Well, we're at chapter 2 already, and in my opinion, the response to this story has been, as Mr. Burns would say, 'Excellent'
I thank you for reading, and I hope you do keep reading, while I promise to keep improving.
As of now, I begin the Zabuza saga, which will go on for a bit, sorry for not having updated in a while, but I hope to change all that and be more regular.
And now, the story.
"NO" a voice cried out. "Not another D Rank mission, I am sick of those"
"Naruto" another voice called out, "This is no way to talk to Lord Hokage"
To his credit, Sarutobi chuckled. He couldn't blame Naruto for his impaitence, he remebered doing D Ranks in his own time, under the Second Hokage, and he himself wasn't really enthusiastic about them.
"Well" he started. "So Kakashi, do you think that your team is ready to take a C Rank mission"
Kakashi nodded, "A little more teamwork would be welcome, but I can say safely that this team would have no problem facing a C Rank mission"
Sarutobi nodded.
"Very well then, I will give you a C Rank mission."
Naruto began jumping up and down like a three year old girl while Sakura and Sasuke looked on at him in disbelief.
"Shut up Naruto" Sakura shouted, "Show some respect to the Hokage"
Naruto snarled, and Sakura was taken aback.
Sarutobi observed this scene unfolding in front of him, this reminded him of his own team, the Three Legendary Sages, all were Kage level in their own right.
"You don't tell me what to do Sakura, I would never listen to you"
Sakura looked dumbstruck, the boy was behaving differently over the past few weeks, especially with her, he had also stopped picking on Sasuke for good, however what had impressed her the most was the fight with Kakashi, Kakashi had actually struggled against Naruto. She couldn't believe it.
"Hey old man" Naruto said, turning his attention towards the Hokage.
"I'm going to be Hokage, believe it, now give me a C Rank mission so that I can prove myself will you"
Sarutobi smiled.
"So Naruto, you want to prove yourself huh?" Naruto nodded. This kid was like Kushina, actually the resemblance was too much to be any good for Sarutobi.
"Fine, do as you please, I have a C rank mission for you, I hope you don't fail me"
Naruto smiled. "AWESOME" he cried out. "No more cat catching and garden cleaning for me"
Sarutobi laughed.
"You are right Naruto, your team's mission is to escort a bridge builder to the Land Of The Waves, this man's name is Tazuna, and he has enlisted our services for protection from bandits and other unsocial elements, nothing your squad can't handle"
Kakashi nodded.
"On behalf of my team, I accept this mission"
"Good" Sarutobi said, he then called out for the bridge builder to be sent in.
"The bridge builder would like to meet you now" he said slowly.
An old man, probably in his fifties came out, the room smelled of alcohol as soon as he stepped in.
"We have to protect this drunken old man?"
Kakashi sighed, trust Naruto to be brash and a loudmouth.
"Naruto" he said. "Respect the client"
Tazuna himself didn't really seem so impressed.
"I have been assigned three kids to protect me, are you serious?"
Kakashi sighed again. "These are well trained Genins sir, they will not have any problem defending you, and if they do, I am a Jounin, I will save you with my life, I promise you that."
Tazuna grunted.
"We have to leave starting tomorrow"
Kakashi nodded. "You heard the man" he said, "Tomorrow at eight am sharp, don't be late"
"That's easy for you to say Kakashi, lets hope you don't get lost on the Road Of Life tomorrow"
Kakashi laughed. Naruto was too funny for his own good.
"I'll keep that in mind Naruto, take the rest of the day off" he said, and Body Flickered away.
"Wow" Naruto said, I will have to learn that technique for myself, he thought. Maybe prevy sage can teach me when he gets back.
"Well, Sasuke, Sakura, you guys wanna go have some Ramen?"
"I need to stay healthy Naruto, I can't have Ramen" Sakura said to him, sternly.
Naruto laughed. He would have to stop being so rude to her, she was a fan girl, that was what clouded her brain, "Okay Sakura, you asked for it. What about you Sasuke?"
Sasuke shook his head.
"I have some rice balls" he said, "I made them myself, I wouldn't want them to go waste"
"Okay" Naruto said happily, and jumped out of the window, and was gone.
Sasuke and Sakura bowed in front of the Hokage and left, via the door.
Sarutobi sighed, Jiraya then Minato, then Kakashi, and now Naruto. All of them used the window a little too much.
He smiled, as he got back to his reading.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sasuke couldn't comprehend Naruto anymore, the idiot had earned his respect, after all he had gone toe to toe with a Jounin, a famous one at that, and had managed giving him a tough time, He was also pretty selfless, sacrificing himself so that Sakura could pass. If he had to defeat Itachi, he could use Naruto to get stronger.
Sakura was another thing, she might be intelligent but she was like all the other fan girls, tomorrow they would be facing bandits and what not, there was no way she could prove useful.
But Naruto was strong, probably stonger than him, the last Uchiha. He had to better himself, or else people might stop talking about how he had been outsmarted by the dead last of his class.
No that couldn't happen. He steeled his resolve and began training, using Shuriken and Kunai knives, practicing his Taijutsu while also training in all the Fire Style techniques his father had taught him.
He did this until he ran out of Chakra, he grinned, satisfied with his progress for the day.
Naruto's training was different, he had created a hundred clones which began sparring with each other till only fifty remained, these fifty moved on to sparring amongst themselves, till only twenty five remained, and then all of them practiced Shuriken throwing, Naruto smiled, the clones had helped him improve, somehow all his Shurikens hit the mark perfectly, it was like he had years of practice doing this.
He then looked at the Scroll pervy sage had given him, a study on sealing Jutsus, that was what all the Uzumaki were supposed to be good at.
He began reading.
Apparently sealing was a very useful art, with just a little bit of practice, people could seal away everything in a scroll, Naruto made a mental note, their travelling weights could be reduced just by sealing away everything in a scroll.
As he read on, he realised that even elemental Chakra could be sealed, and there were all sorts of other seals, to seal a monster or weapons.
He read on, as he began observing his own seal, the Demon Consuming seal, something his father had put on him at the cost of his life.
He wondered if his father had learned all the sealing from his mom.
He shrugged it off, it would be better for him to concentrate on the Sealing Objects Jutsu.
As he took out an empty scroll and began inking it just like the scroll had instructed, he realised that it came to him almost naturally, he had five of his clones do the same thing for practice, but he realised that was not necessary, this was as natural as breathing to him.
He smiled, this would help with reducing workloads.
Time to experiment. He thought to himself, as he began drawing a small seal on his bag, if he was doing this right this small bag would have everything inside it, and accessible via three seals, each leading to a different compartment.
Sakura sighed. She had to become strong, like Naruto and Sasuke, Naruto was right, after all she had really done nothing, while Sasuke and Naruto who hated each other worked together like they were doing it forever, it was almost like they were born to be a team.
She envied this, its like they didn't need her while they worked in perfect coordination, something she wanted to change.
But how could she do that? She realised that she had perfect Chakra control, that would be ideal for Genjutsu, she would train in it, and help distract their opponents while Naruto and Sasuke did their thing.
"You want to learn from me?" Naruto was shocked, why would Sakura approach him and not Sasuke?
"You are better than me, I need to be useful at something, my chakra control is very good, that makes me an ideal Genjutsu user, what do you think?"
Naruto nodded. She had a point.
"I would have taught you Sakura, but I suck at Genjutsu"
Sakura's face fell, Naruto felt bad, he hadn't treated her right.
"Well, I have a book on Genjutsu if you like"
Sakura nodded, she would be just as good as him, now she had to train.
She took the book Naruto gave her and left, she decided that it would be a handy read on their journey, for now she would keep it safe with her.
-x-
Naruto had practiced the Sealing Jutsu till he mastered it, not surprisingly his clones had helped, the clones were doing a lot these days, apart from practicing the various Jutsus, they were also reading up on history and also practical things like cooking (Jiraya had told him that by practicing cooking, he could make his own Ramen) and politics, while also boosting up his vocabulary and practicing his Kanji.
He felt that just by using a hundred clones, it felt like he had done over 300 weeks of training in every art, and this gave him some sort of happiness, all the time he had wasted pranking people would be made up, plus he could pick up new techniques in about a flash.
He smiled as he packed some Ramen cups, which he had sealed about three hundred in a separate scroll.
Even if the journey sucks, at least I'll eat Ramen.
-x-
"So, Kakashi, what do you think?"
The Third Hokage had had enough, he was concerned about Naruto's safety, even though he didn't show it, he valued Naruto more like a son than anything else, after all, he reminded him of Minato and Kushina, and was so energetic it made him feel like he could jump and dance, even in this day and age.
"The kid has improved, he definitely is not at dead-last level. Actually over the last two weeks, its been like something has gotten into him, he has been much better than what the reports seem to indicate" Kakashi said.
"Doesn't he remind you of his father Kakashi?" Lord Hokage asked him
"Yes, he also reminds me of Kushina a little bit, and I find that scary"
The hokage smiled.
"He also has this Jutsu" Kakashi said, describing to him the Sexy Jutsu
The Hokage laughed, "Oh Yes, be very careful of that Jutsu Kakashi, that is something Jiraya could be proud of"
Kakashi smiled, even though his mask was covering up his face, anyone could tell.
"Minato sensei didn't want Naruto to become like Lord Jiraya, looks like that's not going to happen"
Sarutobi laughed again.
"But do you think its safe Lord Hokage, telling Naruto what he contains within him?"
Sarutobi nodded.
"He still remains loyal to the village, he still wants to prove himself and be Hokage, and if Jiraya trains him for another two or three years, God knows how far he will go"
Kakashi nodded.
Naruto was really intriguing
-x-.
The whole team was ready at the gates of the village the next day, apart from one person.
"Kakashi Sensei is late again" Naruto fumed, this seemed to be some sort of a habit, not a good one, but then again, Kakashi had been trained by his own father, that made Kakashi like his brother, the one link to a family he had long lost.
"I wonder what excuse he will make this time" Sakura began wondering.
However they did not have to wait for too long.
"Sorry guys" Kakashi said, appearing out of almost nowhere, The body flicker technique Naruto thought, I have to learn that, maybe Pervy Sage will teach me.
"Sorry, but I was in a meeting with The Hokage"
"THAT'S A LIE" Sakura and Naruto shouted, while Tazuna and Sasuke looked on, both kind of aloof.
Kakashi sighed. The one time he was telling the truth, people mistook it for a lie.
"Anyway, I'm not that late, so let's move out"
-x-
A puddle of water, on a day it hasn't even rained?
Naruto sighed, Jiraya had told him about ambushes and how Ninja's in particular loved carrying those out, but he didn't know he would encounter one so soon. He was kind of excited about it.
He looked towards Kakashi Sensei, the man would probably have noticed it, after all he was a Jonin level.
What made Naruto more curios was who the ambush was set up for, it could be for Kakashi, who was a well known and almost infamous ninja, but what about the bridge builder. Surely the possibility could not be ruled out, if Naruto had read his books right, he could tell that The Land Of The Waves, where he was from was notorious for its poverty, it couldn't afford to have a ninja village, even the Feudal Lord was really poor, he wondered how someone like Tazuna could even afford them.
And what about the bridge, had it not occurred to anyone that this bridge that linked two countries together would help boost Wave's economy, did no one ever consider that possibility, what were these guys on about.
He decided he wanted to find out, so he stopped.
Sakura noticed him and stopped with him, Sasuke who was upfront with Kakashi was still walking on, but then Sakura made all of them look back.
"Naruto, why are you stopping?" she asked him
Naruto grinned, and then he decided he had earned the right to show off, if only a little bit of his newly discovered talent and power.
"You better come out you know, we can see right through your ambush"
No response.
Naruto silently thanked Jiraya for giving him a basic lesson in Chakra sensing as he began looking for the ambushers, but he couldn't sense anything.
"Naruto" said Kakashi, "If you are done, can we move on please?"
Naruto looked at Kakashi, glaring, the man had to have noticed the water, he decided not to lash out at him, but then the idea struck him, he decided to act like he was attacking Kakashi in rage, while everyone would be distracted, and the ambush would occur.
He smiled, complimenting himself silently on his achievement.
And charged towards Kakashi sensei.
-x-
Kakashi grinned, Naruto was smarter than what anybody could think of, not only had he sensed the ambush, he had also found a great way to draw them out, by acting like he was distracted, he nodded, a very slight nod, and he swore he could see Naruto notice it, and as Naruto charged he performed a silent Subsitution Jutsu with a log, he knew the Ambush would happen soon.
And it did, two masked individuals, Kakashi recognised them as the Demon Brothers Of The Mist, Naruto had fooled them, Naruto himself was quick on his feet, just as the giant cleaver hit Kakashi, a clone ambushed one of the brothers from behind, kicking him on the head.
Almost as if not wanting to be outdone, Sasuke took care of the second, using Taijutsu to distract the second brother, who was aimed towards Tazuna, confirming Kakashi's suspicion, while the first was knocked unconscious, even Sakura had managed to jump straight in front of Tazuna, while Kakashi smiled as he watched from the trees, they would make a great team, much like his own under Minato sensei.
-x-
It hadn't taken them long to outsmart the Demon Brothers, but the two didn't give anything away except that their target was not the bounty on Kakashi's head, but Tazuna instead.
He realised that Tazuna had lied to them all, and even considered abandoning the mission, but he almost hoped Naruto would refuse to back down from a superior opponent, if he was anything like his parents, he knew Naruto wouldn't back down from any challenge put forward him.
And he didn't, he actually shouted at Kakashi for even having thought of that, and Kakashi, who had already made up his mind about going on with the mission, after hearing Tazuna beg (something which appealed to some sort of a sadistic streak within Kakashi) he accepted the mission could continue.
But what haunted him the most was Tazuna, and the Demon Brothers of The Mist, if two chunin were after him, only God knows what they would send next, he hoped that his worst suspicions wouldn't be confirmed.
But it was only hope.
Phew, that's a wrap people, I'm sorry nothing of note happened, but trust me, I decided to shorten each chapter and lengthen each and every saga, you can expect some deviation after this arc, which pretty much follows Cannon.
Send me some ideas as to where you want the story to go, what kind of things you want to see, what characters you think should be featured more, who should fall in love with who and all that stuff, and yeah thanks for the feedback from the first chapter, I only hope this is consistent.
Also if you like Omake to be included, tell me, send me some ideas, and I will try incorporating them in the fanfic, this is for improving my own skill as a writer, as I think writing funny stuff is challenging.
Thanks for reading, and just stick with the story. Trust me, lots of action coming up.