Chapter 33 - The S-Rank Mission: Rescue The Kazekage!
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[Ichiraku Ramen, Konoha]
Two Days Later...
Sakura was currently standing right outside of the popular food joint, which had been upgraded to a bar & grill in the time before Sasuke's return to Konoha, waiting for the rest of the newly-formed Team Naruto to arrive as Naruto had asked them to meet up with him there (given Naruto's love of ramen this didn't come as a surprise to either of his teammates). The pink-haired kunoichi arrived at the establishment a few minutes earlier and stood there for a few more minutes until Sasuke arrived.
"Hey, Sasuke-kun! How are you feeling today?" Sakura asked.
"I'm fine, Sakura, though I'm still a bit sore from our fight with Naruto," he responded, to which Sakura sighed.
"That makes two of us. (she looks into the ether) It's hard to believe that we're in the same team again, huh? And yet Kakashi-sensei isn't part of it now," she said softly.
"Yeah..." Sasuke said as thought about what his pink-haired teammate just said.
After the chunin, upon the end of their bell test, were told that they would be part of a team again alongside Naruto they were given a shocking piece of news.
Kakashi, the former Jonin squad leader of Team 7, would not be part of the newly formed Team Naruto as he felt that the three teenagers had grown so much that they could now strike it on their own as such they didn't really need him anymore. While eventually accepting this change Sakura and Sasuke were left at a loss for words when they first learned about this and even Naruto was shocked by the decision. Regardless of their shock, however, the three Konoha-nin decided to adjust to this change. Because of the gap left in the team left by Kakashi part of that adjustment required that Naruto find another ninja to fill said gap in the team's ranks.
"So... what's Kakashi up to now?" Sasuke asked his teammate.
"If you mean besides reading those 'books' of his, Kakashi-sensei said that he was assigned to be the squad leader for Konohamaru and his team," Sakura explained to which Sasuke nodded in understanding.
Deciding to change the subject Sasuke pointed his thumb to the entrance of the ramen eatery.
"Maybe we should go and wait for Naruto to arrive inside. What do you think?" Sasuke suggested.
After Sakura nodded in agreement she and Sasuke entered Ichiraku Ramen.
The place had indeed been expanded, with a seating area similar to the one inside Yakiniku Q, another popular restaurant that was the favorite eatery of Team Asuma. At the opposite end of Ichiraku Ramen's interior there was a bar-like stand similar to the one that had once formed the entire interior of the establishment.
As Sasuke looked around he and Sakura were surprised by a familiar voice.
"Finally! We can eat! Over here, you two!" the voice yelled.
The two chunin turned their focus to the seats closest to the bar where the voice had come from and were surprised to see Naruto, who was wearing his black coat (Nel managed to retrieve it at some point during the bell test), seated in one of the tables. After shaking off their surprise Sakura and Sasuke walked towards the table where they were surprised yet again when they saw that someone was seated next to their new squad leader.
It was a girl that appeared to be around their age who was around 5'3'' (at least based on what could seen as the fact she was seated made it somewhat difficult to take her measure) in height and had a slender and feminine, though very athletic, figure; she had short and spiky mint green hair, orange eyes, and caramel-colored skin. She was wearing a short sleeveless white midriff shirt with mesh armor underneath, long white armlets, mesh shorts with a short white apron skirt over it, and a orange clip on her hair which complimented her eyes; similar to Kazuko and several others the girl also wore a Konoha headband, which had a black cloth, on her right upper arm like an armband, right above her right armlet. In addition to her attire the girl had a cylindrical object covered in a red wrapping propped on the floor next to her seat.
The girl turned to face Sakura and Sasuke and, after her eyes slightly widened at the sight of the Uchiha, she flashed a very cheerful smile.
"Hey, Sasuke-san. It's been a while," the girl said as she stood up to give a small bow which Sasuke returned in kind.
"Yes it has. I was actually surprised to hear that you've moved to Konoha, much less that you're already a jonin... Fū. (he turns to Naruto) I take it that she'll be our new teammate?" Sasuke said as he, Sakura, and the now-named Fū sat down. Naruto nodded before he spoke.
"Guys... you already know who Fū is so I don't need to make any introductions. As Sasuke just said she'll be joining our team. I thought it would be a good idea to bring our team together over a Ramen lunch," Naruto explained.
At this point Ayame finally approached Team Naruto's table and, after both greeting Naruto and co. and a brief conversation, she took their orders. Several minutes later Ayame returned with the ninja's orders: a bowl of steak ramen for Sasuke, a bowl chicken ramen for Sakura, a bowl of shrimp ramen for Fū, a bowl of Miso-flavored ramen with roasted pork fillet for Naruto, and a order of green tea for all four of them.
After about a few minutes everybody had finished their meals... except for Naruto who was currently gulping down his sixth bowl. Five minutes after that Naruto finally finished his meal... about twenty or so bowls.
Any person that had never seen Naruto's rapid consumption of ramen would've looked at him as if he had grown multiple heads. Sasuke and Sakura, on the other hand, had seen this scene before and were unfazed by this spectacle at all and Fū, who had apparently seen the Leaf jonin's rapid consumption before, only reacted to this by turning to speak with her fellow teammates as Naruto pulled out some ryo to pay for "their" meal.
"Does Naruto-kun suffer from an eating disorder or something?" the Nanabi Jinchuriki asked, to which Sasuke merely shook his head.
"No... he's always been like this. I honestly think Ramen is like mother's milk to him," Sasuke said as he and his teammates got up to leave the restaurant, with Fū slinging the wrapped up object on her back like a backpack of sorts before she left.
[Hokage's Office, The Academy]
Several Minutes Later...
"You've got to be kidding me..." Naruto said with a great deal of disbelief and annoyance.
The person that is currently the focus of Naruto's ire, one Tsunade, let out a heavy sigh. The Godaime Hokage, with Shizune standing by her side, had just finished briefing Naruto and his teammates on their first mission. It was obvious that the assigned mission was not a mission that really befitted the team's skills if Naruto's reaction was anything to go by.
"I'm sorry, Naruto, but this is the only mission available at the moment above a D-rank mission so unless you want one of those missions this is the best you're going to get for now," Tsunade explained.
Naruto slightly groaned at this explanation and his teammates, while not as visibly exacerbated by this as the young Uzumaki, obviously agreed with their squad leader even if they didn't say it out loud.
This conversation was suddenly interrupted at this point when the door to Tsunade's office burst open and a Leaf chunin barged in.
"Emergency report from Suna, Hokage-sama! The Kazekage has been captured by the Akatsuki!" the chunin reported.
At that moment the eyes of every person in that room widened in shock at the news, with both Fū and even Naruto stunned to hear that the Akatsuki had captured their fellow Jinchuriki.
"What do mean the Kazekage has been captured?!" Tsunade asked.
As the chunin gave the full report to the Godaime Hokage the shock of the news, at least for Naruto and Fū, was replaced by anger, with the green-haired kunoichi clenching her fists. Naruto turned his attention from the chunin to Tsunade.
"Tsunade-san," was the all Naruto said. It was more than enough to get his message across, however, as Tsunade nodded in understanding.
"It looks like your mission has been canceled. Team Naruto... you first mission will now be to aid the ninja of Sunagakure in the rescue of the Kazekage. This'll be a S-Rank of extreme importance. Do I make myself clear?" Tsunade explained.
Naruto turned to face his teammates who nodded, as if they were responding to a question; Naruto in turn nodded back before turning his attention back to Tsunade.
"We understand loud and clear, Tsunade-san," Naruto said.
"Then all of you are to assemble at the village gates in half an hour; if you have to make any preparations do so now," Tsunade ordered.
Tsunade's order had barely left her mouth before Naruto and his team left the office and were gone from the Godaime's sight almost instantly. At this point Shizune, who had been quiet the entire time. finally walked up to front of Tsunade's desk to address her longtime master.
"Are you sure it's wise to send Naruto's team on this mission, Tsunade-sama? I know that Naruto is more than able to handle himself against the Akatsuki, and Fū-chan has gotten stronger under Naruto's tutelage. That said isn't it still tempting fate to send Naruto and Fū, both of whom are Jinchuriki, of the first and third most powerful of the Tailed Beasts no less, against an opponent that we know is hunting down the Tailed Beasts?" Shizune questioned, clearly concerned by Tsunade's decision.
Tsunade merely chuckled at Shizune's questioning before she answered her assistant, though she didn't look up to face Shzune as she did so.
"There are several reasons why I'm sending Naruto and Fū, Shizune. The most important one is not strength, however. (she notes Shizune's confusion) The biggest reason for why I'm sending Naruto and Fū on this mission... is because they're both Jinchuriki like the Kazekage. After the only one who can truly understand a Jinchuriki is another Jinchuriki. Besides..." Tsunade began.
The Slug Sannin then smirked before lifting her head up to face Shizune.
"...Naruto and Fū are much stronger than me, you, or even the Akatsuki could even hope to comprehend," the Hokage declared.
[Hyuga Estate]
Ten Minutes Later...
"...as such I'll be leaving you in charge until I've returned. Also I'll also be leaving my Fracciones under your command until that time; they'll be at your disposal while I'm gone," Naruto explained.
The person the Leaf jonin was currently speaking to was none other than Hiashi Hyuga, head of the Hyuga Clan, father to Hinata and uncle to Neji, and one of Naruto's main deputy commander in the MPF, whose had left the headquarters of the MPF to attend a clan meeting, hence why Naruto was there to give temporary control of the MPF to Hiashi until he returned from his mission. When Naruto was rebuilting the MPF he was able to convince several of the clans in Konoha to lend their support, primarily the Inuzuka and Hyuga clans, with many of the members of the MPF originating from these two clans.
"Very well. How long do you expect to be gone?" Hiashi asked in his calm, collected tone.
"At least three to five days, depending on how much of head start the Akatsuki managed to get. (he sighs) Hiashi-san... if HE tries to pull something, as unlikely as that might be for now, you know what to do, correct?" Naruto askedin a very serious tone to which the Hyuga Clan head nodded in response.
"We'll immediately suppress Danzo and his ROOT faction upon the slightest hint of treachery," Hiashi responded.
"Alright, then. I'll take my leave now," Naruto said; as the young Leaf jonin turned to leave he decided to leave on a lighter note.
"By the way... if they return before I do... give Neji and Hinata my regards," Naruto said in a somewhat teasing manner before flash stepping away.
Hiashi merely sighed at Naruto's quip before he headed back into his clan's estate, the meeting he was attending having yet to finish.
[Konoha Gate]
Twenty Minutes Later...
Naruto was now waiting, alongside Tsunade and Shizune, at the gate where he was to meet up with his team before they head out on their mission; in addition Temari (btw she's in her Five Kage Summit outfit), who was still in Konoha due to the fact that she was to be one of the proctors for the upcoming Chunin Exams, was standing alongside the Leaf jonin, temporarily putting her proctor duties on hold so she can go and aid her village. As Naruto waited for the his teammates to show up he sensed another familiar person approaching the gate.
Naruto turned to face towards the gate and was greeted by the sight of certain perverted sage.
"Welcome back, Jiraiya-san. I'm sorry I couldn't give you a proper welcome but I was kinda in a rush and-" Naruto began before Jiraiya held his hand up to interrupt the blonde ninja.
"It's alright; considering that I wasn't around for most of you're life I don't think you have any reason to apologize. (he briefly pauses) Anyways... I see you're now the leader of your own squad, eh?" Jiraiya said to which Naruto nodded in response.
After a few minutes of waiting, during which time Jiraiya noted how similar Naruto had become to his father, Sasuke, Sakura, and Fū finally arrived. After Tsunade gives a brief overview of Team Naruto's mission, and giving the go ahead for their departure, Naruto did something that took Sasuke and Temari slightly by surprise; the Uzumaki clansman got on knee before slamming the palms of his hands on the ground.
"Alright... get ready, guys! We're going to take a little shortcut," Naruto said before he channeled his reiatsu into the ground.
At this point a massive portal similar to a Garganta appeared to open; unlike a normal Garganta, however, this Garganta opened from the ground up and a clear and wide walkway made of pure energy appeared at the entrance to the Garganta and appeared to extend indefinitely into the blackness of the portal.
Naruto could apparently tell that Sasuke and Temari were taken aback by this display despite the fact that he had his back turned to them since he decided to explain what he was doing.
"This is a special variant of the Garganta portal that my Fracciones and I use to travel to and from Hueco Mundo. This Garganta allows me and anyone travelling with me to go from one point in the Shinobi nations to another in a fraction of the time. In this case it'll take us a couple of hours to reach Suna as opposed to three days, even faster if you guys can run really fast. I only created this shortcut a while back and I've only perfected it now so watch your step," Naruto explained.
Sakura, who learned the dangers presented by the portal the hard way, appeared to be a bit uncomfortable with the idea.
"Are you sure about this Naruto?" the pink-haired kunoichi asked.
At this point Fū added her two cents to the conversation.
"Better to get there in a couple of hours than three days, Sakura-chan. Besides I don't see what the big deal is; I was able to get through the portal just fine when Naruto and I went to deal with that issue with Yagura-san," she said nonchalantly.
Sakura didn't take the Nanabi Jinchuriki's quip lightly as she now had an angry, yet comical, expression on her face.
"Oh, that's easy for you to say! It's not like everyone can just sprout wings and fly though the portal, Fū!" Sakura yelled while pointing an accusing finger at her fellow kunoichi.
Before Sakura and Fū could continue arguing, however, they suddenly noticed that Sasuke was already running into the portal.
"H-hold on, Sasuke-kun! You don't know what's in there!" Sakura yelled out as she then entered the portal, with Temari following close behind.
Fū then manifested her "wings," which were actually two of Chōmei's tails that Fū was merely using as wings, before flying into the portal.
Naruto, upong seeing his team and Temari enter the Garganta, stood up and turned to face Jiraiya and the others.
"We'll be back soon," Naruto said before turning around and running into the portal which quickly closed behind the young Uzumaki.
After a few minutes Jiraiya sighed at this before he said a few words meant for his godson.
"Good luck, Naruto... and good hunting," the Toad Sage said before he, Tsunade, and Shizune headed back into the village...
Next Time - Picking Up the Trail: Crisis in Suna!