Finally, the start of Arc 1.

Arc 1

Chapter 5: Team 14's first mission

One month and 20+ D-Rank missions later, Team 14 was ready for a 'real' mission. Today, Team 14 was in the Hokage's office to get another mission, there 25th D-Rank in fact.

"Here is a good mission. The stables need to be cleaned." The Sandaime said as he looked at Team 14.

"Whaaaat! I want a real mission! Hire someone no-ninja to clean the stables."

"I agree with 'Kemi, Hokage-sama." Arashi stated as Airi agreed with her two teammates.

"SHUT UP BRATS! We'll do any mission the Hokage gives us!" Tsume yelled as she started to lose her patience.

"It's okay, Tsume. You are just like your brother, Akemi. He was complaining about not having any 'real missions; as he you put it, too. I'll give you a C-Rank mission, then. You will be protecting a wealthy merchant who is traveling form Konoha to Sunagakure. He said to meet him at the North Gate at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. Any questions? Good! You're dismissed." the Hokage said before Team 14 left to prepare.

The next morning, Team 14 arrived at the North Gate at 7:30. At 7:55, the merchant, Kouki, arrived. He was 6'1 with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a rounded face. He wasn't fat, but he definitely wasn't in shape. He wore traveling clothes, but you could tell he had better clothes on under them.

"Are you guys Team 14?" Kouki asked.

"Yes we are. Are you the merchant that we are supposed to protect?" Tsume responded.

"Yes. My name is Kouki by the way. Shall we get going?"

As they left, Airi decided to ask him a question that had been bugging her since she saw his picture.

"Kouki, how did you become so rich so quickly? You don't look older than 20."

"I've been asked that several times over the years. I inherited it when my father died several years ago." Kouki responded sadly.

"Oh. I'm sorry about your father." 'Ri responded.

"It's okay. I've gotten over it, but my mother and little sister hasn't."

"Do you live in Suna, Kouki?" Arashi asked as they walked, wanting to change the subject.

"No, I live in the Land of Fire capital."

"Then why are you going to Suna?"

"I want to get permission to build a new shop there."

"That means we will have to escort you back to the capital then." Arashi sighed.

Several hours later, Kouki's stomach began to growl.

"Can we stop for lunch, please?" Kouki asked Tsume.

"No. The sooner we get to Suna, the better." Tsume replied coldly.

"Yeah, well, I'm not going anywhere until I get luch!" Kouki replied childishly as he sat on the ground.

Sigh "Fine, you win. We will stop for 30 minutes to eat." Tsume, along with her genin, sat down by Kouki and started eating.

Thirty minutes later, the group was on its way to Suna again.

"Aaah! That was good!"

"I hope you're happy, Kouki. If you hadn't stopped, we would've been able to make it to a good camp site by evening. I hope you can sleep outside." Tsume said the last part almost evilly.

They got to the camp site that evening and started setting up camp.

"Arashi, I want you and Kaminari to go get firewood. Airi, you and Akemi start setting up the tents." Tsume ordered as her three genin started their jobs.

After they set everything up and ate supper, they all decided to go to sleep so they could get an early start in the morning.

Two Days Later

"Look! It's Sunagakure!" 'Kemi yelled as the group finally reached Suna.

"We're finally there!" Arashi sighed as he trudged over to Akemi.

"It's a good thing, too. I gave a meeting with the Kazekage in two hours." Kouki stated while walking to the gates of Suna.

"Are you coming or are you going to stay there?" he added as he turned around.

"Well, you see, we are Konoha shinobi and this is Sunagakure. We probably aren't going to be allowed into the city." 'Ri answered.

"Nonsense! You're my bodyguards so they'll let you in, I'm sure." Kouki replied.

He then walked up to a Sand shinobi and got permission for his 'bodyguards' to come inside the city while he was there.

2 hours later, all three genin were sitting in their hotel room, waiting for the meeting that Kouki was in to finish.

After having to wait another 3 hours, Akemi finally lost her patience and started pacing around the room.

"Will you please stop. pacing. Akemi?" Arashi asked.

"But I'm soooo bored, Arashi."

"Then let's play a game." 'Ri suggested.

"We've already played every game we could think of." 'Kemi complained.

"For the love of God, SIT DOWN AKEMI!" Arashi yelled finally annoyed with Akemi.

"What's going on in here?" a Suna ninja asked form outside the room.

"Sir, can we leave the room please." Akemi practically begged the man.

"No. you are Konoha ninja, so you are not allowed outside of this room." the Suna ninja replied.

30 minutes later, Kouki and Tsume walked into the hotel room.

"What took you so long, Tsume-sensei?" Airi asked.

Kouki answered before Tsume could. "I took some convincing to get the Kazekage to let me build a store in Sunagakure."

"So does that mean we can leave now?" Akemi asked.

"No, we will stay the night here and leave tomorrow morning." Tsume answered.

Author's Notes: For those who don't feel like looking it up, 'Akemi' means 'Bright and Beautiful; Red Beauty', 'Airi' means 'Beloved Jasmine', 'Arashi' means 'Storm', and 'Kaminari' means 'Thunder'. This is also my first time to publish anything on FanFiction, so reviews are welcome, though, no flames please. I do not own Naruto. I only own Akemi, Airi, Arashi, Kaminari, and Kouki. If you want to know who Tsume Inuzuka and Kuromaru are, then go to Narutopedia and search their names. I tried to put links up, but they wouldn't work.

I also need some more characters for the upcoming missions and for the Chunin Exams. Send me a message or E-Mail. Just sign with your first name please, otherwise I probably won't respond.

Also, if you want to draw some pictures of what Akemi, Airi, Arashi, and Kaminari look like, feel free to. Just send them to me so I can give you the thumbs up and put a link to them.

Kouki's name means ' Vast and Strong' which reffers to his merchant empire.