Drifting

by AlphaDelta1001

Naruto is many things; troublesome, wild, unpredictable, adventurous, untamable, unique. But there's a benefit to being wild and unpredictable; no one has the faintest idea what you're going to do next. NarutoHarem

9. First Mission Arc - Fatal Encounter

NARUTO

Drifting

A Potentially Fatal Encounter

The first mission that the newly formed group known as Team 7 embarked upon the day following their survival test was perhaps one of the dullest assignments they could have ever taken. As they would later learn that same morning after meeting up with their team leader Kakashi was that the man had failed quite a few teams in the past, all because they were unable to pass his ridiculously deceptive bell exercise. Thing is, with this lack of experience in coaching youngsters in the field due to taking on none under his command for the past few years, it only made sense that the Jonin would pick the easiest, most laidback mission from the assortment of D-Rank assignments available to them and set their gears in motion.

What came immediately after receiving their scroll at the Hokage tower were two hours of wrist cranking, spirit crushing monotony involving the three kids painting an old man's fence. In reality, the property was in no sense small. It was bloody massive. The whole barrier, which had recently been redone by another Konoha Genin team, needed a new paintjob, and who better to spearhead that project then the recently graduated and eager members of Kakashi's squad, all of whom had been expecting something… well… more-ish.

While their Jonin instructor watched them from a nearby tree reading the same orange book Naruto and the others had seen him bring out a couple times before, the trio went about completing their given task in their own unique ways.

Sakura was the most thorough of the three; picking her third of the wall and using a repetitive, up-and-down technique that basically got her job done well and fast. Sasuke, bored as ever, had one hand in his pocket the entire time and another holding his brush while he did a more relaxed job at a more labored pace. And Naruto, exuberant as ever, just lathered his sections with as much coating as he could, making a game out of it by painting odd pictures first before going over them to cover up his graffiti.

He got his side done first, followed by Sakura, both of whom then proceeded to help Sasuke out with his because the guy was taking it easy. In the end though, the one who ended up covered in the most paint from splattering it all over himself was Naruto. He certainly made it clear to the world he'd had as much fun as possible on his first D-Rank mission ever when they went back to the Hokage tower to hand in their report.

The second mission for the day then saw the youngsters chopping wood at the local lumberjacks. Once again Kakashi left them to their own devices, moved out of the vicinity and watched his team from the sidelines as each got handed an axe and were positioned at an individual station. For the next couple hours after that the group proceeded to split logs in two one after the other, which would then be transported to other stores by the tradesmen.

This job really highlighted some important aspects about their squad. While the previous task of fence painting showed that a single job could be divided up equally between the three of them, this one was more of a spotlight towards their stamina and physical fitness levels.

Obviously the one who did the most daily exercise out of all of them was Naruto, who went plowing through logs at such a speed that by the end of the shift he'd pretty much split enough logs for three shipments. Sasuke came in second in this race, working up a sweat in the process and needing to towel down afterwards, a material that Sakura was all too happy to provide as she watched with fluttery eyes as the boy wiped his face and neck under the rays of sun. Then, of course, the one who was the most exhausted at the end was the kunoichi herself, who probably didn't do as much moving around as the other two as evident by how she collapsed by her chopping stump about halfway through for a break.

The team's third and final job for that day came in helping out in the storage area for a supermarket. Basically what the group had to do was move checked supplies from the main building into one of the many sheds out back. They would then have to stack the boxes up nicely to make sure that all of the marked goods could fit into it and that the area wouldn't be cluttered with unorganized material. The three youngsters got off to a strong start with Kakashi supervising them. He watched them closely as they moved from the building to the shed one by one, with the pile of boxes in the unit steadily filling with every trip they made.

It was pretty much business as usual for the most part. Unfortunately, while arranging stuff, Naruto unwittingly boxed himself in and ended up getting trapped behind a wall of crates.

Sasuke and Sakura watched snickering from the entrance as Naruto banged away at the walls of boxes surrounding him, "Help! I'm stuck! Guys! Let me out!"

"How the heck did you manage that, dobe?" Sasuke asked with amusement. The pink haired kunoichi beside him, unable to contain herself any longer, burst out laughing.

"I don't know teme! Just get me out of here already!"

"Only you'd ever mess up on a D-Ranked assignment, Naruto," Sakura giggled, wiping away tears of delight as the boy in orange continued to try and push his way out. Unfortunately a heavy box up top kept the rest in place, making any and all efforts to try and free himself futile. "Just relax and pull yourself together."

"I'm as pulled together as I can be, Sakura-chan! Naruto want out!"

Kakashi, book in hand, strolled over to the team with a big smile on his masked face. While it was true he found the situation thoroughly amusing himself, unfortunately he had his own job to do. His responsibilities as team leader and instructor to these youngsters meant he had to be the mature one here, and that meant cutting their fun short before they went into overtime. "Come on guys; no teammate left behind, remember?"

Upon snapping Sasuke and Sakura out of their fits of merriment, the two then moved forward and helped pull the crates away, allowing Naruto room to climb over and out of his would-be prison.

That last mission was probably the most entertaining of the lot, with everyone except Naruto getting their good eight chuckles out of it. In the end the team was pulled aside by their instructor, congratulated for a day's worth of work well done, and after handing in the last of their reports, were then dismissed with pay in hand. Like before, they were instructed to meet up at the same time tomorrow on the training field for another day of the same thing.

Though the group started out expecting to do more in terms of assignment quality, like perhaps jobs of the heroic kind that required them to step outside of the village and outside of their comfort zones, the group eventually came to terms with the idea that they would probably be doing a few more of these tedious chores before they were eventually allowed to move into something more challenging.

They were content with it at first, until the process of performing tedious jobs, otherwise known as D-Rank missions day after day, started to become irritable…

OOO

A week later…

A series of loud thumps rang out throughout training ground three as a certain two Genin were going through the usual spiel of intense training. Wielding a pair of wooden blockers on either arm, Naruto held a firm stance as he moved quickly around the clearing in circles while taking hit after hit from an aggressively pursuing Tayuya, giving her a moving target to engage.

Contrary to what others may be thinking, this was a tough exercise for both parties. While it was true the jinchuriki was setting the pace for his partner by holding the wooden pads, he was also using the opportunity to work on his rhythm, timing, and feel for the distance between himself and his opponent. This went double for Tayuya, who not only had to keep pace with him and throw out the combinations he was calling her to throw; she was also being run into the ground and having her timing, as well as her reflexes, tested to their fullest. The training was damn near exhausting, even though this was a common practice for both, because it wasn't that easy to get used to. Whenever they got stronger, they always upped the pace that much more, making every session harder than the last.

Sweating bullets, Tayuya drove home a series of straights mixed in with hooks and elbows, before spinning on the spot and firing off a back kick that Naruto took. A loud crack rang out before the jinchuriki dashed around in a circle. Holding the pads up, he watched the girl follow and attempt to cut him off, allowing her to wallop the wooden blockers with more consecutive blows seconds later.

"Left, left, right, hook, kick," Naruto shouted, taking the following hits and jumping back, holding both arms across his face when the girl then flew at him with a sailing kick. The power of the blow racked him, but despite the amount of force put behind it the blonde still managed to smile back at his training partner and circle around, watching the girl dash across and cut him off. "Good, Tayuya-chan! Keep it up!" He then blocked a roundhouse kick and a wild flurry of hooks before maneuvering around her, using a standard fighting form to continue the session.

Tayuya huffed and rushed forward. "My legs are heavy," she thought, feeling the strain finally getting to her. They'd been at this for an hour already and she was getting pretty tired. "Come on body! Don't fucking quit on me!" She spun in with another kick; landing it as a side-on blow and watching her opponent skip away in retreat.

It was an impressive performance, one that wasn't going on unacknowledged. Sitting on the sidelines, not only were Sasuke and Sakura present on the field, but Tayuya's teammates had also tagged along to join in on the carousing. While the kunoichi from squad seven and Kaede were watching quietly with great interest, Shiho was using her time reading from a book she'd picked out from the library and Sasuke was occupying himself doing some target practice. The latter would every so often stop to observe Naruto and Tayuya's progress, but would then quickly return to his exercises and continue on harder than before.

Sakura flinched as she watched the two Genin in front of her work, "Wow. I never knew Naruto trained so hard." And here, for the longest time, she'd been under the impression that all the boy ever did was wander around and slack off, like he appeared to do in the academy whenever every single teacher found it impossible to get the boy to focus on anything worthwhile.

Apparently, appearances were deceiving, as she found out not too long ago. Naruto was pretty hardcore when he set his mind to the task.

She allowed a smile to grace her lips. "They're both incredible," Sakura exclaimed.

"It's in their nature," Kaede replied for the girl with a sagely look, one which the kunoichi beside him took immediate notice of. "As I understand it, Naruto-san and Tayuya-san are extremely hard workers who get their strength from constant strenuous activity and skill maintenance. While my teammate does possess a great talent in many areas, including ninjutsu, she refuses to allow that talent to go to waste by slacking off. She is hard working through and through, and puts her heart and soul into everything she pursues."

"You have to be pretty damn disciplined to work that hard then," Sakura pointed while looking back at the pair fighting out over the grass. "I don't think I'll ever be able to keep it together like those two. I'm kind of jealous."

Catching wind of this, Naruto and Tayuya suddenly stopped in their tracks and looked across at the kunoichi, surprising her.

Panting and wiping sweat from her brow, the red head called it quits with one last, light jab to one of the wooden pads her partner was holding before pointing at the squad seven kunoichi. "Why don't you come up here and give it a try, pinky?"

"Huh?" Sakura pointed at herself, "Me?"

"Like they say, first time for anything right?" Tayuya breathed hard and wiped her arm across her forehead, moving over to where everyone else was sitting while Naruto waited in the clearing. When the redhead reached Sakura's spot, she helped pull the hesitant girl to her feet. "You want to become a strong ninja? Then put your back into it."

"Yeah, but-hey!" Sakura yelped as she was gently shoved forward by the winded red head, glaring back at her once and meeting Tayuya's wide grin. "Okay, okay, don't push. I'll give it a shot." The pink haired kunoichi then strolled over to Naruto, who held both arms up at the ready, while at the same time Tayuya plopped down beside Kaede to watch.

Sasuke and Shiho looked up when they heard the commotion, and paused for a moment to see Tayuya change out with Sakura.

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I promise you'll enjoy this training," Naruto promised brightly, beginning to pace on the spot and clapped the blocks together for good measure.

Giggling nervously, the kunoichi took a stance across from him and began to circle as well, "I doubt it. B-But I'll do my best."

She had to at least try… after all.

"Remember, Sasuke-kun is watching!" Inner-Sakura stated while throwing up a fist. "Show him what you're made of girl!"

Her voice of reason and conscience gave Sakura the encouragement she needed to buck up and face off against Naruto as firmly as she could. Even if it was in training, she'd seen how the boy performed in battle and how hard he'd been working with Tayuya. While part of her was confident that she would be able to do anything the tough-as-nails red head was able to do, Sakura's mind was also split with some negativity about actually being able to accomplish anything remotely impressive.

You could say she was worried.

She wasn't as fast as Naruto or Tayuya, her taijutsu wasn't as good, and she probably wasn't as strong. What exactly did she have going for her in this area?

Well… she was about to find out.

Before they could get started, Naruto began dashing left and right, circling his squad mate to encourage her to move as well and get a feel for her rhythm. The kunoichi started moving at her pace, not exactly using footwork like her teammate but still utilizing a more planted stance. While they were shuffling around one another and Naruto was just starting to get into it, the boy then noticed Sakura lagging behind him, and had to hop in place for a moment or so to allow her to catch up. After doing this a few more times and seeing the girl stumble, the jinchuriki looked at her in surprise.

"Are you okay, Sakura-chan? Your movement doesn't look so good," the boy asked.

Sakura glared at him and shook away the beads of sweat that had formed on her forehead. All they were doing right now was simply getting a sense of distance and timing, but she was already feeling a little bit warm under the collar.

Damn it. She needed to get some more stamina training into her routine. This was embarrassing.

"I'm fine," Sakura snapped.

Blinking, the blonde nodded in acknowledgement, "If you say so." He then held out the left block. "Let's start this with a few jabs. Give me your best ones."

Calculating her range, the kunoichi formed a tight fist with her forward facing hand and set herself comfortably on the ground. After a brief pause and a moment of careful consideration, Sakura then lunged straight at her 'opponent' as fast as she could.

Kicking up dust with her dash, Sakura's left swung in following a straight, hard motion. Before it could make impact, Naruto's eyes widened in shock when he picked up something dangerous and braced himself, a split second before the girl's fist suddenly exploded against the wooden block with a clap of thunder.

The shockwave that rang out was immediately followed by Naruto's body blasting back and the pad he was holding cracking from the impact. The jinchuriki actually had to hold his ground since he never expected to take a shot that strong right from the get-go. After sliding to a halt after a few feet of travel along the grass, the boy looked up from his cringing expression and switched to one of utter surprise when his eyes landed back on Sakura.

Not only did the training partner express amazement at the development, but Sasuke, Shiho, Tayuya and Kaede who had witnessed the whole thing play out were also looking utterly bewildered.

"Damn," Tayuya exclaimed. She didn't know the girl was a power type. That punch was superb.

Even Sakura appeared astonished at how far she managed to push the blonde back, "Huh. That was weird."

"That was one hell of a jab!" Naruto thought in alarm, looking down at the block to see a fist imprint in it before smirking and tilting back up. "Perfect feet to upper-body and shoulder rotation, transmission of energy, step in, timing, and flow... just like in the textbooks." She must have been frustrated too, since he could feel the emotion reverberating inside the blocker. Must have been from his comment from before.

Despite her appearance, Sakura really knew how to apply in-text knowledge to practice when she was motivated to, which explained why her punch had so much power based solely on execution of movement and driving momentum. It reminded Naruto of the power he had to rely on when all he had was motion to deliver a blow to take down much larger and physically stronger individuals. Her sense was good despite lacking in excess physical training and recently getting off of the habit of dieting.

However, it did reveal one other thing about Sakura; she had a talent for hard punching. Scary...

Naruto slammed the two blockers together with a thump before taking a stance again. "Nice shot. Let's see how long you can keep that power up, Sakura-chan. Come on."

Roused from her stupor, the kunoichi refocused on her objective and crouched low, before again launching herself at the boy.

Sasuke and the rest of the crew then proceeded to watch as Naruto began taking the swings thrown by his teammate combination after combination, with the Sakura showcasing brute force and power few knew she even had. The loud cracks and thumps that rang out echoed across the entire area and brought a new soundtrack to the environment, putting everyone in awe and bringing a smile to the initially bewildered Tayuya.

Even though Sakura had just come to watch, the rest of her time on the field there she spent training with the others. The more she got into it and sparred with Naruto, the more her own confidence and the smile on her face grew, and soon everyone started to get into the swing of the session…

OOO

Two weeks later…

Afternoon…

Kakashi chuckled as he looked over the downcast and miserable expressions of his team as they trudged out of the administration building for the last time that day, a complete shift from the attitudes they once held two weeks prior. All three members of the squad appeared both haggard and grungy from the many hours they'd spent pulling weeds out of the old woman's garden they'd been called in to help out with. From all the crap covering their skin and clothes, it was safe to say that their current state of unhappiness was within reason.

Upon making it out onto the street and away from the main building's entrance, the Jonin stopped his group from going any further and gestured for the trio to gather around.

"So… did we have fun today?" the man asked, not even flinching when all he got for his question was a round of glares.

Sakura's eye twitched, "I've got dirt in my finger-nails and damp shorts. It's very unpleasant, sensei."

"Same here," Naruto grumbled, patting down the back of his shorts and looking over to see the brown patch framed around his ass. It never occurred to him that he'd probably get this dirty digging through an old lady's fertilizer covered garden. But then work started and he soon realized how badly he'd miscalculated. "Look at this! I'll have to put this through the wash twice to get this stuff off!"

Seeing Naruto show off his rump from the side had Kakashi laugh good-naturedly. "Now, now, there's no need to get all bent out of shape. Every ninja from every village start out their careers as shinobi the exact same way you guys are. It's just one of the many challenges you're going to end up facing on this road and it's only going to get tougher from here on out."

"I hope so," Sasuke grumbled, expressing his distain at standing out here with wet pants and covered in muck. He wanted to get this little pep talk over and done with so that he could go out and have a bath.

They absolutely reeked.

"What's our next mission for tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, looking up at the man after figuring why he'd probably stopped them. They'd just exited the hall where Kakashi had recently finished having a little talk with the Hokage before being handed another scroll by the old man. What else could he have called them over for other than to relay them the specifications of their next job that would probably add more vinegar to the wounds than antiseptic cream?

Kakashi smiled as he showed his team the rolled up document he was keeping in his pocket, which they eyed carefully. "We'll be doing something a little bit different this time."

"Is it a C-Rank mission?" Naruto asked hopefully, a feeling shared by both Sasuke and Sakura as they stared up expectantly.

Kakashi gave them a bright smile. "Nope." Seeing the three deflate at being shot down, the man continued, "It's another D-Rank mission, but this time we're going to be upping the pace a little."

"What? Are we going to be running to our job locations now?" Sasuke asked, getting a whine out of Sakura at the idea of more strenuous activity. They were exhausted enough as it was to start talking about working harder.

The Jonin wasn't swayed in the least by their initial responses and continued. "We'll be delivering a parcel to a village on the outskirts of the Land of Fire. Since it will take us a whole day to get there and it's your first mission outside of Konoha, we're going to spend the night at an inn so that we can avoid traveling back by night."

While the change to an out-of-village mission certainly came as a welcome surprise to Sasuke and Sakura based on their reactions, the one most excited at the prospect of their next job, understandably enough, turned out to be Naruto. Stars in his eyes and a grin appearing on his face, the boy gave a loud cheer that had passers turn to look at him strangely for a moment, "REALLY? A road trip outside of Konoha?"

"Yep," Kakashi replied, pocketing the scroll again. "We're heading to Gokayama, a village hidden inside a mountainous region. It's an old settlement with a lot of great views and sites. If you're up to it after the trip, feel free to wander around and shop for some souvenirs while we're there."

"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, pumping his fists. "We're going to another village, dattebayo!"

"This is so cool," Sakura silently cheered, sharing in her teammate's joy while Sasuke merely smirked and closed his eyes.

A delivery mission?

Well… it was infinitely a better job than crawling around in the dirt all day long.

Upon seeing their collective responses, the teacher gave a wave as he turned to leave, "I'll meet you guys at the village gate at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Be ready for a long trip and don't be late."

Hearing this earned three blank looks from the members of the squad before all of them frowned. "We should be saying that to you," Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all thought at once.

With that announcement made and all affairs for the time being settled, Kakashi then dismissed his group and took off into the village in a shunshin. This left the trio with the rest of the day to spend it however they wished. While Sasuke went off to go do his own thing, training and organizing himself some tea for tonight, Sakura and Naruto followed after him with the former trying once again, with gusto this time, to ask him out.

"Hey Sasuke-kun, do you want to go grab a bite to eat together?"

"No," the boy flat out replied.

Just like the dozens of other attempts before, Sakura was shot down.

The girl stopped in her tracks and proceeded to sulk with a raincloud hanging over her head. She watched silently as the genius marched off with his hands in his pockets and breathed out a heavy sigh, "Again… why doesn't Sasuke-kun want to go out with me? Am I not womanly enough?" Was it her figure, her age, or her manner of dress? Damn it. She was doing the best she could with what she had. Why couldn't he see that?

Straightening up, the girl turned to see Naruto looking at her curiously.

After a moment of silence, the blonde tilted his head, "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

"Y-Yeah," the kunoichi replied while wiping her eyes away. Did she just cry a bit? Probably. "I'm fine." She smiled back at him, wishing to reinstate the toughness she held before.

Naruto beamed at her in response before pointing down the road. "Would you… like to get something to eat together? It's a lot more fun when you can have dinner with a friend." Tayuya was on a late afternoon mission for one of those twenty-four hour businesses, so his diary had a significant gap to fill.

Since he'd asked so nicely and was also showing genuine concern for her, Sakura gave a warm smile in return and nodded towards the jinchuriki. "S-Sure." He was being sweet. She couldn't turn that down after he'd been so nice to both her and Sasuke the entire time they'd been a team so far.

They went down the road to pick a restaurant, not really caring where they went as long as they had a full stomach by evening…

XXX

The very next morning…

"You're heading out on another mission?" Tayuya asked sleepily from the futon she had crashed on across from Naruto, watching the boy slip on his jacket and zip it up. "Man… you're even busier than I am…"

"Kakashi-sensei wants us to adjust to the system as quickly as possible," Naruto replied with a bright smile, goggles around his head and headband hanging comfortably around his neck. "Though I'm pretty sure we're already used to it, at least we're making progress. We'll be out of the village for a couple of days, so don't expect to see me until Friday."

"R-Right," the red head yawned, sitting up in her oversized shirt and looking across at the boy as he weaved his way around their little pillow mountain in the middle of the room. "Well… good luck out there, shithead. Are you going to have any breakfast before you set out?"

"I'll just make myself some toast," Naruto chirped as he reached his desk and pulled up his travel pack. Slinging it over his shoulder, the boy took quick note of how the grey bag was kind of bulky and didn't really allow much freedom of movement. He left a reminder to himself to have it replaced with something better suited for his area. "I'm good here. If I need anything I'll forage for it."

Tayuya beamed in his direction. "Come back safe then, alright."

Naruto tipped his metaphorical hat and grinned one last time toward his close friend before stepping out of the room. The boy then wasted no time in heading to the kitchen, toasting himself a couple of slices of bread, jamming them up, and moving with purpose for the front door. He chose to leave with poise this time rather than roguishly through his kitchen window, which was kind of odd.

However, just as he was stepping out the front door with keys in hand, he suddenly felt a pull on his jacket sleeve and turned to see Tayuya, still dressed in her sleepwear consisting of shirt and panties, standing directly behind him.

At first puzzled by her hesitant expression and the signs of red in her cheeks, Naruto's questions as to why she was seeing him off were shortly answered when the girl leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. Her sudden show of affection startled the blonde, who remained planted on the spot through the gesture, right up to when she leaned back and gazed up at him fondly.

Eyes shimmering and face glowing, the musician spoke, "I've wanted to try that for a while now…"

Naruto gulped nervously, "T-Tayuya-chan?"

The girl gave him a look of knowing, "It's a promise. You will come back in one piece, right?"

Recovering slowly, the boy shook himself out of his stupor and returned her question with his usual, everyday vigor, "Believe it." He looked like he was about to take off again, but held himself back long enough to turn around and address another point. "Uhh… Tayuya-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you… like to go out with me sometime?"

Caught off guard at first, the girl then let out a boisterous laugh and patted him on the shoulder, "We always go out and do stuff together, you lug." Earning a sheepish grin from him in kind, Tayuya nodded nonetheless. "But since you asked, I would love to go on a date with you."

Heart racing, Naruto tipped to her in acknowledgement. After trading smiles and looks, the blonde then took off down the walkway leading up to his apartment and disappeared from sight, leaving Tayuya standing in his doorway gazing after him and blushing.

"I should have done that a long time ago…" the girl thought with glee, "Guess I was having too much fun with him to realize…"

Still tired and not really wanting to stand out in the morning air in nothing but a shirt and underwear, the red head stretched out before shutting the door behind her, deciding to hit the hay for a little while longer…

OOO

Later that morning…

Naruto could barely contain his excitement as he, Sasuke and Sakura walked side by side down the road leading away from their village. They'd already parted from its gates far, far behind and were well on route for their destination, and this being one of the first times they'd actually left the village (consciously mind you), two of them were focusing a lot of their time taking in the surroundings of their general area. It wasn't like they were completely unfamiliar with their territory. They could read maps.

It was just interesting seeing new places for themselves and in person.

"Leaving the village with a team on a mission to parts unknown?" Naruto inquired to no one in particular before grinning brightly, "It's like a dream come true."

"Yeah, except that it's still a D-Rank mission…" Sasuke replied pointedly.

"And it's not exactly parts unknown, just a place that's on the map we haven't gone too yet," Sakura also added with her own smile.

"Well… look on the bright side, at least we're going out to see the world," Naruto stated, slipping his hands into his pockets and marching ahead of their group's formation with his ecstatic grin in full play. "That's the important thing, yeah?"

"So is the mission," Kakashi interjected, walking into the center of their arrangement to see them all turn to him. "Remember to keep an open mind, your wits about you and your eyes trained on the path ahead. Though I'm not asking you to worry about it too much now, remember that we are shinobi on an assignment. Anything can happen on the road when individual or teams of shinobi leave the safety of their village. You have to be on the lookout for everything and anything that could prove hazardous."

"Like bandits and other shinobi, right sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. Common thugs in force can cause a small Genin team some trouble in a D or C-Ranked level mission," Kakashi informed quickly, only to get a roll of the eyes from both Naruto and Sasuke, since an obstacle like that wouldn't really pose much of a problem for them. Their instructor noticed this and shook his head in amusement, "Well… other teams at least. Don't take them lightly though… or any situation where you think you're safe. Always expect conflict wherever you go, but don't make it seem like you're expecting it, otherwise you'll be sending any potential attackers mixed messages with unexpected consequences. You must also be on the lookout for those 'extraordinary cases'. Some mercenaries may be specially trained, military veterans or elites well versed in combat, and can either be really powerful fighters in their own right or trained specifically to fight shinobi."

"We live in a world dominated by shinobi. That's to be expected," Sasuke added, closing his eyes. He came from a village populated by ninja. Even those who weren't trained as shinobi were either really strong or had some form of shinobi training. He also recognized those adults who'd tried to become shinobi in the past but never made it out of the academy, and simply settled for a peaceful life.

No matter where you came from in this world, there was always going to be someone who knew about shinobi and combat.

"Because this is a D-Ranked level mission, any hostile forces we're likely to encounter on this road are common thugs, thieves and con artists, people that even you guys can handle," Kakashi stated assuredly. "If you were to take missions of a level higher than this, then you are more likely to come across actual shinobi."

"That's comforting," Sakura exclaimed, sounding relieved.

This information had Naruto more excited about his future prospects as a ninja as well as in whatever else the world had in store for him. He wanted to see what challenges and adventures laid in wait for him, but he wasn't going to rush it. He was going to wait for them and take life on one day at a time. Sasuke and Sakura however could sense the excitement growing in their teammate, a feeling they could clearly see reflected in his expression, which in turn brought smiles to their own faces. The former was just as enthusiastic about facing some actual shinobi in combat, whereas the latter responded to the enthusiasm emanating from her friend.

It was contagious. She couldn't help it.

Kakashi looked around at each of his students brightly. He ruffled Naruto on the head while they continued moving forward at a relaxed pace and fixed his eyes on the road in front of them once more. "All we're doing is delivering a package that the client wished to have transported safely to its destination without the contents being damaged. He could have hired a courier specialist shinobi, but that would have been too extreme for a mission like this. It's cheaper to higher Genin teams to deliver packages than courier shinobi, since those guys mostly deal with formal documents and such."

"Good to know that our services are so cheap," Sakura commented sarcastically. She didn't know whether to feel honored to take part in a mission like this or pissed off at the fixed rate bullshit for these kinds of jobs. Apparently the other two boys felt the same distain, but it made sense to him.

This was a mission where nothing dramatic was supposed to happen, right? It was a straight, simple, pick-up and drop-off assignment meant to be completed over a two day period. No stops, no diversions, no planning, no combat, no nothing. It was basically just a walk across the countryside from one village to another.

Hopefully somewhere down the line they were going to get attacked by a bear or something, because Sasuke didn't want to end up walking the entire time…

He was pretty sure Naruto didn't want to end this mission just strolling through it either…

XXX

Later that afternoon…

The day seemingly crawled by as Team 7 made their way towards the village that was their destination on this trip. While there had been some momentary pauses on the excursion, chief among which included a lunch break at a roadside vendor and Naruto wandering off the path a couple of times out of an overwhelming thirst for adventure, the team eventually arrived in the region where their mission instructed them to be.

Exiting the wide expanse of fields making up the Land of Fire, the team found themselves in a rich, diverse landscape of valleys and hillsides. True to its name and description, the village of Gokayama was spread out over an entire area of mountainous terrain. The farms sat in the lowlands where they raised cattle, planted crops and grew rice. The rest of it, and the place they were meant to go, ascended into the high rocks well above ocean level. The winding, twisting road leading through the base villages up into the hills, thick forests and then the steeper climbs, presented the group with the final stretch of their trip.

Climbing up the slopes, passing and crossing fast moving rivers, and weaving through the dense woodland, the group eventually arrived at their village destination nestled in the bosom of the highlands. Bearing that old-fashioned, fantastic feel in its architecture and people, the four shinobi took their time admiring the whole setup of the outland settlement as they made their way through town. Passing various stalls, shops, restaurants and hotels, the squad eventually arrived at the building where the package was meant to be brought.

As it turned out, the person receiving the package was a relative of the daimyo on a trip to the resort there. They were pleasantly surprised to receive the visit from the shinobi and kindly thanked the team for their service.

And that was it…

Squad seven left the hotel with a bewildered air about the teens' heads and a pleasantly smiling Kakashi on their heels.

"Mission accomplished," the man chirped.

"That's it?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi nodded affirmatively, "That's it."

"Well that was considerably underwhelming," Naruto exclaimed, looking across at Sasuke to meet his equally disapproving stare as they ambled back down the main highway. "I was expecting more of a show-downy sort of thing to happen the moment we arrived here. So all we had to do was knock on the door, smile, hand over the parcel, get a signature, and all the while look pleasant doing it?"

"That's pretty much it," Kakashi replied, pulling out his orange book and popping it open. "It was like I said, just a simple pick-up and drop-off; nothing fancy, no heroics, and by the book through and through. I don't know about you guys, but I'd say this mission was a big success."

"Y-Yeah," Naruto murmured, still feeling completely dejected at nothing of real excitement taking place. Sure the sights and sounds of the countryside were captivating, but come on.

"At least we had a nice walk," Sakura added, trying to find some consolation for her noticeably miserable teammates. "The trip outside the village has to count for something at least, right?"

"Mm," she heard the disenchanted grunts from both Naruto and Sasuke.

Sensing the negativity of the atmosphere growing, Kakashi peeked over the top of his book and promptly stopped his team in their tracks. "Since the mission is over now, feel free to wander about the village and have a look around. I'll bet you guys are tired of walking all day and not doing much, right?" When he received three separate nods, the Jonin looked back up. "I'll find us a hotel to stay for the night. I'll meet you three at that barbeque store for dinner when you're all done."

Seeing the restaurant the man was pointing out, the kids acknowledged the location however they saw fit before being dismissed. Naruto quickly broke off, while Sakura went along with Sasuke wherever he chose to go. Even after being turned down hundreds of times asking the Uchiha prodigy out on a date, she wasn't even close to giving up on him. She was going to get a yes from the village's Rookie of the year or die trying.

Taking full advantage of the situation, Naruto spent the next few hours after splitting from his group going through town, checking out the stalls, buying shit, and even coming across some gaming booths setup specifically for the tourists where he cheat-uhh… partook in the activities provided. He completely lost himself in all the sights and glamour of the little village on the edge of the Land of Fire, having long missed experiences like this in the two years since his last trip outside of his home.

Now that he thought about it, he wondered how the Land of the Great River was coming along and whether Hanare was doing alright. He was sure the country had managed to get back to its feet in his absence, which made him look forward to a visit later on in his career.

Upon leaving himself a mental reminder regarding his previous adventure, he then returned to wandering about town and checking out the main buildings on the streets. He found himself a quaint ramen bar nestled between two hotels where he bought himself a small bowl of miso, an antic store where he spent a good while looking over the vases and statues, and a jewelry store where he decided to buy something special for Tayuya.

While he was moving between the structures he also came across a small bar and casino that had him pause and consider for a moment, before slowly moving on. When he turned to face the road again however he suddenly bumped into a fair-skinned young woman, with straight, shoulder-length black hair, and wearing a long-bluish black kimono held closed by a white obi. She was also carrying with her a pig, strangely enough, wearing pearls and a vest, as well as a handful of items which were unceremoniously dropped from her hand when Naruto walked into her.

They both stepped back in surprise after all their assorted goods scattered across the floor.

"Oh, sorry, sorry," Naruto exclaimed hurriedly and in panic, bending over to pick up the food items the person had lost. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you."

The young woman smiled nervously and knelt down as well to help the boy gather up the materials, "Th-That's alright. It was an accident." Once everything was returned to their respective owners, they rose back to their feet. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Naruto bowed politely, shuffling the bag he held in his arm a bit so that it rested comfortably in the joint. Beaming, the jinchuriki took quick note of the pig that snorted at him in greeting, before focusing fully on the pretty young lady he'd run into, "I'm Naruto. What's your name?"

"Shizune… and this here is Tonton," the stranger replied with a warm glow and a quick nod towards the animal she was holding. It was then she noticed the forehead protector the child in front of her was wearing and snapped her head towards it in slight surprise. "Oh. You're a Konoha shinobi?"

"Y-Yeah," the blonde replied while rubbing the metal plate across his neck.

"What's a young ninja like you doing all the way out here?" Shizune asked curiously.

"I was just here on a mission with my team. But since it's over and we've got some time to ourselves, we're just walking around town to see if there's anything interesting." He looked back up at Shizune to see her puzzled stare return to its previously pleasant visage. "Again, I'm sorry for walking into you like that."

The woman waved her hand, "That's okay. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going either, so… I guess we're both at fault. Yeah?"

Naruto grinned brightly at that, "Okay then. We both walked into each other." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and giggled along with the woman. From the way they were acting it was almost like they were old friends.

"Shizune!" another woman's voice suddenly boomed from inside the bar they were standing beside, startling the pair out of their reverie, "What's taking you so long?!"

Panicking a bit, the raven haired woman stammered, "I'll be right there, Tsunade-sama!" Sighing, Shizune smiled back down at Naruto when she saw the startled boy look between both her and the establishment in confusion. "I have to go now. It was really nice meeting you, Naruto."

"It was nice meeting you too, Shizune," the jinchuriki replied brightly.

With a parting wave, the pair then went their separate ways. As Naruto wandered off of course and down the main street, he couldn't help but think where exactly he'd heard the name 'Tsunade' before, but chose to dismiss his inquiry when he ended up drawing three blanks in a row.

After an hour of more wandering, in which Naruto was able to see the town and valley turn into night from the temple at the top of the cliff, the jinchuriki then returned to meet up with his team. He found Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke waiting for him at the agreed upon restaurant, where they all sat around for dinner before moving on to their hotel for a good night of sleep.

OOO

The next morning…

Team 7 left the mountain side village feeling more refreshed than ever. While the journey here had been a bit dull and the payoff at the time the delivery was finalized had been less than satisfactory, the hours spent at the actual village and around its many entertainment venues had been a welcome conciliation prize, and far surpassed their assignment in terms of actually doing something interesting. On the day the parcel was delivered, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura spent their free time exploring the shops, stalls and bars.

The morning afterwards, all four members of the team woke up, had a long soak in the hot springs, a filling breakfast, and then one last hike through town before departing. The descent into the valleys was, by far, the most enjoyable part of their journey, since they all got a much better view of the landscape then they did leaving Konohagakure. The sight of the countryside away from their home lasted a good half an hour till they finally receded into the forests and began marching for home.

"I thought this was a nice mission," Sakura exclaimed pleasantly. "It was low key yes, but I enjoyed it in the end."

"It was relaxing," Sasuke said simply, eyes closed and hands in his pockets.

Naruto grinned and scratched his cheek, "Easy."

"Well, hopefully you guys learned something from this," Kakashi said, looking down at each of them as they strolled along the dirt road. "Not all missions are going to be as eventful as others and not all of them play out as you intend them to. Whether the jobs are D-Rank or A-Rank, you have to expect the unexpected. It's a habit you pick up on when you've been at it as long as I have."

"Has a mission like this ever gone South for you, sensei?" Sakura asked curiously, looking up at the man.

The Jonin chuckled sheepishly while rubbing his head, "Several times. A lot of them were the low grade assignments I had when I first started out as a Genin. We got into more than a few scrapes on the road and there were always people looking to cause trouble us. But those were more turbulent times back then, so a lot of the missions we were given were naturally upgraded to a higher tone on the spot."

"Wouldn't want that happening too often… unless you're seriously unlucky," Sasuke said.

A nervous laugh came from one of the three. Take a guess as to which one.

Sakura looked across at Naruto to see the blonde wearing a sheepish grin and was moving in a manner that indicated he was trying to keep his expression hidden from the others. Sweat dropping at his attempts to wave off the comment thrown by the Uchiha, the kunoichi looked back to face the road winding through the hills ahead of her.

"I just want to get home and get all of my affairs in order and sleep soundly on it," Sakura stated, running a hand through her long hair. "I've got some more training to do as well. I need to get tougher if I want to keep doing high volumes of work with you guys in the future."

"Ah. So you're taking a leaf out of Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun's handbook," Kakashi said, looking down at the girl and patting her on the head encouragingly. "Well done."

"Thanks, sensei."

"If you need any help don't hesitate to come to me or your teammates. We're all here to support you and to help you out if things get difficult for you, so don't stress about doing everything on your own."

"We're Team 7 after all. We look out for one another," Naruto finished with a bright smile in her direction.

Appreciating their words of confidence and support, Sakura rested her hands behind her and walked along with an even warmer aura about her. That and the sun beating down upon the countryside they were now walking across added to her mood…

OOO

The excursion back to Konohagakure across the Land of Fire seemed to take a lot longer than the trip to their mission's destination.

Was it because they were purposefully drawing their return journey out a little bit longer than their venture away from home?

Either way, after passing through one of the small towns they had gone through on their walk to Gokayama, the team once again entered the small evergreen forest crossing down and away from the borders. It was a thick wooded area with a high canopy and you could barely see through several meters into the woods before it became clogged up. The only signs of the outside world they could still see weaving through the woods were the skies above.

The good thing about this particular stretch was that they didn't sense anything hostile or negative in the area. It was pretty peaceful, which not only had Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura at ease, but the more nature tuned Naruto radiating in one of his most preferred settings. The atmosphere and feel of this woodland, much like the village they'd been in before, felt so much different than the forests back in Konohagakure. It felt more open here.

These weren't woods divided by a community or a massive defensive wall; this was nature how it was supposed to be.

"The trees are so big," Sakura murmured, looking around at the skyscrapers towering around them. "This isn't even a plantation or anything, just untouched landscape."

"It's kind of bothersome. We can't even find our current position on the map in this mess. Unless we stumble upon a river or something we have no way of actually telling where we are," Sasuke murmured.

Naruto slipped his hands behind his head casually, "We're about half-way through the forest still in a North-Westerly direction of our village, not too far from a river actually." The blonde glanced over at the genius who looked back at him intently. "You may not be able to see much, but I can pretty much feel everything in this area."

Sasuke blinked, "How far?"

The jinchuriki made a so-so gesture with his hand, "It's kind of fuzzy at around three-hundred meters out, but I can still feel stuff beyond that." He then pointed over the kid's shoulder, getting Kakashi and Sakura to look too, "There's a mother deer and her fawn about a hundred and twenty five meters that way grazing." He then pointed directly to the right of them. "And there's a wolf sixty meters that way following us."

Paling, Sakura stepped a little bit closer to the team's resident genius, "W-Wolf?"

"Rogue, 170 pounds, around three feet tall," Naruto reported without missing a beat. "Don't worry, he won't hurt us. He's just curious."

Still not really sold on his reassurance, Sakura huddled up closer to Sasuke with a fearful look on her face, "R-Right…"

Kakashi looked on amusedly at the kunoichi before turning to Naruto, whom he saw was still smiling brightly as per the norm. "You really do have some amazing points, Naruto-kun." The Jonin was genuinely impressed.

Shinobi in general were pretty sharp individuals, able to pick up on abnormalities in any given environment and notice a problem even without fully realizing it. This aspect came pretty handy when trying to deduce a genjutsu world from the real world. The insight that Naruto possessed however was several times stronger than that, as from what he described to them, he was able to use this heightened sixth sense of his as a tool to visualize and perceive his surroundings.

That was an advantage a lot of other shinobi didn't have. Basically in areas like this one, nobody could get the drop on him.

"It's pretty useful being able to sense everything around you," the jinchuriki stated in a particularly pleased manner, "On a scale of one to badass, I'd say that's pretty badass."

"Hmph. Someone likes to toot his own horn," Sasuke smirked.

The boy giving the little information session frowned and turned on the prodigy in a typical Uzumaki response. "Hey! When the day comes you finally get an awesome ability that gives you a new perspective on life, you can blow out as much hot air as you like, teme," Naruto exclaimed while jabbing a finger in his direction.

"Whatever," the Uchiha replied in amusement, looking away.

In order to quell the argument from escalating further and drawing any unwanted attention to their troop, Kakashi incised his person between the pair and eased their bickering with a few words of wisdom. After which the squad continued marching along the forest trek, making steady progress for about half an hour before finally coming across a familiar bridge over the river Naruto had mentioned they were traveling near.

It was a red, arcing walkway, typical in its design and placement, and looked to be quite well done. It made you think what kind of person was so devoted to his craft to actually take the time to make such a good-looking bridge all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. Not that the team was complaining or anything.

There was a bridge that they could use to cross a fast moving torrent and that was good enough for them.

Just as the squad was in the process of climbing over the causeway, the moment they reached the halfway mark Naruto suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. His footsteps coaching to a silent halt caught the attention of the rest of his team, who turned to ask him what was wrong, only to pause when they noticed the startled look in his eyes.

Immediately becoming concerned, Kakashi turned around and removed his right hand from his pocket, "What is it, Naruto?"

The blonde blinked, "I don't know who or what it is but I wasn't able to pick up on them until a few seconds ago." His head then snapped over his shoulder. He didn't even notice that he was still on the opening half of the bridge they were crossing and that not only had he taken up the rearguard, but was also left the most exposed. "Is it some kind of jutsu? Whatever it is, it's messing with the air…"

"What's the distance?" Sasuke asked, also pulling his hands from his pockets.

"Fifty… forty-five meters," Naruto replied, his glare hardening but his pupils and irises remaining dilated in a very intense manner. "Three people. They're getting closer…"

Also becoming aware of the disturbance in the air, Sasuke reached for a kunai whereas Kakashi trained his eyes in the direction Naruto was looking, also picking up on the approaching targets. Sensing the atmosphere becoming worrisome, a concerned Sakura walked quickly up to Naruto and tugged on his sleeve, unable to rip his gaze from the tree line or the forest beyond it. Nevertheless, she voiced her concern to him.

"Maybe it's just a group of animals, Naruto," the kunoichi murmured, "Yeah… just a herd of deer or something, like back there."

Naruto shook his head, "No." He then recoiled a little when he sensed a change. "They stopped?"

Sakura smiled nervously at him and then back at the other two, whom she could see were radiating even more intensity than before. "Come on guys. There can't be someone out there. The forest is crawling with wildlife. Maybe it's just…" Her words were interrupted by the flow of the raging river beneath them suddenly becoming abnormal…

Moments later, the rapids stopped completely.

"JUMP!" Naruto shouted, grabbing Sakura by the arm and pulling her with him. The girl let out a shriek of surprise when she found herself flying through the air in the jinchuriki's arms. Kakashi and Sasuke leapt back as well when all of a sudden the bridge they had been standing on exploded upwards when a massive fountain of water rocketed into the air.

Like a geyser, the water rose from the river in a mighty pillar, fluctuating, warping and twisting before taking on the shape of a massive dragon in the air above them. Droplets rained down on both sides of the river, with Naruto and Sakura ending up on the side they had been previously on, whereas Kakashi and Sasuke wound up on the exit side. Upon making landfall safely away from the destroyed crossing, all four parties looked up in alarm as the massive water dragon roared and whipped through the air before charging straight down at Kakashi.

The silver haired Jonin responded immediately by flying through hand seals and thrusting both hands into the ground.

"Doton: Doryūheki!" (Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall)

A massive earth wall jutted out of the ground with four dog heads at its front, which sprang up before the pair and met the spear of the water dragon head on. The massive jutsu formed out of the raging river battered the earth defense with tremendous force, causing the earth to rumble and the forest to shake under the intense vibrations. The sounds of shockwaves ringing out throughout the woodlands drowned out all other noises, including those made by the animals fleeing the scene.

Awed by their teacher's lightning fast actions, Naruto was then pulled away from the sight of the attacking dragon by the presence of one of their attackers emerging from the woods before him. Looking ahead, the jinchuriki saw a tall man with short black hair concealed by a grey top, complete with a hood which resembled a shark's head, an appendage on the back that resembled a dorsal fin and dark pants, emerge from the forest. He also had two dark, violet markings under his eyes.

The stranger, covered by the shade of trees, grinned menacingly, "Hello."

Naruto gritted his teeth and took a stance, with Sakura also noticing the individual when she saw her friend's gaze averted elsewhere. The boy held his arm out protectively in front of the kunoichi while he faced off with the antagonist, "Stay behind me."

Seeing the foe grinning maliciously in their direction, Sakura nodded.

The stranger lifted his head, flashing his toothy smirk, "Like that's going to make a difference." He then lifted his foot casually off of the ground, a droplet of water falling from his toe and hitting the grass beneath his shadow. A split second later, he then slammed his foot back down into it, cracking the earth. The moment the shinobi's foot made contact, water burst out of the ground in a violent fountain before he threw a kick straight up with it, "Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri!" (Water Release: Rising Water Slicer) The stream transformed into a fin-like blade that shot across the clearing, cutting through both rock and grass towards his targets.

Seeing the threat, both Naruto and Sakura leapt out of the way, the water blade splitting the ground between the two and leaving a massive gash as it soon dispersed somewhere behind them.

Rolling to a stop, Naruto glared up with his teeth bared and sweat dripping down his head after barely avoiding the attack. "Shit… this guy…" He stood up, noticing out of the corner of his eye that the massive water dragon jutsu that had been summoned was still battering Kakashi's earth style wall. "He's powerful."

The attacker chuckled when he saw the blonde haired boy glare at him and the girl that had also dodged look back in shock. "Good reflexes. But let's see you try that again." While grinning in Naruto's direction, he blindly pointed the two fingers of his left hand at Sakura, the kunoichi jerking upwards in surprise, "Dodge this, girl. Suiton: Mizu Tetsubo!" (Water Release: Water Iron Halberd)

Naruto responded in alarm, immediately dashing straight towards Sakura as the man's two fingers suddenly transformed into water before shooting towards the kunoichi in the form of a fast moving jet stream with the head in the shape of a spear. Clearly not fast enough to move in time, all Sakura was able to do was position herself to avoid, until she was shoved aside by Naruto running into her, both of them rolling across the ground and coming to a stop beside the running river.

By this time the water dragon jutsu had dispersed, leaving Kakashi's wall cracked and worn away, but still holding strong.

Immediately upon moving his not as agile teammate out of the way, Naruto quickly sprang to his feet and formed his familiar cross-fingered hand seal, glare fixing on his completely unfazed opponent, who already had his fingers trained on him…

"Tajuu-" THUMP.

The sound of a dull thud echoed out as Naruto's eyes widened in shock, his hands coming apart when he was knocked off his feet by the spear of water thrown by his opponent. It plowed through him like a bullet the size of a lance, the boy feeling all sense and weight lift freely from his shoulders as he was propelled into the fast flowing river behind him.

Time seemed to slow for him as Sakura, who was on the ground behind him, looked up in horror as she saw her teammate's body fly over her. The earth wall once defending Kakashi and Sasuke lowered just in time for the pair to see the blonde's body hit by the jet of water and blood spray out of the exit wound from which the water was also traveling. The moment the spear dispersed into the air, Naruto's body then followed the natural path of gravity, as he was yanked back down to the ground and crashed into the rapids. His teammates could do nothing as he vanished beneath the surface.

"NARUTO!" Sakura cried out, her words unable to reach him. He was already gone from sight.

The rapids carried his body underwater down the winding river and over the next rise into unknown territory, leaving all members of Team 7 stunned.

The attacker laughed out loud, lowering his hand and marveling at his marksmanship. "Wow, now that was one hell of a backwards dive. Did you see the look on his face?" the assailant asked merrily, letting out another holler. "What a riot! He was a quick little runt, but apparently not quick enough. Sucks to be him." Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to boast over his easy kill.

"Raiso Gekishin!" Kakashi's voice bellowed out, the attacker turning in surprise to see the silver haired man rushing straight at him across the river, crackling with electricity before a barrage of spinning disks made from said electricity were sent flying at him. The assassin responded with a guard, taking the onslaught of disks that cut him to ribbons, before his dissected body parts formed into blobs of water and his form fell to the ground in a splash. Skidding to a stop at the soggy patch, Kakashi glared behind him at the terrified Sakura and shocked Sasuke, "I'll take care of him! Go find Naruto!" He then disappeared into the treetops.

Not needing to be told twice, Sasuke and Sakura sprang to their feet and began following the river. Unfortunately, they found their paths blocked by two shadows springing down from the trees close by. A large, bulky man dressed in a rain-drop patterned blue and green battle garb, complete with mask, snake hood, tribal marking under his eyes, and a massive shuriken on his back, and an attractive woman with brown spiky hair, mask, and wearing a purple battle tunic with the same rain-drop pattern on it as her compatriot's and armed with two scythes, confronted the two kids.

While the man engaged Sasuke on his side of the river, the woman confronted Sakura, the pink haired kunoichi recoiling in surprise.

"Boo," the woman exclaimed, immediately dashing at her stumped target at incredible speed.

Sakura drew a series of kunai and flung them at the approaching woman, who blocked them with her melee weapons before slicing at her. The Genin did her best to stay ahead of the scythes, her training allowing her to keep well out of reach of the blades as they grazed her on every swing… for the moment. Unable to stay ahead of the woman for long, Sakura was then forced to cross her arms over her body to take the kick sent at her. The blow slammed into her guard and sent her spiraling through the air, bouncing across the ground before crashing into the trees.

Sakura cried out in agony and held her shoulder, looking up in bewilderment, "W-Who the hell are you?"

Lowering the leg she'd used to kick, the woman in the mask smirked across at the downed teen and spoke, "I'm Yamame. Now that you know the name of the person who's going to kill you, you're mine!" Holding her weapon up in a show of intimidation and intent, she suddenly saw the pink haired youngster scramble to her feet and take off into the woods on the other side of the clearing. Her quick disappearance into the trees earned a dark chuckle from the older kunoichi. "Oh, so you want to play hide and seek huh? I can do that." Yamame wasted no time in giving pursuit.

"Damn it," Sasuke cursed, seeing the opponent Sakura was engaged with and how powerful she was. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to swear any further then that or take any action against the events unfolding on the other bank due to his own problem rushing towards him. The Uchiha dropped into a hard stance and locked onto his approaching foe. "What the heck's going on?"

"You don't have time to look idle, boy!" the man exclaimed, drawing the massive shuriken from his back. Allowing it to spin in his grip like a buzz saw, he then lashed out at the genius with it once he was within range. He saw Sasuke spring back in a high back flip to avoid, effortlessly putting distance between them and getting the attacker to raise an eyebrow, "Heh, you're pretty graceful, aren't you?"

Touching down in a crouching stance, Sasuke was already prepared with his own Fuma Shuriken, which he snapped open and chucked at the rogue ninja. His blade cut through the air towards his target in an arc, who used his massive throwing weapon to smack the approaching airborne one out of the way before throwing his at the prodigy. The genius timed the attack and responded by leaping into the tree line, disappearing into the bushes.

The large shinobi laughed after seeing his foe vanish and formed a hand seal. "Kajika said he wanted to deal with you himself, Uchiha. But since he's stuck fighting Kakashi, I'm going to have to take on the responsibility of killing you myself. Meisaigakure no Jutsu." (Hiding with Camouflage Technique) Upon gathering the right amount of chakra, the man's body then shimmered before vanishing right before Sasuke's very eyes, his presence disappearing completely.

Watching from his hiding spot, the raven haired boy growled. "Shit. I'll need to take care of this joker first before I can go help Sakura… and Naruto… but it's not going to be easy." The guy could turn invisible after all, so he was going to need more than just eye sight to beat him.

Realizing he needed to end this as quickly as he could, the prodigy decided to play cat and mouse with his now no longer visible opponent and rushed out of his hiding spot. In the special case when a shinobi is unable to find their opponent due to them bending the light around them to make themselves imperceptible, the intended target needed to find some way to lure them out.

Using himself as the bait would have to suffice for now, or at least Sasuke figured.

OOO

Once again taking a blow to the side, Sakura was sent flying through tree branches and bushes before rolling to a violent stop on flat ground once again. Bruised and cut up, the pink haired kunoichi shook as she attempted to push herself back to her feet, looking up fearfully through a bloody nose at her opponent, who twirled one of her scythes around in a casual manner. The sight of the woman standing with her weight on one side and looking down at her gave the teen a sense of just how above the woman was compared to her.

This was not good.

"I… I can't keep up with her," Sakura breathed, sweating and panting, "She's faster and stronger than I am… and what's more… she has a really strange technique that makes her disappear. I can't get a lock on her."

Yamame grinned and tilted her head at the battered girl, "Had enough yet?" She saw Sakura push herself to her feet, using a tree as support. "No? Good. I like it when my prey lasts longer than five seconds. It'll give me something to laugh over before I cut things here and run to help Iwana deal with your Uchiha friend. He's the one we're really after… but what good's a meal without a few side dishes?" She then formed a single-handed hand seal and began to fade.

Within seconds she was gone from sight.

Aware of the increase in danger due to her opponent once again blending into her environment, Sakura quickly pulled out a kunai and took a defensive stance. She looked around wildly, unable to stop her body from shaking. Whether it was from battle damage or fear she didn't know, but what she did know was that her adrenaline had risen high enough it was enhancing all of her senses, including her hearing.

When she heard twigs snapping beside her, she looked across to see footprints suddenly rushing towards her.

Gasping in alarm, Sakura dodged and held up her knife to block. A loud clang rang out when a flash of light streaked across her blade before a sharp pain racked her side, blood spraying into the air from the gash appearing on her waist. The moment she made landfall the teen immediately broke out into a run, desperate to escape.

The sound of menacing laughter from the invisible woman pursuing her filled her ears with terror.

"You were able to block my first strike… impressive. But you couldn't see my second one coming in from down low, could you?" Yamame laughed, her phantom voice echoing throughout the forest as Sakura weaved between trunks and pushed through low-hanging branches. The look of panic on her face was all too prominent at this point. "I've got two scythes here, honey, and I'm going to use them both to remove your head from your shoulders!"

Gritting her teeth, the fear struck Sakura skidded to a stop and spun around. Glaring through the forest back the way she came, the kunoichi threw a barrage of kunai towards the empty spaces ahead, not really caring that she couldn't see her opponent but hoping she would hit her. "Get away!"

The blades cut through the air swiftly, only to be batted aside by the shimmer of her invisible foe charging straight at her. The sight of sparks flying and the sound of rushing footsteps had Sakura back away and throw a kunai with an explosive tag on it. However, instead of hitting her opponent's guard, the knife sailed on until it detonated further down the track then before. This baffled the terrified girl as she brought up another knife, wondering what had happened to the kunoichi until she heard a rustling from above and looked up to see the branch above her shake, before an invisible force plowed into her face.

The blow from her opponent swinging off of the branch and slamming a double-kick into her face like a gymnast sent the teen flying backwards before tumbling painfully across the ground. When she stopped several meters out, Sakura was not only bleeding from the mouth but also had a serious black eye. Groaning and whimpering in agony, the kunoichi looked up from her sprawled out position to see her opponent rematerialize over her.

Standing right over the girl in a position that was practically straddling her, the woman chuckled and held up one of her two scythes, showing the blood she had managed to draw from the teen on her last attack. Sakura's eyes however never left her opponent's smug face.

"Game of tag's over," the woman exclaimed, raising the same blade she'd used to slice into Sakura across her shoulder for a horizontal strike, "Time to end this."

Panicking, Sakura quickly formed a hand seal, only for Yamane to swing in immediately upon seeing her palms slap together.

"Oh no you don't!" the woman shouted, her blade carving straight across the girl's chest and causing a spray of blood to gush out in the direction the curved weapon exited. However, the instant she was sure she'd bifurcated the girl, Sakura's two halves suddenly went up in a cloud of white smoke, which was replaced shortly afterwards by a log, which had been cut clean through by the weapon. Yamane blinked in surprise, "Kawarimi? Heh… nice trick. I didn't think you were that fast."

Stepping over the replacement log, the kunoichi glared through the trees in search of her foe. After a few seconds of scouting the surrounding woods and nothing, the woman smirked and formed her familiar hand seal.

"The moment you come out, I'm going to gut you like a fish." Her body shimmered before vanishing as she became invisible once more.

Panting heavily while hiding behind a nearby tree, Sakura quickly wiped away the traces of blood running down from the corner of her mouth and glared hard through the forest ahead of her. Pressed so hard up against the trunk she was using as cover that she could sink into it at any moment, the terrified girl allowed her eyes to dart around as she thought desperately for a way to beat her opponent. She was getting the shit kicked out of her and was close to passing out. If she didn't do something quick, she was going to lose.

"How do I get someone who is invisible? How do I attack them?" No, that was stupid. Attacking a full-grown shinobi with more experience and who also had a clear physical advantage over her was even stupider then fighting a lion with a pocket knife. Not only that, but she could also nullify her visible presence, which made her situation even more treacherous. "I can't trade blows with her, I don't have any jutsu that I can throw at her… all I've got are my weapons."

Kami. Now she was wishing she'd actually spent more time on her ninjutsu back in the academy than her written material and good looks. All she had were basics. The only people on her team who actually had techniques worth a damn and could actually fight people like this were Sasuke and Naruto…

Oh no. Naruto. Was he okay?

He fucking took a bullet for her back there and was now traversing down a river to God knows where, severely injured and probably close to death. Or maybe he was already dead and all they were doing was holding onto far gone hope.

Sakura cursed vehemently. She was a pathetic excuse for a kunoichi. She couldn't even fight to save her own skin for crying out loud. If she couldn't even do that, then what fucking good was she on this team?

What good was she as a kunoichi that couldn't even protect her teammates? Could she even call herself a ninja?

Her rampaging thoughts were cut off by the sound of Yamane's voice filling the air.

"Tick-tock. You're running out of time, honey. Every second that goes by and your friend loses more blood. Hell, he's probably already belly-up downstream and you guys are the only ones left. I'll bet Iwana has already killed the Uchiha brat as well," the woman goaded snidely. "Just give it up."

Gritting her teeth at being unable to track the voice to the source, Sakura glared over her shoulder again towards the clearing. Her body shook violently as she made a fist, not out of fear or desperation, but out of frustration.

No. She wasn't going to cop out just yet. Not when she hasn't done a single thing.

She was going to win this at any cost.

"I have a few things going for me that I can use; my basics, the element of surprise, and her overconfidence. If she thinks I'm going down from just a few bruises and cuts," Sakura then glared ahead of her and searched for a narrow causeway, an area where she could use her surroundings to her advantage and flush out her opponent. Spotting a track ahead, the girl clenched her muscles before pushing off from her hiding spot. "She's got another thing coming!"

Sakura made sure her footsteps were loud enough to be heard all around as she literally sprinted down the path forged by nature. Ducking and weaving through low hanging branches and hurdling over rocks, the pink haired kunoichi made a path through the woods, zigzagging so that she didn't give her foe an easy target.

For a solid minute she ran, not even bothering to look back but knowing full well that the woman was on to her. If she paused for even a second she would be cut down by the woman's scythes. She had to be smart about this.

Finding a small pocket of trees with a straight path and fallen material all around, Sakura broke for it. Ducking under a fallen trunk and leaping over a few more, including some boulders lying in her path, the kunoichi made sure to push off of every obstacle she came across, scattering bark, leaves and twigs before reaching a massive evergreen sitting at the end of her turn. Spinning around, the kunoichi slid to a stop with a kunai in hand and took a defensive stance, back pressed up against the tree.

Panting heavily, she glued her eyes on the path ahead again, making sure she had a clear view of all the branches and the trees around her, from every beam of sunlight to every twig in sight. Though she knew she wouldn't be able to see or smell the woman due to the nature of her invisibility technique, she could still hear her if she pressed her weight down on anything.

She could follow her through her footsteps, one of the only surefire ways shinobi were able to detect the presence of an enemy in a given area.

Sakura only hoped her opponent was heavy-footed.

For several minutes after her breathtaking run nothing happened, with Sakura keeping her eyes set firmly on the path ahead. Eventually, the silence of the forest was broken by the bark and twigs she had scattered across the ground in her run snapping in the path a dozen or so yards in front of her. The kunoichi immediately marked the position and threw the kunai she was holding. As soon as it reached the airspace she knew her target was a loud clang rang out and sparks flew as the blade was deflected.

The moment her knife was blocked, the sounds of rushing footsteps alerted Sakura to an incoming charge. The telltale shimmer of her invisible opponent dashing down the road towards her and passing under the rays of light poking through to trees gave away her position. The teen seized up when she saw her fast moving foe running right at her, not needing to see her to know she had her scythes pulled back and ready to cut her down.

The approaching Yamame grinned under her mask as step by step, she closed the distance between them.

"Got you!"

Expression at first showing fear, Sakura then smirked when she heard the footsteps getting closer, a sight that came too late for the charging kunoichi who was only a few yards away. "Surprise!"

BOOM!

An explosive tag Sakura had discreetly placed against one of the trees on her sprint down the path detonated the moment her target came within proximity of it. The paper bomb went off like a mine, spraying bark, debris and fire sideways and smashing into the invisible kunoichi only a couple of feet away. Yamame cried out in agony as she was sent cart wheeling through the air and crashing through trees. Her body rolled across hard ground until it came to a smoldering stop in a clearing nearby.

Seizing her chance, Sakura drew a kunai and leapt through the bushes into the area across, seeing her invisible foe faze into view when her technique dropped. Not only did she have pieces of bark and wood sticking in her, her left side had been completely burnt, she was bleeding from the head, her clothes were shredded, and she was smoking from head to toe. Watching her struggling to her feet for but a moment, the teen wasted no time rushing forward with blade in hand.

Gripping the one scythe she'd managed to hang onto after being thrown through a tree by the explosion, Yamame's head shot up when she heard approaching footsteps and growled when she spotted Sakura rushing right at her. "Y-You bitch!" She sprang to her feet and lashed out, only for the smaller girl to duck right under her slash and drive her kunai straight into her stomach. The masked kunoichi could only grunt in shock as she was knocked back a few feet, skidding to a stop when her attacker also stopped.

Feeling her knife bury up to its hilt, Sakura growled and twisted it further in, her right eye shut as she could feel blood dripping down from the cut she'd taken from the scythe she dodged by the skin of her teeth. Her sandals dragging across the ground, the teen attempted to push her foe further back, only to feel her dead weight fall on top of her several steps later and a loud clatter ring out as the woman dropped her weapon. Seeing her opponent's arms fall on either side of her had Sakura glare up, where she saw the weak expression of her opponent glaring back down at her from her position over her head.

"That was a pretty sneaky move… back there," the woman choked, her form lurching over more as her blood continued to exit her through the entrance wound of the kunai in her stomach, "I underestimated you…"

Sakura flinched when she saw Yamame's expression falter somewhat, "Never underestimate your opponent; rule number one of shinobi combat. It's something I learned the hard way…"

The enemy kunoichi chuckled, "Looks like… I still had a lot to learn then…" These being the last words she could muster, the woman then allowed her eyes to finally close and her strength to leave her. The moment her opponent slipped, Sakura felt Yamame's entire weight fall on top of her, slumped over her shoulder like a mannequin.

Startled, Sakura immediately withdrew the knife and stumbled back, the enemy woman's body falling to its knees before falling flat over with a deafening thud. Breathing heavily, the pink haired girl stumbled back some while glaring down at the corpse, her bloody kunai still raised defensively in case she was playing possum. However, after a full minute of nothing but her pants of exhaustion and anxiety filling the air, Sakura then dropped her stance and looked down at her hands.

When she drove her blade into her opponent, she'd been holding it with both hands, with her back hand placed against the ring to help push it in. As expected, when she punctured the woman's stomach, immense amounts of blood had poured out. There had been so much of it that not only was her kunai drenched in blood but so were her hands. And this wasn't even counting her own blood dripping down from her head and from her side.

Looking from one palm to another and back down at the body in front of her, the exhausted and stunned Sakura then dropped to her knees and allowed the knife she was holding to fall from her grip. Trembling, the teen's expression slowly twisted from a look of shock to one of utter distress, before her head slumped over. She sobbed and covered her eyes, doing her best to stop the tears as she fell into hysterics…

Who wouldn't after nearly getting killed and ending up killing their assailant for the first time on a mission?

The last thing she ever expected to do after leaving her village on her first assignment outside of it was fight for her life…

OOO

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke glared through the woods encompassing him as he attempted to hone in on his stealthy opponent. Hands held out and set in a wide stance, the genius was using every bit of training and sense he had to try and locate his invisible foe. But due to the fact that he'd disappeared into the treetops as well as become invisible, it made finding him even more difficult than it would have been against a conventional shinobi.

Sure, he'd heard of techniques that allowed for perfect camouflage, but he never expected to face something like this so soon in his career as a shinobi. However, Sasuke wasn't going to let something as trivial as this defeat him.

He'd been going smoothly so far. For the past few minutes he'd been ducking and dodging kunai and shuriken from left and right. It made him somewhat relieved that the invisibility jutsu didn't encompass weapons when used at range, but even though he was able to avoid them, he wasn't able to trace them back to his opponent. The guy was surprisingly agile despite his appearance and he wasn't making the fight easy. The instances where he did try to get close was to try and stab Sasuke in the back, but the boy was sharp enough to hear his footsteps approaching and dodge timely to avoid his blade. He tried countering, but the guy flew off before anything could get into range.

"This guy is quite the sly one," Sasuke thought, eyes panning the forest. "Even though he has the ability to turn invisible, he isn't shabby in the stealth department either. He moves really well." Hearing a rustle of bushes, the Uchiha spun around with a kunai drawn, only to see a mouse bound out and disappear around a tree. The prodigy frowned as a bead of sweat ran down his head. "Alright… calm down. You can't sense his presence if you're jumpy."

Up in the trees above the raven haired boy, Yamane's bulky partner Iwana frowned as he glared down at the youngsters, whose eyes were moving across in his direction.

"What an annoying brat. Guess they don't call him an Uchiha for nothing." He then brought the kunai he was holding up and readied to throw it. "Maybe I can mess with him a little more before going in for the kill." He then shot around the side of the tree and chucked the blade, quickly moving on and changing locations.

Hearing the sound of metal cutting through air, Sasuke leapt back as a kunai suddenly planted itself in the ground where he'd been standing. Flipping through hand seals, he then took aim and inhaled. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" He then exhaled sharply through his fingers, a ball of fire shooting out and enveloping the canopy, before exploding and scattering flames all over the place. Quickly burning through the tree he'd targeted, Sasuke watched the smoke clear and turned his gaze elsewhere, clicking his tongue. "Where'd he go?"

The guy relocated every time he let off an attack. That pattern of assault was seriously starting to grind on Sasuke's gears.

Deciding to do something about that, the genius leapt through the trees some more, happening upon a new clearing and taking up a central position. Having had enough of this stupid cat and mouse game, the raven haired teen took a casual standing position in the middle of the open area and began fumbling about in his back pouch for a new weapon.

Iwana, leaping through the treetops, saw the boy stop with his back turned in his direction. Sensing an opening, the invisible man grinned and dropped down quietly from the tree. The moment he made landfall, he marched hurriedly towards the Uchiha, keeping his footsteps silent before rearing back with a kunai and lunging to strike.

However, just before he came within range, Sasuke drew the weapon from his pouch and threw it at the ground, a series of smoke pellets exploding around him. Getting a face full of white smoke, the attacker ended up swinging at nothing but air, parting the clouds to reveal his opponent had high-tailed it at the last second. Missing and realizing he'd stepped into a thick of crap that was basically marking his position, Iwana cursed and leapt into the treetops.

"Shit!" The attacker looked down at the forest floor as he ascended into the canopy, realizing he was leaving a trail of smoke in his wake. "Smart little brat." Knowing that he'd been marked, he relinquished his cloak of invisibility so that he could focus on making a quick getaway, and glared upwards when he heard the sounds of air simultaneously cracking. When his eyes locked onto the treetops, he saw a shower of fire balls raining down upon him.

Ducking under the first shot, the man kicked off of the very next branch he landed on and speedily evaded the rest, the barrage peppering the trunk with incendiaries that set it alight. The flames quickly dissipated, leaving nasty scorch marks in the branches and against the trunk.

Iwana laughed at the missed shots, "Is that the best you've got?" he shouted, only to have his taunts cut short when he suddenly felt a pair of hands grab his ankles. Looking down in shock, the shinobi then let out a startled shout when his body was unexpectedly flipped upside-down, where he then found his arms locked to his sides by a pair of legs wrapping firmly around him. "WHAT?! HOW THE-?!"

A smirking Sasuke quickly answered him as the pair began to fall the full four stories down to earth, the genius sitting upright while keeping his opponents limbs locked and practically immobile. "You were so focused on making a quick getaway you didn't even bother to check your perimeter. Amateur mistake."

Speed picking up, Iwana only had a couple of worry free seconds to fully realize his mistake, before his entire world went black with an ear-splitting crack. The ground shook at the impact of the bulky shinobi landing headfirst, with nothing but the hard ground to break his fall that split under his and Sasuke's collective weight. The Uchiha quickly jumped off of the partially buried body a second after impact, landing safely away with a frown on his face as he watched the pillar of a man remain standing upright for a moment before collapsing like a tree in the forest. When it hit the ground, Iwana's body was ramrod straight and his head was still slightly buried. However, it was glaringly obviously that he'd had his brains scrambled from being dropped like an anvil to a floor that had the exact same density as concrete.

Blinking carelessly, the Uchiha sighed and rolled his head, finding the encounter more irritable than a challenge. "The dobe can put up a way better fight than you." He then blinked out of his collective state when he remembered the instances before the battle. "Oh no… Naruto! Sakura!" He immediately sprinted back towards the river, stepping on the dead man's body at the same time as he made all haste towards the causeway.

Arriving shortly afterward, the prodigy leapt clean across the rapids to the other side, dashing up the side and into the woods. Following the sound of an explosion, Sasuke honed in on wherever the blast came from, hoping that whoever had been on the receiving end wasn't one of his teammates. Gritting his teeth desperately, he made swift turns and dashes around the bends in the tracks, dodging trees and branches before finally locating the source of the disturbance. Finding a massive crater and a few collapsed evergreens, the Uchiha searched the epicenter of the cataclysm before spotting the kneeling figure of his kunoichi teammate.

Sasuke leapt over to her, dropping to his knee and placing a hand on her trembling shoulder. She looked pretty messed up. "Hey. Sakura… are you okay?"

Hearing a familiar voice and feeling the hand placed upon her, Sakura looked up at the prodigy with an exhausted expression on her face. Eyes bloodshot from crying and looking like she was about to fall asleep, the girl blinked when she saw her teammate's concerned face staring back at her. "S-Sasuke-kun?"

Seeing she was okay, the Uchiha then looked towards the body nearby. Recognizing it as the woman his squad mate had been stuck fighting, and spotting both the pool of blood beneath her and the bloody kunai lying in front of the teen, the Uchiha guessed what must have happened here. He relaxed a little and looked back at Sakura, squeezing her shoulder reassuringly.

"Your first time killing someone?" He saw the girl nod, getting his gaze to deepen. "Me too." This answer had the kunoichi's gaze snap towards him in surprise.

"Sasuke-kun… you…?"

The boy smiled at her, "Remember, we're shinobi. Stuff like this happens to us all the time. No matter what the circumstances, no matter where we are or who we're dealing with, we must always be prepared to fight and to kill. Kakashi-sensei told us that. That's the way the world works and that's how harsh and unforgiving the road we walk on is. But it's the one we chose, right?"

Hearing his words, the firmness and confidence he spoke with them, had Sakura bite her bottom lip nervously, before her head moved in a reluctant nod. Legs crossing even more, the girl braced herself tightly as Sasuke knelt by her for comfort.

"I… I did what I had to do," Sakura murmured, shivering. "There was no other way. She was going to kill me… and you… so I had no choice but to kill her. I needed to protect you, and Kakashi-sensei… and Naruto… b-but I… she… I…"

Gaze hardening, Sasuke shuffled forward so that he stood further in front, getting Sakura to look at him and face his glare. "Listen, what happened here between you and her and what you did doesn't matter right now. You won and that's that. But we can't just sit here and try to fix it. Naruto got hit and fell into the river. His body could be miles away by now. We need to find him and make sure he's okay." His grip tightened on her shoulder as he prepared to help her up, "He's our friend, and we're his teammates, remember?"

Quickly snapping out of it from the prodigy pulling on her arm, Sakura shook her head furiously before looking up. Dismayed expression disappearing and being replaced by one of determination, one that many had seen on her countless times before, the girl nodded.

"R-Right." Finding strength in her legs again, she pushed herself back up. As soon as she was on her feet, she brushed the blood off of her hands before taking off with Sasuke.

Moving together, the two of them dashed as fast as they could back towards the river. If there was any chance that their friend was still alive, he would be trying to pull himself out of the rapids right about now…

They also wondered how Kakashi was doing…

OOO

"Katon: Karyu Endan!" (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet) Kakashi bellowed out as he threw his head forward, a blast of flames rocketing out from where his lips were and ripping across the ground. The entire forest floor, trees and all, were engulfed in flames as the attack charged the assailant the silver haired Jonin was fighting down in the form of a fast moving wall.

Feeling the blast of heat before the fire itself in the form of a shockwave, the man with the shark hood grinned maniacally, flipping through hand seals and throwing his left arm back. Just as the wall of fire was gaining ground, water began to warp and spin above the man's palm before he threw it forward. "Suiton: Hahonryu!" (Water Release: Tearing Torrent) A blast of water like jet fired from his hand and tore across the ground in the form of a wave.

The attack spread as it flooded the forest floor and met the wall of flames head on. A massive tremor rang out as the fire and waters mashed together and blasted skywards. The sound of loud hissing filled the sky when the water evaporated and extinguished the flames, causing a cloud of steam to envelop the forest and a mist to form. Effectively blinded, both combatants glared hard through the thick of it, with Kakashi pushing up his headband and flashing his Sharingan.

The tomoes of his special eye spun as he sought out his opponent, whom he saw grin at him through the rain cloud before dashing left. The Jonin responded by dashing right to meet him, his eye watching his target flip through seals again while weaving through evergreen trees in a mist almost impossible to see through.

Thanks to his eye though, he was able to spot the man's faint shadow through it.

"Suiton: Ja no Kuchi!" (Water Release: Snake's Mouth) the man exclaimed, the mist of water converging around him to form a mass of water before it increased in size. The twisting torrent then shot through the woods towards Kakashi running adjacent to them, the head of the spiraling spout forming into that of a snake, which then lunged down at the Jonin who responded by leaping into the canopy, barely avoiding the massive wave that crashed into the ground and literally sunk several trees in the area.

The sound of explosions and a forest being brought to its knees filled the region with the track of an epic battle of two high-class shinobi trading blows and attempting to out-do the other.

The would-be Team 7 assailant grinned as he skidded to a stop, his feet splashing in the pools that had collected in the wake of the tradeoff. His eyes fixed onto the canopy as he took an offensive stance.

"Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan; you certainly do not disappoint!" the man laughed.

Said Jonin landed high up above the ground, well out of reach of the floods that had nearly taken him out. Though he wasn't exhausted, the masked man was still weary of how liberal his opponent was being with his jutsu. "I never expected to run into Kajika of the Hidden Mist all the way out here in the Land of Fire either. What do you want?"

The rogue Jonin cackled as he extended his hand towards the branches. "I'm simply here on the orders of my new master."

"Orders?" Kakashi murmured.

Kajika's grin widened. "My job was to test the skills of the prodigy Sasuke Uchiha and to kill off his compatriots. If he was to prove exceptional, I was instructed to knock him out and bring him back with me. Since you're standing in my way, I'll get rid of you first before going after my prize."

"Sasuke is no prize, and I'm no pushover," Kakashi shot back, his glare hardening down towards the forest floor as he pulled out a cluster of kunai. "You attack my team and try to kill my precious students. I won't show you any mercy today."

"Then by all means, show me how cruel you can actually be," Kajika replied snidely, flying through hand seals before stomping a foot in the puddle. The water then rose up from the ground to form several blobs suspended in midair, before they elongated and solidified, becoming huge blocks of ice with razor sharp tips, all of them pointed in Kakashi's direction. "Suiton: Rekku Suigeki!" (Water Release: Cold Sky Water Attack) He then hurled the series of large darts straight into the canopy, cutting branches to ribbons and shooting straight for their target.

Eyes widening in alarm, Kakashi leapt straight out of his tree, which was shredded by the rain of ice at the same time as he chucked the kunai down at his opponent, explosive tags attached to them.

Spotting the attack, Kajika flipped through several more hand seals. The pools of water at his feet shot up around him in the form of a wall. The flowing barrier caught the cluster of kunai, stopping them dead and cushioning the concussive explosions that ripped the ground apart and sent smoke and steam hurling into the air. This wall of smoke was then cut away by a large drill of water suddenly blasting its way out of the thick and into the canopy.

The spinning and twisting fountain of water whipped around through the branches before diving straight towards Kakashi, who glared up at him fiercely and formed several hand seals of his own.

"Doton: Doryu Joheki!" (Earth Release: Earth-Style Rampart) Kakashi said, leaping back as a massive slab of earth rose out of the ground in front of him, forming a semi-circular wall around him. The thick barrier, composed of stone, earth, and mud stood between him and the massive water spout spiraling in his direction.

"Mizu Tatsumaki!" (Tornado of Water) Kajika's voice roared out, a split second before it plowed straight into the wall and dug.

Normally when a water technique met an earth style technique, the water jutsu would easily lose out to the earth jutsu due to water techniques being weak against earth.

Things were no different here… which was why the tornado suddenly changed course and went straight up, over and down, shocking Kakashi and slamming headlong into him before he even had a chance to effectively respond. The silver haired man let out a cry of agony as the tip of the drill mashed into him before sending him spiraling through the trees, crashing into a handful before rolling to a stop in a battered mess across the ground.

The water spout that had hit him then flew towards him and slammed into the ground, disappearing moments later to reveal Kajika standing there and grinning with his arms folded.

Looking down at his foe, the rogue ninja saw Kakashi's body was not only battered and bruised, but also had a massive spiral mark in his stomach with gashes coming out from the center. His clothes were ruined and he was soaked to the bone. From the looks of it, the man was probably dead, but Kajika knew better. The rogue grinned as he glared down at the body of his foe, kicking the drenched sandal of his foot.

"So much for the great Copy Ninja Kakashi. This will make my rep forever," Kajika exclaimed, tilting his head as he inspected the area. "I'll kill you and go after Sasuke-kun next. Now… where could Izawa have taken him?" He then froze and stood in place when he felt the cold of steel press up against the base of his neck, his eyes widening in horror. "N-No way… how did you?"

Kakashi, completely unscathed, emerged from the shadows standing directly behind him with a kunai pressed against his collar and both eyes locked onto him.

"You were careless."

Stunned and bewildered, Kajika looked down at the 'Kakashi' he'd supposedly beaten, only to see him dispel in a puff of white smoke. That sight alone was all the confirmation the cocky rogue shinobi needed. "A Kage Bunshin?" His glare hardened, "But… when did he?" His eyes then widened when he thought back to when their last techniques collided, the wall of fire against the wall of water. The entire area was clouded in steam from the attacks exploding, plenty of cover to create a shadow clone and send it off to continue the fight while the original hid. Kajika frowned moments later once he was finished breaking down the events. "You're not as good as people say you are… you're better…"

Kakashi frowned as he lifted his free hand and pulled his headband back over his Sharingan eye, having not needed to use it much in the fight at all. "You should have realized that before you decided to start trouble with me." He then fixed his one eye on the back of the man's head like a crossbow ready to fire. "It's a shame; you have both talent and skill… something I would expect from a Jonin of Kirigakure. However, your days of being a shinobi end here." Killing intent then began radiating off of him like gas, filling his opponent's body with fear. "Tell me… who are you working for?"

The rogue ninja froze and his body suddenly ceased shivering. Whether he was going to remain silent, throw some clever retort back at him or answer the Konoha Jonin's questions were beyond Kakashi. However, all of his inquiries were soon put to rest when he saw Kajika slowly begin to turn.

When it first appeared he was going to see Kajika's snide grin complete with confident expression flash into view, Kakashi received the shock of his life when he saw the man's appearance had drastically changed. The skin around his eyes had taken on a purple pigmentation, with his irises a shade of yellow and pupils formed into slits. Upon getting a good look at the change in his expression, the silver haired Jonin also noticed a purple, evil chakra starting to radiate off of his form, and a killing intent even greater than his flood the entire area.

Kakashi choked as he looked back into the gaze of his target… only… it was no longer his…

"It looks as though some surprises are meant to be spoiled, eh Kakashi?" Kajika replied in a very raspy, strained voice that could only belong to one other person.

Before the Jonin could ask any more questions, Kakashi then sensed the amount of chakra radiating off of his foe increase sharply and responded immediately. Crouching low, the man kicked off the ground as fast and as hard as he could, ducking behind the trees a split second before Kajika's body exploded. The blast shook the entire area and enveloped it in flames and smoke, blasting a massive crater into the ground and causing surrounding trees to collapse into the epicenter of the cataclysm. Seconds after the explosion took place, the smoke choking up the forest lifted, revealing a smoldering pothole and absolutely zero remains of the rogue ninja.

Poking his head out from around the scorched tree, Kakashi frowned as he panned over the ruined area, which looked like a meteorite had made landfall where he'd once been standing. Breathing a sigh, he stepped completely out from around the evergreen and rested his hand against the trunk, glaring out across the landscape that had served as his battleground.

It had been a harrowing fight for his clone and a close shave in the last few seconds, but he was able to uncover the reason as to why his team had been attacked today.

Somewhere out there, hiding in the shadows and watching the hidden villages squabble amongst each other; there was a dangerous man at work. In recent years, he'd made quite a name for himself for all the trouble he'd been stirring, and was known all across the continent as a former shinobi of Konohagakure and a member of the Three Legendary Sannin.

The thought that this man had taken an unhealthy interest in one of his student's, the last of the Uchiha, had Kakashi's skin crawl and filled him with a sense of foreboding…

"Orochimaru…"

But of course, worries for the future could come later. Right now, he had to get his team back together and go find his other student…

XXX

The next day…

"Heh… you're lucky…" the Kyuubi's voice boomed through his head, though it was slightly condescending in its tone. "That's all I can say. Anybody else would have rolled over and died from having a lance made out of water shot through their stomach… but not you."

"Call it stubbornness…"

"I would, but unfortunately you have me to rely on to keep you alive.Be grateful."

"I'll do my best. Thanks… furball."

"Stop calling me that, you whelp," the fox growled back, his anger clearly evident. "Remember, I'm only doing this to save my own skin… not yours. Think about that the next time you go do something stupid, like trying to get yourself killed."

"Right," Naruto's inner-thoughts chuckled before he was slowly pulled out of the darkness.

The darkness from that point onwards merely turned out to be his eyes closed over, which he opened to greet the light above him. Lids fluttering, the once unconscious jinchuriki blinked back into life and looked around, finding himself in some sort of forest, but not the one he and his team had been traveling through. He then stiffened when his memories eventually replayed his last conscious memories and what had transpired before his unexpected sleep.

Shit. Where was his team? Looking around, the boy saw no signs of them, except for the large gap in the forest he was lying in where he could see the river that had taken him all the way down here on the other side. Unlike the rapids that he'd crossed over on the bridge but was then attacked, the river he could see was flowing smoothly without any disturbances or breaks on the surface. What's more, he could also sense he was on a different plain of land altogether.

Where the heck was he?

Sitting up quickly, the boy winced when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and looked down to see he was shirtless. He also had bandages and gauze wrapped around his mid-section. Puzzled at the sight of the medical material as well as the herbal remedies he could see in the dish and plants resting beside him on the mat, the boy began looking around some more. He quickly found his jacket, headband and goggles resting between the roots of a tree standing nearby.

Apparently whoever saved him was not only kind enough to stitch him up but clean his clothes too. That was nice.

"But… who saved me?" Naruto asked out loud.

He didn't remember pulling himself out of the river and he certainly didn't remember bandaging himself up on both ends. The attack that he'd been hit with went right through him. So who…

"Hey, mister!"

Reacting in alarm and completely forgetting about his wounds, Naruto sprang off of the ground and straight into another nearby tree. Grabbing the high branch by his toes and hanging there, the jinchuriki looked around wildly for a moment before his eyes fixed on the branch across the way, where he saw what he immediately figured was the person who rescued him.

A beautiful young girl around his age and height with short green hair, dark skin, orange eyes, wearing a white top exposing her midriff, a short white battle skirt, matching sandals, fishnet mesh underneath, and was carrying a weird red cylinder on her back, was lying across said branch on her stomach. As if she were lying on top of a couch with her feet up, the girl beamed down at the swinging boy with perhaps one of the brightest smiles Naruto had seen on another human being besides himself.

It was nice.

The girl grinned at him, "Hello!"

Blinking, the newly recovered Naruto smiled back, stopping himself from swinging long enough to turn his upper body the right way up and get a better look at the stranger, "Hey. Who're you?"

The green haired teen giggled as she allowed her legs to sway, "I should be the one asking you that question." She lazily pointed down at his gear folded up at the base of the tree she was on, "A strange boy with whiskers, wearing orange and a Konohagakure headband with a hole in his stomach washes up on the bank of a river? It's only natural I should be asking first."

"Oh. Well… I can't argue with that," Naruto grinned, swinging himself up and on top of the branch he was hanging off of. Straddling it, the boy looked gleefully at the girl giving him the exact same expression of delight and curiosity as he was her, "Since you helped me and everything, I guess I'm in your debt. I'm Naruto… Naruto Uzumaki: full time misfit, part time hero, future Hokage of Konohagakure."

The girl laughed and sat up, positioning herself comfortably on her branch with her legs hanging over the side. "So I was right, you ARE a ninja… just like me." She then flashed the boy the headband she had wrapped around her arm, which looked like it had an arrow pointing downwards. Naruto recognized it from sight, but allowed the girl to answer for him, "I'm from Takigakure though."

"That makes us neighbors, doesn't it?" Naruto asked.

"Yep!" the teen nodded her head enthusiastically, "Well… more like allies. Oji-san is really good friends with your village leader, so either way is fine since we're clearly not enemies."

"That's good. It would have been bad if we were, otherwise you would have done the exact opposite to patching me up," Naruto exclaimed, placing a hand over his bandaged wound and rubbing it forlornly. "Thanks so much by the way. If you hadn't found me when you did… I probably would have bled to death."

"Bleeding to death would have been the least of your worries," the green haired Taki kunoichi said with a weak smile. "The hole through your body was so big I could stick my entire arm through it. When I pulled you out I thought you were going to die, but then the wound started to close while I was cleaning you up and decided to put a bandage around you. I've never seen someone heal so quickly, especially from an injury like that."

Naruto looked at her cheekily, "Creepy, isn't it?"

"Pretty much," the girl replied.

The pair shared a laugh, a soundtrack that filled their surroundings and added to the choir of birds and the echo of the river not too far from them. Once their chuckles died down, Naruto once again gave his savior his full and complete attention. "You're really nice. What's your name?"

"Me? Well…" the girl stood up, grinning proudly as she placed her hands on her hips, made a very alluring pose and threw her head back, causing her locks to wave gently on the wind. "The people back in my village call me…" Pause for dramatic effect, "the happy, go-lucky, green-haired, wild child!" She looked back at Naruto, who she could see was still smiling from ear to ear as he listened eagerly to her introduction. After a moment, she quickly toned down her excitement and shifted her weight to the other side, "But I prefer Fu."

"Fu?" Naruto tested a few times, before rocking back and forth with stars in his eyes, "That's a really nice name. I like it!"

"Thanks," the girl chirped, giving the boy a thoughtful look followed by a warm gaze, "I like the name Naruto, too. It suits you."

"Ditto," Naruto replied, jumping to his feet and breathing a sigh as he rose to full height. Rubbing his still throbbing injury, he took his time looking around at the forest again with a curious glimmer, "So… where exactly am I? This doesn't look like any forest I'd seen around Konoha before. The trees are different." He didn't need to know every wooded area on the map to identify a particular type of region.

The trees, the smell and even the air didn't carry the same odor as the Land of Fire he was familiar with. It made him wonder just how far down river he was actually taken before eventually becoming beached in shallow mud.

Fu beamed at him when his eyes cut to her, "You're on the edge of Takigakure territory. You're lucky I just happened to be fishing in the area, otherwise I wouldn't have found you?"

Naruto blinked in surprise, "Really?" He then acknowledged this fact as he took in his surroundings once more, becoming familiar with the feng shue of the environment before turning back to the teen questioningly. "Why are you so far outside of your village? Isn't it somewhere nearby?"

"No," Fu shook her head firmly. "It's pretty far from here… somewhere in the middle of the country. I was actually sent on a mission to deliver some precious minerals from my village to a doctor on one of the towns on the outskirts. I was on my way back when I decided to stop and get myself something eat, but found you floating in the reeds with a strange orange glow around your wound."

"That makes sense. Cool," Naruto replied, before facing south. He breathed a sigh and rubbed the back of his head, "Man, I must have traveled further then I thought. Oh well." The boy then dropped down from the tree to land beside his temporary bedspread. Collecting his clothes and slipping on each article one after the other, he turned to see Fu coming to hang from the branch directly beside him, their faces level despite one of them being upside-down and suspended above the grass. "I should probably head off to try and find my team. They must be worried sick about me."

Fu looked him over, "You got lost?"

Naruto had the courtesy to look sheepish, "More like I got into a fight and nearly wound up sleeping with the fishes." He zipped up his jacket and wrapped his headband back around his neck, "My team was on a mission delivering a package to a village somewhere along the edge of the country and were on our way back when we were attacked by this freaky guy wearing a shark costume."

Fu giggled in amusement at mention of the antagonist, "Shark costume?"

"I think he was a Chunin or Jonin level ninja, I don't know. Either way, when I tried to divert his attention he got me before I could even produce any clones… and I must have fallen into the river that was behind me," Naruto replied, finishing tying up his headband and pulling on his goggles. "I sure hope my team's okay. There were two other people in the area. The guy that hit me was the strongest of them."

"Must have been scary," Fu said with an intrigued look in her eyes.

"Well, it got my blood pumping, yeah," Naruto replied, stretching out and rolling his arms. "Thankfully I wasn't too riled up otherwise all of the blood in my body would have been pumped out through the gap in my stomach."

As the green haired girl laughed and moved around Naruto to look his now clothed form over, the jinchuriki quickly took note of the herbs and medicines she had used to disinfect his wounds. Scanning over the equipment, which had apparently been fashioned out of stuff she was able to find throughout the area, the blonde stood back up after a moment and took with him the small bag of goodies lying at his feet.

The bag was made out of a large leaf, and the contents of it were a mixture of leaves, roots and dead things. Surprised, the boy pulled out a moldy lizard and sniffed it, before turning to the enthusiastic Fu hovering behind him. "Wow, you use a lot of good stuff. What is this, a Leaf-Tailed Gecko?"

"Uh-huh." Fu pulled a dirty root out with leaves attached to it, "I used these to make a remedy to help disinfect your injuries. They work well on ordinary people but work so much better on you since you heal so quickly."

"I really appreciate it," Naruto said while folding up the bag and handing it to her, "You really know your stuff. I never thought I'd ever run into someone with the same hobbies as me all the way out here."

"Small world isn't it?" the girl said brightly, sticking her tongue out. "When I was younger nobody really wanted me around that often back in the village, so I spent a lot of my time walking about and learning interesting things in the surrounding forests. It helps that I feel much more at home up in the trees then locked away in some stuffy room."

Naruto tilted his head at her, "You had it rough too, huh?"

The green haired girl smiled weakly and rubbed her head. Swinging from side to side ever so slightly, she conveyed an air of both vulnerability and mild despondency, "Yeah. I didn't know why until a few months ago when my village leader said I was the host of the Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle, but that's all in the past now. It gives me a chance to show people that I'm not a monster and that they don't have to be afraid of me." She stopped when she noticed the deadpan stare she was getting from the blonde. "Hm? What's wrong?"

Naruto pointed at her dumbly, "Y-You're a jinchuriki too?"

It took a few seconds for that piece of information to sink in, so once it did, Fu was soon beaming. "Wow! Another jinchuriki?! Seriously?!" She leaned towards him sharply with an excited glow in her eyes, "Which one do you have?"

"The Nine-Tailed Fox… but I just call him furball. He's a grumpy old cat, but I think he's adorable…"

"I will eat you," the voice in the back of his head growled.

"No you won't," Naruto shot back briefly while straightening up and looking proud. "So you have one too… and it's a beetle. That's so cool. What's he like?"

"Big, covered in armor, helps me to fly… oh, and he's a vegetarian," Fu replied quickly. "Believe me; they're not as grouchy as they make themselves out to be."

Naruto's jaw nearly dropped, "Wait. You can fly?"

"Sure. It's one of my abilities," the girl replied, stepping back and cracking her neck from side to side. With not even a hand seal to knead the required amount of chakra, the girl suddenly lifted up into the air like she was on wires. A continuous gust of wind hit Naruto in the face when he suddenly saw two wings appear on either side of the girl through the red cylinder on her back. Fu gazed down at the boy as she climbed a full story above the ground, showing off her extra appendages beating like a hummingbird's wings before turning back around with her hands on her hips. "So! Whatcha think?"

The boy's eyes nearly bugged out before an ecstatic look flashed across his face, "THAT'S SO AWESOME!" He glanced down at his stomach area and rapped on it a few times, "Hey cat, why can't you do something cool like that?"

The familiar grumble of the fox echoed out from inside of him, "I heal you, don't I? What more do you want?"

"No, I mean something outrageous like hovering and shit."

"What do you think I am? A fucking bird? Stop bothering me."

"You've got nine tails and you're as big as a mountain. I figured because you're some all-powerful demon, you'd be able to do more than just level forests and create tsunamis sixty stories high. Come on. Feed me some line here."

"Stop talking to me and maybe I will."

"Then who will listen to my awesome tales of heroism and bravery?"

"Someone who gives a shit. Leave me alone."

Fu, still hovering in place, watched Naruto have his little back and forth with the voice inside of his head. The sight of the blonde bickering with the nine-tails inside of him had the girl tilt her head curiously at the peculiarity of the situation before her own resident resting inside her voiced his concern. Apparently their ruckus was loud enough to rouse even the mighty seven-tails from his slumber.

"Those two have issues…"

"Mm," Fu nodded in agreement.

Breathing a sigh of relief when the fox calmed down enough, Naruto looked up at the floating girl and smiled apologetically, "Sorry about that. He gets really agitated in the morning."

Fu slipped her hands behind her back, "I take it you two don't get along very well just yet."

"Not exactly. He's very closed off and doesn't like talking to me. I… don't really know why. I just want things to work out between us."

"Maybe because he's had it rough as well," Fu offered helpfully, seeing the boy look up at her uneasily. "Be patient. I'm sure he'll open up to you eventually. He just needs some time to heal, that's all."

Naruto, remaining silent in contemplation for a moment, managed to get his usual self together again and slammed a fist against his chest, "Laughter and words are the best medicines in the world, dattebayo. I'll get that furball to see how cool I am, or die trying. Count on it." Hearing the girl laugh and watching her summersault, the jinchuriki then got a terrific idea and nodded up to the teen when she turned to face him after performing a few skillful loops. "How good are you with that, anyway?"

"I'm pretty fair… but I try not to use it too often," Fu stated, "A jinchuriki can't always rely on their biju. We need to be tough ourselves if we want to survive out there in the big scary world. Why do you ask?"

Naruto smirked confidently, clenching his fists as his stance hardened on the ground while the girl suspended her form before him, "I'm just curious to know how strong you actually are?" He lowered his head as a mischievous shadow crossed his eyes. "Want to fight?"

Baffled at first at his sudden challenge, the girl then allowed a smirk of her own to cross her face as she took on a sly and devious look that easily rivaled Naruto's.

"Sure."

OOO

Sometime later…

After regrouping with his team the afternoon of the day before, Kakashi's first order of business was to make sure that both of his students present were still in one piece. While Sasuke had emerged from his fight relatively unscathed, save for some bruises and scuffs that had resulted from his running around, Sakura had had it the worse.

Not being as adept at taijutsu or ninjutsu as her teammates had left the kunoichi in a poor state following her fight with the enemy. Even though she emerged victorious over the older and more experienced warrior, the cost for her had been quite high.

Not only had she been battered physically by the event, she was also hit emotionally.

That day marked the first time either Genin had to kill another person in order to succeed, both of whom had been shinobi to boot. What's more, the battles Sasuke and Sakura wound up fighting had also been their first real combat experiences outside of regular sparring and training. All of their time spent in the academy and as shinobi on squad seven had all been in preparation for this, and while one had been able to hold it together, to the other, the excitement and adrenaline had come as quite a shock to the system.

It took Sakura a bit of time to completely get over the fact that she'd actually killed someone in a straight up fight, but with the combined counseling from her teacher and reassurance from the one teammate who was present, she was able to get it together and press on.

Upon fixing Sakura up, Kakashi then took both teens on a frantic search down river for their other squad member. They traveled quite a ways from their battleground on both sides of the causeway where the terrain grew heavier and more treacherous. Together, the three of them covered every inch of land possible to make sure no reed, ledge or patch went unchecked. Inevitably, the group hit a huge milestone in the form of a sheer drop and a massive waterfall over the side, stopping the group dead in their tracks.

The cliff they wound up at that day after an hour of running marked the very border of the Land of Fire, something that they'd need to cross if they had any hope of finding their teammate. Hell, the sight of the cliff and the height of the drop alone made two of the three believe that there was no way in hell that Naruto could still be alive. Kakashi however was adamant. Telling them not to give up hope, he took them on a detour around the cliff and back over to the lake at its base. This trip on its own cost them a lot of time, meaning that by the time they started traversing the lowland river, it was already night.

They bunked down for a rest, worrying endlessly over their friend's condition.

Eventually the sun had to rise again and, like clockwork, the squad was up and running once more.

It wouldn't be until they reached a point of the fast moving river where the whole thing slowed and became shallow that the team came across a rather remarkable sight.

The trio standing on the riverbank watched with incredulous expressions as a still alive and well Naruto, in a flurry of splashes and blurs, was playing tag with a girl with short green hair in the shallow parts of the stream. Both of them were running circles around each other and laughing uproariously, making quite a ruckus in what they suspected to be a once quiet area.

All three new arrivals looked on silently and with completely bewildered faces as their teammate traded shots at the teen, tackling her into the pond where she then flipped them over and threw him off, allowing them to land in separate spots.

Crouching low in the water, Naruto grinned, "You're pretty good, Fu-chan."

"So are you, Naruto-kun," the girl exclaimed back before disappearing in a green blur.

Water kicking up, the blonde haired jinchuriki dodged at the last second to avoid his opponent attempting to blindside him with a lariat. He then leapt clean across the water and skidded to a stop near the bank, turning and kicking a wave of water back at the girl, who ducked under the splash with a playful laugh. She returned fire, their scrub match in the shallows transforming into another water fight, which was just beginning to pick up speed until they finally noticed the members of Team 7 standing nearby on dry land and looking at them oddly.

Freezing momentarily, the two of them then disengaged from their little game of tag, stood up fully out of the water and marched on out. Making squelching noises with every step, the pair soon came to stand in front of the three. Naruto moved further ahead with an apologetic look on his face.

"H-Hey, guys-" BAM! A fist to his skull deposited him into the ground, where he sat and nursed the pulsating bump that sprouted from his hair. "Ow! Sakura-chan?"

"YOU MORON!" the pink haired girl shouted down at him as he gazed up at her through a pained expression, "Do you know how worried we were about you?! We thought you were dead!"

Bewildered at first, Naruto then gave his teammates a blank look. Did he just hear her right, or was he still groggy from taking that club to the head? "Eh? You were… worried about me?"

Kakashi nodded affirmatively as he stepped forward, placing a hand on the injured kunoichi's shoulder and getting her to lower her fist. Upon calming the shaken Sakura down, the Jonin then addressed his other student, "Of course we were. You're our comrade, Naruto-kun. It's only natural that we became worried about you after seeing you fall into the rapids and disappear."

Puzzled, the jinchuriki panned across to Sasuke, who stared back at him with his usual, stoic expression before seeing him glance away defiantly. It was clear that out of all of them that the prodigy would be the most stubborn about this whole mess. "Don't mistake my part in this to be out of concern for you. I just didn't want you to go off and die on me before I got another chance to beat you myself."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto grinned at him, "Missed you too, teme." Pulling himself to his feet with the help of Kakashi, he then saw the eyes of his team fix on the girl standing behind him. Seeing that Fu was keeping herself back while sizing up the newcomers, the blonde then moved aside and moved on with introductions, "I made a new friend. This here is Fu-chan." He then glanced over at said girl. "Fu-chan, these are my teammates and sensei."

Looking between them, the green haired girl smiled warmly and saluted, "Hello."

Responding to her greeting, Kakashi waved back in his own characteristic manner, "Yo!"

"Fu-chan saved me from drowning and fixed me up," Naruto added, patting his stomach where he'd taken the hit before placing his hands on his hips. He backed up till he was standing beside the Taki Genin and beamed, "Pretty cool, huh? I never met anyone our own age who knew so much about using stuff from the forest to help heal people before. I was really lucky that she happened to be near."

Looking back pleasantly when he saw Naruto and Fu turn to each other and share a laugh, Kakashi then walked over to them and looked the newcomer from head to toe. Seeing she was wearing a headband aligning herself with Takigakure, the Jonin nodded in acknowledgement before placing a hand on his blonde student's head, "Thank you."

"It was my pleasure," Fu replied brightly.

"I would like to pay you back for what you did for my student, but unfortunately we're a day behind schedule. We need to return to our village as quickly as possible to make our report."

Blinking at this, the green haired kunoichi then let out a cry of alarm and stumbled back, startling all four members of squad seven at her unexpected reaction. "Damn! I forgot that I was on a mission too! Oh, oji-san is going to kill me!" Shaking off her owlish visage, Fu turned to Naruto and slapped her hands together in a pleading sign, "I'm sorry I can't stay any longer with you, Naruto-kun, but I had fun."

"Yeah. Me too," the blonde said while holding up a hand. "Write me a letter when you get home… and if you're ever in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by my place."

"In Konoha, right?" Fu asked, seeing her fellow jinchuriki nod. She then gave him two thumbs up, "OK! I'll be sure to write you." With a tip of her 'hat' and a series of quick bows to both Sasuke and Sakura, who returned them kindly, the girl then turned heel and dashed off into the forest. Before she was out of sight, she waved back to the bunch on the riverbank, "It was nice meeting you all!"

"Safe trip, Fu-chan!" Naruto called, watching as the girl leapt into the woods and vanished from sight.

Once all became quiet again, save for the sounds being emitted by the river behind them, Kakashi inhaled deeply before looking down at his students. He saw Sasuke and Sakura approach, lining up beside Naruto with the latter tapping the jinchuriki on the shoulder and sincerely asking if he was alright. After a quick banter, the Jonin scrubbed his head and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Well… it was a vexing ordeal, but at least we got through it. I'm glad to see you're all okay," Kakashi exclaimed, his one eye cutting towards the jinchuriki, "You too, Naruto-kun."

Smiling at seeing her teammate's bright grin flicker into view, Sakura then looked back towards their team captain. "Who were those guys, sensei?" Her inquiry quickly earned the attention of the two boys, who also glanced to their instructor for an answer.

The Jonin slipped his hands into his pockets and looked seriously down at them, "Rogue shinobi from Kirigakure. They were hired to attack us."

Sasuke frowned deeply, "They mentioned they were after me? Any particular reason why?"

Sure, his family name and reputation were well-known. It didn't surprise the genius that a lot of people outside of his village would know him immediately if he was to introduce himself to them, but neither his name nor his heritage should have been reason enough for why dangerous shinobi like the ones from yesterday would be out for his life. Their actions were beyond absurd. He didn't antagonize those people or anything; they were just out to take him, but ended up engaging his team and seriously injuring two of them.

That was troublesome.

Kakashi, not wanting to tell them that he knew exactly who was behind the attack, considering they were still too young and that that person was in a whole other ballpark, merely settled for the most reasonable course of action. He would give a detailed report to the Hokage later, and should instances like this involving Orochimaru escalate in the future, then and only then would the Jonin take steps against the threat.

For all he knew the Sannin was just poking his finger out and getting a taste of the meal. Time would only tell if he would be back to take a whole bite out of the dish.

"I'm not sure," Kakashi finally spoke, seeing his team deflate a little and looked at each of them hard. "Don't worry though, I'll find out who is responsible for this. We'll return to the village, and give our report to the Hokage. I'm sure he might know something."

"Yes, sensei," the three replied at once.

It had been a long three days and they were exhausted. All they wanted to do now was get some sleep in their own beds back home.

Kami knows what tomorrow would bring…

OOO

Later that night…

Konohagakure…

"You know… all this time I was under the impression that you were some invincible, super-powered being that fell from the skies and got lost wandering the planet's surface. After seeing you lay waste to so many enemies over the past couple of years, I'm a little bit surprised other people haven't started thinking that way as well," Tayuya exclaimed as she sat on the arm of the couch Naruto was lying across and watched as he massaged the bandaged area around his mid-section. "Looks like you're mortal after all, shithead. I'm glad."

The moment his team returned from their mission, the first thing Naruto did as soon as he got to his apartment was remove his shirt and jacket, and plop down on the couch for some rest and television. From there, when Tayuya joined him shortly thereafter and saw both his grievous injury and how worn he was, the boy then proceeded to tell her the tale of his first D-Rank mission outside of the village and what had transpired. While the girl initially expressed immediate concern for him around the point where he explained how he was nearly killed, she then relaxed when he briefed her on the rest of his story.

It had been a truly gripping and stirring adventure. Tayuya only wished that she'd been there to participate.

Naruto chuckled as he looked up at the red head, who started rubbing his scalp, "I'm no Mary Sue. If I was, and if I was some stupidly, over-powered being whose very presence struck fear into the hearts of other shinobi, then wouldn't I be Hokage already with dozens of beautiful women falling at my feet to serve up sumptuous feasts of wine and themselves to me?"

Tayuya shrugged her shoulders with a thoroughly amused look on her face, "Probably."

"Well… unfortunately I'm not. I'm just a kid with a blunt and eccentric personality, who's quick on his toes and knows how to throw a killer right hook," Naruto sighed, turning back to the television to see it was airing some cartoon about samurai. Since everything else was boring headlines and economics, this was the best he had. "Other than being a jinchuriki, I'm just your everyday blonde kid that lives in an apartment."

"Well, just be happy you were able to walk away from this one alive," Tayuya exclaimed happily, continuing to rub his scalp and earning a satisfied groan from the teen. She giggled at the affect she had over him. "You dumbass. Do you know how upset I'd be if I woke up one day and found out that you'd been killed on a mission?"

"Never gonna happen," the jinchuriki replied firmly. "I won't die and I will never give up; not until I become Hokage." He then sprouted a grin as he looked up at the girl. "I just need to get stronger… and fast enough so that I'll be able to prevent this from happening again." He held up his right and clenched it into a fist. "I'll get so fast, not even light will be able to keep up with me. Believe it."

Tayuya gazed at him, "With that attitude, I know you'll be able to do it, shithead. Fucking go for it."

"Yeah," Naruto cheered. He was about to sit up and celebrate his resolve properly, only to suddenly have Tayuya slide into the same couch beside him and snuggle up against his chest. The boy froze at her actions, and looked down at her in bewilderment. "Uhh… Tayuya-chan?"

The red head smiled up at him with a half-lidded gaze, "What? You don't want little old me sharing the same couch as you? I'm tired too, yah know." She then leaned up and pecked him on the side of the chin.

Surprised at first, upon seeing the girl's beautiful gaze fix on him and red appear in her cheeks, all resistance Naruto had prepared to mount against her faltered, and he beamed back at her. Running a hand through her hair, he then laid back and turned towards the TV, just as she did.

"I don't mind," Naruto whispered. He felt the girl grin against his chest as the pair laid there, huddled up against one another and watching the show play out on the magic box.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Author's Note: Wow. This one took longer than I thought. Anyway, I give you the next chapter, since everyone has been looking forward to it.

And just for all those who are wondering whether the enemies in here were OCs, they're not. They were from one of the Naruto OAVs.

Furthermore, and I think I should clear the air a bit with some of the areas that might surprise some of you or upset you, see the following:

One area of interest was where Naruto took a hit and fell into a river after a three second fight. To all those fans out there who want to see Naruto winning all the time, that's not my Naruto. If I had him win all of his fights like some super-powered being able to go toe to toe with Kakashi, that would make for a pretty shocking and boring story, and based on the information I provided I think his defeat at the hands of a JONIN level shinobi, say it with me now, JONIN, which I wrote in my story, fits the bill perfectly. You can assume he spun around at the same time the attack was thrown, and got hit when trying to perform a jutsu. Or he miscalculated. I showed he was mortal in this story. He nearly died, so he has limitations he needs to work on.

Second, Sakura's sudden show of 'Tsunade's strength', which is not Tsunade's strength by the way. What I merely established in the chapter was that Sakura, without training to control the chakra necessary to exert that kind of force, that she possesses the power punch of a fighter, like the very first time Makunoichi Ippo punched the training bag despite not actually having thrown a punch before and that he was only following simple direction based on textbook information, which is what Sakura did, and also reflects a small glimmer of talent outside of chakra control. It's just raw, brute strength she showcased, which I'm pretty sure is a characteristic of a lot of girls in anime, but I did it specifically for Sakura as a form of foreshadowing for her training in that area in years to come. She's also still really weak compared to Naruto and Sasuke as she just started training somewhat seriously. I figured people would have picked up on that when she got the shit kicked out of her by her opponent (who wasn't that strong mind you).

Third is probably Team 7s interactions and how easy-going they are with one another. As I've been establishing throughout the story thus far, Naruto has a much better relationship with several of the other characters in the story, starting from the day he knocked Sasuke's lights out with a single punch. You can assume from that point onwards without the need for excessive use of flashbacks and based on interactions with other characters that Sasuke may have developed a small amount of respect for Naruto that doesn't border on obsession, that he only wishes to fight with him in the future to test his skills, therefore the tension isn't that high between them. You can also say the punch back in their younger days literally knocked sense into him if you will. He still banters with Naruto and presents a negative to his positive, so you still evidently have a rivalry there that does not conflict with team activity, which they have silently agreed as men amongst men to put ahead of them, since Sasuke is smart and Naruto is less unreasonable. And I would think Sakura wising up thanks to the 'gentle' conversation she had with Tayuya would stick with people. In both canon and this story, she resolves to try and have a better relationship with Naruto and to treat him with more respect on the same day, and thanks to Naruto's slight change of character and his better interactions with others, would help speed things along the way they're going. They're not the perfect team. Their coordination isn't perfect as they still act too independently, but they're still getting there.

I'm not sure if this will enlighten others (since some may still also want to make some points of their own), but this is a project I really enjoy writing and want to entertain others with.