked. Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but soon closed it and nodded reluctantly. Kakashi gestured to himself.

"Satsuki sent me here to check on you. I'm not going to lie to you and say she was beside herself with worry, but she was concerned in her own icy way. Shikamaru even offered to come with me. You guys aren't super friendly with one another yet, but they still respect you." he revealed. The blonde furrowed his brow at the information being presented to him.

"Are you sure they'd feel that way if they knew why? I sort of doubt it." he asked. Kakashi nodded firmly and stepped forward.

"Yes, I'm sure. You don't have to tell them, that's your decision to make, but I think you ended up with the only two people in your class who I'd be surprised to see judge you for it. Satsuki has seen some genuinely horrific things. Things no kid your age should ever have to see. Shikamaru hasn't been through the fire the way she has, but his world view and moral compass are about as solid as you'll find." he said confidently. He then put a hand on his student's shoulder.

"And I don't think any less of you for it, either. I specifically requested you for this team. The original plan was for you to be put with Asuma Sarutobi, one of my fellow Jonin, but I asked for you to be placed with me, because I think you could be great with the right kind of push. Don't get down on yourself for something you had no control over, kid." he concluded. Naruto glanced up and met his eyes.

"It's hard not to sometimes, but I'll try to keep that in mind." he said with little certainty. Kakashi nodded in approval and stepped back.

"Good. I'll leave you be for tonight. Be at the Hokage building at seven sharp tomorrow morning." he said. At this, Naruto turned around and entered his apartment once more, leaving Kakashi alone in the hallway. Letting out a sigh, the Jonin made his way to the stairs and descended to the lobby. Once on the base floor, he made his way out the front entrance of the complex and out into the street. When he stepped out into the open air, however, he caught sight of something surprising out of the corner of his eye.

"You trailed me, huh?" he called out to Satsuki, who was leaning against the wall just inside an alleyway to the left of the apartment building. The Uchiha girl stepped out from her makeshift hiding place and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Does his door have a slot for mail?" she asked, ignoring his prior question. It was then that Kakashi noticed a small, narrow box in her left hand. It was the leftovers she had neglected to eat at the cafe. Easily deducing what it all meant, he smiled under his mask.

"Yes, it does. Door 236, second floor." he replied. Needing no further conversation, Satsuki briskly strode past her sensei and through the revolving door of the apartment building. As he watched her enter the lobby, Kakashi chuckled to himself.

'Maybe they will end up getting along.'


A/N: Next chapter begins the Wave Arc, which I will be writing more extensively than I ever have before. I feel like that part of the story is pivotal in a fic of this nature, so I'll do my best to make it entertaining for you all. That's the hope

Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, or didn't, I implore you to let me know what you thought in a review!

See you next chapter! Read and Review!