Team Blondie
by
French NaruHina
Chapter 8 : Missions
Naruto was lying on his bed. The events from earlier that day confused him to no end... The old-man confirmed the first part of the fox's storyand he seemed worried about the part about Madara beeing alive somewhere seeking the village destruction. How could a single man destroy a whole ninja village by himself ? On the other hand, Iwa probably though the same thing before his father killed three quarter of its troops during the war... He regretted the time when he had no responsabilities, being the orange clad idiot had its good sides; now he was a clan head who had to avenge his mother from a power-hungry retired shinobi who had a secret ANBU division and all the civilian council on his side, and a millenary demon fox asked him to punish in its name an imortal Uchiha who had enough power to take down an entire village... things couldn't get any worse, on this thought he got up and went to the kitchen where he opened the fridge, there was no more ramen "Things just got worse..."
"What's up with the downcast expresion cousin ?" asked Roxas as he entered an empty cup instant ramen in his hand.
"I hate you..." "Nothing, the fox just want me to kill an immortal Uchiha not even the Shodai managed to kill."
Roxas shrugged "We all have our problems..." he turned to leave when... "WHAAAATTT ?!" Naruto told him about the meeting inside his mindscape "So, if I understood everything right, the Kyuubi want you, the girls and me to take this guy down and I have a dormant awesome power ?"
"Yup ! So what do you think I should do ?"
"About te fox's proposition ?" Naruto nodded "Well, it's not like you can say no, I mean this guy will attack the village one day or another and if you want to be Hokage you'll have to fight him, so I think you should accpt as it will help us getting a bit stronger..."
"Yeah, you're right. We'll need to talk the girls into it."
"Well we must meet with them in a hour for extra-trainning..."
As he finnaly had everyone approval 'cause "there's no way we let you got through this alone Naruto-kun !" Naruto began medidating, trying to access his mindscape. Oncee he did he went to the Kyuubi's jail.
"So, I believe you came to a decision..."
"Yes, we accept your terms."
"Very good, now when you adress me you'll refer to me as Kyuubi-sama and bow to me when you arrive here..."
"Huh ?"
"From now on I am your employer, as long as it take you to accomplish your task you will show me proper respect. You'll only have to bow when you are "physically" here, we will share an emergency mental link allowing us to discus important matters when you don't have the time to come here. Do you understand ?"
"Hai, Kyuubi-sama."
"You may go now, concerning your rewards ask your friend to take your hands in theirs, I'll take care of everything from then, you will have to find how to use your new powers by yourselves."
Naruto returned to the real world "Okay guys, you must hold my hands so the fox can do its work, it didn't told exactly me what will change so we'll have to find out ourselves." they took position and were shot by an unbearable pain wich caused them to faint after a minute.
They woke up a hour later "Gaah, that hurt, you could have warn us Naruto !"
"I didn't even know... well let's se if it worked." Naruto took a piece of chakra paper and channeled chakra into it, it cut in two, each half burning. "Okay, now your turn Hinata-chan, it has to do with your Byakugan."
She actived her dojutsu, the veins around her eyes bulging "I can see much clearer now, your tenketsu's are litteraly shinning..." "And no blind spot. It's too good to be true..."
"Well, since we only know Nami-chan's gift is related to her power we'll have to see it later, as for mine... I hope it will come naturally."
"It's not fair, you had all the easy to figure gifts..." added Naminé. "It must mean we have the powerful ones, right Roxie-chan !" Roxas grumbled at the nickname but still agreed.
The next morning team blondie arrived to the Hokage tower for mission assignment. The Hokage greeted them. "Team 7 ! Just the one I need. As our most talented team I have a special mission for you." this earned him their utmost attention "Tora the cat escaped again, its retrieval..."
"No way in hell !" Naruto interrupted him "If I see this cat again I'll turn mad !"
"With all due respect Hokage-sama, we think we're ready for something more difficult." added Roxas.
"Plus if we keep doing only D-rank we will only stagnate..." concluded Naminé.
"If Hayate say so I may give you a C-rank..." At the Hokage words Hayate received three pleading looks.
"I guess a C-rank could do some good to them."
"I see... Send the bridge builder in." A chunin guard opened a door and a grey haired bearded old man with a bottle of sake in hand walked in. "This is Tazuna, your mission will be to escort him to his home in the land of Waves then protect the bridge he is currently building."
"Why are only brats sent to protect me. I am a super bridge builder, I should get super ninja !" said the apparently drunk Tazuna.
"Don't worry, they are three of the best you could find Tazuna-san..." stated Hayate "Team, we depart tomorow morning, be at the gates at 6 am."
Team 7 and Tazuna left the tower, only for team 6 to enter. Sarutobi welcomed them warmly. "If I had thought my favorite scouting squad would come today... well, I have the perfect mission for you !"
"If it's again that damn cat, I'll skin it alive..." growled Kiba, Akamaru barked his approval.
"While we have no wish to contest your..." started Hinata.
"Not again... I'll better cut down the speech on the virtues of a C-rank..." "Say no more young ones. I think a C-rank investigation mission should help you sharpen your skills." Sarutobi handed a scroll to Kurenai "Bandit activity had been reported around a village north-east from here. The trip there should take you two days, once arrived you have to discover the bandit's hideout then proceed to their capture or call for reinforcement should you be unable to do so yourself."
"We accept the mission, team, meet me tomorow at the gates at 6 am." said Kurenai.
They left. Team 4 made its entry, a bored Kakashi followed the moody Uchiha and his two admirers.
Saï spoke up "Hokage-sama, D-rank missions seem to constitute a hindrance to Sasuke-sama progress, he can't harness his true potential on those."
"Yeah, Sasuke-kun could handle a B-rank by himself !" "No way I let you steal him from me Saï ! Sasuke-kun is mine only, find yourself an other guy !!!"
"That is quite unfortunate, I already assigned the remaining C-rank missions, I fear you will have to capture Tora this time..."
Naruto was standing at the main gate of the Hyuga compound, he knocked at the massive door... no response; he look right then left and saw a thin chain hanging against the wall "of course" he pulled on the chain and a bell echoed. Some seconds later someone opend the door, the young Hyuga send him a glare that promised a painful death "Great ! As if I hadn't enough of those when I walk on the streets..." Naruto decided to break the awkward silence "Uhm, hello, I was wondering if I could see Hinata ?"
"Naruto-sama !!" Neji appeared smilling at him "You can go Hiro, I'll take care of our guest."
"Neji, how many time have I told you to not call me that ?"
"Over four hundred, I have lost the count three month ago..."
"Did you say Hiro, like in THE Hiro ?"
"Yes, it's him. I'm sure you can understand why he didn't seemed too pleased to see you. Don't worry you should receive a warmer welcome inside."
Indeed, once inside the majority of the Hyuga's kept smilling at him, calling him Naruto-sama and bowing before him, the last two to his great a few seemed to be less pleased by his presence... Neji filled him in.
"Hinata-sama told the clan it was you who found the way to free us, since then you are considered our second hero. The unfriendly looking ones are the former main family members, as you can see they didn't took the removing of the seal as well as we did, don't mind them they can't do anything against you as us of the former branch family would die to protect you and Hinata-sama. Well, we're there, my teammates and I were advising Hinata-sama for her first mission outside the village tomorow." He opened a door and led Naruto in a large room where Hinata, Lee and Tenten were sitting aroud a wooden table.
"... and if your teammates run at each other crying and shouting each other name close your eyes before the "unbreakable genjutsu of a youthful sunset" appears or you could loose your sight." advised Tenten.
"But it is such a youthful experience Tenten-chan, even Neji-kun do it from time to time... and Gai-sensei would be so happy if you joined us only once in our youthful embrace !"
"Sorry to interrupt you but Naruto-sama is here..." this comment from Neji made Hinata smile brightly but before she could make a single move Lee was already in front of him bowing deeply.
"Naruto-san, it is a great honor for me to meet the youthful person who helped remove Neji-kun's unyouthful seal and let let embrace fully the flammes of his youth !!!"
"Not again... note to self : when freeing a clan, try to hide your identity." Naruto then took a closer look at Lee "Huge eyebrows... green spandex... musn't laugh..." Seeing Naruto's distress, Neji decided to tell his team they should be going as they had a team appointment soon. Just in time : as Tenten an Lee said their goodbye and left Naruto bursted out in laughter. As he finished he was only able to speak betwen heavy breath "Those eyebrows must be living organisms..."
"That's not nice Naruto-kun... but it's true Lee-san seems to be one of a kind." admitted Hinata.
Neji swatdropped "It's better for them not to know for now." "I will go too Hinata-sama, Naruto-sama. I trust you to do nothing inapropriate..." he left the now blushing pre-teen to themselves.
"So... I heard you have a mission outside the village tomorow." began Naruto.
"Yes, I was planning to go see you later as I leave tomorow morning."
"Really ? I go on a mission tomorow mornig too, so I though we could go on a date before I leave..." Hinata gladly accepted his proposition.
As they departed from the Hyuga compound Hinata asked "Where are Roxas-kun and Naminé-chan ?"
"They're trainning on the second stage of the Rasengan..." in the last month each made spectacular progress in learning the technique but Naminé was the only one who didn't mastered the second step as she has the lowest chakra reserves, and since they promised each other they would move to the next step together everyone was stuck at the rubber ball exercice. Nobody blamed her as Jiraiya even congratulated them on the astonishing progess they made in the two months since they began learning the technique.
The next morning teams 7 and 6 gathered at the village gates. It was nearly 6 so they had a little time to discuss.
"I somewhat have a bad feeling about this Naru-kun..."
"Don't worry Hina-chan, it's only a C-rank, it's not like we're going against missing-nins or an evil tyrant..." Tazuna began to sweat profusely.
"Wich would be cool..." intervened Roxas.
"Don't be an idiot Roxas, you'll give us bad luck..." Naminé punched him playfully on the shoulder.
Naruto turned to Kiba and Shino "Guys..."
"I know, don't worry we'll take good care of your girlfriend !" bragged Kiba, Shino nodded.
"I was going to tell you not to let her get all the fun..."
The large double-door began to open, revealling the forest surrounding Konoha. The jonin instructor joined their team. Naruto and Hinata quickly kissed each other good luck and the team departed, team 6 at full speed and team 7 more slowly because of Tazuna.