I do not own anything from Naruto, that is all Masashi Kishimoto.

This is my first fanfic and because it is my first, criticisms are welcome, feedback is appreciated, and flames (well, noone usually likes you anyway :P), no I'm kidding, please still feel free to post reviews.

As previously stated, I do not like to write to canon, but some parts will be as per canon. Though that will be up to my discretion. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed the reviews.

"Normal conversations"
"Thoughts"
"Kyuubi talking"
"Kyuubi thoughts"
"Jutsu"
(Jutsu name)

Authors edit: Special thanks to Danny vs A Month for pointing out the name error of Shikaku Nara.

Chapter 12: New Mission

Hana nods and leads the masked boy into the Inuzuka compound and to the veterinary room. As he's walking with her, he notices many different types of canines are looking at him and growling at the small animal he's carrying in his arms. "They're not going to hurt her, are they?" he asked, not wanting to have the animal in harms way as he was brought to the room and set her down on the table that had a towel on it.

Hana looked at the animals and put two fingers to her lips and whistled a shrill high pitch whistle while glaring at the animals that stood at the door. "Go, before I tell your owners that you've been misbehaving." she said, glaring at the animals as they started to walk away, tails tucked between their legs. "Sorry, its not often that we get a feline in the compound. Plus they're upset because they are still healing from previous missions." She made a hand sign and began focusing a healing, calming chakra into her hands as they began to glow green and she started doing a scan over the small panther cub in front of her, the animal too weak to move on its own. She closed her eyes and began searching for a chakra network in the animal, trying to find out if this was a ninken pet or just a normal animal as she healed the animal slowly. After a couple minutes, the green glow of her hands dissipated and she opened her eyes. "Menma, you realize this is just a normal panther right?"

"Well, yeah. I didn't think she was an animal like the Inuzuka's, but I wasn't going to just let her suffer and die in the wild." Naruto said as he looked at her, putting a hand behind his head and rubbing the back of the wrapping that kept his hair from showing. "So, is there anything I can do to make her healthy again?"

Hana sighed and looked at the small whimpering animal on the table before saying, "She's malnourished and is pretty weak. If you had not decided to take care of her, I don't think she'd have survived the next couple of weeks." She turned around and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, writing something down on it. She tore the paper off the the pad and handed it to the child in front of her. "Take that note to the butcher's shop in the shopping district and get yourself some raw meat. The panther is old enough to eat its own food, but you'll have to chop the pieces into small bite size pieces until she has the strength to do it on her own. Give her some milk for now, to rebuild her strength and when she is strong enough to stand on her own, give her the meat. If you take care of her properly as instructed on the paper, she'll be a fit cub in a few weeks."

Naruto thanked her and took the paper, slipping it into his jacket pocket and picked up the small albino panther, its whimpering coming to a cease as it recognized his scent once more.

"Oh and one more thing Menma. Keep a good eye on her when she gets older, I'd hate to see her put down and you thrown in jail if she attacks someone." Hana says, looking at him and smiling as she waves him off.

"Thanks again Hana. I owe you one." He ran out of the compound and headed to the shopping district, not travelling by rooftop as that was restricted to jonin and higher only, unless in times of crisis.

Kakashi, Tenten, and Sasuke stood in the Hokage's office, waiting for them to be addressed.

"Report." Hiruzen said as he looked up from his paperwork.

"The bandits and insurgence have been dealt with and thirty people in the bingo book have been brought back alive. Uzushiogakure is still as barren as it is told in the books, however there is a single remaining standing building, but only Menma was able to get into the building." Kakashi said as he waved his hand to Sasuke to hand him the large scroll. "This large scroll contains each of the bingo members in their own smaller scrolls."

Hiruzen looked at Kakashi as he heard about the last building before looking at the team. "And where is Menma?" he asked.

"Dobe had found an albino panther and went to see it get healed. So my guess is he's at the Inuzuka compound, Hokage-sama." Sasuke said, crossing his arms. "Would you like me to go get him?" he said, grinning at the chance to fight his friend again.

"That won't be necessary Sasuke." Hiruzen said as he snapped his fingers and a purple haired, cat-masked ANBU appeared in a wisp of smoke. "Find Menma. Tell him I request his presence."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Neko said as she shun-shined out of the office.

"The three of you are to take that scroll to the Interrogation unit and find Inoichi and give him this paper with my orders. This is a D-rank mission. You can get your bounty slips from bounty office after Inoichi confirms they are who they are. You may leave." Hiruzen said, handing a piece of paper to Kakashi as they bowed to him and left. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, "You're really going to be trouble for me, aren't you boy?" he said as he opened the desk drawer to take out his pipe.

Meanwhile at the Namikaze-Uzumaki house vault

The clones stood at the bottom of the trap infested vault and stood in front of a large safe, amazed by the superiority of it. "We should report this to boss." one of the clones said, looking at the seals.

"Why not just try to open it?" another clone asked.

"Because baka! If we cut ourselves to open it, we'd go poof." said a third, making a blowing up motion with his hands as he said poof.

"Hey! At least then he'd know what kind of seal it is if we try!" the second clone said, causing the other four clones to sigh.

"Boss will know what seals these are and if he doesn't he can study them or summon more of us to study them. Our mission was to find out how to get down here." the first clone said. "Now, all of you disperse and get this information back to boss." he ordered as he made a single hand sign and poofed away, not knowing he was followed by four more poofs.

Yugao stood atop a building that intersected the residential area and shopping district and closed her eyes, looking for the chakra signature of her mission, finding him relatively quickly as he was exactly holding back his chakra while in the village. She ran off and watched as he headed into a butchers shop. She jumped down and stood in the doorway as she listened to the boy speak to the man, who just happened to be a Nara.

Naruto walked up to the man, holding the panther in his right arm as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to the man. "Ensui-san, if I can get the amount of items on the paper, I'd really appreciate it. Hana said you could help."

Ensui Nara took the slip of paper and looked over the request: deer milk and 10 kilograms (22 lbs) of deer meat. Ensui was a young man with a small goatee and dark circles around his eyes with his hair kept up in a high ponytail. He wore a slightly bloodied apron as he was the one who made sure that the deer population of the Nara Forest didn't become too high that it would ruin the ecosystem of the forest. He was about to question why he needed deer milk and deer meat, but noticed the white bundle of fur in his arms and sighed. "Troublesome." "Wait here for a second Menma, I'll get you what you need." he said as he walked through the doors to the back of the store to get the items his customer needed.

"Funny seeing you here Menma. What's the occasion?" Neko asked as she walked towards her hopeful future-husband-to-be and smiled at him.

Naruto turned around and put a hand on the sleeping albino panther. "Oh, hi Neko-chan! This is the occasion. I found her during my team's mission to Uzushiogakure and couldn't just let her die. Hana-chan said that if I take care of Sanarah properly, she'll be fine in a few weeks."

"Sanarah huh?" Neko reached out and began to pet the small feline in her friend's arms, feeling that the animal was weak, but not too weak. "You know, I didn't come here for a personal visit, right?"

"Yeah. What do you need Neko?" he asked, going into shinobi mode as he looked at her.

"The Hokage has requested your audience." Neko said, in an authoritative tone. "As for personal life, how do you intend on taking care of Sanarah?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I was thinking of maybe taking some time off from doing missions and going on academic leave, but I don't want to jeopardize my chances at becoming Hokage." Naruto said sighing heavily.

"You know, I have done enough time in ANBU that I could take some time off to help you take care of Sanarah if you wanted." Neko offered as she sat down in a chair, waiting for Ensui to return.

Naruto nodded and had opened his mouth to thank her, but he suddenly got a piercing headache as he closed his eyes and his hand went to his head. He quickly realized it was the memories of his clones dispersing from the vault, as he quickly sorted away the memories and shook his head of the now dispersing headache. "I would greatly appreciate that Neko-chan, but you don't have to do that, you know?"

She watched him as he suddenly gripped his head, knowing it was from the backlash of the shadow clones dispersing themselves away. "What are you studying now Naruto?" "I know I don't, but its not often one gets to see an albino panther. Plus it would be a great opportunity to train together a bit more." She responded, smiling underneath her mask.

"Thank you Neko-chan. You're welcome to stop by my place at any time, however, since I need to go see the Hokage, could you take Sanarah home for me and give her some milk?" Naruto asked, smiling behind his own mask as well.

"Of course. I just have to let the Hokage know you are on your way and ask for the rest of the day off." she said as she stood up and shun-shined off.

Ensui came out and noticed the ANBU member wasn't here anymore, wondering why she was here in the first place. "Here you go Menma. This round is on me as it is a rarity to see such a magnificently rare creature. However, if you intend on keeping it, I'd suggest speaking to Shikaku about getting a permit to the Nara Forest to let your pet hunt there. Panthers are notorious hunters and if you keep her locked up, she'll lose her natural edge."

Naruto blinked and frowned, not wanting to dull his pets edge. "Whats in the Nara Forest?" Naruto asked curiously.

"The Nara Forest is a special forest only accessible by those of the Nara clan. Anyone else who ventures in there is stuck in an unbreakable genjutsu and ends up staying lost in the forest until their death. Also, the Nara Forest is home to the largest breed of deer you will find in the Land of Fire and we protect them vigilantly." Ensui answered as he came around to take a closer look at the animal and gave a rare smile. "Beautiful creature though."

"Thanks Ensui-san! I'll see you later!" Naruto said as he took the package off the counter and walked out of the store and down the street when he suddenly heard the poof of a shun-shin behind him. He turned around and looked as the smoke dispersed, leaving a normally clothed Yugao in its wake. "That was fast."

"Yeah, and the Hokage is expecting you soon. So you better get going, I'll take care of Sanarah." She said as she took the package and animal from Naruto, cradling it the way she would a child. "Oh, before you leave, can I have a key to your place?" she asked quickly.

"Sure!" he said as he reached into his pocket and took out a spare key, handing it to Yugao before shun-shining away himself, a swirl of leaves being his exit.

Off in the distance, unbeknownst to either of the two shinobi, an invisible man with binoculars looked upon the two with a bit of anger and fascination. "So Menma, its you who Yugao's after. Well then, we'll see how much she likes you when I kick your ass and leave you bloodied, bruised and begging for your life. I will have you back Yugao."

Naruto knocked on the door of the Hokage's office and waited to be acknowledged. He and the Hokage may share a special bond, but even he knew better than to barge into the Hokage's office, considering the last time he did that he had a few ANBU members with their swords pointed at him at multiple vital spots. The memory of that encounter made him shudder, when he finally heard the acknowledgment to enter.

"Ah. Menma, close the door. We need to talk." Hiruzen said as he leaned back in his chair, looking at the boy as he activated the privacy seals. "You can take off your mask."

Naruto did as he was told and took off his mask, revealing a much unruly set of blond hair, with two locks that shaped his face on either side, while his whiskers were still there and his eyes were as blue as the ocean itself. "What can I help you with Hokage-jiji?" he asked, as a grin spread across his face.

"A couple things. One, a certain building in Uzushiogakure and two, the albino panther you brought with you," he said as he picked up a few pieces of paper regarding his latest mission, "Kakashi tells me you were the only one able to enter the building. Do you know why?" he looked at Naruto and watched for tell-tale signs of people who are lying.

"I did not know I was the only one who could enter, nor do I know why I'm the only one who can enter it." he said, not wanting to tell him that only an Uzumaki could enter it, not that he thought it could cause any trouble.

"What was in the building?" Hiruzen asked, not realizing that Naruto was somewhat lying to him.

"Just a bunch of scrolls and books. I didn't have time to read any of them as I was looking for anyone who might have been hiding in there." Naruto answered, half truthfully.

"I see. Well, Uzushiogakure was known for their seals and seal masters. With them gone, all of the Elemental Nations, including ourselves, have had to make do with whatever seals we were taught before the seal masters were all killed. Now, about that albino panther..." he started to say, but was abruptly cut off by Naruto.

"I know about the law already, that should it attack anyone that I will be held responsible as a pet is an extension of the person and depending on the severity of the injuries, will decide my punishment as well as that of my pet." Naruto said, paraphrasing what he's been told by Kakashi, Hana, and Ensui.

"Actually, I wasn't going to bring that up at all. I was going to have you take it to a Hyuuga clan member to make sure it wasn't a spy using the Henge no Jutsu(Transformation Jutsu), although that is a good point to bring up as well." Hiruzen said, putting down the papers.

"I already brought her to Hana Inuzuka and she confirmed that there was no discernable chakra system in the panther and that it was a purely wild animal." Naruto said as he looked at the Hokage.

"I see. Well then, you may go." Hiruzen said. "Oh, and for future reference, all shinobi report straight to me after a mission completion unless they are otherwise too injured to do anything, in which case they are taken to the hospital by the gate guards. I hope your absence from your first mission debrief won't happen again." he stated firmly.

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Naruto said, bowing before straightening back up and turning to leave. He was walking to the door and grabbed the handle before taking a moment to turn around, "Hokage-sama, can I take a small academic leave of absence?" he asked curiously.

Hiruzen looked up from the papers on his desk, most were just mission reports and pay slips to be handed out. "My boy, you just started doing missions as a team, why would you want to do that?"

He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "Well, its just that I want to be able to take care of my pet until she's strong enough that she doesn't need constant attention." Naruto answered.

"I see." Hiruzen stood up and walked over to the windows, putting his hands behind his back as he thought about the question he was now presented with. "No, you cannot."

"But Hokage-sama..."

"Let me finish. You cannot take a leave of absence. You are a genin shinobi that, regardless of your skill, still needs to learn teamwork and how to follow orders. That being said, I am giving you an S-rank mission."

Naruto blinked and fell onto his face at hearing the rank of the mission he is getting after a simple question. "Great, my second day as a Leaf shinobi and Oji-san is sending me off on a suicide mission." He pushed himself off the floor and shook his head.

"For the next year, until the Chunin exams, you are to keep an eye on the shores of Uzushiogakure and learn as many seals from that building as you can in that time. If you can bring back some books on fuinjutsu, you are to do that as well." Hiruzen said as he looks at Naruto, who has come back to a standing position.

"How do you know there's books on fuinjutsu in the building?" Naruto asked curiously.

"They were seal masters Naruto, they are likely to have books in there covering fuinjutsu. I'll write up your mission briefing tonight and you are to report to me at noon sharp tomorrow." Hiruzen said, as he deactivated the seals on the office and looked outside the window over the village.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Naruto put his mask back on and covered his hair with the black bandage that was connected to the mask and shun-shined away to his house.

Naruto walked into the house and closed his eyes, sensing that Yugao was in one of the side bedrooms and headed up to see her. He walked up the stairs and down the hallway to the bedroom that Yugao was sitting in and leaned up against the door frame, watching her feed the panther.

"You have a good owner Sanarah. I'm sure he's going to take extra good care of you and you'll be a great pet." she said soothingly to her friendly companion, even if the animal wasn't hers, not realizing that Naruto was standing right there. "You know, he's a very good guy too, so be sure to protect him."

"You know, I'm not that good. I did kill some bandits and collected their bodies for bounties a few days ago." Naruto said as he walked into the bedroom and sat down beside Yugao. "Thanks for taking care of her while I spoke with the Hokage."

"I've killed people too, that doesn't make either of us bad people. We're shinobi, we kill to protect." she said, smiling at the young boy before taking the milk away from the panther and putting the panther onto a small makeshift bed that she had made from some blankets she found around the house.

"Maybe so, but I can't help but think that there's a way to stop all the fighting." he said, as he watched the panther claw the blankets before settling down to rest.

"How exactly would you go about doing that?" Yugao said as she turned around and laid down on the bed, enjoying the comfortable mattress. "Whoever lived in this place before Naruto really knew how to live luxuriously."

"I'm not exactly sure on that part, but there has to be a way somehow." he said, looking at Yugao as she laid down. "Well, I'm going to head to bed, its getting late. You're more than welcome to stay the night if you want." he said as he stood up and walked out of the bedroom, closing the door to just a crack.

Yugao laid on the bed, frowning a bit that Naruto didn't remove his mask while he was home and also a bit shocked that he had given her permission to stay over for the night, even if she was in a different bedroom, though if she really wanted to change that she could do so easily. "No, I think I'll let Naruto mature a bit more before I try doing anything he's not sure of." With that she turned towards the panther and smiled softly, her hand coming up to the necklace that she always wore.

Naruto entered his bedroom and took off his mask and tossed it onto the bed and walked over to the dresser that hid the entrance to the vault, pushing it aside. Having had his clones go down first, he quickly made his way down, bypassing every trap that his parents had put into place, quickly coming to the bottom of the hidden passageway and standing at the foot of a large vault.

The door of the vault itself had a few seals on it, ones he didn't understand. He was unsure what to do as he didn't want to get into a fight this late at night, especially not with Yugao in the house, if she stayed. He sighed. "Hey Kurama, any idea whats in the vault?"

"No idea. I do know that your mother spent a fair bit of time down here though."

"Thanks." he sighed and walked up to the seals and put his hand on them, wondering if a pulse of chakra is what activates them. He sent the pulse of chakra into the seals and the further left most seal dimmed a little as he heard a sudden clinking of movements from behind him. He turned his head as he noticed a large part of the wall had become recessed and on it were many different sized holes. "Great, just what I need. Now I see why they say 'curiousity killed the cat' or in my case, fox."

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a review or send me a message! Now that my life isn't as hectic anymore, I should be able to update a bit more often than I have been. Til next time! -Tohrment