Okay, chapter 8. Bit longer than normal. Oh well, that's what happens when you cram an entire mission into one chapter.

I don't own Naruto

Three days later

"Well, I have a pretty important announcement for you." Etsuya's squad sat up a bit as he said this. They had been working harder after they failed the exam. "Since the other Genin squads are preparing for stage three of the exam, we've received our first c-rank mission. A number of bandits have been sighted a short distance north of here. One of the villages, a place called Wana, has decided to request a group of ninja in order to protect itself." His squad looked more excited than they had in a long time. "They paid for us to stay there for the next three days. Of course, it will take a full day to get there, and a day to come back. So I'll give you three hours to get ready. We'll meet at the gate then." And with that, his students left. 'Thank god, it's not d-rank again.'

Shiori ran home as fast as she could. This was really her chance to prove herself. She could finally show off what she had learned. She wondered how she should tell her parents. While they never said it, she knew that they never really wanted her to become a ninja. However, upon arrival, she had discovered that her parents weren't there. She packed up what she could fit into her backpack, then left towards the gate. On the door to her room, she attached a note, which said, simply, Gone on a mission. Back in a few days.

For Shinsuke, the watchword was speed. The less time he spent at his apartment, the less chance that he would run into his overbearing parents. They had no real reason to be there, but they had a habit of suddenly showing up when he least expected it. He grabbed everything that he needed, and quickly ran towards the door. However, he stopped after he reached it. He had hoped it was his imagination, but then he heard it knock again. 'Oh c'mon! Now!' He ran back into the apartment before jumping out the window. It probably wasn't the nicest thing he could have done, but in his mind, it was worth it.

Hideko walked into her house. Her Dad wasn't there, but her Mom was. When she said that she was going on her first c-rank, her Mom was actually more excited than she was. She grabbed her pack, filled it, said her goodbyes, and left.

"Well, I guess your all here, so lets go. The village is fairly close. We'll definitely reach it tomorrow." They gate opened up in front of them, and they walked out. "So, I guess this is your first time away from the village, isn't it?" His students nodded. "I wouldn't worry. Konoha will be there when we get back. It always is. Too bad that we'll miss the last stage of the exam, though. I was looking forward to that."

The trip itself was fairly long and uneventful. They walked down the road out of Konoha for hours. The only people they saw were a few minor lords coming to watch the exam. Near sundown, they stopped at a small inn on the side of the road, had dinner, and relaxed a bit before going to sleep. At dawn, they paid their tab and headed back out. A few hours before sunset, Wana was clearly visible on the horizon. Etsuya decided to address the group.

"Alright, since this is your first real mission, I guess I should explain how this usually works. Normally, a representative would have been at Konoha to guide us here. However, that wasn't the case here, because they decided that if bandits did attack, they would need everyone to be here to have a chance to drive them off. Sometimes, someone will meet us at the gate. Otherwise, we'll need to find the mayor, or elder, of the village and talk to them."

However, when they reached it, things weren't entirely what any of them expected. No one was at the gate itself, so they just walked in. That was when things turned strange. The people on the streets stopped what they were doing to stare at the ninja that were entering into the village. Shiori noticed the look in their eyes. Almost all of them were filled with fear. Then, one of the villagers ran over towards them.

"Hey, mind if I ask what are a bunch of ninja doing here?" Etsuya stared at him.

"This is Wana, isn't it?"

"Of course, now I'll ask again. Why are you here?" Etsuya looked genuinely confused.

"We were hired to come here to protect this village from bandits." The man laughed.

"Does this look like there's bandits here? Either you guys are lying, or this is some kind of practical joke. I think I speak for everyone when I saw that I want you to leave. Now." A few people from the crowd that had gathered nodded, though most just watched.

"Well, I see that now." Started Etsuya. "But it's getting a bit too late to leave. Is there somewhere that we could stay?" The man looked at him for a moment before saying anything.

"Yeah, there is. We have an inn here. It's the one with the sign. But you'll still have to pay." And with that, the man walked off, and the crowd dispersed. The four ninja stood there for a moment before heading off towards the inn. They paid for a room and headed upstairs. After walking in, Hideko spoke up.

"Well, that was a bit different, wasn't it." They all sat down, leaning against the walls.

"Looks like we were a bit late." Said Shinsuke.

"They probably took over a few days ago, found out they had hired ninja, and decided to stay to try to get us to go away." Added Etsuya.

Shiori looked at him. "So whats the plan, then?" Etsuya closed his eyes and thought for a moment.

"Well, we don't know how many of them there are. So, we leave tomorrow, watch the village, and wait for them to reveal themselves."

"Do you think it worked?"

"No. Those villagers gave us away. They're definitely onto us." The men around him seemed surprised by this.

"Then what do we do?"

"There's only one option. Kazuo, Yoshitomo, I want you to assassinate their leader tonight. The children aren't a threat." Two of the men in front of him backed up slowly. It was obvious they were nervous, but they knew better than to question him.

Sneaking into the room they were staying in was easier than they would have thought. The two crept slowly towards the large person on the floor. One of them pulled out a knife from under his shirt. The other one walked around to the sleeping man's front. Then, he covered his mouth as the other plunged a knife into his neck. At first, he felt relieved that his task was finished. However, the body then, with a puff of smoke, turned into a backpack. They both turned to the door, only to see it blocked by the supposedly sleeping ninja. They took a step back, only to have there progress blocked by the wall. The one that was apparently in charge spoke up.

"You shouldn't make so much noise if your trying to sneak." He then charged forward, hitting the man named Yoshitomo and knocking him unconscious. Kazuo ran past, only for one of the kids blocking the doorway to slam him into the ground and punched his face. Hideko then stood up and turned towards Etsuya.

"Well, looks like they are that stupid." They then tied the two would-be assassins up and put them in the corner. However, before they could discuss the event, they then heard the door behind them open. They turned around, to see the man from before standing there. Only now, around his head was a hitai-ite with a scratch through it. The four of them readied themselves.

"Well, they failed after all. I was fairly certain they would. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kenkyusha Daisetsu, formerly of Kusagakure. Now then, lets just end this now. But I don't want to destroy this village; it's not good business. Follow the road out of town a bit. I'll be waiting." And with that, he disappeared back through the doorway. Shinsuke looked at Etsuya.

"So then, what do we do now?"

"It's a trap, that's obvious." added Shiori.

"True, but we don't have many options here. We can't risk this village being destroyed. We'll have to trip it."

Daisetsu waited for those idiots to show up. He hoped they would. That village was an important source of revenue. It wouldn't do to have to set it on fire. His men were in place. All he needed was for them to show up. He could see movement through the darkness. It appeared that they had, indeed, arrived. They walked towards him, stopping about ten feet away. "It appears that I won't have to destroy this village after all." As he said this, an arrow shot out from the nearby woods. It flew straight towards Shiori, striking her directly in the chest. Then, she disappeared into smoke.

"Well, a clone. It appears that one of you has a brain." He charged forward, taking out the other three clones. Then, he heard the sound of metal on metal from the woods. He turned, seeing one of his men come running out, screaming. He grabbed him as he attempted to pass. "I have no use for soldiers who won't fight." He hit the man, killing him instantly. The noise from the bushes ended. Then, a few moments later, the jounin stepped out. "It looks like your a few short."

"I didn't feel like risking their lives against someone of your level just yet. So don't worry about them." He reached into his pack and removed a kunai. "You have a bigger problem." He took a step forward before breaking into a charge. He slashed upwards, which was easily sidestepped by Daisetsu, who pulled out a knife of his own. He countered by swinging at his stomach, but Etsuya jumped backward. He landed and formed a number of seals. The wind then picked up, slashing the area in front of him. Several cuts appeared on Daisetsu's body, and the three genin, who had been watching from the nearby woods, were forced to take cover.

"I really hope you can do better." He walked slowly forward, forming a number of seals along the way. The grass at the sides of the road flew out of the ground towards Etsuya. He jumped backwards, farther from his opponent. He watched as the blades hit the ground, followed shortly by Daisetsu charging towards him. He narrowly dodged a punch towards his face, only to be tripped as his opponent swept his leg. Daisetsu had hoped to use this to advantage, but was forced to divert his attention as a kunai flew out of the nearby woods. He deflected with the knife in his hand. He glanced over, but was unable to locate where the kunai was thrown from. He turned back towards Etsuya, who twisted himself up, kicking in the process. He dodged the attack quickly, then rushed towards the Jounin before he could place his feet.

"After I finish with you, whoever threw that will pay."

"Nice shot, Hideko."

The three watched from relative safety as their sensei fought the missing-nin. They saw Daisetsu kick him in the head, causing him to stagger backward. He formed a seal, which caused Daisetsu to be blown backwards, but the man managed to land on his feet. The missing-nin then performed his own jutsu, which caused a number of vines to come out of the ground around Etsuya, grabbing at his arms and legs, and dragging them towards the ground.

"This isn't good, he needs help." Said Shiori. Before the others could say anything, she broke into a sprint towards the missing-nin, removing a kunai from her pouch along the way.

"Well, I guess we should go too." Stated Shinsuke, as he and Hideko took off after their teammate. Daisetsu, hearing their approach, turned towards the noise. He then sidestepped the blow, grabbing her arm along the way. Then, with his other arm, smacked the her directly in the stomach, causing her to drop her kunai while spitting up blood. He then hit her in her head, knocking her over onto her back. Then, he brought his leg downwards onto her knee, breaking it with a sharp crack. Shiori screamed out in pain as her teammates came to her aid. Shinsuke slashed towards his neck with his tanto. However, before he could counter, Hideko jumped over Shinsuke to continue the attack, forcing the nin on the defensive.

Daisetsu attempted to dodge the blow towards stomach, only for it to scratch his arm. However, before he could recover, Shinsuke slashed towards his head. He ducked, but was then forced to roll to the side as Hideko ran and slashed at him, sliding under Shinsuke's arm. He then jumped backwards and formed a number of seals. The two genin watched as he appeared to turn into a number of rose petals, which blew around the two of them, appearing to multiply along the way.

"Great, I think we just got hit by some kind of genjutsu." Said Hideko. A cut suddenly appeared on her arm. Shinsuke looked at her, wondering what was wrong, when he felt something cut his leg.

"How are we supposed to fight this!" Shouted Shinsuke as another cut appeared on his body. The two of them stood back to back inside of the whirlwind of petals. They tried to think of a way out, but couldn't come up with anything, and with each passing second, one of them received another cut along their body. Then, the petals disappeared as, with a sudden gust of wind, Daisetsu appeared and was blown backwards into a tree.

"Sorry, but that took longer to break than I thought. Hideko, Shinsuke, I want you to get Shiori back to Wana. The villagers will probably be a bit more cooperative, seeing as the bandits aren't there." Said Etsuya, not looking at them. Hideko and Shinsuke merely nodded, then ran where Shiori was laying, holding her injured leg. They hoisted her up, then slowly started to walk her back, one on each side.

"Your not getting away!" Screamed Daisetsu, throwing his knife directly at Shinsuke. However, before it made impact, Etsuya ran over and deflected it.

"No. This is just us." He removed three shuriken, took aim, and threw. They were easily dodged, as his target then charged head on. Etsuya stepped to the side, and then circled around his opponent. From behind, he then grabbed the back of Daisetsu's shirt and yanked, knocking him off balance, before kicking him directly in the back. Now in the air, the man twisted himself around and attempted to form a seal. However, before he could use his jutsu, the wind around him suddenly picked up, sending him farther upwards and causing even more cuts to appear throughout his body.

Etsuya jumped into a tree and then, using it as a springboard, leaped above the missing-nin. Then, he brought his foot down onto his chest, smashing into the ground. Etsuya landed a few feet away, staring as his opponent attempted to stand up, coughing up blood along the way. "Just give up. It's not worth the effort." The man just glared.

"I will not lose like this!" With the last of his strength, he ran forward punching Etsuya's hitai-ite. However, it turned into a log.

A log with an explosive note attached to it.

There was a loud noise outside, causing him to wake. He got up as fast as his body would let him, but he wasn't as young as he had used to be. He opened his door, and realized that he was the last one to get outside. The rest of the village was already awake. Suddenly, he heard a yell.

"Someone's coming!" He turned. There were three of them, and none of them looked like bandits. However, their presence still managed to spark panic throughout the area, and many people ran back inside. He wanted to, as well, but didn't see much point in it. He was old, and if any bandit had wanted to kill him, they would do it whether he was in or out. However, as the three got closer, he realized that they were some of the ninja from earlier. He noticed that one of them was badly injured, and that the other two were covered in scratches. As they came closer, it was obvious that the girl in the middle was barely conscious.

"Can you help us? The bandits should be gone now." Said the girl on the end. She sounded exhausted. He sighed, relieved. The village had pooled all the money it could to hire someone to help them. It was nice that they had managed to solve the problem so quickly.

"Of course. My house is right here. Your welcome to use it if you'd like, but didn't you have a room?" he asked. To the best of his knowledge, they had payed for a room at the inn. And it wasn't too far away, either.

"Yeah, but we don't want to carry her too far." Said the boy on the end. "Also, we have two of Daisetsu's men tied up there. We'd would rather make sure that they hadn't escaped before we carry an injured person in there." The three went slowly into his house. He looked towards the inn. If there were captives, it could be settled in the morning. Then, he headed in behind the three children. They were helping her onto a couch. He got a closer look at their injuries. Some of the cuts on the two were fairly deep. It was amazing to him that they were able to reach the village while carrying someone from where that explosion had occurred. The girl that was laying down had already slipped into unconsciousness. She was fairly banged up herself. The two that were still standing looked over towards him.

"Sorry it took so long to say this," spoke the girl "but I'm Hideko. This is Shinsuke" she pointed at the boy next to her "and our teammate is Shiori. Thank you for helping us with this." He smiled.

"My name is Gidayu. And your welcome to stay here, but wasn't there another one of you?" She looked down towards her feet. The boy called Shinsuke walked towards the door before turning around.

"I'm going to go see if he's okay. Take care of Shiori." And with that, he left.

"Sorry about him." Said Hideko. "That other person is Etsuya. He's our teacher." With his question answered, he walked towards the unconscious girl.

"What happened to her." Hideko looked directly at Shiori as she spoke.

"Her knee was broken. She also took a few other hits. I'm not sure how bad it is yet."

Shinsuke ran towards the spot. He felt a sharp pain on his side where a particularly deep cut had been made. He ignored it in his dash towards where the explosion had come from. That was a few minutes ago, but that had to be where he was. However, what he saw made him stop. He could see someone walking towards him. As they got closer, however, he could clearly tell who it was.

Etsuya had survived after all.

He waited at the side for the man to come closer. Etsuya stopped when he reached him.

"Shouldn't you have stayed with Shiori?" He shook his head.

"I thought I should make sure that your alright. I didn't like the idea of leaving you behind on this."

"You really don't have much confidence in me, do you? Your teammates both needed you, and I can take care of myself. Now then, we should get back as soon as possible. I'm going to carry you, because you shouldn't be moving around so much with that injury on your side. We need to get back. Hideko is waiting, and I need to check you three's wounds."

They made it back only a few minutes later. Shiori was still where he left her. Hideko was sitting on a chair, waiting for them, as was Gidayu.

"What happened?" They ignored the question. Shinsuke stayed by the door as Etsuya walked over to Shiori. He bent over and looked at her leg.

"It looks like it's completely shattered. We need a medical ninja. It looks like we'll need to take her back to Konoha for this. Now then, I need to check the two of you out, as well.

He preceded to examine the two of them. He went back to their room at the inn and grabbed their things, since it was obvious that they wouldn't be staying there. He also wanted to make sure that the two prisoners hadn't escaped. He then removed the medical pouch he had brought with him and bandaged up a number of their injuries. A cut on Shinsuke's left side had been fairly deep, as well as one on Hideko's right shoulder. He then went outside and found some sticks, which he used to make a brace for Shiori. The two now bandaged genin then held the girl down as Etsuya attached the brace to her leg. With that finished, he was finally able to rest. He looked towards the group.

"Okay, things haven't really gone like I had expected. Gidayu, do you mind that we will be unable to stay the next two day's as had been planned?" The old man shook his head.

"I don't think that anyone will, after I explain what happened. There isn't any reason for you to be here if there isn't anyone to protect us from." And with that, the group was finally able to rest.

After thanking Gidayu, they headed back towards Konoha in the morning. Shiori was being helped by her two teammates, since she was still unable to walk on her own. Etsuya was in the front of the group. Their pace was much slower than it had been on the trip there. It had taken them two nights to get near Konoha. They left their camp and continued down the road. They noticed smoke from up ahead. Upon reaching the top of the hill they were headed up, they realized why.

Konoha was burning.

Oh wow. The failure at suspense.

Oh, and thank you to Wajak for adding me to his favorite story list

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