Author's note: Beginning of a new arc. One I had a lot of fun writing. I hope you are going to have as much fun reading it.

A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Naruto was in for the surprise of his life when he went to the Hokage tower that day. The girls were still on medical leave and they would be for some time to come and Tenzo got called off for frontlines duty. It made him the only member of his team currently free and he headed to the Mission Room to ask what he was supposed to be doing. He had expected guard or scouting duty or perhaps even going to the battlefield again, but not this.

"Are you sure about this, sir?"

"Yes, Naruto," the Hokage nodded. "After all, you have been chuunin for over half a year. I think it's up time."

"If you say so," the blond replied hesitantly. "I still don't think it's a good idea. They're all older than me."

"And that matters why?" the Sandaime raised an eyebrow. "You are the senior ninja here."

"I know, but… it's still awkward."

"That's one of the things you have to get used to. You got promoted young, so such situations would arise often for you. Just be glad you are doing it in Konoha."

"Yes, I know," the boy replied. "I should better be going then."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Training grounds~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Naruto observed the three figures gathered near the logs. He didn't get to read their files and he had only very brief info on them. It was no surprise there wasn't much information about them, considering they had graduated from the Academy only recently. They were all ten and they were genin thanks to the wartime-lowered graduation age and sped-up curriculum. They were also the first unit he was supposed to command.

He took a while to observe them before he would make himself known to them.

A black-haired boy in green bodysuit was kicking relentlessly at a wooden pole. He had a lot of strength and endurance, Naruto had to give that to him. A few trees over a girl with twin buns on her head and pink shirt was hurling kunai and shuriken at practice targets. Her aim was perfect even from a great distance. Yet a bit further a boy with long black hair was going through a kata in a style Naruto wasn't too familiar with, but could recognize from the description as the Juuken, signature style of the Hyuuga clan.

He jumped down from his hiding spot. The three genin immediately stopped their training and turned to him, eying him warily. He noticed the girl held a kunai in her hand, ready to throw it should he prove to be hostile.

"Hello," he greeted. "Are you Team Gai?"

"We are," the Hyuuga boy answered.

"Good. I am Uzumaki Naruto. I will be your temporary commander while your sensei is away."

Neji radiated contempt at having to listen to somebody younger than him, despite not moving a single muscle. Naruto wondered how he achieved that. Tenten eyed him doubtfully, but said nothing. He didn't fault her for it. Despite wearing the shinobi uniform and customized flak jacked, he still failed to look like a serious ninja. Lee…

"Yosh! Your flames of youth must burn brightly to achieve chuunin so young!"

"Eh…What?" Naruto was taken aback. He was told this was going to be an easy assignment, not that he would have to deal with a weirdo. But he wouldn't back down. The Hokage had trusted him with them and he wasn't about to let him down.

"If he became chuunin so young, it was because it was fated to happen," the Hyuuga boy stated.

"Ah…" 'What did I do to piss off the Hokage so much?' Naruto wondered. 'It makes two weirdoes now.'

"I disagree, my eternal rival," the green-clad boy shouted. 'Can he even speak at normal volume?' Naruto wondered. "I will prove to you there is no such think as fate. I will prove that hard work will surpass genius!"

"Fool," the white-eyed boy sneered. "A dropout would always be a dropout. Fate wouldn't allow it to be otherwise."

"And that's where you are mistaken!"

"Just ignore them," the only girl on the team advised him. But Naruto couldn't. This squad was clearly dysfunctional and as its commander, though temporary, he felt obliged to do something about it.

"Quit it," he shouted. The two genin immediately turned to glare at him. "I don't know whether you heard about it, but we are at war. You are supposed to be a well-cooperating unit and what do you do? Fight among yourselves! You should be ashamed of yourselves. Didn't your sensei teach you about teamwork?" Their guilty faces were answer enough. "Why don't you heed his words then? There are whole armies of ninja who would eat children like you for dinner and if you don't want it to happen, you should train to become a better team, not waste time on petty squabbles among yourselves. I don't know what you think about your abilities, but let me tell you something: none of you is good enough to hold his own against an enemy. Your only chance of survival if you encounter some is through teamwork. Do you understand?"

They nodded, but Naruto wasn't so sure they really got it. His suspicion was proven correct when Neji spoke. "If we are fated to die in battle, then we will. If we are fated to survive, then we will." Naruto suppressed the urge to tear out his hair.

"Do you blame everything on fate?" the chuunin asked.

"Fate controls everything," the long-haired boy answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Everything about a person is predetermined the moment of his birth." He shot a derogatory glance toward his male teammate.

"And that's where you are wrong," Lee shouted. "Hard work can overcome anything."

"Hn." That simple sound summed up everything Neji thought about it.

"Stop it now," Naruto commanded, his eyes narrowing. "Neji. Are you a seer?"

"What?" the Hyuuga's impassive face showed a momentary hint of confusion.

"I asked whether you are a seer," the blond boy repeated. "Can you see the future?"

"No." Neji admitted.

"Than why do you claim to know a person's fate?" Naruto questioned.

"Because it's predetermined at birth."

"Now listen to yourself," the blond scoffed. "You say you can't see the future and yet you claim to know a person's fate. Aren't you contradicting yourself? How do you explain it? I heard you were a genius, but now I'm beginning to doubt it."

"Whether you are a genius or a loser is decided at birth. No-one chan change it. Trying to do so is a pointless endeavor." He shot a pointed glance towards his teammate. Lee took a breath to shout an answer, but Naruto beat him to it.

"Why do you hate your teammate so much?" he asked. "Could it be because he is trying to change himself and you feel threatened by it? Or is it perhaps that you wish to change yourself and are afraid to do so? Or have you tried before and failed and become so disheartened that you completely gave up?"

"You know nothing about me," the Branch House Hyuuga scoffed. For the first time, there was genuine anger in his tone instead of pure disdain.

"That's true," Naruto admitted, "but your reaction tells me I hit close to home, didn't I?" Neji's only answer was the deepening of his scowl. "If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to," the young chuunin said, "but could you please refrain from verbally attacking your teammate? That's exactly the sort of behavior that would get you all killed on the frontlines. And believe me, that's something I have experience with."

"You were on the frontlines?" There was a hint of doubt in Tenten's voice.

"I was," he confirmed. "In fact I returned only recently. The rest of my team was wounded and they are in the hospital and they are the lucky ones. I saw too many who wouldn't be recovering or wouldn't be coming back at all." His voice gained a faraway quality as the scenes from the frontlines appeared before his mind's eye. The three genin were silent. Maybe they began to understand the perils they would be facing, but this was probably only wishful thinking.

"Enough about it," the chuunin decided. "It's still early in the day, so we should be training. In the afternoon we'll head to the Tower for a D-rank. For now, what about a spar, anything goes? I'd like to see what you can do and it would be good experience for you to see another fighting style."

"You are the commander here," Neji shrugged.

"Well, then," the blond nodded. "Why don't you go first?" The Hyuuga nodded and moved into the center of the training field. Naruto stood in front of him. "Let's begin."

Neji wasted no time and activated his Byakugan. Naruto recognized it by the telltale bulging veins around his eyes. He had heard a lot about his clan's bloodlimit, but he had never fought against it. 'I mustn't let him touch me,' he decided. 'And I shouldn't blow him into pieces as well.'

Neji lowered himself into the basic stance of the Gentle Fist style. He seemed content to wait for his opponent to attack. The young chuunin decided he had to take the initiative first. With a thought he activated his own chakra-enhanced taijutsu style and let the Wind chakra encircle his forearms in preparation to utilize the Whirlwind Fist style. He usually wouldn't use it in a friendly match, but he needed some defense against the Juuken. If his tenketsu were closed, he would lose the use of his arms and that would mean losing to a fresh genin, which would be disastrous for his image as a leader. He could only hope it would be enough and that he wouldn't hurt Neji too much. He kept the chakra as blunt as possible.

Neji's eyes widened when he saw the energy now encircling his opponent's hands. He had never seen anything like it before. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was sure he didn't want to find out the hard way. He couldn't ponder over it for long. Naruto attacked. It was fast, but Neji was used to practicing with Maito Gai and Lee, so it couldn't catch him unawares. He sidestepped the attack and tried to hit Naruto in the ribs, but the blond blocked with his arm. Neji felt the push of Naruto's chakra as their forearms met. He quickly retracted his arm, but he could feel several small tears forming in his skin. Before he could analyze the situation further, the blond kicked at his feet and he was forced to jump back. Naruto pushed his attack.

Neji was prepared for him this time. He concentrated chakra to his fingertips, prepared to connect with one disabling Juuken strike. His opponent wasn't bad, but he wasn't called a genius for nothing. In the one brief exchange he found out enough about the younger boy's style to guess how he would react.

Naruto was charging at him exactly as he expected. Just a moment longer… Naruto retracted his right fist for a strike. Neji started moving to the left. Naruto changed his course to follow him. Neji dropped low just as Naruto's fist shot forward. His own hands moved in a blur, one of them heading for Naruto's elbow, the other aiming for his stomach. The blond had no way to evade or block now.

Then Neji noticed a buildup of chakra. He realized what was happening, but he couldn't stop himself from hitting the wooden post in time. He hissed in pain. He almost broke his fingers on it. He pushed the log away and turned to where his opponent appeared. Thanks to his nearly all-encompassing field of vision he didn't have to search for him. Now if he could hit him in the time it takes for the Kawarimi to completely deactivate…

He rushed forward with all his speed. It would be tricky, but he was sure he could make it. And he almost did. Only two steps were remaining to his defenseless opponent, when he noticed chakra building up around him. He wished he could go faster, but this was already his top speed. He prepared the Juuken strike.

Naruto knew he didn't have even a fraction of a second to spare. He gathered chakra to his left foot and kicked high. Neji saw it and turned a bit sideways. It wouldn't be enough to avoid the kick completely, but it would allow him to hit Naruto with Juuken before being hit himself. He could already see himself winning the match. His arms shot forward. Naruto lifted his own to block. Neji's fingers hit his forearm. The chakra circling around it protectively wasn't enough to stop him, but it distorted the chakra in Juuken enough to prevent him from closing any tenketsu. It still felt like there were a thousand needles pricking his skin.

Naruto's foot finally connected with Neji's side. The blond released the chakra he stored there in one moment and the Hyuuga prodigy was sent flying. It caught him completely off guard, but he was able to turn in the air and land without hurting himself. He took a moment to assess the damage. His side was hurting, but he couldn't se anything broken or torn. His fingers were bleeding, but the cuts didn't go any deeper than his skin.

"Good taijutsu," Naruto said, "but that is the Hyuuga's forte. Let's see how you can deal with a different kind of combat."

Neji stood to face his opponent, curious what he would try next. A ninjutsu, perhaps? He wasn't mistaken, the young chuunin started a series of handseals even before he finished speaking. Neji didn't recognize the sequence and the blond didn't say the name aloud. His first indication of the technique's nature was when chakra appeared in the air between them. Then a strong wind picked up, threatening to lift Neji off his feet and smash him into the nearest tree. He sent chakra to his feet, desperately trying to stick to the ground. He desperately wished he knew the Kaiten, but that was one of the Main House secret techniques and he wasn't allowed to learn it.

He noticed Naruto running towards him. The winds were still blowing. There was nothing he could do. Wait, there was something. The Hyuuga usually scoffed at anybody who couldn't get by using solely their family style, but Neji decided he didn't care. Before the chuunin could reach him, he performed a Kawarimi with another training post.

Naruto didn't even blink when the Hyuuga suddenly turned into a log. He evaded nimbly and turned around to see where his opponent would appear. He was exactly where he expected him to be. He performed another series of seals and unleashed the Water Shockwave attack. Neji leapt out of the way, but wasn't quick enough. The stream of water grazed his leg. It upset his balance and he fell down. Naruto was upon him in an instant. Neji was quick to react and struck with a chakra-charged palm. The blond narrowly dodged. He used a Gale Wind Palm to slam the dark-haired genin to the ground. Neji's breath left him with a huff. Naruto dropped down, batting away another Juuken strike and laid a hand on Neji's neck.

"It's over," he said. The white-eyed boy only grunted, his Byakugan deactivating. "Very good taijutsu," Naruto said, "but you have trouble with long-range fighters."

"Hn," was Neji's only response.

"I hope you got the lesson," the chuunin said. "Who wants to go next?"

"Me!" Lee jumped with excitement.

"Well, then come on," the blond smiled. Lee nodded and charged with all his youthful enthusiasm. Naruto was surprised at his speed and barely managed to block. His forearm hurt. He was surprised the young genin was able to put such a force behind his kick. He didn't have time to ponder about it. Lee pressed on his attack in a flurry of movement and it was all he could do not to get completely pummeled. It became quickly apparent that he won't be able to best the genin with purely taijutsu and tried to disengage. The green-clad boy didn't let him. He stuck to him and kept showering him with punches and kicks. Naruto was getting desperate. He couldn't lose to a mere genin here, but he also didn't want to go all out. It wouldn't look good on his record if he maimed his subordinates within the first hour of his first commanding assignment.

He forgone defense and attacked. He only braced his body for the inevitable impact of Lee's feet and fists and punched with all his might. The green-clad boy almost managed to avoid, but Naruto's strike connected with his side. It sent him falling backwards. It was a bit of a letdown for Naruto. He had hoped to send him flying.

He used the brief reprieve to jump back and run through seals. He felt embarrassed for having to restore to ninjutsu against a mere genin, but losing against said genin would be even more embarrassing. He fired off the 'Fuuton: Breakthrough.' Lee was already back on his feet and running towards him when the wind hit him and knocked him back. Once again it didn't have the desired effect. 'Why?' Naruto wondered. 'He doesn't seem so heavy. Could there be weights hidden under those leg warmers? It would explain why he kicks so hard. I need to step it up.'

He fired a Water Shockwave at his opponent, but the taijutsu specialist managed to evade, the water barely touching him. He ran at Naruto again. The chuunin decided he couldn't afford to be forced in the defensive again. Wind chakra enveloped his forearms once more.

Lee was almost upon him, but Naruto was prepared for him this time. Before the junior green beast could strike, he gave an outward push with his chakra. It wasn't enough to completely repel the attack, but it threw the genin off balance. Naruto was quick to capitalize on it. He avoided Lee's kick and slammed his fist into Lee's stomach. The taijutsu specialist grunted in pain, but that was it. He was used to worse from Gai-sensei. Naruto hit again, but this time Lee blocked and counterattacked. Naruto narrowly avoided having his nose smashed. Things got ugly for him again.

Naruto kicked with fury and forced Lee to give him a bit of a breather. He used it to switch with the last standing training post. Then he created a dozen Shadow Clones before his opponent realized he was pummeling wood.

The clones attacked in sync. Gai's prized student was good, but he was not quite that good yet. He managed to pop a good half of them before one struck him in the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. Another then placed a kunai at his neck. "I win," he declared.

"Yes," Lee admitted. "I'll make a thousand squats to make up for my defeat!"

"You don't have to," Naruto said. "You fought well. But no matter how talented you are, you are still a fresh genin while I'm a seasoned chuunin. You couldn't expect to win."

"I'll train harder and I'll defeat you in no time!" Lee made a resolution.

"That's the spirit," Naruto smiled.

"No amount of hard work would change you," Neji scoffed. "Once a failure is always a failure."

"What did I say, Neji?" Naruto scowled. "This boy here isn't your enemy, this is your comrade. Your enemies are at the borders of Iwa, Kumo and Ame, not within Konoha. You would do well to remember it."

"Hn." The Hyuuga sounded like he disagreed, but said nothing more. Naruto sighed. It sounded like nothing he said got through to the white-eyed boy. He turned to Tenten. "It's your turn," he said.

The kunoichi stood up and walked to the middle of the training field. Her multiple kunai and shuriken were jingling quietly. Naruto scowled. This wasn't good. She wouldn't be able to stay concealed.

The bun-haired girl didn't give him time to muse about it for any longer. She picked four shuriken with each hand and threw them all with deadly accuracy. Naruto was unconcerned. He simply created a Wind Shield and batted them away. Tenten narrowed her eyes and threw another batch. Naruto blocked it again. Then she threw third. It met the same end as the first two.

"Is that all you can do?" Naruto asked slightly disappointed.

"No," Tenten answered and pulled the strings attached to her weapons. They came to life and headed towards Naruto. Before they could hit, the blond switched with a log.

"Better, but slow," he commented. She turned to him and launched another volley of weapons. He avoided it with a Kawarimi again. "Are you really a one-trick pony?"

Tenten scowled. She knew she wasn't as good as her male teammates, but she wasn't useless, damn it. And here this little boy swatted her kunai away like they were nothing more than flies. She took a scroll from her pouch and smeared blood on the seal. A naginata appeared in her hands. It was an heirloom from her mother and she never was much good using it, she even considered not carrying it, but now she was glad she still had it. She'd like to see the boy block this.

"Now that's more like it," Naruto smiled unsheathing his ninjato. 'Crap,' thought Tenten. 'If he is any good with it, he'll get me.' But she didn't back off and charged. She still had the advantage of longer reach. She let out a battle cry and attacked. Naruto parried without trouble. Unlike her teammates, she wasn't a taijutsu prodigy.

Naruto let her go at it for several minutes before getting bored with it. He then quickly stepped inside her guard and kicked at her stomach. To her credit she managed to avoid hit, but another strike aimed at her forearms made her drop the naginata. The fight took a swift end after that. She tried to take out some kunai to defend, but Naruto was faster. The blade of his sword was at her neck in a millisecond. She stood still.

"I'm pathetic, aren't I?" she asked downtrodden.

"No," he consoled her, even if he himself wasn't overly impressed with her performance. But she was just a rookie genin, she couldn't be expected to be too good. Only her gifted teammates made her look useless. "You have exceptional aim, but that isn't everything. As you saw, every projectile can be blocked. You need something you could fall back to."

"I know," she nodded ashamed.

"Don't be so down," he tried to cheer her up. "I might be no jounin, but I can help you become better in whatever time we're stuck together."

"Thank you," she smiled.

"Well, now it's almost noon. We'll get some lunch and then head to the mission center."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Evening~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their mission turned out to be babysitting. The moment Naruto heard it he knew things were going to get nasty. It happened every time he got stuck babysitting. Today was no exception. Neji spent the afternoon lecturing the children about fate, Lee tried to fan their Flames of Youth before Neji could douse them with his unyouthfulness and Tenten valiantly prevented them from killing each other. He spent several hours convincing the little hellions that his flak jacked was the real thing and not bought at a costumes store. When he realized it was Tenten who planted the idea in them, he almost tried to throttle her. The parents couldn't come home too soon. He was all too glad when he could leave the kids in their care and report a completed mission. He was sure this day left them all mentally scarred and their charges weren't the worst off.

"That was terrible," Tenten said. Nobody disputed her. "The Academy teachers said that D-ranks would help us develop our skills as ninja, but frankly I don't see what good did this do besides trying our patience."

"This is preparation for bodyguard missions," Naruto explained.

"I can't imagine a client would try to run away from us," the kunoichi doubted.

"You would be surprised," the chuunin replied. "Should I tell you about the time we guarded Lady Mao? Believe me, those kiddies have nothing on her."

Tenten shuddered. "I don't think I want to hear about it then."

"Wise decision," The blond nodded. "I don't want to even think about it."

"We mustn't let our Flames of Youth to dwindle because of such unyouthful clients!" Lee struck a nice-guy pose. Tenten rolled her eyes. Neji didn't give any outward sign of what he was feeling.

"Still, isn't there a better way of preparing us?" Tenten asked.

"Well," Naruto started, "my sensei always gives our team those mock-missions."

"Mock missions?" The girl was interested.

"Yes. He gathers a few friends, makes a few clones and lets one play our client and the other assassins, or one is our mark and the others are his guards or just about anything you can get assigned on a mission and he can organize."

"That sounds interesting," she said.

"It is," the chuunin agreed. "The experience is priceless. In fact, I think I can organize such an exercise for you. I don't know whether I can make it tomorrow so maybe the day after."

"What would it be like?"

"I'm not telling," Naruto smiled mysteriously. "You have to wait and see."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Streets of Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tenten turned her head sharply. What was it that caught her attention? Was there really someone in the window or was it just the curtain flapping in the wind? She wasn't sure, but she couldn't take the chance. She shifted the bag she was holding to her left hand and reached into her pouch.

"Watch it!" their 'client' screeched. "You nearly dropped my new dress!" The 'client' looked like an overweight middle-aged woman with too much makeup and money and was actually one of Naruto's clones. The young kunoichi strongly suspected that she was modeled after Lady Mao. She was the fourth 'client' they were guarding today. The three previous were already popped by Naruto.

"I'm sorry, madam," the girl apologized. "I thought I saw something."

"Don't think and carry my things," the clone barked. It was an entirely unpleasant individual. The worst they had to guard so far. In fact, every 'client' was worse than the previous one. Tenten suspected their temporary sensei was doing it on purpose.

"I see nothing suspicious," Neji informed after checking their surroundings with his Byakugan. He deactivated it quickly. It was still hard to use it without handseals and it ate deep into his chakra. But his hands were full of the 'client's' bags.

"We won't fail this time," Lee exclaimed noticeably less lively than usual. He seemed to mind being a pack mule the least, but even his Flames of Youth were subdued.

"I don't pay you for yapping, brats," the 'client' snapped. "So shut up and follow me." Without waiting for their response, she turned and marched through the crowded street, the three genin scrambling after her. They barely managed to squeeze through the crowd to surround her again. The strange thing was that the clone had no trouble pushing through the crowds. Tenten wished to know how did she do it, but didn't dare to ask.

There was a sudden flash of movement. The young kunoichi noticed a black-clad ninja moving swiftly through the crowd. In a ninja village it wasn't an unusual sight, but this one was headed straight for them. And he looked like he meant business. The girl dropped the bags and took out a kunai.

"What are you doing, you klutz?" the 'client' shrieked. Tenten didn't answer. She positioned herself between the strange ninja and the obnoxious woman. She managed just in time to block his kunai swipe, but a kick to her midsection sent her flying. Even before she landed, she heard the telltale sound of a shadow clone dispersing. She sighed. They failed the mission again.

She scrambled to her feet and watched as her surprised teammates turned around, bags still in their arms, and stared at the newcomer who dropped his henge, revealing himself to be Naruto.

"Well," the young chuunin sighed, "this was your most pathetic performance ever."

"We lasted over twenty minutes longer than the last time," Neji pointed out.

"Yes," Naruto agreed. "You lasted almost a whole hour. And during the time you let her bully you into carrying her bags, rendering yourselves ineffective. Tell me again, what your mission was."

"To protect the client," the Hyuuga answered.

"Yes," the blond nodded gravely. "To protect the client. Not to carry her stuff. It took you only a quarter an hour to completely forget about it. Or did you think the bags won't hinder you? Do you know some secret style of Juuken that doesn't require the use of hands, Neji? Can Tenten throw her kunai with her feet? Can Lee fight with kicks only?"

"It would be unyouthful not to help a lady," the green-clad genin said completely lacking his usual enthusiasm.

"And failing a mission is youthful?" the chuunin asked. Lee shook his head. "Then remember it," Naruto suggested. He ran his fingers through a sequence of seals and created their new 'client.' This one was a big hulk of man, sweaty, unwashed, stinky, ugly, fat and quite obviously drunk. "This is who you are protecting next."

"He looks even worse than the last one," Tenten remarked.

"Yes," Naruto nodded. "And the next one is going to be even worse. Take it as a motivation not to lose this one too quickly." The blond disappeared in the crowd. The new 'client' turned to Tenten and leered lecherously.

"Aren't you a pretty little thing." Tenten groaned inwardly. This was going to be a long day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Mission room~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What?" Naruto couldn't believe his ears. "We can't take this mission."

"You're currently the only team available," the chuunin behind the desk said. Naruto remembered him vaguely. Wasn't he the one who had conducted his genin test? He hadn't been a nice fellow back then, but it didn't matter anymore. Now he was just another Leaf shinobi doing his duty.

"We aren't suited for such duty. We aren't supposed to take anything above a D-rank." Though the team made significant progress in the week they spent in his care, they were still nowhere near ready for a real mission. Especially during wartime.

"Look, I know, but we are really understaffed right now, with that last battle and all," the silver-haired chuunin replied. "Most of our best are out on the frontlines and the others are needed to man our defenses."

"I understand," Naruto sighed. He had been on the frontlines himself not so long ago. His team had been lucky, they would all be fit for duty given enough time, but he saw too many that won't be coming home ever again. "But I still think you should find someone else. My teammates have never been on a C-rank before. They should be under the supervision of a jounin."

"And we shouldn't be at war," the chuunin added. Naruto recoiled as if struck. "This is an easy mission anyway, only an escort of a merchant to visit his relative, who had fallen sick suddenly. You'll be going the opposite direction than the enemy is and you won't be leaving the central region of Fire Country, so there shouldn't be even bandits. It will be a walk in the park for you."

Naruto looked questioningly at the three genin. Neji was silent and unreadable, Tenten seemed uncertain. Lee assumed his nice-guy pose.

"Yosh! Let our Flames of Youth burn brightly! We can handle the mission and if we can't, I'll make a thousand push-ups!" The chuunin behind the desk smiled.

"You have nothing to worry about," he assured them. "I introduce you to the client now."

A completely bland and unremarkable man entered the room. He was middle-aged, middle height, had medium-brown hair streaked with grey at the temples and thinning above his forehead, and was dressed in sensible brown traveling clothes.

"This is Gikata Michi. You'll be escorting him on his way to Nagai."

The man glared at them. "What's the meaning of this? Are you telling me that all the guards I get for my money are some kids? Did they even finish the Academy?"

"Yes, we did," Naruto answered evenly. It strained his self-control dangerously. But if he had survived dealing with Lady Mao, he would survive this old geezer as well.

"Don't underestimate our Flames of Youth!" Lee exclaimed proudly.

"I should ask for a refund," Michi muttered.

"I know they don't look like much," the chuunin behind the counter interrupted, "but they are good enough."

"And I aren't getting better ones unless I pay more," the merchant sighed. The silver-haired chuunin confirmed. "Well, then, brats, let's go. Meet me at the south gate in half an hour and we'll be going." He turned and left.

"You heard him," Naruto said. "Gather your gear, we have a mission." They took off to prepare.

Mizuki smiled. There they were, a talentless orphan who had graduated dead-last, some maid's daughter playing to be a kunoichi, not bad but without any special ability and a Branch House Hyuuga who pissed off the Main House by being better than them. They were perfect. Nobody was going to miss them too much.

The end for today.

Next time: What did Mizuki send the team into? And what trouble can Naruto's temporary underlings cause on their own? What is going to be worse?