A/N: I'm pretty proud of my update rate for this one so far. Oh and guess what guys! I drew Ashi sleeping on Naruto; the link is on my profile you should check it out :)

Disclaimer: I only own Ashi and she owns Kogane.

Despite the fact that I didn't have to meet with Kakashi sensei and the rest of team seven until eight I still woke up at five a.m. as I had been doing since I was given Kogane to care for. I wasn't surprised to see kaa-chan up because she often woke up early, but I was surprised to see that she had dragged Kiba out of bed. "Alright pups, you're both genin now and we've got some training to do!"

Instead of my usual leisurely walk kaa-chan took us to a training ground where she worked us to the bone. "Why isn't Kogane helping you? And Kiba, what about Akamaru?"

"Huh?" The two of us questioned at the same time.

"Why do you think I gave them to you to take care of when you entered academy? They will be your partners in battle to learn and grow with you! Got it pups?"

Beside me Kogane barked and I understood what she was trying to tell me. She wanted to protect me as much as I wanted to protect her.

"Now, run the drill again, with your partners this time!" Kaa-chan shouted and we obeyed.

I arrived right on time for my meeting with Kakashi sensei with bruises and cuts all over me. "Imouto, are you all right?" Were the first words out of Naruto's mouth when he saw me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Kaa-chan ran me through some drills though so I'm a little tired." Kogane was resting in my jacket. I looked around, "Sensei is late again."

Naruto groaned, "Yeah some teacher. He's supposed to train us."

I thought for a little bit, "How about we do some sparring on our own?"

Sasuke took one look at Naruto and scoffed, "Dobe won't be much of a challenge."

"What was that teme!?"

"I said that you were useless, dobe."

"Then me and Naruto against you; how 'bout that?" I suggested.

"Hn, rules?"

"Um, no serious injuries, we do still have a mission after this."

We squared off and Naruto made the first move by charging in against Sasuke. I let Kogane out of my jacket and used the time that Naruto surrounded Sasuke to activate my all-fours jutsu and waited for an opening. I saw one when he used replacement jutsu to get away from Naruto so I headed to the trees where he escaped. My Inuzuka speed was to fast Sasuke to dodge so I sent him flying back into crowd of confused Narutos who were immediately back on their target. From there I gave Kogane a soldier pill and her beautiful golden fur turned blood red.

I jumped to the ground and she got on top of me as I said, "Man-beast clone!" She transformed into a carbon copy of me in my all-fours jutsu and we both moved forward to attack Sasuke. Right as we reached Sasuke he used another replacement jutsu. I could smell it in the air before I saw the fireball hurtling toward us so Kogane and I got out of there as fast as we could. Naruto was too slow and I could hear dozens of 'pop's behind me.

I launched into the air to counter-attack Sasuke but Kakashi showed up before a winner could be decided. With the fight declared over I jumped down to check on Naruto's injuries and I noticed they were healing at an unusually fast rate. "What's up with this Naruto?" I asked, my all-fours jutsu already dispelled.

"What do you mean, Imouto?"

"I can practically see your burns healing." I replied in disbelief.

He shrugged. "It's always been like this."

I stared for a while longer before pulling out bandages from my pouch. I had learned basic medical procedure from nee-chan but I was better with dogs than people. I didn't know any medical jutsu but I wouldn't dare use it on a person anyway because their body structure was completely different from a dog's and would do more harm than good.

"I see you kids are training on your own." Kakashi sensei observed while studying my bandage wrapping.

"You're late!" Naruto complained in response.

"I had to help a little old lady cross the street." Was his response but when Naruto continued glaring at him he quickly asked, "Are you guys ready for your first mission?"

Any resentment Naruto held disappeared in a flash at his words as he stood up quickly, "Let's go!"

Are first mission was: painting fences. "That's not a mission!" Naruto complained immediately, but we were still forced to take it.

It was a quick boring mission and Kakashi sensei didn't even bother teaching us anything afterwards. He just sent us home.

In the weeks that passed it became a pretty regular thing. Kakashi would show up late so the three of us would spar. Despite the fact that we said no injuries that was too much to hope for when it was Naruto and Sasuke so I became the unofficial medic of Team 7. As soon as she learned that I was doing more than healing Kogane nee-chan insisted that I study the human body before I hurt one of us. Since Kakashi sensei refused to train us almost all of my training came from Kaa-chan or Nee-chan. When Kakashi finally did show up we would do some easy mission that Naruto would complain about the whole way.

When we took a mission to find a lost cat I was almost positive that Kakashi accepted it due to my hatred of the creature. Even so it was my job to track it down. When we pounced at it I kept my distance while Naruto held it with Kogane barking. When we turned it in the hokage began to list what our next mission would be but Naruto adamantly refused. After ignoring one of his lectures the old man agreed to give us a C-rank mission. "Alright if you insist I'll give you a C-rank mission. One to escort a certain person."

"Really!? Who who!? Is it a princess?" Naruto was spouting questions at a million words a minute.

"don't be so hasty, I'll introduce him now." The hokage said with a smile on his face before looking at the door and calling, "you can come in now!"

I scrunched up my nose when the door open and the scent of sake assaulted my senses. Alcohol always smells worse when you have a sensitive nose. "What this? They're just a bunch of brats." He obnoxiously drank from the bottle in his hand while I glared at him. "Is the short one with the idiotic face really a ninja?"

Naruto began to laugh as he looked between Sasuke and me, "Who's the short one with the idiotic…" As he realized that both Sasuke and I were taller than him he moved to attack the client and Kakashi sensei had to hold him back.

He took another swig in the bottle in his hand and it was easy to tell he was drunk by the red flush on his face, "I'm the bridge-building expert, Tazuna. I have to return to my country and you will protect me with your life while I complete the bridge."

The mission didn't start immediately because we had to pack for the journey. I told kaa-chan about my first C-rank and bragged to Kiba that I got mine before he got his. I left out the part about it being to protect a drunkard because then he would make fun of me for it.

As soon as I was done packing I met my team at the gates and Tazuna still smelled just as bad, if not worse. As soon as we stepped foot outside the village Naruto immediately rushed around in excitement. "Is this kid really capable of this mission?" Tazuna asked sensei.

Sensei chuckled, "Well, I'm a jounin so we'll be alright."

Of course there was no way Naruto was going to leave it at that as he turned and pointed at Tazuna who I still couldn't make myself like, "Hey, geezer, don't underestimate me! I'm a great ninja who will be hokage one day!"

Tazuna glanced at him, "The hokage is the number one ninja right? There's no way you'll become one."

"Shut up!" Naruto protested, "I'll become the hokage and then you'll have to notice me!"

"Psh, I won't kid. Even if you become hokage you'll still just be a brat."

This set Naruto off, again, and sensei had to hold him back before we began walking again. As soon as we started walking again I could swear that I smelled an unfamiliar chakra. "Sensei." I tried to get his attention but he just smiled when he looked at me and put a finger up to his mouth. He wanted me to keep quiet? I did as he asked and didn't say anything but I could still smell the chakra following us.

Surprisingly, nothing happened for hours after we left. It wasn't until we passed a puddle the reeked of their chakra that I spoke up again, "sensei." He only smiled at me again and we kept walking. After we passed the puddle two ninja burst from it and wrapped Kakashi sensei in chains. They pulled tight and his body fell into pieces.

From there it was instinctual as an Inuzuka's fighting style nearly always is. Sasuke and I moved at the same time. He pinned their chains to a tree and I kicked one of them away from Naruto. He flew but was pulled back toward the tree by his chains. I followed after and punched him in the face making him fly even faster toward the tree. His head hit the tree hard, but I didn't trust that he was out so I kicked him in the gut and watched him throw up the contents of his stomach before passing out completely. I turned back around to see Kakashi with the other ninja passed out in his arm and a approving smile on his face.

The weak feeling in my knees took over and I fell to the ground. Not unconscious but exhausted and relieved that sensei was still alive.

"Naruto, sorry for not helping out right away." Sensei spoke while walking to the tree where the other ninjas was down. "I didn't think you would freeze up like that. Anyway good job Sasuke, Ashi." He nodded at each of us in turn before setting down the ninja side by side and tied them each up to the tree. "Tazuna-san, we need to talk."

I slowly stood up and walked toward Naruto, "Are you hurt?" I asked weakly.

"No, I'm alright Imouto."

I breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good. Their claws had poison."

"Imouto, how did…" He shook his head, "How do you know their claws had poison?"

"It smelled bad."

Not long after they were tied up did the two ninjas wake. "These two are chunin from the village hidden in the mist." Sensei informed us. "They're known to keep fighting no matter what the cost."

"How did you detect us?" One of them snarled.

"Well first, Ashi here smelled you." Sensei stated before smiling in my direction. "And then there was the puddle, on a clear day when it hasn't rained in weeks."

"If you knew then why did you let the kids do all the fighting?" Tazuna asked.

"If I was up to it I could have killed these two in the blink of an eye but…" He glanced at Tazuna, "I needed to know who their target was."

"What do you mean?" Tazuna sounded worried.

"In other words, were you being targeted, or someone from our ninja group?" He stared dangerously at Tazuna, "We didn't know you were being targeted by ninja. You hired us to protect you while you built the bridge and if ninja are our enemy this would have been an expensive B-rank." Tazuna didn't dare look sensei in the eye. "You might have your reasons but it troubles us if you lie in your request details. This wasn't part of our mission." Sensei looked toward me and the still in shock Naruto, "If Naruto won't be able to handle the battles it'll just be a burden. We should head back."

"No!" Naruto declared, "I've completed lots of missions and trained for this! I'm not going to need anybody's help again! I'm going to complete this mission!" After an oath like that there was no way we could abandon the mission so we marched on the never-changing road toward the Wave Country.

A/N: Originally I wasn't going to make Ashi a medic nin but it kind of makes sense because Hana is a vet and she can learn from her. Plus she is just the caring type.