IT'S WAVE MISSION TIME! .*

Chapter 4:

Mission: Inspiration

With Sakura and Team 7...

Team 7 stood again in the mission room in the Academy, anticipating there next mission.

Sakura was so impatient and bored in the last few weeks, she lost count and forgot that this was the day they were going to receive the mission that brought them closer.

She waited for their turn, disinterested as Naruto babbled on and on about ramen. Her ears perked and she turned as Lord Third began to speak.

"Now then," he began, his voice raspy with age. "For Squad 7's next mission, we have several avaiable tasks. Huh?" Lord Hokage paused in surprise as he stared at the scroll. "Among them, babysitting the chief councilor's three year old-"

Twitch.

"-helping his wife do the shopping,"

Twitch, twitch.

"-digging up potatoes and-"

Naruto opened his mouth to interrrupt the old man but a girl's voice beat him to it.

"Excuse me, Lord Third."

Everyone in the room turned to Sakura in surprise. She couldn't take it anymore. Another boring-ass mission and she would go ballistic. Her eyes twitched in exasperation with every boring suggestion.

Sakura made sure to be careful with her words. "We all do respect, sir. But could you give us...a more difficult mission." She then added politely. "Please. They're too easy."

She's right, Sasuke thought.

Naruto backed her up without a second thought.

"Yeah! I know right! Those are all kiddy missions! We want a real mission," he said, serious.

Sasuke mutely agreed.

Lord Hokage spoke, his voice raspy with age. "It seems that you both still don't understand."

The Third Hokage began to explain the rubric and ranks of the missions and somewhere along his explanation, Team 7 lost interest and Naruto started babbling about different flavored ramen.

Just before the Hokage finished, he noticed their turned attention.

"So I had this tankatsu ramen yesterday and I was thinking miso ramen today-"

"Silence!"

Kakashi and Sakura turned to the Third Hokage.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "Oh. Sorry," he apologized, although they didn't look guilty.

Naruto turned back to the Hokage and groaned.

"Ah! You always lecture me like you're my grandfather or something!" Naruto exclaimed and he crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke seriously. "But I'm not the little brat that used to pull pranks all the time. I'm a ninja now and I want a ninja mission!"

Sakura nodded.

Sasuke finally spoke up. "Yeah."

Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, Lord Third, and everyone else in the room stared at Sasuke in surprise. He actually agreed verbally.

He frowned as he raised an eyebrow in irritation. "What?"

Everyone turned back to the Hokage, anticipating his answer.

The Hokage folded his hands together in front of him. "Hm. I see."

He smirked. "So, Naruto wants us to know he isn't a brat anymore. He's a former brat. And all of you, want a higher ranked mission, am I right?"

The three genin nodded.

"Alright." He smiled. "I'll give a C-ranked escort mission."

Sasuke and Iruka's eyes widened in surprise at the Hokage. Sakura's face remained bored and indifferent as before. She definitely wasn't surprised. She glanced at the door.

"Oooooh! I wonder who are we gonna escort? A princess? A lord?" Naruto wondered eagerly.

The Hokage fixed his gaze at the door too. "Come in," he called politely.

The sound of the wooden door sliding open rang and an old man with dark gray hair and glasses stood at the threshold with a glass bottle. He leaned against the door frame, his face slightly flushed. He was obviously a bit wasted.

He raised an eyebrow as his gaze fell to the three 12 year olds and he took a swig of the beer in the bottle.

"Kids?" he questioned. "Is that the best you can do? A short, stupid looking one..."

Naruto laughed and looked between Sasuke and Sakura.

"Hahaha! Who's the short, stupid looking one?" he asked.

Sasuke and Sakura blinked and walked to stand next to him, with Sasuke on his right and Sakura on his left.

He looked up and them.

"..."

"..."

"...I'LL DEMOLISH YOU!" Kakashi held Naruto back by his collar.

"Naruto, we're supposed to protect the client. Not demolish them."

The old man looked at Sakura. "Ooooh. An otaku ninja. That's new," he said. "Do you use all natural hair dye ? I recommend it. It won't make you hair so dry and it will give your hair volume. Are those split ends?"

Sakura blinked in shock. Otaku ninja? That was definitely a new one.

But it took her a moment to fully process what he had said about her though and her green eyes immediately turned to angry slits.

In an instant, she had a kunai in her hand and she took a step towards him, a dark aura emitting from her. She clenched her teeth.

Kakashi quickly grabbed Sakura's collar too.

"That goes for you too, Sakura," he warned.

She growled and took another dangerous step towards the old man. Kakashi had to dig his heels into the floor to slow her down.

I don't care if he's old or that he's a client. I'm gonna cut him up! she thought angrily. I don't have split ends!

The old man then turned to Sasuke and studied him. Sasuke stared back at the old man, gaze unwavering.

Finally, the old man said,"...Pretty boy ninja."

As if the world around them froze, no one said anything. The killing aura around them seized to exist as Sakura and Naruto's eyes widened in surprise at what he said. Sasuke blinked, trying to comprehend what he just said.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Then Naruto burst out laughing and Sakura followed in a fit of giggles, her hand coming up to cover mouth,trying to stop her laughter in vain. Their eyes were crinkled.

When Sasuke came to, seconds later, his eye twitched in irritation and his frown deepened.

"Ya know," the Hokage started. "I don't have to give you the mission. I can give you another D-ranked-"

"No," Naruto and Sakura said in unison as Sasuke turned to the Hokage to glare at him.

Isn't this the mission that brought us closer together? Sakura wondered and she mentally nodded to herself.

The Third Hokage smiled. "Okay. You officially have a C-ranked mission. Escort this man to his home."

Team 7 looked expectantly at the old man and Naruto asked:

"So...are you a princess or something?"

To Be Continued...

I am sooooooooooooooo so so so so so so so sorry! I have decided to cut my chapters shorter. I know it's probably not what you want and it wasn't as exciting and I'm really sorry about that!

Thank you readers for reading my story and to those who were kind enough to comment and vote!