I don't own Naruto…if I did, then I would be rich!

Later that same day…

"We did it! We did it! This causes for a celebration!"

Both Shino and Shikamaru didn't know what exactly what "celebrations" Naruto was talking about, but it couldn't be that bad could it?

…

"You little brats! Get back here!"

"What a drag…"

No one spoke as the merchant ran pass them, as all three boys hid under another cart. Naruto giggled as the merchant ran towards them, but never noticed the rope in front of him. Shikamaru even cracked a smile as they pulled the rope in opposite directions, making the man trip in a mud hole.

All three genin laughed as the man moved around to no avail. "This is one hell of a "celebration", you guys are having."

Shino's eyes widened as both Shikamaru and Naruto were hoisted up into the air by a hidden rope. Shino didn't even make it three steps before he found his arms bond behind his back.

"Isn't a little rude to humiliate others like that?"

All boys looked up as Asuma approached them. Behind him, was a women in her mid-twenties to early thirties with shoulder length untamed black hair. Asuma could see that her piercing red eyes held amusement in them as Naruto and Shikamaru struggled to get down.

This wasn't planned, believe it! Naruto thought as Asuma let both boys down with a sign and shake of his head.

"Now apologize!" Kurenai laughed as all three boys bowed their heads to the merchant who wiped his face off with a handkerchief and a scowl on his face.

"We're sorry! It won't happen again, believe it!" At least not to you…

Later that afternoon….

"Can you believe those guys? With Naruto I expected him to do something like this, but Shino? Shikamaru? I never imagined something like this was possible…" Asuma shook his head.

"You of all people should know that you shouldn't judge people by appearances Asuma-kun."

"I know, but I'd expected all of them to behave a little more mature now that they're genin." Kurenai laughed bitterly.

"Did any of us behave more "maturely" when we became genin?"

"I did."

"Liar liar pants on fire."

"I'm just saying…where did my cigarettes go? Kurenai did you touch them again?"

Asuma growled as Kurenai pulled a sticky note off Asuma's back. Smoking isn't good for you. With love, your mature genin team.

"Boys!"

Next Morning…

"Listen boys, I know we had quite the misunderstanding yesterday. I was trying to help you guys stay on the right path, but you all had to ruin it by taking my cigarettes. Which was dirty by the way. Still that was in the past, and today is a new day… so drop and give me a hundred."

Shikamaru moaned as Asuma pressed down on his back with his foot. He grunted as more pain shot through his spine as he pressed harder with his other foot. Shino and Naruto wasn't fairing much better.

"After this, you ladies will run five laps around the training field."

"What about missions?" Shino asked.

Shino began running around the training ground with Shikamaru as Naruto did a few more push-ups for good measure as he joined the others. Team 8 was a new team with no experience with the outside world what so ever, so it was understandable that Asuma would tough them up first before they had their first mission.

"Can you dodge a spinning kunai?"

"No."

"Can you breathe under water?"

"No." No one can. Shino thought as he shared a look with the others.

"Can you stand on burning coal and feel no pain?"

"No…"

"Then you're not ready for missions. When you meet one of those three conditions then I might consider it."

"So… in other words never?"

"I didn't say that. It's just unlikely that you guys are ready to be on a mission so soon after graduating."

"Kakashi-sensei already has his team doing missions." Naruto pointed out.

"Well…I'm not Kakashi. I want a well-trained team before we start missions."

"Uh huh. That's a perfect excuse." Shikamaru added in his two cents.

"All of you better keep running, before I change my mind and send you back to the academy stat!"

"Sir yes sir!"

Two months later…

It had been two months, and Naruto's team had gone on a total of twenty D-rank 'missions'. The term mission was used lightly since Naruto didn't consider washing an old man's underwear to be a mission for a genin of a ninja village. The one thing that all three boys had agreed on was that Tora the cat was either not from this world or its owner was bored as hell, and liked watching children catch it for her. Many other genin had suspected the latter.

So it wasn't a surprise one day when a certain blond haired person and his team broke.

"Your next mission will be catching Tora. He was last seen near the hot springs. Good luck." Sarubtobi had only gotten to finish his sentence before Naruto fainted in Shikamaru's arms.

"Please…no more…this nightmare never ends…" The other members of Team 8 could only roll their eyes as the blond genin locked eyes with the Hokage.

"Please…"

"No."

"Damn." Naruto's head and hopes fell in despair.

Five minutes later...

"Alright is everyone in position?" Asuma and the others scanned the area with calculating eyes as he got three separate confirmations.

"L.O.R. are you ready to commence plan catch Tora for the 1600th time?"

"Lazy Pineapple are you in position?"

"Bug boy are done playing with that insect?"

"Hai, sensei."

All was still for the next few minutes. The air was tense and serious as the L.O.R walked in front of Tora. Said cat immediately began running away in the opposite direction, but found that she couldn't move her legs. Shikamaru smirked as Naruto carefully approached Tora.

"Come on Naruto. You're not scared of a tiny cat are you?"

Naruto only glared in response as Tora started hissing at the blond. He showed Tora both hands palm side up as he approached it slowly. Unbeknownst to the cat, Shino's little bugs were slowly eating away at her energy as she focused on Naruto. Tora was beginning to notice that her vision was getting foggy and muddled. Shikamaru loosened the jutsu slightly as Naruto took another cautious step.

Bird, dog, serpent, ram! "Earth Release: Hexagon Prism Prison."

Iruka stared at Naruto in amazement as he held up Tora encased in an orange hexagon prison. Iruka frowned at Naruto for another minute before signing.

"Naruto. You're mission was to catch Tora. Not kill her."

"But Iruka-sensei it's not dead. It's just tired. Look. See?" Sarutobi gave a small smile as Naruto shook the prison like a snow globe.

Still, when the Fire Daimyo's wife came through the door, the cat felt glad to be inside the prism. After spending a few minutes of lecturing the students about respecting their clients and trapping their "favorite" cat in an orange prison, she went on her way. It was still light outside, so Sarutobi began looking for another D-rank mission before Asuma spoke up.

"Hokage-sama with all due respect, I think my students are ready for a C-rank mission."

Silence. Everyone stared at Asuma as he took another second to smoke. "They have excellent teamwork, and I think this would be a good time for them to begin getting experience outside the village."

Now he's tries to be a sensei. How great. Naruto thought as he folded his arms. Why didn't he say anything before this mission?

Sarutobi smoked for another minute on his pipe, before nodding his head. Iruka stared at the Hokage in shock as he pulled out a green folder labeled "C". He observed each genin's face as he handed the mission folder to Asuma. All three boys were tired, but determined to move on to a higher rank.

"Very well then. Iruka-san please bring him in." Iruka left the room in a flash of smoke. A few minutes passed before an older man walked into the room obviously drunk. The man was in his late fifty's, had gray hair with a think beard to match. He had dark eyes and used them to look over Team 8.

"A slacker, a runt, and a creepy child. Isn't there anyone else left?" The male had a gruff voice as he took a few steps back as Naruto's teammates held him back.

"Let me at him. I'll give him a black eye. I'll show you a runt!"

"You already have Naruto. He's looking at you!"

"Shut up!" Shino's shoulders heaved for a moment, before all three boys started laughing. The Hokage smiled softly at them, thinking of his own genin days. Sarutobi assured Tazuna that despite their young age, Team 8 was a force to be reckoned with. Not to mention that Asuma was an experienced shinobi and could handle any problem that came their way.

"Alright team, we'll meet with Tazuna in the morning and get a move on then. Am I clear?"

"Sir yes sir."

…

"Still no runt. Drunk man must be off his meds."

End scene.

EDIT:5/28/15