I changed into a black top ending where my ribs ended with off the shoulder short sleeves. I wore fishnet underneath covering my stomach and lower back, ending a couple of inches above knee-length black shorts revealing a couple of inches of my stomach and back. I was wearing, as usual, my black combat boots. I caught sight of myself in the mirror, and the first couple of times Kiba had spoken to me flashed through my mind. He'd called me good looking and gorgeous.

I wasn't particularly gorgeous. I was pretty sure that most people's idea of good looking was tall, curvy, tanned, stylish, blonde and large-cleavaged with boys drooling over them everywhere they went.

On the other hand, there were people like me.

I had long, straight black hair and ordinary blue eyes. I had an unusual dress sense that was mainly black, white and red and was small and skinny. I had fairly ordinary-sized breasts and there was nothing particularly special about me.

Then again, Kiba would hit on Eriko if he knew I wouldn't beat him up.

With those thoughts in mind, I packed my weapons pouch with senbons, shurikens and kunais. I didn't bring anything else since it was only a C-Rank mission, nothing that required any better weapons.

"Eira! Are you ready?" Naruto's obnoxiously loud voice sounded. I didn't bother to answer but just moments later he yelled my name again.

"EIRA! Can you hear me?"

"I think the whole street can hear you, Naruto. Shut up!" I shouted back. I strapped my weapon holster round my leg over my knee-length shorts and headed downstairs, where Naruto dived on me.

"Naruto! Get off me!" I shrieked as I fell backwards onto the bottom step, nearly falling on Eriko, who dodged out of the way with a yelp.

"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly, jumping up, then resumed his usual hyperactiveness.

"Come on!" he practically screamed. I sighed, deciding not to lose my temper, and headed out of the door, tying my headband loosely around my neck as I went.

Naruto followed, bouncing along beside me as I walked like a normal person. Naruto literally... Bounced.

We walked towards the entrance of the village where Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke were waiting with the bridge builder.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

"What are you so excited about?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Because we're finally going on a real mission! And I've never been outside the village before!" he was practically foaming at the mouth with excitement.

Tazuna jabbed his finger at Naruto.

"How am I supposed to feel safe with this idiot?" he demanded.

"Well, I'm a jounin, so you have no need to worry," Kakashi replied apologetically.

"Hey, never insult a ninja! Especially because I'm one of the greatest ninja ever, and I'm gonna be Hokage someday, and you'll have to look up to me! My name is Naruto Uzumaki, remember it!" Naruto declared. I raised my eyebrows.

"Keep dreaming," I muttered, resisting the urge to laugh. Only Sasuke, who was closest to me, heard and smirked in response.

"The Hokage is the leaf village's number one elite ninja, right? The day you become Hokage is the day that I'll sprout wings and fly," Tazuna retorted, snorting.

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to become Hokage! Then everyone, including you, will finally respect me!" Naruto said determinedly.

"Pft! You can become the ruler of the world for all I care. To me, you'll still be a nobody!" Tazuna replied. Okay, that was a little harsh.

Naruto growled in anger and frustration.

"I'm gonna kill you!" he screamed, whilst, yet again, being held back by Kakashi.

"I told you already! We're supposed to protect the client, idiot. That's the whole point of the mission!"

I trailed behind everyone, studying the leaves on the trees, utterly bored of this conversation.

"Um.. Mr Tazuna?" Sakura asked timidly, breaking the silence.

"What?" he said, not unkindly.

"You're from the land of waves, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

Without replying, Sakura turned to Kakashi and directed her next question at him.

"Aren't there ninja in the land of Waves Kakashi Sensei?"

"No, there aren't any ninja there," he replied, shaking his head. "But in other countries, there are Hidden Villages full of ninja, each with their own individual cultures."

Sakura nodded slowly, not quite understanding, so Kakashi decided to elaborate. In spite of myself, I couldn't help listening in. It would be useful to know. He pulled out a map from his pack and began explaining. Soon I realised how uninteresting his lecture was and stopped listening, contenting myself with staring intently at Sasuke until he felt my gaze and turned around, to which I quickly looked away. He turned back around, confusion clear on his face, to which I silently laughed and did it a few more times.

"Does anyone else feel like they're being watched?" Sasuke asked after I'd done that to him at least six times. I couldn't help myself and burst out laughing, as Eriko spluttered into her strange dog-laughs, that sounded almost like coughing. They turned around and looked at us strangely as I stood there doubled over with laughter.

I had no idea what I found so funny. It was such a stupid and immature joke that I wouldn't normally play but I, somehow, happened to find it incredibly funny.

"What's so funny?" Sasuke inquired with a scowl. I just looked away and shook my head. They all turned back around and carried on walking, deciding not to ask.

We had been walking for a while when suddenly I spotted a puddle on the ground. Strange, it hadn't rained in days, or even weeks, which was obvious due to the dry, cracked, water-deprived ground.

"Um.. Kakashi.. Dude.." I began quietly, as Eriko growled, noticing it as well.

"Ignore it. Go join the others," he instructed me almost silently. I didn't usually take orders from people but I understood that it was important and walked forwards to catch up with the others as Kakashi fell back slightly behind us.

Suddenly, I sensed something behind us. I pretended not to notice it, instead choosing to react a couple of seconds later as Kakashi cried,

"What?"

I almost laughed when he said that whilst feigning surprise. As if he didn't know already.

Two giant chains wrapped around Kakashi as one of the ninja shouted "Do it!"

The both pulled on their chains, squeezing Kakashi and ripping him to pieces. Sakura screamed, not knowing it was a substitution.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto cried.

How could they not realise it was a substitution? As if a jounin level ninja would let himself get caught that easily. He had obviously made a substitution when he fell back and then pretended not to notice the puddle.

"Now it's your turn," one of the ninja hissed. I looked away from Kakashi's ripped-up clone to see the two ninja launch themselves at Naruto with their huge chains.

Naruto froze as they attacked.

Oh my... Seriously? I was about to intervene but Sasuke was one step ahead of me. He jumped into the air and pulled out a shuriken and a kunai, then launched the shuriken at the chains with good aim and pinned them against a tree trunk. After that he threw the Kunai in the middle of the shuriken to secure it.

One of the ninja growled with frustration when he realised his arms, being attached to the chains by the giant metal claw holding the chain, were now rendered immobile. Sasuke landed on the ninja, one foot on each of their claws.

He then kicked furiously in their faces, sending them flying backwards. As they flew backwards the claws snapped from the chains, freeing them. They leapt away and then headed for Naruto. I wondered why they constantly targeted him. Maybe they'd just decided he was the weakest of the four of us.

Suddenly I realised the second one had changed course and was heading for Tazuna. I realised Sakura couldn't do much on her own as she stood protectively in front of Tazuna, so I jumped in beside her, whipping a shuriken and kunai out of my weapon pouch and preparing to attack.

'Why didn't I bring better weapons?' I thought, cursing.

"Stay back, old man," I told Tazuna. I didn't particularly like this guy. At all.

Suddenly Sasuke leapt in front of me, but before he could do anything a strong arm reached out and grabbed the ninja by his neck. I noticed he'd grabbed the other one, then he took care of them quickly. I wasn't particularly thrilled that Sasuke had leapt in front of me. He should have gone and saved Naruto; did he really think I was that incapable of dealing with enemies?

"Kakashi Sensei!" Sakura cried with relief. I looked at hers and Naruto's delighted faces with my eyebrows raised in disbelief. Had they actually not realised the other Kakashi had been a clone? Their sensei seemed quite laid back and... Well, if I was honest, a little strange in a funny way, but he certainly wasn't an idiot. Unlike some..

I shot Naruto a look when I thought that.

Naruto was a nice kid and all and I respected his determination, but he sure was... There was no other way to say it. Stupid.

"Huh? But he... Ohh..." Naruto realised. Everyone looked over at what used to be bloody chunks of Kakashi's ripped up body, but was now a bunch of logs.

"Sorry I didn't help you right away Naruto," Kakashi told him breezily. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt, I just wasn't expecting you to freeze up like that."

I side-glanced at Tazuna, hearing him sigh with relief, and narrowed my eyes suspiciously. If this was a C Rank mission.. Why were there ninja attacking us? This was no C Rank mission at all. There was something more to this; much more.

"Good job Sasuke. You too girls," Kakashi praised. Sakura beamed whilst I just stared at the sky, watching the clouds pass. Believe it or not, this was a very entertaining thing to do. I'd seen that lazy Shikamaru do it a lot.

I watched as Naruto stood up slowly, anger plain on his face. I wasn't sure why but it seemed to be directed at Sasuke.

"Hey," Sasuke began, not looking at him, then he turned to look him in the eye.

"You're not hurt are ya?... Scaredy Cat!" he taunted, a smirk on his face. Naruto glared at him, growling with rage.

"Grrrr, Sasuke!"

Kakashi stopped Naruto before he boiled over with anger.

Hey, this one looks like a duck, I thought, staring at the clouds dreamily.

"Mr Tazuna, we need to have a little talk," Kakashi said grimly, snapping me out of my daydreams and capturing my attention as Kakashi tied the two ninjas to a tree, so I walked over.

"They look like Chunins from the Village Hidden In the Mist," Kakashi stated. "They specialise in restless attack, and have been taught to keep fighting no matter what the sacrifice may be."

"How did you know about our movements?" one of the ninja asked. Kakashi looked at me.

"Care to explain, Eira?"

I looked at him curiously but obliged anyway.

"Why would there be a puddle on a sunny day like this? The ground is dry and it hasn't rained in weeks, so how could there possibly be a puddle? It's fairly obvious, right guys?" I looked at my team and they all nodded vigorously, even though they'd had no idea. Well, Sasuke might've. Probably not though. I'd noticed he was quick to act and quite observant; in the Academy his clone jutsu held the most intricate of details that nobody else would have noticed, probably not even Iruka himself, since it was likely he had only been testing us on the basics. I was actually surprised Sasuke hadn't noticed the puddle.

Tazuna looked at Kakashi questioningly, whilst the two Mist ninja looked almost shame-faced.

"If you knew, then why'd you leave the brats to fight them?"

"I could have taken them out quickly... But then I wouldn't have learned who their real target was. I had to know what they were after," Kakashi replied thoughtfully.

"What are you getting at?" Tazuna spat, glaring, knowing he was being accused.

"I wanted to know if they were attacking us, or you, the person we're supposed to protect," Kakashi answered coolly. A bead of sweat gathered on Tazuna's forehead as he looked at Kakashi's calm face - well, the part of his face we could see, which was technically just the upper right part - and tapped the ends of his fingers on both hands together nervously.

"Our job was to protect you against robbers and highway men," Kakashi continued calmly. "When you put in your request, you never told us there were ninja out to get you. If we'd have known that, this would have been a B Rank mission or higher. Our job was simply to get you home safely and protect you whilst you finish building the bridge.

"If we'd have known that you were being targeted by ninja, you would've been given a stronger team and you would have been charged for a B Rank.

"I'm sure you have your reasons, but lying to us about the mission causes a lot of problems. We are now operating outside of our duties."

Tazuna looked extremely guilty now, as Sakura stepped forwards.

"We are only Genin, this is too advanced for us," she told him. "We should go back. Also we need to get Naruto's wound treated and get the poison taken out as soon as possible."

"I guess you're right.. We should get back, we need to get Naruto's wound treated quickly before the poison spreads," Kakashi said after thinking for a moment. "Naruto's hand could become a problem."

Naruto looked down at his hand as we all averted our gazes to look at him. He then growled and whipped out a kunai and stabbed it into his wound. He gritted his teeth in pain as he twisted the kunai around in his hand. I stared, shocked. What the hell was he thinking? Was he mentally unstable or something?

I sighed and looked away as he was vowing something or other. Machoism, much?

"Look, Naruto, it was great how you got the poison out and all, but you'll die if you loose any more blood, seriously," Kakashi told him breezily in his usual laid back manner.

I kinda liked this guy. Why couldn't he be my sensei instead? Kurenai was nice enough but I liked Kakashi's attitude. It was funny in a weird way.

Naruto froze and stared at his hand, turning blue, as I started laughing. I had sure laughed a lot today.

I lay on the floor and watched the clouds again as Naruto began freaking out. I noticed Sasuke scrutinising me curiously, so I looked up and stared right back, almost threateningly, causing him to drop his gaze quickly.

"That's what I thought," I muttered to myself, smirking. Suddenly Naruto's freaking out began to drive me insane.

"Will you just shut up already?" I yelled, losing my temper. Everyone turned and looked at me, shocked. I'd been pretty good-tempered so far during this mission. It seemed they didn't all know about my short-tempered nastiness yet..

I turned and walked off in a huff.

We floated silently through the fog, the water gently rippling as we glided through it. We were all sitting in a wooden boat, and a man was standing at the back of the boat, rowing it. The motor was turned off so we didn't make a sound.

"This fog is so thick," Sakura sort of stage whispered. "I can't see anything at all."

"The bridge isn't too far now; the Land of Waves is just ahead," the boat man reassured us.

I yawned, bored.

"If this boat goes any slower we'll be going backwards!" I complained.

Suddenly the bridge came into sight through the vast layer of fog.

"Woah! It's huge!" Naruto gasped in awe.

"Quiet!" the boat man snapped quietly. "I said don't make any noise, didn't I? We're travelling with the motor off for a reason - so we can slip in silently!"

"Mr. Tazuna," Kakashi said, turning to the bridge builder. "I need you to tell us why those ninja were after you. If not, we may have to call off the mission as soon as we land."

"I guess I have no choice but to tell you then," Tazuna sighed. "Wait, scratch that, I want to tell you.

"Like you said earlier, this is outside your duties. The person who seeks to have me murdered is a very small man. I'm sure you will have heard of him before."

"Who is he?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"He's one of the wealthiest men in the world. Gato, the wealthy shipping magnate; the man in charge of Gato Transport."

Kakashi looked shocked whilst the rest of us just looked confused, not having the slightest idea of who he was.

"Gato? But everyone knows who he is! He's a business leader!" he exclaimed.

"I don't know who he is! Who is he?" Naruto asked, but was ignored.

"Yes, Gato is a very powerful and famous - Though you could say infamous - tycoon, true. But he secretly sells drugs and other illegal items. He uses gangs and ninja to take over businesses... And countries.

"It was about a year ago when he first set his sight on the Land of Waves. He took control of our transport and shipping, and anyone who stood in his way or tried to stop him would mysteriously disappear. In a small island nation like our own, a man who controls the sea controls everything. Finance, government, our very lives!" Tazuna says, sounding angry and disgusted. "But he fears one thing - the bridge I am in charge of building. When it's completed, it will connect our village to the mainland, and that will break all of the control he has over us. So, he hired ninja to go after me and get rid of the threat that comes from my bridge."

"So that means those guys who tried to ambush us in the forest were working for Gato..." I said, making it sound more like a statement than a question. I didn't think Naruto quite understood, and rolled my eyes. It was pretty simple. Nasty man take over country and try to kill little man who build bridge because bridge is scary and will take away nasty man's power.

How hard can it be?

"Wait, if you knew that he was dangerous and that he'd send ninja after you, why didn't you tell us and request a B Rank mission?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"Gato has us bankrupt.. We were never a very rich village any way but Gato has literally stripped us of our money," Tazuna replied sadly. "We couldn't possibly afford to pay for a higher ranked mission than a C Rank. If you end the mission when we reach land, there will be no bridge. They will almost definitely assassinate me before I reach home."

We all looked at him as he continued.

"But don't worry about that!" he said, feigning cheerfulness. "Sure my little grandson will cry and call for his beloved grandfather. But I'm sure he'll get over that one day! Or maybe he won't. And sure my daughter will condemn the ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village and blame you for my death, living the rest of her life in misery. But I wouldn't worry about that, it's not your fault."

I glared at Tazuna. He was milking it. The rest of my temporary team totally bought it though and exchanged guilty looks. Well, not so much Sasuke; he just contented himself with glaring. As usual.

"Okay," Kakashi said with a ahrug, even though, like me, he knew perfectly well what Tazuna was up to. "I guess we'll have to continue guarding you."

"Ooh, much obliged," Tazuna smiled triumphantly.

"Huh, knew it," I muttered. Once again, Sasuke was the only one to hear my mutterings and regarded me with a strange look.

"We're approaching the pier," the boat man told us as we passed through a tunnel.

When we floated out of the tunnel we were greeted by the sight of a small village completely surrounded by water. At least it wasn't foggy in the village.

When we pulled up and docked, we all climbed out of the boat and waved the boat man goodbye, as he turned on the motor and sped away.

"Oh, sure, he could have just done that in the first place!" I grumbled, even though I knew perfectly well exactly why we couldn't.

"Okay, take me home!" Tazuna said.

As we began walking, I looked up to see Kakashi sporting a troubled look. I knew what he was thinking about; he must have been worrying about the levels of ninja that could attack us now. They definitely wouldn't be Chunins now. They would more than likely be at Jounin level, which meant that only Kakashi would have a chance of defeating them. I once again cursed myself for not bringing better weapons and resources.

I noticed Naruto staring instensely at Sasuke, who was completely ignoring him. It was now clear that the two were rivals. Suddenly Naruto stopped and began scrutinising our surroundings before throwing a few kunai in different directions.

"There!" he threw a kunai at a nearby bush. After a pause, "Heh, it was just a rat."

"Naruto, stop trying to act cool you idiot!" Sakura raged.

"Naruto those Kunai are dangerous, they're not toys!" Kakashi told him sternly.

Suddenly I felt something nearby.

"There!" Naruto threw another Kunai into a different bush.

"I said stop Naruto!" Sakura screamed, hitting him.

"Something is following us I swear!" he cried, holding his head. He bounded over to the bushes where he'd just launched his kunai to reveal a snow rabbit, frozen with fear, the kunai having planted itself into a tree directly above it's head, between the petrified animal's ears.

"Naruto!" Sakura raged. "Look what you did! Are you okay little guy?" she asked, scooping it up into her arms.

Naruto took the bunny off her and pulled it into a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm sorry little bunny rabbit! I didn't mean to scare you!"

I looked at the rabbit, suspicion clear in my eyes. Eriko's growl sounded like the motor on the boat as she glared at the rabbit. The rabbit still had it's winter coat, yet it wasn't winter any more. It was definitely a captive rabbit.. Used for substitution jutsus. Also, the rabbit wasn't even flinching, like ordinary rabbits should when they saw Eriko growling. Strange. I looked at Kakashi, who was also regarding the rabbit with suspicious eyes. He returned my look and nodded slightly, confirming my suspicions.

"You're a smart one," he murmured, before speaking to everyone.

"Look out!" he yelled. Everyone ducked and Eriko barked loudly, just as a huge sword came spinning out of the trees behind us. A tall, noticeably muscular man stepped out of the trees behind us, holding the hilt of the enormous sword.

The menacing-looking man had pale skin, although not as pale as mine, short spiky black hair, brown eyes and small eyebrows. He had bandages covering the lower part of his face like a mask. He was shirtless, his chest only covered by a belt, to which he must have attached his giant sword. He wore baggy striped pants and mimetic wristbands that extended up to his elbows with matching leg warmers. His headband, which I saw to be that of Kirigakure, was worn sideways on his head.

"Well, well.. If it isn't Zabuza Momoichi, rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist Village," Kakashi stated, walking towards him. Naruto, being stupid as usual, launched himself at the man, Zabuza, but was held back by Kakashi, who pushed him back with his hand.

"You're in the way, stay back," he told Naruto.

"But why?" Naruto asked angrily.

"Because," Kakashi said. "This guy isn't like the other ninja. He's on a whole different level."

Tazuna was paralysed with shock and fear. The four of us were quick to surround Tazuna, pulling out kunai as we did so.

I saw Kakashi's hand reach towards his headband and tensed. I'd never seen what was underneath his headband and was extremely curious now. Since I was guarding the back of Tazuna, I decided to do the most stupid thing. I leapt silently into the nearest tree, unnoticed by Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura or Tazuna and darted through a couple more trees quickly until I got a good view of Kakashi's front and Zabuza's back.

"If you're trying to catch me off guard, little girl, it's not going to work," Zabuza told me, without bothering to turn around, making Kakashi pause and look up, along with the surprised faces of Tazuna and the other genins. Kakashi had known I was there, yet, as usual, still pretended to be surprised. I wondered why...

"I'm not," I replied, smirking. "Just.. Observing. I was just getting a better view."

Without replying, Zabuza still looked at Kakashi, waiting for him to do something. Obliging, Kakashi reached up once more and slowly pulled up his head guard from his left eye, revealing...

"The sharingan," I whispered, eyes wide.