Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

This chapter will begin my Land of Key Arc.

Answers to Reviews:

foggraven: Haha, I know what you mean.

Dragon Man 180: I know a scythe is an odd choice of weaponry, but normally other fanfictions would make Naruto have a sword as a weapon. I decided I should just stick with another weapon and make it not like other fanfictions.

Chapter 6

The Land of Key Mission

-Previously on Chapter 5-

"This clock will ring at 12:00," Kakashi said. The former ANBU captain then pulled out two bells from his weapon pouch, "Until then, you have to get these bells from me with the intent to kill. If you don't you will be tied down to the tree stump and will have no lunch. Plus, you will be sent back to the Academy. Any questions?"

Naruto bit his thumb till it bled and swiped it along the seal on his wrist. There was a puff of smoke and a scythe appeared in his hand. The scythe had a blueish purple chakra surrounding it.

"Idiot! Don't! You have no experience in fighting with a scythe, so don't use it brat! After this test is over, go to the library and find some scrolls. For right now, just go and fight the guy with taijutsu and ninjutsu." Kurama grumbled.

"You all pass!" Kakashi yelled with his famous smile. The trio looked up to Kakashi with a happy, but confused face.

"All three of you are now officially Genin. Meet back here at 9:00 tomorrow so we can start some training and some missions." Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

-Beginning of Chapter 6-

It has been two weeks since Team 7 been officially formed. Deciding that this team was capable of his expectations, Kakashi decided to step it up. He saw that Naruto finally jogged up to the training ground, panting heavily. Sasuke and Hinata followed right behind him. The trio collapsed to the ground, finally taking a break from their training. Kakashi smirked underneath his mask, proud of his team. Kakashi decided it was time to work on some physical exercise, seeing that most of his team were out of shape except Naruto surprisingly.

Kakashi was awfully surprise at Naruto's strength. Reports have shown that the young blonde was a hyperactive ninja that pulled pranks all the time. Hell, Kakashi was even on one of the ANBU search teams to find the blonde. Reading those reports, Kakashi assumed that Naruto wasn't at all serious about being a ninja. He heard him blabbering about becoming Hokage, and Kakashi always thought that Naruto wasn't capable of becoming that. Ever since the team got together, Kakashi knew that all of those pranks were nothing but a fake. Kakashi always wondered how Naruto was dead last before his coma, and suddenly was capable of standing up to the rookie of the year when he woke up.

The former ANBU captain looked at the Uchiha boy laying next to Naruto. The cyclops knew about the Uchiha massacre and was one of the teams to investigate it. Kakashi was even one of the ANBU to look after the survivor just in case anything happened. Kakashi noticed that the Uchiha wasn't very social and always seem to train when he had free time. The young Uchiha even rejected every girl that came his way. When the team introduced each other two weeks ago, he remembered Sasuke saying he needed to kill someone. Kakashi assumed that 'someone' was the one who killed off the Uchiha Clan, Itachi Uchiha. Kakashi noted that he was slowly opening up to Naruto. Very slowly, but surely.

Kakashi then looked at the Hyuuga girl. He noticed that Hinata was not much of a warrior, very different from all the other Hyuugas. Kakashi noted her amazing chakra control when he taught them the tree climbing exercise. Hinata even did it on her first try! He didn't see that kind of control ever since his old teammate, Rin. He wanted Hinata to follow the footsteps of Rin, to become a medical ninja. To be the support of team just in case it was needed. He could even teach her some Genjutsu. Knowing the Hyuuga's personality, Hinata learning medical jutsu and learning Genjutsu would be against their wishes.

"Alright guys, get up." Kakashi stated in a happy tone. Groaning, the trio stood up and walked over to their Sensei.

"You made us run around the village 50 times, do 500 push-ups, 250 sit-ups. We're tired." Naruto complained.

"Come on brat, this stuff is child's play compared to what we did." Kurama said.

"Well whatever," Kakashi replied, "We will gradually add more to the physical exercise as time goes on. Also, we will start doing some taijutsu and ninjutsu training, even some Genjutsu training if needed."

"Finally!" Naruto yelled happily.

"Tomorrow we will start. It's already 7:00, so you guys should get going and head to sleep. Meet back here at 8:00 tomorrow morning." Kakashi said as he leapt away.

-One Month Later-

"Wind Style: Beast Tearing Gale Palm!" Naruto yelled. Naruto condensed a massive amount of wind and formed a massive demonic-like claw from his right hand. Naruto turned the claw and jumped. Naruto aimed the claw at the clones that was surrounding him and smashed it against them. Immediately, 30 clones disappeared from the group of clones.

"Good job Naruto. Try grabbing that tree and throw it at them." Kakashi stated as he watch Naruto use the jutsu Kakashi taught him. Okay, Kakashi didn't really teach him. The cyclops just tossed a scroll filled with multiple wind jutsus and fire jutsus. Ever since he figured out Naruto had two affinities, Kakashi pushed Naruto even more. Sure, Sasuke had two affinities too, but Sasuke wasn't as interesting as Naruto.

Naruto nodded and did what he was told. Naruto extended the arm and picked up the nearest tree.

"Heh, this is pretty cool." Naruto thought. Naruto then threw the tree and the group of clones, and pushed them out of existence. Thanks to Naruto's use of clones, Naruto was able to learn way faster than normal people.

"Good job Naruto. Create some more clones and learn some fire jutsus." Kakashi stated and jumped to Sasuke's area.

Once Kakashi was done, Naruto dismissed the demonic claw. Truth be told, Naruto already knew the Beast Tearing Palm. Kurama-Sensei already taught him that during their session. Naruto knew that he had to act like he just learned the jutsu. If he got the jutsu on his first try and acted like it was nothing, he knew that Kakashi would suspect something and question him.

-Sasuke-

"Fire Style: Flaming Hawk!" Sasuke yelled. The Uchiha formed a ring with his finger around his mouth and took a deep breath. Sasuke exhaled a hawk made of fire that was about one yard long. The hawk soared and hit the tree, consuming the tree in fire.

Sasuke smirked at his accomplishment. He finally mastered the jutsu in three days. Considering the thought that the Uchiha didn't have any clones like Naruto did, Sasuke was pretty proud of himself.

Kakashi jumped in front of the Uchiha and nodded to his accomplishment.

"Now that you mastered all the fire jutsus in those scrolls, here's some lightning scrolls." Kakashi stated and tossed some scrolls to the boy. Sasuke nodded and caught the scrolls. Deciding to take a break, Sasuke sat down by the nearest tree and studied the scrolls.

-Hinata-

Kakashi leapt down to the area where Hinata was training. Noticing that the Hyuuga wasn't visible, Kakashi focused a bit, trying to pinpoint where the young girl is. The gravity-defying hair ninja walked over to an empty spot in the field and poked at the air.

"Hinata?" Kakashi asked as he poked the empty spot in the air.

Instantly, a shimmer appeared in the air and Hinata appeared. Ever since they started doing ninjutsu and taijutsu training, Kakashi decided to train Hinata in Genjutsu and Medical Jutsu. Kakashi knew that training in those arts would probably anger the Hyuugas if they found out, but Kakashi didn't care. Hinata was average in taijutsu thanks to her Gentle Fist, and he didn't know her elemental affinity. Plus, he didn't what to know. Considering Hinata's outstanding chakra control, Kakashi didn't want Hinata to learn any ninjutsu. He wanted her to be a support, and if needed, a taijutsu support.

Hinata frowned at her failure. Noticing the frown on the girls face, Kakashi said, "Now, now Hinata. Don't be sad. The Genjutsu I taught you is a fairly simple C-Rank one. Of course a Jounin would have been able to sense it."

"I-I know." Hinata said sadly.

"Well, you have been working on some Genjutsu for awhile now, so I'm going to need you to learn some Medical Jutsu." Kakashi said.

"What's t-that?" Hinata asked.

"Basically healing other people just incase if their injured," Kakashi said. Kakashi pulled out a scroll of his pocket and gave to the Hyuuga, "This scroll contains the basics of Medical Jutsu. Like healing a scratch for example. Go ahead and ignore the Genjutsu for now, learn some Medical Jutsu."

"H-Hai." Hinata said.

-One Month Later-

"DAMN CAT! BACK OFF!" Naruto yelled as he struggled to hold the cat in his arms. It has been two months since Team 7 formed. It has been two weeks since they started doing missions, much to Naruto's delight. His delight was cut short when he figured out the boring missions they had to do. Some of the missions were pulling out weeds, painting a house, babysitting, and especially capturing Tora, the devil cat. The other teams had started doing missions since one month ago, but Team 7 caught up to everyone else. Team 8 did a total of 33 D-Rank missions. Team 10 did a total of 27 D- Rank 7 did a total of 42 missions in two weeks time, passing up everybody else! Kakashi smiled. His team worked really hard to get to where they are right now.

Kakashi noted that Hinata started to stutter less, showing that she is starting to get comfortable with him. Of course, Hinata would always stutter around Naruto. Everyone on the team knew about Hinata's crush on Naruto, except the boy himself. Kakashi sighed as he saw Naruto make Hinata blush again.

Naruto quickly tossed the cat to Sasuke, getting annoyed by the animal. Sasuke caught the cat, and the cat immediately started to claw the Uchiha's face. Sasuke quickly tossed the cat to Hinata. Once the cat landed in Hinata's arm, the cat settled down and rested on her arms. The cat purred in delight.

"What.. the... HELL!" Naruto yelled.

"Now, now, Naruto. Watch your language. Children are here." Kakashi stated as he flipped a page in his book. The four of them were walking through the village, heading to the Hokage Mansion to report another successful mission. As Naruto glared at the cat purring in Hinata's arms, the other three of them were noticing the glares that was being sent at Naruto.

"Naruto's eyes being red must have made the villagers hate him even more. They think he's turning into the Kyuubi." Kakashi mused as his eyes darted from side to side.

"Poor Naruto-kun. I'm sure his pranks mustn't be that bad." Hinata thought.

"Whatever." Sasuke said to himself. Team 7 arrived at the Hokage Mansion and walked up the stairs leading up to the main hall. Kakashi knocked on the Hokage's door and waited for a response.

"Enter." Sarutobi said from inside. Team 7 opened up the door and bowed to the Hokage.

Noticing the cat in Hinata's arms, Sarutobi said, "I see that you completed your mission."

"Hai Hokage-Sama." Team 7 stated. Hinata handed the cat over to Naruto. Seconds later, a fat lady barged into the room and tackled Naruto down to the ground.

"Oof!" Naruto yelled as he landed on the ground.

"Give me my baby back!" the lady yelled at the young Uzumaki.

"Gladly! Just get off of me!" Naruto shouted back. The lady pushed herself up off of Naruto, much to the delight of the boy. Naruto tossed the cat over to the lady and the lady hugged the cat in a bone-crushing hug. The lady then ran out of the room.

"Serves him right." Naruto thought as he got himself off the ground. Sasuke snickered.

"What the hell are you laughing about Sasuke-teme." Naruto muttered. Sasuke smirked, deciding not to reply to his teammate.

"In case you guys didn't know, that was the Fire Daimyo's wife," Sarutobi stated.

"Now I feel bad for the Daimyo." Naruto muttered. Sarutobi chuckled and started to look for other missions the team could do. Looking through some files, Sarutobi pulled out a piece of paper from his paperwork and gave it to Kakashi, "Here's your mission. You have to go paint one of the villagers house."

"Oh hell no!" Naruto yelled, "I say you give us a better mission! A mission that requires action, and getting out of the village! I don't see how pulling weeds, babysitting, chasing a stupid cat, helps us become better ninja! I thought ninja are suppose to protect people and fight!"

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled. Sarutobi chuckled himself because of Naruto's outburst.

"No, no Kakashi. It's fine. Your team has passed up all the teams, so I completely agree with Naruto." Sarutobi stated, much to Kakashi's surprise. Sarutobi looked through the papers that was on his desk and handed one of them to Kakashi.

"Your mission is to retrieve a girl name Hanare. She got abducted by a group of bandits. She was traveling around the Land of Fire, collecting information about Konoha. Our resources say that she just left her village. Retrieve her from the group of bandits and bring her back to Konoha for interrogation so we can see how much she has collected about us. We think she is collecting information and might start war with us." Sarutobi informed the Jounin, "Here is the most recent picture of her."

Hanare was a slender woman with brown eyes and straight, dull green hair. She wore a red, sleeveless top with fur surrounding the top of her chest and below her shoulders. Her make-up consisted of red lipstick and red eyeshadow and she had a beauty spot below her right eye, she also wore earrings made up of three purple pearls and a purple band around her neck. She wrapped yellow bandages around her hands and arms that reached just below her elbows.

"She looks awfully familiar," Kakashi thought, "No mean to disrespect Hokage-Sama, but don't you think that retrieving a girl is a bit to advanced of a mission for a team of Genin. She might be a high-rank ninja."

"Don't worry about that Kakashi. From our resources, she is only Chunin. Considering your teams skills, I am sure you four are going to do fine. If needed, I will send some reinforcements for you guys." Sarutobi informed them.

"Hai Hokage-Sama," Kakashi said, "But how does a Chunin get captured by a group of bandits?"

"It must have been a large quantity of them." Sarutobi replied.

"Hell yeah! That's what I call a mission! When will we start old man?" Naruto yelled.

"Dobe, show some respect to the Hokage. Don't call him 'old man'." Sasuke grumbled. Even though Sasuke didn't show it, he was really happy that the team finally got a better mission.

"Y-Yeah, y-you should N-Naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered.

"Don't worry you two, Naruto called me old man ever since he was 5." Sarutobi said with a smile. Naruto grinned at this. Other than Asuma, Konohamaru, and his old pupil, Jiraiya, Naruto was the only one who was able to call him old man.

"You can leave tomorrow morning, but first," Sarutobi said as he pulled out a map, "From our resources, she is from the Land of Key, in the Jomae Village." Sarutobi pointed to the Land of Key.

"Where's the Land of Key?" Naruto asked.

"It's about a 3 day trip from here. The village is known for being experts in espionage in order to gain information for negotiations with larger, more powerful nations," Kakashi stated, "Wait, if she's from the Land of Key, and you think they're planning to start war, are you saying that they might start a civil war?"

"I doubt that. The Jomae village is to small of a village to wage ware with us. They might be collecting the information for some other village." Sarutobi said.

"Oh. That makes sense." Kakashi said.

"The Jomae Village is also able to gain information from other nations, while giving none in return. They can either hide, or remove information in their mind. It's going to be troublesome interrogating her, but I'm sure our Torture and Interrogation Squad can extract some information from her." Sarutobi continued.

"Well Ibiki and Inoichi are pretty damn good at their job." Kakashi finished.

"How long will the mission be?" Sasuke asked.

"Pack for at least 1-2 weeks." Sarutobi replied.

"Where was she last seen?" Naruto asked.

"Since she just departed from the Jomae, you should start around that certain area. Search for places with high attraction of bandits." Sarutobi replied.

"Why d-do you t-think the bandits k-kidnapped her?" Hinata asked.

"That, I don't know." Sarutobi said.

"Our team will be ready by tomorrow morning at 8." Kakashi stated.

"Very well. You're dismissed. Be careful out there." Sarutobi said.

"Hai." Team 7 said and left the room with a bow.

-Next Day Later-

"Even on an important mission, Kakashi-Sensei is still late." Naruto muttered while pacing back and forth. The young trio arrived at the gate about 2 hours ago, and was still waiting for their Sensei.

"Dobe, you know he's always late." Sasuke said

"Well, couldn't he at least be on time for an important mission like this one?" Naruto replied.

"I-I'm sure K-Kakashi-Sensei h-has his reasons." Hinata said, trying to calm the young blonde.

"You're finally here." Naruto grumbled as Kakashi appeared in front of the trio.

"Sorry about that, but I actually have a good excuse this time," Kakashi stated, "I got trapped in the labyrinth of love."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Naruto yelled.

"We should go now." Kakashi said sheepishly, trying to avoid the topic.

"Whatever, let's go." Naruto grumbled.

"Well, like I said it's going to be about a 3 day trip from here. We're going to train a bit during the night while we travel there, and ask a couple of questions at every town we visit," Kakashi informed them, "Any questions?"

Seeing that his team didn't have any questions, Kakashi nodded his head and Team 7 dashed out of Konoha.

~End

I'm sorry for the short chapter. I couldn't really think of anything that could make this chapter any longer. Also, I'm sorry for the delay of the chapter. I know I usually update in about 1-2 days, but I needed to plan out my Arc.

Review!