~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~One month later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is Tomato Brat, sensei is not picking code-names again."
"This is Ramen Brat, I agree."
"Th-this is Pokky, I-I like m-mine."
"Then we will still call you Pokky, but change ours please, Ramen Brat out."
"This is Dango, and you two should stop complaining."
"I see the target, Ramen Brat out."
"O-ok, I s-see the target t-too, Pokky out."
"Ok, on three, one, two... THREE!"
/
"Team 7 reporting capture Tora, successful." Anko, or 'Dango' said. "Can we never do that mission again, please?" Haru, or 'Ramen Brat' asked. "Yes, it's horrible, and Anko always gives horrible names to Haru and I." Sasuke or 'Tomato Brat' said. "I-I kinda l-like th-the mission." Shizuko, or 'Pokky' muttered, blushing a little because Haru had taken his shirt off after Tora had clawed it to ribbons. Sasuke, being the only one who heard her, rolled his eyes. "Yes, because Tora always claws up Haru's shirt, giving you a good view." He muttered back, making Shizuko blush even harder. "N-no! Th-thats n-not-" She started, but Sasuke shook his head. "Sure its not." he smirked.
"Now, for your next mission, we have painting the new apartment complexes fence, getting groceries for council member Daki, babysitting the daimyos nephew-" Hiruzen started, but Anko interrupted. "Hokage-sama, I think that my team is ready for a C-rank mission." She said respectfully, shocking Iruka, who had been sitting in, looking through missions and classifying them. "Well then, we have an escort mission, but I have a bad feeling about it, so how would you like doing a joint C-rank with team 10?" He asked, and Anko nodded. "Team 10!" He called, and Ino's team rushed in.
"Shizuko-chan!" Ino called out, and they hugged. "I missed you!" she said as they separated. "W-we have b-been busy d-doing training a-and missions." Shizuko said, and Ino nodded. "Yeah, these two were so far behind me, Asuma-sensei had to practically whip them into shape!" She said giggling.
"Well, now that the reunion is over, how about we introduce the client?" Hiruzen asked, an amused smile on his face. The door opened, and a man walked in. He had greying hair, and a slightly wrinkled face. The smell of alcohol wafted into the room as he walked in, the teens wrinkled their noses, but the adults remained impassive.
"This is my escort? The only capable ones seem to be the creepy woman and the tall guy over there, the rest look weak; especially the little red-head." Anko glared at him, and the room went erilly cold. "You would do well to remember that in the ninja world, appearance isn't always everything, client-san." She said, while she and Haru glared at him. The man cleared his throat and said, "Err, right. I apologize. My name is Tazuna, and I am the super-bridge-builder from wave country. I expect you to guard me with your lives." He bowed a little, then left the room. "Now, teams 7 and 10, you will both be escorting Tazuna to wave, and guarding him as he finishes his bridge. I have a bad feeling about this mission; which is why both of your teams will be taking care of this mission, ok?" everyone nodded, Anko said "Ok, meet together at the gate at six o'clock tomorrow." then they left to pack.
Shizuko went with Ino to the Yamanaka compound to pack. "Tou-san, we have a long-term joint mission tomorrow!" Ino shouted. "Oh, that's good! This would be both of your first C-rank, huh?" Inoichi asked, and they nodded. "It's together too! Well, good luck, and Shizuko, I bought you something today on a hunch, and it turns out it was a good idea." He said, smiling, and pulling out a scroll, only to be tackle-hugged by a certain red-head. "Thank-you!" she squealed, and pecked him on the cheek, before she went up-stairs in a happy daze, content with her pokky.
Ino laughed and sighed, shaking her head at her father, who had a goofy smile on his face. 'I swear that he only spoils her with pokky to get that response. I never show that much affection, and she is usually to shy to show it, so he gives her pokky to get it.' Ino rolled her eyes, and went upstairs to pack.
The next day, teams 7 and 10 were waiting by the gate for their senseis and the client. Ino and Shizuko were off to the side, talking. "So, how's being on the same team as the emo-duck-butt?" Ino asked, and Shizuko giggled. "H-he's not th-that bad n-now. A-after our f-first s-s-spar, he t-tried to get m-me to teach him a-a j-jutsu that I u-u-used, but H-Haru-kun h-helped m-m-me..." she said, and remembered how it had happened,
'Flash Back no jutsu!'
Shizuko was panting, she was sparring with Sasuke, and she was about to lose if she didn't do something quick, so she formed some quick hand-seals, and called out her jutsu, " TEN NO HIKARI JUTSU!"(*) and a beam of light shot out of her hands, hitting Sasuke, and knocking him out. Anko smiled at her and said, "Shizuko wins, and yes, now you may heal him, Shi-chan." Shizuko bowed, and then she quickly ran up to him, and healed the burn marks on his chest, before letting Anko wake him up. When he was told what had happened, he scowled, and walked away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Later that day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shizuko was walking down the market street, trying to find a place that would sell her pokky, when she heard, "Hey, dobe, teach me that jutsu that you used earlier." and she turned to see Sasuke, scowling at her like usual. "I-I'm s-s-sorry, Sasuke-san, b-but that w-w-was a c-clan technique." she said, bowing her head. "I don't care, I am an UCHIHA; teach it to me." Sasuke said, getting aggresive, and pushing her down, triggering flashbacks in Shizuko which had her shivering.
"Hey, Sasuke; what are you doing?" Haru asked, appearing calm as he walked up, though inside he was furious. "Hn, dobe won't teach me that jutsu." Sasuke said snobbily. "Well, wouldn't that be HER choice weather or not to teach you?" Haru said, a little of his irritation showing. "I don't care, I am an Uchiha, I get any jutsu I want!" Sasuke said, and started kicking at Shizuko, only for his leg to get caught by Haru, and when he looked up, he saw the Hyuuga boys byakugan active, and anger in his eyes. "I SUGGEST, that you leave now, and never pull something like this again, Uchiha." Haru said coldly, standing in-front of Sizuko in the gentle fist stance. "Hn. That jutsu was weak anyway." Sasuke said, and turned around, but both of his teammates noticed the sweat running down his neck, and the noticeable amount that his skin had paled.
Haru waited for a while, then turned back to Shizuko, Byakugan deactivating. "Are you ok, Shizuko-chan?" He asked, not noticing that he had added '-chan' to the end of her name, and Shizuko fought back another blush. "I-I a-a-am ok, H-haru-kun." She said, still blushing, and Haru suddenly noticed what he had said, and blushed a little, before helping her up. "How about I get you some pokky and ramen to help get that off of the mind?" He asked, and Shizuko fainted, after thinking, 'd-did he j-just ask me out o-on a date?'
'Flash Back no jutsu KAI!'
"...a-after that, h-he woke m-m-me up, and w-we went to g-get pokky a-and ramen." Shizuko said, blushing as she remembered fainting, and how worried Haru had been. Ino laughed. "Only you would faint when the boy you like asks you out." she said, wiping tears from her eyes, and making Shizuko blush.
"Hey, sorry we're late! The...client was getting over his hangover." Anko said, and the genin nodded. "As long as you don't show up late every day, with a lame-ass excuse all the time." Sasuke said, and everyone that knew Kakashi sweat-dropped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Somewhere in Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A-a-ACHOO!" Kakashi sneezed. "Hmm, either I was out in the rain to long last night, or someone is talking about me..." he mused, then he shrugged and went back to his book 'hmm, I get the feeling I should be somewhere... what should my excuse be today, hmm... 'lost on the road of life' sounds good...'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Konoha Gates~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Yeah, lets not broach that subject." Asuma said, remembering alot of Kakashi's lame excuses. "Y-yes, Kaka-nii is weird." Shizuko agreed. "Anyway, lets go." Anko said. Haru cheered, "I've never been outside of the city before!" he said, getting a small giggle from Shizuko, which he smiled at her for, in return getting her to blush.
As they were walking, Shizuko noticed a puddle on the side of the road. She looked at Ino, and saw that she had noticed it too, along with everyone else. As they walked by, nothing happened, until the jonin passed, then two ninja with a spiked chain in-between them jumpped out, and wrapped the chain around Anko and Asuma, who signed that they were going to leave it to them.
"Two down." The two ninja then turned to Tazuna, and rushed to-words him. Shizuko snapped out of the shock that she had been in at the appearance of the ninja, and stood nervously in-front of the client. The ninja then focused on her, until suddenly Sasuke jumped in-front of one, Ino with him. Ino turned to her, "We'll take this one, you take that one, ok?" she asked, and Shizuko nodded nervously, "O-ok.". Ino and Sasuke lead the other ninja away, leaving Shizuko against the first one. The ninja kept running at her, and took out a claw, that looked suspiciously shiny, but she shrugged it off as water. As he swung, she raised her arm to block, and surprised him with her sand armor, but a tiny scratch got through, that she ignored. She hesitantly took out a kunai, and stabbed him in the stomach. He fell to the ground, and she turned to watch as Ino and Sasuke finished off the other ninja, until she felt claws digging into her back, breaking through her sand armor, and leaving deep gashes in her back. "AAAHHH!" She shouted, falling down, and the ninja started a mad dash to-words Tazuna while the genin were in shock. "SHIZUKO!" Ino yelled, starting to run to her.
Suddenly, Anko appeared, enraged by what had happened to Shizuko. "DIE!" She shouted in an enraged voice, and stabbed the ninja in the neck with a kunai, finishing him off. Instantly, everyone tried to see if Shizuko was alright, until Anko shouted out, "GET BACK! SHE NEEDS AIR!" and everyone practically jumped back exept for Anko and Ino. Anko sat Shizuko up, and inspected the wound, before she began to pale. "The wound is infected, there was likely poison on the claws. We need to get her medical attention now!" she said, and Tazuna said, "We have a healer in wave, they are very good with poison..." but then everyone glared at him, making him nervous. "You know, C-ranks don't include ANY ninja AT ALL, except for the ones PAID TO DO THE MISSION, right?" Anko asked, making Tazuna gulp and nod. " So, would you like to explain why two CHUNIN RANKED NINJA WERE ATTACKING YOU!" she yelled at him, flaring her KI, and almost making the genin and Tazuna pass out from the pressure. "A-a-anko-s-senpai, c-calm d-d-down p-p-please..." Shizuko said, and Anko instantly calmed down, and started fussing over her student and little sister figure. "You better start explaining." Asuma said, a deadly calm aura surrounding him, showing that he would kill Tazuna himself if he said the wrong thing.
Tazuna started explaining, telling how a man named Gato had a tight grip over wave, how he took a 'fee' from everyone every week, how he killed people who didn't have enough money, and how he didn't allow anyone to leave. Then he told how his son-in-law had tried to rebel, but he had been publicly executed. Then he told how he had started building a bridge, but he heard that Gato had hired ninja, but he didn't have much money; no one in wave did. So he had scrounged up enough money for a C-rank, but this was all the money that wave had left, so he lied to the mission assignment people, and told them it was C-rank. "I am sorry for what happened, but we need help desperately. I understand if you don't want to continue, but I wasn't lying about that healer, and we are closer to wave right now than Konoha. It would be faster to go to wave." Tazuna said, and the jounin nodded reluctantly in agreement. "Fine, we will continue the mission, but I will be carrying you from here on out; we are going at ninja speed now." Asuma said, and Tazuna accepted, however hesitantly, before he was thrown onto the male jounins back, and they took to the trees at high speeds. Within a few minutes they saw a huge body of water, and they stopped at the shore.
"Anko, you go ahead with Shizuko, take her to the village and find the healer, tell them that we are with Tazuna, and what happened to Shizuko." Asuma said, and Anko nodded, before taking off across the water. Tazuna and the genin gaped after her. "We couldn't do that, because I would have to carry you across one at a time, so don't ask Ino." Asuma said, and Ino nodded reluctantly.
As Anko was running to the village, she felt a chakra signature following her, but she ignored it, hoping it would go away after a while, but then she jumped to the side on instinct, and saw a giant sword hit a tree, making the tree shake, and she stopped. "What are you doing throwing a giant sword at random strangers!" she yelled, then looked at Shizuko, who was breathing shallowly. "I'm trying to take my sister to the healer, so if you would just step aside..." Anko said in a low tone that promised pain if not listened to. "Sorry, but orders are not to let anyone through if they don't live here." The sword dude said. "Though I might have a little fun with you two first..." He said suggestively, and Anko was enraged. "You...are going to DIE now..." she whispered, and suddenly she was gone, scaring the sword dude, when suddenly, he fell to the ground, a hole in his shoulder, and a bruise on his neck. "Don't mess with people you don't know..." Anko warned, before turning and knocking out the kid dressed like a kiri hunter nin, but his mask was out-dated, so Anko knew he wasn't real. Anko tied them up really tight together, and did something to the sword dude for the comment from before the 'fight', then put chakra repressing seals on them both, before leaving to get Shizuko to the healer.
Asuma and the others had just landed on the island, when they heard a high pitched scream that made all the males shudder. They made their way through the forest to Tazunas house, until they passed through a clearing. As they were walking through it, they saw two people tied up tightly, but the bigger one had blood on his crotch area. Asuma recognized 'him' immediately. "Ah, Zabuza Momochi, the 'former' Demon of the hidden mist. I see that you ran into Anko, and probably attacked her saying something inappropriate. That is the only way you would have been castrated. What DID you say?" Asuma asked, and Zabuza muttered something that only Asuma heard, and his face darkened, "Well, you should be glad that she was in a hurry, or she would have done WORSE, than what she did. I would have castrated you too, if you had said that..." he muttered the last part, but everyone heard him, and they shivered.