Disclaimer: I do not now, and have never owned Naruto. If I did, I would be a much richer and more creative girl.
Saburo grimaced as the fiendish hell-being known as Tora the cat was handed over to his mistress, the wife of Hi no Kuni's daimyo. Saburo and Narumi were both covered in scratches from the damned thing, and while known of them were at all deep, and most had stopped oozing blood, they stung. A lot. The animal had given them the slip a couple of times, and when they'd finally caught it, it had refused to go down without a fight. Thus the somewhat dubious badges of honor that he and his kunoichi teammate bore. Tora was getting it's comeuppance now though. The thing looked absolutely horrified to be back with it's owner. Narumi stuck her tongue out at the miserable creature as the large woman in front of them rubbed her face vigorously against its head, and murmured in a decidedly unfriendly tone that the thing deserved whatever it got. Saburo was torn between agreeing with the sentiment, and wondering if the animal had had a good reason for making such a desperate bid for freedom.
Sasuke stood beside Saburo, affecting boredom as his dark eyes pointedly turned away from the scene in front of them. Unlike Narumi and Saburo, the Uchiha had managed to avoid close contact with the creature entirely, so his pale skin was unmarred, though he still seemed quite annoyed with the whole situation. The Sandaime was shuffling through papers and looking at a scroll as the woman walked off to pay another man at a table across the room. "Well now, let's see. Team seven, for your next mission you have a few different options. You could babysit an elders grandson, help a woman go to the market in the closest civilian town, or dig for potatoes." Saburo felt his hopes sink in disappointment. More boring missions. They were practically the village errand boys! Narumi's head snapped around, and she eyed the Sandaime indignantly, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at him. "NO! No thank you! I want a real mission, not this boring stuff!" Saburo could see that Sasuke was keeping his expression as cool and uncaring as ever, but the grunt the other boy gave sounded like he agreed with Narumi. Saburo himself desperately wanted that 'real' mission as well. Anything would be better than all these...CHORES. Ikuye-sensei was sitting next to the Hokage, helping handout missions to his old students, and immediately surged to her feet, her thick brown hair flying and her dark eyes snapping irately as she glared down at Narumi. "Baka! You're a rookie genin, and you have to work your way up to the higher ranked missions just like everyone else!"
Narumi wasn't even remotely chastised or cowed. Her eyes clenched shut in frustration as she argued with her former teacher. "But Ikuye-sensei, we keep getting these stupid little duties! I'm a ninja now, and I want a ninja mission!" Kakashi-sensei stepped up beside the blonde girl and slapped the back of her head just hard enough to get her attention. "Easy there, hotshot." Narumi glared at the floor by her feet, obviously annoyed that she had been reprimanded by her sensei in front of the Sandaime. Saburo almost rolled his eyes. Really, what did she expect when she had an outburst like this? Especially since she was talking back to the Hokage of all people. The Sandaime sat back, taking a long pull on his pipe before he spoke, eyes fixed on Narumi. "Listen to me Narumi. It seems you don't fully understand the ranking of missions. Everyday Konohagakure receives numerous requests from all kinds of clients. Everything from babysitting to assassination. Each request is divided up and ranked according to difficulty as A,B,C, or D. The village is also divided up based on skill. It starts with the Hokage, and then goes to Jounin, Chuunin, and Genin. The missions are then handed out to ninja based on their abilities. Jounin receive A rank missions, Chuunins receive B and C rank missions, and Gennin receive C and D rank missions. You three are new gennin, therefore these D rank missions are the correct level to assign to you." While the explanation was sound and made sense, Saburo didn't think it was going to have the desired effect on his teammate. Especially since she had sat down and started muttering to herself about what flavor of ramen to have for dinner that night halfway through the speech. Once the Sandaime noticed this, his brows snapped together in annoyance, and he raised his voice. "Oi, listen when I'm talking to you!" Saburo flinched, and glared at the blonde from the corner of his eye, thoroughly embarrassed.
Kakashi-sensei raised a hand to rub the back of his neck, his lone eye crinkling into a slightly uncomfortable smile. "Sorry, Sandaime-sama, I'll talk to her..." Before the jounin could say more, Narumi raised her face to glare up at the old man holding his pipe. "Jeez O-jiji, all you do is give me lectures! I can do this! I'm not in the academy anymore!" Saburo saw Kakashi-sensei sigh softly out of the corner of his eye, as Narumi glared indignantly at the floor. But he also saw Ikuye's eyes widen and then soften a little as the corner of her lips quirked up into a fiercely proud expression. The Sandaime was regarding Narumi with quiet intensity, his pipe tucked into a corner of his mouth contemplatively. Then he suddenly smiled quietly. "Alright."
Narumi looked up, her expression sliding into confused as she looked up at the robed man in front of her. Saburo himself was astonished, his gaze snapping up from his teammate to fix on the quietly smiling Hokage. A tiny part of his mind quietly noted that Kakashi-sensei also seemed surprised. Only Sasuke was unaffected by the sudden change. The Sandaime leaned forward, lacing his fingers together in front of him the same way that Sasuke usually did. "I'll give you a C-rank mission. It's a protection detail." Narumi bounced up and down slightly, her blue eyes practically glowing in excitement. "Who is it O-jiji? Who are we protecting? A daimyo? A princess?" Sandaime chuckled softly, his eyes just a tad indulgent. "Calm down, I'm about to introduce him."
Turning his head, the Hokage looked off towards a door in the side of the room. "You can come in now." Saburo's entire attention suddenly shifted to the slowly opening door. The revelation of who, or more accurately what, their client was made for a distinctly anticlimactic sinking feeling in the pit of Saburo's stomach. Truthfully, he'd been somewhat hopeful that he'd get to escort a beautiful princess to her homeland. However, the person who came through the door was no princess. It was an old man with rough gray hair and goatee, dressed in the clothes of a civilian who had spent his life in manual labor. His hands were covered in the scars of a carpenter or builder, further testament to a life spent more outdoors than in. The man clutched a half empty bottle of sake, and his cheeks were flushed from what he'd already consumed. Despite the disreputable look of him, the man was eyeing Saburo and his team skeptically, his eyes critical. "What the...these are just a bunch of snot-nosed little brats." Lifting the bottle to his lips, he took another healthy gulp, a tiny trickle spilling out of the corner of his mouth and down his chin. Once he finished he shoved the back of his hand clumsily across his face to wipe away the liquid, glaring at them fuzzily. Saburo and his teammates stared at the man in blank confusion, unsure how to react to him as he continued. "And you, the blondie. Do you really expect me to believe a little girl like you's a ninja?" Saburo's brows snapped together, and he glared at the man incredulously. Shinobi were practical above all else, and there were too many powerful kunoichi in the world for any woman who wore a hitae-ate to be dismissed solely because of her gender. Narumi was not so reserved as her rosy haired companion. She lunged towards the client with an angry growl, stopped only by the fact that Kakashi-sensei had snatched the collar of her shirt, and used it to lift her off her feet. The enraged kunoichi thrashed in her sensei's grip, flailing angrily as she threatened the inebriated old man in front of her. "Let me at him, I'll show that bastard! I'll kick his ass so hard he won't be able to sit down for a week!" Kakashi-sensei spoke in a bored tone, his free hand resting on his hip. "You can't demolish him Narumi, he's our client. And on top of that, he's a civilian. It reflects badly on us if you attack him." Nonetheless his dark eyes were very slightly annoyed as they turned back to the client.
The man didn't seem to take much notice of Narumi's very vocal displeasure, merely taking another long swig before he began to speak. "I am Tazuna, the master bridge builder, and I must return to my country. I'm building a very important bridge there, and I expect you to keep me safe, even if it costs you your lives." Saburo resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the man. First he questions their teams capability and makes Narumi even more of a pain to deal with than usual, and then he tells them he expects them to give their lives on a mission routine enough to be given to fresh gennin? The man obviously had no idea what he was talking about. Before anything else could be said, the Hokage cleared his throat. "Right then. Kakashi, you and your team will gather your gear, and then meet Tazuna at the gates. Understood?" Kakashi set Narumi back on the floor, though he discreetly kept hold of his fistful of her shirt collar. Turning to the Sandaime, he nodded once, the ninja equivalent of a bow. "Understood, Hokage-sama."
They had just walked out of the great gates of Konoha and officially left the village. Narumi was walking in the front, Tazuna just behind her, Saburo was walking with Sasuke a bit further back, and Kakashi-sensei was bringing up the rear. Suddenly Narumi spun on her heal, and looked back over everyone else's heads, up towards the hokage mountain. Her face suddenly split into an enormous grin, and she thrust one fist into the air excitedly, her voice triumphant as she crowed. "ALL RIGHT!" Saburo eyed her with curiosity and a certain amount of scorn. The girl could be such a weirdo sometimes, and a loudmouth to boot. "What are you getting excited about, Narumi?" Narumi bounced a bit, her head suddenly whipping from side to side as if she was trying to see everything around her at once, an excited laugh bubbling up from her throat along with her words. "This is the first time I've ever left the village! It's gonna be awesome!" Tazuna turned his head to Kakashi, his expression aggrieved and irritated. "Hey! How am I supposed to trust my life to this brat? She's a joke!" Narumi suddenly stopped moving and laughing as Kakashi-sensei answered the man calmly. "She's with me, and I'm a jounin, so you don't need to worry." Narumi suddenly whipped around to glare at the man. "HEY! Don't insult kunoichi, it's a big mistake! And besides, I'm gonna be hokage someday, just you wait!" Saburo dropped his face to his hand. Here they went again, Narumi and her hokage ambition. Tazuna didn't seem to take her very seriously either. He took another swig from his ever present bottle before eyeing her with cool skepticism. "Hokage are powerful and wise. You are puny and brainless. I doubt you could ever become hokage." A vein in Narumi's temple began to pulse angrily, and Saburo looked hopefully at Kakashi-sensei, hoping he would say something to prevent the coming outburst. "Shut up, you damn old man! I AM going to become Hokage, just you watch me! And when I do, you're going to HAVE to acknowledge me as a powerful ninja!" Tazuna lowered the bottle he'd been about to take another swig from. "No I won't. Become hokage ten times over, it won't matter. To me you'll still be nothing but a pitiful little girl." Kakashi merely reached out and grabbed the back of Narumi's pack, physically restraining her as she once more leapt towards Tazuna spitting unkind phrases, his voice annoyed. "I told you, you're supposed to protect the client not attack him." Saburo rolled his eyes, and turned with Sasuke to follow the old man who was now walking away from the struggling gennin and her jounin instructor.
They'd been walking for a while in careful silence when something occurred to Saburo. "Excuse me, Tazuna-san?" The old bridge-builder glanced over his shoulder at the boy behind him, and when he spoke his voice was rough. "What?" Saburo took a breath to hold in his annoyance, and went on with his question, realizing that Sasuke was looking sideways at him in curiosity as he questioned the man in front of them. "You're from the land of waves right?" Tazuna shrugged, turning his eyes back to the road. "What about it?" Saburo ignored him, and turned back to the silver-haired jounin walking on the other side of Sasuke. "Kakashi-sensei, aren't there shinobi in that country too?" Kakashi's black eyes met Saburo's gaze quietly as he answered. "No, there are no ninja in the land of waves. But in other countries, there are hidden villages like our own Konohagakure, each with its own customs and cultures, where ninja live." He turned his head a bit to look back towards the road, but he continued to expound on Saburo's question. "To the people of this continent, the existence of a shinobi village within a country means military strength. In other words, the countries protect themselves and maintain the balance of power with other countries through shinobi. However, the hidden villages are not controlled by any government. They're independent from the country, and have equal status. Wave is a small island country. They don't receive much interference from the larger elemental countries, so they don't really need a hidden village. Of all the shinobi villages, Leaf, Mist, Cloud, Sand, and Stone are the most powerful, and the largest. For this reason, these are referred to as the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and only a leader of one of these villages can receive the name of '-kage'. The five Kages reign over the ninja of the world."
Saburo brightened, and a smile spread over his face. "Then that means Hokage-sama is amazing!" However, in the safety of his mind he muttered a suspicious 'Is the old geezer really all that important?' Suddenly Kakashi-sensei darted Saburo, Narumi, and Sasuke a sharp look, and his voice shifted to an indignant tone. "You just doubted Hokage-sama, didn't you?" Saburo jumped, his shoulders stiff and rigid, and his eyes fixed on Narumi's back. He shook his head vigorously, absently noting that Narumi did the same. Could the man read minds? Sasuke, of course, maintained his usual composure and remained motionless. Saburo inwardly wished he were as cool as Sasuke, and could handle these things better.
Kakashi walked past the two boys, and dropped a hand on Narumi's head in a calming gesture, though he spoke over his shoulder to Saburo. "Well, there aren't any shinobi battles on C-rank missions. So you can relax." Saburo let his breath out in a relieved huff, his shoulders relaxing. "Oh good. So we won't run into any enemy shinobi then." Kakashi's eye crinkled up and he chuckled warmly as they continued walking, his hand dropping away from Narumi's head after a moment. "Not likely." Saburo, however, noticed that Sasuke suddenly turned and glanced over his shoulder at Tazuna with a half-frown. Saburo followed his glance, confused for a moment, before the darker boy suddenly turned back towards the front and continued walking after Kakashi-sensei and Narumi. Saburo looked back at Tazuna one last time, and then hurried after his idol.
It was getting close to lunch time, and Saburo had shifted so that he was walking just behind Narumi, who was as determined to lead the way as ever, and in front of Kakashi-sensei. Everything seemed quiet, and while he was enjoying the walk, Saburo wished that there were a bit more action going on. He was bored. Then suddenly he heard Kakashi-sensei's startled cry combined with the sound of a weapon flying through the air. Saburo half turned to look at his sensei, and froze in horror. Kakashi was wrapped in spiked chains from neck to knees, with his arms pinned at his sides, and his glare fixed on one of the two ninja standing behind him holding the ends of the chains. Saburo felt some of the blood drain from his face and stuttered a little in his shock. "Wh-wha-?" Narumi and Sasuke had also swiveled, and already fallen into battle stances. Narumi called out to Kakashi when she saw his predicament, blue eyes bewildered. "Sensei!" Before any of the three gennin could take action, the two enemy ninja whipped their bodies, and heaved on the chain, causing it to rip Kakashi-sensei's body apart. Saburo cried out in horror, turning his face away. As he did, he found himself looking at Narumi's face. Her blue eyes were wide, and staring directly behind him at where Kakashi-sensei had been. The girls teeth were clenched, as if she were physically holding back a scream, and her eyes were almost unnaturally wide. And then the enemy ninja appeared behind her, chuckling triumphantly. "Now it's your turn." Narumi's head whipped around as she looked over her shoulder at the two of them. The enemy surged to attack, the spiked chain coiling through the air. Narumi watched it rise with a sort of frozen terror. Saburo stared helplessly, his throat tight with his own fear, and the knowledge that he was about to watch his teammate be killed in front of him.
Sasuke suddenly leaped into the air, black hair whipping around his face, dark eyes fixed on the chain. Reaching into his holster, he pulled out a shuriken, and sent it flying. The star-shaped weapon caught a link in the chain and yanked the whole thing back, one of the links of the chain whipped across Narumi's hand as it jerked back, creating a deep gash. The blonde gasped at the sudden pain, her unharmed hand shooting to grasp reflexively at her injured wrist, and her eyes clearing as she shook her head. Then the shuriken had pulled the larger weapon completely away from her, and was sinking deeply into the wood of a tree, and pinning the deadly weapon where it couldn't be used. Eyes narrowed, the Uchiha sent a kunai flying through the air to pin the shuriken more securely to the tree through the hole in its center. The enemy ninja had the chain attached to their gauntlets, great heavy things with large metal claws at the end, and the pinning of the chain temporarily restricted their movements. They both heaved and struggled, arms stretching straight back awkwardly as they tried to swing the gleaming weapons at the blonde kunoichi only a foot or two away from them. Saburo watched, dazed, as Sasuke landed with precision, one foot on either ninja's gauntlet. With a grunt, the Uchiha gasped a gauntlet in each hand, and used his arms to support himself as both his feet shot back, one colliding with the face of each enemy. Their heads snapped sideways, but they took it grimly in stride, releasing the chain, and using the momentum of Sasuke's kick to sprint away just as Sasuke released their gauntlets. One curved around towards Tazuna, while the other circled around and went straight for Narumi's unguarded back. Saburo's eyes darted from Sasuke to the fast approaching ninja, and he froze. "I've got to do something. I've got to do SOMETHING!" His mind was screaming at him, but his body didn't move. Narumi had turned towards her attacker, but her movements were slower and clumsier than normal. Sasuke shot over to stand in between Narumi and the oncoming enemy. Narumi had already released her injured wrist, and drawn a kunai. When Sasuke moved in front of her, she assumed a supportive stance, obviously prepared to come to her dark teammates aid at the first opportunity. Saburo's eyes turned away from his teammates as he awkwardly stumbled towards Tazuna, fumbling for a kunai. Just as he moved into the enemy's path, he tripped, and suddenly sprawled across the ground. Saburo raised his eyes, again his mind still screaming...and saw the attacking ninja's body suddenly jerking up into the air.
Kakashi-sensei had an arm wrapped securely around each of the enemies necks as he halted their offense with ease. His posture was relaxed and his eye calm and cool as it swept the group in front of him. If it weren't for the fact that he had the enemy literally by their throats, Saburo would have thought he were wondering whether or not to pull out that perverted book of his. "Hi." Narumi stared at him, mouth slightly open in blank shock. Then her expression suddenly transformed into a wide, relieved grin. "Kakashi-sensei! You're alive!" Sasuke, who was still standing in front of her, looked distinctly less impressed, and muttered under his breath "Hn. Show-off." Saburo just stared blankly up at the man, his mouth open in surprise. "Huh? But he was-" He whipped his head around to look at the spot where Kakashi-sensei's corpse, or what was left of it, ought to be. What he saw were multiple little logs and branches scattered across the road. Saburo stared blankly for a moment. "Kawarimi." Kakashi started to walk towards the side of the road, then stopped and looked over his students again before focusing on Saburo. "Saburo...I'm sorry I didn't help you out right away. I just didn't think you'd freeze up like that." Then the man turned away from him to look over at Saburo's teammates. "Good job Sasuke, very smooth. You protected you teammate well. Narumi, sorry, I made a call that got you injured. Still, you did an impressive job of backing Sasuke up in spite of your injury. You did freeze up at first, but you shook it off admirably." Sasuke's expression didn't change, but his chin lifted slightly. Narumi looked a little conflicted, but then her face lit up with a wide smile, and she beamed up at Kakashi. "I'm fine sensei! Just you watch, next time, I'll kick their butts on my own!"
Saburo got back up, eyes fixed on his team. 'I...I was useless. And Sasuke. Sasuke was awesome. It was our first battle for both of us, but he didn't freeze at all.' Saburo shifted his gaze over to Narumi, and his glance went to the blood dripping down the blondes fingers to the road. Kakashi sensei's words replayed in his head. 'Narumi, I'm sorry. I made a call that got you injured.' Saburo's eyes widened as a realization came to him. "He meant me." Saburo whispered to himself, too low to be heard by the others. "He meant the call to let me handle it. I was closer to her than Sasuke, I should have been the one to help her." Saburo dropped his eyes to the road, ashamed.
Sasuke's voice suddenly cut through his self loathing. "Hey." Saburo glanced up at the quiet call, and locked eyes with the other boy. "Uh, yeah Sasuke?" The other boy looked him over, a faintly amused smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "You're not hurt are ya?" Then he turned fully to look at the rosette, and his smirk widened a tad. "Scaredy-cat." Saburo froze, eyes wide as he looked back at the other two. Kakashi looked over his shoulder, his voice sharp. "Hey, save the rivalry for later you two." Saburo jumped and looked away from Sasuke. Kakashi ignored them and switched his attention to the blonde kunoichi looking back and forth between her teammates, obviously unsure what to say as she hadn't heard their little exchange. Kakashi caught her eyes with his to make sure he had her attention as he spoke. "Narumi, I need you to try not to move too much. Their claws are soaked in poison, and we need to remove it before it can spread. We'll have to open the wound to release it." Narumi immediately looked at her hand like it had sprouted another head, and became very still. Saburo felt like someone had stabbed him and then twisted the kunai. The rosette flushed and carefully avoided looking at his teammates. Kakashi-sensei turned away from his students, and looked over at the old bridge builder, his lone onyx eye forbidding. "Tazuna-san, I need to talk to you."
Kakashi-sensei soon had their attackers securely bound to a tree on the side of the road. Saburo quietly joined Tazuna and his team in forming a semi-circle around the silent shinobi who glared murderously up at the group surrounding them. Kakashi-sensei looked them over carefully, and then spoke. "These look like Kirigakure chuunin. Shinobi of Kirigakure are known to continue fighting, no matter what." One of the Kirigakure shinobi narrowed his eyes, and when he spoke, his voice was low and gravelly. "How did you read our movements?" Saburo glanced up, wondering the same thing. How had Kakashi-sensei known that attack was coming? The silver haired jounin looked at his helpless enemies blankly, his face about as interested as when he was accepting a new D-rank mission from the Sandaime. "On a sunny day like this, when it hasn't rained in weeks...there's not going to be a puddle on the road." Tazuna stared at the other man aghast, and objected loudly. "If you knew that, why did you let the brats fight?" Kakashi was still looking at the bound ninja when he answered. "If I had wanted to, I could have killed these two instantly, but..." Saburo shivered a little as he got a glimpse of sensei's expression as that lone eye slid around to pin Tazuna. Really, considering how much of the man's face was covered up, Kakashi-sensei could be incredibly expressive when he wanted to. "...there was something I wanted to find out. Namely, who these two were after."
Tazuna blinked, obviously not understanding. "What do you mean?" Kakashi turned to face him quietly. "I mean, were they after you, or one of us." Kakashi-sensei's eye fixed the suddenly uncomfortable bridge builder steadily. "We haven't heard that there are any ninja after you. Our mission is simply to protect you from thieves and gangs. The presence of these ninja changes things. This has now become at least a B-rank mission." The bridge builder seemed suddenly sober, and he dropped his eyes as he listened to Kakashi. Kakashi's eye almost seemed to be boring into the older man as he spoke, and his voice was slightly accusing. "If it was known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been set up as a more expensive B-rank. While I'm sure you had a reason for this deception, it causes problems when you lie about the mission. My team and I are now operating outside our duties."
Saburo didn't really want to call attention to himself after his performance in the battle, but he felt compelled to speak. He turned to the bridge builder, and when he spoke his voice was meek. "We're only gennin, Tazuna-san. This mission is too advanced for us. And Narumi's injury needs to be treated. We really should take her to a doctor." Kakashi glanced mildly at Saburo, who quickly looked away, still uncomfortable with his teammates. Sasuke just looked away with a scornful "Hn." Narumi however was staring at Saburo, her eyes wide, and an expression that was caught between indignant and betrayed on her face. Saburo hunched his shoulders as he felt Kakashi's gaze resting heavily on him. "Hmm. Yes, perhaps this mission is too much for this team. We probably should go back."
Before anything else could be said, there was the sudden sound of a kunai being withdrawn from its holster. Saburo looked up just in time to see Narumi slice savagely across the back of her her hand, going diagonally across the original cut in an x-shape. Her jaw was set against the pain, and a heavy flow of fresh blood sudden spilled across her hand. Saburo could clearly see his own shock mirrored in the others faces, and part of him quietly noted that Tazuna looked more than a little green around the gills. Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one to react. "Dobe! What the hell are you doing?" Narumi shot him a glare, and growled quietly. "Shut up, teme." Then she focused on her hand as she crouched to wipe her bloodied kunai clean in the grass before replacing it in her holster. Quietly she slipped off her pack to fish a roll of bandages from it, waiting a moment before she clumsily began trying to wrap the wound. "There. Kakashi-sensei, you said opening the wound would release the poison. Well, I've done that. It's not a problem anymore, I'm fine. I-" She hissed as the bandage caught and dragged roughly against her wounds, before continuing, looking up at Kakashi-sensei with fiery eyes. "I won't be that weak. I won't need saving anymore. And I absolutely REFUSE to be the reason we abandon this mission!" Saburo paled. He'd messed up again. Kakashi-sensei sighed. "Well, if you're that determined about it, I guess we'll continue with the mission. But it's not good for you to lose so much blood. Stop that and let me take a look at your hand." Walking over, the jounin squatted in front of her and gently took her hand and the roll of bandages. He frowned a bit as he looked down at the wound, and for a moment, he didn't say anything. Narumi eyed him anxiously, shifting her weight, and eventually asked "Kakashi-sensei? What's the matter" Saburo had a sudden fear, and swallowed hard. "Is...is the wound alright?" Kakshi-sensei glanced over at him, then smiled and went back to wrapping Narumi's hand. "It's fine." Saburo sighed in relief. He really didn't think he could take any more guilt right now. Kakashi focused on the wound, his voice mild as he spoke to Narumi. "Do you feel alright? I need you to tell me honestly if the poison is still affecting you." Narumi shook her head once. "No, Sensei. I felt sort of dizzy and sick before, and my body didn't really move right, but I don't feel weird anymore." Kakashi nodded absently. "Well, let me know if you feel any further effects." After he finished with Narumi's hand, Kakashi went over to the two captive shinobi, and crouched over them for a moment, reaching for something in one of his vest pockets. The two nuke-nin thrashed and fought, apparently unhappy about whatever it was that he was doing, but Kakashi didn't pay them any heed. Standing, the silver-haired jounin surveyed the small group behind him. "Alright then, let's get moving."
A/N: Hello peoples! Much gratitude to those who reviewed.
Since this question has come up a couple different times, I'm going to go ahead and answer it here. I do have a particular pairing in mind for this fic. However, that could change depending on how the characters develop later on. And whoever ends up together, the main characters are all around twelve and thirteen. They'll have crushes and such, but real true love won't come into the picture for a while yet. However, I am very pleased to see the interest, and will carefully consider the suggestions I've been given.
In case anyone's wondering, Tazuna's skepticism about Narumi's abilities is partly because she's loud and disarming, and partly because he sees her as a harmless little girl. Remember, he's a civilian. Saburo doesn't really have a whole lot of respect for Narumi, but as a ninja he is very practical about the abilities of his comrades and counterparts among the fairer sex. Plus, Narumi is his teammate, and he doesn't like his team being looked down on by a random drunk civilian. This is also the reason for Sasuke's dislike of Tazuna, though his is more along the lines of 'how dare a lowly civilian insult MY team'. Kakashi is simply very protective of his students, and it makes him angry when they are insulted. Also, the freezing up scene. Saburo, being a bookish type at this point, freezes in the face of danger because his body cannot keep up with his mind. The longer that went on, the more he panicked, and the less capable he became of reacting, which is why he preformed so poorly during the fight. Narumi, however, is much more combat oriented. Once she was injured, the pain kick-started her systems, and her body took over and reacted to the danger. That's why Narumi was able to pull out of it, and Saburo wasn't.
Hope everyone continues to enjoy the story!