OVER THE NEXT MONTH…
~xxx
"Pull!"
"Rrrgh!"
"Pull~!"
"Rrrrraaagghh"
"PULL!"
"Rrrraaaa-"
Pouring sweat, aching shoulders, and the midsummer heat beating down on their necks, Sasuke and Naruto were putting their all into their first official D-rank – taking care of a dead tree in some farmer's field.
It was a simple enough job, although it was a twisty, gnarly thing. The ax blades stuck easily and often in the creosote-packed trunk, sawing was slow going, and that the ground was on a slight slant didn't make the task any easier. However, by far the worst part of the mission thus far was uprooting the trunk.
As their sensei was busy chopping the tree into manageable bits- under the watchful eye of the lubricious farmer's wife- it fell to the boys to put in their youthful vigor to use, pulling at either end of a rope looped around the monstrously entrenched stump of the tree. Sakura did as best she could to help out, standing by shouting encouragement and cutting the odd root to help move things along.
At this point, even Naruto's labor-weathered hands were beginning to blister under the strain, poor Sasuke's finer palms and fingers weeping on the abrasive rope. Still, both of the boys had yet to complain, their jaws set as they powered through the pain and tiredness, determined to get this job done.
Their efforts eventually paid off, the stump coming clear away from the earth in a crumbly pop, nearly sending the two genin facefirst into the dirt. Sakura took over the rest of the removal, leaving the boys to lean on each other, grunting and panting, absentmindedly patting each other on the shoulder.
Once they'd gotten their breath back and the uprooting fully taken care of, all three dragged the stump over to a barren patch of ground away from the field, Sasuke doing the honors lighting it with a small fire ninjutsu.
The sun began to set as the genin sat down to watch the blaze. Each had their own thoughts, passing the time by making small conversation. The hours seemed to blur together, the three being content to sit and make small talk until their sensei finally came along. Apparently having been delayed by having to politely fend off the client's spouse's advances, Kakashi was not in too much of a mood for conversation, motioning that it was time to leave, now that the stump was nothing but glowing cinders.
Sakura leapt up, chipper from all the energy she hadn't spent. Naruto was exhausted, and Sasuke was worn down to "bone tired", the respite around the burning stump only having cured their mental tiredness, stumbling along behind the two fresher members of the team.
It seemed the Jōnin was feeling his charitable side, buying the team a quick bite to eat at the premier barbecue place in the village. They'd met one of the other rookie teams at the door, the senseis giving their polite greetings as the females of either team gave the other and intense death glare, and the boys just standing off to the side, too tired or too nonplussed to care much about pleasantries so late in the day. After a moment or so, they parted, Sakura giving her rival one last sneer before turning back to keep up with her own team.
Due to his predicament, it wasn't far into Sasuke's beef bowl when it became evident that he'd need help eating his food, the torn blisters on his hands making it near impossible to simply hold a pair of chopsticks in either hand. Seeing this as a prime opportunity to bond with the Uchiha, Sakura sprang into action, nearly knocking over Naruto to sit at Sasuke's side, snatching up his chopsticks and bowl, enthusiastically offering to feed him.
To say that it was hard to avoid cracking up watching the girl feeding Sasuke as he grumbled and chafed under the increasingly cutesy, saccharine assistance would be a massive understatement. Kakashi and Naruto sounded like a pair of asthmatics on the brink of respiratory failure, their only defense against certain hilarity being hiding their faces behind their hands. If looks could kill, the one that the Rookie of the Year aimed at his two unsympathetic compatriots would have murdered them three times over, burnt them to ashes, and then exploded the ashes.
It was amazing that the rest of the team had anything to eat with the…entertainment, but they managed. In fact, it wasn't too long before everyone was finished and out the door, a glow about their faces - except for Sasuke, who was having somewhat serious contemplations of violent murder…
Surprisingly, the bill was kept rather small, the most expensive order being a pot of ginger tea, which Naruto just about inhaled – near quite literally once Haruno started in with her "Sasuke food time" spectacle.
The walk home was slow and filled with plenty of amiable chatting, even the Uchiha cracking a grin after a while. As was typical of a Konoha summer, it was pretty humid, the balmy night air relaxing, a soft corona affixed about every lamp on the dark streets, and so it was easy for the team to just stroll along, content to live in the moment.
Of course, everyone had to break off toward their homes, Sakura being the first, inciting a lusty reprise of surreptitious giggling. Giving them a dark look at first, Sasuke couldn't help slipping his tongue into his cheek after a while, and the guys got to sharing some increasingly bawdy jokes and anecdotes, the jōnin's being by far the most offensive- and, as a result, the funniest, his repertoire of tales of salty individuals and salacious misunderstandings seemingly endless.
The hilarity continued well into the night, Sasuke eventually setting off toward the silent district he called home, lending a sobering note to the evening, but the guys still holding onto their mirth, a soft smile on their lips. Sasuke looked back a final time, a wistful look in his eyes, waving them off before turning and jogging into the dark.
This left Naruto and Kakashi alone together again, walking in comfortable silence, content to meander through the increasingly crappy streets, dodging potholes and broken bottles. Then the elder of the two got to humming some oldish pop tune that was being replayed on the radio all that week, as per some anniversary or another. It wasn't long before the blond picked it up, too, taking the bass line and back vocals as the jōnin kept on with the lead parts, and like that made a sort of odd continuous harmony, looping back to the fun parts several times just for the fun of it.
Then came time for the fun to end, coming up on what seemed to be the only hotel in the neighborhood. It was an okay-ish looking place that appeared like it had gotten a couple bad facelifts before the owner just threw up his hands and let everything hang out. The building looked like an architectural patchwork, bits and pieces from various styles that were the vogue decades ago, along with a flash or two of Revivalist works, making the whole place look like some trumped-up art gallery.
Making the offhanded comment that the place had a reduced price for jōnin past a certain age, Kakashi bid farewell, quickly walking through the automatic doorway without further ado.
This left Naruto to his own devices, trotting off toward home, still humming the tune to R*O*C*K*S*
~xxx
Due to the condition of Sasuke's hands, which threatened to get pretty nasty, the team had to hold off on further missions for about a week as the Uchiha got treatment at the village hospital. Each of the team checked by his place at least once, the two genin particularly impressed with the lavish manse the boy had all to himself, all the ninja amenities and small luxuries included.
The visits also led to some insight into the sheer emptiness of the boy's home life, having this huge place with only him to populate it. Witnessing this had an especially profound effect on Sakura, who was used to living in a home a tenth the size of his with a constant hum of activity about it and in a tightly woven community, her neighborhood being a village unto itself. Seeing the Uchiha's comparatively sepulchral living space was enough to make her realize the depth of the boy's loneliness.
Of course, she interpreted the solution to this "problem" in entirely the most convenient way to suit her design, but it helped her come to legitimately understand her teammate just that much more.
That wasn't to say that the rest of the team wasn't similarly affected; Kakashi certainly empathized, as did Naruto, although for separate reasons. For the Jōnin, the sorrow involved in such a sequestered, singular life was deeply understood, and thus he felt a natural need to help Sasuke rise from this abysmal place, as the man himself needed in days long since passed. In Naruto's case, it was the sense of loneliness that in and of itself bred a powerfully grim mindset, as well as the psychological impact of an empty space that one was never big enough to fill- that if there were only one more body to fill the void, that it would be substantially more a homestead than it was but for the one person in an otherwise silent world.
Thusly, even after Sasuke was sufficiently recovered, a couple days with cleaning and a prescribed chakra-infused balm later, team or the teammates, individually, would stop by on a regular basis, helping warm up the boy's home life, bit-by-bit.
That said, the next mission couldn't come too soon
~xxx
While dog-walking wasn't usually something assigned to shinobi of any caliber, when it came to tending to the extensive kennels of the Inuzuka clan, rookie genin were in constant demand. Just as the team showed up at the door, leashed were pressed into their hands and shoved out with a half dozen dogs between them.
After a little switching around, the team proceeded with the walking. Kakashi had the most, with three medium size dogs. Sakura and Sasuke split the smallest, Sasuke still dealing with tender hands and Sakura being a dainty flower. Naruto was saddled with by far the largest dog, a lethargic, ornery thing used to getting its way.
In comparison to the previous mission, it was a sinch, even a bit boring in its lack of difficulty. The only interesting parts were Sensei having to break up the fights between the three dogs he had, and Naruto being at constant odds with his beast, as he quickly brought the slobbery tank of a canine to heel with his seemingly disproportionate strength, something a situation it was not pleasantly acquainted with.
So the day wrapped up rather quickly, the team returning the dogs well before evening and getting a hefty tip to split between them for their efforts.
Naruto decided to buy the treat this time, picking up a couple drinks and a bag full of rice cakes. They found a nice spot to enjoy the sunset, a bridge leading into the market district that had an excellent view of the western horizon.
Leaning on the railing, the genin and their sensei watched the sun slowly dip below the seemingly endless expanse of trees, content to eat and spectate in silence. As night set in, they lingered, observing the horizon and their surroundings. A little after the lanterns on the bridge were lit, they finally broke up, making their way back home once again, Kakashi commenting offhandedly that they should meet back here again for missions and whatnot from then on. Mumbling assent, the genin took off toward home at their own individual pace, Kakashi accompanying Sakura back as she was still significantly more vulnerable than the rest of the team.
It was an odd feeling, being walked home by an older man, but Sakura didn't mind it. Although the man was still strange to her, she couldn't help her active imagination going right to work concocting all sorts of interesting situations, at the forefront being the sorts of candid, intimate situations that would lead to the man's unmasking. The girl bit her lip, pink suffusing her cheeks as she looked at the ground away from her sensei, who seemed to have no problem with this situation. He actually made small conversation with her, talking about random little nothings, things that were surprisingly relatable to her, and got her to wondering what sort of man her sensei was, under all that clothing.
Did she say clothing? She meant mask. Yes, mask. Just the mask. And the headband. No need to remove anything else.
Even if he was in remarkable shape for his age- and even occupation- and what little she could see of his face being definitely gorgeous, there was no need for that. No. Not even in the least.
Think of Sasuke! Think of the…
Sakura had a hard time keeping a straight face, at times dropping out of the conversation from her mental meanderings, but Kakashi-sensei was amazingly patient, gently restating anything the kunoichi admitted she'd missed, and smoothly avoiding making her feel at all "on the spot".
It was a strange feeling to finally arrive at her front door, after what seemed like a time spent in an oddly pleasant limbo. Sakura bowed, wishing the Jōnin goodnight, entering the Haruno household to meet a barrage of questions just inside, particularly about the man she'd just left.
Only after a long line of brief answers was she allowed up to her room, wherein she lay, contemplating how she'd landed a team filled with such hot- erm, interesting- guys. The odds had been against her, what with the pickings being bugboy, fatass, and a couple other charmers, and she clearly lucked out.
She certainly didn't envy Ino- she snickered, recalling the run-in the other night, her rival walking out with fatass and that ape-faced jackass in tow. Asuma-sensei was alright, but he was no bachelor at that point, what with the rumors surrounding him being with Kurenai and all. Aside from being sweet karmic revenge, it helped Sakura realize how great her team was, even with the transient bits aside.
Sasuke was the Rookie of the Year, so he was a pretty sharp, strong guy who would likely be a powerful shinobi. His patience and stiff upper lip when it came to stuff he wasn't used to, as with their first mission ever, proved he was more than just his pedigree, pulling his weight all the way, never slowing anyone down.
Kakashi-sensei was a real competent person, let alone ninja, who had a very insightful grip on the issues of those around him. After hearing from Naruto of all the horror stories concerning the man flunking so many genin hopefuls hard, it was amazing to see just how much of a thoughtful, understanding human being he was, not to mention how effective a teacher and captain he was. She'd yet to see any evidence of his combat effectiveness- the one really horrifying Gen-Jutsu and the Sasuke-burying aside- but she expected the man to be something a cut above the rabble and then some.
Naruto…
Naruto.
Naruto-
Naruto~…..
As unexpectedly infuriating as the boy was, he'd proved to be a significant boon to the team, seemingly the glue that held them together. He had an incredibly individualistic persona, but he had no problem helping someone out. The guy was terribly blunt at times, but he picked up on nuances and such that even Sensei was wont to miss on occasion, and this was only in the first couple weeks since the team's inception.
One thing that was patently clear was that Naruto was monstrously strong and his stamina was without end. He got the most dirty, took on as much of the workload as he could manage, and dealt with it all without so much as a peep in terms of complaint.
It also seemed that he was a fairly easygoing person, although he often favored the simplest path to something, which led to Sakura's chagrin with increasing regularity. Although he obviously had a fine mind under all that roughness, he stubbornly favored bulldozing his way through an obstacle with no attempt at subtlety if he could manage. If not for his wildly sneaky use of Academy jutsu during the "survival exercise", Sakura would have seriously wondered if Naruto was cut out for being a ninja. From his attitude in general he seemed to be more at home in the ranks of a daimyo's samurai corps, only driving forward and cutting down anything that offered up resistance.
But that's what kept Sakura from deciding on him, and, at the same time, what held her interest. For all his crudity, for all his aggravating silliness, for all his typically boyish behavior on occasion, Naruto was at the heart of it a beautifully cunning, likeable deviant. If only he'd do something about his maturity level and those goggles, the girl thought, he'd be a real knockout.
On that note, Sakura buried her face into her pillow, ashamed of her thoughts, even as alone as she was.
~xxx
A couple days passed before the next mission, leaving the team to their own devices for a bit, allowing them to tend to their various needs.
Naruto spent the time running small errands, paying bills and buying supplies for various home-life contingencies. He also made sure to update his wardrobe just a little further, getting a couple of fresher-looking goggles, along with some new undershirts, a long, thick coat for operations in the colder seasons/regions, and a pair of post-consumer watertight snow boots- never too early to prepare for the coming Ice Age.
Sasuke made use of the time as he usually did, training his body in all the ways he could think, practicing his aim with various projectile weapons using various throwing patterns and techniques, researching new jutsu to learn and master, and reading up on current events to keep track of any mention of a certain person. Suffice to say, he kept fairly busy.
Kakashi spent most of his time clearing up his apartment. After all that time living in such disreputable shape, he had to straighten himself out. While he wasn't going to give up the bottle any time soon, he sure as hell wasn't going to risk his health any more than was absolutely necessary. He had responsibilities to people other than himself now, and he was damned if he was going to fall down on the job- literally, as was in the hypothetical situation of him finally slipping on one of those fucking empty bottles and putting himself in traction as a result. Also, what would his genin think if they popped by and saw that his bachelor pad was a wall to wall testament to his various issues? The horror.
Sakura's time spent wasn't anything as comparably strenuous as the rest of the team, but she made the best use of it that she could, contemplating her wardrobe and expanding her knowledge of the shinobi world further, determined to not be left behind by her peers. One particularly useful genre of nin warfare was the making and application of traps- triggers, weights, purposes…the whole bit. The fledgling kunoichi wanted to make sure that, when push came to shove, she'd be able to pull her weight on the battlefield.
Soon enough, it was time for another mission- this one excruciatingly memorable.
~xxx
An inevitable part of any modern shinobi's career was to take part in PR campaigns within their respective villages- and, being the most progressive of any Hidden Village, Konohagekure led the way with something lovingly dubbed the NinCard campaign.
Essentially, it was a way to both educate the country's youth and potentially bolster the ranks of the military in the years to come, via a fairly simple concept that any child over the age of 3 could get his head around: cards. Or, rather, trading cards.
Various nin of varying notoriety had their basic information and backgrounds posted under a picture of them, with a simple rating of their rank and/or ability.
These were passed out during regular visits by Leaf shinobi to various schools in the Land of Fire, and were fairly effective in informing the local populous about the criminal shinobi that could ostensibly pass through the area.
An unfortunate aspect of this mission was that it was so abysmally kid-friendly and saccharine that the cards themselves, as brief and standardized as they were, managed to be less propagandized than the script that Team 7 was handed.
The mission couldn't have gone fast enough for the guys, although Sakura didn't see what the big deal was.
Shortly thereafter the team made a beeline for the manliest D-rank they could manage to dig up.
~xxx
There was something to be said for genin. Normally, the higher-ranked shinobi looked down on them for being the rank and file, simple teamsters and all that. However, they took the jobs that nobody with any real choice in the matter would touch.
Which is why Team 7 stood out for all their enthusiasm in picking one of the serious unmentionables on any resumee…
Gravedigging.
Waiting `til sunset, the crew set off with Sakura reluctantly in tow, all of them advisedly dressed in drab greys for the task. They met with the client, who'd brought along a cart filled with the newly departed, ready for interment.
The main reason for their commission, as the genin learned, was that the collected dead were of criminals who'd died in prison, with no family to fund their burial. As such, they were to be buried in modestly marked graves, away from the cemeteries used by the local populous, in an arid field not far from the client's cart.
Plucking up their shovels, Kakashi and Naruto got to digging, Sasuke's hands still being too soft for the rough stuff. Once the first few graves were opened up, Sasuke helped Sakura carry the corpses to their new homes, taking care to remove their tags for the summary marking of each resting place.
Just the digging of the twenty-odd graves took the team well into the night, the waxing moon high in the midnight sky just as the team got every body laid. Then came the actual burial, Kakashi and Naruto at that point drenched with perspiration, the other half of the team sitting by, carving and inscribing sotoba with a serene calmness.
Throughout the procedure, as disturbed as most were at the beginning, it was a sobering, but enlightening experience. Something about tending to the dead helped the genin come to understand the essence and fragility of mortality. Their service was something inherently unmentionable, but the memory of it would remain with them for the rest of their lives.
The team, once finished, started back home in silence, contemplative of what they'd participated in.
When they were squarely back in the Hidden Leaf, the genin made the unanimous decision to crash at Sasuke's for the night, as his was the closest from where they'd come in and they were all massively exhausted. Nodding assent, their sensei saw them off, advising they take a couple days off just to recoup.
~xxx
The funny matter of the fact was waking up in the Uchiha manse, expecting to be back home, had a rather disorienting effect on Sakura. She spent the better part of half an hour wandering about the sprawling machiya, silently exploring the starkly elegant home with little hidden wonder.
Just as she was about to start panicking for virtue of finding not a single living soul, Sakura finally stumbled across Naruto and Sasuke in the kitchen, casually discussing random interests as the Uchiha cooked rice on the stove. Instead of joining in, the girl sat down, silently watching her teammates converse about whatever was on their minds.
Once the rice was done, Sasuke served it up in individual bowls, an egg beat into each. While Tamago gohan wasn't one of Sakura's favorite dishes by any stretch of the imagination, the girl sportingly picked up her chopsticks and got to eating. Shortly into the dish, she had to admit that Sasuke had better luck with the dish than her mother did, the egg being beat evenly in the just perfect amount of rice, seasoned gently with tamari sauce so that the flavor was elevated to something elegant in its simplicity. Of course, it could be her admiration of the Uchiha heir talking, but Naruto gave the quick assurance that Sasuke could, indeed, cook a damn good bowl of rice.
The Rookie of the Year contented himself with some leftover grilled fish, not much in the mood for doing more cooking so early in the day.
After a little more conversation, as well as some sparring in the open grounds just inside the manse's yard, the genin set off to take care of their personal business, bidding each other farewell until their next mission.
~xxx
Then came the first legitimately fun mission, one muggy summer afternoon, Kakashi rounding up his genin for some practical application of their skills.
A mining company in the area needed some assistance blasting bedrock, and it fell to Team 7 to help out.
This turned out to be an excellent opportunity for Kakashi to teach the team about making and application of explosive tags, with some assistance from Sakura.
The boys quickly got the hang of it, and it didn't take much to make them gung ho to blow shit up.
The day passed with little difficulty or issue, the genin running up and down the tunnels, tagging marked sections, and sprinting for cover before the resultant explosions.
All in all, it was a glorified exercise routine with pay.
For the aftermath, the team stopped by Naruto's favorite stop, Ichiraku Ramen, and made a night of it, the blond and the cook quickly starting back up with their old routine. It was a simple night with plenty of laughs all around, everyone leaving for home with a smile.
~xxx
In the strange economy that made up the civilian-run shops in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, it was often that the job market was less than stable, leaving many tradesmen without adequate apprentices for various reasons.
Enter the Ninja: quick stopgap available on demand when 'prentice boys were in short supply. In this case, Team 7 was commissioned to assist a smithing shop that was dealing with a serious backup of orders.
The day after the team got the mission, they had to show up well before daybreak, in the simplest clothing they had, throw on the supplied leather aprons, and get to work prepping the stations of the smithy. The furnace fire had to be started with sufficient fuel, the coal and wood sufficiently stocked, the bellows maintained, the tools cleaned, the quenching trough refilled, the current commission projects laid out according to priority, the smithy swept and mopped for any stray flammable material, the storefront itself swept, mopped, and scrubbed to within an inch of obliteration, and the wares of the storefront stocked to the most efficient and appealing arrangement manageable.
Once the smith and his singular apprentice came in, the tasks were essentially the same, with the addition of bringing the craftsmen their tools, maintaining a presence at the storefront, and working the bellows whenever necessary. The day passed quickly, the genin completely absorbed in keeping up their assigned tasks and positions.
By the time they'd finished, which was precluded by a thorough cleaning of the whole place, including the furnace, the team was bone tired. It came as surprise to no one that the commission was to last an additional 3 days, which seemed to be about as much time as was required to place a couple new apprentices in the shop.
So back they came, same time as always, and worked and worked and worked until late into the night. Rinse and repeat, ad nauseum.
Whilst the thought of working in a seemingly manly and warrior-minded place as a smithy was initially glamorous to the two boys of the team, it became increasingly obvious exactly why this shop was strapped for staff: the smith was firing them all.
The man was a cantankerous, needlessly fretful man with shortsighted view of things and a grandiose view of his work and himself. As was, his apprentice was little better, only having survived this long for having come from the same ethnic group as the swarthy bastard and being a shameless kissup.
But it was a temporary gig and the team as a whole quickly developed thick skin and selective deafness to the inane prating that became more and more of a constant as the days went by. By the last day, the blacksmith was as much a jackass as was physically possible within the confines of his work.
It was, in short, a temptation to the seventh circle.
Somehow they made it to closing without failing the mission, looking forward to collecting the payment to this extensive stay in this spurious hell.
The clincher came with the `prentice taking it into his head that coming on to Sakura, significantly his junior, was an open option, after all that had happened. Although the rest of the team intervened quickly enough, and the situation resolved…amicably enough, Naruto's face had a mildly sinister cast come over it as Team 7 left the shop. The blond soon reverted to his usual laidback self, smiling and joking, but nobody at that point was fooled.
It came as a mild surprise that shortly after the client had paid up in full that the shop was demolished to toothpicks overnight. Although Uzumaki acted like nothing had happened, he still rose in Sakura's eyes.
~xxx
When Kakashi gathered the team together a couple days later, nobody had expected him to hand out gifts.
Using his cut from the last few missions and some of his rainy day fund, the Jōnin had managed to procure a half dozen nin communications and relay units, state-of-the-art and designed to be intuitive for use and hands-free.
The reasoning for this was that with this the team could perform more tactical missions with this equipment. Nonetheless, it warmed the genins' hearts, each believing that this was a sign that their sensei valued them enough now to go to personal expense to assist them in becoming a more efficient team.
If only they knew…
~~xxx
Yeah, love me or hate me for the delay
My explanation for why this took so long…
To channel Kakashi, I got lost on the road of life- which is a roundabout way of saying I let my circumstances get in the way of updating
The worst part of this is that this was ready by a vast percentage (99.999%) back at the beginning of this month, a day or so after I updated chapter 10 (9).
Which reminds me- all my watchers from before July 3rd should go back and read the preceding, because it was vastly expanded upon, although it didn't show up in anybody's mailbox cos it was a simple chapter replacement, not a legit update- ergo, no time stamp or notifications.
So yeah. Go, all forty sum-odd o' you guys, and bear witness.
I'd also like to take the time to mention you folks should stop by my profile and vote in the poll, which is about your impressions of Naruto thus far in terms of power. After my curiosity has been sated, I'll take that poll down and post another.
Won't that be nice, ladies 'n' gents?