key:

"talking"

'jutsu'

thinking

"flashback"

nonhuman

The Art of Doing Nothing

Due to her little chakra depletion experience Sakura's teammates and sensei forced her to stay in bed all day the next day, Kakashi even sent one of his clones to check in on her every now and then to make sure she didn't escape. She hated doing nothing, especially when she could have been training to expand her size-of-a-small-dog chakra capacity that got her in this mess in the first place. Lucky for her spending the whole day in bed meant she was able to avoid one the annoy little duties that were assigned to her team. Seriously, they were officially shinobi yet the only missions they received were pulling weeds, and cleaning lakes. At least the missions give us a chance to work on our teamwork, though Sakura hardy thought Naruto and Sasuke's stupid rivalry and dumb arguments counted as teamwork.

"Nyaaaaa!" the poor cat cried helplessly squished in the hold of the short plumpy woman adorn in rich clothing. Sakura and her teammates couldn't help but feel sorry for the now suffocating creature that they were force to retrieve in one of their so called missions. Well, Naruto didn't feel sorry for the pet because it had scratched the crap out him right after capture. The old hokage spoke from across the room behind a large desk, "Now, Kakashi's Team 7 your next duty is… hmmm… babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, and helping with the potato digging." "No! No! No! No, thank you! I want a real mission, find us a better one!" Naruto complained loudly at the old man. Sasuke for once completely agreed with the blonde idiot, but he remained silent. Sakura took comfort in knowing their next mission would be one meant for real ninja, not that she was entirely thrilled with the fact that they would have to take on Zabuza again. Kakashi just wished his students could be a little more humble, they were only genin after all. "Don't be a fool! You're only a beginner!" Iruka stood up from behind the desk. "We've done tons of small stuff. Can't we get some action?" Naruto shouted back at his old teacher. "Thus far, the three of you have only attained the lowest rank… D grade mission are the best you can aspire to." Sarutobi lectured the three genin. "But it's not fair. There is more to me than the trouble-making screwup!" Naruto defended himself loudly.

Sarutobi merely smiled at the boy, "Very well, since you put it that way… I will permit you to attempt a C rank mission… the protection of a certain individual." He had the whole team's attention now, and Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement, "Who is it? Some great lord? The Daimyo? A princess?" the blonde questioned with eagerness. "Calm down, I'll introduce him", The hokage motioned for the man to enter. "What's this? A bunch of brats?", they turned to face the owner of the voice and soon enough they were face to face with an old drunkard, which was not what Naruto had hoped for. "The midget has the face of an imbecile", The old man slurred. "Who's the midget imbecile?" Naruto laughed and turned his head to take in the heights of his clearly taller teammates. He quickly realized he was the shortest in his party and he partially pounced on the man, "I'll kill you!" Kakashi held the energetic boy back,"No killing the old man you've been assigned to protect", he reprimanded the blonde. "I'm Tazuna, a renowned bridge builder. I expect you to protect me until I get back to my country and complete my bridge." Tazuna introduced himself.

Upon leaving the gates of the village the three genin, one jounin, and their client began their journey to the village hidden in the mist. Sakura wasn't sure if she should be nervous or excited about their first real mission especially when she knew what lay ahead. They were a few hours into their journey when they past it, the puddle. The pink haired kunoichi had to force herself to look as oblivious to the puddle as she possible could, but in reality she really wanted to throw a kunai at the small body of water just to see what would happen. Of course she did nothing and kept walking. Though it was hard to do nothing when the two rogue ninja encircled her sensei with a spiked chain. "One little piggy." The genin and their client cringed and gasped in terror when their sensei was pulled to pieces. "Master Kakashi!" Naruto cried in horror and the rogue ninja were upon him immediately. "Two little piggies." Naruto became paralyzed by fear. Good thing Sasuke was quick to protect his teammate and he use one of his shurikan to pin the demon brother's chain to a near by tree, he promptly reinforced the shurikan with a kunai and landed on the enemies now immobilized claws. "Hmph", The Uchiha instantly wiped the shocked looks off the rogue ninja's faces with a double kick. However this was not the demon brother's first rodeo and the two released their chains in order to strike the other travelers. One attacked a surprised Naruto, while the other raced to strike Tazuna, but Sakura had firmly planted herself in front of the drunkard wielding her kunai defensively. Sakura wanted nothing more than to confront the demon brother speeding toward het, but she didn't budge from her defensive stance in front of the bridge builder. She did nothing and in seconds, Sasuke appeared in front of her protectively, but the assault was swiftly stopped by none other than Kakashi sensei. Everyone stared at their teacher, back from the grave, now holding two unconscious rogue ninja.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I should have moved to help you sooner before you were injured, but it never occurred to me that you would freeze up." Kakashi apologized to the slightly beat up blonde. "Good job, Sasuke," he praised his apathetic dark haired student. The Uchiha looked over to his sulking teammate and grinned. "Are you okay, you big chicken?" he spoke causing Naruto to growl at him. "Naruto! There's no time for fighting. Their claws are poisoned, we have to clean that wound as soon as possible". Kakashi motioned to the boy's cut hand. Naruto glared at his throbbing injured hand as Kakashi continued, "If we cut the wound more deeply, the blood flow will wash the poison away." "For now, keep as still as possible so the poison doesn't spread." Kakashi finished and looked over to the bridge builder, "Mr. Tazuna, I need to speak with you." Kakashi wasted no time tying the demon brothers to a tree, and the rogue ninja quickly regained consciousness. "Our attackers appear to be ninja from the Kirigakure clan mist ninjas, they were obviously watching us and waiting for the chance to strike". Kakashi explain how he realized the puddle was a trap because the sun was out and it hadn't rained for several days. "If you knew all that why did you let those creeps attack you?" Tazuna asked confused. "I wanted to find out who their real target was." Kakashi's stare seemed to pierce the civilian. "There was no word in your request that mentioned of any shinobi seeking to take your life. In any case, it's clear that this is more than a C rank mission." Tazuna had guilt plaster all over his face. "If you expected to be the target of ninja assault then it would be beyond question that this would be classified as an A rank mission for an elite ninja." Now, the drunkard was sweating bullets. "This is complicated… should we go back now so we can make sure Naruto receives medical attention?" Kakashi suggested and Naruto instantly looked pissed.

Shocking everyone, well, everyone beside the girl with knowledge from the future, Naruto buried a kunai in his hand. "With this kunai knife, I promise you I… will protect the old man. Reporting, fit for duty, sensei!" Naruto spoke clearly and with authority, only his slight shaking giving away the pain in his left hand. "Naruto you know you could bleed to death." Kakashi smiled at the boy. The thought of death seemed to catch the boy's attention, "Nooo! I can't die like this!" Naruto whined, panicking. "Show me your hand." Kakashi sighed and reached for the boy's bloody hand. He was surprised to find that the boy's wound was almost healed, but he knew it must have been because of the beast sealed inside the boy. "It's all right, isn't it?"Naruto looked up at his serious sensei with frantic eyes. "It looks like you'll be fine…" Kaskashi finished bandaging the boys wound. "Mr. Sensei sir… I have something I need to say…" Tazuna pulled the silver haired ninja away from his miraculous-healing student. The bridge builder explained his current situation and about the enemy, a business man named Gato. Sakura used the man's explanation as an opportunity to lightly grasp Naruto injured hand so she held his hand in her own. She let her charka inconspicuously probe and heal the remainder of the almost closed wound. Naruto was surprised when Sakura suddenly held is hand and he looked over to the pink haired girl who was staring at Tazuno and Kakashi. Her hand was surprisingly warm and he blushed a deep red at the thought of his crush having feelings for him. Automatically, he let his own fingers wrap around the girl's pale hand, making her jump a little in surprise. Sakura was happy her sensei and Naruto, despite his reaction, didn't notice her use of medical jutsu. Little did she know that a certain Uchiha was watching the whole scene. Sasuke didn't know about Sakura's medical jutsu, but none the less he couldn't tear his gaze away from the two clasped hands of his teammates. The sight made him feel a tight pain in his chest and overwhelming feelings of jealousy toward his clumsy blonde companion. When Tazuno finished his tale, Sasuke automatically pushed himself in between the two genin, breaking their hold on one another. "Let's go", the Uchiha mumbled and then walked off. The dark haired boy could feel Naruto burning stare on him as they journeyed the rest of the way to the village hidden in the mist.