Naruto and Team 10 had just completed catching Tora again, it had been 2 months since he had started training under the Anbu Commander and he could honestly say that he was much stronger than he was at the Academy.

He now was efficient and quick at hand signs, his taijutsu was much better, he could now hit moving targets with his shuriken jutsu, and he had 9 more jutsu including 2 B-ranks (though the Commander was adamant that Naruto not get any A-rank jutsu until he was a Chunin as by then he would be considered mature enough by the Hokage); body flicker jutsu, hiding in surface jutsu, transparency jutsu, rope escape jutsu, paralysis jutsu, ninja art: giant shuriken jutsu and shuriken shadow clone jutsu.

And now they were at the Office, to go on their next mission, as Sarutobi sat there smoking his pipe, he looked at all of them analytically, especially Naruto, before deciding to ask a question.

"Don't you think it's about time, they go on a C-rank?" asked Sarutobi, as he looked at the young Genin in front of him, he had often checked up on Naruto and had seen how much the boy had grown in skill.

"Hmm, yes, I believe it is time, they go on a C-rank," said Guy, as he had a chat with the Commander, yesterday about taking them out on a C-rank, and the advantages of it.

"Indeed, I have read the reports and their files, and I can honestly say that they are more than skilled enough," said Sarutobi, he had originally suggested that the Commander take Naruto out on a mission after the first month but the Commander was insistent that he had a few more things to teach Naruto before he could send him out on these missions.

"So, what missions are we going to go on now?" asked Naruto, as Sarutobi looked through his files.

"All right, so I have a bandit elimination and capture missions, transport missions, background check missions, and finally elimination or capture of wild animals missions," answered Sarutobi, as everyone turned towards Gai who looked deep in thought.

"Since neither Team 10 nor Naruto has not killed anyone before, and the background checks might keep us in the village, do you have a mission to guard a merchant Caraven?" asked Guy, as Sarutobi nodded.

"Indeed, here it is to guard some merchants in a smaller town," said Sarutobi, as he handed Gai, a scroll.

"Good, all of you, go pack for this mission, dismissed," said Gai, as Naruto nodded, disappearing in smoke, Lee rushed off while TenTen and Neji followed Uzumaki's example.

"You do know that the Chunin Exams are in 2 months?" asked Sarutobi, letting out smoke from his pipe.

"Yes Lord Hokage, when the moment arrives, then I will decide if they should be entered," answered Gai, bowing to the Hokage as Sarutobi dismissed him.

"Will you be entering Naruto?" asked Sarutobi as he turned towards a corner of the room, out of which the Anbu Commander stepped out.

-With Naruto-

Naruto was excited, he had never been outside of the village before and was now going out on a mission, he used the body flicker and disappeared outside the room, to the gate where he found two civilians. There was a middle-aged blond-haired man with brown eyes dressed in a black shirt with blue pants with a woman who was dressed in a blue jacket, red shirt, and black pants.

Behind them, was a group of working men, in a caravan filled with goods.

"What are you doing here, brat?" asked the man, as Team 10 had also arrived.

"Young Naruto, here, is here to guard you, Mr Yamamoto, as are we," answered Guy, as Yamamoto suddenly became horrified.

"I refuse to be guarded by the demon brat, bring me someone else," replied Mr Yamamoto but Guy started looking annoyed.

"Would you like to take this up with the Lord Hokage, who selected us and Naruto for this mission?" asked Guy, as anyone smart enough would know about the underlying threat in that tone, it would negatively impact anyone's reputation to go against an intelligent and skilled shinobi, much less someone as infamous as the Hokage.

"Ah, no, no, it's fine, thank you," answered Mr Yamamoto, showing a scared and nervous smile. Team 10 was starting to get curious about Naruto, why exactly was he so disliked by this Villager, they knew he had done pranks but that didn't warrant just being called a demon.

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura, as she

Naruto and Team 10 then followed the Carraven to their next few stops, Mrs Yamamoto decided to ask about the Pariah as it would make for good gossip when they got back to the village, and if she could find out who the boy's sensei was, she and the other 'concerned' (read: idiotic) citizens could potentially 'convince' (read; threaten) him to stop training the boy.

"How skilled is he, exactly?" asked the civilian.

"Oh, Naruto has a lot of youth in him, he's definitively Chunin Level," answered Guy, though Guy might be loud and boisterous, he was still in a shinobi and knew the importance of information and telling anyone especially civilians could be extremely dangerous.

"Who is his sensei if it is not you?" asked Mrs Yamamoto.

"Oh a high-ranking Anbu, Naruto is their apprentice," answered the Jounin, as Mrs Yamamoto decided to specify.

"Who exactly is his sensei?" asked Mrs Yamamoto.

"Ma'am, why exactly would you like to know this information?" asked the Jounin.

"Just curiosity," answered the woman, nervously, before walking away. As they continued walking, Naruto noted several chakra signatures in the trees, larger than civilians but smaller than most academy students or Genin, Naruto was easily able to deduce who was in the tree and decided to use sign language to tell his fellow shinobi.

'About 10 chakra signatures in the trees, most likely bandits,' signed Naruto, as all of them nodded.

'Received,' signed the entirety of Team 10 as 10 bandits jumped out of the trees surrounding the caravan.

"Well, well, if it isn't some brats," said one of the bandits.

"This might just be our biggest and easiest hit," said the other bandit.

"Idiots," said Neji as the Genin and Jounin rushed towards the bandits. Naruto rushed towards the three bandits in front of the group with two kunai in each hand, while the two bandits in front had swords while the one at the back had a spear.

Before the first or the second one could even attack, Naruto jumped and struck both of them with the kunai, cutting both of them in the chest.

'Come on, you can do this, Naruto, just don't think about what you've done, they might still be alive,' thought Naruto, as he let out a few breaths, trying to process what he had done but in his heart knew they were dead, but Naruto noticed 5 chakra signatures approaching, as he turned forward noticing 5 more bandits approaching, 'I've got to stop them, I may not like these civilians but I don't want them to die.'

Naruto threw a shuriken at the men, who looked amused as Naruto went through several hand signs.

"Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" shouted Naruto, as the shuriken multiplied into the hundreds, shocking the bandits before impaling them, as they're bodies crumpled down, filled with shuriken.

"What have I done?" asked Naruto.

-A week and 6 days later-

Six bandits were meeting in a campsite, that would be their base, they had just completed their recent heist from some idiotic merchant and his family who hadn't bothered to get some guards, they hadn't left either the merchant or his family alive, believing that they had left no evidence behind for their crime and were now celebrating their 'victory' against the food.

"Why didn't we ever do this, before?" asked one of the bandits, as they ate lunch around the fire, sitting on three large logs.

"You idiots never thought of it," answered the bandit on his right.

"hey," said the other bandits, but before their conversation could continue, one of the bandits let out a grunt and fell over straight into the flame, dead with kunai out of his back.

"What the?!" shouted one of the bandits, as they all got up, but one of the bandits suddenly fell on the floor and was dragged into the forest, screaming.

"Is this place haunted?" asked another bandit as two more bandits fell, kunai in their heads, clearly dead.

"I think it's a shinobi!" shouted another, but he was suddenly hanging in the air, from a basic rope trap as more 3 kunai entered his body. The final one terrified, looked around, holding a sword as he moved around the campsite.

"Show yourself, you bastard!" shouted the final bandit, as he fell to his knees, before hitting the ground dead, as Naruto appeared behind the bandit, holding a bloodied kunai.

As soon as they had completed the C-rank and had gotten back to the Hidden Leaf village, Naruto told his sensei about the mission who had decided to take him on a bandit elimination mission, after the mission was complete, Naruto was asked to choose if he wanted to continue being a shinobi knowing that he would have to do this.

Naruto had made his choice and went on another bandit elimination with his sensei before being sent on two more bandit elimination missions by himself, each a day out of Konoha.

Naruto then used the body flicker jutsu.

"He's Chunin level," said an Anbu Black Ops wearing a boar mask to his partner, an eagle-masked Anbu, both observing Naruto from above.

"Effective use of basic traps, barely any waste of time but it is to be expected by one so young," said Eagle.

"He does have darkness and was willing to kill them without hesitating," replied Boar.

"But is it what is needed?" asked Eagle.

"We'll see," answered Boar, as they disappeared in a body flicker jutsu.

AN: If you are wondering, then yes, Naruto did use shadow clones quite a bit, especially while learning the jutsu and sign language.